and he contemplated its proportions, from time, with infinite satisfaction. The conversation between these worthies was so interesting, that we propose to assign to it another -chapter. CHAPTER XXVII. This is some creature of the elements, AND here is to thee," said the fashionable gallant whom we have described, “honest Tom; and a cup of welcome to thee out of Lobby-land. Why, thou hast been so long in the country, that thou hast got a bumpkinly clod-compelling sort of look thyself. That greasy doublet fits thee as if it were thine reserved Sunday's apparel; and the points seem as if they were stay-laces bought for thy true-love Marjory. I marvel thou canst still relish a ragout. Methinks now, to a stomach bound in such a jacket, eggs and bacon were a diet more conforming." "Rally away, my good lord, while wit lasts," answered his companion; yours is not the sort of ammunition which will bear much expenditure. Or rather, tell me news from Court, since we have met so opportunely." "You would have asked me these an hour ago," said the lord, "had not your very soul been under Chaubert's covered dishes. You remembered King's affairs will keep cool, and entrements must be eaten hot." "Not so, my lord; I only kept common talk whilst that eavesdropping rascal of a landlord was in the room; so that, now the coast is clear once more, I pray you for news from Court." "The Plot is nonsuited," answered the courtier"Sir George Wakeman acquitted*-the witnesses discredited by the jury-Scroggs, who ranted on one side, is now ranting on t'other.' "Rat the Plot, Wakeman, witnesses, Papists, and Protestants, all together! Do you think I care for such trash as that?-Till the Plot comes up the palace back-stair, and gets possession of old Rowley's own imagination, I care not a farthing who believes or disbelieves. I hang by him will bear me out." "Well, then," said my lord, "the next news is Rochester's disgrace." "Disgraced!-How, and for what? The morning I came off, he stood as fair as any one." too; and there is no laughing at so sharp a jest, when it is dinned into your ears on all sides. So, disgraced is the author; and but for his Grace of Buckingham, the Court would be as dull as my Lord Chancellor's wig." "Or as the head it covers.-Well, my lord, the fewer at Court, there is the more room for those that can bustle there. But there are two mainstrings of Shaftesbury's fiddle broken-the Popish Plot fallen into discredit-and Rochester disgraced. Changeful times-but here is to the little man who shall mend them." "I apprehend you," replied his lordship; "and meet your health with my love. Trust me, my lord loves you, and longs for you. Nay, I have done you reason.-By your leave, the cup is with me. Here is to his buxom Grace of Bucks." As blithe a peer," said Smith, "as ever turned night to day. Nay, it shall be an overflowing bumper, an you will; and I will drink it super naculum.And how stands the great Madam ?"* Stoutly against all change," answered my lord"Little Anthonyt can make naught of her." "Then he shall bring her influence to naught. Hark in thine ear. Thou knowest" (Here he whispered so low that Julian could not catch the sound.) "Know him?" answered the other-"Know Ned of the Island?-To be sure I do." "He is the man that shall knot the great fiddlestrings that have snapped. Say I told you so; and thereupon I give thee his health." "And thereupon I pledge thee," said the young nobleman, "which on any other argument I were loath to do-thinking of Ned as somewhat the cut of a villain." Granted, man-granted," said the other," a very thorough-paced rascal; but able, my lord, able and necessary; and, in this plan, indispensable. Pshaw! This champagne turns stronger as it gets older, I think." "Hark, mine honest fellow," said the courtier; "I would thou wouldst give me some item of all this mystery. Thou hast it, I know; for whom do men intrust but trusty Chiffinch ?" "It is your pleasure to say so, my lord," answered Smith, (whom we shall hereafter call by his real name of Chiffinch,) with much drunken gravity, for his speech had become a little altered by his copious libations in the course of the evening,"few men know more, or say less, than I do; and it well becomes my station. Conticuere omnes, as the grammar hath it-all men should learn to hold "That's over-the epitapht has broken his neck-their tongue." and now he may write one for his own Court favour, for it is dead and buried." "The epitaph!" exclaimed Tom; "why, I was by when it was made; and it passed for an excellent good jest with him whom it was made upon." "Ay, so it did, among ourselves," answered his companion; "but it got abroad, and had a run like a mill-race. It was in every coffeehouse, and in half the diurnals. Grammont translated it into French The first check received by Doctor Oates and his colleagues in the task of supporting the Plot by their testimony, was in this manner-After a good deal of prevarication, the prime witness at length made a direct charge against Sir George Wakeman, the Queen's physician, of an attempt