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if there were any letters. huge packet.

Jerningham produced a What the devil!" said his Grace, "do you think I will read all these? I am like Clarence, who asked a cup of wine, and was soused into a butt of sack. I mean is there any thing which presses?" "This letter, your Grace," said Jerningham, "concerning the Yorkshire mortgage."

"Did I not bid thee carry it to old Gatheral, my steward?"

"I did, my lord," answered the other; "but Gatheral says there are difficulties."

"Let the usurers foreclose, then-there is no difficulty in that; and out of a hundred manors I shall scarce miss one," answered the Duke. "And hark ye bring me my chocolate."

Nay, my lord, Gatheral does not say it is impossible-only difficult."

all the colours of the rainbow, there is no spite in woman, no faith in crabtree, or pith in heart of oakAraminta's wrath alone would overburden one pair of mortal shoulders."

"But, my Lord Duke," said his attendant, "this Settle is so dull a rascal, that nothing he can write will take."

"Then as we have given him steel to head the arrow," said the Duke, we will give him wings to waft it with-wood he has enough of his own to make a shaft or bolt of. Hand me my own unfinished lampoon-give it to him with the letters-let him make what he can of them all."

"My Lord Duke-I crave pardon-but your Grace's style will be discovered; and though the ladies' names are not at the letters, yet they will be traced."

"I would have it so, you blockhead. Have you "And what is the use of him, if he cannot make it lived with me so long, and cannot discover that the easy? But you are all born to make difficulties," re-eclat of an intrigue is, with me, worth all the rest of plied the Duke. it ?"

"Nay, if your Grace approves the terms in this schedule, and pleases to sign it, Gatheral will undertake for the matter," answered Jerningham.

"And could you not have said so at first, you blockhead?" said the Duke, signing the paper without looking at the contents-"What other letters? And remember, I must be plagued with no more business."

"Billets-doux, my lord-five or six of them. This left at the porter's lodge by a vizard mask.”.

"But the danger, my Lord Duke?" replied Jerningham. "There are husbands, brothers, friends, whose revenge may be awakened."

'And beaten to sleep again," said Buckingham, haughtily. "I have Black Will and his cudgel for plebeian grumblers; and those of quality I can deal with myself. I lack breathing and exercise of late."+ "But yet your Grace"

"Hold your peace, fool! I tell you that your poor dwarfish spirit cannot measure the scope of mine. I "Pshaw!" answered the Duke, tossing them over, tell thee I would have the course of my life a torrent while his attendant assisted in dressing him-"an-I am weary of easy achievements, and wish for acquaintance of a quarter's standing."

"This given to one of the pages by my Lady waiting-woman."

obstacles, that I can sweep before my irresistible -'s course.'

"Plague on it-a Jeremiade on the subject of perjury and treachery, and not a single new line to the old tune," said the Duke, glancing over the billet. "Here is the old cant-cruel man-broken rows Heaven's just revenge. Why, the woman is thinking of murder-not of love. No one should pretend to write upon so threadbare a topic without having at least some novelty of expression. The despairing Araminta Lie there, fair desperate. And this-how comes it ?"

"Flung into the window of the hall, by a fellow who ran off at full speed," answered Jerningham.

"This is a better text," said the duke; "and yet it is an old one too-three weeks old at least-The little Countess with the jealous lord-I should not care a farthing for her, save for that same jealous lordPlague on't, and he's gone down to the country-this evening-in silence and safety-written with a quill pulled from the wing of Cupid-Your ladyship has left him pen-feathers enough to fly away with-better clipped his wings when you had caught him, my lady -And so confident of her Buckingham's faith-I hate confidence in a young person-She must be taught better-I will not go.'

"Your Grace will not be so cruel!" said Jerning

ham.

"Thou art a compassionate fellow, Jerningham; but conceit must be punished."

"But if your lordship should resume your fancy for her?"

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Why, then, you must swear the billet-doux miscarried," answered the Duke. "And stay, a thought strikes me-it shall miscarry in great style. Hark ye-Is-what is the fellow's name-the poet-is he yonder ?"

"There are six gentlemen, sir, who, from the reams of paper in their pocket, and the threadbare seams at their elbows, appear to wear the livery of the Muses." "Poetical once more, Jerningham. He, I mean, who wrote the last lampoon," said the Duke.

"To whom your Grace said you owed five pieces and a beating?" replied Jerningham.

