THE LAST VISIT TO THE TOWER.
Latimer and Ellen visited the scene of their early attachment but
once after their long and happy sojourn in Gloucestershire; and,
singular enough, that once was to convey to a distant relative, of
the name of Goodynge, the estate of Freston, for which he had, with
earnest solicitation and very liberal offers, made repeated
application.
Ralphe Goodynge, or Gooding, one of the oldest inhabitants of
Ipswich, distantly connected with the family of De Freston on the
female side, soon after the purchase of Freston, represented the
borough of Ipswich, in conjunction with John Sparrowe. It was owing
to his liberality that the Tower itself remained one of the
pleasantest features of the Orwell, and the place of happy resort for
many a wedding party.
In his day it became a sort of privilege for the townsmen of Ipswich
to take a marriage trip to Freston Tower. Its pleasant distance from
the town, the lovely park in which it then stood, and the still
memorable record of the Lady Ellen, and her faithful Latimer, made
'Latimer's Tower,' a bye-word for conjugal felicity. The wonder is,
that it should ever have lost this celebrity.
Whether it was that, in the lapse of years, the park became arable
land, and lost the traces of hereditary grandeur, or that other
possessors succeeded, who did not encourage this right of the free
burgesses, and their espousals, the old distich was forgotten which
said:
'No burgess on his wedding-day,
Which falls in whitethorn merry May,
Shall happy be in house or bower,
Who does not visit Freston Tower.'
For many years, a venerable old couple of the name of Sage, who had
been attached to the family of the Latimers, resided in the lower
compartment of the Tower, and with the assistance of their two
daughters kept the rooms in such order, that it was said:
'The Sages differ in their ages,
But all our hearts with love engage;
We pay the Sages marriage wages,
That we in age may be like Sage.
It was to the house of this old couple, that Latimer and Ellen went
after they had conveyed the estate to Mr. Ralphe Goodynge, and paid
their last visit to the tower of love. Memory, fresh, clear, and
hallowed, can never forget the spot where the enjoyment of that sweet
thought, the making another happy, was first imbibed. Whatever cares
may arise, whatever troubles may have come upon us, and however much
the realities of this dull world, and its daily ploddings, may have
made us creatures of circumstances, we still remember, with a
holiness never to be effaced, the spot of our first love.
Let stoics say what they will, or mortals without natural affection
break every trace of love, every honest man, who had a heart of
natural affection in his youth, cannot fail to recal, with
satisfaction, the remembrance of that spot where he first became
betrothed.
The soldier may have to visit foreign countries; the ambassador,
foreign courts; the lawyer, courts of law; the trader, foreign ports;
even the Missionary, foreign stations; the Bishop, distant sees; no
man, let him be called to whatever employment he may, and be
compelled therein to forsake the scenes of his early youth, can fail
sometimes to remember the associations of that day, when he first
ventured even to think of that partner, with whom he may have
afterwards passed the meridian of life.
Everything tends to sanctify the spot. The very duties of life, in
which his daily occupations may have engrossed his time, are often
broken in upon by the remembrance thereof. The more mental those
duties may have been, either in law, physic, or divinity, the keener
or clearer will be the reflection or vision of the past. None but
those whose hearts are completely given up to the idolatry of money,
can forget the place of friendship,
'Where bold and brave, and modest, pure, and bland,
He sought love's friendship both with heart and hand.'
Let his calling be ever so high and sacred, there is no sin in
looking back upon that spot and those thoughts of days gone by,
though he may well know that he can never enjoy them again. He may
even feel thankful that he never can. He may never even desire so to
do, and yet never undervalue the heavenly permission which then
sanctioned his betrothment, and witnessed his espousals.
If the dear place be gone from him; if others possess it; if fathers,
mothers, brothers, and friends, who smiled upon our days of love, and
shared their freedom with us, be all departed--can we forget them?
No! memory is vivid in love. But are there no sorrows commingled
therewith? no remembrances of mortal heart-burnings, affronts,
failings, differences, wants of temper, accusations, or disputations?
Smooth must have flowed the channel of life, if nothing of this kind
can be remembered. But if they can, and the God of mercy has
softened the heart with tears of repentance for those past, unruly,
or discordant intruders, let not the honest lover repine or despair,
that he cannot alter the past. His love is true, though the very
earth may banish him from the spot.
But what sensations crept over Latimer and the Lady Ellen as they
stood at the foot of the Tower, for the last time!
'Philosophers maintain, dearest husband, that we ought not to
encourage any of those sensations which touch upon the melancholy
moments of the past. They would have us shake off the memory of
anything in which we have once delighted; but they appear to me to
think there is no pleasure at all in reflection. Now, though sorrow
may sadden the present moment, there is a species of unalloyed
pleasure in the remembrance of those days, and in revisiting those
scenes where we once imbibed the happiness of conversation with those
we loved. What say you, dearest husband?'
'Say, my love, that no hours can be sweeter than those so employed,
saving, shall I say, those of which we speak; but would not that be
ungrateful? We cannot go back again except in thought; we cannot
retread the steps we have trodden years ago with the same objects we
then had in view; but that is no reason why we should encourage
bitterness in our souls, unless we have some bitter accusations of
conscience to afflict us. I do not remember even the building of
this Tower with any regret. Here it stands; the object of its
erection was one of regard, dearest Ellen, for thyself; but if thou
art not more esteemed by me than the Tower, or the domain around it,
then should I deeply regret, perhaps, the surrender of our right and
title to the estate.'
