----Mark you this, Bassanio--
The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose.
--MERCHANT OF VENICE.
After leaving the proud mansion of the Duke of Buckingham, Christian,
full of the deep and treacherous schemes which he meditated, hastened
to the city, where, in a decent inn, kept by a person of his own
persuasion, he had been unexpectedly summoned to meet with Ralph
Bridgenorth of Moultrassie. He was not disappointed--the Major had
arrived that morning, and anxiously expected him. The usual gloom of his
countenance was darkened into a yet deeper shade of anxiety, which
was scarcely relieved, even while, in answer to his inquiry after his
daughter, Christian gave the most favourable account of her health and
spirits, naturally and unaffectedly intermingled with such praises of
her beauty and her disposition, as were likely to be most grateful to a
father’s ear.
But Christian had too much cunning to expatiate on this theme,
however soothing. He stopped short exactly at the point where, as an
affectionate relative, he might be supposed to have said enough. “The
lady,” he said, “with whom he had placed Alice, was delighted with her
aspect and manners, and undertook to be responsible for her health and
happiness. He had not, he said, deserved so little confidence at the
hand of his brother, Bridgenorth, as that the Major should, contrary
to his purpose, and to the plan which they had adjusted together, have
hurried up from the country, as if his own presence were necessary for
Alice’s protection.”
“Brother Christian,” said Bridgenorth in reply, “I must see my child--I
must see this person with whom she is entrusted.”
“To what purpose?” answered Christian. “Have you not often confessed
that the over excess of the carnal affection which you have entertained
for your daughter, hath been a snare to you?--Have you not, more than
once, been on the point of resigning those great designs which should
place righteousness as a counsellor beside the throne, because you
desired to gratify your daughter’s girlish passion for this descendant
of your old persecutor--this Julian Peveril?”
“I own it,” said Bridgenorth; “and worlds would I have given, and would
yet give, to clasp that youth to my bosom, and call him my son. The
spirit of his mother looks from his eye, and his stately step is as that
of his father, when he daily spoke comfort to me in my distress, and
said, ‘The child liveth.’”
“But the youth walks,” said Christian, “after his own lights, and
mistakes the meteor of the marsh for the Polar star. Ralph Bridgenorth,
I will speak to thee in friendly sincerity. Thou must not think to
serve both the good cause and Baal. Obey, if thou wilt, thine own carnal
affections, summon this Julian Peveril to thy house, and let him wed thy
daughter--But mark the reception she will meet with from the proud old
knight, whose spirit is now, even now, as little broken with his chains,
as after the sword of the Saints had prevailed at Worcester. Thou wilt
see thy daughter spurned from his feet like an outcast.”
“Christian,” said Bridgenorth, interrupting him, “thou dost urge me
hard; but thou dost it in love, my brother, and I forgive thee--Alice
shall never be spurned.--But this friend of thine--this lady--thou
art my child’s uncle; and after me, thou art next to her in love and
affection--Still, thou art not her father--hast not her father’s
fears. Art thou sure of the character of this woman to whom my child is
entrusted?”
“Am I sure of my own?--Am I sure that my name is Christian--yours
Bridgenorth?--Is it a thing I am likely to be insecure in?--Have I not
dwelt for many years in this city?--Do I not know this Court?--And am I
likely to be imposed upon? For I will not think you can fear my imposing
upon you.”
“Thou art my brother,” said Bridgenorth--“the blood and bone of my
departed Saint--and I am determined that I will trust thee in this
matter.”
“Thou dost well,” said Christian; “and who knows what reward may be in
store for thee?--I cannot look upon Alice, but it is strongly borne in
on my mind, that there will be work for a creature so excellent beyond
ordinary women. Courageous Judith freed Bethulia by her valour, and
the comely features of Esther made her a safeguard and a defence to her
people in the land of captivity, when she found favour in the sight of
King Ahasuerus.”
“Be it with her as Heaven wills,” said Bridgenorth; “and now tell me
what progress there is in the great work.”