"The money for his satire, and the cudgel for his praise-Good-find him-give him the five pieces, and thrust the Countess's billet-doux-Hold-take Araminta's and the rest of them-thrust them all into his portfolio-All will come out at the Wits' Coffeehouse; and if the promulgator be not cudgelled into

Another gentleman now entered the apartment. "I humbly crave your Grace's pardon," he said; "but Master Christian is so importunate for admission instantly, that I am obliged to take your Grace's pleasure."

"Tell him to call three hours hence. Damn his politic pate, that would make all men dance after his pipe!"

"I thank you for the compliment, my Lord Duke," said Christian, entering the apartment in somewhat a more courtly garb, but with the same unpretending and undistinguished mien, and in the same placid and indifferent manner with which he had accosted Julian Peveril upon different occasions during his journey to London. "It is precisely my present object to pipe to you; and you may dance to your own profit, if you will."

"On my word, Master Christian," said the Duke, haughtily, "the affair should be weighty, that removes ceremony so entirely from betwixt us. If it relates to the subject of our last conversation, I must request our interview be postponed to some further opportunity. I am engaged in an affair of some weight." Then turning his back on Christian, he went on with his conversation with Jerningham. "Find the person you wot of, and give him the papers; and hark ye, give him this gold to pay for the shaft of his arrow-the steel-head and peacock's wing we have already provided."

This is all well, my lord," said Christian, calmly, and taking his seat at the same time in an easy chair at some distance; "but your Grace's levity is no

Elkana Settle, the unworthy scribbler whom the envy of Rochester and others tried to raise to public estimation, as a rival to Dryden; a circumstance which has been the means of elevating him to a very painful species of immortality. It was the unworthy distinction of men of wit and honour about town, to revenge their own quarrels with inferior persons by the hands of bravoes. Even in the days of chivalry, the the chastisement of their squires such adversaries as were not knights, as may be learned from Don Quixote, turned over to dubb'd; and thus it was not unusual for men of quality in Charles II.'s time, to avenge their wrongs by means of private assassination. Rochester writes composedly concerning a satire imputed to Dryden, but in reality composed by Mulgrave, "If he falls upon me with the blunt, which is his very good weapon in wit, I will forgive him, if you please, and leave the repartee to Black Will with a cudgel." And, in conformity with this cowardly and brutal intimation, that distinguished poet was ruffians who could not be discovered, but whom all concluded waylaid and beaten severely in Rose Street, Covent Garden, by to be the agents of Rochester's mean revenge.

match for my equanimity. It is necessary I should | hell, I would it were by some new road, and in gentlespeak with you; and I will await your Grace's leisure men's company. I should not like to travel with in the apartment." Oates, Bedlow, and the rest of that famous cloud of witnesses."

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Very well, sir," said the Duke, peevishly; "if an evil is to be undergone, the sooner it is over the better-I can take measures to prevent its being renewed. So let me hear your errand without further delay."

"Your Grace is then resolved to forego all the advantages which may arise? If the House of Derby fall under forfeiture, the grant to Fairfax, now worthily represented by your Duchess, revives; and you become the Lord and Sovereign of Man."

"In right of a woman," said the Duke; "but, in

"I will wait till your Grace's toilette is completed," said Christian, with the indifferent tone which was natural to him. "What I have to say must be be-troth, my godly dame owes me some advantage for tween ourselves."

having lived the first year of our marriage with her and old Black Tom, her grim, fighting, puritanic father. A man might as well have married the Devil's daughter, and set up house-keeping with his father

"Begone, Jerningham; and remain without till I call. Leave my doublet on the couch.-How now? I have worn this cloth of silver a hundred times." "Only twice, if it please your Grace," replied Jer-in-law."* ningham.

"As well twenty times-keep it for yourself, or give it to my valet, if you are too proud of your gentility."

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Your Grace has made better men than me wear your cast clothes," said Jerningham, submissively.

"I understand you are willing, then, to join your interest for a heave at the House of Derby, my Lord Duke?"

"As they are unlawfully possessed of my wife's kingdom, they certainly can expect no favour at my hand. But thou knowest there is an interest at White

"Thou art sharp, Jerningham," said the Duke-hall predominant over mine." "in one sense I have, and I may again. So now, that pearl-coloured thing will do with the ribbon and George. Get away with thee.-And now that he is gone, Master Christian, may I once more crave your pleasure?"

