He scarce could stand on any ground, He was so full of mettle.""
"My old friend, Pixie," said Everard, stroking the pony"s neck, "I am glad that he has survived all these bustling days-Pixie must be above twenty years old, Sir Henry?"
"Above twenty years, certainly. Yes, nephew Markham, war is a whirlwind in a plantation, which only spares what is least worth leaving. Old Pixie and his old master have survived many a tall fellow, and many a great horse-neither of them good for much themselves. Yet, as Will says, an old man can do somewhat. So Pixie and I still survive."
So saying, he again contrived that Pixie should show some remnants of activity.
"Still survive?" said the young Scot, completing the sentence which the good knight had left unfinished-"ay, still survive,
"To witch the world with n.o.ble horsemanship.""
Everard coloured, for he felt the irony; but not so his uncle, whose simple vanity never permitted him to doubt the sincerity of the compliment.
"Are you advised of that?" he said. "In King James"s time, indeed, I have appeared in the tilt-yard, and there you might have said-
"You saw young Harry with his beaver up."
"As to seeing old Harry, why"-Here the knight paused, and looked as a bashful man in labour of a pun-"As to old Harry-why, you might as well see the devil. You take me, Master Kerneguy-the devil, you know, is my namesake-ha-ha-ha!-Cousin Everard, I hope your precision is not startled by an innocent jest?"
He was so delighted with the applause of both his companions, that he recited the whole of the celebrated pa.s.sage referred to, and concluded with defying the present age, bundle all its wits, Donne, Cowley, Waller, and the rest of them together, to produce a poet of a tenth part of the genius of old Will.
"Why, we are said to have one of his descendants among us-Sir William D"Avenant," said Louis Kerneguy; "and many think him as clever a fellow."
"What!" exclaimed Sir Henry-"Will D"Avenant, whom I knew in the North, an officer under Newcastle, when the Marquis lay before Hull?-why, he was an honest cavalier, and wrote good doggrel enough; but how came he a-kin to Will Shakspeare, I trow?"
"Why," replied the young Scot, "by the surer side of the house, and after the old fashion, if D"Avenant speaks truth. It seems that his mother was a good-looking, laughing, buxom mistress of an inn between Stratford and London, at which Will Shakspeare often quartered as he went down to his native town; and that out of friendship and gossipred, as we say in Scotland, Will Shakspeare became G.o.dfather to Will D"Avenant; and not contented with this spiritual affinity, the younger Will is for establishing some claim to a natural one, alleging that his mother was a great admirer of wit, and there were no bounds to her complaisance for men of genius."
"Out upon the hound!" said Colonel Everard; "would he purchase the reputation of descending from poet, or from prince, at the expense of his mother"s good fame?-his nose ought to be slit."
"That would be difficult," answered the disguised Prince, recollecting the peculiarity of the bard"s countenance. [Footnote: D"Avenant actually wanted the nose, the foundation of many a jest of the day.]
"Will D"Avenant the son of Will Shakspeare?" said the knight, who had not yet recovered his surprise at the enormity of the pretension; "why, it reminds me of a verse in the Puppet-show of Phaeton, where the hero complains to his mother-
"Besides, by all the village boys I am sham"d, You the Sun"s son, you rascal, you be d-d!"
"I never heard such unblushing a.s.surance in my life!-Will D"Avenant the son of the brightest and best poet that ever was, is, or will be?-But I crave your pardon, nephew-You, I believe, love no stage plays."
"Nay, I am not altogether so precise as you would make me, uncle. I have loved them perhaps too well in my time, and now I condemn them not altogether, or in gross, though I approve not their excesses and extravagances.-I cannot, even in Shakspeare, but see many things both scandalous to decency and prejudicial to good manners-many things which tend to ridicule virtue, or to recommend vice,-at least to mitigate the hideousness of its features. I cannot think these fine poems are an useful study, and especially for the youth of either s.e.x, in which bloodshed is pointed out as the chief occupation of the men, and intrigue as the sole employment of the women."
In making these observations, Everard was simple enough to think that he was only giving his uncle an opportunity of defending a favourite opinion, without offending him by a contradiction, which was so limited and mitigated. But here, as on other occasions, he forgot how obstinate his uncle was in his views, whether of religion, policy, or taste, and that it would be as easy to convert him to the Presbyterian form of government, or engage him to take the abjuration oath, as to shake his belief in Shakspeare. There was another peculiarity in the good knight"s mode of arguing, which Everard, being himself of a plain and downright character, and one whose religious tenets were in some degree unfavourable to the suppressions and simulations often used in society, could never perfectly understand. Sir Henry, sensible of his natural heat of temper, was wont scrupulously to guard against it, and would for some time, when in fact much offended, conduct a debate with all the external appearance of composure, till the violence of his feelings would rise so high as to overcome and bear away the artificial barriers opposed to it, and rush down upon the adversary with acc.u.mulating wrath. It thus frequently happened, that, like a wily old general, he retreated in the face of his disputant in good order and by degrees, with so moderate a degree of resistance, as to draw on his antagonist"s pursuit to the spot, where, at length, making a sudden and unexpected attack, with horse, foot, and artillery at once, he seldom failed to confound the enemy, though he might not overthrow him.
