Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim.
LATIN PROVERB.
Ostendam metiri ulnis pedibusque necesse est;
Quemque premas, dubiâ morte parare locum.
URBIUM BELGICARUM CENTURIA.
It is incumbent here that we should again return to Ostend, and attend
our shipwrecked voyagers, who have been left so long in durance vile, as
contained in the first chapter of our first volume; and advert to other
notable accidents worthy to be known, related, and recorded.
Our readers then will vouchsafe to recollect of what importance, as a
seaport, Ostend is, and ever has been considered, being only second in
rank to Dunkirk. Indeed the possession of Ostend in every war has been
always accounted of the highest consequence by every belligerent power,
as well as by the sovereigns too of the Low Countries. The oriental
situation of Ostend has given to it its name, by which one might express
_a port which looks to the east_; and its armorial bearing[12] implies
that it is one of the principal keys of Austrian Flanders.
[12] "The armorial escutcheon of Ostend bears a chevron sable on a
gold ground, charged with three keys, sable blazoned on the dexter
and sinister chiefs, and on the middle base point of the shield.
The supporters a seaman and a mermaid."--_Les Delices des Pays
Bas._
Ostend had formerly been the simple station of fishermen, established
between Nieuport and Helvoetsluys; but, increasing from various
combining events, it gradually arose to consequence, numerous causes
having co-operated to its enlargement. The origin of the civil wars--the
fears created by the numerous pirates throughout the entire provinces of
the Low Countries, &c., these gradually led to its increase, and Ostend
became a place of strength and importance; her port enriching her trade
and revenue by bringing home the merchandize of Europe; while her strong
fortifications protected and secured the inhabitants from the
machinations of their enemies; and, finally, the peace of Ghent having
completely established the power of the confederated states.
At the period of which we speak Ostend was progressively recovering from
the fatal effects of a protracted siege, conducted by the Spaniards
under Spinola, which had lasted for the space of three years; and upon
the last day of the siege it was as uncertain as upon the first whether
it would be captured by the Spaniards or not; or to which side victory
finally would belong. The account of the loss of lives on the part of
the besiegers and the besieged in this disastrous siege, is truly most
formidable; it is computed that fifteen thousand of the latter perished;
some slain by the sword of war, others fell by pestilence, and others
perished the victims of the marshy climate of Ostend, from fatigue of
the siege, the sorties, engagements, and fire of the enemy; while the
Spaniards suffered the severe loss of upwards of seventy-eight thousand
men.[13]
[13] See "Grotius Annales et Histoires des Troubles du Pays Bas,"
lib. X. p. 491. See also the "Cardinal Bentivoglio," lib. III. p.
6. And see "Histoire des Provinces Unies, par M. Le Clerc," vol.
I. p. 215, 229, Amsterdam, folio, 1723. In these three works will
be found a full account of Spinola's attempt on Ostend, and the
reader will be tempted to exclaim:--Unhappy Belgium! whose
beauteous domains have been doomed to blaze beneath the torch of
war, from the days of Tiberius down to those of Napoleon!
But we must now return to the detail of our voyagers, who having ate a
hearty supper at their hotel, soon retired to repose in their respective
chambers. Oh, how refreshing to the wearied spirit is the renovating
balm of sleep; and how invigorating is a night's undisturbed repose! And
how great, how unspeakable the change, and how joyful the contrast, from
the almost certain expectancy of death by a watery grave, it is upon the
succeeding morning to awake, as if from the tomb, upon a bed of down,
and to hail the blessed cheering light of morning! Who could forbear to
raise the adoring eye and the grateful heart to heaven, for an escape so
unexpected and providential! All this they deeply and devoutly felt.
The morning succeeding their preservation, while they were actively and
busily occupied in the important despatch of an incomparable breakfast,
and the fellow-sufferers were passing a high and well deserved eulogium
on some excellent Malines ham, to their great surprise and dismay a
party of _Gens d'Armes_, as has been before remarked, arrived at their
hotel, when (the three of them) the colonel, his servant, and Doctor
M'Kenzie, were arrested under suspicion of being spies, and were thrown
into prison.