to poison the King, and even connected the Queen with this accusation, whom he represented as Wakeman's accomplice. This last piece of effrontery recalled the King to some generous sentiinents. "The villains," said Charles, "think I am tired of my wife; but they shall find I will not permit an innocent woman to be persecuted." Scroggs, the Lord Chief Justice, accordingly received instructions to be favourable to the accused; and, for the first time, he was so. Wakeman was acquitted, but thought it more for his safety to retire abroad. His acquittal, however, indicated a turn of the tide, which had so long set in favour of the Plot, and of the witnesses by whom it had hitherto been supported. Except with a friend, Tom-except with a friend. Thou wilt never be such a dog-bolt as to refuse a hint to a friend? Come, you get too wise and statesmanlike for your office-The ligatures of thy most peasantly jacket there are like to burst with thy secret. Come, undo a button, man; it is for the health of thy constitution-Let out a reef; and, let thy chosen friend know what is meditating. Thou knowest I am as true as thyself to little Anthony, if he can but get uppermost.' 66 'If, thou lordly infidel!" said Chiffinch-" talk'st thou to me of ifs?-There is neither if nor and in the matter. The great Madam shall be pulled a peg down-the great plot screwed a peg or two up. Thou knowest Ned?-Honest Ned had a brother's death to revenge." "I have heard so," said the nobleman; "and that his persevering resentment of that injury was one of the few points which seemed to be a sort of heathenish virtue in him." "Well," continued Chiffinch, "in manœuvring to bring about this revenge, which he hath laboured at many a day, he hath discovered a treasure." "What! In the Isle of Man ?" said his compan The epitaph alluded to is the celebrated epigram made by "Here lies our sovereign lord the King, Whose word no man relies on: Who never said a foolish thing, "Assure yourself of it.-She is a creature so lovely, *The Duchess of Portsmouth, Charles II's favourite mistress; very unpopular at the time of the Popish Plot, as well from her religion as her country, being a French woman and a Catholic. Anthony Ashly Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, the politician and intriguer of the period. PEVERIL OF THE PEAK. that she needs but be seen to put down every one of the favourites, from Portsmouth and Cleaveland down to that three-penny baggage, Mistress Nelly." "By my word, Chiffinch," said my lord, "that is a reinforcement after the fashion of thine own best tactics. But bethink thee, man! To make such a conquest, there wants more than a cherry-cheek and a bright eye-there must be wit-wit, man, and manners, and a little sense besides, to keep influence when it is gotten." "Pshaw! will you tell me what goes to this vocation?" said Chiffinch. "Here, pledge me her health in a brimmer.-Nay, you shall do it on knees, too. Never such a triumphant beauty was seen-I went to church on purpose, for the first time these ten years -Yet I lie, it was not to church neither-it was to chapel." "To chapel!-What the devil, is she a puritan?" exclaimed the other courtier. "To be sure she is. Do you think I would be accessary to bringing a Papist into favour in these times, when, as my good Lord said in the House, there should not be a Popish man-servant, nor a Popish maid-servant, not so much as dog or cat left, to bark or mew about the King!"* "But consider, Chiffie, the dislikelihood of her pleasing," said the noble courtier.-"What! old Rowley, with his wit, and love of wit-his wildness, and love of wildness-he form a league with a silly, scrupulous, unidea'd Puritan!-not if she were Venus. "Thou knowest naught of the matter," answered Chiffinch. "I tell thee, the fine contrast between the seeming saint and falling sinner will give zest to the old gentleman's inclinations. If I do not know him, who does?-Her health, my lord, on your bare knee, as you would live to be of the bedchamber!" "I pledge you most devoutly," answered his friend. "But you have not told me how the acquaintance is to be made; for you cannot, I think, carry her to Whitehall." "Aha, my dear lord, you would have the whole secret! but that I cannot afford-I can spare a friend a peep at my ends, but no one must look on the means by which they are achieved."-So saying, he shook his drunken head most wisely. The villanous design which this discourse implied, and which his heart told him was designed against Alice Bridgenorth, stirred Julian so extremly, that he involuntarily shifted his posture, and laid his hand on his sword hilt. Chiffinch heard a rustling, and broke off, exclaiming, "Hark!