Lavengro
by
George Borrow
Part 1 out of 13
Transcribed from the 1900 Macmillian and Co. Edition by David
Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
LAVENGRO
THE SCHOLAR, THE GYPSY, THE PRIEST
PREFACE
In the following pages I have endeavoured to describe a dream,
partly of study, partly of adventure, in which will be found
copious notices of books, and many descriptions of life and
manners, some in a very unusual form.
The scenes of action lie in the British Islands;--pray be not
displeased, gentle reader, if perchance thou hast imagined that I
was about to conduct thee to distant lands, and didst promise
thyself much instruction and entertainment from what I might tell
thee of them. I do assure thee that thou hast no reason to be
displeased, inasmuch as there are no countries in the world less
known by the British than these selfsame British Islands, or where
more strange things are every day occurring, whether in road or
street, house or dingle.
The time embraces nearly the first quarter of the present century:
this information again may, perhaps, be anything but agreeable to
thee; it is a long time to revert to, but fret not thyself, many
matters which at present much occupy the public mind originated in
some degree towards the latter end of that period, and some of them
will be treated of.
The principal actors in this dream, or drama, are, as you will have
gathered from the title-page, a Scholar, a Gypsy, and a Priest.
Should you imagine that these three form one, permit me to assure
you that you are very much mistaken. Should there be something of
the Gypsy manifest in the Scholar, there is certainly nothing of
the Priest. With respect to the Gypsy--decidedly the most
entertaining character of the three--there is certainly nothing of
the Scholar or the Priest in him; and as for the Priest, though
there may be something in him both of scholarship and gypsyism,
neither the Scholar nor the Gypsy would feel at all flattered by
being confounded with him.
Many characters which may be called subordinate will be found, and
it is probable that some of these characters will afford much more
interest to the reader than those styled the principal. The
favourites with the writer are a brave old soldier and his
helpmate, an ancient gentlewoman who sold apples, and a strange
kind of wandering man and his wife.
Amongst the many things attempted in this book is the encouragement
of charity, and free and genial manners, and the exposure of
humbug, of which there are various kinds, but of which the most
perfidious, the most debasing, and the most cruel, is the humbug of
the Priest.
Yet let no one think that irreligion is advocated in this book.
With respect to religious tenets I wish to observe that I am a
member of the Church of England, into whose communion I was
baptized, and to which my forefathers belonged. Its being the
religion in which I was baptized, and of my forefathers, would be a
strong inducement to me to cling to it; for I do not happen to be
one of those choice spirits 'who turn from their banner when the
battle bears strongly against it, and go over to the enemy,' and
who receive at first a hug and a 'viva,' and in the sequel contempt
and spittle in the face; but my chief reason for belonging to it
is, because, of all churches calling themselves Christian ones, I
believe there is none so good, so well founded upon Scripture, or
whose ministers are, upon the whole, so exemplary in their lives
and conversation, so well read in the book from which they preach,
or so versed in general learning, so useful in their immediate
neighbourhoods, or so unwilling to persecute people of other
denominations for matters of doctrine.
In the communion of this Church, and with the religious consolation
of its ministers, I wish and hope to live and die, and in its and
their defence will at all times be ready, if required, to speak,
though humbly, and to fight, though feebly, against enemies,
whether carnal or spiritual.
And is there no priestcraft in the Church of England? There is
certainly, or rather there was, a modicum of priestcraft in the
Church of England, but I have generally found that those who are
most vehement against the Church of England are chiefly
dissatisfied with her because there is only a modicum of that
article in her--were she stuffed to the very cupola with it, like a
certain other Church, they would have much less to say against the
Church of England.
By the other Church, I mean Rome. Its system was once prevalent in
England, and, during the period that it prevailed there, was more
prolific of debasement and crime than all other causes united. The
people and the government at last becoming enlightened by means of
the Scripture spurned it from the island with disgust and horror,
the land instantly after its disappearance becoming a fair field,
in which arts, sciences, and all the amiable virtues flourished,
instead of being a pestilent marsh where swine-like ignorance
wallowed, and artful hypocrites, like so many Wills-o'-the-wisp,
played antic gambols about, around, and above debased humanity.
But Popery still wished to play her old part, to regain her lost
dominion, to reconvert the smiling land into the pestilential
morass, where she could play again her old antics. From the period
of the Reformation in England up to the present time, she has kept
her emissaries here, individuals contemptible in intellect, it is
true, but cat-like and gliding, who, at her bidding, have
endeavoured, as much as in their power has lain, to damp and stifle
every genial, honest, loyal, and independent thought, and to reduce
minds to such a state of dotage as would enable their old Popish
mother to do what she pleased with them.
And in every country, however enlightened, there are always minds
inclined to grovelling superstition--minds fond of eating dust and
swallowing clay--minds never at rest, save when prostrate before
some fellow in a surplice; and these Popish emissaries found always
some weak enough to bow down before them, astounded by their
dreadful denunciations of eternal woe and damnation to any who
should refuse to believe their Romania; but they played a poor
game--the law protected the servants of Scripture, and the priest
with his beads seldom ventured to approach any but the remnant of
those of the eikonolatry--representatives of worm-eaten houses,
their debased dependants, and a few poor crazy creatures amongst
the middle classes--he played a poor game, and the labour was about
to prove almost entirely in vain, when the English legislature, in
compassion or contempt, or, yet more probably, influenced by that
spirit of toleration and kindness which is so mixed up with
Protestantism, removed almost entirely the disabilities under which
Popery laboured, and enabled it to raise its head and to speak out
almost without fear.
And it did raise its head, and, though it spoke with some little
fear at first, soon discarded every relic of it; went about the
land uttering its damnation cry, gathering around it--and for doing
so many thanks to it--the favourers of priestcraft who lurked
within the walls of the Church of England; frightening with the
loudness of its voice the weak, the timid, and the ailing;
perpetrating, whenever it had an opportunity, that species of crime
to which it has ever been most partial--DEATHBED ROBBERY; for as it
is cruel, so is it dastardly. Yes, it went on enlisting,
plundering, and uttering its terrible threats till--till it became,
as it always does when left to itself, a fool, a very fool. Its
plunderings might have been overlooked, and so might its insolence,
had it been common insolence, but it--, and then the roar of
indignation which arose from outraged England against the viper,
the frozen viper, which it had permitted to warm itself upon its
bosom.
But thanks, Popery, you have done all that the friends of
enlightenment and religious liberty could wish; but if ever there
were a set of foolish ones to be found under heaven, surely it is
the priestly rabble who came over from Rome to direct the grand
movement--so long in its getting up.
But now again the damnation cry is withdrawn, there is a subdued
meekness in your demeanour, you are now once more harmless as a
lamb. Well, we shall see how the trick--'the old trick'--will
serve you.
CHAPTER I
Birth--My father--Tamerlane--Ben Brain--French Protestants--East
Anglia--Sorrow and troubles--True peace--A beautiful child--Foreign
grave--Mirrors--Alpine country--Emblems--Slow of speech--The Jew--
Strange gestures.
On an evening of July, in the year 18-, at East D-, a beautiful
little town in a certain district of East Anglia, I first saw the
light.
My father was a Cornish man, the youngest, as I have heard him say,
of seven brothers. He sprang from a family of gentlemen, or, as
some people would call them, gentillatres, for they were not very
wealthy; they had a coat of arms, however, and lived on their own
property at a place called Tredinnock, which being interpreted
means THE HOUSE ON THE HILL, which house and the neighbouring acres
had been from time immemorial in their possession. I mention these
particulars that the reader may see at once that I am not
altogether of low and plebeian origin; the present age is highly
aristocratic, and I am convinced that the public will read my pages
with more zest from being told that I am a gentillatre by birth
with Cornish blood in my veins, of a family who lived on their own
property at a place bearing a Celtic name, signifying the house on
the hill, or more strictly the house on the HILLOCK.
My father was what is generally termed a posthumous child--in other
words, the gentillatre who begot him never had the satisfaction of
invoking the blessing of the Father of All upon his head; having
departed this life some months before the birth of his youngest
son. The boy, therefore, never knew a father's care; he was,
however, well tended by his mother, whose favourite he was; so much
so, indeed, that his brethren, the youngest of whom was
considerably older than himself, were rather jealous of him. I
never heard, however, that they treated him with any marked
unkindness, and it will be as well to observe here that I am by no
means well acquainted with his early history, of which, indeed, as
I am not writing his life, it is not necessary to say much.
Shortly after his mother's death, which occurred when he was
eighteen, he adopted the profession of arms, which he followed
during the remainder of his life, and in which, had circumstances
permitted, he would probably have shone amongst the best. By
nature he was cool and collected, slow to anger, though perfectly
fearless, patient of control, of great strength; and, to crown all,
a proper man with his hands.
With far inferior qualifications many a man has become a field-
marshal or general; similar ones made Tamerlane, who was not a
gentillatre, but the son of a blacksmith, emperor of one-third of
the world; but the race is not always for the swift, nor the battle
for the strong, indeed I ought rather to say very seldom; certain
it is, that my father, with all his high military qualifications,
never became emperor, field-marshal, or even general: indeed, he
had never an opportunity of distinguishing himself save in one
battle, and that took place neither in Flanders, Egypt, nor on the
banks of the Indus or Oxus, but in Hyde Park.
Smile not, gentle reader, many a battle has been fought in Hyde
Park, in which as much skill, science, and bravery have been
displayed as ever achieved a victory in Flanders or by the Indus.
In such a combat as that to which I allude, I opine that even
Wellington or Napoleon would have been heartily glad to cry for
quarter ere the lapse of five minutes, and even the Blacksmith
Tartar would, perhaps, have shrunk from the opponent with whom,
after having had a dispute with him, my father engaged in single
combat for one hour, at the end of which time the champions shook
hands and retired, each having experienced quite enough of the
other's prowess. The name of my father's antagonist was Brain.
What! still a smile? did you never hear that name before? I cannot
help it! Honour to Brain, who four months after the event which I
have now narrated was champion of England, having conquered the
heroic Johnson. Honour to Brain, who, at the end of other four
months, worn out by the dreadful blows which he had received in his
manly combats, expired in the arms of my father, who read the Bible
to him in his latter moments--Big Ben Brain.
You no longer smile, even YOU have heard of Big Ben.
I have already hinted that my father never rose to any very exalted
rank in his profession, notwithstanding his prowess and other
qualifications. After serving for many years in the line, he at
last entered as captain in the militia regiment of the Earl of -,
at that period just raised, and to which he was sent by the Duke of
York to instruct the young levies in military manoeuvres and
discipline; and in this mission I believe he perfectly succeeded,
competent judges having assured me that the regiment in question
soon came by his means to be considered as one of the most
brilliant in the service, and inferior to no regiment of the line
in appearance or discipline.
As the headquarters of this corps were at D- the duties of my
father not unfrequently carried him to that place, and it was on
one of these occasions that he became acquainted with a young
person of the neighbourhood, for whom he formed an attachment,
which was returned; and this young person was my mother.
She was descended from a family of French Protestants, natives of
Caen, who were obliged to leave their native country when old
Louis, at the instigation of the Pope, thought fit to revoke the
Edict of Nantes: their name was Petrement, and I have reason for
believing that they were people of some consideration; that they
were noble hearts, and good Christians, they gave sufficient proof
in scorning to bow the knee to the tyranny of Rome. So they left
beautiful Normandy for their faith's sake, and with a few louis
d'ors in their purse, a Bible in the vulgar tongue, and a couple of
old swords, which, if report be true, had done service in the
Huguenot wars, they crossed the sea to the isle of civil peace and
religious liberty, and established themselves in East Anglia.
