Little versed in the ways of courts or courtiers, Godfrey had been
easily deceived by the apparent candour of Cunningham Falconer. The fact
was, that Cunningham, not directly from himself, but by means of persons
of whom Lord Oldborough could have no suspicion, had insinuated to his
lordship that Godfrey Percy was the secret cause of the aversion Miss
Hauton showed to the proposed match with the Marquis of Twickenham. This
idea once suggested was easily confirmed by the account of the young
lady’s behaviour at the opera, which was reported to Lord Oldborough
with proper exaggerations, and with a total misrepresentation of
Godfrey’s conduct. The fainting at the ball was also recollected, and
many other little circumstances combined to bring conviction to Lord
Oldborough’s mind. He was now persuaded that Major Gascoigne’s business
was merely a pretence for Godfrey’s coming to town: apprehension of
being disappointed in completing an alliance essential to his ambitious
views, pique at the idea of being deceived, and nearly duped by a boy
and girl, a rooted hatred and utter contempt for love and love affairs,
altogether produced that change in Lord Oldborough’s manner towards
Captain Percy which had appeared so extraordinary.--Had Captain Percy
delayed to leave town, he would next day have received orders from
his commanding officer to join his regiment. As to Major Gascoigne’s
business, it had made so little impression upon Lord Oldborough, that he
had totally forgotten the poor major’s name till Godfrey repeated it to
him. Indeed, Godfrey himself could scarcely have blamed his lordship
for this, had he known how much business, how many cares pressed at this
time upon the mind of the unhappy statesman.--Besides a load of public
business, and all the open and violent attacks of opposition, which he
had usually to sustain, he was now under great and increasing anxiety
from the discovery of that plot against him, among his immediate
associates in office, which the Tourville papers, deciphered by
Commissioner Falconer and Cunningham, had but partially revealed. Lord
Oldborough was in the condition of a person apprised that he is standing
upon ground that is undermined, but who does not know exactly by what
hand or at what moment the train that may destroy him is to be set
on fire. One word frequently recurred in the Tourville papers, which
puzzled Commissioner Falconer extremely, and of which he was never able
to make out the meaning; the word was Gassoc. It was used thus: “We
are sorry to find that the Gassoc has not agreed to our proposal.”--“No
answer has been given to question No. 2 by the Gassoc.”--“With regard
to the subsidy, of which 35,000_l._ have not been sent or received,
the Gassoc has never explained; in consequence, great discontents
here.”--“If the Gassoc be finally determined against the _Eagle_, means
must be taken to accomplish the purposes alluded to in paragraph 4,
in green (of the 7th ult.), also those in No. B. in lemon juice (of
September last).”--“The Gassoc will take notes of the mining tools
forgotten--also bullets too large, and no flints (as per No. 9, in
sympathetic ink)--also the sea charts, sent instead of maps--consequent
delay in march of troops--loss of fortress--to be attributed to _the
Eagle_.”
_The Eagle_, which at first had been taken for granted to be the
Austrian eagle, was discovered to be Lord Oldborough. An eagle was his
lordship’s crest, and the sea-charts, and the mining-tools, brought the
sense home to him conclusively. It was plain that the Gassoc stood for
some person who was inimical to Lord Oldborough, but who it could be was
the question. Commissioner Falconer suggested, that for _Gassoc_, you
should read _Gosshawk_; then, said he, “by finding what nobleman or
gentleman has a gosshawk in his arms, you have the family name, and the
individual is afterwards easily ascertained.” To the Heralds’-office the
commissioner went a gosshawking, but after spending a whole day with
the assistance of Garter king at arms, he could make nothing of his
gosshawks, and he gave them up.
