Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source: Google Books
"https://books.google.com/books?id=l_QDAAAAQAAJ"
(provided by Oxford University).
2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
MR. JAMES'S RECENT FICTIONS.
----------
NOW READY,
THE LAST OF THE FAIRIES: a Christmas Tale for 1848. By G. P. R. James,
Esq. Foolscap 8vo, 5_s_.
MARGARET GRAHAM: a Tale founded on Fact. In 2 vols. post 8vo, £l 1_s_.
======================================================================
_The Sixteenth Volume of the New and Illustrated Edition of_
THE WORKS OF G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
Will be published on the 1st of April, 1848.
==========
This new and attractive Series of Mr. James's Works is published
Quarterly. It commenced on the 1st of July, 1844, and the following
Volumes have already appeared:--
Vol. I. containing THE GIPSY July 1st, 1844.
Vol. II. -- MARY OF BURGUNDY Oct. 1st, 1844.
Vol. III. -- THE HUGUENOT Jan. 1st, 1845.
Vol. IV. -- ONE IN A THOUSAND April 1st, 1845.
Vol. V. -- PHILIP AUGUSTUS July 1st, 1845.
Vol. VI. -- HENRY OF GUISE Oct. 1st, 1845.
Vol. VII. -- MORLEY ERNSTEIN Jan. 1st, 1846.
Vol. VIII. -- THE ROBBER April 1st, 1846.
Vol. IX. -- DARNLEY July 1st, 1846.
Vol. X. -- THE BRIGAND; OR CORSE
DE LEON Oct. 1st, 1846.
Vol. XI. -- THE KING'S HIGHWAY Jan. 1st, 1847.
Vol. XII. -- THE GENTLEMAN OF THE
OLD SCHOOL April 1st, 1847.
Vol. XIII. -- HENRY MASTERTON July 1st, 1847.
Vol. XIV. -- FOREST DAYS Oct. lst, 1847.
Vol. XV. -- THE LITTLE BALL O' FIRE Jan. 1st, 1848.
*** The Third Volume, in addition to the usual Illustration, contains
a new and highly-finished Portrait of the Author.
----------
The following are Extracts from a few of the favourable Reviews which
have appeared of this Series:
"The writings of James are so well known to the readers of fiction,
that it is unnecessary to call their attention to them. This edition
is well got up, the type is clear, sharp, and legible, and the size
convenient for the reader, and appropriate for the shelves of a
bookcase. The book, as it is, will form a pleasing addition to the
collections of literature of the class to which it belongs.--_Times_.
"This is a most admirable edition of the works of this popular author,
convenient in size, and handsome in appearance. It, moreover,
possesses the advantage of being revised and corrected by the author,
--no small recommendations, since the generality of Mr. James's works
being connected with history, a careful perusal of his productions
increases their value."--_Atlas_.
"Mr. James is a writer whose vraisemblance is always so perfect, and
even what he invents so like truth, that we can never fancy we are
reading fiction, nor indeed are we, in the historical portions of his
publications,--and these form the far greater division,--which are all
drawn from deep study and elaborate comparison."--_Literary Gazette_.
"Mr. James is a pure and pleasing writer, and we are glad to see that
his Works are now to be thrown into a handy, handsome, and accessible
shape."--_Scotsman_.
------------
LONDON: PARRY & CO., 32 & 33, LEADENHALL STREET.
EDINBURGH: OLIVER AND BOYD.
GLASGOW: R. GRIFFIN & CO.
NEW WORK by the AUTHOR of "COLIN CLINK."
------------
In 3 vols. post 8vo, price £1 11_s_. 6_d_.
WOODHOUSLEE:
OR
THE ASTROLOGER.
BY CHARLES HOOTON, ESQ.
======================================================================
New & Illustrated Edition of Mr. AINSWORTH'S Works.
------------
_Price 10s. 6d. elegantly bound_.
IN ONE VOLUME, MEDIUM OCTAVO,
A NEW AND SUPERB EDITION OF
THE MISER'S DAUGHTER:
A Tale.
By W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ.
With Magnificent Illustrations on Steel by George Cruikshank.
------------
Also, in One Volume, Medium 8vo, price 10s. 6d. cloth.