"That is only by your Grace's sufferance," said Christian.

"My Lord Duke," said Christian, "you are a worshipper of difficulties in state affairs, as in love

matters.

"I trust you have been no eavesdropper, Master Christian," replied the Duke; "it scarce argues the respect due to me, or to my roof."

I know not what you mean, my lord," replied Christian.

Nay, I care not if the whole world heard what I said but now to Jerningham. But to the matter," replied the Duke of Buckingham.

"Your Grace is so much occupied with conquests over the fair and over the witty, that you have perhaps forgotten what a stake you have in the little Island of Man."

"Not a whit, Master Christian. I remember well enough that my roundheaded father-in-law, Fairfax, had the island from the Long Parliament; and was ass enough to quit hold of it at the Restoration, when, if he had closed his clutches, and held fast, like a true bird of prey, as he should have done, he might have kept it for him and his. It had been a rare thing to have had a little kingdom-made laws of my own had my Chamberlain with his white staff-I would have taught Jerningham, in half a day, to look as wise, walk as stiffly, and speak as sillily, as Harry Bennet."*

"You might have done this, and more, if it had pleased your Grace."

"Ay, and if it had pleased my Grace, thou, Ned Christian, shouldst have been the Jack Ketch of my dominions."

"I your Jack Ketch, my lord?" said Christian, more in a tone of surprise than of displeasure.

"Why, ay; thou hast been perpetually intriguing against the life of yonder poor old woman. It were a kingdom to thee to gratify thy spleen with thy own hands."

"I only seek justice against the Countess," said Christian.

"And the end of justice is always a gibbet," said the Duke.

"Be it so," answered Christian. "Well, the Countess is in the Plot."

"The devil confound the Plot, as I believe he first invented it!" said the Duke of Buckingham; "I have heard of nothing else for months. If one must go to Bennet, Earl of Arlington, was one of Charles's most at tached courtiers during his exile. After the Restoration, he was employed in the ministry, and the name of Bennet supplies its initial B to the celebrated word Cabal. But the King was supposed to have lost respect for him; and several persons at court took the liberty to mimic his person and behaviour, which was stiff and formal. Thus it was a common jest for some courtier to put a black patch on his nose, and strut about with a white staff in his hand, to make the King merry. But, not withstanding, he retained his office of Lord Chamberlain and his seat in the Privy Council, till his death in 1685.

No, no; I tell thee a hundred times, no," said the Duke, rousing himself to anger at the recollection. "I tell thee that base courtesan, the Duchess of Portsmouth, hath impudently set herself to thwart and contradict me; and Charles has given me both cloudy looks and hard words before the Court. I would he could but guess what is the offence between her and me! I would he but knew that! But I will have her plumes plucked, or my name is not Villiers. A worthless French fille-de-joie to brave me thus!Christian, thou art right; there is no passion so spiritstirring as revenge. I will patronise the Plot, if it be but to spite her, and make it impossible for the King to uphold her."

As the Duke spoke, he gradually wrought himself into a passion, and traversed the apartment with as much vehemence as if the only object he had on earth was to deprive the Duchess of her power and favour with the King. Christian smiled internally to see him approaching the state of mind in which he was most easily worked upon, and judiciously kept silence, until the Duke called out to him, in a pet, "Well, Sir Oracle, you that have laid so many schemes to supplant this she-wolf of Gaul, where are all your contrivances now ?-Where is the exquisite beauty who was to catch the Sovereign's eye at the first glance?-Chiffinch, hath he seen her ?--and what does he say, that exquisite critic in beauty and blanc-mange, women and wine?"

"He has seen and approves, but has not yet heard her; and her speech answers to all the rest. We came here yesterday; and to-day I intend to introduce Chiffinch to her, the instant he arrives from the country; and I expect him every hour. I am but afraid of the damsel's peevish virtue, for she hath been brought up after the fashion of our grandmothers-our mothers had better sense."

"What! so fair, so young, so quick-witted, and so difficult?" said the Duke. By your leave, you shall introduce me as well as Chiffinch."

"That your Grace may cure her of her intractable modesty ?" said Christian.

Why," replied the Duke, "it will but teach her to stand in her own light. Kings do not love to court and sue; they should have their game run down for them."

"Under your Grace's favour," said Christian, "this cannot be-Non omnibus dormio Your Grace knows the classic allusion. If this maiden become a Prince's favourite, rank gilds the shame and the sin. But to any under Majesty, she must not vail topsail."

