THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. [CHAP. XX. I had heard of the frankness of the English nation, | compassion by my singular appearance, which bore witness to my sufferings; or afraid that the matter might attract attention during a visitation of the bishop, which was approaching. One day, as I was walking in the convent-garden, to which I had been lately admitted, a miserable old Moorish slave, who passed him, but still keeping his wrinkled face and dewas kept to cultivate the little spot, muttered as I crepit form in the same angle with the earth-There is Heart's Ease near the postern.' flowers, once carried to such perfection among the "I knew something of the symbolical language of Moriscoes of Spain; but if I had been ignorant of it, the captive would soon have caught at any hint that seemed to promise liberty. With all the haste consistent with the utmost circumspection-for I might be observed by the Abbess or some of the sisters from the window-I hastened to the postern. It was closely barred as usual, but when I coughed slightly, was answered from the other side-and, O Heaven! it was my husband's voice which said, ' Lose not a minute here at present, but be on this spot when the vesper bell has tolled.'" "In Spain you may have heard how the Catholic priests, and particularly the monks, besiege the beds of the dying, to obtain bequests for the good of the church. I have said that my mother's temper was irritated by disease, and her judgment impaired in proportion. She gathered spirits and force from the resentment which the priests around her bed excited by their importunity, and the boldness of the stern sect of reformers, to which she had secretly adhered, seemed to animate her dying tongue. She avowed the religion she had so long concealed; renounced all hope and aid which did not come by and through its dictates; rejected with contempt the ceremonial of the Romish church; loaded the astonished priests with reproaches for their greediness and hypocrisy, and com- or permitted to assist at vespers, but was accustommanded them to leave her house. They went in bitter-ed to be confined to my cell while the nuns were in "I retired in an ecstacy of joy. I was not entitled ness and rage, but it was to return with the inquisi- the choir. Since my recovery, they had discontinued torial power, its warrants, and its officers; and they locking the door; though the utmost severity was defound only the cold corpse left of her, on whom they nounced against me if I left these precincts. But, let had hoped to work their vengeance. As I was soon the penalty be what it would, I hastened to dare it.- No discovered to have shared my mother's heresy, I was sooner had the last toll of the vesper bell ceased to dragged from her dead body, imprisoned in a solitary sound, than I stole from my chamber, reached the garcloister and treated with severity, which the Abbess as- den unobserved, hurried to the postern, beheld it open sured me was due to the looseness of my life, as well as with rapture, and in the next moment was in my husmy spiritual errors. I avowed my marriage, to justify band's arms. He had with him another cavalier of the situation in which I found myself-I implored the noble mien-both were masked and armed. Their assistance of the Superior to communicate my situa- horses, with one saddled for my use, stood in a thicket tion to my husband. She smiled coldly at the pro- hard by, with two other masked horsemen, who posal, and told me the church had provided a better seemed to be servants. In less than two minutes spouse for me; advised me to secure myself of divine we were mounted, and rode off as fast as we could grace hereafter, and deserve milder treatment here, through rough and devious roads, in which one of the by presently taking the veil. In order to convince domestics appeared to act as guide. me that I had no other resource, she showed me a royal decree, by which all my estate was hypothecated to the convent of Saint Magdalen, and became their complete property upon my death, or my taking the vows. As I was, both from religious principle, and affectionate attachment to my husband, absolutely immoveable in my rejection of the veil, I believe -may Heaven forgive me if I wrong her!-that the Abbess was desirous to make sure of my spoils, by hastening the former event. "It was a small and a poor convent, and situated among the mountains of Guadarrama. Some of the sisters were the daughters of neighbouring Hidalgoes, as poor as they were proud and ignorant; others were women immured there on account of their vicious conduct. The Superior herself was of a high family, to which she owed her situation; but she was said to have disgraced her connexions by her conduct during youth, and now, in advanced age, covetousness and the love of power, a spirit too of severity and cruelty, had succeeded to the thirst after licentious pleasure. I suffered much under this woman-and still her dark glassy eye, her tall, shrouded form, and her rigid features, haunt my slumbers. "I was not destined to be a mother. I was very ill, and my recovery was long doubtful. The most violent remedies were applied, if remedies they indeed were. My health was restored at length, against my own expectation and that of all around me. when I first again beheld the reflection of my own But, face, I thought it was the visage of a ghost. I was wont to be flattered by all, but particularly by my husband, for the fineness of my complexion-it was now totally gone, and, what is more extraordinary, it has never returned. I have observed that the few who now see me, look upon me as a bloodless phantom-Such has been the abiding effect of the treatment to which I was subjected. May God forgive those who were the agents of it!