-' 
 \ 
 
 

 
 The Sailing of tK Mayflower and Speedwell from Southampton
 
 SAXBY: 
 
 A TALE OF OLD AND NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 BY EMMA LESLIE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF " AYESHA," " MARGARETHE," " WALTER," ETC. 
 
 FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT, 
 
 CINCINNATI : 
 
 WALDEN & STOWE. 
 1880.
 
 Copyright, 1880, by 
 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT, 
 
 New York.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 TN this, the fourth volume of the second 
 series of Church History stories, a 
 more familiar period is brought before 
 our readers. The rise of the Puritans 
 was the necessary outcome of the at- 
 tempt to limit the growth and expansion 
 of the Reformation in the Church of 
 England. The desire for a purer and 
 more simple form of worship had taken 
 deep root in the heart of the people. It 
 was in the same soil that the Reforma- 
 tion commenced its beneficent work, and 
 it was here, and not among the rulers, 
 that it grew and flourished; and its at- 
 tendant handmaidens, learning and the 
 love of liberty, were cultivated to an ex- 
 tent that alarmed those who looked upon 
 
 2212619
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 the vox populi as dangerous and sub- 
 versive of all vested interest both in 
 Church and State. 
 
 This led to a closer union of the two 
 threatened interests, which at last cul- 
 minated in the Church lending herself to 
 enforce the most tyrannical and oppress- 
 ive edicts of the sovereign, regardless 
 of religion, while the State, in return for 
 this, gave the Church almost unlimited 
 power over the person and property of 
 the subject. The oppression of all who 
 did not submit to the dictation of the 
 Church in things spiritual was a most 
 natural consequence, and while it drove 
 thousands of her best and noblest sons 
 and daughters into exile, it roused the 
 spirit of other brave, true souls to resist 
 the tyranny, for the time was passed 
 when men would tamely submit to be 
 led like sheep at the will of king or
 
 PREFACE. 7 
 
 bishop ; and for five and twenty years 
 the slowly-gathered storm raged in Old 
 England, during which the New En- 
 gland was created, that it might be a 
 " refuge for the oppressed ;" " the shad- 
 ow of a great rock in a weary land." 
 
 It is this eventful five and twenty 
 years with which our story is occupied, 
 and which of necessity renders it some- 
 what fragmentary, especially toward the 
 close. 
 
 For that portion of it relating to New 
 England I am specially indebted to 
 Palfrey's " New England " and Foster's 
 " Life of Sir Harry Vane, the Younger,'* 
 one of the early governors of Massachu- 
 setts. For the rest, Clarendon, Lingard, 
 Foster, Carlyle, and several other au- 
 thors, have been laid under contribu- 
 tion. 
 
 We can never duly estimate the debt
 
 8 PREFACE. 
 
 we owe to these grand old pilgrim fa- 
 thers, to whom liberty was dearer than 
 life ; but let us learn this lesson from 
 their lives, to be true, and brave, and 
 honest in following our convictions of 
 right, never turning to the right or left, 
 whether loss threaten us or the world 
 and its gifts tempt us ; so shall we be 
 true children of these noble fathers, and 
 worthily hand down the sacred gift of 
 religious liberty they have bequeathed
 
 Chief Historical Persons. 
 HAMPDEN, CUSHMAN, 
 
 VANE, COTTON, 
 
 MILTON, CROMWELL.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. UNEXPECTED GUESTS 13 
 
 II. A VISIT TO HAMPDEN 26 
 
 III. HARRY SAXBY 40 
 
 IV. BAD NEWS 54 
 
 V. WAS IT WITCHCRAFT ? 68 
 
 VI. IN LONDON 81 
 
 VII. A SOCIAL EVENING 94 
 
 VIII. GAMMER GROVE 107 
 
 IX. TRYING THE WITCH 121 
 
 X. THE PILGRIM FATHERS 136 
 
 XI. ANOTHER CITATION FROM THE BISHOP 149 
 
 XII. KING JAMES AND HIS PARLIAMENT 162 
 
 XIII. AT THE SIGN OF THE SPREAD EAGLE 176 
 
 XIV. A STRANGE MEETING 189 
 
 XV. DAME MEREDITH 204 
 
 XVI. HARRY VANE 217 
 
 XVII. BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS 230 
 
 XVIII. ROUNDHEAD AND ROYALIST 243 
 
 XIX. NEW BOSTON 256 
 
 XX. GOVERNOR VANE 269 
 
 XXI. PERPLEXITIES 283 
 
 XXII. CONCLUSION 300
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 MM 
 
 THE SAILING OP THE MAYFLOWBR AND SPEEDWELL 
 FROM SOUTHAMPTON 2 
 
 TRYING THE WITCH 133 
 
 THE CHILDREN FIND A FRIEND 197 
 
 FATHER AND DAUGHTER 297
 
 SAXBY: 
 
 A TALE OF 0LD AND NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 UNEXPECTED GUESTS. 
 
 EVENING was drawing on apace as a par- 
 ty of travelers entered a little village 
 clustered at the foot of the chalky Chiltern 
 Hills in Buckinghamshire. They had evident- 
 ly ridden some miles by the jaded appearance 
 of their horses, and, as they paused near the 
 blacksmith's forge to make some inquiries, the 
 villagers from the neighboring ale-house im- 
 proved this opportunity to indulge their curi- 
 osity, and make various surmises as to the 
 business that could have brought them to this 
 out-of-the-way village; for Great Kimble did 
 not often see strangers from London. 
 
 " I know they come from London, and I 
 know for sure it is Master Hampden they have 
 come to see. Dame Saxby will be at her wit's 
 end for entertainment of such a party,"
 
 14 SAXBY. 
 
 said the blacksmith, gazing after the horse- 
 men. 
 
 " Did you notice the handsome green satin 
 doublet one of them wore?" said his wife, 
 who had likewise come out to look after the 
 strangers. 
 
 " Leave a woman alone to see the finery," 
 laughed a neighbor; "but talking of that green 
 satin doublet makes me think that he who 
 wore it comes farther than London. He comes 
 from beyond seas, and I should like to know 
 the business that brings him to Great Kimble." 
 
 Many others felt the same curiosity, if they 
 did not so openly express it, and in this they 
 were not far behind Dame Saxby herself, who 
 was in no small flutter of surprise and anxiety 
 at being so suddenly called upon to provide for 
 such a large party. Haifa dozen hungry horse- 
 men are a considerable addition to supper, and 
 to one who prided herself on the bountifulness 
 of her entertainments it was rather vexatious. 
 
 " What could have brought them down upon 
 us in this sudden manner is what I cannot 
 understand," muttered the dame, as she or- 
 dered her serving-maids to bring out all the 
 loaves in the pantry, and to put down a joint 
 of meat on the spit lest the cold chine of beef 
 should not be sufficient.
 
 Unexpected Guests. 1 5 
 
 Her husband, knowing little and caring less 
 about his wife's vexation, was issuing orders 
 for the care of their horses, and expressing his 
 delight at seeing so many friends. Even the 
 stranger from " beyond seas " was made to feel 
 himself included in the hearty welcome ; and 
 when they were all seated in the keeping- 
 room, and Master Saxby at liberty to talk to 
 them, while the maids spread the supper on 
 the long oaken table, he gave expression to 
 what was puzzling so many brains just at that 
 moment. 
 
 " Now tell us something of the London 
 news. What has brought such a party of noble 
 gentlemen to Great Kimble ? " 
 
 " Well, Master Saxby, the latest talk among 
 some is the discovery recently made by Dr. 
 William Harvey, that the blood goes racing 
 round our body like as the brook we saw a 
 mile off tumbles down the side of your chalky 
 hills." 
 
 Master Saxby laughed. " So you have come 
 to tell me the wild fantasies of a madman," 
 he said. 
 
 "Nay, but 'tis no madness, they say; but 
 sober truth, and will work such changes in the 
 curing of bodily ills as the world has never 
 seen."
 
 1 6 SAXBY. 
 
 " So this Dr. Harvey has discovered the old 
 alchemist's secret at last, and will give us an 
 endless life," said their host. 
 
 " Few would thank him for that in these 
 times," remarked a sober-looking man, who 
 had not spoken before. 
 
 " Well, what do you think of it, Master 
 Shipton?" 
 
 " I know but little of the art of leechcraft 
 myself, but I have heard it said by some who 
 are skilled in these things that Dr. Harvey is 
 right, and our blood doth as surely move 
 through our veins as that the king's new Bible 
 is every-where printed and being sold." 
 
 Dame Saxby had come in now, and at once 
 exclaimed, " Our blood move ! dear heart, the 
 world is getting too wise. Peeping and pry- 
 ing into such things is presumption ; nothing 
 but tempting Providence, and I wonder the 
 king does not forbid it." 
 
 " Nay, but, good dame, are we not taught 
 that our bodies are the temple of God ? and 
 docs it not behoove us to learn all we can con- 
 cerning its mysteries, that this temple be not 
 defiled or made unfit for his habitation?" 
 
 44 Nay, if God had intended us to know these 
 things he would not have made them mys- 
 teries at all. We must beware of witchcraft in
 
 Unexpected Guests. 17 
 
 these days, Master Shipton," concluded Dame 
 Saxby, decisively. 
 
 At this moment the host's three sons en- 
 tered the room. The eldest was a fine, hand- 
 some young fellow, about twenty; the young- 
 est, a lad of fourteen, but almost as tall as his 
 stalwart brother. They were plainly dressed 
 in homespun cloth ; for although Master Sax- 
 by was one of the wealthiest men in Bucking- 
 hamshire his sons helped on the home farm, 
 and never thought of despising such homely 
 work, although a longing to go abroad and see 
 something of the world had seized Harry, the 
 eldest. 
 
 As soon as the strangers had been intro- 
 duced the family took their seats at the supper- 
 table master and guests at one end, and the 
 maids and two serving-men below the salt at 
 the other. The bright pewter plates shone 
 like silver, and the home-made bread and rich 
 golden butter, to say nothing of the huge slices 
 of beef, were enough to tempt a more fastidi- 
 ous appetite than either of our travelers had. 
 For a few minutes after grace was said noth- 
 ing was heard but the clatter of knives and 
 forks. 
 
 When the meal was over Dame Saxby in- 
 vited her guests to go to the wainscotted parlor,
 
 1 8 SAXBY. 
 
 for she had no notion of her serving-maids 
 wasting the time they might use at their spin- 
 ning-wheels, or having their heads turned by 
 " London news ; " so Master Saxby and his 
 eldest son went with their guests, while Roger 
 went to give a last look at the stables and 
 see that every thing was made secure for the 
 night. 
 
 " Now, Master Saxby, we will tell you the 
 cause of our errand," said one, as soon as they 
 were seated in the parlor. " I thought it not 
 well to speak of it before the wenches, for our 
 king is by no means inclined to give such help 
 as many hoped he would to this cause for 
 which our friend, Master Groebel, here has 
 journeyed from Bohemia." 
 
 "It is about the affairs of the emperor?" 
 said Master Saxby questioningly. 
 
 " It is the cause of freedom and religious 
 liberty," said the stranger warmly, and speak- 
 ing in very good English, although with a 
 foreign accent. " It is whether we will see 
 our beloved land, our dear Bohemia, and all 
 Germany too, for that matter, handed over as 
 the bond-slaves of Rome, or whether we will 
 cast off the fetters before they are riveted upon 
 us forever." 
 
 " Nay, but I thought the electors of Ger-
 
 Unexpected Guests 19 
 
 many had formed an Evangelic Union among 
 themselves to prevent such a thing as this 
 happening," said Master Saxby. 
 
 " Yes, they have ; but they are not strong 
 enough to do this unaided, while so many 
 stand aloof from them. It is not their fault 
 that Calvinists and the followers of Zwingle are 
 as liable to persecution now from their popish 
 rulers as they were fifty years ago ; that none 
 but Lutherans are allowed the free exercise of 
 their religion. The Treaty of Nassau, which 
 raised them from an oppressed party to the 
 possession of equal rights with their neighbors, 
 but likewise prevented others from seceding 
 from the Romish faith unless they would risk 
 the loss of all their earthly possessions, has 
 been as great a trouble to the Lutherans as the 
 Calvinists ; but by taking the side of the Em- 
 peror Matthias in the late struggle we thought 
 we had secured liberty to all Protestants ; but 
 this dream has been rudely dispelled, and we 
 of Bohemia find ourselves in worse case than 
 ever, and the days of Huss and Jerome will 
 be as nothing to what will befall us in the 
 future." 
 
 " But I heard that the emperor was about 
 to resign the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hun- 
 gary to his nephew," said Master Saxby.
 
 2o SAXBY. 
 
 " He has done this, and our case is so much 
 the worse ; for Ferdinand is a tyrant, and 
 trained by the Jesuits to the greatest intoler- 
 ance of any faith but his own. So we have 
 cast off our allegiance to him, and offered our 
 crown to the Elector Palatine, the husband of 
 the Princess Elizabeth." 
 