"Why, thou suspicious fool, I was but in jest," said the Duke. "Do you think I would interfere to spoil a plan so much to my own advantage as that which you have laid before me?"

*Mary, daughter of Thomas Lord Fairfax, was wedded to the Duke of Buckingham, whose versatility rendered him as capable for a time of rendering himself agreeable to his fatherin-law, though a rigid Presbyterian, as to the gay Charles II.

Christian smiled and shook his head. "My lord," | him as high as he can any one who is no such purihe said, "I know your Grace as well, or better per-tanic fool as himself." haps, than you know yourself. To spoil a well- 'Well, most Christian Christian," said the Duke, concerted intrigue by some cross stroke of your own, "I have heard your commands at length. I will would give you more pleasure than to bring it to a endeavour to stop the earths under the throne, that successful termination according to the plans of neither the lord, knight, nor squire in question, shall others. But Shaftesbury, and all concerned, have find it possible to burrow there. For the fair one, I determined that our scheme shall at least have fair must leave Chiffinch and you to manage her introplay. We reckon, therefore, on your help; and-duction to her high destinies, since I am not to be forgive me when I say so-we will not permit our- trusted. Adieu, most Christian Christian." selves to be impeded by your levity and fickleness of purpose.

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Who?--I light and fickle of purpose?" said the Duke. "You see me here as resolved as any of you, to dispossess the mistress, and to carry on the Plot; these are the only two things I live for in this world. No one can play the man of business like me, when I please, to the very filing and labelling of my letters. I am regular as a scrivener."

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You have Chiffinch's letter from the country; he told me he had written to you about some passages betwixt him and the young Lord Saville."

"He did so-he did so,' ," said the Duke, looking among his letters; "but I see not his letter just now -I scarcely noted the contents-I was busy when it came-but I have it safely."

"You should have acted on it," answered Christian. "The fool suffered himself to be choused out of his secret, and prayed you to see that my lord's messenger got not to the Dutchess with some despatches which he sent up from Derbyshire, betraying our mystery."

The Duke was now alarmed, and rang the bell hastily. Jerningham appeared. "Where is the letter I had from Master Chiffinch some hours since?"

"If it be not amongst those your Grace has before you, I know nothing of it," said Jerningham. "I saw none such arrive."

"You lie, you rascal," said Buckingham; "have you a right to remember better than I do?"

"If your Grace will forgive me reminding you, you have scarce opened a letter this week," said his gentleman.

"Did you ever hear such a provoking rascal!" said the Duke. "He might be a witness in the Plot. He has knocked my character for regularity entirely on the bead with his damned counter-evidence."

66

Your Grace's talent and capacity will at least remain unimpeached," said Christian; "and it is those that must serve yourself and your friends. If I might advise, you will hasten to Court, and lay some foundation for the impression we wish to make. If your Grace can take the first word, and throw out a hint to crossbite Saville, it will be well. But above all, keep the King's ear employed, which no one can do so well as you. Leave Chiffinch to fill his heart with a proper object. Another thing is, there is a blockhead of an old Cavalier, who must needs be a bustler in the Countess of Derby's behalf-he is fast in hold, with the whole tribe of witnesses at his haunches."

"Nay, then, take him, Topham."

"Topham has taken him already, my lord," said Christian; "and there is, besides, a young gallant, a son of the said Knight, who was bred in the household of the Countess of Derby, and who has brought letters from her to the Provincial of the Jesuits, and others in London."

"What are their names?" said the Duke, dryly. "Sir Geoffrey Peveril of Martindale Castle, in Derbysoire, and his son Julian."

"What! Peveril of the Peak?" said the Duke,-"a stout old Cavalier as ever swore an oath-A Worcester-man, too-and, in truth, a man of all work, when blows were going? I will not consent to his ruin, Christian. These fellows must be flogged off such false scents-flogged in every sense, they must, and will be, when the nation comes to its eye-sight again." "It is of more than the last importance, in the mean time, to the furtherance of our plan," said Christian, "that your Grace should stand for a space between them and the King's favour. The youth hath influence with the maiden, which we should find scarce favourable to our views; besides, her father holds

He fixed his eyes on him, and then exclaimed, as he shut the door of the apartment,-" Most profligate and damnable villain! And what provokes me most of all, is the knave's composed insolence, Your Grace will do this-and your Grace will condescend to do that-A pretty puppet I should be, to play the second part or rather the third, in such a scheme! No, they shall all walk according to my purpose, or I will cross them. I will find this girl out in spite of them, and judge if their scheme is likely to be successful. If so, she shall be mine-mine entirely, before she becomes the King's; and I will command her who is to guide Charles.-Jerningham,"* (his gentleman entered,) cause Christian to be dogged wherever he goes, for the next four-and-twenty hours, and find out where he visits a female newly come to town.-You smile, you knave?"