-I thank Heaven I can say so with as sincere a wish, as that with which I pray for forgiveness of my own sins. They now relented somewhat towards me-moved perhaps to dress with the speed of lightning-you will find one to assist you-we must forward instantly when you "Go into the hut,' said my husband, 'change your have shifted your apparel.' of the faithful Monna Paula, who had waited my ar"I entered the hut, and was received in the arms rival for many hours, half distracted with fear and anxiety. With her assistance I speedily tore off the detested garments of the convent, and exchanged them for a travelling suit, made after the English fashion. Iobserved that Monna Paula was in a similar dress. I had but just huddled on my change of attire, when we were hastily summoned to mount. A horse, I found, was provided for Monna Paula, and garb, which had been wrapped hastily together we resumed our route. around a stone, was thrown into a lake, along the On the way, my conventverge of which we were then passing. The two cavaliers rode together in front, my attendant and I Monna Paula, as we rode on, repeatedly entreated followed, and the servants brought up the rear. me to be silent upon the road, as our lives depended on it. I was easily reconciled to be passive, for, the first fever of spirits which attended the sense of liberation and of gratified affection having passed away, I felt as it were dizzy with the rapid motion; and my utmost exertion was necessary to keep my place on the saddle, until we suddenly (it was now very dark) saw a strong light before us. nal by a low whistle twice repeated, which was answered from a distance. The whole party then halt"My husband reined up his horse, and gave a siged under the boughs of a large cork-tree, and my ་་་་ CHAP. XX.J THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. husband, drawing himself close to my side, said, in a voice which I then thought was only embarrassed by fear for my safety,-'We must now part. Those to whom I commit you are contrabandists, who only know you as English women, but who, for a high bribe, have undertaken to escort you through the passes of the Pyrenees as far as Saint Jean de Luz." And do you not go with us? I exclaimed with emphasis, though in a whisper. It is impossible,' he said, and would ruin allSee that you speak in English in these people's hearing, and give not the least sign of understanding what they say in Spanish-your life depends on it; for, though they live in opposition to, and evasion of, the laws of Spain, they would tremble at the idea of violating those of the church-I see them comingfarewell-farewell.' The last words were hastily uttered-I endeavoured to detain him yet a moment by my feeble grasp on his cloak. "You will meet me, then, I trust, at Saint Jean de Luz? "Yes, yes,' he answered hastily, 'at Saint Jean de Luz you will meet your protector. "He then extricated his cloak from my grasp, and was lost in the darkness. His companion approached-kissed my hand, which in the agony of the moment I was scarce sensible of, and followed my husband, attended by one of the domestics." The tears of Hermione here flowed so fast as to threaten the interruption of her narrative. When she resumed it, it was with a kind of apology to Margaret. Every circumstance," she said, "occurring in those moments, when I still enjoyed a delusive idea of happiness, are deeply imprinted in my remembrance, which, respecting all that has since happened, is waste and unvaried as an Arabian desert. But I have no right to inflict on you, Margaret, agitated as you are with your own anxieties, the unavailing details of my useless recollections.' were almost as hardy and adventurous, carried arms "It is only," said the Lady Hermione, "because I linger like a criminal on the scaffold, and would fain final catastrophe. Yes, dearest Margaret, I rest and protract the time that must inevitably bring on the dwell on the events of that journey, marked as it was by fatigue and danger, though the road lay through and though our companions, both men and women, the wildest and most desolate deserts and mountains, were fierce and lawless themselves, and exposed to the most merciless retaliation from those with whom they were constantly engaged-yet would I rather dwell