“The people are weary of the iniquity of this Court,” said Christian;
“and if this man will continue to reign, it must be by calling to
his councils men of another stamp. The alarm excited by the damnable
practices of the Papists has called up men’s souls, and awakened their
eyes to the dangers of their state.--He himself--for he will give up
brother and wife to save himself--is not averse to a change of measures;
and though we cannot at first see the Court purged as with a winnowing
fan, yet there will be enough of the good to control the bad--enough of
the sober party to compel the grant of that universal toleration, for
which we have sighed so long, as a maiden for her beloved. Time and
opportunity will lead the way to more thorough reformation; and that
will be done without stroke of sword, which our friends failed to
establish on a sure foundation, even when their victorious blades were
in their hands.”
“May God grant it!” said Bridgenorth; “for I fear me I should scruple
to do aught which should once more unsheath the civil sword; but welcome
all that comes in a peaceful and parliamentary way.”
“Ay,” said Christian, “and which will bring with it the bitter amends,
which our enemies have so long merited at our hands. How long hath our
brother’s blood cried for vengeance from the altar!--Now shall that
cruel Frenchwoman find that neither lapse of years, nor her powerful
friends, nor the name of Stanley, nor the Sovereignty of Man, shall stop
the stern course of the pursuer of blood. Her name shall be struck from
the noble, and her heritage shall another take.”
“Nay, but, brother Christian,” said Bridgenorth, “art thou not over
eager in pursuing this thing?--It is thy duty as a Christian to forgive
thine enemies.”
“Ay, but not the enemies of Heaven--not those who shed the blood of
the saints,” said Christian, his eyes kindling that vehement and fiery
expression which at times gave to his uninteresting countenance the
only character of passion which it ever exhibited. “No, Bridgenorth,”
he continued, “I esteem this purpose of revenge holy--I account it a
propitiatory sacrifice for what may have been evil in my life. I have
submitted to be spurned by the haughty--I have humbled myself to be as
a servant; but in my breast was the proud thought, I who do this--do it
that I may avenge my brother’s blood.”
“Still, my brother,” said Bridgenorth, “although I participate thy
purpose, and have aided thee against this Moabitish woman, I cannot but
think thy revenge is more after the law of Moses than after the law of
love.”
“This comes well from thee, Ralph Bridgenorth,” answered Christian;
“from thee, who has just smiled over the downfall of thine own enemy.”
“If you mean Sir Geoffrey Peveril,” said Bridgenorth, “I smile not on
his ruin. It is well he is abased; but if it lies with me, I may humble
his pride, but will never ruin his house.”
“You know your purpose best,” said Christian; “and I do justice, brother
Bridgenorth, to the purity of your principles; but men who see with
but worldly eyes, would discern little purpose of mercy in the strict
magistrate and severe creditor--and such have you been to Peveril.”
“And, brother Christian,” said Bridgenorth, his colour rising as he
spoke, “neither do I doubt your purpose, nor deny the surprising address
with which you have procured such perfect information concerning the
purposes of yonder woman of Ammon. But it is free to me to think, that
in your intercourse with the Court, and with courtiers, you may, in your
carnal and worldly policy, sink the value of those spiritual gifts, for
which you were once so much celebrated among the brethren.”
“Do not apprehend it,” said Christian, recovering his temper, which
had been a little ruffled by the previous discussion. “Let us but work
together as heretofore; and I trust each of us shall be found doing
the work of a faithful servant to that good old cause for which we have
heretofore drawn the sword.”
So saying, he took his hat, and bidding Bridgenorth farewell, declared
his intention of returning in the evening.
“Fare thee well!” said Bridgenorth; “to that cause wilt thou find me
ever a true and devoted adherent. I will act by that counsel of
thine, and will not even ask thee--though it may grieve my heart as a
parent--with whom, or where, thou hast entrusted my child. I will try to
cut off, and cast from me, even my right hand, and my right eye; but for
thee, Christian, if thou dost deal otherwise than prudently and honestly
in this matter, it is what God and man will require at thy hand.”