OLD SAINT PAUL'S,
A TALE OF THE PLAGUE AND FIRE OF LONDON.
Splendidly illustrated on Steel by Franklin and Hablot K. Browne.
------------
_Price 10s. 6d. elegantly bound_.
IN ONE VOLUME, MEDIUM OCTAVO,
A NEW AND SUPERB EDITION OF
WINDSOR CASTLE,
An Historical Romance.
By W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ.
With Magnificent Illustrations on Steel by George Cruikshank and
Tony Johannot, with Designs on Wood by W. A. Delamotte.
------------
LONDON: PARRY & CO., 32 & 33. LEADENHALL STREET.
THE WORKS
OF
G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
------------
VOL. XV.
THE LITTLE BALL O' FIRE
[Frontispiece: The Little Ball O' Fire]
Hablot K. Browne H. K. Browne & R. Young
"If you do not instantly quit me, sir," she exclaimed in a loud and
vehement voice, "I will call those who can and will protect me against
your daring insolence."
THE WORKS
OF
G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE AUTHOR.
WITH AN INTRODUCTORY PREFACE.
"D'autres auteurs l'ont encore plus avili, (le roman,) en y mêlant les
tableaux dégoutant du vice; et tandis que le premier avantage des
fictions est de rassembler autour de l'homme tout ce qui, dans la
nature, peut lui servir de leçon ou de modèle, on a imaginé qu'on
tirerait une utilité quelconque des peintures odieuses de mauvaises
m[oe]urs; comme si elles pouvaient jamais laisser le c[oe]ur qui les
repousse, dans une situation aussi pure que le c[oe]ur qui les aurait
toujours ignorées. Mais un roman tel qu'on peut le concevoir, tel que
nous en avons quelques modèles, est une des plus belles productions de
l'esprit humain, une des plus influentes sur la morale des individus,
qui doit former ensuite les m[oe]urs publiques."--MADAME DE STAEL.
_Essai sur les Fictions_.
"Poca favilla gran flamma seconda:
Forse diretro a me, con miglior voci
Si pregherà, perchè Cirra risponda."
DANTE. _Paradiso_, Canto I.
VOL. XV.
THE LITTLE BALL O' FIRE.
LONDON:
PARRY AND CO., LEADENHALL STREET.
M DCCC XLVIII.
THE
LITTLE BALL O' FIRE
OR,
The Life and Adventures
OF
JOHN MARSTON HALL.
BY
G. P. R. JAMES, ESQ.
AUTHOR OF
"MARGARET GRAHAM," "THE LAST OF THE FAIRIES," ETC.
"Wo viel Licht ist, ist starker Schatten!"
Götz von Berlichingen.
LONDON:
PARRY AND CO., LEADENHALL STREET.
M DCCC XLVIII.
TO
HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY
ALEXANDRA FEODEROWNA,
EMPRESS OF ALL THE RUSSIAS.
----------
Madam,
I should have confined myself to expressing, in terms of unfeigned
admiration and respect, my gratitude for the interest which Your
Imperial Majesty is pleased to take in the literature of my country,
and in the efforts of so humble an individual as myself, had I not
felt that the work which you have permitted me to inscribe to your
name is in every way unworthy of being presented to one, alike
illustrious by talents and virtues, and by rank.
At the time that Your Imperial Majesty's gracious message was
communicated to me, the following pages were not only written, but in
the press; and my strong desire to obey your commands without any
delay, induces me to dedicate this work to you, although it is in some
degree connected with a former production, already, I believe, in Your
Majesty's possession.
Under other circumstances, I might have laboured, though I certainly
should have laboured in vain, to produce a work worthy of your
acceptance; but I must then have delayed long what I was eager to
perform promptly; and, most assuredly, nothing that I could have
written would have worthily testified the admiration and pleasure with
which I have marked, from afar, the immense efforts of yourself and
your Imperial Consort to encourage literature and science in your
dominions, and to improve the moral and social condition of your
subjects.
That those efforts may be crowned with the most brilliant success, and
repay you, to the last of your days, with the noblest recompence that
monarchs can receive,--the blessings of a happy and enlightened
people,--is the sincere prayer of
Your Imperial Majesty's
most humble
and most obedient Servant,
George Payne Rainsford James.