-Zounds, something moved-I trust I have told the tale to no ears but thine." sent down-he owes her an old accompt, thou "You shall not baulk me," said Chiffinch; and a "Why, thou art turned a very Machiavel, Chiffinch," said his friend. "But how if the youth proved restiff? "I will cut off any which have drunk in but a-I have heard these Peak men have hot heads and syllable of thy words," said the nobleman; and raising hard hands." a candle, he took a hasty survey of the apartment. Seeing nothing that could incur his menaced resentment, he replaced the light and continued:-"Well, suppose the Belle Louise de Querouaillet shoots from her high station in the firmament, how will you rear up the down-fallen Plot again-for without that same plot, think of it as thou wilt, we have no change of hands-and matters remain as they were, with a Protestant courtesan instead of a PapistLittle Anthony can but little speed without that Plot of his-I believe, in my conscience, he begot it himself."t "Whoever begot it," said Chiffinch, "he hath "Now thou speakest like a good fellow; and I will, "Most exquisite Chiffinch, thou art turned micher as well as padder-Canst both rob a man and kidna him!" "Micher and padder-what terms be these?" said Chiffinch. "Methinks these are sounds to lug out upon. You will have me angry to the degree of falling foul-robber and kidnapper!" You mistake verb for noun-substantive," replied his lordship; "I said rob and kidnap-a man may do "But not without spilling a little foolish noble either once and away without being professional." blood, or some such red-coloured gear," said Chiffinch, starting up. "Oh yes," said his lordship; "all this may be with out these direful consequences, and so you will find to-morrow, when you return to England; for at present you are in the land of Champagne, Chiffie; and that you may continue so, I drink thee this parting cup to line thy nightcap." I do not refuse your pledge," said Chiffinch; "but I drink to thee in dudgeon and in hostility-It is a cup of wrath and a gage of battle. To-morrow, by dawn, I will have thee at point of fox, wert thou the last of because you are a lord ?" the Savilles.-What the devil! think you I fear you "Not so, Chiffinch," answered his companion. "I know thou fearest nothing but beans and bacon, washed down with bumpkin-like beer.--Adieu, sweet Chiffinch-to bed-Chiffinch-to bed." 46 'Spoken like a most gallant Outram," said Julian; "and were we but rid of that puppy lord and his retinue, we two could easily deal with the other three." "Two Londoners and a Frenchman?" said Lance, my Lord Saville, as they call him, I heard word last night that he and all his men of gilded gingerbreadthat looked at an honest fellow like me, as if they were the ore and I the dross-are all to be off this morning to some races, or such like junketings, about Tutbury. It was that brought him down here, where he met this other civet-cat by accident." So saying, he lifted a candle, and left the apartment."I would take them in mine own hand. And as for And Chiffinch, whom the last draught had nearly overpowered, had just strength enough left to do the same, muttering, as he staggered out, "Yes, he shall answer it.-Dawn of day? D-n me-It is come already-Yonder's the dawn-No, d-n me, 'tis the fire glancing on the cursed red lattice-I am whistled drunk, I think-This comes of a country inn-It is the smell of the brandy in this cursed room-It could not be the wine-Well, old Rowley shall send me no more errands to the country again-Steady, steady." So saying he reeled out of the apartment, leaving Peveril to think over the extraordinary conversation he had just heard. The name of Chiffinch, the well-known minister of Charles's pleasures, was nearly allied to the part which he seemed about to play in the present intrigue; but that Christian, whom he had always supposed a Puritan as strict as his brother-in-law Bridgenorth, should be associated with him in a plot so infamous, seemed alike unnatural and monstrous. The near relationship might blind Bridgenorth, and warrant him in confiding his daughter to such a man's charge; but what a wretch he must be, that could coolly meditate such an ignominious abuse of his trust! In doubt whether he could credit for a moment the tale which Chiffinch had revealed, he hastily examined his packet, and found that the sealskin case in which it had been wrapt up, now only contained an equal quantity of waste paper. If he had wanted further confirmation, the failure of the shot which he had fired at Bridgenorth, and of which the wadding only struck him, showed that his arms had been tampered with. He examined the pistol which still remained charged, and found that the ball had been drawn. "May I perish," said he to himself, "amid these villanous intrigues, but thou shalt be more surely loaded, and to better purpose! The contents of these papers may undo my benefactress-their having been found on me, may ruin my father-that I have been the bearer of them, may cost, in these fiery times, my own life-that I care least for-they form a branch of the scheme laid against the honour and happiness of a creature so innocent, that it is almost sin to think of her within the neighbourhood of such infamous knaves. I will recover the letters at all risks-But how?-that is to be thought on.