on these hazardous events, than tell that which awaited me at Saint Jean de Luz." "When we reached the fire, the gipsy figures of those who surrounded it, with their swarthy fea"No," answered Hermione, "do her not that intures, large Sombrero hats, girdles stuck full of pistols and poniards, and all the other apparatus of a roving and perilous life, would have terrified me at an- justice. It was her persevering inquiries that dis other moment. But then I only felt the agony of ha- covered the place of my confinement-it was she who ving parted from my husband almost in the very mo- gave the information to my husband, and who rement of my rescue. The females of the gang-for marked even then that the news was so much more there were four or five women amongst these contra- interesting to his friend than to him, that she susband traders-received us with a sort of rude courte- pected, from an early period, it was the purpose of sy. They were, in dress and manners, not extremely the villain to shake me off. On the journey, her susdifferent from the men with whom they associated-picions were confirmed. She had heard him remark after having entered the barber's shop under pretence to his companion, with a cold sarcastic sneer, the total change which my prison and my illness had made on my complexion; and she had heard the other reply, that the defect might be cured by a touch of Spanish red. This, and other circumstances, haying prepared her for such treachery, Monna Paula now entered, completely possessed of herself, and prepared to support me. Her calm representations went farther with the stranger than the expressions of my despair. If he did not entirely believe our tale, he at least acted the part of a man of honour, who would not intrude himself on defenceless females, whatever was their character; desisted from persecuting us with his presence; and not only directed Monna Paula how we should journey to Paris, but furnished her with money for the purpose of our jour-in disguises of different fashions, were seen to glide ney. From the capital I wrote to Master Heriot, my father's most trusted correspondent; he came instantly to Paris on receiving the letter; andBut here comes Monna Paula, with more than the sum you desired. Take it, my dearest maiden-serve this youth if you will. But, O Margaret, look for no gratitude in return!" The Lady Hermione took the bag of gold from her attendant, and gave it to her young friend, who threw herself into her arms, kissed her on both the pale cheeks, over which the sorrows so newly awakened by her narrative had drawn many tears, then sprung up, wiped her own overflowing eyes, and left the Foljambe apartments with a hasty and resolved step. CHAPTER XXI. Rove not from pole to pole-the man lives here On the sign of an Alehouse kept by a Barber. We are under the necessity of transporting our readers to the habitation of Benjamin Suddlechop, the husband of the active and efficient Dame Ursula, and who also, in his own person, discharged more offices than one. For, besides trimming locks and beards, and turning whiskers upward into the martial and swaggering curl, or downward into the drooping form which became mustaches of civil policy; besides also occasionally letting blood, either by cupping or by the lancet, extracting a stump, and performing other actions of petty pharmacy, very nearly as well as his neighbour Raredrench, the apothecary; he could, on occasion, draw a cup of beer as well as a tooth, tap a hogshead as well as a vein, and wash, with a draught of good ale, the mustaches which his art had just trimmed. But he carried on these trades apart from each other. His barber's shop projected its long and mysterious pole into Fleet street, painted party-coloured-wise, to represent the ribbons with which, in elder times, that ensign was garnished. In the window were seen rows of teeth displayed upon strings like rosaries cups with a red rag at the bottom, to resemble blood, an intimation that patients might be bled, cupped, or blistered, with the assistance of "sufficient advice;" while the more profitable, but less honourable operations upon the hair of the head and beard, were briefly and gravely announced. Within was the well-worn leathern chair for customers, the guitar, then called a ghittern or cittern, with which a customer might amuse himself till his predecessor was dismissed from under Benjamin's hands, and which, therefore, often flayed the ears of the patient metaphorically, while his chin sustained from the razor literal scarification. All, therefore, in this department, spoke the chirurgeon-barber, or the barber-chirurgeon. But there was a little back-room, used as a private tap-room, which had a separate entrance by a dark and crooked alley, which communicated with Fleet street, after a circuitous passage through several bylanes and courts. This retired temple of Bacchus had also a connexion with Benjamin's more public shop by a long and narrow entrance, conducting to the secret premises in which a few old topers