The Eve of All-Hallows Volume I Part 13

Meanwhile the hapless queen--queen of the greatest realm in Europe, arrayed in disguised habiliments, stood trembling under the shelter of the ruined walls of a church, shivering in the blast, and dripping with rain, wistfully listening to every sound, and piteously raising her eyes to heaven. Oh, what a fearful lesson was here! a few days ago she might have proclaimed to all the world--"This is my throne, let kings come bow to it!" And this awful night she might envy the poorest cottier in her dominions. However, after long suspense, suffering, and delay, the count returned, having procured a carriage; and he lost no time in placing the trembling queen and shivering infant in the vehicle.

Without any accident whatever the royal fugitives reached Gravesend in perfect safety. Here, trembling with fear, and nearly overpowered by sorrow, the queen alighted on the quay, where the boat, (which was an open one,) belonging to the brig destined for Calais, awaited their coming. The count, without a moment's delay, placed the queen and prince in the boat, and flinging around them the boatman's cloak, he sat down by them, and bade him to row on. He told the boatman that the persons he bore away were his wife and child; and thus no suspicions were awakened in the mind of the boatman of the great personages he thus bore off amid the shades of night.

"Sail on, sail on, thou fearless bark, Wherever blows the welcome wind; It cannot lead to scenes more dark, More sad, than those we leave behind!"

By the morning tide they had reached, without molestation, a small brig destined for France. To the captain the count also pretended that the queen and prince were his own wife and child; he bargained for the voyage, and the contract was agreed to. But the vessel was no sooner under weigh, when how great their surprise, and how proportionate must have been their apprehensions and alarm, while they beheld the whole of the English fleet stationed at the mouth of the Thames, to examine all vessels, and prevent their escape. But fortunately the vessel was so small that, being unsuspected, she was permitted with impunity to pa.s.s the admiral of the fleet, in no wise suspecting that her hull contained such very distinguished personages on board, so no examination took place. The vessel sailed on unmolested; and that very night the Count de Lauzun had the happiness of safely landing the royal sufferers on the pier of Calais. From thence they proceeded to Versailles, where her Majesty and infant prince were received by Louis the Fourteenth with great marks of affection and of the highest respect, which afforded some consolation to the queen under her melancholy reverse of fortune.

Meanwhile King James suffered great and intense anxiety concerning the fate of his unhappy queen and infant prince.

His Majesty now fully determined to follow the queen, and waited but one day to execute his design.[32] The following night, in a plain suit, and a bob-wig, he took water at Whitehall,[33] accompanied only by Sir Edward Hales, Mr. Sheldon, and Abbadie, a Frenchman, and a page of the back-stairs, without acquainting any other person with his intentions.

All writs sent out for the electing of parliament he ordered to be burnt; and when he took water he threw the great seal of England into the Thames, (which was some time afterwards taken up by a fisherman in his net,) that nothing might be legally done in his absence. "If,"

continued Rapin, "this may not be called a real desertion of his kingdom, it will be difficult to give a name to such proceedings!"[34]

[32] Rapin's History of England, vol. II. p. 781.

[33] Ibid. p. 782.

[34] Ibid. p. 783.

However, the king did not succeed in this attempt to escape, inasmuch as he was arrested at Feversham, and abused and insulted by the rabble; he lost a number of valuables, and gave up to the mob about between three and four hundred pounds in specie. Here he was protected by the Dutch guards of the Prince of Orange, and chose to retire to Rochester; where, in the s.p.a.ce of about ten days from the time he had attempted his first escape, he now resolved upon trying a second. About three o'clock in a dark winter's morning he privately withdrew, taking with him only the Duke of Berwick, (his natural son,) Mr. Sheldon, and Abbadie, the page; and went on horseback to a place near the river, where he embarked in a small frigate, which landed him safely at Ambleteuse, in France; from whence he repaired to the court of Louis the Fourteenth, where with much satisfaction he rejoined his queen and infant prince. "This abdication,"

emphatically observes Rapin, "paved the prince's way to the throne!"[35]

[35] Rapin's History of England, vol. II. p. 783.