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*The application of the very respectable old English name of Jerningham to the valet-de-chambre of the Duke of Buckingham, has proved of force sufficient to wake the resentment of the dead, who had in early days worn that illustrious surname, -for the author received by post the following expostulation on the subject:

"To the learned Clerk and worshipful Knight, Sir Walter Scott. give these:

64 Mye mortal frame has long since mouldered into dust, and the young saplinge that was planted on the daye of mye funeral, is now a doddered oak, standinge hard bye the mansion of the among its moss-covered branches, and awakening in the soules of my descendants, that pensive melancholy which leads back to the contemplating those that are gone!-I, who was once the courtly dame, that held high revelry in these gaye bowers, am now light as the blast! "If I essaye,

familie. The windes doe whistle thro' its leaves, moaninge

from vain affection, to make my name be thought

of by producing the noise of rustlinge silkes, or the slow tread of a midnight foot along the chapel floor, alas! I only scare the simple maidens, and my wearie efforts (how wearie none alive can tell) are derided and jeered at, by my knightlie descendants. Once indeed-but it boots not to burthen your ear with this particular, nor why I am still sad and aching, between earth and heaven! Know only, that I still walk this place (as mye playmate, your great-grandmother, does hers.) I sit in my wonted chair, tho' now it stands in a dusty garret. I frequent my lady's room, and I have hushed her wailing babes, when all the cunning of the nurse has failed. I sit at the window where so long a succession of honourable dames have presided their daye, and are passed away! But in the change that centuries brought, honor and truth have remained; and, as adherents to King Harry's eldest daughter, as true subjects to her successors, as faithful followers of the unfortunate Charles and his posteritie, and as loyal and attached servauntes of the present lied in honour, and uncontaminated in aught unfitting its anroyal stock, the name of Jerningham has ever remained unsul cient knightlie origin. You, noble and learned sir, whose quill is as the trumpet arousinge the slumberinge soule to feelings of loftie chivalrie,-you, Sir Knight, who feel and doe honour to your noble lineage, wherefore did you say, in your chronicle or historie of the brave knight, Peveril of the Peake, that my lord of Buckingham's servaunte was a Jerningham!!! a vile varlet to a viler noble! Many honourable families have, indeed, shot and spread from the parent stock into wilde entangled mazes, it so pleased Providence, that mye worshipful husband, good and reached perchance beyond the confines of gentle blood; buf Sir Harry's line, has flowed in one confined, but clear deep steam, down to mye well-beloued son, the present Sir George Jerningham (by just claim Lorde Stafforde;) and if any of your courtly ancestors that hover round your bed, could speak, they

would tell you that the Duke's valet was not Jerningham, but

Sayer or Sims.-Act as you shall think mete hereon, but defend the honoured names of those whose champion you so well deserve to be.

"J. JERNINGHAM."

Having no mode of knowing how to reply to this ancient dignitary, I am compelled to lay the blame of my error upon wicked example which has misled me; and to plead that I should never have been guilty of so great a misnomer, but for the authority of one Oliver Goldsmith, who, in an elegant dialogue between the Lady Blarney and Miss Carolina Wilhelmina Ame-⚫ lia Skeggs, makes the former assure Miss Skeggs as a fact, that the next morning my lord called out three times to his valet-dechambre, "Jernigan, Jernigan, Jernigan! bring me my garters! Some inaccurate recollection of this passage has occasioned the offence rendered, for which I make this imperfect, yet respectful apology.

"I did but suspect a fresh rival to Araminta and | father-hast not her father's fears. Art thou sure of the little Countess," said Jerningham. the character of this woman to whom my child is intrusted?"