 " And you have come to England to ask aid 
 of King James ? " said Master Saxby. 
 
 " All Germany expects it, for is he not the 
 head of the Protestant interest in Europe, and 
 in the new Bible which he has lately caused 
 to be translated is he not called ' Defender of 
 the Faith ? ' " asked Master Groebel. 
 
 His host smiled and shook his head. " Did 
 not this same ' Defender of the Faith ' cause 
 to be published the ' Book of Sports ' only a 
 few months since? It may be that, coming 
 from beyond seas, you have not yet heard of 
 this ;" and, stepping across to a curiously 
 carved cabinet, Master Saxby took out the 
 royal proclamation, or " Declaration to En- 
 courage Recreations and Sports on the Lord's 
 Day." In this proclamation it was announced 
 to be the royal pleasure, " for his good peo- 
 ple's recreation, that after the end of the divine 
 service they should not be disturbed, letted, 
 or discharged from any lawful recreations,
 
 Unexpected Guests. 21 
 
 such as dancing, either of men or women, 
 archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any such 
 harmless recreations, nor having of May-poles, 
 Whitsun ales, or Morrice dances, or setting up 
 of May-poles, or other sports therewith used ; 
 so as the same may be done in due and con- 
 venient time without impediment or let of di- 
 vine service." 
 
 But Master Groebel was not so much 
 shocked at the reading of this royal procla- 
 mation as his host expected, for it was only 
 among those who were striving and struggling 
 for a purer service in England that the obliga- 
 tions of the Sabbath were at all regarded. 
 Among the Protestants of the Continental 
 countries Sunday, although set apart for di- 
 vine service, was not kept as a day holy to the 
 Lord, and so the stranger could not sympa- 
 thize in the feeling this royal proclamation 
 had excited in the minds of so many En- 
 glishmen. 
 
 " I am not one of the Precisians myself. I 
 go to church, and make the best of things as 
 they are," said Master Saxby; "but I hold 
 with the Puritans in this, that if the service in 
 church is to do us any good have any effect 
 upon our every-day life afterward then these 
 dances and May-poles and junketings are best
 
 22 SAXBY. 
 
 left alone on the Lord's day ; otherwise we 
 had better change the name and call it the 
 devil's day, for he is most served in these 
 revels." 
 
 " Now that reminds me, Master Saxby, of 
 my mission," said another of the party. " I 
 have come to bear these good friends com- 
 pany, and seek the aid of all who love purity 
 of worship and those who have suffered for 
 it." 
 
 " What now ?" asked Master Saxby. 
 
 " Well, you have not forgotten that about 
 ten or twelve years since some of these Precis- 
 ians went from these parts to take ship for the 
 Low Countries, where, it was said, they would 
 have freedom of worship." 
 
 " Forget ! Shall I ever forget our godly 
 minister, Master Brown, who was summoned 
 before the Bishop and cast into prison because 
 he refused to wear popish finery, to admit 
 godfathers and godmothers at a child's bap- 
 tism, and preached the gospel so ably that 
 half the people in the place became so enam- 
 ored of the pure, simple service he introduced 
 as to become Puritans indeed, in heart and 
 life, as well as in their love of a pure service?" 
 
 " Well, it is from these same good neigh- 
 bors I have heard news of late," said the
 
 Unexpected Guests. 23 
 
 guest. " They were farmers here, but there is 
 little of that they can do in Leyden." 
 
 " And they want to come back?" said Mas- 
 ter Saxby. 
 
 " What is the use of their coming back ? 
 They could not have liberty to serve God as 
 their conscience dictates even in their own 
 houses. They must go to the parish church 
 and take part in this half-popish service. No, 
 they would fain go to the new colony in 
 America. The Virginia company are favora- 
 ble to the plan, but as yet the king has not 
 granted them the needful license. Meanwhile 
 Master Cushman here, and Master Carver, 
 whom we left in London, are collecting funds 
 for the last of the journey, and 
 
 " Right gladly will I help," said Master 
 Saxby, " and to-morrow I will take you all to 
 my worthy neighbor, Master John Hampden, 
 who will likewise give you somewhat, I do not 
 doubt. So you, too, have come from beyond 
 seas, Master Cushman?" 
 
 " I have been some weeks in London about 
 this business," answered the guest. 
 
 "And how fares it with our countrymen in 
 those strange parts?" asked Master Saxby. 
 
 " Poorly enough. You, doubtless, heard of 
 the misfortune that befell them at Boston ;
 
 24 SAXBY. 
 
 how information had been given to the king 
 and bishops of their intended escape, and how 
 when the men helping to ship their stores and 
 furniture were all on board an alarm was raised 
 that they were about to be seized by the king's 
 messenger. The shipmaster, for fear of troub- 
 le to himself, at once weighed anchor, and, 
 the tide serving, put off to sea, leaving nearly 
 all the women and children on shore." 
 
 " Ah, I did hear something of a party of 
 women being taken by the king's guard, and 
 they knew not what to do with them, for they 
 were homeless and destitute. But it was 
 months after our friends had left us here, and 
 so I had no thought of it being them." 
 
 " These were people from all parts of En- 
 gland, and many of them had died from grief 
 and want before their friends could take ship 
 and return in search of them. This was a 
 great blow to all of us," concluded Cushman. 
 
 " Well, well, it seems a pity they could not 
 stay here and wait for better times," said Mas- 
 ter Saxby, taking out his snuff-box, and hand- 
 ing it round, to the company. Snuff-taking 
 was one of the newest luxuries of the time. 
 Smoking was also coming into fashion, but 
 Master Saxby was not very likely to adopt 
 that. His snuff-box was often forgotten for
 
 Unexpected Guests. 25 
 
 days, but he prided himself on not being be- 
 hind the times. To carry a snuff-box gave 
 him little inconvenience, and was always handy 
 to offer a friend. 
 
 There was no time for further conversation 
 now. Dame Saxby had appeared, and that 
 was the signal that bed-time had come ; so the 
 guests were shown to their rooms, and Master 
 Saxby afterward told his wife why they had 
 come, and of their intended visit to Master 
 John Hampden in the morning.
 
 26 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A VISIT TO HAMPDEN. 
 
 SOON after breakfast the next morning our 
 travelers again mounted their horses, and, 
 as Dame Saxby said she wanted to see her 
 friend, Dame Hampden, about some new 
 method of drying herbs, she also accompanied 
 the party, riding on a pillion behind her hus- 
 band. There was not much opportunity for 
 talking by the way, but the journey was not a 
 very long one, and they were still within sight 
 of the white chalky hills when they came 
 to the gates leading to Master Hampden's 
 house. 
 
 He was one of the largest land-owners in the 
 county, and his mansion bespoke the wealth 
 of which he was possessed. Unlike his neigh- 
 bor Saxby, who prided himself on his farming, 
 and loved to live in the midst of the old farm 
 buildings, Hampden resided in a handsome 
 mansion, originally built in the early Norman 
 style, but to which various additions had been 
 made by his ancestors. Hampden himself had 
 been improving it lately in the then prevailing
 
 A Visit to Hampdcn. 27 
 
 style of architecture the castellated or Tudor 
 so that the friends knew at once, before 
 they entered the house, that its owner was 
 not only a man of property, but of taste and 
 refinement. 
 
 The interior of the mansion was even more 
 handsome than the exterior the spacious 
 parlor into which they were shown being 
 wainscoted with oak, like the floor, which was 
 polished to a degree that only those used 
 to walking on polished floors could find any 
 comfort in. The chairs, tables, and cabinets 
 were all richly carved ; but when John Hamp- 
 den himself walked in the strangers forgot 
 their surroundings. He was plainly dressed, 
 but the calm sweetness of his refined face at 
 once attracted attention. 
 
 His neighbor Saxby evidently looked up to 
 him as an oracle, young as he was, and Groe- 
 bel and Cushman saw at once that the success 
 of their mission in this neighborhood would 
 depend upon Master Hampden's opinion of it. 
 Master Saxby himself seemed anxious to know 
 what he thought about helping the German 
 Protestants in their struggle ; for about the 
 other matter there could be little doubt what 
 he would think or do. 
 
 " Master Groebel fears they will get little
 
 28 SAXBY. 
 
 help from the king, and I have been thinking 
 myself it is a fearsome thing to rise in arms 
 against the rightful sovereign," said Saxby 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " It is, good neighbor, and naught could 
 justify it until all other means have been 
 tried," said Hampden. 
 
 " But look you, good sirs, your King James 
 has come to the throne by lawful succession ; 
 he has not been set over you by the will of 
 another. If your merry England had been 
 handed over to King James as our Bohemia 
 has been given to Ferdinand, would you hesi- 
 tate to elect another king if he proved a 
 tyrant ? " 
 
 " God grant we may never be so tried ! " said 
 Hampden. " As you say, sir, there is no par- 
 allel between the right of King James and 
 your Ferdinand, though it may be he hesitates 
 to help any people to throw off their allegiance 
 to their sovereign, for he has a large belief in 
 the divine right of all kings." 
 
 " Yes, yes, but he had better not carry that 
 too far," interrupted Master Saxby ; " England 
 will not be held as an estate to be farmed 
 solely for his benefit. He and the bishops 
 are carrying things with a very high hand 
 against these poor Puritans, who only ask to
 
 A Visit to Hampden. 29 
 
 serve God according to their own con- 
 science." 
 
 " And that is every man's natural and di- 
 vine right," said Hampden. " I will gladly 
 help our countrymen to take ship to America, 
 and it may be I can help them to get the 
 king's consent. I will write to Sir Edwin 
 Sandys and Sir Robert Maunton, who both 
 have much influence with the king. I wish I 
 could help you as easily, Master Groebel. 
 You want men as well as money to help in 
 this war, and I do not doubt many will volun- 
 teer when they know the cause. I would go 
 myself, but I am a married man now, and I 
 know not how soon I may be called to serve 
 our merry England in another kind of warfare, 
 hardly less dangerous in these times than a 
 battle-field, if all be true we hear of." 
 
 Dame Saxby had come in to say a word to 
 her husband about this very business, and 
 heard what he said. 
 
 " God save us, Master Hampden, but the 
 young men will all be for going if they hear 
 you favor this German war." 
 
 " Nonsense, good dame, the young men are 
 not so easily led as all that; and many of them 
 might do worse than helping their neighbors 
 in this little brush for liberty, I trow."
 
 30 SAXBY. 
 
 " 'Tis very well for you to talk, Master 
 Hampden you have no sons to be caught by 
 this notion; but my Harry has just gone crazy 
 over it." 
 
 "Our Harry!" exclaimed Master Saxby, 
 jumping up from his seat. " How know you 
 this?" 
 
 " He came to me this morning, asking that 
 I would speak to you upon this business, as 
 he had long wished to go abroad." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know he has ; but but 
 Well, we must talk him out of this. He shall 
 go abroad shall go to Leyden with Master 
 Cushman, an he will." 
 
 " We can try him ; but I fear me it is the 
 war as much as the going to foreign parts that 
 makes him desire this ; for it was with difficul- 
 ty I could persuade him to wait until he had 
 heard Master Hampden's opinion before offer- 
 ing himself to Master Groebel." 
 
 " Well, my good friends, I need not tell you 
 how gladly I should welcome your son as a 
 volunteer in our cause; but I pledge you my 
 word to say nothing that can influence him in 
 this direction." 
 
 " Thank you ; but I fear our talk last night 
 has already done the mischief," said Master 
 Saxby rather ruefully.
 
 A Visit. to Hampden. 31 
 
 " Well, I would not grieve overmuch about 
 it, neighbor Saxby ; it will be the making of the 
 young fellow to go abroad and see the world. 
 This will be but a brush, soon over, I doubt 
 not, and then he will come back and settle 
 down for life." 
 
 Many, like Master Hampden, thought the 
 same about this struggle in Germany it would 
 soon be over ; and if any one had ventured to 
 tell them that the war they were now com- 
 mencing would prove one of the longest and 
 fiercest conflicts the world had ever seen, they 
 would have been laughed at as much as Dr. 
 Harvey was for announcing that the blood of 
 our body is not stagnant. 
 
 Dame Saxby's entrance had broken up the 
 conversation going on between Hampden and 
 his friends ; but they accepted his invitation 
 to stay to dinner, and he took them into the 
 woods surrounding the house, where, through 
 an opening in the range of hills, they had one 
 of the loveliest views spread before them of 
 sunny meadows and leafy dells it is possible to 
 imagine. 
 
 Meanwhile Dame Saxby had gone to pour 
 out her grief over the possible loss of her son 
 to Dame Hampden. 
 
