HOW, ON LEAVING KING LOG, FOOLISH WISDOM RUNS A-MUCK ON KING STORK.
At the outer door of the Tower by which he had entered, the
philosopher was accosted by Catesby,--a man who, in imitation of his
young patron, exhibited the soft and oily manner which concealed
intense ambition and innate ferocity.
"Worshipful my master," said he, bowing low, but with a half sneer on
his lips, "the king and his Highness the Duke of Gloucester have heard
much of your strange skill, and command me to lead you to their
presence. Follow, sir, and you, my men, convey this quaint
contrivance to the king's apartments."
With this, not waiting for any reply, Catesby strode on. Hugh's face
fell; he turned very pale, and, imagining himself unobserved, turned
round to slink away. But Catesby, who seemed to have eyes at the back
of his head, called out, in a mild tone,--
"Good fellow, help to bear the mechanical--you, too, may be needed."
"Cog's wounds!" muttered Hugh, "an' I had but known what it was to set
my foot in a king's palace! Such walking may do for the silken shoon,
but the hobnail always gets into a hobble." With that, affecting a
cheerful mien, he helped to replace the model on the mule.
Meanwhile, Adam, elated, poor man! at the flattery of the royal
mandate, persuaded that his fame had reached Edward's ears, and chafed
at the little heed paid by the pious Henry to his great work, stalked
on, his head in the air. "Verily," mused the student, "King Edward
may have been a cruel youth, and over hasty; it is horrible to think
of Robert Hilyard's calamities! But men do say he hath an acute and
masterly comprehension. Doubtless, he will perceive at a glance how
much I can advantage his kingdom." With this, we grieve to say,
selfish reflection--which, if the thought of his model could have
slept a while, Adam would have blushed to recall, as an affront to
Hilyard's wrongs--the philosopher followed Catesby across the spacious
yard, along a narrow passage, and up a winding turret-stair, to a room
in the third story, which opened at one door into the king's closet,
at the other into the spacious gallery, which was already a feature in
the plan of the more princely houses. In another minute Adam and his
model were in the presence of the king. The part of the room in which
Edward sat was distinguished from the rest by a small eastern carpet
on the floor (a luxury more in use in the palaces of that day than it
appears to have been a century later); [see the Narrative of the Lord
Grauthuse, before referred to] a table was set before him, on which
the model was placed. At his right hand sat Jacquetta, Duchess of
Bedford, the queen's mother; at his left, Prince Richard. The
duchess, though not without the remains of beauty, had a stern,
haughty, scornful expression in her sharp aquiline features,
compressed lips, and imperious eye. The paleness of her complexion,
and the careworn, anxious lines of her countenance, were ascribed by
the vulgar to studies of no holy cast. Her reputation for sorcery and
witchcraft was daily increasing, and served well the purpose of the
discontented barons, whom the rise of her children mortified and
enraged.
"Approach, Master--What say you his name is, Richard?"
"Adam Warner," replied the sweet voice of the Duke of Gloucester; "of
excellent skill in the mathematics."
"Approach, sir, and show us the nature of this notable invention."
"I desire nothing better, my lord king," said Adam, boldly; "but first
let me crave a small modicum of fuel. Fire, which is the life of the
world, as the wise of old held it, is also the soul of this, my
mechanical."
"Peradventure," whispered the duchess, "the wizard desireth to consume
us."
"More likely," replied Richard, in the same undertone, "to consume
whatever of treasonable nature may lurk concealed in his engine."
"True," said Edward, and then, speaking aloud, "Master Warner," he
added, "put thy puppet to its purpose without fire,--we will it."
"It is impossible, my lord," said Adam, with a lofty smile. "Science
and nature are more powerful than a king's word."
"Do not say that in public, my friend," said Edward, dryly, "or we
must hang thee! I would not my subjects were told anything so
treasonable. Howbeit, to give thee no excuse in failure, thou shalt
have what thou needest."
"But surely not in our presence," exclaimed the duchess. "This may be
a device of the Lancastrians for our perdition."
