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Woodstock; or, The Cavalier

S >> Sir Walter Scott >> Woodstock; or, The Cavalier




"Speak less lightly and wantonly, friend," said the divine; "we are to
resist the devil that he may flee from us, and not to tamper with him,
or enter into his counsels, or traffic with the merchandise of his great
Vanity Fair."

"Mind what the good man says, Wildrake," said the Colonel; "and take
heed another time how thou dost suffer thy wit to outrun discretion."

"I am beholden to the reverend gentleman for his advice," answered
Wildrake, upon whose tongue it was difficult to impose any curb
whatever, even when his own safety rendered it most desirable. "But,
gadzookers, let him have had what experience he will in fighting with
the Devil, he never saw one so black as I had a tussle with--not a
hundred years ago."

"How, friend," said the clergyman, who understood every thing literally
when apparitions were mentioned, "have you had so late a visitation of
Satan? Believe me, then, that I wonder why thou darest to entertain his
name so often and so lightly, as I see thou dost use it in thy ordinary
discourse. But when and where didst thou see the Evil One?"

Everard hastily interposed, lest by something yet more strongly alluding
to Cromwell, his imprudent squire should, in mere wantonness, betray his
interview with the General. "The young man raves," he said, "of a dream
which he had the other night, when he and I slept together in Victor
Lee's chamber, belonging to the Ranger's apartments at the Lodge."

"Thanks for help at a pinch, good patron," said Wildrake, whispering
into Everard's ear, who in vain endeavoured to shake him off,--"a fib
never failed a fanatic."

"You, also, spoke something too lightly of these matters, considering
the work which we have in hand, worthy Colonel," said the Presbyterian
divine. "Believe me, the young man, thy servant, was more likely to see
visions than to dream merely idle dreams in that apartment; for I have
always heard, that, next to Rosamond's Tower, in which, as I said, she
played the wanton, and was afterwards poisoned by Queen Eleanor, Victor
Lee's chamber was the place in the Lodge of Woodstock more peculiarly
the haunt of evil spirits.--I pray you, young man, tell me this dream or
vision of yours."

"With all my heart, sir," said Wildrake--then addressing his patron, who
began to interfere, he said, "Tush, sir, you have had the discourse for
an hour, and why should not I hold forth in my turn? By this darkness,
if you keep me silent any longer, I will turn Independent preacher, and
stand up in your despite for the freedom of private judgment.--And so,
reverend sir, I was dreaming of a carnal divertisement called a
bull-baiting; and methought they were venturing dogs at head, as merrily
as e'er I saw them at Tutbury bull-running; and methought I heard some
one say, there was the Devil come to have a sight of the bull-ring.
Well, I thought that, gadswoons, I would have a peep at his Infernal
Majesty. So I looked, and there was a butcher in greasy woollen, with
his steel by his side; but he was none of the Devil. And there was a
drunken cavalier, with his mouth full of oaths, and his stomach full of
emptiness, and a gold-laced waistcoat in a very dilapidated condition,
and a ragged hat,--with a piece of a feather in it; and he was none of
the Devil neither. And here was a miller, his hands dusty with meal, and
every atom of it stolen; and there was a vintner, his green apron
stained with wine, and every drop of it sophisticated; but neither was
the old gentleman I looked for to be detected among these artisans of
iniquity. At length, sir, I saw a grave person with cropped hair, a pair
of longish and projecting ears, a band as broad as a slobbering bib
under his chin, a brown coat surmounted by a Geneva cloak, and I had old
Nicholas at once in his genuine paraphernalia, by--."

"Shame, shame!" said Colonel Everard. "What! behave thus to an old
gentleman and a divine!"

"Nay, let him proceed," said the minister, with perfect equanimity: "if
thy friend, or secretary, is gibing, I must have less patience than
becomes my profession, if I could not bear an idle jest, and forgive him
who makes it. Or if, on the other hand, the Enemy has really presented
himself to the young man in such a guise as he intimates, wherefore
should we be surprised that he, who can take upon him the form of an
angel of light, should be able to assume that of a frail and peaceable
mortal, whose spiritual calling and profession ought, indeed, to induce
him to make his life an example to others; but whose conduct,
nevertheless, such is the imperfection of our unassisted nature,
sometimes rather presents us with a warning of what we should shun?"