used to take their morning draught, and a few gill-sippers their modicum of strong waters, in a bashful way, It was the evening of the same day when Margaret had held the long conference with the Lady Hermione, that Dame Suddlechop had directed her little portress to "keep the door fast as a miser's purse-strings; and, as she valued her saffron skin, to let in none but". the name she added in a whisper, and accompanied it with a nod. The little domestic blinked intelligence, went to her post, and in brief time thereafter admitted and ushered into the presence of the dame, that very city-gallant whose clothes sat awkwardly upon him, and who had behaved so doughtily in the fray which befell at Nigel's first visit to Beaujeu's ordinary. The mulatto introduced him-"Missis, fine young gentleman, all over gold and velvet"-then muttered to herself as she shut the door, "fine young gentleman, he! -apprentice to him who makes the tick-tick." It was indeed-we are sorry to say it, and trust our readers will sympathize with the interest we take in the matter-it was indeed honest Jin Vin, who had been so far left to his own devices, and abandoned by his better angel, as occasionally to travesty himself in this fashion, and to visit, in the dress of a gallant of the day, those places of pleasure and dissipation, in which it would have been everlasting discredit to him to have been seen in his real character and condition; that is, had it been possible for him in his proper shape to have gained admission. There was now a deep gloom on his brow, his rich habit was hastily put on, and buttoned awry; his belt buckled in a most disorderly fashion, so that his sword stuck outwards from his side, instead of hanging by it with graceful negligence; while his poniard, though fairly hatched and gilded, stuck in his girdle like a butcher's steel in the fold of his blue apron. Persons of fashion had, by the way, the advantage formerly of being better distinguished from the vulgar than at present; for, what the ancient farthingale and more modern hoop were to court ladies, the sword was to the gentleman; an article of dress, which only rendered those ridiculous who assumed it for the nonce, without being in the habit of wearing it. Vincent's rapier got between his legs, and, as he stumbled over it, he exclaimed"Zounds! 'tis the second time it has served me thusbelieve the damned trinket knows I am no true gentleman, and does it of set purpose." I "Come, come, mine honest Jin Vin-come, my good boy," said the dame, in a soothing tone, “never mind these trankums-a frank and hearty London 'prentice is worth all the gallants of the inns of court. "I was a frank and hearty London 'prentice before I knew you, Dame Suddlechop," said Vincent; "what your advice has made me, you may find a name for; since, fore George! I am ashamed to think about it myself." A-well-a-day," quoth the dame, "and is it even so with thee?-nay, then, I know but one cure;" and with that, going to a little corner cupboard of carved wainscoat, she opened it by the assistance of a key, which, with half-a-dozen besides, hung in a silver chain at her girdle, and produced a long flask of thin glass cased with wicker, bringing forth at the same time two Flemish rummer glasses, with long stalks and capacious wombs. She filled the one brimful for her guest, and the other more modestly to about two THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. thirds of its capacity, for her own use, repeating, as and sour Rhenish, roast-beef and pudding for wood- But, though Jin Vin tossed off his glass without scruple, while the lady sipped hers more moderately, it did not appear to produce the expected amendment upon his humour. On the contrary, as he threw himself into the great leathern chair, in which Dame Ursley was wont to solace herself of an evening, he declared himself" the most miserable dog within the sound of Bow-bell." "And why should you be so idle as to think yourself so, silly boy?" said Dame Suddlechop; "but 'tis always thus-fools and children never know when they are well. Why, there is not one that walks in St. Paul's, whether in flat cap, or hat and feather, that has so many kind glances from the wenches as you, when ye swagger along Fleet street with your bat under your arm, and your cap set aside upon your head. Thou knowest well, that, from Mrs. Deputy's self down to the waistcoateers in the alley, all of them are twiring and peeping betwixt their fingers when you pass; and yet you call yourself a miserable dog! and I must tell you all this over and over again, as if I were whistling the chimes of London to a pettish child, in order to bring the pretty baby into goodhumour!" "That may well be," answered Jin Vin, bitterly, but, before that day comes, you shall know that Jin "if I walk by your counsels as I have begun by them; The flattery of Dame Ursula seemed to have the Vin has the brisk boys of Fleet street still at his wink. fate of her cordial-it was swallowed, indeed, by the-Yes, you jade, you shall be carted