THE
LITTLE BALL O' FIRE
OR,
JOHN MARSTON HALL.
CHAPTER I.
My father was a gentleman of small estate in Lincolnshire, whose
family possessions, under a race of generous ancestors, had dwindled
from splendid lordships to bare competence. His blood, which was
derived from as noble a source as that of any in the land, had come
down to him pure through a number of knights and nobles, who, though
they were little scrupulous as to the means of spending their riches,
were very careful not to augment them by cultivating any but the
somewhat barren field of war. He made a love match with a daughter of
the second Lord Wilmerton; and, in order that his wife might not draw
unpleasant comparisons between the station of her husband and that of
her father, he frequented the court, and lived beyond his means. He
was already in difficulties when I was born; but, like a brave man, he
resolved to meet them boldly, and, after some solicitation, obtained a
small military appointment, which increased his revenue without adding
to his expenses. Loyalty with him was a passion, which, like love in
other men, prevented him from seeing any faults in its object; and, of
course, as the court well knew that no benefits could make him more
loyal than he already was, it showered its favours upon persons whose
affection was to be gained, leaving him to struggle on without further
notice.
My mother I hardly remember, though my memory is very good; but as her
death took place before I was three years of age, her cares of my
infancy were never extended even to my boyhood.
Left thus to conduct my education alone, my father, I firmly believe,
would have suffered nothing to remain undone which could have
contributed to render me a learned man, had not the civil war broken
out, and all the royalists hastened to the support of the King.
Amongst the first of the volunteers who flocked to the royal standard,
when it was raised at Nottingham, was Captain Hall; and having been
sent to Worcester with Prince Rupert, he showed himself the foremost
in those acts of daring courage which turned the contest between
Colonel Sandys and the Prince in favour of the Cavaliers. In every
skirmish and in every battle which took place throughout the course of
the great rebellion my father had his share. The natural desire of
stimulus and excitement, which was originally strong in his character,
grew gradually into a habit, and from a habit became a passion. The
tidings of an approaching conflict would, at any time, have induced
him to ride as far and fast as other men would go for more pacific
pastimes; and the commanders of the royal armies perceived a want in
their ranks when, on looking along the line, they could not discover
the face of Captain John Hall.
During the first year of the civil war I was left at home, under the
charge of my nurse, and of the events of that period I, of course,
remember but little. But shortly after the taking of Birmingham, by
Prince Rupert, a party of Gettes's brigade were quartered at our house
for three days, swept the whole estate of everything that it produced,
carried off all that could tempt their rapacity, and, on their
departure, set fire to the house, as that of a notorious malignant.
My father's home had by this time become the tented field. Houseless
and nearly penniless, the nurse carried me away in search of my only
surviving parent, whose regiment was quartered at a few miles
distance; and being a woman who loved quiet, and hated to see houses
burned over head, she resigned her charge of me as soon as she had
conscientiously placed me in the hands of my natural protector. But
the addition of a child of four years old to his camp equipage was not
by any means desirable in my father's eyes; and for some time he
talked of placing me with a relation here, or a friend there, where I
might remain in security. Two or three months, however, fled without
this plan being executed. We had often during that time to change our
quarters; passed through more than one adventure; were involved in
more than one severe struggle, and encountered as many hardships as a
longer campaign could have inflicted. My father found that I bore up
stoutly against them all, that I was not so great an encumbrance, in
moments of danger and haste, as he had expected; and that in those
lapses of inaction which will break in upon a soldier's life, I
afforded him amusement and occupation of the tenderest and most
engaging kind. Thus I soon became necessary to his comfort and his
happiness; and, though he would often talk still, of having me placed
in some situation where I could be properly instructed in arts and
sciences, and learned lore, it became evident to every one who saw us
together that he would never part with me so long as he could keep me
with him. To make up for the want of other knowledge, however, he
himself began, from my very earliest years, to teach me everything
that might render me successful in that way of life which he himself
had so ardently embraced. My hands, almost in infancy, were accustomed
to the sword, the dag, and the petronel; and I remember, ere I was six
years old, being permitted, as a high favour, to apply the match to
the touchhole of a culverin that commanded a road by which the
Roundheads were advancing.