“Fear not me,” said Christian hastily, and left the place, agitated by
reflections of no pleasant kind.
“I ought to have persuaded him to return,” he said, as he stepped out
into the street. “Even his hovering in this neighbourhood may spoil the
plan on which depends the rise of my fortunes--ay, and of his child’s.
Will men say I have ruined her, when I shall have raised her to the
dazzling height of the Duchess of Portsmouth, and perhaps made her
a mother to a long line of princes? Chiffinch hath vouched for
opportunity; and the voluptuary’s fortune depends upon his gratifying
the taste of his master for variety. If she makes an impression, it must
be a deep one; and once seated in his affections, I fear not her being
supplanted.--What will her father say? Will he, like a prudent man, put
his shame in his pocket, because it is well gilded? or will he think it
fitting to make a display of moral wrath and parental frenzy? I fear the
latter--He has ever kept too strict a course to admit his conniving at
such licence. But what will his anger avail?--I need not be seen in the
matter--those who are will care little for the resentment of a country
Puritan. And after all, what I am labouring to bring about is best for
himself, the wench, and above all, for me, Edward Christian.”
With such base opiates did this unhappy wretch stifle his own
conscience, while anticipating the disgrace of his friend’s family, and
the ruin of a near relative, committed in confidence to his charge. The
character of this man was of no common description; nor was it by an
ordinary road that he had arrived at the present climax of unfeeling and
infamous selfishness.
Edward Christian, as the reader is aware, was the brother of that
William Christian, who was the principal instrument in delivering up the
Isle of Man to the Republic, and who became the victim of the Countess
of Derby’s revenge on that account. Both had been educated as Puritans,
but William was a soldier, which somewhat modified the strictness of
his religious opinions; Edward, a civilian, seemed to entertain these
principles in the utmost rigour. But it was only seeming. The exactness
of deportment, which procured him great honour and influence among
the _sober party_, as they were wont to term themselves, covered a
voluptuous disposition, the gratification of which was sweet to him as
stolen waters, and pleasant as bread eaten in secret. While, therefore,
his seeming godliness brought him worldly gain, his secret pleasures
compensated for his outward austerity; until the Restoration, and the
Countess’s violent proceedings against his brother interrupted the
course of both. He then fled from his native island, burning with the
desire of revenging his brother’s death--the only passion foreign to
his own gratification which he was ever known to cherish, and which was
also, at least, partly selfish, since it concerned the restoration of
his own fortunes.
He found easy access to Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who, in right of
his Duchess, claimed such of the Derby estate as had been bestowed
by the Parliament on his celebrated father-in-law, Lord Fairfax. His
influence at the Court of Charles, where a jest was a better plea than
a long claim of faithful service, was so successfully exerted, as to
contribute greatly to the depression of that loyal and ill-rewarded
family. But Buckingham was incapable, even for his own interest, of
pursuing the steady course which Christian suggested to him; and his
vacillation probably saved the remnant of the large estates of the Earl
of Derby.
Meantime, Christian was too useful a follower to be dismissed. From
Buckingham, and others of that stamp, he did not affect to conceal the
laxity of his morals; but towards the numerous and powerful party to
which he belonged, he was able to disguise them by a seeming gravity of
exterior, which he never laid aside. Indeed, so wide and absolute was
then the distinction betwixt the Court and the city, that a man might
have for some time played two several parts, as in two different
spheres, without its being discovered in the one that he exhibited
himself in a different light in the other. Besides, when a man of talent
shows himself an able and useful partisan, his party will continue to
protect and accredit him, in spite of conduct the most contradictory to
their own principles. Some facts are, in such cases, denied--some are
glossed over--and party zeal is permitted to cover at least as many
defects as ever doth charity.
Edward Christian had often need of the partial indulgence of his
friends; but he experienced it, for he was eminently useful. Buckingham,
and other courtiers of the same class, however dissolute in their
lives, were desirous of keeping some connection with the Dissenting
or Puritanic party, as it was termed; thereby to strengthen themselves
against their opponents at Court. In such intrigues, Christian was a
notable agent; and at one time had nearly procured an absolute union
between a class which professed the most rigid principles of religion
and morality, and the latitudinarian courtiers, who set all principle at
defiance.