"Now, by the mass, honest domine--I mean reverend sir--I crave you a
thousand pardons," said Wildrake, penetrated by the quietness and
patience of the presbyter's rebuke. "By St. George, if quiet patience
will do it, thou art fit to play a game at foils with the Devil himself,
and I would be contented to hold stakes."

As he concluded an apology, which was certainly not uncalled for, and
seemed to be received in perfectly good part, they approached so close
to the exterior door of the Lodge, that they were challenged with the
emphatic _Stand_, by a sentinel who mounted guard there. Colonel Everard
replied, _A friend_; and the sentinel repeating his command, "Stand,
friend," proceeded to call the corporal of the guard. The corporal came
forth, and at the same time turned out his guard. Colonel Everard gave
his name and designation, as well as those of his companions, on which
the corporal said, "he doubted not there would be orders for his instant
admission; but, in the first place, Master Tomkins must be consulted,
that he might learn their honours' mind."

"How, sir!" said the Colonel, "do you, knowing who I am, presume to keep
me on the outside of your post?"

"Not if your honour pleases to enter," said the corporal, "and
undertakes to be my warranty; but such are the orders of my post."

"Nay, then, do your duty," said the Colonel; "but are the cavaliers up,
or what is the matter, that you keep so close and strict a watch?"

The fellow gave no distinct answer, but muttered between his mustaches
something about the Enemy, and the roaring Lion who goeth about seeking
whom he may devour. Presently afterwards Tomkins appeared, followed by
two servants, bearing lights in great standing brass candlesticks. They
marched before Colonel Everard and his party, keeping as close to each
other as two cloves of the same orange, and starting from time to time;
and shuddering as they passed through sundry intricate passages, they
led up a large and ample wooden staircase, the banisters, rail, and
lining of which were executed in black oak, and finally into a long
saloon, or parlour, where there was a prodigious fire, and about twelve
candles of the largest size distributed in sconces against the wall.
There were seated the Commissioners, who now held in their power the
ancient mansion and royal domain of Woodstock.

* * * * *

CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.


The bloody bear, an independent beast,
Unlick'd to forms, in groans his hate express'd--

Next him the buffoon ape, as atheists use,
Mimick'd all sects, and had his own to choose.
HIND AND PANTHER.

The strong light in the parlour which we have described, served to
enable Everard easily to recognise his acquaintances, Desborough,
Harrison, and Bletson, who had assembled round an oak table of large
dimensions, placed near the blazing chimney, on which were arranged
wine, and ale, and materials for smoking, then the general indulgence of
the time. There was a species of movable cupboard set betwixt the table
and the door, calculated originally for a display of plate upon grand
occasions, but at present only used as a screen; which purpose it served
so effectually, that, ere he had coasted around it, Everard heard the
following fragment of what Desborough was saying, in his strong coarse
voice:--"Sent him to share with us, I'se warrant ye--It was always his
Excellency my brother-in-law's way--if he made a treat for five friends,
he would invite more than the table could hold--I have known him ask
three men to eat two eggs."

"Hush, hush," said Bletson; and the servants, making their appearance
from behind the tall cupboard, announced Colonel Everard. It may not be
uninteresting to the reader to have a description, of the party into
which he now entered.

Desborough was a stout, bull-necked man, of middle-size, with heavy
vulgar features, grizzled bushy eyebrows, and walleyes. The flourish of
his powerful relative's fortunes had burst forth in the finery of his
dress, which was much more ornamented than was usual among the
roundheads. There was embroidery on his cloak, and lace upon his band;
his hat displayed a feather with a golden clasp, and all his habiliments
were those of a cavalier, or follower of the court, rather than the
plain dress of a parliamentarian officer. But, Heaven knows, there was
little of courtlike grace or dignity in the person or demeanour of the
individual, who became his fine suit as the hog on the sign-post does
his gilded armour. It was not that he was positively deformed, or
misshaped, for, taken in detail, the figure was well enough. But his
limbs seemed to act upon different and contradictory principles. They
were not, as the play says, in a concatenation accordingly;--the right
hand moved as if it were upon bad terms with the left, and the legs
showed an inclination to foot it in different and opposite directions.
In short, to use an extravagant comparison, the members of Colonel
Desborough seemed rather to resemble the disputatious representatives of
a federative congress, than the well-ordered union of the orders of the
state, in a firm and well-compacted monarchy, where each holds his own
place, and all obey the dictates of a common head.