He next presumed that there might be a mistake of one letter in the
foreign spelling of the word, and that _Gassoc_ should be _Cassock_, and
might then mean a certain bishop, who was known to be a particular enemy
of Lord Oldborough. But still there were things ascribed to the Gassoc,
which could not come within the jurisdiction or cognizance of the
Cassock--and the commissioner was reluctantly obliged to give up the
church. He next suggested, that not only one letter, but every letter
in the word might be mistaken in the foreign spelling, and that _Gassoc_
might be the French or German written imitation of the oral sound of
some English proper name. The commissioner supported this opinion very
plausibly by citing many instances of the barbarous spelling of English
names by foreigners: Bassompierre writes Jorchaux for York-house,
Innimthort for Kensington; even in the polite memoirs of le Comte de
Grammont, we have Soutkask for Southesk, and Warméstre for some English
name not yet deciphered. Upon this hint the commissioner and Cunningham
made anagrams of half the noble names in England, but in vain.
Afterwards, recollecting that it was the fashion at one time even to pun
in the coats of arms of the nobility, and in the choice of their mottos,
he went to work again at the Heralds’-office, and tried a course of
puns, but to no purpose: the commissioner was mortified to find all his
ingenuity at fault.
Cunningham took care not to suggest anything, therefore he could never
be convicted of mistake. Nor was he in the least vexed by his father’s
or his own fruitless labour, because he thought it might tend to his
future advancement.
Lord Oldborough had thrown out a hint that it would soon be necessary to
recall the present and send a new envoy or resident to the German
court in question; Cunningham nourished a hope of being chosen for
this purpose, as the Tourville papers were already known to him, and he
could, under private instructions, negotiate with M. de Tourville, and
draw from him an explanation. He did not, however, trust even his father
with the hope he had conceived, but relied on his own address, and
continually strove, by oblique hints, to magnify the danger of leaving
any part of the plot unravelled.
What effect these suggestions produced, or whether they produced
any, Cunningham was unable to judge from the minister’s impenetrable
countenance. Lord Oldborough lost not a moment in repairing the mistake
about sea-charts, and the omission of mining tools, which he had
discovered from a paragraph in the Tourville papers; he stayed not to
inquire whether the error had been wilful or unintentional--_that_ he
left for future investigation. His next object was the subsidy. This
day the Duke of Greenwich gave a cabinet dinner. After dinner, when the
servants had retired, and when none of the company were prepared for
such a stroke, Lord Oldborough, in his decided, but very calm manner,
began with, “My lords, I must call your attention to an affair of some
importance--the subsidy from the secret service to our German ally.”
All who had within them sins unwhipped of justice trembled.
“I have learned, no matter how,” continued Lord Oldborough, “that, by
some strange mistake, 35,000_l_ of that subsidy were not remitted at the
time appointed by us, and that discontents, likely to be prejudicial to
his majesty’s service, have arisen in consequence of this delay.”
His lordship paused, and appeared to take no notice of the faces of
feigned astonishment and real consciousness by which he was surrounded.
Each looked at the other to inquire by what means this secret was
divulged, and to discover, if possible, how much more was known. Lord
Skreene began at the same moment with the Duke of Greenwich to
suggest that some clerk or agent must certainly be much to blame. Lord
Oldborough, in his decided tone, replied that it was indifferent to him
what clerk, agent, or principal was to blame in the business; but that
if the money were not _bonâ fide_ remitted, and acknowledged by the
court to which it was promised, and before any disagreeable consequences
should ensue, he must be under the necessity of stating the affair to
his majesty--of resigning his office, and bringing the whole before
parliament.
The terror of his voice, and lightning of his eye, the dread of his
determined spirit, operated powerfully. The subsidy was remitted the
next day, though at the expense of a service of plate which Lord Skreene
had bespoken for his mistress, and though Secretary Cope was compelled
to sell at some disadvantage a few of the very few remaining acres of
his paternal estate, to make good what had been borrowed from the secret
service money.