Amidst the vicissitudes of a life of intrigue, during which Buckingham’s
ambitious schemes, and his own, repeatedly sent him across the Atlantic,
it was Edward Christian’s boast that he never lost sight of his
principal object,--revenge on the Countess of Derby. He maintained a
close and intimate correspondence with his native island, so as to be
perfectly informed of whatever took place there; and he stimulated,
on every favourable opportunity, the cupidity of Buckingham to possess
himself of this petty kingdom, by procuring the forfeiture of its
present Lord. It was not difficult to keep his patron’s wild wishes
alive on this topic, for his own mercurial imagination attached
particular charms to the idea of becoming a sort of sovereign even
in this little island; and he was, like Catiline, as covetous of the
property of others, as he was profuse of his own.
But it was not until the pretended discovery of the Papist Plot that the
schemes of Christian could be brought to ripen; and then, so odious were
the Catholics in the eyes of the credulous people of England, that, upon
the accusation of the most infamous of mankind, common informers,
the scourings of jails, and the refuse of the whipping-post, the most
atrocious charges against persons of the highest rank and fairest
character were readily received and credited.
This was a period which Christian did not fail to improve. He drew close
his intimacy with Bridgenorth, which had indeed never been interrupted,
and readily engaged him in his schemes, which, in the eyes of his
brother-in-law, were alike honourable and patriotic. But, while he
flattered Bridgenorth with the achieving a complete reformation in the
state--checking the profligacy of the Court--relieving the consciences
of the Dissenters from the pressures of the penal laws--amending, in
fine, the crying grievances of the time--while he showed him also,
in prospect, revenge upon the Countess of Derby, and a humbling
dispensation on the house of Peveril, from whom Bridgenorth had suffered
such indignity, Christian did not neglect, in the meanwhile, to consider
how he could best benefit himself by the confidence reposed in him by
his unsuspicious relation.
The extreme beauty of Alice Bridgenorth--the great wealth which time
and economy had accumulated on her father--pointed her out as a most
desirable match to repair the wasted fortunes of some of the followers
of the Court; and he flattered himself that he could conduct such a
negotiation so as to be in a high degree conducive to his own advantage.
He found there would be little difficulty in prevailing on Major
Bridgenorth to entrust him with the guardianship of his daughter. That
unfortunate gentleman had accustomed himself, from the very period of
her birth, to regard the presence of his child as a worldly indulgence
too great to be allowed to him; and Christian had little trouble in
convincing him that the strong inclination which he felt to bestow
her on Julian Peveril, provided he could be brought over to his own
political opinions, was a blameable compromise with his more severe
principles. Late circumstances had taught him the incapacity and
unfitness of Dame Debbitch for the sole charge of so dear a pledge; and
he readily and thankfully embraced the kind offer of her maternal uncle,
Christian, to place Alice under the protection of a lady of rank in
London, whilst he himself was to be engaged in the scenes of bustle
and blood, which, in common with all good Protestants, he expected
was speedily to take place on a general rising of the Papists, unless
prevented by the active and energetic measures of the good people
of England. He even confessed his fears, that his partial regard for
Alice’s happiness might enervate his efforts in behalf of his country;
and Christian had little trouble in eliciting from him a promise, that
he would forbear to inquire after her for some time.
Thus certain of being the temporary guardian of his niece for a space
long enough, he flattered himself, for the execution of his purpose,
Christian endeavoured to pave the way by consulting Chiffinch, whose
known skill in Court policy qualified him best as an adviser on this
occasion. But this worthy person, being, in fact, a purveyor for his
Majesty’s pleasures, and on that account high in his good graces,
thought it fell within the line of his duty to suggest another scheme
than that on which Christian consulted him. A woman of such exquisite
beauty as Alice was described, he deemed more worthy to be a partaker of
the affections of the merry Monarch, whose taste in female beauty was
so exquisite, than to be made the wife of some worn-out prodigal of
quality. And then, doing perfect justice to his own character, he felt
it would not be one whit impaired, while his fortune would be, in every
respect, greatly amended, if, after sharing the short reign of the
Gwyns, the Davises, the Robertses, and so forth, Alice Bridgenorth
should retire from the state of a royal favourite, into the humble
condition of Mrs. Chiffinch.