And many other Huguenot families bent their steps thither, and
devoted themselves to agriculture or the mechanical arts; and in
the venerable old city, the capital of the province, in the
northern shadow of the Castle of De Burgh, the exiles built for
themselves a church where they praised God in the French tongue,
and to which, at particular seasons of the year, they were in the
habit of flocking from country and from town to sing -
'Thou hast provided for us a goodly earth; thou waterest her
furrows, thou sendest rain into the little valleys thereof, thou
makest it soft with the drops of rain, and blessest the increase of
it.'
I have been told that in her younger days my mother was strikingly
handsome; this I can easily believe: I never knew her in her
youth, for though she was very young when she married my father
(who was her senior by many years), she had attained the middle age
before I was born, no children having been vouchsafed to my parents
in the early stages of their union. Yet even at the present day,
now that years threescore and ten have passed over her head,
attended with sorrow and troubles manifold, poorly chequered with
scanty joys, can I look on that countenance and doubt that at one
time beauty decked it as with a glorious garment? Hail to thee, my
parent! as thou sittest there, in thy widow's weeds, in the dusky
parlour in the house overgrown with the lustrous ivy of the sister
isle, the solitary house at the end of the retired court shaded by
lofty poplars. Hail to thee, dame of the oval face, olive
complexion, and Grecian forehead; by thy table seated with the
mighty volume of the good Bishop Hopkins spread out before thee;
there is peace in thy countenance, my mother; it is not worldly
peace, however, not the deceitful peace which lulls to bewitching
slumbers, and from which, let us pray, humbly pray, that every
sinner may be roused in time to implore mercy not in vain! Thine
is the peace of the righteous, my mother, of those to whom no sin
can be imputed, the score of whose misdeeds has been long since
washed away by the blood of atonement, which imputeth righteousness
to those who trust in it. It was not always thus, my mother; a
time was, when the cares, pomps, and vanities of this world
agitated thee too much; but that time is gone by, another and a
better has succeeded; there is peace now on thy countenance, the
true peace; peace around thee, too, in thy solitary dwelling,
sounds of peace, the cheerful hum of the kettle and the purring of
the immense angola, which stares up at thee from its settle with
its almost human eyes.
No more earthly cares and affections now, my mother! Yes, one.
Why dost thou suddenly raise thy dark and still brilliant eye from
the volume with a somewhat startled glance? What noise is that in
the distant street? Merely the noise of a hoof; a sound common
enough: it draws nearer, nearer, and now it stops before thy gate.
Singular! And now there is a pause, a long pause. Ha! thou
hearest something--a footstep; a swift but heavy footstep! thou
risest, thou tremblest, there is a hand on the pin of the outer
door, there is some one in the vestibule, and now the door of thy
apartment opens, there is a reflection on the mirror behind thee, a
travelling hat, a gray head and sunburnt face. My dearest Son!--My
darling Mother!
Yes, mother, thou didst recognise in the distant street the hoof-
tramp of the wanderer's horse.
I was not the only child of my parents; I had a brother some three
years older than myself. He was a beautiful child; one of those
occasionally seen in England, and in England alone; a rosy, angelic
face, blue eyes, and light chestnut hair; it was not exactly an
Anglo-Saxon countenance, in which, by the bye, there is generally a
cast of loutishness and stupidity; it partook, to a certain extent,
of the Celtic character, particularly in the fire and vivacity
which illumined it; his face was the mirror of his mind; perhaps no
disposition more amiable was ever found amongst the children of
Adam, united, however, with no inconsiderable portion of high and
dauntless spirit. So great was his beauty in infancy, that people,
especially those of the poorer classes, would follow the nurse who
carried him about in order to look at and bless his lovely face.
At the age of three months an attempt was made to snatch him from
his mother's arms in the streets of London, at the moment she was
about to enter a coach; indeed, his appearance seemed to operate so
powerfully upon every person who beheld him, that my parents were
under continual apprehension of losing him; his beauty, however,
was perhaps surpassed by the quickness of his parts. He mastered
his letters in a few hours, and in a day or two could decipher the
names of people on the doors of houses and over the shop-windows.
As he grew up, his personal appearance became less prepossessing,
his quickness and cleverness, however, rather increased; and I may
say of him, that with respect to everything which he took in hand
he did it better and more speedily than any other person. Perhaps
it will be asked here, what became of him? Alas! alas! his was an
early and a foreign grave. As I have said before, the race is not
always for the swift, nor the battle for the strong.
And now, doubtless, after the above portrait of my brother, painted
in the very best style of Rubens, the reader will conceive himself
justified in expecting a full-length one of myself, as a child, for
as to my present appearance, I suppose he will be tolerably content
with that flitting glimpse in the mirror. But he must excuse me; I
have no intention of drawing a portrait of myself in childhood;
indeed it would be difficult, for at that time I never looked into
mirrors. No attempts, however, were ever made to steal me in my
infancy, and I never heard that my parents entertained the
slightest apprehension of losing me by the hands of kidnappers,
though I remember perfectly well that people were in the habit of
standing still to look at me, ay, more than at my brother; from
which premisses the reader may form any conclusion with respect to
my appearance which seemeth good unto him and reasonable. Should
he, being a good-natured person, and always inclined to adopt the
charitable side in any doubtful point, be willing to suppose that
I, too, was eminently endowed by nature with personal graces, I
tell him frankly that I have no objection whatever to his
entertaining that idea; moreover, that I heartily thank him, and
shall at all times be disposed, under similar circumstances, to
exercise the same species of charity towards himself.
With respect to my mind and its qualities I shall be more explicit;
for, were I to maintain much reserve on this point, many things
which appear in these memoirs would be highly mysterious to the
reader, indeed incomprehensible. Perhaps no two individuals were
ever more unlike in mind and disposition than my brother and
myself: as light is opposed to darkness, so was that happy,
brilliant, cheerful child to the sad and melancholy being who
sprang from the same stock as himself, and was nurtured by the same
milk.
Once, when travelling in an Alpine country, I arrived at a
considerable elevation; I saw in the distance, far below, a
beautiful stream hastening to the ocean, its rapid waters here
sparkling in the sunshine, and there tumbling merrily in cascades.
On its banks were vineyards and cheerful villages; close to where I
stood, in a granite basin with steep and precipitous sides,
slumbered a deep, dark lagoon, shaded by black pines, cypresses,
and yews. It was a wild, savage spot, strange and singular; ravens
hovered above the pines, filling the air with their uncouth notes,
pies chattered, and I heard the cry of an eagle from a neighbouring
peak; there lay the lake, the dark, solitary, and almost
inaccessible lake; gloomy shadows were upon it, which, strangely
modified, as gusts of wind agitated the surface, occasionally
assumed the shape of monsters. So I stood on the Alpine elevation,
and looked now on the gay distant river, and now at the dark
granite-encircled lake close beside me in the lone solitude, and I
thought of my brother and myself. I am no moraliser; but the gay
and rapid river, and the dark and silent lake, were, of a verity,
no had emblems of us two.
So far from being quick and clever like my brother, and able to
rival the literary feat which I have recorded of him, many years
elapsed before I was able to understand the nature of letters, or
to connect them. A lover of nooks and retired corners, I was as a
child in the habit of fleeing from society, and of sitting for
hours together with my head on my breast. What I was thinking
about, it would be difficult to say at this distance of time; I
remember perfectly well, however, being ever conscious of a
peculiar heaviness within me, and at times of a strange sensation
of fear, which occasionally amounted to horror, and for which I
could assign no real cause whatever.
By nature slow of speech, I took no pleasure in conversation, nor
in hearing the voices of my fellow-creatures. When people
addressed me, I not unfrequently, especially if they were
strangers, turned away my head from them, and if they persisted in
their notice burst into tears, which singularity of behaviour by no
means tended to dispose people in my favour. I was as much
disliked as my brother was deservedly beloved and admired. My
parents, it is true, were always kind to me; and my brother, who
was good nature itself, was continually lavishing upon me every
mark of affection.
There was, however, one individual who, in the days of my
childhood, was disposed to form a favourable opinion of me. One
day, a Jew--I have quite forgotten the circumstance, but I was long
subsequently informed of it--one day a travelling Jew knocked at
the door of a farmhouse in which we had taken apartments; I was
near at hand sitting in the bright sunshine, drawing strange lines
on the dust with my fingers, an ape and dog were my companions; the
Jew looked at me and asked me some questions, to which, though I
was quite able to speak, I returned no answer. On the door being
opened, the Jew, after a few words, probably relating to pedlery,
demanded who the child was, sitting in the sun; the maid replied
that I was her mistress's youngest son, a child weak HERE, pointing
to her forehead. The Jew looked at me again, and then said: ''Pon
my conscience, my dear, I believe that you must be troubled there
yourself to tell me any such thing. It is not my habit to speak to
children, inasmuch as I hate them, because they often follow me and
fling stones after me; but I no sooner looked at that child than I
was forced to speak to it--his not answering me shows his sense,
for it has never been the custom of the wise to fling away their
words in indifferent talk and conversation; the child is a sweet
child, and has all the look of one of our people's children. Fool,
indeed! did I not see his eyes sparkle just now when the monkey
seized the dog by the ear?--they shone like my own diamonds--does
your good lady want any--real and fine? Were it not for what you
tell me, I should say it was a prophet's child. Fool, indeed! he
can write already, or I'll forfeit the box which I carry on my
back, and for which I should be loth to take two hundred pounds!'
He then leaned forward to inspect the lines which I had traced.
All of a sudden he started back, and grew white as a sheet; then,
taking off his hat, he made some strange gestures to me, cringing,
chattering, and showing his teeth, and shortly departed, muttering
something about 'holy letters,' and talking to himself in a strange
tongue. The words of the Jew were in due course of time reported
to my mother, who treasured them in her heart, and from that moment
began to entertain brighter hopes of her youngest born than she had
ever before ventured to foster.
CHAPTER II
Barracks and lodgings--A camp--The viper--A delicate child--
Blackberry time--Meun and tuum--Hythe--The Golgotha--Daneman's
skull--Superhuman stature--Stirring times--The sea-bord.
I have been a wanderer the greater part of my life; indeed I
remember only two periods, and these by no means lengthy, when I
was, strictly speaking, stationary. I was a soldier's son, and as
the means of my father were by no means sufficient to support two
establishments, his family invariably attended him wherever he
went, so that from my infancy I was accustomed to travelling and
wandering, and looked upon a monthly change of scene and residence
as a matter of course. Sometimes we lived in barracks, sometimes
in lodgings, but generally in the former, always eschewing the
latter from motives of economy, save when the barracks were
inconvenient and uncomfortable; and they must have been highly so
indeed, to have discouraged us from entering them; for though we
were gentry (pray bear that in mind, gentle reader), gentry by
birth, and incontestably so by my father's bearing the commission
of good old George the Third, we were not FINE GENTRY, but people
who could put up with as much as any genteel Scotch family who find
it convenient to live on a third floor in London, or on a sixth at
Edinburgh or Glasgow. It was not a little that could discourage
us: we once lived within the canvas walls of a camp, at a place
called Pett, in Sussex; and I believe it was at this place that
occurred the first circumstance, or adventure, call it which you
will, that I can remember in connection with myself: it was a
strange one, and I will relate it.