Many, too, were the dangers through which I passed in safety. Often in
times of surprise and confusion have I sat upon the peak of my
father's saddle, while he cut his way through the enemy; and often
have I stood as a mere child amidst the charging squadrons and the
bristling pikes of a general field of battle. Strife and bloodshed
became so familiar to my mind, that I could hardly conceive another
state of things; and when any occasional pause took place in the
dreadful struggle that then desolated our native land, I used to
wonder at the space of time such idleness was suffered to continue,
and to long for the moment of activity and exertion. It was with joy
and satisfaction that my father beheld this disposition in his son,
and he strove by every means in his power to promote its growth, and
to direct the efforts that it prompted. He taught me to be quick and
decisive, as well as bold and fearless: he bade me always think, in
the first place, what was best to be done, and how it might best be
executed; and then to perform what my reason had suggested without
either fear or hesitation. Always keeping his view fixed upon the
ultimate advantage of the cause he had espoused, he zealously
instructed me to remark and remember every part of the country through
which we passed in our wandering life, and the person of every one who
was brought into temporary connexion with us in the changing fortunes
of those adventurous times.
Besides teaching me to ride and to shoot, and to perform all other
military exercises, he did not fail to give me what little education,
of a milder kind, circumstances permitted, during the short lapses of
tranquillity which occasionally intervened. He was himself, however,
obliged to be my preceptor; for he was not only prevented from
engaging any other person in that capacity, by our continual changes
from place to place, but he was also rendered unable to do so by his
pecuniary circumstances, which had by this time been reduced to the
lowest ebb. Our own property had been sequestrated: the King had no
money to bestow; and, although Captain Hall sometimes enjoyed a moment
of temporary prosperity, after squeezing some rich parliamentarian, or
capturing some inimical town, his whole property more usually
consisted in his horse, his sword, and his son. I acquired, it is
true, in a desultory manner, some knowledge of history, geography, and
arithmetic; but this, together with a smattering of Latin, and the
capability of writing and reading, was all that I could boast of by
the time I was ten years old.
Our moments of quiet, indeed, were always of very short duration; and,
during all my early remembrances, I scarcely can recollect having
passed six weeks without seeing blood flow in civil strife.
It must not be thought, however, that our state was melancholy or
painful. To those who thought as little of human life as the persons
did by whom I was generally surrounded, this kind of existence was gay
and happy enough. When they saw a comrade sent to his long home, or a
friend fall dead by their side, a minute's mourning, and a vow to
revenge him, was all that the sight excited; and many a cheerful bowl,
and a gay jest, would circulate in the evening amongst the Cavaliers
who had lost, in the morning, the dearest acquaintances and oldest
companions.
Habit is a wonderful thing; and it would be difficult to make other
people comprehend how little emotion bloodshed or massacre produces in
the minds of men accustomed to be daily spectators of such scenes. It
is not at all surprising then, that a boy--born, as it were, and
brought up in the midst of them--should feel their awful nature less
than others, and should enter with more pleasure into the adventurous
excitement which they certainly afford. Such, at all events, was the
case with myself; and although I have learned, from after events, to
believe that my heart was neither naturally hard nor cruel, yet it is
scarcely possible to describe the joy and enthusiasm I experienced on
the approach of strife or battle, the triumph that I felt at the
overthrow or death of any remarkable foe, or the careless disregard
with which I viewed the slaughter of my countrymen, and the fall even
of those I personally knew. This military zeal was known and remarked
by all my father's comrades; and the amusement and gratification which
they derived from my early passion for that course of life, to which
they had given themselves up at a more mature age, caused me to be a
general favourite with every old soldier in the ranks of the
royalists; so that each one vied with the other in exciting me more
and more upon the very track which I was already too eager to pursue.
Amongst the Cavaliers I was generally known by the name of "Little
Ball-o'-Fire;" and I soon learned to be proud of that appellation, and
vexed when I was addressed by any other. In times of prosperity I was
loaded with presents and caresses; and in moments of defeat and danger
there was still some one to think of and protect Little Ball-o'-Fire,
the soldier's son. Nor were these good deeds entirely without requital
on my part; for, shrewd, active, and fearless, I was often enabled to
assist the defeated or pursued Cavalier, to mislead the
Parliamentarian by false information, or to gain intelligence of the
enemy's movements, and to guide my friends either to security or
victory.