 The ladies had betaken themselves to a more
 
 32 SAXBY. 
 
 plainly furnished room than the gentlemen oc- 
 cupied a cozy, comfortable room, with broad, 
 low, cushioned window-seats, as easy as a 
 modern couch. It was Dame Hampden's own 
 room, and here stood her work-basket and 
 spinnet one of her husband's numerous wed- 
 ding presents; for they had not long been 
 married, and the newly-wedded couple loved 
 this room, and often sat on the broad window- 
 seats, looking at the trimly-kept flower-beds, 
 and talking over their plans for the future. 
 
 The two ladies sat here now to discuss 
 housekeeping matters. Bustling Dame Saxby 
 was not much like her young neighbor, for 
 Dame Hampden was as gentle and refined as 
 her husband ; but she could esteem the sterling 
 qualities of the farmer's wife, her mother's old 
 friend, and was glad to learn the useful lessons 
 in housewifery which the notable housekeeper 
 was equally willing to teach. 
 
 When Dame Hampden heard that her visit- 
 ors would stay to dinner, she quietly went to 
 her larder and pantry to look over her stores ; 
 ordered another haunch to be put down on the 
 spit and another pie made ; gave out what was 
 necessary for this, and then went back to en- 
 tertain Dame Saxby, without a word about 
 the trouble it cost her a circumstance Dame
 
 A Visit to Hampden. 33 
 
 Saxby could not help noticing, it was so unlike 
 her own mode of proceeding under similar cir- 
 cumstances ; but for which she thought she 
 had ample excuse. 
 
 " Ah, Bessie, you know little of the care and 
 trouble of housekeeping," she said, as the 
 young matron took her seat again ; " if ever 
 you should have boys to take up foolish no- 
 tions, as my Harry has done about this Ger- 
 man war, you will not find it easy to take 
 every thing so quietly as you do now." 
 
 " Perhaps not ; but I should know, if I had 
 children, I could not keep them with me al- 
 ways ; and I often think my goodman himself 
 may see it his duty to join in the fight that 
 will ensue when the king shall call another 
 Parliament." 
 
 " What mean you ? " asked Dame Saxby in 
 a fright. " Will they want my goodman too ?" 
 
 Dame Hampden could not help smiling at 
 her friend's consternation. " I know not who 
 may be wanted ; but should he be called to do 
 this service to his country, you would not sure- 
 ly hold him back, would you ?" 
 
 "Hold him back? I could not, I fear, if 
 Master Hampden urged him to go ; but I do 
 hope you will keep him from running into such 
 mischief. I have heard something of the dan-
 
 34 SAXBY. 
 
 ger of Parliament men, and 'tis almost as bad 
 as going to the war : for, of course, the king 
 is angry when they tell him, as they do, that 
 he must not do this or that. I expect to hear 
 that every Parliament man is ruined with the 
 fines he has to pay, or else that he has put 
 them all into prison. I could not sleep at 
 night, or have one bit of peace through the 
 day, if my goodman went to Parliament ; and 
 I hope Master Hampden will never think of*it 
 either." 
 
 " But he does think of it, and we often 
 talk about it. He says these subsidies being 
 levied and customs imposed at the king's will 
 are undermining our English liberties." 
 
 " Well, I don't know. Of course, I grum- 
 bled, like every other goodwife, at the duty 
 being put upon currants, for they were dear 
 enough before ; but, then, I would rather pay 
 this than that my goodman should go to Par- 
 liament to be fined and imprisoned." 
 
 " We will hope the king will be more reason- 
 able, and then there will be less danger of 
 this," said Dame Hampden soothingly. 
 
 But Dame Saxby would not be coaxed into 
 acquiescence. " I don't see what they want to 
 go at all for," she said peevishly; "A few ex- 
 tra duties on different things, though they are
 
 A Visit to Hampden. 35 
 
 vexing, can never make much difference to you 
 or us either, and so I don't see why Master 
 Hampden should trouble himself to go to Par- 
 liament about it. I hope he wont, either." 
 
 " He may not have the opportunity, although 
 it is thought by some the king will soon be 
 compelled to summon a Parliament. Master 
 Hampden thinks there ought to be a law com- 
 pelling this to be done ; for 'tis four or five 
 years now since the last Parliament was dis- 
 solved. My cousin, Master Oliver Cromwell, 
 who is studying at Lincoln's Inn, was here a 
 few days since, and he says the merchants of 
 London are growing tired of lending the king 
 money, and so a Parliament must be sum- 
 moned to obtain fresh supplies shortly." 
 
 " And you really think Master Hampden 
 will go to be a Parliament man ? Why should 
 he take all this trouble? Why can't he stop 
 here and look after his own affairs, and enjoy 
 his books, and this fine house, and all the 
 blessings God has given him?" 
 
 " Why, good dame, you surely would not 
 have him forget duty in enjoyment. I know 
 little of such matters myself, but he says, if 
 there is not some resistance made now to the 
 encroachments of the king upon the rights and 
 
 liberties of the people, they will soon be little 
 3
 
 36 SAXBV. 
 
 better than his slaves, and the whole realm of 
 England but an estate to be farmed for the 
 benefit of the court. He has told me of our 
 poor neighbors, who were obliged to leave this 
 parish a few years ago and journey to the Low 
 Countries, that they might have liberty to wor- 
 ship God more simply and purely than the 
 king and bishops would allow them here. Can 
 you wonder that Master Hampden should long 
 to remedy these things if ever he be called to 
 help in the noble work ? " 
 
 " Then you will not try to hold him back ? " 
 said Dame Saxby. 
 
 " Nay ; how could I ? It would be selfish to 
 do other than help him bear this burden of 
 duty." 
 
 " You ! Good dame, you have surely lost 
 your senses this morning. They do not want 
 women in the Parliament, I trow ! " 
 
 " Nay, nay, but women must else help their 
 lords in other affairs an they are to go with a 
 quiet mind to the business of the State," said 
 the lady quickly; and a sudden rosy flush suf- 
 fused her delicate cheeks as she added, " Per- 
 haps you think these are presumptuous words 
 from one who knows little beyond the order- 
 ing of the house and the tending of poultry." 
 
 " Nay, I doubt not you could do any thing
 
 A Visit to Hampden. 37 
 
 an you willed it, for you are quick at learning, 
 and and brave, too," said Dame Saxby, with 
 a quivering voice. 
 
 At this moment they saw Master Hampden 
 and his guests returning to the house, his young 
 but thoughtful face even more thoughtful and 
 grave as he listened to Master Groebel, who 
 walked by his side. As they entered the house 
 the clock struck twelve, and Dame Saxby 
 glanced down at her tight-laced bodice and 
 silver lace-trimmed skirt, for she knew the 
 summons to dinner would follow immediately. 
 
 John Hampden's dining-room, or " keeping- 
 room," was as far superior to her own as the 
 silver plates and dishes on the table were to 
 the Saxby well-scoured pewter ones ; but she 
 noted, with something of a grim satisfaction, 
 that the haunch of venison would have been 
 the better for another turn or two on the spit, 
 and her sharp eyes detected that one of the 
 pasties had been slightly burned, occurrences 
 that would have inevitably brought a storm of 
 angry reproaches upon her own serving-maids, 
 but were passed over by Dame Hampden with 
 a whispered word of caution that none of her 
 guests but Dame Saxby was ever aware of. 
 Neither did they see the defects in the dinner, 
 apparently, for they all ate a, hearty meal and
 
 38 SAXBY. 
 
 did ample justice to the confections that fol- 
 lowed, with which even Dame Saxby herself 
 could find no fault. 
 
 Looking round at the handsomely furnished 
 room, the well-appointed table, and the cup- 
 board of plate that bespoke the wealth and 
 refinement of the loving couple that owned all 
 this, Dame Saxby could not but wonder again 
 that her young host should think of encount- 
 ering the perils and dangers of a parliamentary 
 life. John Hampden was at this time little 
 more than five and twenty, and seemed to be 
 one of the happiest of men one upon whom 
 fortune had showered some of her richest gifts 
 and why he could not be content to gather 
 these up and leave the rest of the world to 
 take care of itself was a puzzle Dame Saxby 
 could not understand. To mind one's own 
 business was half the fulfillment of the law, 
 at least according to Dame Saxby's creed, and 
 that gentle Dame Hampden should talk so 
 calmly of her goodman rushing into such dan- 
 ger was a marvel that swallowed up all other 
 thoughts. 
 
 At last a horrible suspicion began to creep 
 into her mind to account for this. There must 
 be a witch in the neighborhood, who, envious 
 of the wealth and happiness of the handsome
 
 A Visit to Hampden. 39 
 
 young couple, had begun to weave her spells 
 around them both in order to work them most 
 direful sorrow and wrong. The thought of 
 these potent machinations and their too-prob- 
 able success almost made Dame Saxby speech- 
 less for a time, and she said but little after 
 dinner until she bade her hostess farewell ; and 
 then she bade " God bless " her with a fervency 
 that made Dame Hampden think she was in 
 full accord with what they had been talking 
 about, and that she would let her son go to 
 serve the Protestant cause in Germany without 
 further opposition.
 
 40 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HARRY SAXBY. 
 
 WITH thoughts of witchcraft still in her 
 mind, Dame Saxby rode on behind her 
 husband, silent and absorbed, trying to recall 
 all she had heard concerning several old women 
 In the neighborhood, until her reverie was dis- 
 turbed by the checking of the horse and her 
 husband exclaiming, " Why, there's Harry 
 coming to meet us ! " 
 
 " Harry ! " repeated Dame Saxby, looking 
 up the road, but failing to recognize her own 
 son in the handsomely dressed gentleman ap- 
 proaching them. 
 
 The doublet of coarse homespun had been 
 laid aside, and Master Harry Saxby, in doublet 
 of purple broadcloth, short velvet cloak, slashed 
 hose to match, and lace collar, looked every 
 inch a gentleman. He was walking leisurely 
 along the road, and lifted his hat, with its long 
 red feather, as he saw his mother gazing at 
 him. 
 
 " Whither away now, Master Harry, in all 
 that finery ? " said his father, reining in his
 
 Harry Saxby. 41 
 
 ambling steed, while Dame Saxby could only 
 stare at him in blank amazement for a minute 
 or two. 
 
 Harry made some excuse about Roger be- 
 ing old enough to look after the men in his 
 father's absence. 
 
 " The callant is not to be trusted," said his 
 mother sharply, " and, besides, there is no Mor- 
 fice dancing or junketing to-day, and so " 
 
 " I have not cared so much for the junket- 
 ings of late that you need begrudge me this 
 holiday," said Harry in a tone of some defiance. 
 
 " But wherefore take the holiday to-day, my 
 boy ? " said his father, wondering what could 
 have happened to make his son forget all at 
 once the reverence due to his parents. 
 
 Dame Saxby herself was so astonished that 
 she could not say a word until her son, blush- 
 ing at his own temerity, said, " I am going to 
 talk to Master John Hampden about various 
 matters. You will not leave us until to-mor- 
 row ? " he said, turning quickly toward Master 
 Groebel, who stood at a little distance. 
 
 " Harry, Harry, don't go ; the Hampdens 
 are bewitched. I know they are," said Dame 
 Saxby in a fearful whisper. 
 
 Her husband turned round in his saddle and 
 looked at her. " How now, dame ? was the
 
 42 SAXBY. 
 
 wine too strong for your weak woman's head, 
 or is it the sun and that warm hood ? " 
 
 " I have tasted wine before to-day, and as 
 for the hood, I have worn it these two years, 
 John Saxby, and know well what I am saying." 
 
 " But, my mother, you cannot surely mean 
 that Master Hampden is really bewitched is 
 he ill?" 
 
 " No, no ; as well as ever I saw him," said 
 the father. "This is but a fantasie, dame. 
 Has Dame Hampden been telling you any vil- 
 lage gossip ? " 
 
 " We never talk about village gossip," said 
 Dame Saxby loftily. " Help me down, Harry, 
 for it's true enough, what I tell you. The 
 Hampdens are bewitched, and I'll tell you all 
 about it as we walk home." 
 
 Harry Saxby looked disconcerted, but what 
 could he do but turn back with his mother, 
 whom he began to think was herself bewitched, 
 or something nearly akin to it, to propose 
 telling him " all about it " a concession to 
 his manhood never made before ? 
 
 But when her husband and his guests had 
 rode on, Dame Saxby hardly knew how to be- 
 gin her recital of what she had heard from 
 Dame Hampden, so as to enforce upon Harry 
 the duty of staying at home to look after the
 
 Harry Saxby. 43 
 
 farm, as his father had always done ; and so she 
 hurried over what she had learned concerning 
 the probability of Master Hampden going to 
 Parliament, and impressed upon him the ne- 
 cessity of keeping out of the way of all be- 
 witched persons. 
 