General Harrison, the second of the Commissioners, was a tall, thin,
middle-aged man, who had risen into his high situation in the army, and
his intimacy with Cromwell, by his dauntless courage in the field, and
the popularity he had acquired by his exalted enthusiasm amongst the
military saints, sectaries, and Independents, who composed the strength
of the existing army. Harrison was of mean extraction, and bred up to
his father's employment of a butcher. Nevertheless, his appearance,
though coarse, was not vulgar, like that of Desborough, who had so much
the advantage of him in birth and education. He had a masculine height
and strength of figure, was well made and in his manner announced a
rough military character, which might be feared, but could not easily
become the object of contempt or ridicule. His aquiline nose and dark
black eyes set off to some advantage a countenance otherwise irregular,
and the wild enthusiasm that sometimes sparkled in them as he dilated on
his opinions to others, and often seemed to slumber under his long dark
eyelashes as he mused upon them himself, gave something strikingly wild,
and even noble to his aspect. He was one of the chief leaders of those
who were called Fifth-Monarchy men, who, going even beyond the general
fanaticism of the age, presumptuously interpreted the Book of the
Revelations after their own fancies, considered that the second Advent
of the Messiah, and the Millenium, or reign of the Saints upon earth,
was close at hand, and that they themselves, illuminated, as they
believed, with the power of foreseeing these approaching events, were
the chosen instruments for the establishment of the New Reign, or Fifth
Monarchy, as it was called, and were fated also to win its honours,
whether celestial or terrestrial.

When this spirit of enthusiasm, which operated like a partial insanity,
was not immediately affecting Harrison's mind, he was a shrewd worldly
man, and a good soldier; one who missed no opportunity of mending his
fortune, and who, in expecting the exaltation of the Fifth Monarchy,
was, in the meanwhile, a ready instrument for the establishment of the
Lord-General's supremacy. Whether it was owing to his early occupation,
and habits of indifference to pain or bloodshed acquired in the
shambles, to natural disposition and want of feeling, or, finally, to
the awakened character of his enthusiasm, which made him look upon those
who opposed him, as opposing the Divine will, and therefore meriting no
favour or mercy, is not easy to say; but all agreed, that after a
victory, or the successful storm of a town, Harrison was one of the most
cruel and pitiless men in Cromwell's army; always urging some misapplied
text to authorize the continued execution of the fugitives, and
sometimes even putting to death those who had surrendered themselves
prisoners. It was said, that at times the recollection of some of those
cruelties troubled his conscience, and disturbed the dreams of
beatification in which his imagination indulged.

When Everard entered the apartment, this true representative of the
fanatic soldiers of the day, who filled those ranks and regiments which
Cromwell had politically kept on foot, while he procured the reduction
of those in which the Presbyterian interest predominated, was seated a
little apart from the others, his legs crossed, and stretched out at
length towards the fire, his head resting on his elbow, and turned
upwards, as if studying, with the most profound gravity, the half-seen
carving of the Gothic roof.

Bletson remains to be mentioned, who, in person and figure, was
diametrically different from the other two. There was neither foppery
nor slovenliness in his exterior, nor had he any marks of military
service or rank about his person. A small walking rapier seemed merely
worn as a badge of his rank as a gentleman, without his hand having the
least purpose of becoming acquainted with the hilt, or his eye with the
blade. His countenance was thin and acute, marked with lines which
thought rather than age had traced upon it; and a habitual sneer on his
countenance, even, when he least wished to express contempt on his
features, seemed to assure the individual addressed, that in Bletson he
conversed with a person of intellect far superior to his own. This was a
triumph of intellect only, however; for on all occasions of difference
respecting speculative opinions, and indeed on all controversies
whatsoever, Bletson avoided the ultimate _ratio_ of blows and knocks.

