THE KNOT THAT PUZZLES HUMAN WISDOM, THE HAND OF FORTUNE SOMETIMES WILL
UNTIE FAMILIAR AS HER GARTER.
When the doctor made his next appearance in Sir Launcelot’s apartment,
the knight addressed him in these words: “Sir, the practice of medicine
is one of the most honourable professions exercised among the sons of
men; a profession which hath been revered at all periods, and in all
nations, and even held sacred in the most polished ages of antiquity.
The scope of it is to preserve the being, and confirm the health of our
fellow-creatures; of consequence, to sustain the blessings of society,
and crown life with fruition. The character of a physician, therefore,
not only supposes natural sagacity, and acquired erudition, but it also
implies every delicacy of sentiment, every tenderness of nature, and
every virtue of humanity. That these qualities are centred in you,
doctor, I would willingly believe. But it will be sufficient for my
purpose, that you are possessed of common integrity. To whose concern I
am indebted for your visits, you best know. But if you understand the
art of medicine, you must be sensible by this time, that, with respect to
me, your prescriptions are altogether unnecessary.
“Come, sir, you cannot--you don’t believe that my intellects are
disordered. Yet, granting me to be really under the influence of that
deplorable malady, no person has a right to treat me as a lunatic, or to
sue out a commission, but my nearest kindred.--That you may not plead
ignorance of my name and family, you shall understand that I am Sir
Launcelot Greaves, of the county of York, Baronet; and that my nearest
relation is Sir Reginald Meadows, of Cheshire, the eldest son of my
mother’s sister--that gentleman, I am sure, had no concern in seducing me
by false pretences under the clouds of night into the fields, where I was
surprised, overpowered, and kidnapped by armed ruffians. Had he really
believed me insane, he would have proceeded according to the dictates of
honour, humanity, and the laws of his country. Situated as I am, I have
a right, by making application to the Lord Chancellor, to be tried by a
jury of honest men. But of that right I cannot avail myself, while I
remain at the mercy of a brutal miscreant, in whose house I am enclosed,
unless you contribute your assistance. Your assistance, therefore, I
demand, as you are a gentleman, a Christian, and a fellow-subject, who,
though every other motive should be overlooked, ought to interest himself
in my case as a common concern, and concur with all your power towards
the punishment of those who dare commit such outrages against the liberty
of your country.”
The doctor seemed to be a little disconcerted; but, after some
recollection, resumed his air of sufficiency and importance, and assured
our adventurer he would do him all the service in his power; but in the
meantime advised him to take the potion he had prescribed.
The knight’s eyes lightening with indignation, “I am now convinced,”
cried he, “that you are an accomplice in the villany which has been
practised upon me; that you are a sordid wretch, without principle or
feeling, a disgrace to the faculty, and a reproach to human nature--yes,
sirrah, you are the most perfidious of all assassins--you are the
hireling minister of the worst of all villains; who, from motives even
baser than malice, envy, and revenge, rob the innocent of all the
comforts of life, brand them with the imputation of madness, the most
cruel species of slander, and wantonly protract their misery, by leaving
them in the most shocking confinement, a prey to reflections infinitely
more bitter than death but I will be calm--do me justice at your peril.
I demand the protection of the legislature--if I am refused--remember a
day of reckoning will come--you and the rest of the miscreants who have
combined against me, must, in order to cloak your treachery, have
recourse to murder,--an expedient which I believe you very capable of
embracing,--or a man of my rank and character cannot be much longer
concealed. Tremble, caitiff, at the thoughts of my release--in the
meantime, be gone, lest my just resentment impel me to dash your brains
out upon that marble--away”----
The honest doctor was not so firmly persuaded of his patient’s lunacy as
to reject his advice, which he made what haste he could to follow, when
an unexpected accident intervened.