"As you please, belle mere," said Edward, and he motioned to a
gentleman, who stood a few paces behind his chair, and who, from the
entrance of the mechanician, had seemed to observe him with intense
interest. "Master Nevile, attend this wise man; supply his wants, and
hark, in thy ear, watch well that he abstract nothing from the womb of
his engine; observe what he doeth; be all eyes." Marmaduke bowed low
to conceal his change of countenance, and, stepping forward, made a
sign to Adam to follow him.
"Go also, Catesby," said Richard to his follower, who had taken his
post near him, "and clear the chamber."
As soon as the three members of the royal family were left alone, the
king, stretching himself, with a slight yawn, observed, "This man
looks not like a conspirator, brother Richard, though his sententiary
as to nature and science lacked loyalty and respect."
"Sire and brother," answered Richard, "great leaders often dupe their
own tools; at least, meseemeth that they would reason well so to do.
Remember, I have told thee that there is strong cause to suppose
Margaret to be in London. In the suburbs of the city has also
appeared, within the last few weeks, that strange and dangerous
person, whose very objects are a mystery, save that he is our foe,--
Robin of Redesdale. The men of the North have exhibited a spirit of
insurrection; a man of that country attends this reputed wizard, and
he himself was favoured in past times by Henry of Windsor. These are
ominous signs when the conjunctions be considered!"
"It is well said; but a fair day for breathing our palfrey is half-
spent!" returned the indolent prince. "By'r Lady! I like the fashion
of thy super-tunic well, Richard; but thou hast it too much puffed
over the shoulders."
Richard's dark eye shot fire, and he gnawed his lip as he answered,
"God hath not given to me the fair shape of my kinsmen."
"Thy pardon, dear boy," said Edward, kindly; "yet little needest thou
our broad backs and strong sinews, for thou hast a tongue to charm
women and a wit to command men."
Richard bowed his face, little less beautiful than his brother's,
though wholly different from it in feature, for Edward had the long
oval countenance, the fair hair, the rich colouring, and the large
outline of his mother, the Rose of Raby. Richard, on the contrary,
had the short face, the dark brown locks, and the pale olive
complexion of his father, whom he alone of the royal brothers
strikingly resembled. [Pol. Virg. 544.]
The cheeks, too, were somewhat sunken, and already, though scarcely
past childhood, about his lips were seen the lines of thoughtful
manhood. But then those small features, delicately aquiline, were so
regular; that dark eye was so deep, so fathomless in its bright,
musing intelligence; that quivering lip was at once so beautifully
formed and so expressive of intellectual subtlety and haughty will;
and that pale forehead was so massive, high, and majestic,--that when,
at a later period, the Scottish prelate [Archibald Quhitlaw.--"Faciem
tuam summo imperio principatu dignam inspicit, quam moralis et
heroica, virtus illustrat," etc.--We need scarcely observe that even a
Scotchman would not have risked a public compliment to Richard's face,
if so inappropriate as to seem a sarcasm, especially as the orator
immediately proceeds to notice the shortness of Richard's stature,--a
comment not likely to have been peculiarly acceptable in the Rous
Roll, the portrait of Richard represents him as undersized, but
compactly and strongly built, and without any sign of deformity,
unless the inelegant defect of a short neck can be so called.]
commended Richard's "princely countenance," the compliment was not one
to be disputed, much less contemned. But now as he rose, obedient to
a whisper from the duchess, and followed her to the window, while
Edward appeared engaged in admiring the shape of his own long,
upturned shoes, those defects in his shape which the popular hatred
and the rise of the House of Tudor exaggerated into the absolute
deformity that the unexamining ignorance of modern days and
Shakspeare's fiery tragedy have fixed into established caricature,
were sufficiently apparent. Deformed or hunchbacked we need scarcely
say he was not, for no man so disfigured could have possessed that
great personal strength which he invariably exhibited in battle,
despite the comparative slightness of his frame. He was considerably
below the ordinary height, which the great stature of his brother
rendered yet more disadvantageous by contrast; but his lower limbs
were strong-jointed and muscular. Though the back was not curved, yet
one shoulder was slightly higher than the other, which was the more
observable from the evident pains that he took to disguise it, and the
gorgeous splendour, savouring of personal coxcombry--from which no
Plantagenet was ever free,--that he exhibited in his dress. And as,
in a warlike age, the physical conformation of men is always
critically regarded, so this defect and that of his low stature were
not so much redeemed as they would be in our day by the beauty and
intelligence of his face. Added to this, his neck was short, and a
habit of bending his head on his bosom (arising either from thought,
or the affectation of humility, which was a part of his character)
made it seem shorter still. But this peculiarity, while taking from
the grace, added to the strength of his frame, which, spare, sinewy,
and compact, showed to an observer that power of endurance, that
combination of solid stubbornness and active energy, which, at the
battle of Barnet, made him no less formidable to encounter than the
ruthless sword of the mighty Edward.
