TAUNTON.
I never weary in thinking of the gaiety and happiness of those four
days at Taunton among the rebels. There was no more doubt in any of
our hearts: we were all confident of victory--and that easy and,
perhaps, bloodless. As was the rejoicing at Taunton, so it would be
in every town of the country. One only had to look out of window
in order to feel assurance of that victory, so jolly, so happy, so
confident looked every face.
'Why,' said Miss Blake, 'in future ages even we women, who have
only worked the flags, will be envied for our share in the glorious
deliverance. Great writers will speak of us as they speak of the
Roman women.' Then all our eyes sparkled, and the needles flew
faster and the flags grew nearer to completion.
If history should condescend to remember the poor Maids of Taunton
at all, it will be, at best, with pity for the afflictions which
afterwards fell upon them: none, certainly, will envy them; but
we shall be forgotten. Why should we be remembered? Women, it is
certain, have no business with affairs of State, and especially none
with rebellions and civil wars. Our hearts and passions carry us
away. The leaders in the Cause which we have joined appear to us to
be more than human; we cannot restrain ourselves, we fall down and
worship our leaders, especially in the cause of religion and liberty.
Now behold! On the very morning after we arrived at Taunton I was
abroad in the streets with Miss Blake, looking at the town, which
hath shops full of the most beautiful and precious things, and
wondering at the great concourse of people (for the looms were
all deserted, and the workmen were in the streets filled with a
martial spirit), when I saw riding into the town no other than Robin
himself. Oh! how my heart leapt up to see him! He was most gallantly
dressed in a purple coat, with a crimson sash over his shoulders
to carry his sword; he had pistols in his holsters, and wore
great riding-boots, and with him rode a company of a dozen young
men, mounted on good strong nags: why, they were men of our own
village, and I knew them, every one. They were armed with muskets
and pikes--I knew where those came from--and when they saw me the
fellows all began to grin, and to square their shoulders so as to
look more martial. But Robin leapt from his horse.
''Tis Alice!' he cried. 'Dear heart! Thou art then safe, so far?
Madam, your servant.' Here he took off his hat to Miss Blake. 'Lads,
ride on to the White Hart and call for what you want, and take care
of the nags. This is a joyful meeting, Sweetheart.' Here he kissed
me. 'The Duke, they say, draws thousands daily. I thought to find
him in Taunton by this time. Why, we are as good as victorious
already. Humphrey, I take it, is with his Grace. My dear, even had
the Cause of Freedom failed to move me I had been dragged by the
silken ropes of Love. Truly, I could not choose but come. There was
the thought of these brave fellows marching to battle, and I all the
time skulking at home, who had ever been so loud upon their side.
And there was the thought of Humphrey, braving the dangers of the
field, tender though he be, and I, strong and lusty, sitting by
the fire, and sleeping on a feather bed; and always there was the
thought of thee, my dear, among these rude soldiers--like Milton's
lady among the rabble rout, because well I know that even Christian
warriors (so-called) are not lambs; and, again, there was my
grandfather, who could find no rest, but continually walked to and
fro, with looks that at one time said, "Go, my son," and at others,
"Nay, lest thou receive a hurt"; and the white face of my mother,
which said as plain as eyes could speak: "He ought to go, he ought
to go; and yet he may be killed."'
'Oh, Robin! Pray God there prove to be no more fighting.'
'Well, my dear, if I am not tedious to Madam here'----
'Oh, Sir!' said Miss Blake, 'it is a joy to hear this talk.' She
told me afterwards that it was also a joy to look upon so gallant
a gentleman, and such a pair of lovers. She, poor creature, had no
sweetheart.
'Then on Monday,' Robin continued, 'the day before yesterday, I
could refrain no longer, but laid the matter before my grandfather.
Sweetheart! there is, I swear, no better man in all the world.'
'Of that I am well assured, Robin.'