 Harry Saxby was quite sensible of the dan- 
 ger of falling under such spells, for the belief 
 in witchcraft was very deep and very general ; 
 and though he had once tried to save a poor 
 old woman from being drowned, he was more 
 than half ashamed of it as a sort of weakness 
 that ought to be trampled down where witches 
 were concerned. But still, although fully alive 
 to the danger his mother feared fer their 
 friends, he was far more deeply impressed by 
 the fact that Master Hampden should think it 
 his duty to leave his home and family to serve 
 his country ; and he said promptly, " Then, 
 my mother, I am sure it is my duty to serve 
 the cause of God and true religion by going 
 with this Master Groebel." 
 
 " Go to the wars ? But these people are 
 nothing to us, Harry. Master Hampden 
 would serve his own countrymen, but not 
 these Germans." 
 
 " But they are Protestants, trying to save 
 themselves from the pope, and so we ought
 
 44 SAXBY. 
 
 to help them I must help them," he added, 
 decisively. 
 
 " Nonsense, Harry. What can it matter to 
 you about these people ? Of course we should 
 be sorry if the pope got the better of them ; 
 but then he wont, I'm sure." 
 
 " But I am not so sure," said Harry. " And 
 I want to do my part to prevent it. Look you, 
 mother, I've never forgotten about the people 
 that went away from here years ago the Pre- 
 cisians or Puritans, as people call them. I was 
 only a little boy then, but I remember wishing 
 I could go and fight the king, or whoever it 
 was that turned the ministers out and would 
 not let them even have preaching in their own 
 houses ; I've wished it on and off ever since, I 
 think ; and when I've been practicing single 
 stick and archery I've thought if ever I had 
 the chance of fighting a real foe if ever such 
 times should come back to England as I heard 
 grandfather talk about, when they burned peo- 
 ple at the stake for not owning the pope well, 
 mother, I've often thought I should fight for 
 my rights first if they burned me afterward." 
 
 Dame Saxby looked up at her fine, hand- 
 some son, half in admiration, half in astonish- 
 ment at such a bold avowal ; but it would not 
 do to let him think she was any thing but dis-
 
 Harry Saxby. 45 
 
 pleased. " Hush, hush, Harry, you must not 
 talk of fighting for your rights. The blessed 
 martyrs, who were ready to die rather than 
 deny the Lord Jesus Christ, never thought of 
 fighting for their rights as you call it." 
 
 " Perhaps not ; perhaps they hardly knew 
 whether they had any; but we are learning 
 that lesson in these days, and I mean to 
 teach the pope and emperor that an En- 
 glishman is ready to fight for his own or an- 
 other man's, especially when they are rights of 
 conscience." 
 
 " Harry, Harry, I believe you are bewitched 
 yourself," said Dame Saxby in a voice of pain, 
 for she began to see how useless it would be 
 to try and keep this her darling son in the old 
 nest any longer. 
 
 When they reached home they found their 
 three guests, Groebel, Cushman, and Shipton, 
 seated in the wainscoted parlor, while their 
 three attendants had gone to the orchard with 
 Roger. 
 
 " Mother, you have told my father of my de- 
 sire to go to the wars what said he ? " asked 
 the young man in a whisper as they paused for 
 a moment in the rustic porch. 
 
 " I hardly know now. But, my boy " 
 
 " Mother," interrupted the young man, " if
 
 46 SAX BY. 
 
 I had died of the plague you would say God 
 had taken me. Now I just want you to give 
 me' to him, or lend me for a little while; for I 
 promise you I will come home again as soon 
 as the war is over; and Master Groebel hopes 
 that when once the Elector Palatine is firmly 
 seated on the throne of Bohemia the Protestant 
 cause will be so strong that there will be no 
 need of any further help from England." 
 
 " Yes, yes, but suppose the Elector should 
 fail; what then, my boy?" 
 
 Harry could only shake his head. " I don't 
 know what the Protestants would do then ; but 
 I don't suppose the cause would be hopeless. 
 God would never let Luther's work be swept 
 away from Germany. We owe these Protest- 
 ants a debt, mother. We received much 
 light and truth from them, and I think God 
 would have us pay it now by helping them in 
 their struggle to maintain this truth against all 
 the Catholic powers of Europe. The king 
 ought to do it his own daughter will be made 
 queen of Bohemia; but if he wont, then the 
 people must do what they can, and I will be 
 one of them." 
 
 It seemed useless to argue with the young 
 man, his mind was so set upon this ; but Dame 
 Saxby resolved to try once more.
 
 Harry Saxby. 47 
 
 " Harry, this place is dull for you after being 
 at college. I will speak to your father pres- 
 ently, and you shall go back to Cambridge. 
 You are strong now, and may not catch the 
 plague, even if it should breakout there again, 
 or at least you could come home as soon as it 
 made its appearance. I will not oppose your 
 going to college any longer, my boy," for 
 Dame Saxby had firmly set her face against 
 this since her darling had so nearly died of the 
 pestilence about a twelvemonth before. But 
 Cambridge was nearer than Germany, and 
 learning, even with the risk of catching the 
 plague, was not so dangerous as fighting ; so 
 she almost besought her son to return there. 
 
 But Harry shook his head. " I am more fit 
 for a soldier than a scholar, my mother," he 
 said ; " and this strong right arm can deal trusty 
 blows at the Papists and all who would trample 
 out the light of God's truth. Say you will give 
 me to God's service to fight in this war for 
 truth and liberty," pleaded Harry. 
 
 " Well, if I must, I must ; but are you sure 
 there is not some unholy spell upon you to 
 make you wish for this thing? " 
 
 "You fear that I too am bewitched. Be 
 easy, my mother ; these thoughts, as I tell 
 you, have long been working in my mind, and
 
 48 SAXBY. 
 
 Master Groebel's words did but fan them into 
 a flame of burning desire." 
 
 Dame Saxby could not stay longer talking, 
 for her maids had already been left too long to 
 their own devices ; and, after taking off her hood 
 and changing her dress, she went through the 
 kitchen and pantry, dairy and cheese room, 
 scolding pretty freely all around. 
 
 The maids saw at once that something had 
 happened to disturb their mistress, and were 
 not long in guessing where the trouble lay. 
 
 " The young master is all for leaving home 
 again, I know," said Deb, the cook, who had 
 come to live at the farm first as nurse-girl 
 to carry Master Harry about when he was a 
 baby. 
 
 " Then Roger and Lawrence will get things 
 all their own way if he should go," said Sally, 
 the dairy-maid. 
 
 " I don't know. The master wont give 
 things up to them as he has done to Master 
 Harry lately, for the land will never be theirs ; 
 and why they should be so jealous of their 
 brother's having something to do with what 
 will one day be his own I cannot understand. 
 Master Roger is the worst, that is certain, and 
 leads Master Lawrence to tease and vex his 
 brother."
 
 Harry Saxby. 49 
 
 " Can this be driving him away from home, 
 do you think? " said Sally in a whisper. 
 
 " What next will you get into your head, 
 Sally ? No, no, Larry is but a tiresome boy, 
 fond of mischief and fond of Roger, and since 
 he sees it pleases Roger for him to vex Master 
 Harry he often does it." 
 
 " Then you don't think they really dislike 
 him ? " said Sally. 
 
 " Dislike him ! why should they ? Isn't he 
 the kindest-hearted gentleman in Great Kim- 
 ble? No, no, Sally, it's just a little bit of jeal- 
 ousy that will wear off by and by, and I dare 
 say they will be as sorry as any body that he 
 is going away." 
 
 " Well, well, I am glad you think so. I've 
 sometimes thought if ever Master Roger had 
 the chance of doing his brother an ill turn he 
 would, and I'm older and have seen more of 
 the world than you, Deb." 
 
 " But you haven't seen so much of the Sax- 
 bies as I have. I've lived with them girl and 
 woman nigh upon twenty years, and though 
 the mistress is sharp, and master, too, for that 
 matter, sometimes, it isn't in the Saxby nature 
 to bear grudges; they are honest and upright, 
 and would not wrong either friend or foe." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I know all this, Deb, but still I
 
 50 SAXBY. 
 
 cannot feel so sure about Master Roger, and 
 you'll remember my words one day, perhaps." 
 
 But Deb shook her head incredulously as 
 she turned to the preparation of supper. " I 
 know the Saxbies," she said in conclusion. 
 
 Meanwhile the conference in the parlor had 
 been joined by Harry, anxious to close the 
 matter now that his mother had been so far 
 won over. 
 
 It was not so difficult to persuade his father, 
 especially since the talk that he had had with 
 John Hampdenhad convinced him that England 
 ought to assist the struggling cause of Prot- 
 estantism on the Continent ; and so, before 
 supper was served, the matter was so far set- 
 tled that Harry and his father were to journey 
 to London the next day to make some further 
 inquiries among old friends, and make the 
 needful preparations if the result of their in- 
 quiries proved satisfactory. 
 
 Roger and Lawrence were greatly surprised 
 when they heard that their oldest brother was 
 about to leave home, and more so when they 
 knew where he was going ; but the discipline 
 of those days prevented them from expressing 
 more than ordinary astonishment in the pres- 
 ence of their parents. 
 
 When supper was over, however, and they
 
 Harry Saxby. 51 
 
 were at liberty to wander about for an hour 
 by themselves, or join in any boyish game 
 that might please them, Roger drew his 
 brother aside to where they were out of hear- 
 ing, and then gave vent to his feelings of pas- 
 sionate jealousy. 
 
 "Isn't it a shame!" he exclaimed. "He 
 cares no more for the land than that cow, and 
 yet he is to go off to foreign parts beyond the 
 sea for as long as he pleases, while we work at 
 home to keep his property in order." 
 
 " But it isn't his yet, Roger," said the 
 younger brother ; " my father may, and will, I 
 hope, live a good many years yet, and the 
 land wont be Harry's until I say, what bird is 
 that just over the orchard ? " 
 
 " O, bother the birds ! I know this land 
 wont come to Harry while my father lives, 
 but then, who can tell how long that, may 
 be, and then what is to become of us ? I 
 wont stop here and work with Harry for my 
 master." 
 
 " I shouldn't think he'd want you," said 
 Larry. " I know what I mean to do by and 
 by. I shall go to London and learn to be a 
 lawyer, like Oliver Cromwell, and you shall 
 come with me. We shall always stick to- 
 gether, you know," he added warmly.
 
 52 SAXBY. 
 
 ' No fear of that, Larry ; but I can't be a 
 lawyer. I hate the sight of books. Give me 
 land before any thing else, and this is the land 
 I want, and will have, if I can get it," he con- 
 cluded in a determined tone. 
 
 " I do believe you care for it more than 
 Harry does, and it is a shame you can't have 
 it, but" 
 
 " Care for it," interrupted Roger impetu- 
 ously ; " he does not care one of the new cop- 
 per coins what becomes of the old place, or 
 else he would not go off on this fool's errand. 
 Going to fight for truth and right ? Was ever 
 such a thing heard of, and leave such a patri- 
 mony as this ! " 
 
 " Well, you need not be so angry about his 
 going off to the wars. You know if he should 
 get killed the land would be yours then. If I 
 came next, and it was mine, perhaps you would 
 want to send me off in my turn ; but there's 
 no fear of that, is there ? " 
 
 " No, Larry, I should never want you out 
 of the way," said Roger slowly, and laying his 
 hand on his younger brother's shoulder, " if 
 if this should be I'm not saying I wish it, 
 you know " 
 
 " Of course, nobody could do that," said 
 Larry quickly.
 
 Harry Saxby. 53 
 
 " Of course not. But if it should happen, 
 then we would share the land between us, 
 share and share alike, you know." 
 
 " I don't know that I should want it," said 
 Larry, indifferently ; " at any rate, it isn't very 
 likely to be yours," he concluded, and, grow- 
 ing tired of the topic, he swung himself up 
 into a wide-spreading beech-tree standing near, 
 and left his brother to ponder over the ques- 
 tion that had been raised as to the probability 
 of his elder brother never returning to claim 
 the family inheritance.
 
 54 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BAD NEWS. 
 
 HARRY SAXBY went to the wars with 
 many another brave young Englishman. 
 Altogether an army of about four thousand 
 was raised, but the king still withheld his 
 support, and was particularly friendly with 
 Spain, who, with the Emperor of Germany, 
 was the bitter enemy of the struggling Prot- 
 estants. 
 
 Master Saxby returned from his visit to 
 London in no very amiable mood, for, like the 
 rest of his countrymen, he was dissatisfied and 
 disappointed that the king should openly fa- 
 vor the Roman Catholic powers of Europe in- 
 stead of helping the struggling Protestant 
 cause; but, dissatisfied as he might feel, he 
 had received so many warnings and seen so 
 many examples of the cruelty of the Star- 
 chamber, that he dare not vent his feelings in 
 words, or say what he thought of the king and 
 his favorite, Sir George Villiers. 
 