It was on this principle, therefore, that, hearing Everard"s last observation, he disguised his angry feelings, and answered, with a tone where politeness was called in to keep guard upon pa.s.sion, "That undoubtedly the Presbyterian gentry had given, through the whole of these unhappy times, such proofs of an humble, unaspiring, and unambitious desire of the public good, as ent.i.tled them to general credit for the sincerity of those very strong scruples which they entertained against works, in which the n.o.blest, sentiments of religion and virtue,-sentiments which might convert hardened sinners, and be placed with propriety in the mouths of dying saints and martyrs,- happened, from the rudeness and coa.r.s.e taste of the times, to be mixed with some broad jests, and similar matter, which lay not much in the way, excepting of those who painfully sought such stuff out, that they might use it in vilifying what was in itself deserving of the highest applause. But what he wished especially to know from his nephew was, whether any of those gifted men, who had expelled the learned scholars and deep divines of the Church of England from the pulpit, and now flourished in their stead, received any inspiration from the muses, (if he might use so profane a term without offence to Colonel Everard,) or whether they were not as sottishly and brutally averse from elegant letters, as they were from humanity and common sense?"
Colonel Everard might have guessed, by the ironical tone in which this speech was delivered, what storm was mustering within his uncle"s bosom-nay, he might have conjectured the state of the old knight"s feelings from his emphasis on the word Colonel, by which epithet, as that which most connected his nephew with the party he hated, he never distinguished Everard, unless when his wrath was rising; while, on the contrary, when disposed to be on good terms with him, he usually called him Kinsman, or Nephew Markham. Indeed, it was under a partial sense that this was the case, and in the hope to see his cousin Alice, that the Colonel forbore making any answer to the harangue of his uncle, which had concluded just as the old knight had alighted at the door of the Lodge, and was entering the hall, followed by his two attendants.
Phoebe at the same time made her appearance in the hall, and received orders to bring some "beverage" for the gentlemen. The Hebe of Woodstock failed not to recognise and welcome Everard by an almost imperceptible curtsy; but she did not serve her interest, as she designed, when she asked the knight, as a question of course, whether he commanded the attendance of Mistress Alice. A stern No, was the decided reply; and the ill-timed interference seemed to increase his previous irritation against Everard for his depreciation of Shakspeare. "I would insist," said Sir Henry, resuming the obnoxious subject, "were it fit for a poor disbanded cavalier to use such a phrase towards a commander of the conquering army,-upon, knowing whether the convulsion which has sent us saints and prophets without end, has not also afforded us a poet with enough both of gifts and grace to outshine poor old Will, the oracle and idol of us blinded and carnal cavaliers."
"Surely, sir," replied Colonel Everard; "I know verses written by a friend of the Commonwealth, and those, too, of a dramatic character, which, weighed in an impartial scale, might equal even the poetry of Shakspeare, and which are free from the fustian and indelicacy with which that great bard was sometimes content to feed the coa.r.s.e appet.i.tes of his barbarous audience."
"Indeed!" said the knight, keeping down his wrath with difficulty. "I should like to be acquainted with this master-piece of poetry!-May we ask the name of this distinguished person?"
"It must be Vicars, or Withers, at least," said the feigned page.
"No, sir," replied Everard, "nor Drummond of Hawthornden, nor Lord Stirling neither. And yet the verses will vindicate what I say, if you will make allowance for indifferent recitation, for I am better accustomed to speak to a battalion than to those who love the muses. The speaker is a lady benighted, who, having lost her way in a pathless forest, at first expresses herself agitated by the supernatural fears to which her situation gave rise."
"A play, too, and written by a roundhead author!" said Sir Henry in surprise.
"A dramatic production at least," replied his nephew; and began to recite simply, but with feeling, the lines now so well known, but which had then obtained no celebrity, the fame of the author resting upon the basis rather of his polemical and political publications, than on the poetry doomed in after days to support the eternal structure of his immortality.
"These thoughts may startle, but will not, astound The virtuous mind, that ever walks attended By a strong-siding champion, Conscience.""
"My own opinion, nephew Markham, my own opinion," said Sir Henry, with a burst of admiration; "better expressed, but just what I said when the scoundrelly roundheads pretended to see ghosts at Woodstock-Go on, I prithee."
Everard proceeded:-
""O welcome pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope, Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings, And thou unblemish"d form of Chast.i.ty!