"Away to your business, knave," said the Duke, "and let me think of mine.-To subdue a Puritan in Am I sure of my own?-Am I sure that my name Esse-a King's favourite in Posse-the very muster is Christian-yours Bridgenorth ?-Is it a thing I am of western beauties-that is point first. The impu- likely to be insecure in ?-Have I not dwelt for many dence of this Manx mongrel to be corrected-the years in this city ?-Do I not know this Court?-And pride of Madame la Duchesse to be pulled down-am I likely to be imposed upon? For I will not think an important state intrigue to be furthered, or baffled, as circumstances render most to my own honour and glory-I wished for business but now, and I have got enough of it. But Buckingham will keep his own steerage-way through shoal and through weather."

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AFTER leaving the proud mansion of the Duke of Buckingham, Christian, full of the deep and treacherous schemes which he meditated, hastened to the city, where, in a decent inn, kept by a person of his own persuasion, he had been unexpectedly summoned to meet with Ralph Bridgenorth of Moultrassie. He was not disappointed-the Major had arrived that morning, and anxiously expected him. The usual gloom of his countenance was darkened into a yet deeper shade of anxiety, which was scarcely relieved, even while, in answer to his inquiry after his daughter, Christian gave the most favourable account of her health and spirits, naturally and unaffectedly intermingled with such praises of her beauty and her disposition, as were likely to be most grateful to a father's

ear.

But Christian had too much cunning to expatiate on this theme, however soothing. He stopped short exactly at the point where, as an affectionate relative, he might be supposed to have said enough. "The lady," he said, "with whom he had placed Alice, was delighted with her aspect and manners, and undertook to be responsible for her health and happiness. He had not, he said, deserved so little confidence at the hand of his brother, Bridgenorth, as that the Major should, contrary to his purpose, and to the plan which they had adjusted together, have hurried up from the country, as if his own presence were necessary for Alice's protection."

"Brother Christian," said Bridgenorth in reply, "I must see my child-I must see this person with whom she is intrusted."

you can fear my imposing upon you."

"Thou art my brother," said Bridgenorth-"the blood and bone of my departed Saint-and I am determined that I will trust thee in this matter."

"Thou dost well," said Christian; "and who knows what reward may be in store for thee?-I cannot look upon Alice, but it is strongly borne in on my mind, that there will be work for a creature so excellent beyond ordinary women. Courageous Judith freed Bethulia by her valour, and the comely features of Esther inade her a safeguard and a defence to her people in the land of captivity, when she found favour in the sight of King Ahasuerus."

Be it with her as Heaven wills," said Bridgenorth; and now tell me what progress there is in the great work."

"The people are weary of the iniquity of this Court," said Christian; "and if this man will continue to reign, it must be by calling to his councils men of another stamp. The alarm excited by the damnable practices of the Papists, has called up men's souls, and awakened their eyes to the dangers of their state.He himself-for he will give up brother and wife to save himself-is not averse to a change of measures; and though we cannot at first see the Court purged as with a winnowing fan, yet there will be enough of the good to control the bad-enough of the sober party to compel the grant of that universal toleration, for which we have sighed so long, as a maiden for her beloved. Time and opportunity will lead the way to more thorough reformation; and that will be done without stroke of sword, which our friends failed to establish on a sure foundation, even when their victorious blades were in their hands."

"May God grant it!" said Bridgenorth; "for I fear me I should scruple to do aught which should once more unsheath the civil sword; but welcome all that comes in a peaceful and parliamentary way.'

"Ay," said Christian, and which will bring with it the bitter amends, which our enemies have so long merited at our hands. How long bath our brother's blood cried for vengeance from the altar!-Now shall that cruel Frenchwoman find that neither lapse of years, nor her powerful friends, nor the name of Stanley, nor the Sovereignty of Man, shall stop the stern course of the pursuer of blood. Her name shall be struck from the noble, and her heritage shall another take."

"To what purpose?" answered Christian. "Have you not often confessed that the over excess of the carnal affection which you have entertained for your daughter, hath been a snare to you?-Have you not, more than once, been on the point of resigning those great designs which should place righteousness as a counsellor beside the throne, because you desired to gratify your daughter's girlish passion for this descend-is ant of your old persecutor-this Julian Peveril ?"

"I own it," said Bridgenorth; "and worlds would I have given, and would yet give, to clasp that youth to my bosom, and call him my son. The spirit of his mother looks from his eye, and his stately step is as that of his father, when he daily spoke comfort to me in my distress, and said, 'The child liveth.'"