That this may be properly introduced, we must return to the knight’s
brace of trusty friends, Captain Crowe and lawyer Clarke, whom we left in
sorrowful deliberation upon the fate of their patron. Clarke’s genius
being rather more fruitful in resources than that of the seaman, he
suggested an advertisement, which was accordingly inserted in the daily
papers; importing that, “Whereas a gentleman of considerable rank and
fortune had suddenly disappeared, on such a night, from his house near
Golden Square, in consequence of a letter delivered to him by a porter;
and there is great reason to believe some violence hath been offered to
his life; any person capable of giving such information as may tend to
clear up this dark transaction, shall, by applying to Mr. Thomas Clarke,
attorney, at his lodgings in Upper Brook Street, receive proper security
for the reward of one hundred guineas, to be paid to him upon his making
the discovery required.”
The porter who delivered the letter appeared accordingly, but could give
no other information, except that it was put into his hand with a
shilling, by a man muffled up in a greatcoat, who stopped him for the
purpose, in his passing through Queen Street. It was necessary that the
advertisement should produce an effect upon another person, who was no
other than the hackney-coachman who drove our hero to the place of his
imprisonment. This fellow had been enjoined secrecy; and, indeed, bribed
to hold his tongue, by a considerable gratification, which, it was
supposed, would have been effectual, as the man was a master coachman in
good circumstances, and well known to the keeper of the madhouse, by whom
he had been employed on former occasions of the same nature. Perhaps his
fidelity to his employer, reinforced by the hope of many future jobs of
that kind, might have been proof against the offer of fifty pounds; but
double that sum was a temptation he could not resist. He no sooner read
the intimation in the Daily Advertiser, over his morning’s pot at an
alehouse, than he entered into consultation with his own thoughts; and,
having no reason to doubt that this was the very fare he had conveyed, he
resolved to earn the reward, and abstain from all such adventures in time
coming. He had the precaution, however, to take an attorney along with
him to Mr. Clarke, who entered into a conditional bond; and, with the
assistance of his uncle, deposited the money, to be forthcoming when the
conditions should be fulfilled. These previous measures being taken, the
coachman declared what he knew, and discovered the house in which Sir
Launcelot had been immured. He, moreover, accompanied our two adherents
to a judge’s chamber, where he made oath to the truth of his information;
and a warrant was immediately granted to search the house of Bernard
Shackle, and set at liberty Sir Launcelot Greaves, if there found.
Fortified with this authority, they engaged a constable, with a
formidable posse, and, embarking them in coaches, repaired with all
possible expedition to the house of Mr. Shackle, who did not think proper
to dispute their claim, but admitted them, though not without betraying
evident symptoms of consternation. One of the servants directing them,
by his master’s order, to Sir Launcelot’s apartment, they hurried
upstairs in a body, occasioning such a noise as did not fail to alarm the
physician, who had just opened the door to retire, when he perceived
their irruption. Captain Crowe conjecturing he was guilty from the
confusion that appeared in his countenance, made no scruple of seizing
him by the collar as he endeavoured to retreat; while the tender-hearted
Tom Clarke, running up to the knight, with his eyes brimful of joy and
affection, forgot all the forms of distant respect, and throwing his arms
round his neck, blubbered in his bosom.
Our hero did not receive this proof of attachment unmoved. He strained
him in his embrace, honoured him with the title of his deliverer, and
asked him by what miracle he had discovered the place of his confinement.
The lawyer began to unfold the various steps he had taken with equal
minuteness and self-complacency, when Crowe, dragging the doctor still by
the collar, shook his old friend by the hand, protesting he was never so
overjoyed since he got clear of a Sallee rover on the coast of Barbary;
and that two glasses ago he would have started all the money he had in
the world in the hold of any man who would have shown Sir Launcelot safe
at his moorings. The knight having made a proper return to this sincere
manifestation of goodwill, desired him to dismiss that worthless fellow,
meaning the doctor; who, finding himself released, withdrew with some
precipitation.
Then our adventurer, attended by his friends, walked off with a
deliberate pace to the outward gate, which he found open, and getting
into one of the coaches, was entertained by the way to his own house with
a detail of every measure which had been pursued for his release.