 Safely shut in his own wainscoted parlor, 
 however, with only his wife to listen, he could
 
 Bad News. 55 
 
 indulge in a little grumbling without fear of 
 arrest. He was securely seated before he be- 
 gan : " I know not what is coming to this En- 
 gland of ours when a man cannot open his 
 mouth to say what he thinks for fear of being 
 haled to the Fleet or the Gate-house. Things 
 are getting worse and worse, dame, and some 
 say the king meant to bring back papistry, 
 with himself for the pope." 
 
 " What nonsense are you talking ! the king 
 is a Protestant, or he would never have had 
 the Bible set forth in the manner he has," said 
 Dame Saxby quickly. 
 
 "Ah, dame, if you had been to London and 
 heard of the doings at court you would not 
 set so great store by the king's share in that 
 business. It is well known, too, that a mar- 
 riage is to take place between Prince Charles 
 and the King of Spain's daughter. The king 
 is all cock-a-hoop over it." 
 
 " Well, and why shouldn't he look out for a 
 good wife for the prince? I'm sure I wish 
 there had been some maiden here we -could 
 have asked to be wife to Harry, and then he 
 wouldn't have gone off to the wars ;" and 
 Dame Saxby heaved a deep sigh as she 
 spoke. 
 
 " Harry will choose a wife for himself, I
 
 56 SAXBY. 
 
 doubt not, in good time. But about this 
 Spanish marriage people are nodding and 
 whispering together, though few dare to speak 
 out what they think." 
 
 " Well, what do you think about it ? " said 
 his wife. 
 
 " That England's honor is sold to please the 
 Spaniards. This is the bribe held out to keep 
 the king from helping his son-in-law and the 
 Protestants of Germany. People are mutter- 
 ing and grumbling in such a way that the king 
 must hear of it soon in spite of the terror of 
 the Star-chamber and Sir George Villiers, who 
 favors this Spanish match." 
 
 " People had better mind their own busi- 
 ness," said the dame sharply. 
 
 " It is the people's business, dame ; for if 
 Prince Charles marries a Catholic we shall 
 have a Papist for a queen by and by, and all 
 the laws that have been passed to keep them 
 from having any power here again will be set 
 aside, and the whole kingdom be gradually 
 brought back to the power of the pope." 
 
 " Well, now, you have not told me all about 
 Harry. I have been thinking more about him 
 than any thing else lately," said Dame Saxby 
 with a sigh. 
 
 " Of course, and the lad was often thinking
 
 Bad News. 57 
 
 of j^u. 'Tell my mother this,' and ' I forgot 
 to tell mother that,' I heard half a dozen 
 times a day, and, I dare say, I shall think of 
 all these messages by degrees, but the din and 
 the bustle of London and the wonderful things 
 so constantly to be seen there have put every 
 thing else out of my head." 
 
 " Every thing but the court gossip," said 
 Dame Saxby in a complaining tone. 
 
 ' Nay, nay, but people cannot help talking 
 about the wanton doings of the court when it 
 touches them so nearly. It is but lately that 
 another duty has been laid upon currants." 
 
 " Ano.her duty ! " exclaimed the dame. 
 
 " Aye., five shillings on the hundred weight 
 more, and no abatement of the last. The 
 housewives of London are grumbling as well 
 as the merchants, but how it can be altered is 
 a puzzle to the wisest among them." 
 
 " But surely the king could alter it ! ex- 
 claimed Dame Saxby angrily. 
 
 "The king! what can he do? He is more 
 pressed for money than we are. Knighthood 
 and every honor and every office is bought. 
 Often those who have paid a good round sum 
 for an office under the Crown cannot get their 
 salaries, and can only support themselves by 
 bribes and stealings. It is whispered that the
 
 $8 SAXBY. 
 
 Lord Bacon, one of the noblest and most 
 learned philosophers the world has ever seen, 
 is not above taking a bribe, although he will 
 not suffer it to divert the course of justice. 
 Then there are the king's favorites to be pro- 
 vided for the Buckinghams and Somersets ; 
 and so, although they are never seen in it 
 Openly, they have much of the profit from dif- 
 ferent monopolies. I tried to get some silver 
 lace to broider your petticoat, but, owing to 
 this same monopoly by which Buckingham 
 and his brother are greatly enriched, the price 
 is three times what it was when I last went to 
 London ; and, what is worse, the thread is of 
 brass instead of silver." 
 
 " But you could have gone to some other 
 merchant," said Dame Saxby rather tartly ; 
 for this was the secret cause of her ill-humor. 
 Never before had her good man gone on a 
 journey to London without bringing her a 
 supply of silver lace for trimming her petti- 
 coat and bodice. 
 
 " True, I might have gone to another mer- 
 chant ; but how much should I be the better 
 for that, seeing they must all buy of the same 
 maker, and this maker sells but brass instead 
 of silver?" 
 
 " Dear heart, what is the world coming to
 
 Bad News. 59 
 
 when honest folks cannot buy a bit of silver 
 lace ! " said Dame Saxby. This touched her 
 more nearly even than the increased duty on 
 currants, for she took no small pride in the 
 trimming of her petticoats and bodices, as 
 well as her husband's best cloak and doublet. 
 It was Dame Saxby's one weak point, and to 
 be deprived of her accustomed present of 
 finery from London caused her almost as much 
 vexation as the departure of her eldest son. 
 " And where shall I get the lace, since it can- 
 not be bought in London?" said the dame, 
 thinking sadly of her frayed, tarnished trim- 
 mings, and how much they needed replacing. 
 
 " Silver lace is not to be had, dame, and 
 the rubbish they sell now injures the fingers 
 of those who make it ; therefore I hold that 
 none should wear it." 
 
 " But what am I to do ? " she demanded 
 sharply. " My cloth petticoat is now in such 
 ill condition that " 
 
 " There is plenty of cioth to be had, dame ; 
 make a new one of fine broad-cloth an ye 
 will." 
 
 " But no trimmings? It will be little better 
 than Deb's or Sally's, fine as it may be. I 
 wonder what Dame Hampden will say to this? 
 What other duties are there besides ? "
 
 60 SAXBY. 
 
 " Six and eightpence has been levied on 
 every pound of tobacco, over and above the 
 other duty; and this by proclamation only, 
 without warrant of Parliament, which is mak- 
 ing men wag their tongues in spite of the Star- 
 chamber and the King's Bench." 
 
 " Well, if things are to be like this, it needs 
 somebody to speak up and tell the king what 
 injustice is done. They would not dare to 
 trim his doublets with this rubbish they call 
 silver lace, and, doubtless, he knows nothing 
 of how his loyal subjects are made to suffer in 
 this matter. I will go and see young Dame 
 Hampden to-morrow," concluded the angry 
 lady as she left the room to look after her 
 maids. 
 
 The visit to Dame Hampden was not product- 
 ive of much comfort to Dame Saxby. That 
 lady had heard of the new monopoly upon the 
 manufacture of gold and silver thread, and she 
 and her husband had been talking the matter 
 over in all its bearings, and they had come to 
 the conclusion not to wear any of this new 
 silver lace, both on account of its inferior 
 quality and the injury it inflicted upon those 
 engaged in its manufacture, and also because 
 of the illegal way in which the duty upon it 
 was imposed.
 
 Bad News. 61 
 
 " Dear heart! and your mother and I, when 
 we were girls together, never thought of how 
 much silver lace we spoiled. Well, I must try 
 cleaning and mending once more ; but 'tis 
 very hard, and I hope this monopoly will soon 
 be put down. Master Hampden must see to 
 this matter, if he is to go to Parliament and 
 you think he will?" 
 
 " Yes, dear dame, we often talk of it. He 
 is sure it is his duty, and I feel the same about 
 it. You must come and see me very often 
 when he goes to London, unless I should go 
 with him. My mother is very glad to know 
 we are such near neighbors and such good 
 friends," said the young matron. 
 
 " Yes, yes, to be sure ; but have you been 
 about the village here about Hampden? 
 Are there any old women here?" for Dame 
 Saxby was thinking of the witchcraft that 
 must have been practiced upon her young 
 friend to make her willing to forego her hus- 
 band's society so soon after their marriage. 
 
 Young Dame Hampden looked at her friend, 
 wondering what she could be thinking of. 
 " Old women ! " she repeated. " There are 
 about a dozen who come to the buttery for 
 their daily dole of bread and meat and 
 ale."
 
 62 SAX BY. 
 
 "And and have you ever offended any of 
 these, Bessie?" asked her friend anxiously. 
 
 " What can you mean, good dame ? " said 
 the lady, now growing vaguely apprehensive ; 
 " what is it you fear? " 
 
 " Witchcraft ! " whispered Dame Saxby. 
 
 The lady started and turned pale at the 
 dreadful word. " What has happened ? What 
 have you heard ? " she asked. 
 
 " Nothing, my dear, but what you have told 
 me. But I fear you have offended some of 
 these old women, and they are determined to 
 work you some great trouble." 
 
 " But what could they do, poor helpless old 
 creatures? They are entirely dependent upon 
 my husband's bounty, and why should they 
 seek to hurt him ? How could they do it ? " 
 
 " By sending him to Parliament. I would 
 not go within a dozen miles of that Parliament 
 house an I were Master Hampden ; for my 
 good man tells me things be grown to such a 
 pitch in London now that a man dare not 
 open his mouth to complain of the greatest 
 injustice for fear of being haled before the 
 Star Chamber. He saw one man taken for 
 no greater offense than saying his father had 
 been ruined through the unjust judgment of 
 the council ; and when h( :ried to escape, the
 
 Bad News. 63 
 
 tipstaffs with their long hooked poles caught 
 him and dragged him along like a beast to the 
 shambles. He saw another who, to hide the 
 cruelty practiced upon him, must, forsooth, al- 
 ways wear a mask, for his nose had been laid 
 open and but ill joined together, and his cheeks 
 branded, and this for some religious tract he 
 had written about the right of every man to 
 liberty of conscience. Now, if Mr. Hampden 
 should ever take up these notions, and speak 
 of them, think what would happen ! " 
 
 "Well, dear dame, I have thought of it, and 
 the danger he will incur ; but it is these very 
 things that make it an Englishman's duty 
 to try and get the laws enforced or amended, 
 and even remind the king that he is called to 
 govern the people for their good, not oppress 
 them for his own benefit and the enrichment 
 of his favorites." 
 
 "Ah, if some one could only tell the king 
 just how things are going on ! But a little 
 while ago it was my Lord of Somerset who 
 kept every one from the king, and now it is 
 said the Duke of Buckingham is doing the 
 same thing; and so I fear me it will only bring 
 trouble to both of ye, an Master Hampden 
 goes to Parliament," said Dame Saxby with 
 a sigh.
 
 64 SAXBY. 
 
 "And you think it is witchcraft that has 
 made him wish to go to Parliament?" said 
 young Dame Hampden, feeling much relieved 
 now that she knew the extent of her friend's 
 fears for them. 
 
 " What can it be but witchcraft ? These 
 troubles can never touch you, Bessie." 
 
 " We cannot tell that, and even if it were 
 not wrong to think only of those things that 
 touch ourselves we ought to see to these things 
 being amended, for my goodman holds that if 
 such things were not done in matters of this 
 life, religion would not be so straitly directed 
 and oppressed by the bishops as it now is. 
 We have just heard ill news from our parson, 
 which is the sorer trouble to Master Hampden, 
 seeing he can do little to help the poor man." 
 
 "Why, what has happened now? another 
 citation from the bishop?" asked Dame Saxby. 
 
 " Yes, it is even so. Some meddling body 
 must have carried the news that the king's 
 ' Book of Sports ' has not been read in the 
 church lately, but a godly and helpful sermon 
 preached, wherein the duty of setting apart 
 one day for God's service is enforced. Now, 
 just as the winter is beginning, poor Master 
 Drayton is summoned to appear in London, 
 and we fear will be cast into prison there for
 
 Bad News. 65 
 
 his faithfulness ; for he will not deny the charge 
 brought against him, or promise to incite the 
 people to foolish and often harmful mirth on 
 the Lord's day." 
 
 " Dear heart ! what is coming to our poor 
 country? What will Master Drayton do?" 
 
 " What can he do but obey the bishop's 
 call, and defend himself from the word of 
 God?" 
 
 " I would not an I were he ; I would not 
 trust myself in the hands of any bishop, but 
 would fly to the Low Countries, and join this 
 expedition that is going to America. Master 
 Cushman has great hopes that they may go 
 next summer, for many helped him in raising 
 the money needful." 
 
 " Master Hampden did suggest something 
 of this, but our parson pleaded that he was 
 getting to be an old man, and ill-fitted to en- 
 counter the dangers and hardships that will 
 meet those who go out to form this new col- 
 ony, and he fears to be a burden upon those 
 who will have erfbugh ado to shift for them- 
 selves." 
 
 " Well, well, there is something in that. 
 But can Master Hampden do nothing for this 
 godly minister? The bishop will, without 
 doubt, dispossess him of this living; and I
 
 66 SAXBY. 
 
 know somewhat of this good man myself 
 enough to make me anxious, Bessie." 
 