"But the youth walks," said Christian, "after his own lights, and mistakes the meteor of the marsh for the Polar star. Ralph Bridgenorth, I will speak to thee in friendly sincerity. Thou must not think to serve both the good cause and Baal. Obey, if thou wilt, thine own carnal affections, summon this Julian Peveril to thy house, and let him wed thy daughterBut mark the reception she will meet with from the proud old knight, whose spirit is now, even now, as little broken with his chains, as after the sword of the Saints had prevailed at Worcester. Thou wilt see thy daughter spurned from his feet like an outcast."

"Christian," said Bridgenorth, interrupting him, "thou dost urge me hard; but thou dost it in love, my brother, and I forgive thee-Alice shall never be spurned. But this friend of thine-this lady-thou art my child's uncle; and after me, thou art next to her in love and affection-Still, thou art not her

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Nay, but, brother Christian," said Bridgenorth, art thou not over eager in pursuing this thing?—It thy duty as a Christian to forgive thine enemies." Ay, but not the enemies of Heaven-not those who shed the blood of the saints," said Christian, his eyes kindling with that vehement and fiery expression which at times gave to his uninteresting countenance the only character of passion which it ever exhibited. "No, Bridgenorth," he continued, "I esteem this purpose of revenge holy-I account it a propitiatory sacrifice for what may have been evil in my life. I have submitted to be spurned by the haughty-I have humbled myself to be as a servant; but in my breast was the proud thought, I, who do this--do ít that I may avenge my brother's blood."

"Still, my brother," said Bridgenorth, "although I participate thy purpose, and have aided thee against this Moabitish woman, I cannot but think thy revenge is more after the law of Moses than after the law of love."

"This comes well from thee, Ralph Bridgenorth," answered Christian; "from thee, who hast just smiled over the downfall of thine own enemy

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"If you mean Sir Geoffrey Peveril," said Bridgenorth, "I smile not on his ruin. It is well he is abased; but if it lies with me, I may humble his pride, but will never ruin his house."

CHAP. XXIX.]

PEVERIL OF THE PEAK.

"You know your purpose best," said Christian; "and I do justice, brother Bridgenorth, to the purity of your principles; but men who see with but worldly eyes, would discern little purpose of mercy in the strict magistrate and severe creditor-and such have you been to Peveril."

"And, brother Christian," said Bridgenorth, his colour rising as he spoke, neither do I doubt your purpose, nor deny the surprising address with which you have procured such perfect information concerning the purposes of yonder woman of Ammon. But it is free to me to think, that in your intercourse with the Court, and with courtiers, you may, in your carnal and worldly policy, sink the value of those spiritual gifts, for which you were once so much celebrated among the brethren."

"Do not apprehend it," said Christian, recovering his temper, which had been a little ruffled by the previous discussion. "Let us but work together as heretofore; and I trust each of us shall be found doing the work of a faithful servant to that good old cause for which we have heretofore drawn the sword."

So saying, he took his hat, and bidding Bridgenorth farewell, declared his intention of returning in the evening.

therefore, his seeming godliness brought him worldly
gain, his secret pleasures compensated for his outward
austerity; until the restoration, and the Countess's
violent proceedings against his brother, interrupted
island, burning with the desire of revenging his
the course of both. He then fled from his native
brother's death-the only passion foreign to his own
gratification which he was ever known to cherish,
and which was also at least partly selfish, since it
He found easy access to Villiers, Duke of Bucking-
concerned the restoration of his own fortunes.
ham, who, in right of his Duchess, claimed such of
the Derby estates as had been bestowed by the Parlia-
ment on his celebrated father-in-law, Lord Fairfax.
His influence at the Court of Charles, where a jest
was a better plea than a long claim of faithful service,
was so successfully exerted, as to contribute greatly
to the depression of that loyal and ill-rewarded
family. But Buckingham was incapable, even for
his own interest, of pursuing the steady course which
Christian suggested to him; and his vacillation prob-
of Derby.
ably saved the remnant of the large estates of the Earl

[graphic]

Mean time, Christian was too useful a follower to stamp, he did not affect to conceal the laxity of his be dismissed. From Buckingham, and others of the "Fare thee well" said Bridgenorth; "to that morals; but, towards the numerous and powerful cause wilt thou find me ever a true and devoted ad-party to which he belonged, he was able to disguise herent. I will act by that counsel of thine, and will not even ask thee-though it may grieve my heart as a parent with whom, or where, thou hast intrusted my child. I will try to cut off, and cast from me, even my right hand, and my right eye; but for thee, Christian, if thou dost deal otherwise than prudently and honestly in this matter, it is what God and man will require at thy hand."