In his own parlour he found Mrs. Dolly Cowslip, who had been waiting with
great fear and impatience for the issue of Mr. Clarke’s adventure. She
now fell upon her knees, and bathed the knight’s hands with tears of joy;
while the face of this young woman, recalling the idea of her mistress,
roused his heart to strong emotions, and stimulated his mind to the
immediate achievement he had already planned. As for Mr. Crabshaw, he
was not the last to signify his satisfaction at his master’s return.
After having kissed the hem of his garment, he retired to the stable,
where he communicated these tidings to his friend Gilbert, whom he
saddled and bridled; the same office he performed for Bronzomarte; then
putting on his squire-like attire and accoutrements, he mounted one, and
led the other to the knight’s door, before which he paraded, uttering,
from time to time, repeated shouts, to the no small entertainment of the
populace, until he received orders to house his companions. Thus
commanded, he led them back to their stalls, resumed his livery, and
rejoined his fellow-servants, who were resolved to celebrate the day with
banquets and rejoicings.
Their master’s heart was not sufficiently at ease to share in their
festivity. He held a consultation with his friends in the parlour, whom
he acquainted with the reasons he had to believe Miss Darnel was confined
in the same house which had been his prison; a circumstance which filled
them with equal pleasure and astonishment. Dolly in particular, weeping
plentifully, conjured him to deliver her dear lady without delay.
Nothing now remained but to concert the plan for her deliverance. As
Aurelia had informed Dolly of her connexion with Mrs. Kawdle, at whose
house she proposed to lodge, before she was overtaken on the road by her
uncle, this particular was now imparted to the council, and struck a
light which seemed to point out the direct way to Miss Darnel’s
enlargement.
Our hero, accompanied by Mrs. Cowslip and Tom Clarke, set out immediately
for the house of Dr. Kawdle, who happened to be abroad, but his wife
received them with great courtesy. She was a well-bred, sensible,
genteel woman, and strongly attached to Aurelia by the ties of affection,
as well as of consanguinity. She no sooner learned the situation of her
cousin than she expressed the most impatient concern for her being set at
liberty, and assured Sir Launcelot she would concur in any scheme he
should propose for that purpose. There was no room for hesitation or
choice; he attended her immediately to the judge, who, upon proper
application, issued another search-warrant for Aurelia Darnel. The
constable and his posse were again retained, and Sir Launcelot Greaves
once more crossed the threshold of Mr. Bernard Shackle. Nor was the
search-warrant the only implement of justice with which he had furnished
himself for this visit. In going thither they agreed upon the method in
which they should introduce themselves gradually to Miss Darnel, that her
tender nature might not be too much shocked by their sudden appearance.
When they arrived at the house, therefore, and produced their
credentials, in consequence of which a female attendant was directed to
show the lady’s apartment, Mrs. Dolly first entered the chamber of the
accomplished Aurelia, who, lifting up her eyes, screamed aloud, and flew
into the arms of her faithful Cowslip. Some minutes elapsed before Dolly
could make shift to exclaim, “Am coom to live and daai with my beloved
leady!”--“Dear Dolly!” cried her mistress, “I cannot express the pleasure
I have in seeing you again. Good Heaven! what solitary hours of keen
affliction have I passed since we parted!--but, tell me, how did you
discover the place of my retreat?--has my uncle relented?--do I owe your
coming to his indulgence?”
Dolly answered in the negative; and by degrees gave her to understand
that her cousin, Mrs. Kawdle, was in the next room; that lady immediately
appeared, and a very tender scene of recognition passed between the two
relations. It was she who, in the course of conversation, perceiving
that Aurelia was perfectly composed, declared the happy tidings of her
approaching deliverance. When the other eagerly insisted upon knowing to
whose humanity and address she was indebted for this happy turn of
fortune, her cousin declared the obligation was due to a young gentleman
of Yorkshire, called Sir Launcelot Greaves. At mention of that name her
face was overspread with a crimson glow, and her eyes beamed redoubled
splendour. “Cousin,” said she, with a sigh, “I know not what to say--
that gentleman, Sir Launcelot Greaves, was surely born--Lord bless me! I
tell you, cousin, he has been my guardian angel.”