 "Yes, yes, we have seen you and Mastei 
 Saxby at church more than once, good dame, 
 and could not wonder that you left your own 
 parish church, where, I hear, there have been 
 many things to be seen in bowings and wear- 
 ing fine cassocks, but little to be heard be- 
 yond the reading of the lessons and the king's 
 ' Book of Sports.' " 
 
 "Ah, you have seen us here at Hampden, 
 Bessie ; we hoped no one had noticed our 
 coming." 
 
 " We fear others have seen you as well as 
 ourselves," said young Dame Hampden, " and 
 my goodman was burning to give you a word 
 of warning." 
 
 "What mean you, my sweet Bess?" ex- 
 claimed Dame Saxby, now growing alarmed for 
 her own safety; for in those days heavy pun- 
 ishment often fell upon those who wandered 
 from their own parish church to another. 
 
 " Well, a notice has been sent from the 
 bishop warning all persons against the practice 
 of absenting themselves from their own parish 
 church; and so, as the eyes of those in author- 
 ity are evidently turned toward our doings just 
 now, it is best to be circumspect."
 
 Bad News. 67 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I will take care not to offend in 
 this way again, although it is hard to listen 
 to the mouthings and mumblings which are all 
 we get in our parish. Roger often laughs at 
 our parson's ignorance and assumption of au- 
 thority, and I often fear he is growing out of 
 conceit of all religion through this very thing ; 
 but what can I do to mend matters?" and 
 Dame Saxby sighed as she drew on her hood 
 and prepared to take her departure. Her 
 trouble about the silver lace was forgotten 
 now in this fresh anxiety, and she hastened 
 home to tell her husband all she had heard 
 
 from young Dame Hampden. 
 5
 
 68 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WAS IT WITCHCRAFT? 
 
 MASTER SAXBY did not appear to be 
 much surprised at what his wife told 
 him concerning the citation of Master Drayton. 
 
 " I've been expecting it," he said calmly. 
 
 " Expecting it ! and yet you went to hear 
 him preach in another parish church !" 
 
 "Yes, and I shall go again an he preaches 
 again, for what right has the king or bishop 
 to command what I shall hear or believe? It 
 is enough, I trow, that I cannot say what I 
 think of the ill doings and injustice of the 
 court and king without being robbed of my 
 liberty to serve God according to my own 
 conscience." 
 
 Dame Saxby looked at her husband, scarce- 
 ly knowing what to think, for the calm deter- 
 mination of his tone astonished her ; but still 
 she said, " Nay, but we must be cautious, and 
 go to our own church again." 
 
 " To listen to the reading of the ' Book of 
 Sports,' and see the popish mummings of our 
 parson? A nice tale has come to my ears
 
 Was it Witchcraft ? 69 
 
 concerning the doings of our Roger last Sun- 
 day; and when I spoke to him about it he 
 said he was but obeying the king's command, 
 and following the teaching of the parson and 
 the king's ' Book of Sports ; ' and the lad was 
 right." 
 
 " Nay, nay, but the ' Book of Sports ' doth 
 not enjoin drunkenness and brawling," said 
 the dame quickly. 
 
 " Nay, but it sends the witless knaves into 
 the midst of temptation, encouraging them in 
 the drinking of ale more than is needful, and 
 wrestling, and fencing, and dancing all which 
 often lead to brawling and worse. Had you 
 heard of these ill doings, Moll ? " 
 
 " Yes, I heard the wenches whispering among 
 themselves, and I made Deb tell me ; and 
 then, by way of excusing the lad, she said, ' It 
 was all because Harry had gone away.' " 
 
 " 'Tis but a sorry way of showing his love 
 for his brother. So Deb and the wenches were 
 at the reveling?" said Master Saxby. 
 
 " Well, Deb said people began to whisper 
 we were all Puritans and Precisians, and so I 
 thought it better to let them go than bring 
 that reproach upon ourselves." 
 
 " Puritans and Precisians, forsooth ! My 
 neighbors shall have liberty to call me that an
 
 70 SAXBY. 
 
 they will, but I shall claim the liberty of or- 
 dering my family after a decent fashion, and 
 not be bound a bond-slave to the king's ' Book 
 of Sports.' " 
 
 " But but you forget we have been to an- 
 other parish church very often of late ; twice 
 on the Sunday, too," said Dame Saxby timid- 
 ly. " It is against the law, I hear, that Master 
 Drayton has preached on Sunday afternoons." 
 
 " Yes, yes, against the law, to be sure it is," 
 said her husband impatiently; "but would 
 you think about the law an a child were starv- 
 ing at your gates, and ye had bread to give 
 him?" 
 
 " Nay, nay ; no one can say I ever turned a 
 beggar hungry from my gate," said Dame Sax- 
 by ; "I am free from that reproach." 
 
 "And Master Drayton would fain be the 
 same the only difference is, you have care for 
 men's bodies and he for their souls, which are 
 starving for lack of food." 
 
 " But what has that to do with preaching 
 on Sunday afternoons ? " 
 
 " Every thing, dame. Men were hungering 
 for the bread of life, or they would not walk 
 miles from other parishes to get it ; and, see- 
 ing this, good Master Drayton provided them 
 two meals instead of one. I wonder who the
 
 Was it Witchcraft? 71 
 
 meddling body can be that has gone to the 
 bishop with this tale about him." 
 
 It seemed that there must be some busy- 
 bodies and mischief-makers among their own 
 neighbors ; for a little later, Deb, the cook, 
 told her mistress that the blacksmith's wife had 
 been talking to her about the strangers who 
 had come to visit them a week or two before, 
 and who had decoyed Master Harry to foreign 
 parts, and how the village were all saying the 
 Saxbies had turned Puritans, and forsaken their 
 own parish church and the Sunday revels on 
 the green. 
 
 " Nay, but, Deb, we never joined in these 
 revels, or suffered the boys or serving-men to 
 do so, until Roger took to going this summer." 
 
 "And little enough I care for the revels, 
 where the boldest-faced minx is set above de- 
 cent serving-wenches ; but when they say you 
 and my master are Puritans, and will not suffer 
 us to join in their revels, it was time, I thought, 
 to let them see we were no Puritans, although 
 we did not go to their church ales and cakes." 
 
 Dame Saxby hardly knew what to say to 
 this. Personally, she felt glad that Deb had 
 adopted such an effectual means of warding 
 off the charge of Puritanism being brought 
 against them, and especially since it had be-
 
 72 SAXBY. 
 
 come known that they had been going of late 
 to another parish church; but whether her 
 husband would allow a continued attendance 
 at these festivities she did not know, but she 
 was resolved to do what she could to persuade 
 him to let Deb and the rest of the serving- 
 maids and men do as they liked in the matter. 
 They could shelter themselves under the plea 
 of being too old to join in such frolics, and 
 Roger and Larry must be warned to be more 
 circumspect in futuie. 
 
 But Master Saxby was by no means inclined 
 to yield to his wife in this. The thing was 
 wrong, he said. He was convinced that to 
 attend divine service in the morning and 
 spend the rest of the day in the ale-house, or 
 dancing and wrestling on the green, was little 
 better than a mockery, and he would have 
 nothing to do with it. On his wife venturing 
 to say that they would be accused of being 
 Puritans, he told her boldly that he had long 
 been a Puritan, and was no longer ashamed 
 of the name. Poor Dame Saxby was horror- 
 stricken to hear her husband speak out so 
 boldly, for she knew he would be likely to 
 avow it just as openly among the neighbors as 
 to herself, and she foresaw what trouble and 
 loss this would bring upon them. They might
 
 Was it Witchcraft f 73 
 
 even have to give up their rich farm lands 
 be forced to sell them at a ruinous loss and 
 emigrate to Flanders or America and she 
 shuddered at the thought of such a calamity 
 overtaking them, and the next minute burst 
 into tears. 
 
 " How now, dame, what ails you?" asked 
 her husband, in some alarm ; for Dame Saxby 
 did not often shed tears. 
 
 " Can you ask me," she sobbed, " when you 
 talk of bringing us all to ruin ? If you only 
 cared " 
 
 " Hush, hush, Moll, and let us talk this 
 matter over to ourselves. I ought to have 
 done it before, but I've been a coward even 
 with you ; but, God helping me, I mean to be 
 braver in future. I had a talk with Harry be- 
 fore he went away, God bless the lad ! and he 
 helped me to see things clearer as to what was 
 my duty in this matter. You'll see it too, I 
 trust, dame, and help me to do it." 
 
 " No one can ever say I haven't done my 
 duty," replied Dame Saxby quickly. 
 
 " That's true, dame, quite true ; you've been 
 a good wife, a good mother, and a good mis- 
 tress. No one can say you haven't done your 
 duty to me and the boys ; but I haven't done 
 mine, Moll."
 
 74 SAXBY. 
 
 " I should like to hear any body say that, 
 and I would soon tell them what I thought 
 about them," interrupted Dame Saxby. 
 
 " But I say it of myself, Moll. I have been a 
 coward, ashamed to confess my Lord among 
 men. I have not dared to own it even to you, 
 but I tell you now, and I don't care who hears 
 me say it, I am as much a Puritan as those 
 who went away from here a few years ago, and 
 I will go no more to the church in this parish 
 to join in their half-Popish service. I tell you, 
 Moll, the king is only half a Protestant ; he 
 has too strong a liking for his Popish mother's 
 religion, and means to bring it back to us if he 
 can by degrees at first. Men's minds must 
 be Romanized gradually through this half- 
 Popish service. By and by a few more cere- 
 monies will be added. After kneeling to take 
 the sacrament the next step will be to adore 
 the bread, as in the mass, and the table will 
 be changed to an altar, and the communion 
 called a sacrifice again. I talked with one or 
 two in London, and this is the fear of many ; 
 and the only hope for England is in these Pu- 
 ritans she has been driving to other shores and 
 other homes." 
 
 " Dear heart ! what will happen next ? " 
 sighed poor Dame Saxby ; " we shall be fined
 
 Was it Witchcraft ? 75 
 
 twelve pence for every Sunday we do not go 
 to church, and you will be summoned before 
 the bishop and made to promise that you will 
 go to your own parish parson ; so that it will 
 be better to go at once, without any trouble or 
 setting our neighbors talking about us." 
 
 " Now, now, dame, this is not helping me," 
 said her husband a little reproachfully. 
 
 " You want me to help you ruin yourself and 
 the lads. What will Harry say, think you, 
 when he hears the Saxby land has all been 
 sold ? It is enough to make your father turn 
 in his grave to think of it." 
 
 " But the Saxby land shall not be sold. It's 
 been in the family for generations, and shall 
 not go out of it in my time." 
 
 " You cannot help it if you turn Puritan ; 
 great grandfather's curse will surely fall upon 
 you, and the name of Saxby will cease to be 
 known." 
 
 Master Saxby started as his wife brought this 
 terrible curse to his memory. " What shall I 
 do ? What can I do ? " he almost groaned. 
 " I cannot live this lie any longer. The time 
 has come when Master Hampden and I and 
 one or two others must take a decided course 
 one way or the other. We cannot abandon 
 Master Drayton, who has been as an angel of
 
 76 SAXBY. 
 
 God to many of us ; and to protect him will at 
 once bring upon us the notice of the bishop. 
 Perhaps we may all be summoned before the 
 Court of High Commission. There, you see, 
 dame, I have thought of what may happen 
 what will very likely follow the course I mean 
 to pursue." 
 
 " And you are yet so obstinate, John Saxby, 
 that you will ruin your whole family and bring 
 down upon your head the curse that is sure to 
 follow upon the loss of the Saxby land ? " 
 demanded his wife in mingled anger and as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 "God help me! what am I to do, dame ? 
 I never saw it to be my duty before as I do 
 now, but, seeing it as I do, I must do it. Yes, 
 I must ! " he concluded. 
 
 " You will be summoned before the king at 
 Westminster, and fined and imprisoned. The 
 house and land will be sold to pay the fine, 
 and we shall be turned out with the family 
 curse for our portion, to beg our bread or 
 starve," said Dame Saxby. 
 
 " Hush, hush, dame; things shall not come 
 to that pass. I will go to-morrow and talk 
 with Master John Hampden. He knows a 
 little of the law, or he can find out from his 
 cousin, Master Oliver Cromwell, what I can do
 
 Was it Witchcraft f 77 
 
 to save the land. He is in London now, 
 studying under some great lawyer, so that he 
 may be the better landlord, as he has already 
 lost his father. There, there, dame, no more 
 tears. I will take care that Harry shall have 
 the land, if the king and bishops have me for 
 the rest of my days." 
 
 " It will be poor comfort to me to stay here 
 and know you are in prison," sobbed his wife. 
 
 " It will keep my heart warm, though, to 
 know the old homestead is sheltering you. 
 But it is not so bad as that yet, dame, and, 
 God helping us, it may not come to that." 
 