It happened that my brother and myself were playing one evening in
a sandy lane, in the neighbourhood of this Pett camp; our mother
was at a slight distance. All of a sudden, a bright yellow, and,
to my infantine eye, beautiful and glorious, object made its
appearance at the top of the bank from between the thick quickset,
and, gliding down, began to move across the lane to the other side,
like a line of golden light. Uttering a cry of pleasure, I sprang
forward, and seized it nearly by the middle. A strange sensation
of numbing coldness seemed to pervade my whole arm, which surprised
me the more, as the object to the eye appeared so warm and sunlike.
I did not drop it, however, but, holding it up, looked at it
intently, as its head dangled about a foot from my hand. It made
no resistance; I felt not even the slightest struggle; but now my
brother began to scream and shriek like one possessed. 'O mother,
mother!' said he, 'the viper!--my brother has a viper in his hand!'
He then, like one frantic, made an effort to snatch the creature
away from me. The viper now hissed amain, and raised its head, in
which were eyes like hot coals, menacing, not myself, but my
brother. I dropped my captive, for I saw my mother running towards
me; and the reptile, after standing for a moment nearly erect, and
still hissing furiously, made off, and disappeared. The whole
scene is now before me, as vividly as if it occurred yesterday--the
gorgeous viper, my poor dear frantic brother, my agitated parent,
and a frightened hen clucking under the bushes--and yet I was not
three years old.
It is my firm belief that certain individuals possess an inherent
power, or fascination, over certain creatures, otherwise I should
be unable to account for many feats which I have witnessed, and,
indeed, borne a share in, connected with the taming of brutes and
reptiles. I have known a savage and vicious mare, whose stall it
was dangerous to approach, even when bearing provender, welcome,
nevertheless, with every appearance of pleasure, an uncouth, wiry-
headed man, with a frightfully seamed face, and an iron hook
supplying the place of his right hand, one whom the animal had
never seen before, playfully bite his hair, and cover his face with
gentle and endearing kisses; and I have already stated how a viper
would permit, without resentment, one child to take it up in his
hand, whilst it showed its dislike to the approach of another by
the fiercest hissings. Philosophy can explain many strange things,
but there are some which are a far pitch above her, and this is
one.
I should scarcely relate another circumstance which occurred about
this time but for a singular effect which it produced upon my
constitution. Up to this period I had been rather a delicate
child; whereas, almost immediately after the occurrence to which I
allude, I became both hale and vigorous, to the great astonishment
of my parents, who naturally enough expected that it would produce
quite a contrary effect.
It happened that my brother and myself were disporting ourselves in
certain fields near the good town of Canterbury. A female servant
had attended us, in order to take care that we came to no mischief:
she, however, it seems, had matters of her own to attend to, and,
allowing us to go where we listed, remained in one corner of a
field, in earnest conversation with a red-coated dragoon. Now it
chanced to be blackberry time, and the two children wandered under
the hedges, peering anxiously among them in quest of that trash so
grateful to urchins of their degree. We did not find much of it,
however, and were soon separated in the pursuit. All at once I
stood still, and could scarcely believe my eyes. I had come to a
spot where, almost covering the hedge, hung clusters of what seemed
fruit--deliciously-tempting fruit--something resembling grapes of
various colours, green, red, and purple. Dear me, thought I, how
fortunate! yet have I a right to gather it? is it mine? for the
observance of the law of meum and tuum had early been impressed
upon my mind, and I entertained, even at that tender age, the
utmost horror for theft; so I stood staring at the variegated
clusters, in doubt as to what I should do. I know not how I argued
the matter in my mind; the temptation, however, was at last too
strong for me, so I stretched forth my hand and ate. I remember,
perfectly well, that the taste of this strange fruit was by no
means so pleasant as the appearance; but the idea of eating fruit
was sufficient for a child, and, after all, the flavour was much
superior to that of sour apples, so I ate voraciously. How long I
continued eating I scarcely know. One thing is certain, that I
never left the field as I entered it, being carried home in the
arms of the dragoon in strong convulsions, in which I continued for
several hours. About midnight I awoke, as if from a troubled
sleep, and beheld my parents bending over my couch, whilst the
regimental surgeon, with a candle in his hand, stood nigh, the
light feebly reflected on the whitewashed walls of the barrack-
room.
Another circumstance connected with my infancy, and I have done. I
need offer no apology for relating it, as it subsequently exercised
considerable influence over my pursuits. We were, if I remember
right, in the vicinity of a place called Hythe, in Kent. One sweet
evening, in the latter part of summer, our mother took her two
little boys by the hand, for a wander about the fields. In the
course of our stroll we came to the village church; an old, gray-
headed sexton stood in the porch, who, perceiving that we were
strangers, invited us to enter. We were presently in the interior,
wandering about the aisles, looking on the walls, and inspecting
the monuments of the notable dead. I can scarcely state what we
saw; how should I? I was a child not yet four years old, and yet I
think I remember the evening sun streaming in through a stained
window upon the dingy mahogany pulpit, and flinging a rich lustre
upon the faded tints of an ancient banner. And now once more we
were outside the building, where, against the wall, stood a low-
eaved pent-house, into which we looked. It was half filled with
substances of some kind, which at first looked like large gray
stones. The greater part were lying in layers; some, however, were
seen in confused and mouldering heaps, and two or three, which had
perhaps rolled down from the rest, lay separately on the floor.
'Skulls, madam,' said the sexton; 'skulls of the old Danes! Long
ago they came pirating into these parts; and then there chanced a
mighty shipwreck, for God was angry with them, and He sunk them;
and their skulls, as they came ashore, were placed here as a
memorial. There were many more when I was young, but now they are
fast disappearing. Some of them must have belonged to strange
fellows, madam. Only see that one; why, the two young gentry can
scarcely lift it!' And, indeed, my brother and myself had entered
the Golgotha, and commenced handling these grim relics of
mortality. One enormous skull, lying in a corner, had fixed our
attention, and we had drawn it forth. Spirit of eld, what a skull
was yon!
I still seem to see it, the huge grim thing; many of the others
were large, strikingly so, and appeared fully to justify the old
man's conclusion that their owners must have been strange fellows;
but, compared with this mighty mass of bone, they looked small and
diminutive like those of pigmies; it must have belonged to a giant,
one of those red-haired warriors of whose strength and stature such
wondrous tales are told in the ancient chronicles of the north, and
whose grave-hills, when ransacked, occasionally reveal secrets
which fill the minds of puny moderns with astonishment and awe.
Reader, have you ever pored days and nights over the pages of
Snorro?--probably not, for he wrote in a language which few of the
present day understand, and few would be tempted to read him tamed
down by Latin dragomans. A brave old book is that of Snorro,
containing the histories and adventures of old northern kings and
champions, who seemed to have been quite different men, if we may
judge from the feats which they performed, from those of these
days; one of the best of his histories is that which describes the
life of Harald Haardraade, who, after manifold adventures by land
and sea, now a pirate, now a mercenary of the Greek emperor, became
king of Norway, and eventually perished at the battle of Stamford
Bridge, whilst engaged in a gallant onslaught upon England. Now, I
have often thought that the old Kemp, whose mouldering skull in the
Golgotha of Hythe my brother and myself could scarcely lift, must
have resembled in one respect at least this Harald, whom Snorro
describes as a great and wise ruler and a determined leader,
dangerous in battle, of fair presence and measuring in height just
FIVE ELLS, neither more nor less.
I never forgot the Daneman's skull; like the apparition of the
viper in the sandy lane, it dwelt in the mind of the boy, affording
copious food for the exercise of imagination. From that moment
with the name of Dane were associated strange ideas of strength,
daring, and superhuman stature; and an undefinable curiosity for
all that is connected with the Danish race began to pervade me; and
if, long after, when I became a student I devoted myself with
peculiar zest to Danish lore and the acquirement of the old Norse
tongue and its dialects, I can only explain the matter by the early
impression received at Hythe from the tale of the old sexton,
beneath the pent-house, and the sight of the Danish skull.
And thus we went on straying from place to place, at Hythe to-day,
and perhaps within a week looking out from our hostel-window upon
the streets of old Winchester, our motions ever in accordance with
the 'route' of the regiment, so habituated to change of scene that
it had become almost necessary to our existence. Pleasant were
these days of my early boyhood; and a melancholy pleasure steals
over me as I recall them. Those were stirring times of which I am
speaking, and there was much passing around me calculated to
captivate the imagination. The dreadful struggle which so long
convulsed Europe, and in which England bore so prominent a part,
was then at its hottest; we were at war, and determination and
enthusiasm shone in every face; man, woman, and child were eager to
fight the Frank, the hereditary, but, thank God, never dreaded
enemy of the Anglo-Saxon race. 'Love your country and beat the
French, and then never mind what happens,' was the cry of entire
England. Oh, those were days of power, gallant days, bustling
days, worth the bravest days of chivalry at least; tall battalions
of native warriors were marching through the land; there was the
glitter of the bayonet and the gleam of the sabre; the shrill
squeak of the fife and loud rattling of the drum were heard in the
streets of country towns, and the loyal shouts of the inhabitants
greeted the soldiery on their arrival, or cheered them at their
departure. And now let us leave the upland, and descend to the
sea-bord; there is a sight for you upon the billows! A dozen men-
of-war are gliding majestically out of port, their long buntings
streaming from the top-gallant masts, calling on the skulking
Frenchman to come forth from his bights and bays; and what looms
upon us yonder from the fog-bank in the east? a gallant frigate
towing behind her the long low hull of a crippled privateer, which
but three short days ago had left Dieppe to skim the sea, and whose
crew of ferocious hearts are now cursing their imprudence in an
English hold. Stirring times those, which I love to recall, for
they were days of gallantry and enthusiasm, and were moreover the
days of my boyhood.
CHAPTER III
Pretty D---The venerable church--The stricken heart--Dormant
energies--The small packet--Nerves--The books--A picture--Mountain-
like billows--The footprint--Spirit of De Foe--Reasoning powers--
Terrors of God--Heads of the dragons--High-Church clerk--A journey-
-The drowned country.
And when I was between six and seven years of age we were once more
at D-, the place of my birth, whither my father had been despatched
on the recruiting service. I have already said that it was a
beautiful little town--at least it was at the time of which I am
speaking--what it is at present I know not, for thirty years and
more have elapsed since I last trod its streets. It will scarcely
have improved, for how could it be better than it then was? I love
to think on thee, pretty quiet D-, thou pattern of an English
country town, with thy clean but narrow streets branching out from
thy modest market-place, with thine old-fashioned houses, with here
and there a roof of venerable thatch, with thy one half-
aristocratic mansion, where resided thy Lady Bountiful--she, the
generous and kind, who loved to visit the sick, leaning on her
gold-headed cane, whilst the sleek old footman walked at a
respectful distance behind. Pretty quiet D-, with thy venerable
church, in which moulder the mortal remains of England's sweetest
and most pious bard.
Yes, pretty D-, I could always love thee, were it but for the sake
of him who sleeps beneath the marble slab in yonder quiet chancel.
It was within thee that the long-oppressed bosom heaved its last
sigh, and the crushed and gentle spirit escaped from a world in
which it had known nought but sorrow. Sorrow! do I say? How faint
a word to express the misery of that bruised reed; misery so dark
that a blind worm like myself is occasionally tempted to exclaim,
Better had the world never been created than that one so kind, so
harmless, and so mild, should have undergone such intolerable woe!