"This is somewhat too hard," observed Doctor M'Kenzie, "not to be
allowed to swallow our rations of excellent ham! A few hours ago to have
escaped the whirlpool of Charybdis, and this morn to be shipwrecked on
the rock of Scylla! The sea was well nigh swallowing us yesterday, and
to-day we are to be immured in prison on suspicion of being spies;
'Dextrum Scylla latus, lævum implacata Charybdis Obsidet.'"
"Yes, my Reverend Friend," replied the colonel, "this is all but too
true, we have had our share of suffering indeed; but while we feel it as
men, let us also bear it like men, and hope the best! For my own lot I
care not; to me death, not captivity, would be welcome!"
To account for this arrest we must apprise our readers that Marshal de
Rantzau had made a desperate attempt with only two thousand French
troops, a very few years previous to the period of which we now speak.
But eventually the French force was put to flight, with the loss of
twelve hundred brave and gallant men, who fatally fell in this rash
attempt. And this event it was which caused such alertness and suspicion
regarding strangers to be adopted by the government and garrison of
Ostend.
The prisoners were marched along under a strong escort of the _Gens
d'Armes_, and were conducted to the chief prison, and handed over to the
surveillance of the head gaoler, Mr. Phelim O'Neale, who, by the way,
happened to be a countryman of the Reverend Doctor M'Kenzie. At that
period the janitor of a gaol did not enjoy the present high diplomatique
distinction of being termed the _governor_ or _warder_ of a
grated citadel.
While Mr. Phelim O'Neale was showing his prisoners the apartments
allotted to them, he said, addressing the Reverend Clerk:--"I know that
your Riverence is my countryman, and perhaps I know still more; I
therefore feel all the respect and affection which I ought to do for a
countryman in a foreign land. My life has been a varied and changeable
one, and it may perchance beguile away an hour of captivity, that you
should deign to listen to my story. Och, I was once a roving and
untamable bird, wild as the haggard-hawk[14] of my native hills, that is
ever on the excursive wing; and like to it, I was not to be tamed at
all; but now, in troth, I am tame enough, any how! For the present I
shall only say, that from peculiar and urgent circumstances I was
compelled to leave my native land. I embarked from the bay of Tyrconnel
in Ireland, in a vessel bound for Virginia; at sea I was taken prisoner
by the fleet and squadron of Marshal de Rantzau; and with the force of
his Highness I was landed at this good city, ould Ostind. Well here I
was a wandering raw recruit on Flemish ground, an unknown exile and
outcast, forsaken by all, from Dan to Beersheba! Howsomdever, I was
shortly thrown in the way of my brave countryman, Count Dillon, whom I
knew when I was a gossoon. He was a lieutenant curnell, sarving under
the marshal; and he was not slow in discovering that I possessed both
cuteness and genus.--_Vous avez razon mun infant!_ he would often say to
me, (he had lived for years in France,) and yit, by my blessed sowl, I
often thought that his honourable worship himself had no razon at all,
at all!"
[14] Haggard, in falconry, means a hawk or falcon not taken in the
nest, but after she had been inured to liberty, and preying for
herself. Haggard-hawks are hard to be tamed and brought under
discipline. The haggard-falcon is also called _Peregrine-falcon_,
passenger and traveller, from its wandering more than any other
sort of its kind; it is strong, courageous, hardy, and
persevering. This bird is distinguished from the common falcon as
being larger, &c. &c. The haggard-falcon, when wild and
unreclaimed, takes the greatest liberty of all other birds, living
either by land or sea; and formed of such absolute power, that
wherever she comes all flying fowl stoop under her subjection.
"Fie, fie! Mr. Phelim O'Neale; swear not at all! it is a work of
supererogation for selling yourself, both body and soul, gratis to the
infernal power! Let me hear no more of it."
"Well, your Riverence, no sooner said than done," says poor Phelim
O'Neale; "by ---- I will swear no more!"
"There again!--swearing an oath that you will not swear! Who ever heard
the like before;--what impious inconsistency!"
"Your pardon, Riverend Father, for this time, and you shall no more
catch me tripping, nor stumbling, nor swearing. Och, murder! although I
have endured enough to make any feeling Christian swear hard enough--at
times, any how, to be sure! by ---- I mean maybe through a thick deal
board itself! Well, your Riverence, to continue the thrid of my
story:--Count Dillon one day took me aside, and said, 'Phelim, I clearly
persave that you are a quick, cute lad, and you must assist me in a plan
which I have in disjunction joined with the Marshal Rantzau, for
suddenly surprising Ostind, and taking it by a parabolous stratagism,
the most admirable and intripid that was ever known, thought of, or yet
imagined by any bould pioneer,' as your Riverence shall hear anon. It
was in the month of June, and upon the memorable fifteenth day thereof,
in the year 1600 and--though I can't precisely recollect the date upon
which we resolved for the execution of this intended daring and glorious
enterprise, for our attacking force consisted of but two thousand men.