Yet this peaceful gentleman had found himself obliged to serve
personally in the Parliamentary army at the commencement of the Civil
War, till happening unluckily to come in contact with the fiery Prince
Rupert, his retreat was judged so precipitate, that it required all the
shelter that his friends could afford, to keep him free of an
impeachment or a court-martial. But as Bletson spoke well, and with
great effect in the House of Commons, which was his natural sphere, and
was on that account high in the estimation of his party, his behaviour
at Edgehill was passed over, and he continued to take an active share in
all the political events of that bustling period, though he faced not
again the actual front of war.

Bletson's theoretical politics had long inclined him to espouse the
opinions of Harrington and others, who adopted the visionary idea of
establishing a pure democratical republic in so extensive a country as
Britain. This was a rash theory, where there is such an infinite
difference betwixt ranks, habits, education, and morals--where there is
such an immense disproportion betwixt the wealth of individuals--and
where a large portion of the inhabitants consist of the inferior classes
of the large towns and manufacturing districts--men unfitted to bear
that share in the direction of a state, which must be exercised by the
members of a republic in the proper sense of the word. Accordingly, as
soon as the experiment was made, it became obvious that no such form of
government could be adopted with the smallest chance of stability; and
the question came only to be, whether the remnant, or, as it was
vulgarly called, the Rump of the Long Parliament, now reduced by the
seclusion of so many of the members to a few scores of persons, should
continue, in spite of their unpopularity, to rule the affairs of
Britain? Whether they should cast all loose by dissolving themselves,
and issuing writs to convoke a new Parliament, the composition of which
no one could answer for, any more than for the measures they might take
when assembled? Or lastly, whether Cromwell, as actually happened, was
not to throw the sword into the balance, and boldly possess himself of
that power which the remnant of the Parliament were unable to hold, and
yet afraid to resign?

Such being the state of parties, the Council of State, in distributing
the good things in their gift, endeavoured to soothe and gratify the
army, as a beggar flings crusts to a growling mastiff. In this view
Desborough had been created a Commissioner in the Woodstock matter to
gratify Cromwell, Harrison to soothe the fierce Fifth-Monarchy men, and
Bletson as a sincere republican, and one of their own leaven.

But if they supposed Bletson had the least intention of becoming a
martyr to his republicanism, or submitting to any serious loss on
account of it, they much mistook the man. He entertained their
principles sincerely and not the less that they were found
impracticable; for the miscarriage of his experiment no more converts
the political speculator, than the explosion of a retort undeceives an
alchymist. But Bletson was quite prepared to submit to Cromwell, or any
one else who might be possessed of the actual authority. He was a ready
subject in practice to the powers existing, and made little difference
betwixt various kinds of government, holding in theory all to be nearly
equal in imperfection, so soon as they diverged from the model of
Harrington's Oceana. Cromwell had already been tampering with him, like
wax between his finger and thumb, and which he was ready shortly to seal
with, smiling at the same time to himself when he beheld the Council of
State giving rewards to Bletson, as their faithful adherent, while he
himself was secure of his allegiance, how soon soever the expected
change of government should take place.

But Bletson was still more attached to his metaphysical than his
political creed, and carried his doctrines of the perfectibility of
mankind as far as he did those respecting the conceivable perfection of
a model of government; and as in the one case he declared against all
power which did not emanate from the people themselves, so, in his moral
speculations, he was unwilling to refer any of the phenomena of nature
to a final cause. When pushed, indeed, very hard, Bletson was compelled
to mutter some inarticulate and unintelligible doctrines concerning an
_Animus Mundi_, or Creative Power in the works of Nature, by which she
originally called into existence, and still continues to preserve, her
works. To this power, he said, some of the purest metaphysicians
rendered a certain degree of homage; nor was he himself inclined
absolutely to censure those, who, by the institution of holydays, choral
dances, songs, and harmless feasts and libations, might be disposed to
celebrate the great goddess Nature; at least dancing, singing, feasting,
and sporting, being conformable things to both young and old, they might
as well sport, dance, and feast, in honour of such appointed holydays,
as under any other pretext. But then this moderate show of religion was
to be practised under such exceptions as are admitted by the Highgate
oath; and no one was to be compelled to dance, drink, sing, or feast,
whose taste did not happen to incline them to such divertisements; nor
was any one to be obliged to worship the creative power, whether under
the name of the _Animus Mundi_, or any other whatsoever. The
interference of the Deity in the affairs of mankind he entirely
disowned, having proved to his own satisfaction that the idea originated
entirely in priestcraft. In short, with the shadowy metaphysical
exception aforesaid, Mr. Joshua Bletson of Darlington, member for
Littlefaith, came as near the predicament of an atheist, as it is
perhaps possible for a man to do. But we say this with the necessary
salvo; for we have known many like Bletson, whose curtains have been
shrewdly shaken by superstition, though their fears were unsanctioned by
any religious faith. The devils, we are assured, believe and tremble;
but on earth there are many, who, in worse plight than even the natural
children of perdition, tremble without believing, and fear even while
they blaspheme.