But it is over now, for, as there is an end of joy, so has
affliction its termination. Doubtless the All-wise did not afflict
him without a cause: who knows but within that unhappy frame
lurked vicious seeds which the sunbeams of joy and prosperity might
have called into life and vigour? Perhaps the withering blasts of
misery nipped that which otherwise might have terminated in fruit
noxious and lamentable. But peace to the unhappy one, he is gone
to his rest; the death-like face is no longer occasionally seen
timidly and mournfully looking for a moment through the window-pane
upon thy market-place, quiet and pretty D-; the hind in thy
neighbourhood no longer at evening-fall views, and starts as he
views, the dark lathy figure moving beneath the hazels and alders
of shadowy lanes, or by the side of murmuring trout streams, and no
longer at early dawn does the sexton of the old church reverently
doff his hat, as, supported by some kind friend, the death-stricken
creature totters along the church-path to that mouldering edifice
with the low roof, inclosing a spring of sanatory waters, built and
devoted to some saint, if the legend over the door be true, by the
daughter of an East Anglian king.
But to return to my own history. I had now attained the age of
six: shall I state what intellectual progress I had been making up
to this period? Alas! upon this point I have little to say
calculated to afford either pleasure or edification; I had
increased rapidly in size and in strength: the growth of the mind,
however, had by no means corresponded with that of the body. It is
true, I had acquired my letters, and was by this time able to read
imperfectly; but this was all: and even this poor triumph over
absolute ignorance would never have been effected but for the
unremitting attention of my parents, who, sometimes by threats,
sometimes by entreaties, endeavoured to rouse the dormant energies
of my nature, and to bend my wishes to the acquisition of the
rudiments of knowledge; but in influencing the wish lay the
difficulty. Let but the will of a human being be turned to any
particular object, and it is ten to one that sooner or later he
achieves it. At this time I may safely say that I harboured
neither wishes nor hopes; I had as yet seen no object calculated to
call them forth, and yet I took pleasure in many things which
perhaps unfortunately were all within my sphere of enjoyment. I
loved to look upon the heavens, and to bask in the rays of the sun,
or to sit beneath hedgerows and listen to the chirping of the
birds, indulging the while in musing and meditation as far as my
very limited circle of ideas would permit; but, unlike my brother,
who was at this time at school, and whose rapid progress in every
branch of instruction astonished and delighted his preceptors, I
took no pleasure in books, whose use, indeed, I could scarcely
comprehend, and bade fair to be as arrant a dunce as ever brought
the blush of shame into the cheeks of anxious and affectionate
parents.
But the time was now at hand when the ice which had hitherto bound
the mind of the child with its benumbing power was to be thawed,
and a world of sensations and ideas awakened to which it had
hitherto been an entire stranger. One day a young lady, an
intimate acquaintance of our family, and godmother to my brother,
drove up to the house in which we dwelt; she stayed some time
conversing with my mother, and on rising to depart, she put down on
the table a small packet, exclaiming, 'I have brought a little
present for each of the boys: the one is a History of England,
which I intend for my godson when he returns from school, the other
is . . .'--and here she said something which escaped my ear, as I
sat at some distance, moping in a corner,--'I intend it for the
youngster yonder,' pointing to myself; she then departed, and, my
mother going out shortly after, I was left alone.
I remember for some time sitting motionless in my corner, with my
eyes bent upon the ground; at last I lifted my head and looked upon
the packet as it lay on the table. All at once a strange sensation
came over me, such as I had never experienced before--a singular
blending of curiosity, awe, and pleasure, the remembrance of which,
even at this distance of time, produces a remarkable effect upon my
nervous system. What strange things are the nerves--I mean those
more secret and mysterious ones in which I have some notion that
the mind or soul, call it which you will, has its habitation; how
they occasionally tingle and vibrate before any coming event
closely connected with the future weal or woe of the human being.
Such a feeling was now within me, certainly independent of what the
eye had seen or the ear had heard. A book of some description had
been brought for me, a present by no means calculated to interest
me; what cared I for books? I had already many into which I never
looked but from compulsion; friends, moreover, had presented me
with similar things before, which I had entirely disregarded, and
what was there in this particular book, whose very title I did not
know, calculated to attract me more than the rest? yet something
within told me that my fate was connected with the book which had
been last brought; so, after looking on the packet from my corner
for a considerable time, I got up and went to the table.
The packet was lying where it had been left--I took it up; had the
envelope, which consisted of whitish brown paper, been secured by a
string or a seal, I should not have opened it, as I should have
considered such an act almost in the light of a crime; the books,
however, had been merely folded up, and I therefore considered that
there could be no possible harm in inspecting them, more especially
as I had received no injunction to the contrary. Perhaps there was
something unsound in this reasoning, something sophistical; but a
child is sometimes as ready as a grown-up person in finding excuses
for doing that which he is inclined to. But whether the action was
right or wrong, and I am afraid it was not altogether right, I
undid the packet: it contained three books; two from their
similarity seemed to be separate parts of one and the same work;
they were handsomely bound, and to them I first turned my
attention. I opened them successively, and endeavoured to make out
their meaning; their contents, however, as far as I was able to
understand them, were by no means interesting: whoever pleases may
read these books for me, and keep them, too, into the bargain, said
I to myself.
I now took up the third book: it did not resemble the others,
being longer and considerably thicker; the binding was of dingy
calf-skin. I opened it, and as I did so another strange thrill of
pleasure shot through my frame. The first object on which my eyes
rested was a picture; it was exceedingly well executed, at least
the scene which it represented made a vivid impression upon me,
which would hardly have been the case had the artist not been
faithful to nature. A wild scene it was--a heavy sea and rocky
shore, with mountains in the background, above which the moon was
peering. Not far from the shore, upon the water, was a boat with
two figures in it, one of which stood at the bow, pointing with
what I knew to be a gun at a dreadful shape in the water; fire was
flashing from the muzzle of the gun, and the monster appeared to be
transfixed. I almost thought I heard its cry. I remained
motionless, gazing upon the picture, scarcely daring to draw my
breath, lest the new and wondrous world should vanish of which I
had now obtained a glimpse. 'Who are those people, and what could
have brought them into that strange situation?' I asked of myself;
and now the seed of curiosity, which had so long lain dormant,
began to expand, and I vowed to myself to become speedily
acquainted with the whole history of the people in the boat. After
looking on the picture till every mark and line in it were familiar
to me, I turned over various leaves till I came to another
engraving; a new source of wonder--a low sandy beach on which the
furious sea was breaking in mountain-like billows; cloud and rack
deformed the firmament, which wore a dull and leaden-like hue;
gulls and other aquatic fowls were toppling upon the blast, or
skimming over the tops of the maddening waves--'Mercy upon him! he
must be drowned!' I exclaimed, as my eyes fell upon a poor wretch
who appeared to be striving to reach the shore; he was upon his
legs, but was evidently half smothered with the brine; high above
his head curled a horrible billow, as if to engulf him for ever.
'He must be drowned! he must be drowned!' I almost shrieked, and
dropped the book. I soon snatched it up again, and now my eye
lighted on a third picture: again a shore, but what a sweet and
lovely one, and how I wished to be treading it; there were
beautiful shells lying on the smooth white sand, some were empty
like those I had occasionally seen on marble mantelpieces, but out
of others peered the heads and bodies of wondrous crayfish, a wood
of thick green trees skirted the beach and partly shaded it from
the rays of the sun, which shone hot above, while blue waves
slightly crested with foam were gently curling against it; there
was a human figure upon the beach, wild and uncouth, clad in the
skins of animals, with a huge cap on his head, a hatchet at his
girdle, and in his hand a gun; his feet and legs were bare; he
stood in an attitude of horror and surprise; his body was bent far
back, and his eyes, which seemed starting out of his head, were
fixed upon a mark on the sand--a large distinct mark--a human
footprint. . . .
Reader, is it necessary to name the book which now stood open in my
hand, and whose very prints, feeble expounders of its wondrous
lines, had produced within me emotions strange and novel?
Scarcely--for it was a book which has exerted over the minds of
Englishmen an influence certainly greater than any other of modern
times--which has been in most people's hands, and with the contents
of which even those who cannot read are to a certain extent
acquainted--a book from which the most luxuriant and fertile of our
modern prose writers have drunk inspiration--a book, moreover, to
which, from the hardy deeds which it narrates, and the spirit of
strange and romantic enterprise which it tends to awaken, England
owes many of her astonishing discoveries both by sea and land, and
no inconsiderable part of her naval glory.
Hail to thee, spirit of De Foe! What does not my own poor self owe
to thee? England has better bards than either Greece or Rome, yet
I could spare them easier far than De Foe, 'unabashed De Foe,' as
the hunchbacked rhymer styled him.
The true chord had now been touched; a raging curiosity with
respect to the contents of the volume, whose engravings had
fascinated my eye, burned within me, and I never rested until I had
fully satisfied it; weeks succeeded weeks, months followed months,
and the wondrous volume was my only study and principal source of
amusement. For hours together I would sit poring over a page till
I had become acquainted with the import of every line. My
progress, slow enough at first, became by degrees more rapid, till
at last, under 'a shoulder of mutton sail,' I found myself
cantering before a steady breeze over an ocean of enchantment, so
well pleased with my voyage that I cared not how long it might be
ere it reached its termination.
And it was in this manner that I first took to the paths of
knowledge.
About this time I began to be somewhat impressed with religious
feelings. My parents were, to a certain extent, religious people;
but, though they had done their best to afford me instruction on
religious points, I had either paid no attention to what they
endeavoured to communicate, or had listened with an ear far too
obtuse to derive any benefit. But my mind had now become awakened
from the drowsy torpor in which it had lain so long, and the
reasoning powers which I possessed were no longer inactive.
Hitherto I had entertained no conception whatever of the nature and
properties of God, and with the most perfect indifference had heard
the divine name proceeding from the mouths of people--frequently,
alas! on occasions when it ought not to be employed; but I now
never heard it without a tremor, for I now knew that God was an
awful and inscrutable Being, the Maker of all things; that we were
His children, and that we, by our sins, had justly offended Him;
that we were in very great peril from His anger, not so much in
this life as in another and far stranger state of being yet to
come; that we had a Saviour withal to whom it was necessary to look
for help: upon this point, however, I was yet very much in the
dark, as, indeed, were most of those with whom I was connected.
The power and terrors of God were uppermost in my thoughts; they
fascinated though they astounded me. Twice every Sunday I was
regularly taken to the church, where, from a corner of the large
spacious pew, lined with black leather, I would fix my eyes on the
dignified High-Church rector, and the dignified High-Church clerk,
and watch the movement of their lips, from which, as they read
their respective portions of the venerable liturgy, would roll many
a portentous word descriptive of the wondrous works of the Most
High.
Rector. Thou didst divide the sea, through thy power: thou
brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.
Philoh. Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest
him to be meat for the people in the wilderness.
Rector. Thou broughtest out fountains, and waters out of the hard
rocks: thou driedst up mighty waters.
Philoh. The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou hast
prepared the light and the sun.