Amongst all the comrades and connexions of my father, Goring,
afterwards Lord Norwich, was the foremost in his affections; and with
him also I was an infinite favourite, although there were several
others to whom I was personally more attached. I remember, however,
many instances of great favour received from him; and, as difficulties
multiplied round the royal cause, and as dangers threatened more and
more imminently the head of our sovereign, it was to the exertions and
friendship of Lord Goring that we were, more than once, indebted for
our existence. With him we served in many a campaign in Kent and
Sussex: with him have I aided my father to empty many a flagon when
the fight was over; and with him have we lain in concealment for weeks
together, when our paths were surrounded by enemies against whom our
force was too weak to contend.
At length, when I was little more than ten years old, and a momentary
gleam of success brightened the cause of the Cavaliers, my father
and Lord Goring unfortunately separated; and with a small but
well-appointed troop we hastened across the country with the intention
of joining the royal army, which was then marching towards Cornwall.
At Bolton-le-Moors, however, while we were marching gaily along,
without the slightest idea that there was an enemy in our
neighbourhood, we were suddenly surprised by a party of the
parliamentarian forces; and, after a rapid but desperate struggle,
every man of my father's troop was put to death. He himself fell
amongst the last, brought from his horse to the ground by a ball
through the neck. I was at the distance of about fifty yards from him,
and hastened up to give him aid; but just as I was running forward, I
saw one of the pikemen stoop over him, and, while my father held up
his hand, in the vain endeavour to ward off the blow, the man drove
his weapon through him, and pinned him to the ground. I had a large
horse-pistol in my hand, which was instantly directed to the pikeman's
head; and, had I but had time to discharge it, he would, most
assuredly, have lain beside the gallant officer he had just killed.
But, at that moment, one of his comrades struck me across the head,
with the staff of his pike, crying, "So much for thee, young viper!"
and brought me, stunned and powerless, to the ground.
Fortunate it was for me that the blow, without being sufficiently
violent to bereave me of life, had been severe enough to deprive me of
all sense or motion, for I was thus passed over as dead, and I found
afterwards that no one had been taken to mercy by the victors. It was
evening when we began a fight, which, in duration, did not last ten
minutes; but when I woke from the sort of sleep into which I had
fallen, I found the moon shining bright upon the moors, with my father
and five-and-twenty gallant soldiers lying dead around me. In truth,
this was the first event that ever made me think of death, even for a
moment, as of a thing to be feared, or regard strife as the great
destroyer of all dear affections and kindred ties. The sight was
horrible enough, to see the bodies of such a number of brave and
noble-hearted men now cold, inanimate, and most of them stripped of
every thing valuable, lying dead in the pale moonlight, with their
faces bearing all the various expressions which the human countenance
can assume under different modes of violent death; but it was the
sight of my father's corpse which brought it home to my own heart.
When I had recovered my senses completely--which was not for several
minutes after consciousness began to return--crept onward to the spot
where my father had fallen, which was not above ten paces from that on
which I had been lying; and as I gazed on his still, silent face, and
thought of all the affection towards myself which I had seen it bear
so often, I could not help feeling that death is indeed a horrible
thing. I looked at it long, till the moon began to go down, and I knew
not well what to do. I had no means of burying the body, and yet there
was a feeling in my bosom, not to be defined, which would not let me
leave the corpse of my father uninterred for the ravens to make it
their prey, or the dogs to mangle it.
Near the spot, however, there was a little copse, with some tall trees
rising out of the brushwood; and, after many a painful thought,
thither I retreated for shelter. As I knew not who might visit the
field from the town, and as I had heard that the people of the
neighbourhood were rank Roundheads, I thought it best to climb one of
the oaks; and there I watched till the dawn of morning. Hardly was the
sky grey with the first light when I saw six or seven people coming
over the Downs with spades and shovels, and I soon found that their
purpose was to bury the dead. By them that office was performed
decently enough on the spot itself; and in about three or four hours
it was all over, leaving no trace of the skirmish, but the turf beaten
up by the horses' feet, and here and there died with gore, and the
long low mound of fresh earth which covered the trench containing the
dead bodies. I found, by the conversation of the men employed, that
this act of charity had been performed by order of some persons in the
little town who had witnessed the affair; and who, partly moved by a
sense of decency, and partly with a view to salubrity, had caused the
corpses to be thus covered over with earth.