Our stratigismus was to surprise Ostind by the gate of Nieuport, which
lay upon the land side, and next to the town of Nieuport. We hoped that
by the introduction of a large body of men we might possibly, perhaps
certainly, possess ourselves of the town and citadel of ould Ostind.
Accordingly, to be sure, with this intint, we well surveyed the gate;
and before that we had geoggraphyz'd the intire country, and all the
roads and passes disjacent, whersomby that by every measure and means,
and all due secrecy, that our attacking force might be intraducted, and
back our noble and elegant enterprise. Accordingly some half dozen
soldiers, clad in garb of Flemish peasants, in their blue caps and blue
frocks; and wherewithal supporting upon their backs sacks well stored
with chesnuts, walnuts, &c., were to seem as if they had brought them
for sale into town; and thin, upon an appointed signal, (the sacks
loosely tied,) the pretinded peasants were to let them fall, (accidently
on purpose no doubt,) and scatter their contints around upon the ground,
which was to cause a general scramble, and take off the attention of the
guard from the object which we had in view. This having taken place, the
fore-said soldiers, or disguised peasants, were to rally around a
waggon, or, as they call it here, a charabbon, under the same pretence,
laden with baskets of fruit and vegetables, strawberries, cherries,
peas, beans, &c. &c. The thing was so managed that within the waggon
there were concealed about thirty soldiers. As being the chief
projector, the honourable post of heading this desperate attempt,
(which, if it succeeded, was soon to be followed by a powerful force,)
was consigned, gentle Sirs, to your intripid and very devoted sarvant,
Phelim O'Neale."
"And pray, Mr. Phelim O'Neale, if it be not taking too great a liberty,
may I inquire what induced Count Dillon to place such confidence in
_you_, and make _you_ the head of the pioneers, or of this stratagem,
upon the success of which, it would appear, turned the entire success of
the attack?"
"Och, botheration! and that too I will confiss to your Riverence. 'I
think,' says I, Curnell, plaze your worthy honour's worship, that I
could suggist a matter to your grace's judgment that would, all in all,
carry the day, and, in troth, we should soon be in possession of ould
Ostind!'
"'Indeed! Mr. Phelim O'Neale; pray tell, are you on the staff?--I
suppose a general at least!' said he.
"'Not I, by my own sowl!' says I. 'No, not even a corporal! But then
your noble and valiant worship knows, howsomdever, that there is a
little fish, not larger than four inches in lingth, and about one in
bridth, that pilots and leads on the great commodore of the ocean; I
mean, plaze your most noble worship, the pilot fish,[15] that steers
onward the mighty shark, the goliathan of the ocean, to the wictims of
his prey! What do you think now, noble commander, of this apt
dissimilitude?'
[15] The pilot fish, called in ichthyology, _Gasterosteus Ductor_.
"'Oh, pardon, good honest friend O'Neale, _vous este une bon garcon_!'
"Upon my own conscience we call this better in ould Ireland by the name
of gossoon!--but no matter as to that. He then axed me if I had any
patience; 'for,' said he, 'you Irish have no patience at all;' and then
talked to himself, that the Irish were like one fiery hot Harry Hotspur,
an Hottentot I suppose, that had no forbearance nor patience at all, at
all!
"'Och, then, noble commander,' said I, 'I am the patient, enduring boy
after all; I am stationary as an owl at mid-day within an ivy bush! and
as patient and forbearing (baring till the time comes) as a heron
perched upon the brink of a fish-brook! Och, then, by my own sowl, 'tis
I am the lad that will wait for you till the very cows come
home!--troth, sure enough, I would at any hop of the ball!'
"'Bravo, bravo! my bould boy;' replied Count Dillon, 'you are the very
boy for my business and project--all shall go on well!' He then
ejoculated, '_vous avez razon, vous avez razon_,' until I fairly thought
that he would have lost his own razon all out and out, any how!"