Peace to your memories, dignified rector, and yet more dignified
clerk!--by this time ye are probably gone to your long homes, and
your voices are no longer heard sounding down the aisles of the
venerable church--nay, doubtless, this has already long since been
the fate of him of the sonorous 'Amen!'--the one of the two who,
with all due respect to the rector, principally engrossed my boyish
admiration--he, at least, is scarcely now among the living! Living!
why, I have heard say that he blew a fife--for he was a musical as
well as a Christian professor--a bold fife, to cheer the Guards and
the brave Marines, as they marched with measured step, obeying an
insane command, up Bunker's height, whilst the rifles of the sturdy
Yankees were sending the leaden hail sharp and thick amidst the
red-coated ranks; for Philoh had not always been a man of peace,
nor an exhorter to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but had even
arrived at the dignity of a halberd in his country's service before
his six-foot form required rest, and the gray-haired veteran
retired, after a long peregrination, to his native town, to enjoy
ease and respectability on a pension of 'eighteenpence a day'; and
well did his fellow-townsmen act, when, to increase that ease and
respectability, and with a thoughtful regard for the dignity of the
good church service, they made him clerk and precentor--the man of
the tall form and of the audible voice, which sounded loud and
clear as his own Bunker fife. Well, peace to thee, thou fine old
chap, despiser of dissenters, and hater of papists, as became a
dignified and High-Church clerk; if thou art in thy grave, the
better for thee; thou wert fitted to adorn a bygone time, when
loyalty was in vogue, and smiling content lay like a sunbeam upon
the land, but thou wouldst be sadly out of place in these days of
cold philosophic latitudinarian doctrine, universal tolerism, and
half-concealed rebellion--rare times, no doubt, for papists and
dissenters, but which would assuredly have broken the heart of the
loyal soldier of George the Third, and the dignified High-Church
clerk of pretty D-.
We passed many months at this place: nothing, however, occurred
requiring any particular notice, relating to myself, beyond what I
have already stated, and I am not writing the history of others.
At length my father was recalled to his regiment, which at that
time was stationed at a place called Norman Cross, in Lincolnshire,
or rather Huntingdonshire, at some distance from the old town of
Peterborough. For this place he departed, leaving my mother and
myself to follow in a few days. Our journey was a singular one.
On the second day we reached a marshy and fenny country, which,
owing to immense quantities of rain which had lately fallen, was
completely submerged. At a large town we got on board a kind of
passage-boat, crowded with people; it had neither sails nor oars,
and those were not the days of steam-vessels; it was a treck-
schuyt, and was drawn by horses. Young as I was, there was much
connected with this journey which highly surprised me, and which
brought to my remembrance particular scenes described in the book
which I now generally carried in my bosom. The country was, as I
have already said, submerged--entirely drowned--no land was
visible; the trees were growing bolt upright in the flood, whilst
farmhouses and cottages were standing insulated; the horses which
drew us were up to the knees in water, and, on coming to blind
pools and 'greedy depths,' were not unfrequently swimming, in which
case, the boys or urchins who mounted them sometimes stood,
sometimes knelt, upon the saddle and pillions. No accident,
however, occurred either to the quadrupeds or bipeds, who appeared
respectively to be quite au fait in their business, and extricated
themselves with the greatest ease from places in which Pharaoh and
all his host would have gone to the bottom. Nightfall brought us
to Peterborough, and from thence we were not slow in reaching the
place of our destination.
CHAPTER IV
Norman Cross--Wide expanse--Vive l'Empereur--Unpruned woods--Man
with the bag--Froth and conceit--I beg your pardon--Growing timid--
About three o'clock--Taking one's ease--Cheek on the ground--King
of the vipers--French king--Frenchmen and water.
And a strange place it was, this Norman Cross, and, at the time of
which I am speaking, a sad cross to many a Norman, being what was
then styled a French prison, that is, a receptacle for captives
made in the French war. It consisted, if I remember right, of some
five or six casernes, very long, and immensely high; each standing
isolated from the rest, upon a spot of ground which might average
ten acres, and which was fenced round with lofty palisades, the
whole being compassed about by a towering wall, beneath which, at
intervals, on both sides, sentinels were stationed, whilst outside,
upon the field, stood commodious wooden barracks, capable of
containing two regiments of infantry, intended to serve as guards
upon the captives. Such was the station or prison at Norman Cross,
where some six thousand French and other foreigners, followers of
the grand Corsican, were now immured.
What a strange appearance had those mighty casernes, with their
blank blind walls, without windows or grating, and their slanting
roofs, out of which, through orifices where the tiles had been
removed, would be protruded dozens of grim heads, feasting their
prison-sick eyes on the wide expanse of country unfolded from that
airy height. Ah! there was much misery in those casernes; and from
those roofs, doubtless, many a wistful look was turned in the
direction of lovely France. Much had the poor inmates to endure,
and much to complain of, to the disgrace of England be it said--of
England, in general so kind and bountiful. Rations of carrion
meat, and bread from which I have seen the very hounds occasionally
turn away, were unworthy entertainment even for the most ruffian
enemy, when helpless and a captive; and such, alas! was the fare in
those casernes. And then, those visits, or rather ruthless
inroads, called in the slang of the place 'strawplait-hunts,' when
in pursuit of a contraband article, which the prisoners, in order
to procure themselves a few of the necessaries and comforts of
existence, were in the habit of making, red-coated battalions were
marched into the prisons, who, with the bayonet's point, carried
havoc and ruin into every poor convenience which ingenious
wretchedness had been endeavouring to raise around it; and then the
triumphant exit with the miserable booty; and, worst of all, the
accursed bonfire, on the barrack parade, of the plait contraband,
beneath the view of the glaring eyeballs from those lofty roofs,
amidst the hurrahs of the troops, frequently drowned in the curses
poured down from above like a tempest-shower or in the terrific
warw-hoop of 'Vive l'Empereur!'
It was midsummer when we arrived at this place, and the weather,
which had for a long time been wet and gloomy, now became bright
and glorious; I was subjected to but little control, and passed my
time pleasantly enough, principally in wandering about the
neighbouring country. It was flat and somewhat fenny, a district
more of pasture than agriculture, and not very thickly inhabited.
I soon became well acquainted with it. At the distance of two
miles from the station was a large lake, styled in the dialect of
the country 'a mere,' about whose borders tall reeds were growing
in abundance, this was a frequent haunt of mine; but my favourite
place of resort was a wild sequestered spot at a somewhat greater
distance. Here, surrounded with woods and thick groves, was the
seat of some ancient family, deserted by the proprietor, and only
inhabited by a rustic servant or two. A place more solitary and
wild could scarcely be imagined; the garden and walks were
overgrown with weeds and briers, and the unpruned woods were so
tangled as to be almost impervious. About this domain I would
wander till overtaken by fatigue, and then I would sit down with my
back against some beech, elm, or stately alder tree, and, taking
out my book, would pass hours in a state of unmixed enjoyment, my
eyes now fixed on the wondrous pages, now glancing at the sylvan
scene around; and sometimes I would drop the book and listen to the
voice of the rooks and wild pigeons, and not unfrequently to the
croaking of multitudes of frogs from the neighbouring swamps and
fens.
In going to and from this place I frequently passed a tall elderly
individual, dressed in rather a quaint fashion, with a skin cap on
his head and stout gaiters on his legs; on his shoulders hung a
moderate sized leathern sack; he seemed fond of loitering near
sunny banks, and of groping amidst furze and low scrubby bramble
bushes, of which there were plenty in the neighbourhood of Norman
Cross. Once I saw him standing in the middle of a dusty road,
looking intently at a large mark which seemed to have been drawn
across it, as if by a walking stick. 'He must have been a large
one,' the old man muttered half to himself, 'or he would not have
left such a trail, I wonder if he is near; he seems to have moved
this way.' He then went behind some bushes which grew on the right
side of the road, and appeared to be in quest of something, moving
behind the bushes with his head downwards, and occasionally
striking their roots with his foot: at length he exclaimed, 'Here
he is!' and forthwith I saw him dart amongst the bushes. There was
a kind of scuffling noise, the rustling of branches, and the
crackling of dry sticks. 'I have him!' said the man at last; 'I
have got him!' and presently he made his appearance about twenty
yards down the road, holding a large viper in his hand. 'What do
you think of that, my boy?' said he, as I went up to him--'what do
you think of catching such a thing as that with the naked hand?'
'What do I think?' said I. 'Why, that I could do as much myself.'
'You do,' said the man, 'do you? Lord! how the young people in
these days are given to conceit; it did not use to be so in my
time: when I was a child, childer knew how to behave themselves;
but the childer of these days are full of conceit, full of froth,
like the mouth of this viper'; and with his forefinger and thumb he
squeezed a considerable quantity of foam from the jaws of the viper
down upon the road. 'The childer of these days are a generation
of--God forgive me, what was I about to say?' said the old man; and
opening his bag he thrust the reptile into it, which appeared far
from empty. I passed on. As I was returning, towards the evening,
I overtook the old man, who was wending in the same direction.
'Good evening to you, sir,' said I, taking off a cap which I wore
on my head. 'Good evening,' said the old man; and then, looking at
me, 'How's this?' said he, 'you aren't, sure, the child I met in
the morning?' 'Yes,' said I, 'I am; what makes you doubt it?'
'Why, you were then all froth and conceit,' said the old man, 'and
now you take off your cap to me.' 'I beg your pardon,' said I, 'if
I was frothy and conceited; it ill becomes a child like me to be
so.' 'That's true, dear,' said the old man; 'well, as you have
begged my pardon, I truly forgive you.' 'Thank you,' said I; 'have
you caught any more of those things?' 'Only four or five,' said
the old man; 'they are getting scarce, though this used to be a
great neighbourhood for them.' 'And what do you do with them?'
said I; 'do you carry them home and play with them?' 'I sometimes
play with one or two that I tame,' said the old man; 'but I hunt
them mostly for the fat which they contain, out of which I make
unguents which are good for various sore troubles, especially for
the rheumatism.' 'And do you get your living by hunting these
creatures?' I demanded. 'Not altogether,' said the old man;
'besides being a viper-hunter, I am what they call a herbalist, one
who knows the virtue of particular herbs; I gather them at the
proper season, to make medicines with for the sick.' 'And do you
live in the neighbourhood?' I demanded. 'You seem very fond of
asking questions, child. No, I do not live in this neighbourhood
in particular, I travel about; I have not been in this
neighbourhood till lately for some years.'
From this time the old man and myself formed an acquaintance; I
often accompanied him in his wanderings about the neighbourhood,
and, on two or three occasions, assisted him in catching the
reptiles which he hunted. He generally carried a viper with him
which he had made quite tame, and from which he had extracted the
poisonous fangs; it would dance and perform various kinds of
tricks. He was fond of telling me anecdotes connected with his
adventures with the reptile species. 'But,' said he one day,
sighing, 'I must shortly give up this business, I am no longer the
man I was, I am become timid, and when a person is timid in viper-
hunting, he had better leave off, as it is quite clear his virtue
is leaving him. I got a fright some years ago, which I am quite
sure I shall never get the better of; my hand has been shaky more
or less ever since.' 'What frightened you?' said I. 'I had better
not tell you,' said the old man, 'or you may be frightened too,
lose your virtue, and be no longer good for the business.' 'I
don't care,' said I; 'I don't intend to follow the business: I
daresay I shall be an officer, like my father.' 'Well,' said the
old man, 'I once saw the king of the vipers, and since then--'
'The king of the vipers!' said I, interrupting him; 'have the
vipers a king?' 'As sure as we have,' said the old man--'as sure
as we have King George to rule over us, have these reptiles a king
to rule over them.' 'And where did you see him?' said I. 'I will
tell you,' said the old man, 'though I don't like talking about the
matter. It may be about seven years ago that I happened to be far
down yonder to the west, on the other side of England, nearly two
hundred miles from here, following my business. It was a very
sultry day, I remember, and I had been out several hours catching
creatures. It might be about three o'clock in the afternoon, when
I found myself on some heathy land near the sea, on the ridge of a
hill, the side of which, nearly as far down as the sea, was heath;
but on the top there was arable ground, which had been planted, and
from which the harvest had been gathered--oats or barley, I know
not which--but I remember that the ground was covered with stubble.