"So, prince," said the duchess, "this new gentleman of the king's is,
it seems, a Nevile. When will Edward's high spirit cast off that
hateful yoke?"
Richard sighed and shook his head. The duchess, encouraged by these
signs of sympathy, continued,--
"Your brother Clarence, Prince Richard, despises us, to cringe to the
proud earl. But you--"
"I am not suitor to the Lady Isabel; Clarence is overlavish, and
Isabel has a fair face and a queenly dowry."
"May I perish," said the duchess, "ere Warwick's daughter wears the
baudekin of royalty, and sits in as high a state as the queen's
mother! Prince, I would fain confer with thee; we have a project to
abase and banish this hateful lord. If you but join us, success is
sure; the Count of Charolois--"
"Dear lady," interrupted Richard, with an air of profound humility,
"tell me nothing of plot or project; my years are too few for such
high and subtle policy; and the Lord Warwick hath been a leal friend
to our House of York."
The duchess bit her lip--"Yet I have heard you tell Edward that a
subject can be too powerful?"
"Never, lady! you have never heard me."
"Then Edward has told Elizabeth that you so spoke."
"Ah," said Richard, turning away with a smile, "I see that the king's
conscience hath a discreet keeper. Pardon me, Edward, now that he
hath sufficiently surveyed his shoon, must marvel at this prolonged
colloquy. And see, the door opens."
With this, the duke slowly moved to the table, and resumed his seat.
Marmaduke, full of fear for his ancient host, had in vain sought an
opportunity to address a few words of exhortation to him to forbear
all necromancy, and to abstain from all perilous distinctions between
the power of Edward IV. and that of his damnable Nature and Science;
but Catesby watched him with so feline a vigilance, that he was unable
to slip in more than--"Ah, Master Warner, for our blessed Lord's sake,
recollect that rack and cord are more than mere words here!" To the
which pleasant remark, Adam, then busy in filling his miniature
boiler, only replied by a wistful stare, not in the least recognizing
the Nevile in his fine attire, and the new-fashioned mode of dressing
his long hair.
But Catesby watched in vain for the abstraction of any treasonable
contents in the engine, which the Duke of Gloucester had so shrewdly
suspected. The truth must be told. Adam had entirely forgotten that
in the intricacies of his mechanical lurked the papers that might
overthrow a throne! Magnificent Incarnation was he (in that oblivion)
of Science itself, which cares not a jot for men and nations, in their
ephemeral existences; which only remembers THINGS,--things that endure
for ages; and in its stupendous calculations loses sight of the unit
of a generation! No, he had thoroughly forgotten Henry, Edward, his
own limbs and life,--not only York and Lancaster, but Adam Warner and
the rack. Grand in his forgetfulness, he stood before the tiger and
the tiger-cat,--Edward and--Richard,--A Pure Thought, a Man's Soul;
Science fearless in the presence of Cruelty, Tyranny, Craft, and
Power.
In truth, now that Adam was thoroughly in his own sphere, was in the
domain of which he was king, and those beings in velvet and ermine
were but as ignorant savages admitted to the frontier of his realm,
his form seemed to dilate into a majesty the beholders had not before
recognized; and even the lazy Edward muttered involuntarily, "By my
halidame, the man has a noble presence!"
"I am prepared now, sire," said Adam, loftily, "to show to my king and
to this court, that, unnoticed and obscure, in study and retreat,
often live those men whom kings may be proud to call their subjects.