I was now, like many another, alone in all the earth; without friends,
or home, or resource; without money, or protection, or expectation;
but perhaps I was better fitted for such circumstances than any one
who was ever yet cast an orphan upon the world. I was accustomed to
rely upon myself alone; to take every event as I found it; and I had
been so long in the habit of seeing the sunshine and the shade, the
defeat and the triumph, the disaster and the success, succeed each
other like April clouds and beams, that though my heart was full of
mourning for my father, yet I confidently anticipated that the next
cast of the die in fortune's hand would reverse my fate, and bring me
back to prosperity again.
I was mistaken, however. A long series of sufferings ensued; and they
were sufferings of a nature that I had never encountered before. I had
often, indeed, undergone privation, and known poverty. I had often
been more than one day without tasting food, and had slept for many a
night together on the bare ground; but all these inconveniences were
part of the soldier's fate, matters which, however unpleasant at the
time, were laughed at and forgotten as soon as they were over. Now,
however, I had to endure poverty without one alleviating circumstance,
or one consoling reflection.
All that I had on earth, at the moment my father was slain, consisted
of two crown pieces, which had been given me by Lord Goring when we
parted; but when I came to seek for them, after recovering my senses,
I found that they had not escaped the researches of the plunderers who
had stripped the dead around me. My clothes, indeed, probably being of
little value either in point of size or quality, had been left me; and
these, with a pistol and a dagger, which I found upon the ground,
constituted my whole property, when at length I left the earth that
contained the body of my unfortunate parent, and went forth again into
the world.
It would be difficult to give any detailed account of the life I now
led. I wandered over almost every part of England, seeking a
precarious subsistence by every means that my habits and education
permitted. Often I fell in with old comrades of my father; and then I
was sure of protection and assistance as long as they had the means of
affording it. Often I joined myself to a troop of Cavaliers, and for a
few days lived the life to which I had been accustomed in former
years. But the power of the Parliament was daily increasing, that of
the King daily going down; and, one by one, every force to which I
joined myself was dispersed, and I was again obliged to seek my way
alone. I never, however, yielded for one moment to despair; and at
times,--when I have shared in the stores provided by nature for the
birds in the air, when my sole food has been haws and whortle-berries,
roots and acorns,--I have hummed to myself
"There's a better time coming!"
and gone on with a light heart to seek a richer meal for the next day.
Although to plunder or to kill a Roundhead in any way that chance
happened to present, was, in my mind, at that time, neither sin nor
shame, yet I cannot remember ever having done what I should even now
consider an evil act on my own account. Nevertheless, I must
acknowledge, that, when a wounded or a fugitive companion wanted food
or other necessaries, and could not obtain them for himself, I have
often ventured beyond any code of morality that I know of, and have
gone down to spoil the Philistines with indescribable glee.
Well known to every leader in the royal cause, and almost to every
soldier, I was often employed as a guide, and still more frequently as
a messenger. In the latter capacity, indeed, I was generally
successful, even where others would probably have failed; and when
Langdale rose in Wales he intrusted his design to me, for the
purpose of having it clearly communicated to Musgrave in the north,
and to the Cavaliers in Kent. I received no written document, indeed,
although my youth and my knowledge of the country enabled me, in
general, to pass unmolested: but Langdale knew that he could trust to
my never-failing memory to repeat every word as he had spoken it; and
was also aware that the other royalists would trust to my report.
This commission I executed with ease and safety, as far as my journey
to the north went; but in making my way towards Kent, I encountered
more difficulties and some dangers. The small stock of money with
which I had been furnished failed me before the object was
accomplished; and at Reading I was recognised by a Puritan whom I had
once, about six months before, tripped up into a river, while I ran
off with a fat baked pig, which he was carrying out of the town from
the baker's oven. Of the pig my share had been small, having performed
the feat in favour of three old comrades who were lying concealed in
the neighbouring fields, and were half dying of hunger: but, in the
present case, the Roundhead made no nice distinctions; and as soon as
he set eyes upon me, caught me by the throat, conveyed me to the town
prison, notwithstanding my most vigorous resistance, and left me in
the hands of a gaoler, whose tokens of affection remained upon my skin
for several weeks afterwards. Not at all admiring my fare or treatment
in the prison, and having also acquired a strong distaste to remaining
long in any one place, the very first opportunity afforded by open
doors I made my escape,--not unpursued, it is true; but that mattered
little; for at that time it was only necessary to give me the free use
of my limbs, and a start of ten paces, and the man would have been
swift and strong indeed that could have overtaken me.