"But pray proceed, Mr. Phelim O'Neale, with your narrative, in which I
begin to take some little interest."
"Thus emboldened, your Riverence, as I was by my commander's lave, I up
and tould him, as I till you and your friend, all my plan, of which he
highly approbated. Every matter being duly prepared, a time for making
the grand attack was appointed. The soldiers who were to make the
attempt, as I have already tould your Riverence, were all disguised as
Flemish peasants, in their blue caps and blue frocks, and were each man
to have a Flanders' pipe stuck in his jaw, and smoking away briskly, as
much as to say, _the devil may care for yeez all_! I will now till the
whole of my contrivance, as plotted and planned from the first to the
last, without any deviation or prevarication from the truth at all, at
all! To go on then with my story:--the charabbon, or waggon, contained,
as already I have said, thirty soldiers, who upon this occasion were to
be headed by me; in the cart we had several stout planks of oak, which
were destinated for a treble purpose: firstly, to hide us who were
packed beneath, but whose hearts were strong and unbending as the
planks over our heads; and secondly, to support some baskets of fruit
and vegetables, for which this country is most remarkable."
"Yes," said Doctor M'Kenzie, addressing Colonel Davidson, "it is
recorded that when Anne of Cleves, the queen consort of King Henry
VIII., wanted a sallad, she used to despatch a messenger to Flanders to
procure one."
The colonel nodded his assent, and requested Mr. Phelim O'Neale to
proceed onward with his tale.
"Well the planks were, as I said, destinated for a treble purpose, I
have tould two of these; the third was, in the last place, to erect them
as uprights, to prevent the falling of the portcullis upon our skulls
who were to make the attack. And the charabban was intentionally, on
purpose to be sure, to be overturned at the door of the guard-house to
block up the guard while cracking their walnuts, &c. If this attempt of
gaining the Nieuport-gate had succeeded, a carabine was to have been
fired to give a signal to the Marshal de Rantzau, who was stationed with
the remainder of our force, which, as I have already obsarved, amounted
to two thousand men; and upon their coming up in time, in obedience to
the signal, we were sure and sartin of the capture of Ostind.
"We had thus anxiously planned, and with strong grounds and hopes of
success, this elegant enterprise, which was to burst forth upon the
fifteenth day of June; whether the termination was fortunate or the
reverse will soon be tould yeez. The military gait and air of the
supposed peasants it is thought led to suspicion, and seemed to awaken
the attention of the garrison. Just when the charabbonier[16] drove up
his wehicle in which I was, and approached to the Nieuport-gate of
Ostind, forward advanced the damniers, (douaniers,[17] or custom-house
officers,) and with their accustomed agility forth flew their rapiers,
flashing in the bright summer glow of the harvest moon; they cut, and
thrust, and terced, prodding the contints of the waggon without any
distinction or respect of persons or property, whether dead or alive
stock, but according to custom, searching for counter-brand goods and
chattels. At length a sharp Toledo of one of these damned damniers stuck
in one of my ribs, and sure enough the blood began to leak. 'Arah,'
roared I, 'what the d--l are you perpetrating; and would you be after
murdering me, you Flanders' boucher!'
[16] Charabbonier means the driver, or waggoner, of a Flemish
waggon.
[17] It is usual for the douaniers, or custom-house officers, of
Flanders, to attend at the gates of the different cities, who
search, by means of prodding with a foil, all merchandize coming
into or out of town, in order to detect any goods that may prove
to be contraband, or smuggled.
"'Ah, hah!--_Jean Bull!_--_Jean diable!_' cried he aloud, '_emportez
soldats! ca herse--bas--bas--ouvrez le fenetre!_' Which every body knows
is 'shut the gate!' And sure enough bang down went the portcullis, up
leapt the draw-bridge; and closed and securely bolted and barred in no
time were the gates. And, oh, 'tis true enough, poor Phelim O'Neale had
got sartain and sure at the wrong side of the gate, where he was soon
made prisoner, and all his brave plans completely dumb-foundered and
knocked upon the head in one short and sad moment. I with several
others, thus caught in this Flemish trap, were made prisoners; while
suspicion being aroused, and all our resources having been cut off,
outnumbered as Marshal Rantzau was by the enemy, it was only left him to
sound a retreat, and retire to his chaloupes, (large boats.)