'I thank thee, dearest--I thank thee; and yet thou canst not quite
feel as I may do the vivid recollections of a father's love. I think
of him who loved me with a tenderness which seemed to be the deeper
because of my mother's early loss. Ah! Latimer, he was as a father
and a mother unto me!'
'But he can be no longer such, dearest Ellen, and neither art thou so
situated as to require it. The wind was tempered to the shorn lamb.'
'And so is it now; and I do not complain. I do but think; and, as we
learn to part with childish trifles without regret as we grow in
years, so, dearest husband, must we learn to part with things to
which our affections become more attached, inasmuch as they are more
powerful objects of attraction.'
'Yes, Ellen, and the more submissively to the Divine will we school
our hearts in the course of our journey, the less those pangs of
parting afflict us, and the sweeter are our hopes of rest. The
mansion itself, which held its lord, is gone; the Tower alone
remains. It has lasted until thy father's generation and name are
gone, and, in the lapse of a few years more, even the memory of
ourselves, and of all we have seen and known here, must pass away.'
'But thou hast not forgotten the stipulation that, as long as the
Tower can stand, it shall be preserved.'
'No, our friend Ralphe Goodynge has guaranteed that thou shalt have
full right and title, as long as he holds the estate, to a resident,
rent-free therein, whomsoever thou mayst appoint, and that he will
pay a certain monthly dole unto any person or persons inhabiting the
spot, to keep the rooms and furniture in cleanly order for thyself or
for thy friends, during the term of thy natural life.
'He binds himself, moreover, to keep the said Tower an repair during
his possession of the estate, and that as long as the name of Latimer
can be remembered in Ipswich, it shall be designated "_Latimer's
Tower_." So you see, dearest, we shall still have a name and a
possession on the banks of the Orwell.'
'Why this should be such a pleasure to me, thou msyest easily guess.
Not that we shall often revisit this spot, yet when we speak thereof,
the thought of having friends to whom our early days were known, and
the father and mother of our faithful servant still resident herein,
will be pleasant to us, though we may be away from them. Does Ralphe
Goodynge bind his successors?'
'No, not beyond the possession of his right and title to the estate;
and this I think but fair. He has no objection, as a relative, to
make this spot a pleasant place of remembrance both for friendship
and affection's sake; but he will not undertake to bind upon others
that which he conceives only to concern himself. I do not think this
unreasonable. It is not, Ellen, as if it were a place of public
resort, or a place dedicated to any special purpose, either to
religion or to the administration of justice, or even to public
entertainment. It was built for thee, and unless in future
generations it could be devoted to similar purposes, and that is not
likely, for it is not his intention to rebuild the mansion, I see no
reason why he should be expected to preserve it. There will not be
another Ellen De Freston to inhabit it.'
Whether this was gratifying or not to Ellen, she did not reply, but,
with a sigh, she leaned upon her husband's arm, as they entered the
Tower. There are feelings, sensations, ideas, thoughts, and
reflections, which cannot be spoken, and perhaps are never less able
to be uttered than when we feel perfectly conscious that we have,
even near to us as life, a being who can fully appreciate all we
might express. A sigh, if it could be defined, would speak perhaps
an eloquence as yet unknown.
There is a spirit speaking in a sigh
Which words convey not unto human ears.
That which it is not, mortal tongues may speak:
That which it is, no words were ever found
To give its meaning to the list'ning world.
The world!--oh no! the world would never hear
The sigh of pure affection in the soul,
Contrition's sigh, or aspiration's sound,
The wish for things unseen, though not unfelt
The thought of being perfect, or of hope
Of gaining that perfection which delights
In joyful innocence, of bliss untold--
I speak not of the sigh of deep regret
For sins innumerable--groans, indeed!
Unutterable groans those sighs become.
And well become the guilty hearts of men;
And if sincere, the Comforter will come
With holy calmness to the troubled soul,
And give it peace. There is a sigh for bliss--
Yes, seraph's blissfulness--to speak with those
With whom we held communion on earth,
On things of Heaven--can that sigh be told?
No, 'tis the thought of immaterial light,
Brighter than sun's most fervid-glowing ray,
In clearest atmosphere of brilliant day.
We may suppose such a sigh to have escaped the heart at Ellen, as she
entered the Tower, where she had spent so many happy hours with her
affectionate father. It was Latimer's care to improve even those
moments of meditation with the language of truth, and his masculine
mind then showed itself well worthy of the admiration Ellen had given
it. Never perhaps did she feel or own him to be her lord and master
so powerfully as during the short converse they had in the favorite
room of their favorite Tower.
To strengthen the human mind with words of pious resignation; to
point to the wisdom displayed for human reformation and human
happiness, was then the duty, and the pleasure, and the comfort of a
humble, honest-hearted husband. Perhaps some would sigh to hear that
conversation; perhaps it might instruct and improve many a human
heart. Let only the effects be told.
Latimer and Ellen descended the steps of the Tower even happier than
they ascended; for whilst, like many a faithful couple in this world,
descending into the vale of years, conscious of ten thousand
blessings which they received, for which they can only be thankful,
even whilst they own themselves unworthy thereof, so their calm
spirits ascend higher as their years descend. So did Latimer and
Ellen proceed on their way to the cottage. At that cottage they
learnt a lesson such as they never forgot, which made even this visit
to the Tower memorable to their last days.