At the cabinet dinner, the keen eye of Lord Oldborough had discerned
some displeasure lurking in the mind of the Duke of Greenwich--a man
of considerable political consequence from his rank and connexions, and
from the number of voices he could command or influence. Lord Oldborough
knew that, if he could regain the duke, he could keep in awe his other
enemies. His grace was a puzzle-headed, pompous fool, whom Heaven had
cursed with the desire to be a statesman. He had not more than four
ideas; but to those four, which he conceived to be his own, he was
exclusively attached.--Yet a person of address and cunning could put
things into his head, which after a time he would find there, believe to
be his own, and which he would then propose as new with great solemnity,
and support with much zeal. Lord Oldborough, however, was neither able
nor willing to manage his grace in this manner; he was too imperious;
his pride of character was at continual variance with the duke’s pride
of rank. The duke’s was a sort of pride which Lord Oldborough did not
always understand, and which, when he did, he despised--it was a species
of pride that was perpetually taking offence at trifling failures in
etiquette, of which Lord Oldborough, intent upon great objects, was
sometimes guilty. There is a class of politicians who err by looking
for causes in too high a sphere, and by attributing the changes which
perplex states and monarchs to great passions and large motives. Lord
Oldborough was one of this class, and with all his talents would
have failed in every attempt to comprehend and conciliate the Duke
of Greenwich, had he not been assisted by the inferior genius of
Commissioner Falconer. While his lordship was thus searching far and
wide among the reasonable and probable causes for the duke’s coldness,
examining and re-examining the bearings of every political measure,
as it could affect his grace’s interest immediately or remotely,
Commissioner Falconer sought for the cause, and found it in the lowest
scale of trifles--he made the discovery by means which Lord Oldborough
could not have devised, and would not have used. The duke had a
favourite under-clerk, who, for a valuable consideration, disclosed the
secret to the commissioner. Lord Oldborough had sent his grace a note,
written in his own hand, sealed with a wafer. The clerk, who was present
when the note was received, said that the duke’s face flushed violently,
and that he flung the note immediately to his secretary, exclaiming,
“Open that, if you please, sir--_I wonder how any man can have the
impertinence to send me his spittle!_”
This nice offence, which bore so coarse a comment, had alienated the
mind of the Duke of Greenwich. When Commissioner Falconer had thus
sagaciously discovered the cause of the noble duke’s displeasure, he
with great address applied a remedy. Without ever hinting that he knew
of the offensive circumstance, having some business to transact with the
duke, he contrived, as if undesignedly, to turn the conversation upon
his friend Lord Oldborough’s strange and unaccountable negligence of
common forms and etiquette; as a proof of which he told the duke in
confidence, and in a very low voice, an anecdote, which he heard
from his son Cunningham, from Lord Oldborough’s own secretary, or the
commissioner protested that he would not, he could not have believed
it--his lordship had been once actually upon the point of sealing a note
with a wafer to one of the royal dukes!--had the wafer absolutely on
his lips, when Cunningham felt it his duty to take the liberty of
remonstrating. Upon which, Lord Oldborough, as Commissioner Falconer
said, looked with the utmost surprise, and replied, “I have sealed with
a wafer to the Duke of Greenwich, and _he_ was not offended.”
This anecdote, the truth of which it fortunately never occurred to the
duke to doubt, had an immediate and powerful effect upon his mind,
as the commissioner saw by the complacent smile that played on his
countenance, and still further by the condescending pity with which his
grace observed, that “Great geniuses never understand common things--but
do every thing awkwardly, whether they cut open a book, or seal a note.”
Mr. Falconer having thus brought the duke into fine temper, left him
in the best dispositions possible towards Lord Oldborough, went to his
lordship to report progress, and to boast of his success; but he told
only as much of what had passed as he thought would suit the statesman’s
character, and ensure his approbation.--The Duke of Greenwich was as
much pleased by this reconciliation as Lord Oldborough; for, though in
a fit of offended pride he had been so rash as to join his lordship’s
enemies, yet he had always dreaded coming to open war with such an
adversary. His grace felt infinitely more safe and comfortable when he
was leaning upon Lord Oldborough than when he stood opposed to him, even
in secret. There were points in politics in which he and Lord Oldborough
coincided, though they had arrived at these by far different roads.