"Fear not me," said Christian, hastily, and left the place, agitated by reflections of no pleasant kind. "I ought to have persuaded him to return," he "Even his said, as he stepped out into the street. hovering in this neighbourhood may spoil the plan on which depends the rise of my fortunes-ay, and of his child's. Will men say I have ruined her, when I shall have raised her to the dazzling height of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and perhaps made her mother to a long line of Princes? Chiffinch hath vouched for opportunity; and the voluptuary's fortune depends on his gratifying the taste of his master for variety. If she makes an impression, it must be a deep one; and once seated in his affections, 1 fear not her being supplanted.-What will her father say? Will he, like a prudent man, put his shame in his pocket, because it is well gilded? or will he think it fitting to make a display of moral wrath and parental frenzy? I fear the latter-He has ever kept too strict a course to admit his conniving at such license. But what will his anger avail ?-I need not be seen in the matter those who are, will care little for the resentment of a country Puritan. And after all, what I am labouring to bring about is best for himself, the wench, and, above all, for me, Edward Christian."

With such base opiates did this unhappy wretch stifle his own conscience, while anticipating the disgrace of his friend's family, and the ruin of a near relative, committed in confidence to his charge. The character of this man was of no common description; nor was it by an ordinary road that he had arrived at the present climax of unfeeling and infamous selfishness.

Edward Christian, as the reader is aware, was the brother of that William Christian, who was the principal instrument in delivering up the Island of Man to the Republic, and who became the victim of the Countess of Derby's revenge on that account. Both had been educated as Puritans, but William was a soldier, which somewhat modified the strictness of his religious opinions; Edward, a civilian, seemed to entertain these principles in the utmost rigour. But it was only seeming. The exactness of deportment, which procured him great honour and influence among the sober party, as they were wont to term themselves, covered a voluptuous disposition, the gratification of which was sweet to him as stolen waters, and pleasant as bread eaten in secret. While, 2 G VOL. IV.

them by a seeming gravity of exterior, which he never
laid aside. Indeed, so wide and absolute was then
the distinction betwixt the Court and the city, that a
man might have for some time played two several
parts, as in two different spheres, without its being
discovered in the one that he exhibited himself in a
talent shows himself an able and useful partisan, his
different light in the other. Besides, when a man of
of conduct the most contradictory to their own prin-
party will continue to protect and accredit him, in spite
ciples. Some facts are, in such cases, denied-some
are glossed over-and party zeal is permitted to cover
Edward Christian had often need of the partial
at least as many defects as ever doth charity.
indulgence of his friends; but he experienced it, for he
was eminently useful. Buckingham, and other cour-
tiers of the same class, however dissolute in their
lives, were desirous of keeping some connexion with
the Dissenting or Puritanic party, as it was termed;
thereby to strengthen themselves against their op-
ponents at Court. In such intrigues, Christian was a
notable agent; and at one time had nearly procured
an absolute union between a class which professed the
most rigid principles of religion and morality, and the
latitudinarian courtiers, who set all principle at defi-
ance.

Amidst the vicissitudes of a life of intrigue, during which Buckingham's ambitious schemes and his own repeatedly sent him across the Atlantic, it was Edward Christian's boast that he never lost sight of his principal object-revenge on the Countess of Derby. with his native island, so as to be perfectly informed He maintained a close and intimate correspondence of whatever took place there; and he stimulated, on every favourable opportunity, the cupidity of Buckingham to possess himself of this petty kingdom, by procuring the forfeiture of its present Lord. It was not difficult to keep his patron's wild wishes alive on this topic, for his own mercurial imagination attached Sovereign even in this little island; and he was, like particular charms to the idea of becoming a sort of Catiline, as covetous of the property of others, as he was profuse of his own.

But it was not until the pretended discovery of the Papist Plot that the schemes of Christian could be brought to ripen; and then, so odious were the Catholics in the eyes of the credulous people of England, that, upon the accusation of the most infamous of mankind, common informers, the scourings of jails, and the refuse of the whipping-post, the most atro cious charges against persons of the highest rank and fairest character, were readily received and credited.

This was a period which Christian did not fail to improve. He drew close his intimacy with Bridgenorth, which had indeed never been interrupted, and

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