-Lance is stout and trusty; and when a bold deed is once resolved upon, there never yet lacked the means of executing it.' His host now entered, with an apology for his long absence; and after providing Peveril with some refreshments, invited him to accept, for his night-quarters, the accommodation of a remote hay-loft, which he was to share with his comrade; professing, at the same time, he could hardly have afforded them this courtesy, but out of deference to the exquisite talents of Lance Outram, as assistant at the tap; where, indeed, it seems probable that he, as well as the admiring landlord, did that evening contrive to drink nearly as much liquor as they drew. But Lance was a seasoned vessel, on whom liquor made no lasting impression; so that when Peveril awaked that trusty follower at dawn, he found him cool enough to comprehend and enter into the design which he expressed, of recovering the letters which had been abstracted from his person. Having considered the whole matter with much attention, Lance shrugged, grinned, and scratched his head; and at length manfully expressed his resolution. "Well, my naunt speaks truth in her old saw, 'He that serves Peveril maunna be slack, And then again, my good dame was wont to say, that whenever Peveril was in a broil, Outram was in a stew; so I will never bear a base mind, but even hold a part with you, as my fathers have done with yours, for four generations, whatever more." In truth, even as Lance spoke, a trampling was heard of horses in the yard; and from the hatch of their hay-loft, they beheld Lord Saville's attendants mustered, and ready to set out as soon as he should make his appearance. 'So ho, Master Jeremy," said one of the fellows, to a sort of principal attendant, who just came out of the house, methinks the wine has proved a sleeping cup to my lord this morning." แ No," answered Jeremy, "he hath been up before light, writing letters for London; and to punish thy irreverence, thou, Jonathan, shalt be the man to ride back with them." "And so to miss the race?" said Jonathan, sulkily; "I thank you for this good turn, good Master Jeremy and hang me if I forget it." Further discussion was cut short by the appearance of the young nobleman, who, as he came out of the inn, said to Jeremy, "These be the letters. Let one of the knaves ride to London for life and death, and deliver them as directed; and the rest of them get to horse and follow me. Jeremy gave Jonathan the packet with a malicious smile; and the disappointed groom turned his horse's head sullenly towards London, while Lord Saville, and the rest of his retinue, rode briskly off in an op posite direction, pursued by the benedictions of the host and his family, who stood bowing and curtseying at the door, in gratitude, doubtless, for the receipt of an unconscionable reckoning. It was full three hours after their departure, that Chif finch lounged into the room in which they had supped, in a brocade nightgown, and green velvet cap, turned up with the most costly Brussels lace. He seemed but half awake; and it was with drowsy voice that he called for a cup of cold small beer. His manner and appearance were those of a man who had wrest led hard with Bacchus on the preceding evening, and had scarce recovered the effects of his contest with the jolly god. Lance, instructed by his master to watch the motions of the courtier, officiously attended with the cooling beverage he called for, pleading, as an excuse to the landlord, his wish to see a Londoner in his morning-gown and cap. No sooner had Chiffinch taken his morning draught, than he inquired after Lord Saville. "His lordship was mounted and away by peep of dawn," was Lance's reply. "What the devil!" exclaimed Chiffinch; "why, this is scarce civil.-What! off for the races with his whole retinue ?" "All but one," replied Lance, "whom his lordship sent back to London with letters." "To London with letters!" said Chiffinch. "Why, I am for London, and could have saved his express a labour.-But stop-hold-I begin to recollect-d—n, can I have blabbed ?—I have I have I remember it all now-I have blabbed; and to the very weazel of the Court, who sucks the yolk out of every man's secret. Furies and fire-that my afternoons should ruin my mornings thus!-I must turn boon companion and good fellow in my cups-and have my confidences and my quarrels-my friends and my enemies, with a plague to me, as if any one could do a man much good or harm but his own self! His messenger must be stopped, though-I will put a spoke in his wheel.