Upon the departure of King James from the sh.o.r.es of England, an _interregnum_ occurred of such a nature as was. .h.i.therto unknown in England. It was not caused by the death, but by the flight of the sovereign. Hence this incongruity took place, that the nation was without a king, nay, even without the representative of one, that would take the charge of the government! Yet still, strange to say, there was a king!--albeit a fugitive; who, although he had fled, and abandoned his throne, yet still pretended to retain his rights!

How short and limited is the narrow s.p.a.ce between popular adoration and popular disgrace! To-day a king, an emperor, a demi-G.o.d--To-morrow a fugitive, an outcast from his realm, unregarded and forgotten! for ever blotted from the page of kings, his fate or banishment or the scaffold!

Who can then rely upon the popular breath, wayward, fickle, and uncertain as the wave or wind? Oh! then, let the true patriot, _if_ such is to be found upon earth, think on this; and, divested and purified from the dross of poor mortality, reflect upon all this; aye, and let him then, firmly armed in integrity, despise equally alike public censure or public praise!

From this melancholy digression upon fallen greatness on English ground, we shall reconduct the reader once more to the sh.o.r.es of Erin, and again return to the family of Tyrconnel in the succeeding chapter.

CHAPTER XI.

----------O, behold How pomp is followed! mine will now be your's; And should we shift estates, your's would be mine!

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.

We now bring back the reader to the realm of Ireland, which was doomed shortly to be the scene of anarchy and civil war, where disastrous tidings of awful import, posting incessantly onward, hourly arrived, rapidly heralded by rumour's thousand tongues, to afflict the loyal and disconcert the brave.

An official despatch soon followed, which communicated and confirmed to Tyrconnel the sad and dismal event of the flight of his royal master to France, which truly gave him deep and sincere affliction. This voluntary abdication of his throne upon the part of King James II. gave Tyrconnel sorrowful concern for the present, and a sad and mournful foreboding of the future! "Oh, had my royal master only stood his ground," said the duke, "and have firmly held his throne, who would, who could have dared to hurl him from it? No; even with all his political miscalculations, nevertheless his enemies could not have succeeded. The Prince of Orange would still have found it a difficult, perhaps an impossible task, to have ousted his truly royal, accomplished, and brave father-in-law, from his lawful throne; for brave and valiant was the king, and I doubt not but still brave he is. And there was a time, be it not forgotten, while he was Duke of York and Lord High Admiral of England, when n.o.bly he fought beneath the British banner, and gloriously led on his fleet to victory!"

The d.u.c.h.ess of Tyrconnel, whose powerful mind and firm nerves were "albeit unused to the melting mood," yet when her Grace heard the mournful recital of the sufferings and voluntary exile of her afflicted queen; she then indeed was deeply affected, and

"Dropt tears as fast as the Arabian trees Their medicinal gum."

The d.u.c.h.ess was a wife--moreover a mother, and she knew how to pity and compa.s.sionate the unfortunate, from the palace of kings down to the cottage of the poor. And equally distressed was our lovely heroine, whose generous bosom ever beat, and felt, and a.s.sisted the afflicted.

Some months had now elapsed, when one morning, while the duke was at breakfast with his family, a despatch for his Grace, and in the hand-writing of King James, arrived. The despatch intimated that His Majesty was then on his way to Ireland, and summoning the immediate attendance of Tyrconnel at Kinsale, where the king proposed to land. The despatch was brought over in a fast-sailing French corvette, called "_l'Eclair_," which had been detached from the French fleet which was to escort King James to Kinsale, expressly upon this mission. And his Grace, in obedience to the royal mandate, instantly set off by land for the town of Kinsale.