Several other adventures also befel me: but at length I made my way
into Kent; and here, to my unspeakable joy, I found myself amongst a
royalist population, and saw in every part of the county preparations
for a great effort in favour of the King. I heard, in every quarter,
too, that Lord Goring was to take the command of the forces; and, sure
of receiving protection and assistance, I made my way forward to join
him, with a feeling in my heart that a change was about to come over
my fate. T was half starved by this time, and was all in rags; but
many a better Cavalier than myself was in the same state, and I did
not fear that my father's old friend would deny me.
Before I could reach the army, however, the royalist force had
advanced towards London, and were again in retreat; and when I arrived
in Maidstone, I found the Cavaliers pouring in, and learned that the
enemy were following fast upon their steps. During the whole of that
evening I could not find Lord Goring, (who, by the way, had, before
this, become Earl of Norwich,) but I met with many an old acquaintance
amongst the officers, and every kindness was shown to the son of
Captain Hall. As an attack was expected early the next morning, the
troops were under arms before dawn; and as the Earl was riding along
the line, I ran up to the side of his horse, and spoke to him. For a
moment, in the rags that now covered me, he did not recognise his
friend's child, and replied, sharply, "Get along, boy! get along! I
cannot speak to thee now!"
It was the first rebuff I had ever received from a Cavalier, and I
thought that my heart would have broke; but I still clung to his
stirrup, and said, "What, my Lord, have you forgot Little
Ball-o'-Fire?" At that name he drew in his rein short, gazed upon my
face for a moment, and then stooping down over his saddle bow, he
caught me in his arms, and lifted me quite up to his bosom. "Forget
thee! no, my boy! no!" he cried; "and now I have found thee again,
thou shalt never quit me, for thy good father's sake."
There was little time given for farther conversation. The enemy had
been more on the alert than we expected, and were, by this time,
rapidly advancing, and the shot of their artillery began to tell upon
our line. Every one has heard of the gallant defence of Maidstone: but
it soon became clear that we could not maintain the position in which
we were first attacked; and Lord Goring, who had laid out his plan the
night before, ordered a slow and firm retreat to the ground he had
fixed upon, at the back of the town. Before he left the green,
however, he beckoned me up, and gave me a scrap of paper, on which he
had written something hastily. "Get thee behind that house,
Ball-o'-Fire," he said, "and wait there till you see a young gentleman
come up with a troop of Cavaliers. Ask if he be Colonel Masterton: give
him that paper, and then guide him down by the back of the town to the
hollow way, by which the enemy must advance: take him to any point he
can best cut his way through, and bring him to me, on the edge of yon
hill."
I did as I was bid; and Lord Goring himself remained for about ten
minutes longer with the Kentish horse, keeping the green firmly
against the enemy, while the other regiments filed off, and took up
their position on the slope beyond. At length, he too retreated; and I
hid myself while the enemy passed over the same ground. Scarcely was
the green clear, when up at the full gallop came a young gentleman,
seemingly scarcely twenty, with as gallant a regiment of horse as ever
I saw. He halted his men before "The Bush" ale-house, and then rode on
a few yards to see what was passing in the hollow way and on the
slope.
His countenance was a pleasant one, at least to me; with a broad open
brow, and quick fine eyes; and although I saw by the manner in which
he looked at some dead and wounded soldiers who were scattered here
and there, that he was not so habituated to scenes of death and
conflict as myself, yet I could not help thinking that he must be the
Colonel Masterton to whom I was ordered to address myself. I watched
him for a minute, as his keen rapid glance ran over the confused
spectacle that was passing beyond the town; and as I saw him turn his
horse, and ride back towards his men, I ran up and spoke to him. At
first he did not distinctly hear what I said, but he bent down his
head towards me with a good-humoured smile, and I again repeated the
words "Colonel Masterton."