-Hark ye, drawer-fellow-call my groom hither-call Tom Beacon." Lance obeyed; but failed not, when he had in troduced the domestic, to remain in the apartment. in order to hear what should pass betwixt him and his master. "Hark ye, Tom," said Chiffinch, "here are five pieces for you." them, lay tumbled upon the highway in strange dis order; while Lance, springing from his palfrey, com manded his foeman to be still, under no less a penalty than that of death, if he attempted to rise. "What's to be done now, I trow?" said Tom, without even the ceremony of returning thanks, which he was probably well aware would not be received even Before Chitfinch could avenge his trusty follower's in part payment of the debt he was incurring. downfall, his own bridle was seized by Julian, who Mount your fleet nag, Tom-ride like the devil-presented a pistol with the other hand, and comovertake the groom whom Lord Saville despatched to manded him to stand or die. London this morning-lame his horse-break his bones-fill him as drunk as the Baltic sea; or do whatever may best and most effectually stop his journey.Why does the lout stand there without answering me? Dost understand me?" "Why, ay, Master Chiffinch," said Tom; "and so I am thinking doth this honest man here, who need not have heard quite so much of your counsel, an it had been your will." "I am bewitched this morning," said Chiffinch to himself, "or else the champagne runs in my head still. My brain has become the very lowlands of Holland -a gill cup would inundate it-Hark thee, fellow," he added, addressing Lance. "keep my counsel there is a wager betwixt Lord Saville and me, which of us shall first have a letter in London. Here is to drink my health, and bring luck on my side. Say nothing of it; but help Tom to his nag.-Tom, ere thou startest, come for thy credentials-I will give thee a letter to the Duke of Bucks, that may be evidence thou wert first in town." Tom Beacon ducked and exit; and Lance, after having made some show of helping him to horse, ran back to tell his master the joyful intelligence, that a lucky accident had abated Chiffinch's party to their own number. Peveril immediately ordered his horses to be got ready; and, so soon as Tom Beacon was despatched towards London on a rapid trot, had the satisfaction to observe Chiffinch, with his favourite Chaubert. mount to pursue the same journey, though at a more moderate rate. He permitted them to attain such a distance, that they might be dogged without suspicion; then paid his reckoning, mounted his horse, and followed, keeping his men carefully in view, until he should come to a place proper for the enterprise which he meditated. Chiffinch, thoguh effeminate, was no coward. He stood still as commanded, and said, with firmness, "Rogue, you have taken me at surprise. If you are a highwayman, there is my purse. Do us no bodily harm, and spare the budget of spices and sauces." "Look you, Master Chiffinch," said Peveril, this is no time for dallying. I am no highwayman, but a man of honour. Give me back that packet which you stole from me the other night; or, by all that is good, I will send a brace of balls through you, and search for it at leisure." "What night?-What packet?" answered Chiffinch, confused; yet willing to protract the time for the chance of assistance, or to put Peveril off his guard. "I know nothing of what you mean. If you are a man of honour, let me draw my sword, and I will do you right, as a gentleman should do to another." "Dishonourable rascal!" said Peveril, "you escape not in this manner. You plundered me when you had me at odds; and I am not the fool to let my advantage escape, now that my turn is come. Yield up the packet; and then, if you will, I will fight you on equal terms. But first," he reiterated, "yield up the packet, or I will instantly send you where the tenor of your life will be hard to answer for." The tone of Peveril's voice, the fierceness of his eye, and the manner in which he held the loaded weapon, within a hand's-breadth of Chiffinch's head, convinced the last there was neither room for compromise, nor time for trifling. He thrust his hand into a side-pocket of his cloak, and with visible reluctance produced those papers and despatches, with which Julian had been intrusted by the Countess of Derby. "They are five in number," said Julian; "and you have given me only four. Your life depends on full restitution." "Base wretch!" said Peveril, withdrawing his pistol, yet keeping a watchful eye on Chiffinch's motions "thou art unworthy any honest man's sword; and yet, if dare draw your own, as you proposed but am willing to give you a chance upon fair equality of terms.' It had been Peveril's intention, that when they came "It escaped from my hand," said Chiffinch, proto some solitary part of the road, they should grad-ducing the missing document-"There it is. Now ually mend their pace, until they overtook Chaubert-sir, your pleasure is fulfilled, unless," he added, sulkily that Lance Outram should then drop behind, in order "you design either murder or farther robbery." to assail the man of spits and stoves, while he himself, spurring onward, should grapple with Chiffinch. But this scheme presupposed that the master and servant should travel in the usual manner-the latter riding a few yards behind the former. Whereas, such and so interesting were the subjects of discussion betwixt Chiffinch and the French cook, that, without heeding the rules of etiquette, they rode on together, amicably abreast, carrying on a conversation on the mysteries of the table, which the ancient Comus, or a modern gastronome, might have listened to with pleasure. It was, therefore, necessary