King James II., upon _abdicating_, or _deserting_ (for great debates in the British parliament ensued upon the proper term to be used) the throne of England, had sought and obtained an asylum in France, generously yielded to him by Louis XIV. King James now fully resolved, as His Majesty expressed himself, "to make one more glorious attempt to recover his throne;" which to effectuate he sailed from the sh.o.r.es of France, attended by fourteen ships of war, six frigates, and three fire-ships, which had been prepared in the port of Brest by the French king. At the same time seven French battalions embarked in the fleet which conveyed King James. The troops were commanded by the Count de Lauzun, the same gallant, generous n.o.bleman who had escorted King James's queen and the Prince of Wales to the court of Versailles. The forces were accompanied with twelve field pieces.

King James was attended in this expedition by several n.o.ble personages.

His Majesty landed at Kinsale amid the loudest cheers, and was warmly received and welcomed by all descriptions, from the peer to the peasant, with the greatest joy and enthusiasm. Here, in pursuance to the instructions given to Tyrconnel, he was in readiness on the beach to receive his royal master, where he knelt as the king approached; who instantly upraised him, and affectionately embraced his faithful viceroy; and instantly set off in his travelling carriage for his good city of Dublin, accompanied by the Dukes of Berwick, Albemarle, and Tyrconnel.

Sir Patricius Placebo, from the very moment of the announcement of the intended arrival of his much loved sovereign at Kinsale, was constantly on the _qui vive_, considering himself, if not the _loc.u.m tenens_, at least the Lord Constable of his vice-regal lord, and spared no pains to make every meet and solemn preparation to receive the right royal Stuart into his loyal city of Dublin.

"Yes, yes, my lady d.u.c.h.ess," observed Sir Patricius Placebo one morning, while at breakfast, "we will indeed receive our king right royally, _more majorum_--ha, ha, ha! _Certes_ we shall, my Lady! with no lack whatever of respect, and albeit with no deficit of heart!--there, in sooth, no failing was ever yet found in an Irishman; although I a.s.severate it, who, pardie, ought not, my Lady: for

DOSS MOI, TANE STIGMEN!

as indeed the learned, great, and renowned Archimedes said of old. And I will "do a deed"--not "without a name" however; for this moment I shall fly to old Cormac, whom I shall adventure to appoint and depute, in the absence of my superior, as the vice-regal poet laureat. Next I will post to Ulster King at Arms; ay, and shall advise and give him hints and innuendos of far more value and importance than all the gilt tinsel and crimson silk which surround his brow. I shall admonish him, and his tributaries and gallant pursuivants, one and all, decorously to furbish their tabards, and to hire, beg, borrow, or steal stately palfreys, to bear the herald king and suite, to meet and receive their lawful and beloved king upon his honoured entrance into his loyal and ancient city of Eblana, _vulgo dicta_ Dublin. Then will I hie me to the Commander (_pro tempore_) of the Forces, and tell him of the programme which I have planned for the king's _entre_. And next, n.o.ble Lady, returning to this His Majesty's royal Castle, I shall give sage and precautionary hints and instructions to all the state battle-axe guards, state kettle-drums and trumpets, and so forth:--

-------------------------------"trumpeters, With brazen din blast ye the city's ear; Make mingle with our rattling tambourines; That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together, Applauding our approach!"

Ha, ha, ha! I think, my lady d.u.c.h.ess, we shall get on vastly well--vastly well indeed, and not only receive the applause of my vice-regal lord, but perchance that also of my mighty monarch."

The d.u.c.h.ess smiled. "I doubt not," said her Grace, "that all matters shall go on well, _te duce_. But Sir Patricius you are, (it were in vain to deny it,) you are an enthusiast!"

"Well, well, my lady d.u.c.h.ess, I shall not gainsay it. Perchance, your Grace, I am an enthusiast; and after all, my Lady, I do not see, const.i.tuted as this cold and phlegmatic planet of ours is, I see, really, after all, no very great harm in this said enthusiasm, if indeed it doth not degenerate into bigotry of politics or religious rancour; and therefore, when my king doth come, my tongue must utter the loyal inditings of my heart."

We must now adventure to describe the triumphant entry of King James into his good city of Dublin. Regiments of foot, stationed in parallel files, lined each side of every street extending from the great gate of Dublin Castle the entire way to Saint James's gate, at the western extremity of St. James's-street, through which the king was to make his _entre_. That morning all the princ.i.p.al avenues were purposely strewed with fresh gravel, to facilitate the king's approach.