Will it please you, my lords, this way!" and he motioned so
commandingly to the room in which he had left the Eureka, that his
audience rose by a common impulse, and in another minute stood grouped
round the model in the adjoining chamber. This really wonderful
invention--so wonderful, indeed, that it will surpass the faith of
those who do not pause to consider what vast forestallments of modern
science have been made and lost in the darkness of ages not fitted to
receive them--was, doubtless, in many important details not yet
adapted for the practical uses to which Adam designed its application.
But as a mere model, as a marvellous essay, for the suggestion of
gigantic results, it was, perhaps, to the full as effective as the
ingenuity of a mechanic of our own day could construct. It is true
that it was crowded with unnecessary cylinders, slides, cocks, and
wheals--hideous and clumsy to the eye--but through this intricacy the
great simple design accomplished its main object. It contrived to
show what force and skill man can obtain from the alliance of nature;
the more clearly, inasmuch as the mechanism affixed to it, still more
ingenious than itself, was well calculated to illustrate practically
one of the many uses to which the principle was destined to be
applied.
Adam had not yet fathomed the secret by which to supply the miniature
cylinder with sufficient steam for any prolonged effect,--the great
truth of latent heat was unknown to him; but he had contrived to
regulate the supply of water so as to make the engine discharge its
duties sufficiently for the satisfaction of curiosity and the
explanation of its objects. And now this strange thing of iron was in
full life. From its serpent chimney issued the thick rapid smoke, and
the groan of its travail was heard within.
"And what propose you to yourself and to the kingdom in all this,
Master Adam?" asked Edward, curiously bending his tall person over the
tortured iron.
"I propose to make Nature the labourer of man," answered Warner.
"When I was a child of some eight years old, I observed that water
swelleth into vapour when fire is applied to it. Twelve years
afterwards, at the age of twenty, I observed that while undergoing
this change it exerts a mighty mechanical force. At twenty-five,
constantly musing, I said, 'Why should not that force become subject
to man's art?' I then began the first rude model, of which this is
the descendant. I noticed that the vapour so produced is elastic,--
that is, that as it expands, it presses against what opposes it; it
has a force applicable everywhere force is needed by man's labour.
Behold a second agency of gigantic resources! And then, still
studying this, I perceived that the vapour thus produced can be
reconverted into water, shrinking necessarily, while so retransformed,
from the space it filled as vapour, and leaving that space a vacuum.
But Nature abhors a vacuum; produce a vacuum, and the bodies that
surround rush into it. Thus, the vapour again, while changing back
into water, becomes also a force,--our agent. And all the while these
truths were shaping themselves to my mind, I was devising and
improving also the material form by which I might render them useful
to man; so at last, out of these truths, arose this invention!"
"Pardie," said Edward, with the haste natural to royalty, "what in
common there can be between thy jargon of smoke and water and this
huge ugliness of iron passeth all understanding. But spare us thy
speeches, and on to thy puppet-show."
Adam stared a moment at the king in the surprise that one full of his
subject feels when he sees it impossible to make another understand
it, sighed, shook his head, and prepared to begin.
"Observe," he said, "that there is no juggling, no deceit. I will
place in this deposit this small lump of brass--would the size of this
toy would admit of larger experiment! I will then pray ye to note, as
I open door after door, how the metal passes through various changes,
all operated by this one agency of vapour. Heed and attend. And if
the crowning work please thee, think, great king, what such an agency
upon the large scale would be to thee; think how it would multiply all
arts and lessen all labour; think that thou hast, in this, achieved
for a whole people the true philosopher's stone. Now note!"
He placed the rough ore in its receptacle, and suddenly it seemed
seized by a vice within, and vanished. He proceeded then, while
dexterously attending to the complex movements, to open door after
door, to show the astonished spectators the rapid transitions the
metal underwent, and suddenly, in the midst of his pride, he stopped
short, for, like a lightning-flash, came across his mind the
remembrance of the fatal papers. Within the next door he was to open,
they lay concealed. His change of countenance did not escape Richard,
and he noted the door which Adam forbore to open, as the student
hurriedly, and with some presence of mind, passed to the next, in
which the metal was shortly to appear.
"Open this door," said the prince, pointing to the handle. "No!
forbear! There is danger! forbear!" exclaimed the mechanician.