to venture on them both at once. For this purpose, when they saw a long tract of road before them, unvaried by the least appearance of man, beast, or human habitation, they began to mend their pace, that they might come up to Chiffinch, without giving him any alarm, by a sudden and suspicious increase of haste. In this manner, they lessened the distance which separated them till they were within about twenty yards, when Peveril, afraid that Chiffinch might recognise him at a nearer approach, and so trust to his horse's heels, made Lance the signal to charge. At the sudden increase of their speed, and the noise with which it was necessarily attended, Chiffinch looked around, but had time to do no more, for Lance, who had pricked his pony (which was much more speedy than Julian's horse) into full gallop, pushed, without ceremony, betwixt the courtier and his attendant; and ere Chaubert had time for more than one exclamation, he upset both horse and Frenchman; morbleu! thrilling from his tongue as he rolled on the ground amongst the various articles of his occupation, which, escaping from the budget in which he bore now, You Equality!" said Chiffinch, sneeringly; "yes, a proper equality-sword and pistol against single rapier, and two men upon one, for Chaubert is no fighter. No, sir; I shall seek amends upon some more fitting occasion, and with more equal weapons." By backbiting, or by poison, base pander!" said Julian; "these are thy means of vengeance. But mark me-I know your vile purpose respecting a lady who is too worthy that her name should be uttered in such a worthless ear. Thou hast done me one injury, and thou see'st I have repaid it. But prosecute this farther villany, and be assured I will put thee to death like a foul reptile, whose very slaver is fatal to humanity. Rely upon this, as if Machiavel had sworn it; for so surely as you keep your purpose, so surely will I prosecute my revenge.-Follow me, Lance, and leave him to think on what I have told him." Lance had, after the first shock, sustained a very easy part in this rencontre; for all he had to do, was to point the butt of his whip, in the manner of a gun, at the intimidated Frenchman, who, lying on his back, and gazing at random on the skies, had as little the power or purpose of resistance, as any pig which had ever come under his own slaughter-knife. Summoned by his master from the easy duty of guarding such an unresisting prisoner, Lance remounted his horse, and they both rode off, leaving their discomfited antagonists to console themselves for their misadventure as they best could. But con solation was hard to come by in the circumstances. I and designs a palace, the expense of which may The French artist had to lament the dispersion of his transfer his employer to a jail. But uppermost of spices, and the destruction of his magazine of sauces all, the favourite musician, or singer, who waits on -an enchanter despoiled of his magic wand and talis- my lord to receive, in solid gold, the value of the dulman, could scarce have been in more desperate ex- cet sounds which solaced the banquet of the precedtremity. Chiffinch had to mourn the downfall of his ing evening. intrigue, and its premature discovery. "To this fellow, at least," he thought, "I can have bragged none -here my evil genius alone has betrayed me. With this infernal discovery, which may cost me so dear on all hands, champagne had naught to do. If there be a flask left unbroken, I will drink it after dinner, and try if it may not even yet suggest some scheme of redemption and of revenge." With this manly resolution, he prosecuted his journey to London. We must now transport the reader to the magnificent hotel in -Street, inhabited at this time by the celebrated George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whom Dryden has doomed to a painful immortality by the few lines which we have prefixed to this chapter. Amid the gay and the licentious of the laughing court of Charles, the Duke was the most licentious and most gay; yet, while expending a princely fortune, a strong constitution, and excellent talents, in pursuit of frivolous pleasures, he nevertheless nourished deeper and more extensive designs; in which he only failed from want of that fixed purpose and regulated perseverance essential to all important enterprises, but particularly in politics. Such, and many such like, were the morning attendants of the Duke of Buckingham-all genuine descendants of the daughter of the horse-leech, whose cry is "Give, give." But the levee of his Grace contained other and very different characters; and was indeed as various as his own opinions and pursuits. Besides many of the young nobility and wealthy gentry of England, who made his Grace the glass at which they dressed themselves for the day, and who learned from him how to travel, with the newest and best grace, the general Road to Ruin; there were others of a graver character-discarded statesmen, political spies, opposition orators, servile tools of administration, men who met not elsewhere, but who regarded