 " I believe you are bewitched as well as 
 Master Hampden ; and who can fight against 
 witch spells ? I mean to go out to-morrow 
 and make inquiries as to whether any stranger 
 has been seen lurking about here of late. It 
 was only last week the brindled cow died, 
 and Roger says several others seem ailing. 
 What is all that but signs of witchcraft being 
 abroad ? " 
 
 " O, but the cows are better now, Moll. The 
 warm mash Hodge gave them this morning 
 has done them good. I will go now and see 
 that another is got ready for to-night, and to- 
 morrow morning I will ride over to Hampden." 
 
 Dame Saxby turned away puzzled, angry,
 
 78 SAXBY. 
 
 and very anxious. What could she do to avert 
 the evil that seemed likely to overwhelm them 
 with ruin ? Her eldest, her darling, had been 
 taken away, she was certain, by the baleful 
 influence of witchcraft, and now her husband 
 seemed doomed, while she and her sons might 
 be reduced to beggary and shame. Her hus- 
 band might talk of God helping him to do his 
 duty, but if they had not always done their 
 duty she would like to know who had ! They 
 had gone to church regularly, either in their 
 own parish or at Hampden, paid all dues and 
 tithes, and helped the poor ; and what more 
 could be expected of them she did not know. 
 This was the substance of Dame Saxby's self- 
 communing, as she stood at the window look- 
 ing out upon the stubble fields and the fast- 
 falling leaves of the great beech-tree. 
 
 But idle self-communing was not long in- 
 dulged by Dame Saxby. She must go and 
 look after her maids, who, according to her 
 belief, were sure to be idling if her eye was 
 not upon them ; and if her husband was bent 
 upon wasting his money in fines she must try 
 and make it up a little by stricter economy in 
 the household. Her thoughts thus set going 
 upon her usual household duties, eagerly on 
 the lookout for points where she might save a
 
 Was it Witchcraft? 79 
 
 few pence to help pay the weekly fines for not 
 going to their own parish church, she spied in 
 one corner a heap of dark-looking cloth, and, 
 shaking it out, found it was a green baize 
 table-cover, that Harry had had at Cam- 
 bridge, but which had since been used to 
 cover a small table in Roger's room. It was 
 almost an unheard-of luxury ; but Dame Sax- 
 by thought to please her son by giving him 
 this memento of Harry's Cambridge life when 
 he went away, and therefore to see it thrown 
 here, as if of no value, vexed her not a little. 
 But as she shook it out she saw that it was 
 stained with spots of oil, as though a lamp 
 had been shaken or upset over it ; and, vexed 
 beyond expression at such waste, she went 
 with it at once to Deb, who, being the oldest 
 of her " wenches," was usually favored with 
 most of her confidences and most of her scold- 
 ings. As a matter of course Deb was scolded 
 for the damaged table-cover, and when her 
 angry mistress had said all she could think of 
 concerning the idleness, carelessness, and ex- 
 travagance of serving-wenches, Deb quietly 
 told her all she knew about the matter. Mis- 
 tress and maid knew each other thoroughly, 
 and if there was a quiet tone of calm disdain 
 underlying the respectful words used by the
 
 8o SAXBY. 
 
 cook, Dame Saxby took no notice of it. She 
 had relieved her feelings by scolding Deb, and 
 now she was ready to hear any thing that 
 could be said in explanation of what had hap- 
 pened. But she was scarcely prepared to hear 
 what Deb had to tell that Roger had never 
 liked the table-cover being in his room, and 
 had told Deb to take it away or he should 
 throw it away. The oil had been spilt by ac- 
 cident, she believed. Roger told her he had 
 upset the lamp after he came home from the 
 wake on Sunday, but she did not know that 
 the table-cover had been spoiled, or that it 
 had been brought down stairs. 
 
 " But it is spoiled ; I can never use it for a 
 table-cover again. Such shameful, willful waste. 
 What am I to do with it?" demanded the an- 
 gry lady, holding it out again to look at it. 
 
 " It would make a good warm pair of winter 
 stockings for Roger," said Deb. 
 
 " So it would. I never thought of that, 
 Deb. The master has brought some cloth 
 from London, and I thought to cut a pair of 
 stockings from that, but Roger's shall be cut 
 from this instead. It would serve him right 
 to cut them with the grease spots in ; but \ve 
 need not do that. Still, Master Roger shall 
 remember despising his brother's things."
 
 In London. 8 1 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 IN LONDON. 
 
 THE result of Master Saxby's conference 
 with his neighbor, Master John Hamp- 
 den, made him decide to pay another visit to 
 London ; but his object in going there he kept 
 a secret even from his wife at present, to her 
 great annoyance and indignation. 
 
 Dame Saxby, however, had a secret of her 
 own, which she was very anxious her husband 
 should not discover just yet at least. By and 
 by she might want his assistance to bring the 
 witch-wife to justice ; but at present she had 
 little more than her own prejudice and a little 
 village gossip to convict the poor old woman, 
 who, up to the present time, had always borne 
 a good character among her neighbors. But 
 there certainly had been some mysterious pro- 
 ceedings of late. A tall stranger, shrouded in 
 a long cloak, and wearing a slouched hat, had 
 been seen to leave her cottage after night-fall 
 more than once lately. The blacksmith's wife 
 declared she had seen the shape of a tail under 
 the cloak, and another thought there was a
 
 82 SAXBY. 
 
 faint smell of sulphur in the lane after he had 
 passed ; but, worse than all these surmises, 
 there remained the actual fact that there was 
 a great deal of sickness among the cattle just 
 now, which, according to the belief of those 
 times, could only be accounted for by witch- 
 craft. So Dame Saxby's vague hints that she 
 knew there was a witch somewhere in the 
 neighborhood found only too ready credence 
 among the gossips of the place, and there were 
 plenty ready to watch old Gammer Grove, and 
 bring the mistress news of all they might dis- 
 cover. 
 
 Dame Saxby went home well satisfied with 
 the result of her inquiries, and only anxious 
 lest her husband should spoil the whole plot 
 by some premature step which would warn the 
 old woman that she was watched. She took 
 care to be home before her husband could be 
 back from Hampden, lest he should inquire 
 where she had been. But she need not have 
 hurried herself. Master Saxby did not get 
 back until supper-time, and then he was so 
 grave and preoccupied that he did not notice 
 even the absence of Roger, who had gone out 
 early in the afternoon, and had not yet re- 
 turned. 
 
 When Larry heard that his father was going
 
 In London. 83 
 
 to London he begged that he might go with 
 him, but Master Saxby declared he must go 
 alone ; his errand was important, and he 
 should have no time to take him to see the 
 sights and amusements of the place. So the 
 long-talked-of visit must be deferred until the 
 spring. 
 
 When Dame Saxby found that this import- 
 ant errand was to be kept a secret even from 
 her she grumbled a little ; but then told her 
 husband he need not be at so much pains to 
 keep this a secret when all the village would 
 know within a week that he had gone on busi- 
 ness concerning Master Drayton's appearing 
 before the bishop. 
 
 Her husband did not contradict this asser- 
 tion, and Dame Saxby went on : "I suppose 
 you and John Hampden have decided to 
 stand by Master Drayton and defy the bishop, 
 and the king himself if need be." 
 
 "Well, we had a long talk about the good 
 man, and we both hold that it is our duty to 
 help him. Master Hampden says if he had 
 children to instruct he would take him into 
 his house as chaplain, but, that not being so, 
 he is willing to devote a certain'sum to his 
 maintenance as a lecturer ; by which means 
 Hampden will profit by his godly teaching
 
 84 SAXBY. 
 
 still, and he hopes that some others in the 
 neighboring villages will also contribute some- 
 thing as well." 
 
 " Of course you promised to do so, in spite 
 of the risk and the fines you will have to pay," 
 said Dame Saxby crossly. 
 
 " I could not do less, Moll, seeing what a 
 debt I owe to Master Drayton." 
 
 " Well, I hope doing this will satisfy you, 
 then, and that you will go to your own church 
 without any more trouble coming upon us." 
 
 Master Saxby shook his head ; but his wife, 
 thinking she had found the clew of this obsti- 
 nacy, and would soon be able to deprive the 
 witch of her power over him, let the matter 
 drop, convinced that things would soon work 
 round into their usual state again when Gam- 
 mer Grove was got rid of. 
 
 Master Saxby set out on his journey alone, 
 but was glad to join a party of travelers for 
 safety's sake before they reached London ; for 
 the neighborhood of Hounslow and Hamp- 
 stead was infested with robbers, and it was only 
 by traveling in large parties, and all well armed, 
 that the traveler could hope to reach his des- 
 tination in safety. 
 
 By the time the city was reached his horse 
 was well-nigh worn out with his two days'
 
 In London. 85 
 
 journey and the speed to which he had been 
 urged the last few miles. Never had the low- 
 ine of his own cattle been more welcome to Mas- 
 
 o 
 
 ter Saxby's ears than the cries of the city ap- 
 prentices as they plied their masters' trade. 
 
 " What do you lack ? What do you lack ? 
 Buy a watch or a horologe ? " cried one. 
 " What do you lack ? A silken girdle or a 
 velvet cloak, a satin doublet or woven hose ? 
 Walk in, my masters, walk in and choose the 
 best in London town," shouted a pushing 
 mercer's lad, hustling the passengers and plac- 
 ing himself right in Master Saxby's way. 
 
 " Nay, nay, my good lad, I want not silken 
 hose or satin doublet, but a decent hostelry 
 where I can refresh myself and my tired 
 horse." Master Saxby had alighted, and was 
 leading the poor jaded animal, which had 
 fallen lame. This consideration of the country 
 farmer seemed to touch the London appren- 
 tice, and, darting into the crowd after a fair- 
 haired school-boy about ten or eleven years 
 old, who had just passed, he called, " Johnny, 
 John Milton, here, take this stranger to the 
 ' Mermaid ! ' Tis a decent hostelry, sir, in 
 Broad-street, and right opposite Master Mil- 
 ton's, the scrivener," said the apprentice, turn- 
 ing to Master Saxby.
 
 86 SAXBY. 
 
 " Is your father the scrivener, my little lad ?" 
 asked Master Saxby, as the gentle-looking, 
 fair-haired boy placed himself at his side. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; we live at the sign of the ' Spread 
 Eagle,' in Broad-street, and the ' Mermaid,' 
 where, my father says, Master Will Shak- 
 speare and Ben Jonson and other poets used 
 to meet a year or two ago, is a little farther 
 down, not quite opposite, as Tom Simmons 
 said." 
 
 " Is Tom Simmons your friend, my lad ? " 
 
 " N-no, not such a friend as Gill, my school- 
 master's son. Gill can write poetry." 
 
 " And would you like to write poetry ? " 
 asked Master Saxby, looking down into the 
 fair, refined face of the little boy. 
 
 " Yes, sir ; it is almost as good as music, 
 I think, and my father writes music, you 
 know." 
 
 " Does he ? But I thought you said he 
 was a scrivener at least that lad did." 
 
 " Yes, he is. But you must not always be- 
 lieve what Tom Simmons says. He told a lie 
 once, and said he had been with me to Allhal- 
 lows Church to hear godly Master Gataker, but 
 he told me he would not come to hear that 
 Puritan, and went to Holborn Fields to gather 
 May boughs."
 
 In London. 87 
 
 " Is the minister at Allhallows a Puritan, my 
 little lad ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir, I think so. My father says he 
 preaches godly sermons, although he will not 
 have us follow the king's ' Book of Sports.' " 
 
 " Then is your father a Puritan too ? " asked 
 Master Saxby rather eagerly. 
 
 " I suppose so. Master Stocke, the parson 
 of Allhallows, and Master Gataker, of Rother- 
 hithe, often come to see my father, and Tom 
 Simmons says they are both Puritans." 
 
 " Ah, ah ! then I think I shall come home 
 with you, my lad, and ask your father to do 
 some scrivener's work for me," said Master 
 Saxby with something of a sigh of relief, for 
 he had been wondering who he could get to 
 execute the work he wanted done. This se- 
 cret of his was a weighty one, and it would 
 not do to intrust it to any body ; but if this 
 Master Milton was a godly man and a Puri- 
 tan he would be able to understand the need 
 there was for this work being done promptly 
 and thoroughly. 
 
 They had turned out of the bustle and din 
 of Cheapside now into the more quiet Broad- 
 street, and a few minutes brought them to the 
 scrivener's door. The boy darted in at once 
 and Master Saxby soon followed to where a
 
 88 SAXBY. 
 
 grave, elderly man sat writing at a desk, with 
 two or three apprentices close by. 
 
 Master John Milton laid down his pen and 
 pushed the parchment on one side to listen 
 to his little son's tale of the stranger he had 
 brought home with him ; but when Master 
 Saxby came forward himself the child left them 
 and went into the room at the back of the 
 shop to tell his mother and sister of his ad- 
 venture. 
 