'First, he said that if anything befell me he should go down in
sorrow to his grave; yet that, as to his own end, an old man so near
the grave should not be concerned about the manner of his end, so
long as he should keep to honour and duty. Next, that in his own
youth he had himself gone forth willingly to fight in the cause of
Liberty, without counting the risk. Thirdly, that if my conscience
did truly urge me to follow the Duke, I ought to obey that voice in
the name of God. And this with tears in his eyes, and yet a lively
and visible satisfaction that, as he himself had chosen, so his
grandson would choose. "Sir," I said, "that voice of conscience
speaks out very loudly and clearly. I cannot stifle it. Therefore,
by your good leave, I will go." Then he bade me take the best horse
in the stable, and gave me a purse of gold, and so I made ready.'
Miss Blake, at this point, said that she was reminded of David. It
was, I suppose, because Robin was so goodly a lad to look upon;
otherwise, David, though an exile, did never endeavour to pull King
Saul from his throne.
'Then,' Robin continued, 'I went to my mother. She wept, because war
hath many dangers and chances; but she would not say me "Nay." And
in the evening when the men came home I went into the village and
asked who would go with me. A dozen stout fellows--you know them
all, Sweetheart--stepped forth at once; another dozen would have
come, but their wives prevented them. And so, mounting them on good
cart-horses, I bade farewell and rode away.'
'Sir,' said Miss Blake, 'you have chosen the better part. You will
be rewarded by so splendid a victory that it will surprise all the
world; and for the rest of your life--yes, and for generations
afterwards--you will be ranked among the deliverers of your country.
It is a great privilege, Sir, to take part in the noblest passage of
English history. Oh!' she clasped her hands, 'I am sorry that I am
not a man, only because I would strike a blow in this sacred Cause.
But we are women, and we can but pray--and make flags. We cannot die
for the Cause.'
The event proved that women can sometimes die for the Cause, because
she herself, if any woman ever did, died for her Cause.
Then Robin left us in order to take steps about his men and himself.
Captain Hucker received them in the name of the Duke. They joined
the cavalry, and Robin was told that he should be made a Captain.
This done, he rode out with the rest to meet the Duke.
Now, when his approach was known, everybody who had a horse rode
forth to meet him, so that there followed him, when he entered the
town, not counting his army, so great a company that they almost
made another army.
As soon as it was reported that the Duke was within a mile (they had
that day marched sixteen miles, from Ilminster) the church bells
were set a-ringing; children came out with baskets of flowers in
readiness to strew them at his feet as he should pass--there were
roses and lilies and all kinds of summer flowers, so that his horse
had a most delicate carpet to walk upon; the common people crowded
the sides of the streets; the windows were filled with ladies, who
waved their handkerchiefs and called aloud on Heaven to bless the
good Duke, the brave Duke, the sweet and lovely Duke. If there were
any malcontents in the town they kept snug; it would have cost them
dear even to have been seen in the streets that day. The Duke showed
on this occasion a face full of hope and happiness; indeed, if he
had not shown a cheerful countenance on such a day, he would have
been something less, or something greater, than human. I mean that
he would have been either insensible and blockish not to be moved by
such a welcome, or else he would have been a prophet, as foreseeing
what would follow. He rode bareheaded, carrying his hat in his hand;
he was dressed in a shining corslet with a blue silk scarf and a
purple coat; his long brown hair hung in curls upon his shoulders;
his sweet lips were parted with a gracious smile; his beautiful
brown eyes--never had any Prince more lovely eyes--looked pleased
and benignant; truly there was never made any man more comely than
the Duke of Monmouth. The face of his father, and that of his uncle,
King James, were dark and gloomy, but the Duke's face was naturally
bright and cheerful; King Charles's long nose in him was softened
and reduced to the proportions of manly beauty; in short, there
was no feature that in his father was harsh and unpleasing but was
in him sweet and beautiful. If I had thought him comely and like a
King's son when four years before he made his Progress, I thought
him now ten times as gracious and as beautiful. He was thinner in
the face, which gave his appearance the greater dignity; he had
ever the most gracious smile and the most charming eyes; and at
such a moment as this who could believe the things which they said
about his wife and Lady Wentworth? No--they were inventions of his
enemies; they must be base lies--so noble a Presence could not
conceal a guilty heart; he must be as good and virtuous as he was
brave and lovely. Thus we talked, sitting in the window, and thus we
cheered our souls. Even now, to think how great and good he looked
on that day, it is difficult to believe that he was in some matters
so vile. I am not of those who expect one kind of moral conduct from
one man and a different kind from another; there is but one set of
commandments for rich and poor, for prince and peasant. But the pity
of it--oh! the pity of it, with such a prince!