the Duke's mansion as a sort of neutral ground; sure, that if he was not of their opinion to-day, this very circumstance rendered it most likely he should think with them tomorrow. The Puritans themselves did not shun intercourse with a man whose talents must have rendered him formidable, even if they had not been united with high rank and an immense fortune. Several grave personages, with black suits, short cloaks, and bandstrings of a formal cut, were mingled, as we see their portraits in a gallery of paintings, among the gallants who ruffled in silk and embroidery. It is true they escaped the scandal of being thought intimates of the Duke, by their business being supposed to refer to money matters. Whether these grave and professing citizens mixed politics with money-lending, was not known; but it had been long observed, that the Jews, who in general confine themselves to the latter department, had become for some time faithful attendants at the Duke's levee. It was high-tide in the antechamber, and had been so for more than an hour, ere the Duke's gentleman in ordinary ventured into his bedchamber, carefully darkened, so as to make midnight at noonday, to know his Grace's pleasure. His soft and serene whisper, in which he asked whether it were his Grace's pleasure to rise, was briefly and sharply answered by the counter questions, "Who waits?What's o'clock?" "It is Jerningham, your Grace," said the attendant. "It is one afternoon; and your Grace appointed some of the people without at eleven." "Who are they?-What do they want?" "The gentlemen from the city." It was long past noon; and the usual hour of the Duke's levee if any thing could be termed usual where all was irregular-had been long past. His hall was filled with lackeys and footmen, in the most splendid liveries; the interior apartments, with the gentlemen and pages of his household, arrayed as persons of the first quality, and, in that respect, rather exceeding than falling short of the Duke in personal splendour. But his antechamber, in particular, might be compared to a gathering of eagles to the slaughter, were not the simile too dignified to express that vile race, who, by a hundred devices, all tending to one common end, live upon the wants of needy greatness, or administer to the pleasures of summer-teem- A message from Whitehall, your Grace." ing luxury, or stimulate the wild wishes of lavish and "Pshaw! it will keep cold. Those who make all wasteful extravagance, by devising new modes and others wait, will be the better of waiting in their turn. fresh motives of profusion. There stood the Pro-Were I to be guilty of ill-breeding, it should rather be jector, with his mysterious brow, promising unbounded to a King than a beggar." wealth to whomsoever might choose to furnish the small preliminary sum necessary to change eggshells into the great arcanum. There was Captain Seagull, undertaker for a foreign settlement, with the map under his arm of Indian or American kingdoms, beautiful as the primitive Eden, waiting the bold occupants, for whom a generous patron should equip two brigantines and a fly-boat. Thither came, fast and frequent, the gamesters, in their different forms and calling. This, light, young, gay in appearance, the thoughtless youth of wit and pleasure-the pigeon rather than the rook-but at heart the same sly, shrewd, cold-blooded calculator, as yonder old hardfeatured professor of the same science, whose eyes are grown dim with watching the dice at midnight, and whose fingers are even now assisting his mental computation of chances and of odds. The fine arts, tooI would it were otherwise have their professors amongst this sordid train. The poor poet, half ashamed, in spite of habit, of the part which he is about to perform, and abashed by consciousness at once of his base motive and his shabby black coat, lurks in yonder corner for the favourable moment to offer his dedication. Much better attired, the architect presents his splendid vision of front and wings, "I am tired of them-tired of their all cant, and no religion-all Protestantism and no charity. Tell them to go to Shaftesbury-to Aldersgate Street with them that's the best market for their wares.' Jockey, my lord, from Newmarket. "Let him ride to the devil-he has horse of mine, and spurs of his own. Any more?" "The whole antechamber is full, my lord-knights and squires, doctors and dicers." "The dicers, with their doctors* in their pockets, I presume." "Counts, captains, and clergymen." "You are alliterative, Jerningham," said the Duke; "and that is a proof you are poetical. Hand me my writing things." Getting half out of bed-thrusting one arm into a brocade nightgown, deeply furred with sables, and one foot into a velvet slipper, while the other pressed in primitive nudity the rich carpet-his Grace, without thinking farther on the assembly without, began to pen a few lines of a satirical poem; then suddenly stopped-threw the pen into the chimney-exclaimed that the humour was past-and asked his attendant * Doctor, a cant name for false dice. |