Well, about three o'clock, as I told you before, what with the heat
of the day and from having walked about for hours in a lazy way, I
felt very tired; so I determined to have a sleep, and I laid myself
down, my head just on the ridge of the hill, towards the field, and
my body over the side down amongst the heath; my bag, which was
nearly filled with creatures, lay at a little distance from my
face; the creatures were struggling in it, I remember, and I
thought to myself, how much more comfortably off I was than they; I
was taking my ease on the nice open hill, cooled with the breezes,
whilst they were in the nasty close bag, coiling about one another,
and breaking their very hearts, all to no purpose: and I felt
quite comfortable and happy in the thought, and little by little
closed my eyes, and fell into the sweetest snooze that ever I was
in in all my life; and there I lay over the hill's side, with my
head half in the field, I don't know how long, all dead asleep. At
last it seemed to me that I heard a noise in my sleep, something
like a thing moving, very faint, however, far away; then it died,
and then it came again upon my ear as I slept, and now it appeared
almost as if I heard crackle, crackle; then it died again, or I
became yet more dead asleep than before, I know not which, but I
certainly lay some time without hearing it. All of a sudden I
became awake, and there was I, on the ridge of the hill, with my
cheek on the ground towards the stubble, with a noise in my ear
like that of something moving towards me amongst the stubble of the
field; well, I lay a moment or two listening to the noise, and then
I became frightened, for I did not like the noise at all, it
sounded so odd; so I rolled myself on my belly, and looked towards
the stubble. Mercy upon us! there was a huge snake, or rather a
dreadful viper, for it was all yellow and gold, moving towards me,
bearing its head about a foot and a half above the ground, the dry
stubble crackling beneath its outrageous belly. It might be about
five yards off when I first saw it, making straight towards me,
child, as if it would devour me. I lay quite still, for I was
stupefied with horror, whilst the creature came still nearer; and
now it was nearly upon me, when it suddenly drew back a little, and
then--what do you think?--it lifted its head and chest high in the
air, and high over my face as I looked up, flickering at me with
its tongue as if it would fly at my face. Child, what I felt at
that moment I can scarcely say, but it was a sufficient punishment
for all the sins I ever committed; and there we two were, I looking
up at the viper, and the viper looking down upon me, flickering at
me with its tongue. It was only the kindness of God that saved me:
all at once there was a loud noise, the report of a gun, for a
fowler was shooting at a covey of birds, a little way off in the
stubble. Whereupon the viper sunk its head, and immediately made
off over the ridge of the hill, down in the direction of the sea.
As it passed by me, however--and it passed close by me--it
hesitated a moment, as if it was doubtful whether it should not
seize me; it did not, however, but made off down the hill. It has
often struck me that he was angry with me, and came upon me
unawares for presuming to meddle with his people, as I have always
been in the habit of doing.'
'But,' said I, 'how do you know that it was the king of the
vipers?'
'How do I know!' said the old man, 'who else should it be? There
was as much difference between it and other reptiles as between
King George and other people.'
'Is King George, then, different from other people?' I demanded.
'Of course,' said the old man; 'I have never seen him myself, but I
have heard people say that he is a ten times greater man than other
folks; indeed, it stands to reason that he must be different from
the rest, else people would not be so eager to see him. Do you
think, child, that people would be fools enough to run a matter of
twenty or thirty miles to see the king, provided King George--'
'Haven't the French a king?' I demanded.
'Yes,' said the old man, 'or something much the same, and a queer
one he is; not quite so big as King George, they say, but quite as
terrible a fellow. What of him?'
'Suppose he should come to Norman Cross!'
'What should he do at Norman Cross, child?'
'Why, you were talking about the vipers in your bag breaking their
hearts, and so on, and their king coming to help them. Now,
suppose the French king should hear of his people being in trouble
at Norman Cross, and--'
'He can't come, child,' said the old man, rubbing his hands, 'the
water lies between. The French don't like the water; neither
vipers nor Frenchmen take kindly to the water, child.'
When the old man left the country, which he did a few days after
the conversation which I have just related, he left me the reptile
which he had tamed and rendered quite harmless by removing the
fangs. I was in the habit of feeding it with milk, and frequently
carried it abroad with me in my walks.
CHAPTER V
The tent--Man and woman--Dark and swarthy--Manner of speaking--Bad
money--Transfixed--Faltering tone--Little basket--High opinion--
Plenty of good--Keeping guard--Tilted cart--Rubricals--Jasper--The
right sort--The horseman of the lane--John Newton--The alarm--
Gentle brothers.
One day it happened that, being on my rambles, I entered a green
lane which I had never seen before; at first it was rather narrow,
but as I advanced it became considerably wider; in the middle was a
driftway with deep ruts, but right and left was a space carpeted
with a sward of trefoil and clover; there was no lack of trees,
chiefly ancient oaks, which, flinging out their arms from either
side, nearly formed a canopy, and afforded a pleasing shelter from
the rays of the sun, which was burning fiercely above. Suddenly a
group of objects attracted my attention. Beneath one of the
largest of the trees, upon the grass, was a kind of low tent or
booth, from the top of which a thin smoke was curling; beside it
stood a couple of light carts, whilst two or three lean horses or
ponies were cropping the herbage which was growing nigh. Wondering
to whom this odd tent could belong, I advanced till I was close
before it, when I found that it consisted of two tilts, like those
of waggons, placed upon the ground and fronting each other,
connected behind by a sail or large piece of canvas which was but
partially drawn across the top; upon the ground, in the intervening
space, was a fire, over which, supported by a kind of iron crowbar,
hung a caldron; my advance had been so noiseless as not to alarm
the inmates, who consisted of a man and woman, who sat apart, one
on each side of the fire; they were both busily employed--the man
was carding plaited straw, whilst the woman seemed to be rubbing
something with a white powder, some of which lay on a plate beside
her; suddenly the man looked up, and, perceiving me, uttered a
strange kind of cry, and the next moment both the woman and himself
were on their feet and rushing out upon me.
I retreated a few steps, yet without turning to flee. I was not,
however, without apprehension, which, indeed, the appearance of
these two people was well calculated to inspire: the woman was a
stout figure, seemingly between thirty and forty; she wore no cap,
and her long hair fell on either side of her head like horse-tails
half-way down her waist; her skin was dark and swarthy, like that
of a toad, and the expression of her countenance was particularly
evil; her arms were bare, and her bosom was but half concealed by a
slight bodice, below which she wore a coarse petticoat, her only
other article of dress. The man was somewhat younger, but of a
figure equally wild; his frame was long and lathy, but his arms
were remarkably short, his neck was rather bent, he squinted
slightly, and his mouth was much awry; his complexion was dark,
but, unlike that of the woman, was more ruddy than livid; there was
a deep scar on his cheek, something like the impression of a
halfpenny. The dress was quite in keeping with the figure: in his
hat, which was slightly peaked, was stuck a peacock's feather; over
a waistcoat of hide, untanned and with the hair upon it, he wore a
rough jerkin of russet hue; smallclothes of leather, which had
probably once belonged to a soldier, but with which pipeclay did
not seem to have come in contact for many a year, protected his
lower man as far as the knee; his legs were cased in long stockings
of blue worsted, and on his shoes he wore immense old-fashioned
buckles.
Such were the two beings who now came rushing upon me; the man was
rather in advance, brandishing a ladle in his hand.
'So I have caught you at last,' said he; 'I'll teach ye, you young
highwayman, to come skulking about my properties!'
Young as I was, I remarked that his manner of speaking was
different from that of any people with whom I had been in the habit
of associating. It was quite as strange as his appearance, and yet
it nothing resembled the foreign English which I had been in the
habit of hearing through the palisades of the prison; he could
scarcely be a foreigner.
'Your properties!' said I; 'I am in the King's Lane. Why did you
put them there, if you did not wish them to be seen?'
'On the spy,' said the woman, 'hey? I'll drown him in the sludge
in the toad-pond over the hedge.'
'So we will,' said the man, 'drown him anon in the mud!'
'Drown me, will you?' said I; 'I should like to see you! What's
all this about? Was it because I saw you with your hands full of
straw plait, and my mother there--'
'Yes,' said the woman; 'what was I about?'
Myself. How should I know? Making bad money, perhaps!
And it will be as well here to observe, that at this time there was
much bad money in circulation in the neighbourhood, generally
supposed to be fabricated by the prisoners, so that this false coin
and straw plait formed the standard subjects of conversation at
Norman Cross.
'I'll strangle thee,' said the beldame, dashing at me. 'Bad money,
is it?'
'Leave him to me, wifelkin,' said the man, interposing; 'you shall
now see how I'll baste him down the lane.'
Myself. I tell you what, my chap, you had better put down that
thing of yours; my father lies concealed within my tepid breast,
and if to me you offer any harm or wrong, I'll call him forth to
help me with his forked tongue.
Man. What do you mean, ye Bengui's bantling? I never heard such
discourse in all my life: playman's speech or Frenchman's talk--
which, I wonder? Your father! Tell the mumping villain that if he
comes near my fire I'll serve him out as I will you. Take that--
Tiny Jesus! what have we got here? Oh, delicate Jesus! what is the
matter with the child?
I had made a motion which the viper understood; and now, partly
disengaging itself from my bosom, where it had lain perdu, it
raised its head to a level with my face, and stared upon my enemy
with its glittering eyes.
The man stood like one transfixed, and the ladle, with which he had
aimed a blow at me, now hung in the air like the hand which held
it; his mouth was extended, and his cheeks became of a pale yellow,
save alone that place which bore the mark which I have already
described, and this shone now portentously, like fire. He stood in
this manner for some time; at last the ladle fell from his hand,
and its falling appeared to rouse him from his stupor.
'I say, wifelkin,' said he, in a faltering tone, 'did you ever see
the like of this here?'
But the woman had retreated to the tent, from the entrance of which
her loathly face was now thrust, with an expression partly of
terror and partly of curiosity. After gazing some time longer at
the viper and myself, the man stooped down and took up the ladle;
then, as if somewhat more assured, he moved to the tent, where he
entered into conversation with the beldame in a low voice. Of
their discourse, though I could hear the greater part of it, I
understood not a single word; and I wondered what it could be, for
I knew by the sound that it was not French. At last the man, in a
somewhat louder tone, appeared to put a question to the woman, who
nodded her head affirmatively, and in a moment or two produced a
small stool, which she delivered to him. He placed it on the
ground, close by the door of the tent, first rubbing it with his
sleeve, as if for the purpose of polishing its surface.
Man. Now, my precious little gentleman, do sit down here by the
poor people's tent; we wish to be civil in our slight way. Don't
be angry, and say no; but look kindly upon us, and satisfied, my
precious little God Almighty.
Woman. Yes, my gorgeous angel, sit down by the poor bodies' fire,
and eat a sweetmeat. We want to ask you a question or two; only
first put that serpent away.
Myself. I can sit down, and bid the serpent go to sleep, that's
easy enough; but as for eating a sweetmeat, how can I do that? I
have not got one, and where am I to get it?
Woman. Never fear, my tiny tawny, we can give you one, such as you
never ate, I daresay, however far you may have come from.
The serpent sank into its usual resting-place, and I sat down on
the stool. The woman opened a box, and took out a strange little
basket or hamper, not much larger than a man's fist, and formed of
a delicate kind of matting. It was sewed at the top; but, ripping
it open with a knife, she held it to me, and I saw, to my surprise,
that it contained candied fruits of a dark green hue, tempting
enough to one of my age. 'There, my tiny,' said she; 'taste, and
tell me how you like them.'