They agreed in an overweening love of aristocracy, and in an inclination
towards arbitrary power; they agreed in a hatred of innovation; they
agreed in the principle that free discussion should be discouraged,
and that the country should be governed with a high and strong hand. On
these principles Lord Oldborough always acted, but seldom spoke, and
the Duke of Greenwich continually talked, but seldom acted: in fact, his
grace, “though he roared so loud, and looked so wondrous grim,” was, in
action, afraid of every shadow. Right glad was he to have his political
vaunts made good by a coadjutor of commanding talents, resource, and
civil courage. Yet, as Lord Oldborough observed, with a man of such
wayward pride and weak understanding, there was no security from day to
day for the permanence of his attachment. It was then that Commissioner
Falconer, ever ready at expedients, suggested that an alliance between
his grace’s family and his lordship’s would be the best possible
security; and that the alliance might be easily effected, since it was
evident of late that the Marquis of Twickenham was much disposed to
admire the charms of his lordship’s niece, Miss Hauton. Lord Oldborough
had not remarked that the marquis admired any thing but good wine; his
lordship’s attention was not turned to these things, nor had he, in
general, much faith in friendships founded on family alliances; but
he observed that the duke was peculiarly tenacious of connexions and
relationships, and, therefore, this might be the best method of holding
him.
From the moment Lord Oldborough decided in favour of this scheme, Mr.
and Mrs. Falconer had done all in their power, with the utmost zeal
and address, to forward it, by contriving continual dancing-parties and
musical meetings, at their house, for the young people. Lady Oldborough,
who was sickly, whose manners were not popular, and who could not bear
_to be put out of her way_, was quite unsuited to this sort of business,
and rejoiced that the Falconers took it off her hands. Things were just
in this state, and Lord Oldborough had fixed his mind upon the match,
when Godfrey Percy’s arrival in town had threatened disappointment. In
consequence of this fear, Lord Oldborough not only despatched Godfrey
directly to his regiment, but, to put an end to the danger at once, to
banish the idea of seeing him again completely out of the young lady’s
head, the cruel uncle and decided politician had Godfrey’s regiment
ordered immediately to the West Indies.
LETTER FROM GODFREY PERCY TO HIS FATHER.
“My dear father,
“We have a new lieutenant-colonel. Lord Skreene has removed his precious
nephew to another regiment, and to punish us for not liking the pretty
boy, has ordered us all off to the West Indies: so ends our croaking.
Our new King Log we cannot complain of as too young, or too much on the
_qui vive_: he looks as if he were far gone in a lethargy, can hardly
keep himself awake while he is giving the word of command, and, instead
of being a martinet, I am sure he would not care if the whole corps wore
their regimentals the wrong side outwards.--Gascoigne will have all the
regimental business on his shoulders, and no man can do it better.--He
is now at my elbow, supplying four hundred men and forty officers
with heads. The noise of questions and commands, and the notes of
preparation, are so loud and dissonant, that I hardly know what I
write. Gascoigne, though not benefited, was obliged to me for my
wrong-head-journey to London. Henry was very angry with Lord Oldborough
for jilting me--Gascoigne with much ado kept him in proper manners
towards the lieutenant-colonel, and I, in admiration of Gascoigne, kept
my temper miraculously. But there was an impertinent puppy of an ensign,
a partisan of the lieutenant-colonel, who wanted, I’m convinced, to have
the credit of fighting a duel for the colonel, and he one day said, in
Captain Henry’s hearing, that ‘it was no wonder some men should rail
against ministerial _influence_, who had no friends to look to, and were
men of no family.’--‘Do you mean that for me, sir?’ said Henry.