"After having remained for a long period in prison, I at last caught the
attention of the head gaoler, who taking a fancy to me, made me his
under gaoler; and some years after, (seven I think,) upon his death, I
was constatuted head gaoler. And here I am; I have a good salary, a good
roomy house, and with the allowance of coals and candles. I am married
to a pretty, and what is far better, to a good Flemish lass; and we have
already four childer in the space of three years, and the Lord be
praised they are all the right sort--they are all of the emasculate
ginder! So that I am, in troth, in some sort of mizzure indamnified for
my losses and sufferings by the post which I here hould."
Mr. Phelim O'Neale, the head gaoler, or, in phrase modern,
_diplomatique_, the head governor of the citadel, paid the most marked
attention to his prisoners; and said, that before the morning's dawn he
would think of something that would ixtrickate them from their prison.
"For when a man gets into a scrape or difficulty, Riverend Father, he
has only to consult an Irishman, who will be sure and sartain to get him
safely and genteely out of it."
"Ay, the Nieuport-gate of Ostend and the Spanish Toledo to wit," thought
Doctor M'Kenzie to himself, "is a full elucidation of the truth of this
proposition!"
Now having left them a most comfortable dinner, or supper, and which
answered for both; with a bottle or two of _vin du pays_, and some true
and veritable Rhenish wine, the warder of the citadel wished his inmates
a good night. But before he departed he took Doctor M'Kenzie aside, and
whispered him--"I have so managed it that by to-morrow you and your
friend shall have separate apartments at night; to-morrow the
arrangement shall take place, and I have much to say to you, holy
Father, in secret, and to make many confissions when we shall meet alone
on the morrow."
The next morning by times the warder arrived, and introduced a plentiful
and excellent breakfast, not forgetting some excellent Malines ham, in
the digestion of which they had been so rudely interrupted at the inn of
the old Saint Michael. When breakfast was over he again returned; when
opening his cloak, he produced a violin and clarionet. "Do any of you
play upon these instruments?" said Phelim O'Neale.
"Yes," rejoined Doctor M'Kenzie, "I was wont in happier days than these
to play for my pastime upon the violin. But such a question now in such
a place--say to what can it tend? I have no such fancy indeed at
present, I can assure you, my good and kind Mr. Phelim O'Neale." Who,
however, proceeded, quite unrestrained by his Reverence's rebuke--"Can
nobody play upon the clarionet?"
After some delay and hesitation, at length with diffidence the colonel's
servant said, "Yes, Sir, I once could play upon it when I was----"
"Oh, that," said Phelim, "will do capitally! excellent! quite enough!
strim-stram--drimendreuch! All will now, in troth, go on quite well, and
with grate success, any how!"
He then laid down the musical instruments, and putting his hands in his
pocket, produced several files and saws of various forms and sizes, and
then produced a bottle of vitriol. "My plan," added he, "is now fully
ripening for the liberation of yeez three; these instruments and
implements are intinded to saw asunder the prison bars of your dungeon
window, which being within a short distance from the ground, your
freedom easily can be afficted without either damage or difficulty, or
even resaving a slight prod in the small ribs, when you shall have duly
accomplished the nibbling asunder of the meshes which confine yeez! And
the Rev. Doctor with his fiddle, and this honest-faced lad with his
clarionet--och, och, it will all do bravely and rarely to murder and
drown, aye, and bother, that brave and grave gentleman's operatusses in
sawing the bars; och, by my sowl, the filing will be fairly bothered.
And troth yeez shant want for paper and paste to hide and cover your
dainty devices in caase any body should come in, he must needs admire
the nateness of your apartment."
"Sawing iron! ah," said Doctor M'Kenzie, "that is a harsh and grating
amusement!" And then turning to the man of war, he said:
"They little know what ills environ
The man who meddles with cold iron!"
The colonel frowned, and seemed displeased.
The honest-hearted Phelim O'Neale, for such he was with all his faults
and transgressions to boot, now bade a good night to his imprisoned
friends, as he called them; and then whispered aside, that on the
ensuing morow he would beg the favour to make his confessions to the
Reverend Clerk what time the apartment should be ready for his gallant
friend, which was under preparation, and would be ready to receive him
early upon the following morning. He then bowed, and wished them all "a
very good night's repose."