Mrs. Kawdle, who had maintained a correspondence with her by letters, was
no stranger to the former part of the connexion subsisting between those
two lovers, and had always favoured the pretensions of our hero, without
being acquainted with his person. She now observed with a smile, that as
Aurelia esteemed the knight her guardian angel, and he adored her as a
demi-deity, nature seemed to have intended them for each other; for such
sublime ideas exalted them both above the sphere of ordinary mortals.
She then ventured to intimate that he was in the house, impatient to pay
his respects in person. At this declaration the colour vanished from her
cheeks, which, however, soon underwent a total suffusion. Her heart
panted, her bosom heaved, and her gentle frame was agitated by transports
rather violent than unpleasing. She soon, however, recollected herself,
and her native serenity returned; when, rising from her seat, she
declared he would see him in the next apartment, where he stood in the
most tumultuous suspense, waiting for permission to approach her person.
Here she broke in upon him, arrayed in an elegant white undress, the
emblem of her purity, beaming forth the emanations of amazing beauty,
warmed and improved with a glow of gratitude and affection. His heart
was too big for utterance; he ran towards her with rapture, and throwing
himself at her feet, imprinted a most respectful kiss upon her lily
hand.--“This, divine Aurelia,” cried he, “is a foretaste of that
ineffable bliss which you was born to bestow!--Do I then live to see you
smile again? to see you restored to liberty, your mind at ease, and your
health unimpaired?”--“You have lived,” said she, “to see my obligations
to Sir Launcelot Greaves accumulated in such a manner, that a whole life
spent in acknowledgment will scarce suffice to demonstrate a due sense of
his goodness.”--“You greatly overrate my services, which have been rather
the duties of common humanity, than the efforts of a generous passion,
too noble to be thus evinced;--but let not my unseasonable transports
detain you a moment longer on this detested scene. Give me leave to hand
you into the coach, and commit you to the care of this good lady,
attended by this honest young gentleman, who is my particular friend.”
So saying, he presented Mr. Thomas Clarke, who had the honour to salute
the fair hand of the ever-amiable Aurelia.
The ladies being safely coached under the escort of the lawyer, Sir
Launcelot assured them he should wait on them in the evening at the house
of Dr. Kawdle, whither they immediately directed their course. Our hero,
who remained with the constable and his gang, inquired for Mr. Bernard
Shackle, upon whose person he intended to serve a writ of conspiracy,
over and above a prosecution for robbery, in consequence of his having
disencumbered the knight of his money and other effects, on the first
night of his confinement. Mr. Shackle had discretion enough to avoid
this encounter, and even to anticipate the indictment for felony, by
directing one of his servants to restore the cash and papers, which our
adventurer accordingly received before he quitted the house.
In the prosecution of his search after Shackle, he chanced to enter the
chamber of the bard, whom he found in dishabille, writing at a table,
with a bandage over one eye, and his head covered with a nightcap of
baize. The knight, having made an apology for this intrusion, desired
to know if he could be of any service to Mr. Distich, as he was now
at liberty to use the little influence he had for the relief of his
fellow-sufferers.--The poet having eyed him for some time askance, “I
told you,” said he, “your stay in this place would be of short duration.
--I have sustained a small disaster on my left eye, from the hands of a
rascally cordwainer, who pretends to believe himself the King of Prussia,
and I am now in the very act of galling his majesty with keen iambics.--
If you can help me to a roll of tobacco and a bottle of geneva, so;--if
you are not so inclined, your humble servant, I shall share in the joy of
your deliverance.”
The knight declined gratifying him in these particulars, which he
apprehended might be prejudicial to his health, but offered his
assistance in redressing his grievances, provided he laboured under any
cruel treatment or inconvenience. “I comprehend the full extent of your
generosity,” replied the satirist; “you are willing to assist me in
everything, except the only circumstances in which assistance is
required--God b’w’ye--If you see Ben Bullock, tell him I wish he would
not dedicate any more of his works to me.--D--n the fellow, he has
changed his note, and begins to snivel.--For my part, I stick to my
former maxim, defy all the world, and will die hard, even if death should
be preceded by damnation.”