‘Judge for yourself, sir.’ Poor Henry judged ill, and challenged the
ensign.--They fought, and the ensign was slightly wounded. This duel has
wakened curiosity again about Captain Henry’s birth, and he is in danger
of being exposed continually to things he could not like, and could not
well resent. He consulted Gascoigne and me, and has told us all he knows
of his history.--Read what follows to yourself, for I have permission
to speak of his affairs only to you. Captain Henry assured us that he
really does not know to what family he belongs, nor who his father and
mother were; but he has reason to believe that they were Irish. He was
bred up in a merchant’s house in Dublin. The merchant broke, and went
off with his family to America. Henry was at that time fifteen or
sixteen. The merchant then said, that Henry was not his nephew, nor any
relation to him, but hinted that he was the son of a Mr. Henry, who
had taken an unfortunate part in _the troubles_ of Ireland, and who had
_suffered_--that his mother had been a servant-maid, and that she was
dead. The merchant added, that he had taken care of Henry from regard to
his father, but that, obliged by his own failure in business to quit the
country, he must thenceforward resign the charge.--He farther observed,
that the army was now the young man’s only resource, and, on taking
leave, he put into Henry’s hands a 50_l._ note, and an ensign’s
commission.--With his commission he joined his regiment, which was at
Cork. A few days after his arrival, a Cork banker called upon him, and
inquired whether he was Ensign Charles Henry; and upon his answering in
the affirmative, informed him that he had orders to pay him 400_l._ a
year in quarterly payments. The order came from a house in Dublin, and
this was all the banker knew. On Henry’s application in Dublin, he
was told that they had direction to stop payment of the annuity if any
questions were asked.--Of course, Henry asked no more.--The annuity has
been regularly paid to him ever since--When he was scarcely seventeen,
he was pillaged of a couple of hundred pounds one night by a set of
sharpers at the gaming-table: this loss roused his prudence, and he has
never played since. He has for many years lived within his pay; for he
prudently considered, that the extraordinary supply might suddenly fail,
and then he might be left in debt and distress, and at the same time
with habits of extravagance.--Instead of which, he has laid up money
every year, and has a considerable sum. He wishes to quit the army, and
to go into a mercantile house, for which his early education has fitted
him. He has a particular talent for languages: speaks French and Italian
accurately--Spanish and Dutch well enough for all the purposes of
commerce. So any mercantile house, who wants a partner, agent, or _clerk
for foreign affairs_ (perhaps I am not correct in the technical terms),
could not do better than to take Charles Henry. For his integrity and
honour I would answer with my life. Now, my dear father, could you
have the goodness to assist us so far as to write and inquire about the
partner in London of those Dutch merchants, whom you had an opportunity
of obliging at the time of the shipwreck?--I cannot recollect their
strange names, but if I am not mistaken, they left you their address,
and that of their London correspondent.--If this partner should be a
substantial man, perhaps our best plan would be to try to get Henry into
his house. You have certainly some claim there, and the Dutchmen desired
we would apply to them if ever they could do any thing to serve us--we
can but try. I am afraid you will say, ‘_This is like one of Godfrey’s
wild schemes._’ I am still more afraid that you should think Henry’s
romantic story is _against him_--but such things are--that is all I can
say. Here is no motive for deception; and if you were to see the young
man, his countenance and manner would immediately persuade you of his
perfect truth and ingenuousness. I am aware that his romantic history
would not do for the Dutch merchants, or the London partner; they would
probably set him down directly for an adventurer, and refuse to have any
thing to do with him: so I see no necessity for beginning by stating it.
I know you hate, and I am sure so do I, all novel-like concealments and
mysteries; but because a man makes a bargain with another, he is not
obliged to tell him his whole history--because he takes him for his
partner or his master, he is not called upon to make him his confidant.
All that the merchants can want or have a right to know is forthcoming
and clear--character and money.
“My affectionate love and old-fashioned duty to my dear mother--pray
assure her and my sisters that they shall hear from me, though I am
going to have ‘one foot on sea and one on land.’
“Tell dear Caroline the portfolio she made for me shall go with me
to the world’s end; and Rosamond’s _Tippoo Saib_ shall see the _West_
Indies--Gascoigne has been in the West Indies before now, and he says
and proves, that temperance and spice are the best preservatives in that
climate; so you need not fear for me, for you know I love pepper better
than port. I am called away, and can only add that the yellow fever
there has subsided, as an officer who arrived last week tells me. Our
regiment is just going to embark in high spirits.--God bless you all.
“Your affectionate son,
“G. Percy.
“P. S. Don’t let my mother or Rosamond trust to newspaper reports--trust
to nothing but my letters;--Caroline, I know, is fit to be the sister,
and I hope will some time be the mother, of heroes.”