After cautiously sounding Christian, and finding that the near prospect
of interest to himself effectually prevented his starting at this
iniquitous scheme, Chiffinch detailed it to him fully, carefully keeping
the final termination out of sight, and talking of the favour to be
acquired by the fair Alice as no passing caprice, but the commencement
of a reign as long and absolute as that of the Duchess of Portsmouth,
of whose avarice and domineering temper Charles was now understood to
be much tired, though the force of habit rendered him unequal to free
himself of her yoke.
Thus chalked out, the scene prepared was no longer the intrigue of a
Court pander, and a villainous resolution for the ruin of an innocent
girl, but became a state intrigue, for the removal of an obnoxious
favourite, and the subsequent change of the King’s sentiments upon
various material points, in which he was at present influenced by the
Duchess of Portsmouth. In this light it was exhibited to the Duke of
Buckingham, who, either to sustain his character for daring gallantry,
or in order to gratify some capricious fancy, had at one time made love
to the reigning favourite, and experienced a repulse which he had never
forgiven.
But one scheme was too little to occupy the active and enterprising
spirit of the Duke. An appendix of the Popish Plot was easily so
contrived as to involve the Countess of Derby, who, from character and
religion, was precisely the person whom the credulous part of the public
were inclined to suppose the likely accomplice of such a conspiracy.
Christian and Bridgenorth undertook the perilous commission of attacking
her even in her own little kingdom of Man, and had commissions for this
purpose, which were only to be produced in case of their scheme taking
effect.
It miscarried, as the reader is aware, from the Countess’s alert
preparations for defence; and neither Christian nor Bridgenorth held
it sound policy to practise openly, even under parliamentary authority,
against a lady so little liable to hesitate upon the measures most
likely to secure her feudal sovereignty; wisely considering that
even the omnipotence, as it has been somewhat too largely styled, of
Parliament, might fail to relieve them from the personal consequences of
a failure.
On the continent of Britain, however, no opposition was to be feared;
and so well was Christian acquainted with all the motions in the
interior of the Countess’s little court, or household, that Peveril
would have been arrested the instant he set foot on shore, but for the
gale of wind which obliged the vessel, in which he was a passenger,
to run for Liverpool. Here Christian, under the name of Ganlesse,
unexpectedly met with him, and preserved him from the fangs of the
well-breathed witnesses of the Plot, with the purpose of securing his
despatches, or, if necessary, his person also, in such a manner as to
place him at his own discretion--a narrow and perilous game, which
he thought it better, however, to undertake, than to permit these
subordinate agents, who were always ready to mutiny against all in
league with them, to obtain the credit which they must have done by
the seizure of the Countess of Derby’s despatches. It was, besides,
essential to Buckingham’s schemes that these should not pass into the
hands of a public officer like Topham, who, however pompous and stupid,
was upright and well-intentioned, until they had undergone the revisal
of a private committee, where something might have probably been
suppressed, even supposing that nothing had been added. In short,
Christian, in carrying on his own separate and peculiar intrigue, by the
agency of the Great Popish Plot, as it was called, acted just like an
engineer, who derives the principle of motion which turns his machinery,
by means of a steam-engine, or large water-wheel, constructed to drive
a separate and larger engine. Accordingly, he was determined that, while
he took all the advantage he could from their supposed discoveries,
no one should be admitted to tamper or interfere with his own plans of
profit and revenge.
