|SHORTLY afterwards, in obedience to Forster's orders, all the officers
of the insurgent force assembled in the churchyard, and though they
endeavoured to assume a careless air, many of them looked very downcast.
Among them were all those who had recently joined at Lancaster and
Preston, and received the rank of captain--Mr. Townley, of Townley, Sir
Francis Anderton, Ralph Standish, Gabriel Hesketh, John Tyldesley, John
Dalton, and several others.
They had had but a short campaign, and might now have to pay for their
devotion with their lives. However, they bore themselves bravely under
the distressing circumstances. The annoyance of the ceremonial was
heightened by its publicity.
A large concourse was collected in the churchyard, and among the
spectators were a great number of the fair sex, who flocked thither to
manifest their sympathy with their lovers. They expressed their grief
in the liveliest manner. Dryope was there, and Captain Shaftoe had some
difficulty in inducing her to stand back. But she remained at a short
distance gazing at him through her tears. The appearance of these fair
damsels, who formed the foremost rank of the spectators, gave a curious
character to the scene.
Precisely at the appointed hour, Lord Forrester, preceded by a trumpet
and a drum, and attended by a guard, entered the town, and rode to the
churchyard.
Alighting at the gate, and followed by a couple of men, he marched up to
the rebel officers.
Lord Forrester was a tall, fine-looking man, well suited to the office,
which he performed with courtesy.
“Gentlemen,” he said, addressing them, “I have a very painful duty to
discharge. I have to receive the arms of brave and honourable men, which
ought to have been used for their king.”
To this Colonel Oxburgh, who stood next him, replied as he delivered up
his sword:
“Our arms have been used, my lord, for our rightful sovereign and
against a usurper.”
Lord Forrester made no remark but consigned the sword to the custody of
one of his men, and passed on.
He had received more than twenty swords, when he came to Captain
Shaftoe, and as there seemed to be some hesitation on Shaftoe's part, he
said:
“Your sword, sir?”
“Take it,” cried Shaftoe.
And plucking the blade from the sheath, he broke it, and flung the
pieces at Lord Forrester's feet.
On this there were shouts of applause from the female spectators.
“I suppose it was to win that applause that this foolish act was done,
Captain Shaftoe,” observed Lord Forrester.
“You have broken the treaty, and have rendered yourself liable to the
punishment of death.”
“As these words were uttered, Dryope and three or four of the fair
spectators rushed forward, and threw themselves at Lord Forrester's
feet, exclaiming:
“Spare him! spare him!”
“Rise, ladies!” said Lord Forrester. “I am not about to order Captain
Shaftoe's immediate execution. I am sorry so great a favourite of your
sex should refuse to submit--but no doubt you can bring him to reason. I
leave him in your hands.”
With this, he passed on to Sir Francis Anderton and Mr. Townley, who
were next, and received their swords.
“Ah! gentlemen,” he said, “I am sorry to find you here. Had you remained
quiet for a few days you would have escaped this disaster. You should
have followed the example of the cautious High Church Tories!”
“We have done what seems right to us, my lord,” said Mr. Townley,
haughtily, “and are prepared for the consequences.”
The last sword received by Lord Forrester was that of Captain Wogan, who
said to him:
“Your looks reproach me, my lord, but I do not reproach myself. If I had
had fifty swords, they should all have been devoted to King James.”
With a military salute to the unfortunate officers, Lord Forrester then
quitted the churchyard, followed by his men, bearing two large bundles
of swords, and proceeded to the Mitre, there to go through a like
ceremony with General Forster and the lords.