A triumphal arch of living laurel, surmounted by the crown of England, adorned St. James's gate, and the armorial quarterings, richly emblazoned, of England, Scotland, Ireland, and France, were tastefully displayed in the arrangement. Various wreaths, laurel crowns, cordons, and garlands of various living flowers, were suspended across the princ.i.p.al streets through which the royal cavalcade was to pa.s.s.--Every window in every avenue was festooned with laurel, oak, and various evergreens, all tastefully contrasted and displayed.--These demonstrations of joy were not confined merely to the city, but extended to all the adjoining villages, towns, and hamlets, for several miles in circuit. The royal flag was hoisted on Bedford Tower, and on the steeples of the different churches. At night the city shone forth in a brilliant blaze of universal illumination, which was vividly reflected in the sparkling and undulating waves of old father Liffey, as he joyously rolled onward to the main.

Various loyal mottoes and devices caught the eye: The harp and crown; "Rejoice, O Erin, for behold thy king cometh unto thee!"

"The king shall have his own again!"

--"Welcome Erin's king!"--"Hibernia hails her n.o.ble king!" &c. &c.; with many other mottoes and devices, with which we shall not weary our reader. A large platform was erected without James's gate on the west and county side, on which, under a splendid gonfalon, or canopy, were stationed several friars beneath a large cross, who sang "_Te Deum laudamus_," as King James approached. To the right of the gate, on the city side, was erected a large stage, covered with tapestry, on which were stationed two Irish harpers, in due and proper costume; one of them was no less a person than our old acquaintance, blind Cormac, the sightless harper and minstrel of the Duke of Tyrconnel. Sir Patricius Placebo albeit was fond of comparing the sightless bard to old Tiresias, of prophetic memory, whose ear and recollection nearly supplied the deficiencies of sight.

'?f?a??? ?? ?e?se', &c. &c.

as Sir Patricius was wont to express himself; and then he would say, "Yes, verily, old Cormac doth much resemble, in multiform coincidence and fortune, the wise Tiresias! but then with this sage and discreet difference to boot, that old Cormac will never die the death of old Tiresias, to wit, from drinking cold water! No, no, inasmuch his fond and strong addiction lies in genuine _aqua vitae_, or the true Drogheda Usquebaugh; so that Cormac will never die from drinking cold water, as he hath "forsworn thin potations," unless, peradventure, he should happen one day or another to be drowned in the Eske or the Liffey, and there can be no doubt then vastly against his choice and determination!"

A shout of universal joy now burst forth: "The King! the King!!" The heavy dragoons came thundering down with an astounding clatter; the trumpets rung a levant, the foot soldiers presented arms; standard, and banner, and pennon, kissed the pavement; while drum, fife, cymbal, French-horn, and trumpet, resounded through the stricken welkin, "G.o.d save the King!" The foreign, English, and Scottish n.o.bility, who accompanied the king, were marshalled duly according to their respective rank. And now, amid shouts that rent the air, King James approached. He was mounted on a beautiful long-tailed roan charger, bred in Normandy, which His Majesty right royally and gracefully bestrode; the steed was gorgeously caparisoned; the trappings were of damask gold, bordered and interspersed with the rose, shamrock, thistle, and _fleur de lis_; and fringed withal with a deep pursell of ermine.

From the vast crowd, and the extended length of the pageant, and prolonged procession, King James was obliged to rein up his charger, and to halt. It so did happen that this stoppage occurred just at the stage where the two harpers were stationed to greet, with their native harp and song, the entrance of their king into his capital of the island of poesy and song. They performed several loyal and sprightly airs, which seemed to please the monarch well: among others was

OLD CORMAC'S WELCOME.

All welcome be the royal James, Let all confess his legal claims; While ev'ry loyal heart exclaims, G.o.d save the king![36]

From war, dissension, anarchy, Kind heav'n protect this kingdom free!

United may it ever be!

G.o.d save the king!