'Very much,' said I; 'where did you get them?'
The beldame leered upon me for a moment, then, nodding her head
thrice, with a knowing look, said, 'Who knows better than yourself,
my tawny?'
Now, I knew nothing about the matter; but I saw that these strange
people had conceived a very high opinion of the abilities of their
visitor, which I was nothing loth to encourage. I therefore
answered boldly, 'Ah! who indeed!'
'Certainly,' said the man; 'who should know better than yourself,
or so well? And now, my tiny one, let me ask you one thing--you
didn't come to do us any harm?'
'No,' said I, 'I had no dislike to you; though, if you were to
meddle with me--'
Man. Of course, my gorgeous, of course you would; and quite right
too. Meddle with you!--what right have we? I should say, it would
not be quite safe. I see how it is; you are one of them there;--
and he bent his head towards his left shoulder.
Myself. Yes, I am one of them--for I thought he was alluding to
the soldiers,--you had best mind what you are about, I can tell
you.
Man. Don't doubt we will for our own sake; Lord bless you,
wifelkin, only think that we should see one of them there when we
least thought about it. Well, I have heard of such things, though
I never thought to see one; however, seeing is believing. Well!
now you are come, and are not going to do us any mischief, I hope
you will stay; you can do us plenty of good if you will.
Myself. What good could I do you?
Man. What good? plenty! Would you not bring us luck? I have
heard say that one of them there always does, if it will but settle
down. Stay with us, you shall have a tilted cart all to yourself
if you like. We'll make you our little God Almighty, and say our
prayers to you every morning!
Myself. That would be nice; and, if you were to give me plenty of
these things, I should have no objection. But what would my father
say? I think he would hardly let me.
Man. Why not? he would be with you; and kindly would we treat him.
Indeed, without your father you would be nothing at all.
Myself. That's true; but I do not think he could be spared from
his regiment. I have heard him say that they could do nothing
without him.
Man. His regiment! What are you talking about?--what does the
child mean?
Myself. What do I mean!--why, that my father is an officer-man at
the barracks yonder, keeping guard over the French prisoners.
Man. Oh! then that sap is not your father?
Myself. What, the snake? Why, no! Did you think he was?
Man. To be sure we did. Didn't you tell me so?
Myself. Why, yes; but who would have thought you would have
believed it? It is a tame one. I hunt vipers, and tame them.
Man. O-h!
'O-h!' grunted the woman, 'that's it, is it?'
The man and woman, who during this conversation had resumed their
former positions within the tent, looked at each other with a queer
look of surprise, as if somewhat disconcerted at what they now
heard. They then entered into discourse with each other in the
same strange tongue which had already puzzled me. At length the
man looked me in the face, and said, somewhat hesitatingly, 'So you
are not one of them there after all?'
Myself. One of them there? I don't know what you mean.
Man. Why, we have been thinking you were a goblin--a devilkin!
However, I see how it is: you are a sap-engro, a chap who catches
snakes, and plays tricks with them! Well, it comes very nearly to
the same thing; and if you please to list with us, and bear us
pleasant company, we shall be glad of you. I'd take my oath upon
it, that we might make a mort of money by you and that sap, and the
tricks it could do; and, as you seem fly to everything, I shouldn't
wonder if you would make a prime hand at telling fortunes.
'I shouldn't wonder,' said I.
Man. Of course. And you might still be our God Almighty, or at
any rate our clergyman, so you should live in a tilted cart by
yourself, and say prayers to us night and morning--to wifelkin
here, and all our family; there's plenty of us when we are all
together: as I said before, you seem fly, I shouldn't wonder if
you could read?
'Oh yes!' said I, 'I can read'; and, eager to display my
accomplishments, I took my book out of my pocket, and, opening it
at random, proceeded to read how a certain man, whilst wandering
about a certain solitary island, entered a cave, the mouth of which
was overgrown with brushwood, and how he was nearly frightened to
death in that cave by something which he saw.
'That will do,' said the man; 'that's the kind of prayers for me
and my family, aren't they, wifelkin? I never heard more delicate
prayers in all my life! Why, they beat the rubricals hollow!--and
here comes my son Jasper. I say, Jasper, here's a young sap-engro
that can read, and is more fly than yourself. Shake hands with
him; I wish ye to be two brothers.'
With a swift but stealthy pace Jasper came towards us from the
farther part of the lane; on reaching the tent he stood still, and
looked fixedly upon me as I sat upon the stool; I looked fixedly
upon him. A queer look had Jasper; he was a lad of some twelve or
thirteen years, with long arms, unlike the singular being who
called himself his father; his complexion was ruddy, but his face
was seamed, though it did not bear the peculiar scar which
disfigured the countenance of the other; nor, though roguish
enough, a certain evil expression which that of the other bore, and
which the face of the woman possessed in a yet more remarkable
degree. For the rest, he wore drab breeches, with certain strings
at the knee, a rather gay waistcoat, and tolerably white shirt;
under his arm he bore a mighty whip of whalebone with a brass knob,
and upon his head was a hat without either top or brim.
'There, Jasper! shake hands with the sap-engro.'
'Can he box, father?' said Jasper, surveying me rather
contemptuously. 'I should think not, he looks so puny and small.'
'Hold your peace, fool!' said the man; 'he can do more than that--I
tell you he's fly: he carries a sap about, which would sting a
ninny like you to dead.'
'What, a sap-engro!' said the boy, with a singular whine, and,
stooping down, he leered curiously in my face, kindly, however, and
then patted me on the head. 'A sap-engro,' he ejaculated; 'lor!'
'Yes, and one of the right sort,' said the man; 'I am glad we have
met with him, he is going to list with us, and be our clergyman and
God Almighty, ain't you, my tawny?'
'I don't know,' said I; 'I must see what my father will say.'
'Your father; bah!'--but here he stopped, for a sound was heard
like the rapid galloping of a horse, not loud and distinct as on a
road, but dull and heavy as if upon a grass sward; nearer and
nearer it came, and the man, starting up, rushed out of the tent,
and looked around anxiously. I arose from the stool upon which I
had been seated, and just at that moment, amidst a crashing of
boughs and sticks, a man on horseback bounded over the hedge into
the lane at a few yards' distance from where we were: from the
impetus of the leap the horse was nearly down on his knees; the
rider, however, by dint of vigorous handling of the reins,
prevented him from falling, and then rode up to the tent. ''Tis
Nat,' said the man; 'what brings him here?' The new-comer was a
stout burly fellow, about the middle age; he had a savage
determined look, and his face was nearly covered over with
carbuncles; he wore a broad slouching hat, and was dressed in a
gray coat, cut in a fashion which I afterwards learnt to be the
genuine Newmarket cut, the skirts being exceedingly short; his
waistcoat was of red plush, and he wore broad corduroy breeches and
white top-boots. The steed which carried him was of iron gray,
spirited and powerful, but covered with sweat and foam. The fellow
glanced fiercely and suspiciously around, and said something to the
man of the tent in a harsh and rapid voice. A short and hurried
conversation ensued in the strange tongue. I could not take my
eyes off this new-comer. Oh, that half-jockey, half-bruiser
countenance, I never forgot it! More than fifteen years afterwards
I found myself amidst a crowd before Newgate; a gallows was
erected, and beneath it stood a criminal, a notorious malefactor.
I recognised him at once; the horseman of the lane is now beneath
the fatal tree, but nothing altered; still the same man; jerking
his head to the right and left with the same fierce and under
glance, just as if the affairs of this world had the same kind of
interest to the last; gray coat of Newmarket cut, plush waistcoat,
corduroys, and boots, nothing altered; but the head, alas! is bare,
and so is the neck. Oh, crime and virtue, virtue and crime!--it
was old John Newton, I think, who, when he saw a man going to be
hanged, said, 'There goes John Newton, but for the grace of God!'
But the lane, the lane, all was now in confusion in the lane; the
man and woman were employed in striking the tents and in making
hurried preparations for departure; the boy Jasper was putting the
harness upon the ponies and attaching them to the carts; and, to
increase the singularity of the scene, two or three wild-looking
women and girls, in red cloaks and immense black beaver bonnets,
came from I know not what direction, and, after exchanging a few
words with the others, commenced with fierce and agitated gestures
to assist them in their occupation. The rider meanwhile sat upon
his horse, but evidently in a state of great impatience; he
muttered curses between his teeth, spurred the animal furiously,
and then reined it in, causing it to rear itself up nearly
perpendicular. At last he said, 'Curse ye for Romans, how slow ye
are! well, it is no business of mine, stay here all day if you
like; I have given ye warning, I am off to the big north road.
However, before I go, you had better give me all you have of that.'
'Truly spoken, Nat, my pal,' said the man; 'give it him, mother.
There it is; now be off as soon as you please, and rid us of evil
company.'
The woman had handed him two bags formed of stocking, half full of
something heavy, which looked through them for all the world like
money of some kind. The fellow, on receiving them, thrust them
without ceremony into the pockets of his coat, and then, without a
word of farewell salutation, departed at a tremendous rate, the
hoofs of his horse thundering for a long time on the hard soil of
the neighbouring road, till the sound finally died away in the
distance. The strange people were not slow in completing their
preparations, and then, flogging their animals terrifically,
hurried away seemingly in the same direction.
The boy Jasper was last of the band. As he was following the rest,
he stopped suddenly, and looked on the ground appearing to muse;
then, turning round, he came up to me where I was standing, leered
in my face, and then, thrusting out his hand, he said, 'Good-bye,
Sap, I daresay we shall meet again, remember we are brothers; two
gentle brothers.'
Then whining forth, 'What a sap-engro, lor!' he gave me a parting
leer, and hastened away.
I remained standing in the lane gazing after the retreating
company. 'A strange set of people,' said I at last; 'wonder who
they can be?'
CHAPTER VI
Three years--Lilly's grammar--Proficiency--Ignorant of figures--The
school bell--Order of succession--Persecution--What are we to do?--
Northward--A goodly scene--Haunted ground--Feats of chivalry--
Rivers--Over the brig.
Years passed on, even three years; during this period I had
increased considerably in stature and in strength, and, let us
hope, improved in mind; for I had entered on the study of the Latin
language. The very first person to whose care I was intrusted for
the acquisition of Latin was an old friend of my fathers, a
clergyman who kept a seminary at a town the very next we visited
after our departure from 'the Cross.' Under his instruction,
however, I continued only a few weeks, as we speedily left the
place. 'Captain,' said this divine, when my father came to take
leave of him on the eve of our departure, 'I have a friendship for
you, and therefore wish to give you a piece of advice concerning
this son of yours. You are now removing him from my care; you do
wrong, but we will let that pass. Listen to me: there is but one
good school-book in the world--the one I use in my seminary--
Lilly's Latin grammar, in which your son has already made some
progress. If you are anxious for the success of your son in life,
for the correctness of his conduct and the soundness of his
principles, keep him to Lilly's grammar. If you can by any means,
either fair or foul, induce him to get by heart Lilly's Latin
grammar, you may set your heart at rest with respect to him; I,
myself, will be his warrant. I never yet knew a boy that was
induced, either by fair means or foul, to learn Lilly's Latin
grammar by heart, who did not turn out a man, provided he lived
long enough.'