for bawd and party to whom she presented it, and that with some conjurer, double-dyed in grain, and bing off to Bridedegree of relish, but it did not operate as a sedative on well, with every brass basin betwixt the Bar and the disturbed state of the youth's mind. He laughed Paul's beating before you, as if the devil were bangfor an instant, half in scorn, and half in gratified va- ing them with his beef-hook." nity, but cast a sullen look on Dame Ursley as he replied to her last words, "You do treat me like a child indeed, when you sing over and over to me a cuckoo song that I care not a copper-filing for." Aha!" said Dame Ursley; "that is to say, you care not if you please all, unless you please one-You are a true lover, I warrant, and care not for all the city, from here to Whitechapel, so you could write yourself first in your pretty Peg-a-Ramsay's good-will. Well, well, take patience, man, and be guided by me, for I will be the hoop will bind you together at last." "It is time you were so," said Jenkin, "for hitherto you have rather been the wedge to separate us." Dame Suddlechop had by this time finished her cordial-it was not the first she had taken that day; and, though a woman of strong brain, and cautious at least, if not abstemious, in her potations, it may nevertheless be supposed that her patience was not improved by the regimen which she observed. Why, thou ungracious and ingrate knave," said Dame Ursley, "have not I done every thing to put thee in thy mistress's good graces? She loves gentry, the proud Scottish minx, as a Welshman loves cheese, and has her father's descent from that Duke of Daldevil, or whatsoever she calls him, as close in her heart as gold in a miser's chest, though she as seldom shows it-and none she will think of, or have, but a gentleman-and a gentleman I have made of thee, Jin Vin, the devil cannot deny that." You have made a fool of me," said poor Jenkin, looking at the sleeve of his jacket. "Never the worse gentleman for that," said Dame Ursley, laughing. "And what is worse," said he, turning his back to her suddenly, and writhing in his chair, "you have made a rogue of me." Dame Ursley coloured like scarlet, seized upon the half-emptied flask of cordial, and seemed, by her first gesture, about to hurl it at the head of her adversary; checked her outrageous resentment, and, putting the but suddenly, and as if by a strong internal effort, she bottle to its more legitimate use, filled, with wonderful composure, the two glasses, and, taking up one of them, said, with a smile, which better became her comely and jovial countenance than the fury by which it was animated the moment before "Here is to thee, Jin Vin, my lad, in all loving kindness, whatever spite thou bearest to me, that have always been a mother to thee." Jenkin's English good-nature could not resist this forcible appeal; he took up the other glass, and lovingly pledged the dame in her cup of reconciliation, and proceeded to make a kind of grumbling apology for his own violence "For you know," he said, "it was you persuaded me to get these fine things, and go to that godless ordinary, and ruffle it with the best, and bring you home all the news; and you said, I, that was the cock of the ward, would soon be the cock of the ordinary, and would win ten times as much at gleek and primero, as I used to do at put and beggar-my-neighbour-and turn up doublets with the dice, as busily as I was wont to trowl down the ninepins in the skittle-ground-and then you said I should bring you when used as you knew how to use it-and now you such news out of the ordinary as should make us all, see what is to come of it all !" "Tis all true thou sayest, lad," said the dame; "but thou must have patience. Rome was not built in a day-you cannot become used to your court-suit in a month's time, any more than when you changaming you must expect to lose as well as gain-'tis ged your long coat for a doublet and hose; and in "The board has swept me, I know," replied Jin the sitting gamester that sweeps the board.'" *A species of triumphal procession in honour of female sution of the neighbourhood. It is described at full length in Hudibras, (Part II. Canto II) As the procession passed on, those threshold of the houses in which Fame affirmed the mistresses who attended it in an official capacity were wont to sweep the to exercise paramount authority, which was given and received ject of a similar ovation. The Skimmington, which in some as a hint that their inmates might, in their turn, be made the subdegree resembled the proceedings of Mumbo Jumbo in an African cause female rule has become either milder or less frequent than village, has been long discontinued in England, apparently beamong our ancestors. "I know what you have made me," said Jin Vin; since I have given up skittles and trap-ball for tennis and bowls, good English ale for thin Bourdeaux VOL. IV. K THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL. Vin, and that pretty clean out.