Chiffinch, who, desirous of satisfying himself with his own eyes of that
excellent beauty which had been so highly extolled, had gone down to
Derbyshire on purpose, was infinitely delighted, when, during the course
of a two hours’ sermon at the dissenting chapel in Liverpool, which
afforded him ample leisure for a deliberate survey, he arrived at the
conclusion that he had never seen a form or face more captivating. His
eyes having confirmed what was told him, he hurried back to the little
inn which formed their place of rendezvous, and there awaited Christian
and his niece, with a degree of confidence in the success of their
project which he had not before entertained; and with an apparatus of
luxury, calculated, as he thought, to make a favourable impression on
the mind of a rustic girl. He was somewhat surprised, when, instead
of Alice Bridgenorth, to whom he expected that night to have been
introduced, he found that Christian was accompanied by Julian Peveril.
It was indeed a severe disappointment, for he had prevailed on his own
indolence to venture this far from the Court, in order that he might
judge, with his own paramount taste, whether Alice was really the
prodigy which her uncle’s praises had bespoken her, and, as such, a
victim worthy of the fate to which she was destined.
A few words betwixt the worthy confederates determined them on the plan
of stripping Peveril of the Countess’s despatches; Chiffinch absolutely
refusing to take any share in arresting him, as a matter of which his
Master’s approbation might be very uncertain.
Christian had also his own reasons for abstaining from so decisive a
step. It was by no means likely to be agreeable to Bridgenorth, whom
it was necessary to keep in good humour;--it was not necessary, for the
Countess’s despatches were of far more importance than the person of
Julian. Lastly, it was superfluous in this respect also, that Julian
was on the road to his father’s castle, where it was likely he would be
seized, as a matter of course, along with the other suspicious persons
who fell under Topham’s warrant, and the denunciations of his infamous
companions. He, therefore, far from using any violence to Peveril,
assumed towards him such a friendly tone, as might seem to warn him
against receiving damage from others, and vindicate himself from having
any share in depriving him of his charge. This last manoeuvre was
achieved by an infusion of a strong narcotic into Julian’s wine; under
the influence of which he slumbered so soundly, that the confederates
were easily able to accomplish their inhospitable purpose.
The events of the succeeding days are already known to the reader.
Chiffinch set forward to return to London, with the packet, which it
was desirable should be in Buckingham’s hands as soon as possible; while
Christian went to Moultrassie, to receive Alice from her father, and
convey her safely to London--his accomplice agreeing to defer his
curiosity to see more of her until they should have arrived in that
city.
Before parting with Bridgenorth, Christian had exerted his utmost
address to prevail on him to remain at Moultrassie; he had even
overstepped the bounds of prudence, and, by his urgency, awakened some
suspicions of an indefinite nature, which he found it difficult to
allay. Bridgenorth, therefore, followed his brother-in-law to London;
and the reader has already been made acquainted with the arts which
Christian used to prevent his farther interference with the destinies
of his daughter, or the unhallowed schemes of her ill-chosen guardian.
Still Christian, as he strode along the street in profound reflection,
saw that his undertaking was attended with a thousand perils; and the
drops stood like beads on his brow when he thought of the presumptuous
levity and fickle temper of Buckingham--the frivolity and intemperance
of Chiffinch--the suspicions of the melancholy and bigoted, yet
sagacious and honest Bridgenorth. “Had I,” he thought, “but tools
fitted, each to their portion of the work, how easily could I heave
asunder and disjoint the strength that opposes me! But with these frail
and insufficient implements, I am in daily, hourly, momentary danger,
that one lever or other gives way, and that the whole ruin recoils on
my own head. And yet, were it not for those failings I complain of, how
were it possible for me to have acquired that power over them all which
constitutes them my passive tools, even when they seem most to exert
their own free will? Yes, the bigots have some right when they affirm
that all is for the best.”
It may seem strange, that, amidst the various subjects of Christian’s
apprehension, he was never visited by any long or permanent doubt that
the virtue of his niece might prove the shoal on which his voyage should
be wrecked. But he was an arrant rogue, as well as a hardened libertine;
and, in both characters, a professed disbeliever in the virtue of the
fair sex.