The knight, finding him incorrigible, left him to the slender chance of
being one day comforted by the dram-bottle; but resolved, if possible, to
set on foot an accurate inquiry into the economy and transactions of this
private inquisition, that ample justice might be done in favour of every
injured individual confined within its walls.
In the afternoon he did not fail to visit his Aurelia; and all the
protestations of their mutual passion were once more interchanged. He
now produced the letter which had caused such fatal disquiet in his
bosom; and Miss Darnel no sooner eyed the paper, than she recollected it
was a formal dismission, which she had intended and directed for Mr.
Sycamore. This the uncle had intercepted, and cunningly enclosed in
another cover, addressed to Sir Launcelot Greaves, who was now astonished
beyond measure to see the mystery so easily unfolded. The joy that now
diffused itself in the hearts of our lovers, is more easily conceived
than described; but, in order to give a stability to this mutual
satisfaction, it was necessary that Aurelia should be secured from the
tyranny of her uncle, whose power of guardianship would not otherwise
expire for some months.
Dr. Kawdle and his lady having entered into their deliberations on the
subject, it was agreed that Miss Darnel should have recourse to the
protection of the Lord Chancellor; but such application was rendered
unnecessary by the unexpected arrival of John Clump with the following
letter to Mrs. Kawdle from the steward of Anthony Darnel, dated at
Aurelia’s house in the country:--
“MADAM,--It hath pleased God to afflict Mr. Darnel with a severe stroke
of the dead palsy.--He was taken ill yesterday, and now lies insensible,
seemingly at the point of death. Among the papers in his pocket I found
the enclosed, by which it appears that my honoured young lady, Miss
Darnel, is confined in a private madhouse. I am afraid Mr. Darnel’s fate
is a just judgment of God upon him for his cruelty to that excellent
person. I need not exhort you, madam, to take immediately upon the
receipt of this, such measures as will be necessary for the enlargement
of my poor young lady. In the meantime, I shall do the needful for the
preservation of her property in this place, and send you an account of
any further alteration that may happen; being very respectfully, madam,
your most obedient humble servant, RALPH MATTOCKS.”
Clump had posted up to London with this intimation on the wings of love,
and being covered with clay from the heels to the eyes upwards, he
appeared in such an unfavourable light at Dr. Kawdle’s door, that the
footman refused him admittance. Nevertheless, he pushed him aside, and
fought his way upstairs into the dining-room, where the company was not a
little astonished at such an apparition.
The fellow himself was no less amazed at seeing Aurelia and his own
sweetheart Mrs. Dolly Cowslip. He forthwith fell upon his knees, and in
silence held out the letter, which was taken by the doctor, and presented
to his wife, according to the direction. She did not fail to communicate
the contents, which were far from being unwelcome to the individuals who
composed this little society. Mr. Clump was honoured with the
approbation of his young lady, who commended him for his zeal and
expedition; bestowed upon him a handsome gratuity in the meantime, and
desired to see him again when he should be properly refreshed after the
fatigue he had undergone.
Mr. Thomas Clarke being consulted on this occasion, gave it as his
opinion, that Miss Darnel should, without delay, choose another guardian
for the few months that remained of her minority. The opinion was
confirmed by the advice of some eminent lawyers, to whom immediate
recourse was had; and Dr. Kawdle being the person pitched upon for this
office, the necessary forms were executed with all possible despatch.
The first use the doctor made of his guardianship was to sign a power,
constituting Mr. Ralph Mattocks his attorney pro tempore for managing the
estate of Miss Aurelia Darnel; and this was forwarded to the steward by
the hands of Clump, who set out with it for the seat of Darnel Hill,
though not without a heavy heart, occasioned by some intimation he had
received concerning the connexion between his dear Dolly and Mr. Clarke,
the lawyer.