"Danger to thine own neck, varlet and impostor!" exclaimed the duke;
and he was about himself to open the door, when suddenly a loud roar,
a terrific explosion was heard. Alas! Adam Warner had not yet
discovered for his engine what we now call the safety-valve. The
steam contained in the miniature boiler had acquired an undue
pressure; Adam's attention had been too much engrossed to notice the
signs of the growing increase, and the rest may be easily conceived.
Nothing could equal the stupor and the horror of the spectators at
this explosion, save only the boy-duke, who remained immovable, and
still frowning. All rushed to the door, huddling one on the other,
scarcely knowing what next was to befall them, but certain that the
wizard was bent upon their destruction. Edward was the first to
recover himself; and seeing that no lives were lost, his first impulse
was that of ungovernable rage.
"Foul traitor!" he exclaimed, "was it for this that thou hast
pretended to beguile us with thy damnable sorceries? Seize him! Away
to the Tower Hill! and let the priest patter an ave while the doomsman
knots the rope."
Not a hand stirred; even Catesby would as lief have touched the king's
lion before meals, as that poor mechanician, standing aghast, and
unheeding all, beside his mutilated engine.
"Master Nevile," said the king, sternly, "dost thou hear us?
"Verily," muttered the Nevile, approaching very slowly, "I knew what
would happen; but to lay hands on my host, an' he were fifty times a
wizard--No! My liege," he said in a firm tone, but falling on his
knee, and his gallant countenance pale with generous terror, "my
liege, forgive me. This man succoured me when struck down and wounded
by a Lancastrian ruffian; this man gave me shelter, food, and healing.
Command me not, O gracious my lord, to aid in taking the life of one
to whom I owe my own."
"His life!" exclaimed the Duchess of Bedford,--"the life of this most
illustrious person! Sire, you do not dream it!"
"Heh! by the saints, what now?" cried the king, whose choler, though
fierce and ruthless, was as short-lived as the passions of the
indolent usually are, and whom the earnest interposition of his
mother-in-law much surprised and diverted. "If, fair belle-mere, thou
thinkest it so illustrious a deed to frighten us out of our mortal
senses, and narrowly to 'scape sending us across the river like a bevy
of balls from a bombard, there is no disputing of tastes. Rise up,
Master Nevile, we esteem thee not less for thy boldness; ever be the
host and the benefactor revered by English gentlemen and Christian
youth. Master Warner may go free."
Here Warner uttered so deep and hollow a groan, that it startled all
present.
"Twenty-five years of labour, and not to have seen this!" he
ejaculated. "Twenty and five years, and all wasted! How repair this
disaster? O fatal day!"
"What says he? What means he?" said Jacquetta.
"Come home!--home!" said Marmaduke, approaching the philosopher, in
great alarm lest he should once more jeopardize his life. But Adam,
shaking him off, began eagerly, and with tremulous hands, to examine
the machine, and not perceiving any mode by which to guard in future
against a danger that he saw at once would, if not removed, render his
invention useless, tottered to a chair and covered his face with his
hands.
"He seemeth mightily grieved that our bones are still whole!" muttered
Edward. "And why, belle-mere mine, wouldst thou protect this pleasant
tregetour?"
"What!" said the duchess, "see you not that a man capable of such
devices must be of doughty service against our foes?"
"Not I. How?"
"Why, if merely to signify his displeasure at our young Richard's
over-curious meddling, he can cause this strange engine to shake the
walls,--nay, to destroy itself,--think what he might do were his power
and malice at our disposing. I know something of these nigromancers."
"And would you knew less! for already the commons murmur at your
favour to them. But be it as you will. And now--ho, there! let our
steeds be caparisoned."
"You forget, sire," said Richard, who had hitherto silently watched
the various parties, "the object for which we summoned this worthy
man. Please you now, sir, to open that door."
"No, no!" exclaimed the king, hastily, "I will have no more provoking
the foul fiend; conspirator or not, I have had enough of Master
Warner. Pah! My poor placard is turned lampblack. Sweet mother-in-
law, take him under thy protection; and Richard, come with me."
So saying, the king linked his arm in that of the reluctant
Gloucester, and quitted the room. The duchess then ordered the rest
also to depart, and was left alone with the crest-fallen philosopher.