-I would that were the worst; but I owe for all this finery, and settlingday is coming on, and my master will find my account worse than it should be by a score of pieces. My old father will be called in to make them good; and I-may save the hangman a labour and do the job myself, or go the Virginia voyage." "Do not speak so loud, my dear boy," said Dame Ursley; "but tell me why you borrow not from a friend to make up your arrear. You could lend him as much when his settling day came round." "No, no-I have had enough of that work," said Vincent. "Tunstall would lend me the money, poor fellow, an he had it; but his gentle, beggarly kindred, plunder him of all, and keep him as bare as a birch at Christmas. No-my fortune may be spelt in four letters, and these read, RUIN." "Now hush, you simple craven," said the dame; "did you never hear, that when the need is highest the help is nighest? We may find aid for you yet, and sooner than you are aware of. I am sure I would never have advised you to such a course, but only you had set heart and eye on pretty Mistress Marget, and less would not serve you-and what could I do but advise you to cast your city-slough, and try your luck where folks find fortune?"" Ay, ay-I remember your counsel well," said Jenkin; "I was to be introduced to her by you when I was perfect in my gallantries, and as rich as the King; and then she was to be surprised to find I was poor Jin Vin, that used to watch, from matin to curfew, for one glance of her eye; and now, instead of that, she has set her soul on this Scottish sparrow-hawk of a lord that won my last tester, and be cursed to him; and so I am bankrupt in love, fortune, and character, before I am out of my time, and all along of you, Mother Midnight." "Do not call me out of my own name, my dear boy, Jin Vin," answered Ursula, in a tone betwixt rage and coaxing,-"do not; because I am no saint, but a poor sinful woman, with no more patience than she needs, to carry her through a thousand crosses. And if I have done you wrong by evil counsel, I must mend it, and put you right by good advice. And for the score of pieces that must be made up at settling-day, why, here is, in a good green purse, as much as will make that matter good; and we will get old Crosspatch, the tailor, to take a long day for your clothes; and" "Mother, are you serious?" said Jin Vin, unable to trust either his eyes or his ears. "In troth am I," said the dame: "and will you call me Mother Midnight now, Jin Vin?" Mother Midnight !" exclaimed Jenkin, hugging the dame in his transport, and bestowing on her still comely cheek a hearty and not unacceptable smack, that sounded like the report of a pistol,-"Mother Midday, rather, that has risen to light me out of my troubles-a mother more dear than she who bore me; for she, poor soul, only brought me into a world of sin and sorrow, and your timely aid has helped me out of the one and the other." And the good-natured fellow threw himself back in his chair, and fairly drew his hand across his eyes. "You would not have me be made to ride the Skimmington then," said the dame; "or parade me in a cart, with all the brass basins of the ward beating the march to Bridewell before me?" "I would sooner be carted to Tyburn myself," replied the penitent. Why, then, sit up like a man, and wipe thine eyes; and, if thou art pleased with what I have done, I will show thee how thou mayst requite me in the highest degree." How?" said Jenkin Vincent, sitting straight up in his chair--"You would have me, then, do you some service for this friendship of yours?" such were to come by. I never could find them ly. No, no, dame," said poor Jenkin, "it is not for willing to work for what you want; and yet, when I "I had him even now in my head-for, look you, I Ursula; and, as I perceive you are too wilful to great a hurry as a brown baker when his oven is rank and fortune, who is in trouble, carried in secret prentice; "for the devil gave me that knowledge, and Ursula. "I am as good a churchwoman as the a start. even he we have spoken of so often-just Lord Glen- room with rapid and disorderly steps. gunpowder. You sit in the great leathern arm-chair, kin. "Have you not confessed to me, that Margaret Jenkin, "that it was this same Glenvarloch that "And have I not told you but this instant," replied Ay, marry would I," said Dame Ursley; "for you made a knave of me to boot, by gaining more than rooked me, at the ordinary, of every penny I had, and are to know, that though I am right glad to stead you was my own?-O that cursed gold, which Shortwith it, this gold is not mine, but was placed in my yard, the mercer, paid me that morning on accounts hands in order to find a trusty agent for a certain pur- for mending the clock of Saint Stephen's! If I had pose; and so-But what's the matter with you ?-not, by ill chance, had that about me, I could but are you fool enough to be angry because you cannot have beggared my purse, without blemishing my hoget a purse of gold for nothing? I would I knew where nesty; and, after I had been rooked of all the rest |