My father, who did not understand the classical languages, received
with respect the advice of his old friend, and from that moment
conceived the highest opinion of Lilly's Latin grammar. During
three years I studied Lilly's Latin grammar under the tuition of
various schoolmasters, for I travelled with the regiment, and in
every town in which we were stationary I was invariably (God bless
my father!) sent to the classical academy of the place. It
chanced, by good fortune, that in the generality of these schools
the grammar of Lilly was in use; when, however, that was not the
case, it made no difference in my educational course, my father
always stipulating with the masters that I should be daily examined
in Lilly. At the end of the three years I had the whole by heart;
you had only to repeat the first two or three words of any sentence
in any part of the book, and forthwith I would open cry, commencing
without blundering and hesitation, and continue till you were glad
to beg me to leave off, with many expressions of admiration at my
proficiency in the Latin language. Sometimes, however, to convince
you how well I merited these encomiums, I would follow you to the
bottom of the stair, and even into the street, repeating in a kind
of sing-song measure the sonorous lines of the golden schoolmaster.
If I am here asked whether I understood anything of what I had got
by heart, I reply--'Never mind, I understand it all now, and
believe that no one ever yet got Lilly's Latin grammar by heart
when young, who repented of the feat at a mature age.'
And, when my father saw that I had accomplished my task, he opened
his mouth, and said, 'Truly, this is more than I expected. I did
not think that there had been so much in you, either of application
or capacity; you have now learnt all that is necessary, if my
friend Dr. B-'s opinion was sterling, as I have no doubt it was.
You are still a child, however, and must yet go to school, in order
that you may be kept out of evil company. Perhaps you may still
contrive, now you have exhausted the barn, to pick up a grain or
two in the barn-yard. You are still ignorant of figures, I
believe, not that I would mention figures in the same day with
Lilly's grammar.'
These words were uttered in a place called -, in the north, or in
the road to the north, to which, for some time past, our corps had
been slowly advancing. I was sent to the school of the place,
which chanced to be a day school. It was a somewhat extraordinary
one, and a somewhat extraordinary event occurred to me within its
walls.
It occupied part of the farther end of a small plain, or square, at
the outskirts of the town, close to some extensive bleaching
fields. It was a long low building of one room, with no upper
story; on the top was a kind of wooden box, or sconce, which I at
first mistook for a pigeon-house, but which in reality contained a
bell, to which was attached a rope, which, passing through the
ceiling, hung dangling in the middle of the school-room. I am the
more particular in mentioning this appurtenance, as I had soon
occasion to scrape acquaintance with it in a manner not very
agreeable to my feelings. The master was very proud of his bell,
if I might judge from the fact of his eyes being frequently turned
to that part of the ceiling from which the rope depended. Twice
every day, namely, after the morning and evening tasks had been
gone through, were the boys rung out of school by the monotonous
jingle of this bell. This ringing out was rather a lengthy affair,
for, as the master was a man of order and method, the boys were
only permitted to go out of the room one by one; and as they were
rather numerous, amounting, at least, to one hundred, and were
taught to move at a pace of suitable decorum, at least a quarter of
an hour elapsed from the commencement of the march before the last
boy could make his exit. The office of bell-ringer was performed
by every boy successively; and it so happened that, the very first
day of my attendance at the school, the turn to ring the bell had,
by order of succession, arrived at the place which had been
allotted to me; for the master, as I have already observed, was a
man of method and order, and every boy had a particular seat, to
which he became a fixture as long as he continued at the school.
So, upon this day, when the tasks were done and completed, and the
boys sat with their hats and caps in their hands, anxiously
expecting the moment of dismissal, it was suddenly notified to me,
by the urchins who sat nearest to me, that I must get up and ring
the bell. Now, as this was the first time that I had been at the
school, I was totally unacquainted with the process, which I had
never seen, and, indeed, had never heard of till that moment. I
therefore sat still, not imagining it possible that any such duty
could be required of me. But now, with not a little confusion, I
perceived that the eyes of all the boys in the school were fixed
upon me. Presently there were nods and winks in the direction of
the bell-rope; and, as these produced no effect, uncouth visages
were made, like those of monkeys when enraged; teeth were gnashed,
tongues thrust out, and even fists were bent at me. The master,
who stood at the end of the room, with a huge ferule under his arm,
bent full upon me a look of stern appeal; and the ushers, of whom
there were four, glared upon me, each from his own particular
corner, as I vainly turned, in one direction and another, in search
of one reassuring look.
But now, probably in obedience to a sign from the master, the boys
in my immediate neighbourhood began to maltreat me. Some pinched me
with their fingers, some buffeted me, whilst others pricked me with
pins, or the points of compasses. These arguments were not without
effect. I sprang from my seat, and endeavoured to escape along a
double line of benches, thronged with boys of all ages, from the
urchin of six or seven to the nondescript of sixteen or seventeen.
It was like running the gauntlet; every one, great or small,
pinching, kicking, or otherwise maltreating me, as I passed by.
Goaded on in this manner, I at length reached the middle of the
room, where dangled the bell-rope, the cause of all my sufferings.
I should have passed it--for my confusion was so great that I was
quite at a loss to comprehend what all this could mean, and almost
believed myself under the influence of an ugly dream--but now the
boys, who were seated in advance in the row, arose with one accord,
and barred my farther progress; and one, doubtless more sensible
than the rest, seizing the rope, thrust it into my hand. I now
began to perceive that the dismissal of the school, and my own
release from torment, depended upon this selfsame rope. I
therefore, in a fit of desperation, pulled it once or twice, and
then left off, naturally supposing that I had done quite enough.
The boys who sat next the door no sooner heard the bell, than,
rising from their seats, they moved out at the door. The bell,
however, had no sooner ceased to jingle, than they stopped short,
and, turning round, stared at the master, as much as to say, 'What
are we to do now?' This was too much for the patience of the man
of method, which my previous stupidity had already nearly
exhausted. Dashing forward into the middle of the room, he struck
me violently on the shoulders with his ferule, and, snatching the
rope out of my hand, exclaimed, with a stentorian voice, and
genuine Yorkshire accent, 'Prodigy of ignorance! dost not even know
how to ring a bell? Must I myself instruct thee?' He then
commenced pulling at the bell with such violence that long before
half the school was dismissed the rope broke, and the rest of the
boys had to depart without their accustomed music.
But I must not linger here, though I could say much about the
school and the pedagogue highly amusing and diverting, which,
however, I suppress, in order to make way for matters of yet
greater interest. On we went, northward, northward! and, as we
advanced, I saw that the country was becoming widely different from
those parts of merry England in which we had previously travelled.
It was wilder, and less cultivated, and more broken with hills and
hillocks. The people, too, of these regions appeared to partake of
something of the character of their country. They were coarsely
dressed; tall and sturdy of frame; their voices were deep and
guttural; and the half of the dialect which they spoke was
unintelligible to my ears.
I often wondered where we could be going, for I was at this time
about as ignorant of geography as I was of most other things.
However, I held my peace, asked no questions, and patiently awaited
the issue.
Northward, northward, still! And it came to pass that, one
morning, I found myself extended on the bank of a river. It was a
beautiful morning of early spring; small white clouds were floating
in the heaven, occasionally veiling the countenance of the sun,
whose light, as they retired, would again burst forth, coursing
like a race-horse over the scene--and a goodly scene it was!
Before me, across the water, on an eminence, stood a white old
city, surrounded with lofty walls, above which rose the tops of
tall houses, with here and there a church or steeple. To my right
hand was a long and massive bridge, with many arches, and of
antique architecture, which traversed the river. The river was a
noble one; the broadest that I had hitherto seen. Its waters, of a
greenish tinge, poured with impetuosity beneath the narrow arches
to meet the sea, close at hand, as the boom of the billows breaking
distinctly upon a beach declared. There were songs upon the river
from the fisher-barks; and occasionally a chorus, plaintive and
wild, such as I had never heard before, the words of which I did
not understand, but which, at the present time, down the long
avenue of years, seem in memory's ear to sound like 'Horam, coram,
dago.' Several robust fellows were near me, some knee-deep in
water, employed in hauling the seine upon the strand. Huge fish
were struggling amidst the meshes--princely salmon,--their
brilliant mail of blue and silver flashing in the morning beam; so
goodly and gay a scene, in truth, had never greeted my boyish eye.
And, as I gazed upon the prospect, my bosom began to heave, and my
tears to trickle. Was it the beauty of the scene which gave rise
to these emotions? Possibly; for though a poor ignorant child--a
half-wild creature--I was not insensible to the loveliness of
nature, and took pleasure in the happiness and handiworks of my
fellow-creatures. Yet, perhaps, in something more deep and
mysterious the feelings which then pervaded me might originate.
Who can lie down on Elvir Hill without experiencing something of
the sorcery of the place? Flee from Elvir Hill, young swain, or
the maids of Elle will have power over you, and you will go elf-
wild!--so say the Danes. I had unconsciously laid myself down upon
haunted ground; and I am willing to imagine that what I then
experienced was rather connected with the world of spirits and
dreams than with what I actually saw and heard around me. Surely
the elves and genii of the place were conversing, by some
inscrutable means, with the principle of intelligence lurking
within the poor uncultivated clod! Perhaps to that ethereal
principle the wonders of the past, as connected with that stream,
the glories of the present, and even the history of the future,
were at that moment being revealed! Of how many feats of chivalry
had those old walls been witness, when hostile kings contended for
their possession!--how many an army from the south and from the
north had trod that old bridge!--what red and noble blood had
crimsoned those rushing waters!-what strains had been sung, ay,
were yet being sung, on its banks!--some soft as Doric reed; some
fierce and sharp as those of Norwegian Skaldaglam; some as replete
with wild and wizard force as Finland's runes, singing of
Kalevala's moors, and the deeds of Woinomoinen! Honour to thee,
thou island stream! Onward may thou ever roll, fresh and green,
rejoicing in thy bright past, thy glorious present, and in vivid
hope of a triumphant future! Flow on, beautiful one!--which of the
world's streams canst thou envy, with thy beauty and renown?
Stately is the Danube, rolling in its might through lands romantic
with the wild exploits of Turk, Polak, and Magyar! Lovely is the
Rhine! on its shelvy banks grows the racy grape; and strange old
keeps of robber-knights of yore are reflected in its waters, from
picturesque crags and airy headlands!--yet neither the stately
Danube nor the beauteous Rhine, with all their fame, though
abundant, needst thou envy, thou pure island stream!--and far less
yon turbid river of old, not modern renown, gurgling beneath the
walls of what was once proud Rome, towering Rome, Jupiter's town,
but now vile Rome, crumbling Rome, Batuscha's town, far less needst
thou envy the turbid Tiber of bygone fame, creeping sadly to the
sea, surcharged with the abominations of modern Rome--how unlike to
thee, thou pure island stream!
And, as I lay on the bank and wept, there drew nigh to me a man in
the habiliments of a fisher. He was bare-legged, of a weather-
beaten countenance, and of stature approaching to the gigantic.
'What is the callant greeting for?' said he, as he stopped and
surveyed me. 'Has onybody wrought ye ony harm?'
'Not that I know of,' I replied, rather guessing at than
understanding his question; 'I was crying because I could not help
it! I say, old one, what is the name of this river?'
'Hout! I now see what you was greeting at--at your ain ignorance,
nae doubt--'tis very great! Weel, I will na fash you with
reproaches, but even enlighten ye, since you seem a decent man's
bairn, and you speir a civil question. Yon river is called the
Tweed; and yonder, over the brig, is Scotland. Did ye never hear
of the Tweed, my bonny man?'
'No,' said I, as I rose from the grass, and proceeded to cross the
bridge to the town at which we had arrived the preceding night; 'I
never heard of it; but now I have seen it, I shall not soon forget
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