I see ye visibly, and now believe That he the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill Are but as slavish officers of vengeance, Would send a glistering guardian, if need were, To keep my life and honour una.s.sail"d.- Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud.
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?""
"The rest has escaped me," said the reciter; "and I marvel I have been able to remember so much."
Sir Henry Lee, who had expected some effusion very different from those cla.s.sical and beautiful lines, soon changed the scornful expression of his countenance, relaxed his contorted upper lip, and, stroking down his beard with his left hand, rested the forefinger of the right upon his eyebrow, in sign of profound attention. After Everard had ceased speaking, the old man signed as at the end of a strain of sweet music. He then spoke in a gentler manner than formerly.
"Cousin Markham," he said, "these verses flow sweetly, and sound in my ears like the well-touched warbling of a lute. But thou knowest I am somewhat slow of apprehending the full meaning of that which I hear for the first time. Repeat me these verses again, slowly and deliberately; for I always love to hear poetry twice, the first time for sound, and the latter time for sense."
Thus encouraged, Everard recited again the lines with more hardihood and better effect; the knight distinctly understanding, and from his looks and motions, highly applauding them.
"Yes!" he broke out, when Everard was again silent-"Yes, I do call that poetry-though it were even written by a Presbyterian, or an Anabaptist either. Ay, there were good and righteous people to be found even amongst the offending towns which were destroyed by fire. And certainly I have heard, though with little credence (begging your pardon, cousin. Everard,) that there are men among you who have seen the error of their ways in rebelling against the best and kindest of masters, and bringing it to that pa.s.s that he was murdered by a gang yet fiercer than themselves. Ay, doubtless, the gentleness of spirit, and the purity of mind, which dictated those beautiful lines, has long ago taught a man so amiable to say, I have sinned, I have sinned. Yes, I doubt not so sweet a harp has been broken, even in remorse, for the crimes he was witness to; and now he sits drooping for the shame and sorrow of England,-all his n.o.ble rhymes, as Will says,
"Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and harsh."
Dost thou not think so, Master Kerneguy?"
"Not I, Sir Henry," answered the page, somewhat maliciously.
"What, dost not believe the author of these lines must needs be of the better file, and leaning to our persuasion?"
"I think, Sir Henry, that the poetry qualifies the author to write a play on the subject of Dame Potiphar and her recusant lover; and as for his calling-that last metaphor of the cloud in a black coat or cloak, with silver lining, would have dubbed him a tailor with me, only that I happen to know that he is a schoolmaster by profession, and by political opinions qualified to be Poet Laureate to Cromwell; for what Colonel Everard has repeated with such unction, is the production of no less celebrated a person than John Milton."
"John Milton!" exclaimed Sir Henry in astonishment-"What! John Milton, the blasphemous and b.l.o.o.d.y-minded author of the Defensio Populi Anglicani!-the advocate of the infernal High Court of Fiends; the creature and parasite of that grand impostor, that loathsome hypocrite, that detestable monster, that prodigy of the universe, that disgrace of mankind, that landscape of iniquity, that sink of sin, and that compendium of baseness, Oliver Cromwell!"
"Even the same John Milton," answered Charles; "schoolmaster to little boys, and tailor to the clouds, which he furnishes with suits of black, lined with silver, at no other expense than that of common sense."
"Markham Everard," said the old knight, "I will never forgive thee- never, never. Thou hast made me speak words of praise respecting one whose offal should fatten the region-kites. Speak not to me, sir, but begone! Am I, your kinsman and benefactor, a fit person to be juggled out of my commendation and eulogy, and brought to bedaub such a whitened sepulchre as the sophist Milton?"
"I profess," said Everard, "this is hard measure, Sir Henry. You pressed me-you defied me, to produce poetry as good as Shakspeare"s. I only thought of the verses, not of the politics of Milton."
"Oh yes, sir," replied Sir Henry; "we well know your power of making distinctions; you could make war against the King"s prerogative, without having the least design against his person. Oh Heaven forbid! But Heaven will hear and judge you. Set down the beverage, Phoebe"-(this was added by way of parenthesis to Phoebe, who entered with refreshment)-"Colonel Everard is not thirsty-You have wiped your mouths, and said you have done no evil. But though you have deceived man, yet G.o.d you cannot deceive. And you shall wipe no lips in Woodstock, either after meat or drink, I promise you."
Charged thus at once with the faults imputed to his whole religious sect and political party, Everard felt too late of what imprudence he had been guilty in giving the opening, by disputing his uncle"s taste in dramatic poetry. He endeavoured to explain-to apologise.
"I mistook your purpose, honoured sir, and thought you really desired to know something of our literature; and in repeating what you deemed not unworthy your hearing, I profess I thought I was doing you pleasure, instead of stirring your indignation."