"Well, my little man," he replied, with a look of surprise, "what is
it?"
I saw at once, from his tone and his look, that I was right, and I
gave him the billet from Lord Norwich. He read it attentively; and
then asked "Can you lead me by some bypath to the left of the enemy's
line?" I answered that I could; and, without more ado, set off before
him, and conducted him by the back streets to a point where a lime
road led out into the country.
The moment that his eye gained a clear sight of the enemy, I observed
it mark every part of their position, rest fixed on one particular
spot for an instant longer than anywhere else; and I saw that God had
made him a soldier. His plan was evidently formed; his orders were
short, clear, and accurate; and, drawing out his regiment from the
town, he charged a large body of cavalry, who, together with some
pieces of artillery, lay upon the extreme left of the enemy's line,
and in a moment drove them to the devil.
I ran on as hard as I could to see what was going forward, and, just
as I came up, I found the Roundhead horse forced back into the lines
of the pikemen; and, one of the first faces that I beheld, amongst the
Parliamentarian foot, was that of the man who had killed my father. I
never forget faces, and his I was not likely to forget. The fellow was
pike in hand, in front of the young Cavalier; and I had just time to
mark him so as not to be mistaken, when Colonel Masterton's horse
passed the pike, and at one blow of the rider's sword the Roundhead
went down never to rise again.
The battle was like all other battles; but by one means or another I
contrived to keep near Colonel Masterton's regiment through the whole
affair, till just when they were in some difficulty I offered to guide
them up the lime road to Lord Goring, if one of the men would take me
behind him on his horse. The young gentleman seemed surprised to find
me so near him; and after another charge upon a body of London
troopers we made our way forward, and reached the brow of the hill
where the Commander-in-chief then stood.
The event of that day every one knows. The enemy were repulsed at all
points, but it could hardly be considered as a battle won, for we were
ultimately obliged to retreat. After a long, severe march, we halted
for the night, and I remained quartered with Colonel Masterton and his
regiment, and was treated with the greatest kindness both by officers
and men. It was soon found that the army, being chiefly composed of
raw and ill-disciplined troops, could not be held together; and the
same night Colonel Masterton was ordered to lead his regiment towards
the right of the enemy's line of advance, and, if possible, to effect
a diversion, while Lord Goring, with whatever veteran troops could be
collected, endeavoured to cross the country, and throw himself into
Colchester. After having attacked an outpost, against which he was
particularly directed, the young officer was ordered to disband a foot
regiment which was joined to his cavalry force; and then--making the
best of his way back to Devonshire, whence he had come--to disperse
his men, and keep quiet till better times. As his family, from
particular circumstances, although attached to the royal cause, had
not called upon themselves the indignation of the Parliament, in near
so high a degree as it had been excited against Lord Goring, that
nobleman, on giving me to Colonel Masterton as a guide, made him
promise that he would always protect and never abandon me; and well
did he keep his word.
CHAPTERS II. III. IV. V. VI.*
* * * * *
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[Footnote 1: The above chapters are omitted by the editor of this
work, inasmuch as every fact contained in them is to be found much
more fully detailed in the "Memoirs of Henry Masterton, Lord
Masterton;" and it may be only necessary to add, for the information
of such persons as are unfortunate enough not to have read that work,
that Lord Masterton was accompanied through all the adventures therein
described by John Marston Hall, the writer of the present book.
Farther, it may not be impertinent to observe, that, as Lord Masterton
himself states, the subject of the present memoirs was of infinite
service and assistance to his noble friend in the difficulties and
dangers which he had to encounter; and we have every reason to
believe, that had it not been for the promptitude and assistance of
"Little Ball-o'-Fire," as he is generally called in that work, the
history of the noble lord would not have been brought to so happy a
conclusion. In the chapters here omitted, the writer details all the
scenes that took place in England, and all those that followed in
France, up to the period when his Lord Masterton was happily wedded to
the Lady Emily Langleigh, and took up his abode with her father at the
beautiful little château of St. Maur. At that point we shall again
commence the adventures of John Marston Hall, as written by himself,
and proceed, even to their conclusion, with no other alteration
whatever, than a slight modification of the orthography, which does
not particularly well suit the fashion of the present day, and the
occasional translation of various passages originally written in the
French tongue.]
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