Never, in short, did one see such a tumult of joy; it is impossible
to speak otherwise: the people had lost their wits with excess of
joy. Nor did they show their welcome in shouting only, for all doors
were thrown wide open, and supplies and necessaries of all kinds
were sent to the soldiers in the camp outside the town, so that the
country lads declared they had never fared more sumptuously. There
now rode after the Duke several Nonconformist ministers, beside my
father. Thus there was the pious Mr. Larke, of Lyme: he was an aged
Baptist preacher, who thought it no shame to his profession to gird
on a sword and to command a troop of Horse; and others there were,
whose names I forget, who had come forth to join the deliverer.
Lord Grey rode on one side of him, and Colonel Speke on the other;
Dr. Hooke, the Chaplain, and my father rode behind. My heart swelled
with joy to hear how the people, when they had shouted themselves
hoarse, cried out for my father, because his presence showed that
they would have once more that liberty of worship for want of which
they had so long languished. The Duke's own Chaplain, Mr. Ferguson,
had got a naked sword in his hand, and was marching on foot, crying
out, in a most vainglorious manner, 'I am Ferguson, the famous
Ferguson, that Ferguson for whose head so many hundred pounds were
offered. I am that man! I am that man!' He wore a great gown and
a silken cassock, which consorted ill with the sword in his hand,
and in the evening he preached in the great church, while my father
preached in the old meeting-house to a much larger congregation,
and, I venture to think, with a much more edifying discourse.
The army marched through the town in much the same order as it had
marched out of Lyme, and it seemed not much bigger, but the men
marched more orderly, and there was less laughing and shouting. But
the streets were so thronged that the men could hardly make their
way.
In the market-place the Duke halted, while his Declaration was read
aloud. One thing I could not approve. They dragged forth three
of the Justices--High Churchmen and standing stoutly for King
James--and forced them to listen, bareheaded, to the Declaration:
a thing which came near afterwards to their destruction. Yet they
looked sour and unwilling, as anyone would have testified. The
Declaration was a long document, and the reading of it took half an
hour at least; but the people cheered all the time.
After this, they read a Proclamation, warning the soldiers against
taking aught without payment. But Robin laughed, saying that this
was the way with armies, where the General was always on the side
of virtue, yet the soldiers were always yielding to temptation in
the matter of sheep and poultry; that human nature must not be too
much tempted, and that camp rations are sometimes scanty. But it was
a noble Proclamation, and I cannot but believe that the robberies
afterwards complained of were committed by the tattered crew who
followed the camp, rather than by the brave fellows themselves.
The Duke lay at Captain Hucker's house, over against the Three Cups
Inn. This was a great honour for Mr. Hucker, a plain serge-maker,
and there were many who were envious, thinking that the Duke
should not have gone to the house of so humble a person. It was
also said that for his services Mr. Hucker boasted that he should
expect nothing less than a coronet and the title of Peer, once the
business was safely dispatched. A Peer to be made out of a Master
Serge-maker! But we must charitably refuse to believe all that is
reported, and, indeed (I say it with sorrow of that most unfortunate
lady, Miss Blake), much idle tattle concerning neighbours was
carried on in her house, and I was told that it was the same in
every house of Taunton, so that the women spent all their time in
talking of their neighbours' affairs, and what might be going on in
the houses of their friends. This is a kind of talk which my father
would never permit, as testifying to idle curiosity and leading to
undue importance concerning things which are fleeting and trivial.
However, the Duke was bestowed in Captain Hucker's best bed--of that
there was no doubt; and the bells rang and bonfires blazed, and the
people sang and shouted in the streets.