It follows, of course, that nothing could be treated with more scorn by
Mr. Bletson, than the debates about Prelacy and Presbytery, about
Presbytery and Independency, about Quakers and Anabaptists,
Muggletonians and Brownists, and all the various sects with which the
Civil War had commenced, and by which its dissensions were still
continued. "It was," he said, "as if beasts of burden should quarrel
amongst themselves about the fashion of their halters and pack-saddles,
instead of embracing a favourable opportunity of throwing them aside."
Other witty and pithy remarks he used to make when time and place
suited; for instance, at the club called the Rota, frequented by St.
John, and established by Harrington, for the free discussion of
political and religious subjects.

But when Bletson was out of this academy, or stronghold of philosophy,
he was very cautious how he carried his contempt of the general
prejudice in favour of religion and Christianity further than an implied
objection or a sneer. If he had an opportunity of talking in private
with an ingenuous and intelligent youth, he sometimes attempted to make
a proselyte, and showed much address in bribing the vanity of
inexperience, by suggesting that a mind like his ought to spurn the
prejudices impressed upon it in childhood; and when assuming the _latus
clavus_ of reason, assuring him that such as he, laying aside the
_bulla_ of juvenile incapacity, as Bletson called it, should proceed to
examine and decide for himself. It frequently happened, that the youth
was induced to adopt the doctrines in whole, or in part, of the sage who
had seen his natural genius, and who had urged him to exert it in
examining, detecting, and declaring for himself, and thus flattery gave
proselytes to infidelity, which could not have been gained by all the
powerful eloquence or artful sophistry of the infidel.

These attempts to extend the influence of what was called freethinking
and philosophy, were carried on, as we have hinted, with a caution
dictated by the timidity of the philosopher's disposition. He was
conscious his doctrines were suspected, and his proceedings watched, by
the two principal sects of Prelatists and Presbyterians, who, however
inimical to each other, were still more hostile to one who was an
opponent, not only to a church establishment of any kind, but to every
denomination of Christianity. He found it more easy to shroud himself
among the Independents, whose demands were for a general liberty of
conscience, or an unlimited toleration, and whose faith, differing in
all respects and particulars, was by some pushed into such wild errors,
as to get totally beyond the bounds of every species of Christianity,
and approach very near to infidelity itself, as extremes of each kind
are said to approach each other. Bletson mixed a good deal among those
sectaries; and such was his confidence in his own logic and address,
that he is supposed to have entertained hopes of bringing to his
opinions in time the enthusiastic Vane, as well as the no less
enthusiastic Harrison, provided he could but get them to resign their
visions of a Fifth Monarchy, and induce them to be contented with a
reign of Philosophers in England for the natural period of their lives,
instead of the reign of the Saints during the Millenium.

Such was the singular group into which Everard was now introduced;
showing, in their various opinions, upon how many devious coasts human
nature may make shipwreck, when she has once let go her hold on the
anchor which religion has given her to lean upon; the acute self-conceit
and worldly learning of Bletson--the rash and ignorant conclusions of
the fierce and under-bred Harrison, leading them into the opposite
extremes of enthusiasm and infidelity, while Desborough,
constitutionally stupid, thought nothing about religion at all; and
while the others were active in making sail on different but equally
erroneous courses, he might be said to perish like a vessel, which
springs a leak and founders in the roadstead. It was wonderful to behold
what a strange variety of mistakes and errors, on the part of the King
and his Ministers, on the part of the Parliament and their leaders, on
the part of the allied kingdoms of Scotland and England towards each
other, had combined to rear up men of such dangerous opinions and
interested characters among the arbiters of the destiny of Britain.

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