 Master Saxby was certainly prepossessed by 
 the grave sweetness of the old scrivener's face ; 
 but still he needed to be cautious, and so, 
 merely saying he had some weighty work to 
 be executed, if Master Milton thought he could 
 use dispatch, and promising to call again when 
 the scrivener was less busy, he asked a few 
 questions about the " Mermaid " as a hostelry, 
 and what sort of a parson they had in this par- 
 ish, which led Master Milton to invite the 
 stranger to call upon him that evening, when 
 the shop was closed, as he expected the min- 
 ister and his worthy friend, Master Gataker, 
 to call upon him. 
 
 This Master Saxby readily promised to do, 
 for it would give him time to follow his friend 
 Hampden's advice, and he would walk up -to 
 Gray's Inn as soon as he had his dinner, and
 
 * In London. 89 
 
 find out Oliver Cromwell, to consult him about 
 the best scrivener to be employed upon his 
 business. Perhaps he might know this Master 
 Milton, or could find out whether he was a man 
 to be trusted in this delicate affair. Having 
 settled this matter in his own mind he felt at 
 liberty to rest and refresh himself when he had 
 seen that his horse was well cared for. 
 
 Dinner over, Master Saxby set out on his 
 walk to Gray's Inn, near Holborn fields ; but 
 catching sight of Master Milton's face as he 
 passed his shop, he almost decided to intrust 
 the business to him, whether Oliver Cromwell 
 knew him or not, so anxious did he feel to 
 make his acquaintance and see more of the 
 child, who reminded him so much of his own 
 dear Harry. After all, Oliver was little more 
 than a lad himself, and would, perhaps, have 
 few opportunities of knowing what these scrive- 
 ners were, although a good deal of their work 
 would, doubtless, pass throngh his hands in 
 the course of his law studies. 
 
 He had little trouble in finding the young 
 student, and had soon told him the business 
 that brought him to London, and also his 
 meeting with little John Milton, on his way 
 home from St. Paul's school. 
 
 But young Cromwell knew nothing of Mas-
 
 90 SAXBY. 
 
 ter Milton, although he knew a certain city 
 knight, Sir James Bouchier, who probably did 
 know him, and, with the greatest alacrity, he 
 proposed taking his cousin's friend with him at 
 once to consult the wealthy furrier upon the 
 matter in hand. Master Saxby demurred at 
 giving so much trouble, but young Cromwell 
 declared he thought little of the trouble, and 
 as he was engaged to sup with the knight's 
 family it would be of little consequence that 
 he went an hour earlier. 
 
 Arrived at the wealthy city merchant's 
 house, it was easy to see that Master Oliver 
 was welcome, whatever the business might be 
 that brought him, especially to Mistress Eliza- 
 beth, the eldest of the merchant's daughters ; 
 and Master Saxby noted it as a piece of gos- 
 sip to be taken home to his wife. 
 
 As young Cromwell had surmised, Sir James 
 did know something of Master Milton ; had 
 heard him spoken of as the most trusty scrive- 
 ner in London, and one to whom he would 
 himself confide any business of weight and se- 
 crecy without hesitation. 
 
 But he would not hear of his visitor return- 
 ing to the " Mermaid " until he had supped, 
 although Master Saxby declared he was not 
 fit to sit down with ladies, as he had not
 
 /;/ London. 91 
 
 brought a change of dress with him. But the 
 merchant laughed off these scruples, and kept 
 him talking so long about crops and cattle, 
 and the prospects of the country, that it was 
 five o'clock and supper- time before he was 
 aware of it. 
 
 Those were not the days when culinary 
 matters were left to a servant entirely, and 
 the merchant's daughters prided themselves 
 on being able to set a well-cooked meal on 
 their father's table ; and doubtless Mistress 
 Elizabeth had taken extra pains with the 
 salads to-day in anticipation of the visit of 
 Oliver Cromwell. There were boar's head 
 and venison pasties, boiled salmon from the 
 Thames, and calves' foot pies ; but the most 
 intricate and delicate dishes to prepare were 
 the vegetables, or salads, as they were then 
 called. A dish of boiled mashed carrots, to 
 which was added cinnamon, sugar, ginger, a 
 handful of currants, vinegar, and butter, was 
 considered very rich, while one of marigold 
 leaves," with similar additions, was considered 
 very choice. 
 
 Master Saxby was inclined to turn up his 
 nose at this fine cooking ; but it was evident 
 that young Cromwell was ready to be pleased 
 with any thing that Mistress Elizabeth had
 
 92 SAXBY. 
 
 done, and praised the housewifely care be- 
 stowed on the preparation of these dishes. 
 
 When supper was over, and the table cleared 
 away, the young people prepared to amuse 
 themselves with singing, and Master Saxby 
 had a little further talk with Sir James Bou- 
 chier, during which it came out that he was 
 as stanch a Puritan as the Cromwells, and 
 would not suffer young Oliver to visit them 
 as he did if he were not assured that he was 
 a steady, God-fearing young man, earnestly 
 striving to fit himself for the responsible duties 
 devolving upon him as an elder son, who must, 
 to a certain extent, take upon himself the du- 
 ties of his father toward his sisters and mother, 
 and the neighborhood in which he lived. 
 
 " He has told me it was no easy matter for 
 him to give up the quiet pursuit of learning 
 at Cambridge, when his father died, to come 
 up here and learn something of the practice 
 of the law ; but he saw that if ever he was to 
 make a wise and just landlord, and as he 
 probably will be some day a justice- of the 
 peace to his neighbors, he must know some- 
 thing of this matter. So he has resolutely set 
 himself to do his duty, regardless of what his 
 wishes may be ; and may God bless and honor 
 him for it ! " said the knight warmly.
 
 In London. 93 
 
 "Ah, ah, to do one's duty is not always the 
 easiest thing in the world," said Master Sax- 
 by, with something of a sigh. 
 
 " Nay, nay ; and our young men often think 
 that they have little to do but enjoy them- 
 selves running off to practice archery at the 
 Butts, by Southwark or in Moorfields, think- 
 ing little of their master's business, and less 
 about the duty they owe to them." 
 
 This was said for the benefit of two 'pren- 
 tice lads, who were standing near, waiting to 
 speak to their master before he left the shop 
 again. 
 
 It was quite dark by this time, and so Sir 
 James, turning to these two, bade them get a 
 link and light Master Saxby through the city 
 to Broad-street, and having seen him safe to 
 the " Spread Eagle," to return without delay 
 and help count the skins that had just been 
 delivered.
 
 94 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 A SOCIAL EVENING. 
 
 MASTER SAXBY was not sorry to reach 
 his destination in Broad-street, and very 
 thankful to the lads who had conducted him 
 in safety through the dark, narrow, ill-kept 
 streets ; for there was not only the danger of 
 falling in some of the numerous ruts and holes 
 with which these abounded, but robberies with 
 violence were of frequent occurrence after 
 night-fall, even in the very heart of the city, 
 and in spite of the watch that patrolled its 
 streets for the protection of wayfarers. The 
 fact was, the cunning thieves knew the time 
 when the watchmen might be expected in a 
 certain quarter, and even if the cries of their 
 victim brought the welcome, " Ho, ho," from 
 the watch, or brought a few citizens from their 
 houses, the darkness made their capture al- 
 most impossible, if they were at all dexterous; 
 and so it came to pass that few, beyond those 
 whom dire necessity compelled, ever went out 
 after nightfall, unless it was to visit a neigh- 
 bor a few steps from their own door, and they
 
 A Social Evening. 95 
 
 could go and return while the watch were 
 close by to protect them. The two 'prentice 
 lads who had conducted him through the 
 streets carried each a stout stick, and assured 
 him several times there was no danger; for 
 if any one attacked them, they would soon 
 raise the cry of " Clubs, clubs! " which would 
 bring forth from the houses all the free " 'pren- 
 tices" of London, and Master Saxby knew 
 enough of " 'prentice " customs to know that 
 the boast was by no means a vain one ; but 
 still he was thankful to reach Master Milton's 
 door without such an adventure. 
 
 The two ministers, Master Stocke and Mas- 
 ter Gataker, had already arrived, the children 
 had gone to bed, and placid Dame Milton sat 
 sewing some cloth hose for her little John. 
 She was some years younger than her hus- 
 band, whom she looked up to with a reverence 
 that made itself apparent even to Master Sax- 
 by, while the old scrivener evidently regarded 
 her as a companion to be most tenderly cher- 
 ished and loved. 
 
 Room was made for the stranger-guests at 
 once in the pleasant family circle, and news 
 from the country, especially as regarded Puri- 
 tanism, was eagerly asked for, and the troubles 
 of poor Master Drayton were at once told, and
 
 96 SAXBY. 
 
 almost before he was aware of it he had told 
 his present errand to London. 
 
 He was afraid the share he was about to 
 take in the protecting and helping Master 
 Drayton would lead to ruinous fines being im- 
 posed upon him, which would eventually lead 
 to the loss of his patrimony, which he was 
 most anxious his son should inherit intact. 
 So, by the advice of his neighbor, Master 
 John Hampden, he had come to London to 
 get the necessary deeds executed, giving this 
 to his eldest son at once, and constituting 
 himself, and, in case of his death or inability to 
 fulfill the duties, his second son Roger, trus- 
 tees until Harry should return and claim the 
 gift. In case of Harry's death he wished it to 
 be provided that the estate should go to his 
 children, or, in case of his dying childless, to 
 revert to Roger or Lawrence. The secret fear 
 concerning his great-grandfather's curse falling 
 upon his children he kept to himself; but still 
 it was a powerful factor in actuating him to 
 take all these precautions against the land 
 passing away from the Saxby family. 
 
 "Then it is still dangerous to profess a pure 
 doctrine, or to strive for purity of worship," 
 said Master Stocke, the minister of Allhallows. 
 The London ministers were at this time less
 
 A Social Evening. 97 
 
 open to persecution than many of their breth- 
 ren, for the Bishop of London and the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury had a strong leaning 
 toward Puritanism themselves, and so were 
 not likely to search for it very rigorously, as 
 many other bishops did. In addition to this, 
 and a more powerful reason, the citizens were 
 almost entirely Puritan in their principles, and 
 they were too useful in granting subsidies and 
 benevolences to the needy monarch to be of- 
 fended with impunity in the matter of their 
 religious convictions. 
 
 " We are in less evil case than our brethren 
 of the country," said Master Gataker ; " for, 
 though we cannot hope for much in the way 
 of preferment to high places in the Church, 
 many things imposed upon our brethren are 
 not forced upon us." 
 
 " But you are compelled to read the king's 
 ' Book of Sports/ exhorting the people to 
 break the Sabbath," said Master Saxby. 
 
 " The king commanded us so to do, but 
 when the king's command is contrary to the 
 teaching of God's word, think you any godly 
 minister would hesitate whom he should obey ? 
 'Tis but few pulpits in London where the 
 ' Book of Sports ' is read," concluded Master 
 Gataker.
 
 98 SAXBY. 
 
 " Ah, but in our parish they preach the doc- 
 trine that it is a man's duty to obey the king 
 above all things ; that his right to rule is di- 
 vine, and even in matters of conscience it is 
 treason to disobey him." 
 
 The old Puritan divine shook his head 
 gravely. " The sin of treason is as the sin of 
 witchcraft, and no man dare counsel that any 
 should commit that. But, then, although 
 kings be the ministers appointed by God to 
 rule over us, I hold not that our King James 
 is but another pope to order the things per- 
 taining to the Church according to his will. 
 An he rule us according to God's law we are 
 bound to obey him, as saith St. Paul, ' Fear 
 God, honor the king.' " 
 
 "Ah, ah, but in this time-serving age too 
 many of our parsons forget St. Paul, or re- 
 verse the order of his command. It has 
 grown fashionable, specially in our parts, to 
 preach much about obeying the king, but 
 little about the fear of God," said Master 
 Saxby. 
 
 " Yes, yes, we have heard of it, and of the 
 tribulation of many of our brethren, who have 
 dared to declare the whole counsel of God in 
 this matter, and we know not what to do, or 
 what this thing will grow to by and by. We
 
 A Social Evening. 99 
 
 who love the doctrine of Calvin, and would 
 fain see our Church more like that of Geneva 
 in its freedom from Romish practices we 
 would rather also see the king more favorable 
 to his Scottish subjects in their love of Pres- 
 byterianism than so anxious to force bishops 
 and a prayer-book upon them." 
 
 " Nay, but the king has taken the greatest 
 care to uphold the doctrine of Calvin by the 
 deputies sent to take part in the disputation 
 with Arminius at Dort," said Master Milton, 
 quickly. 
 
 " Yes, yes, he will oppose Arminius to his 
 face, and force the Dutch to a persecution of 
 him if he can ; and yet it is feared by many 
 that his dislike of Presbyterianism, which gives 
 men higher thoughts of civil liberty, arises 
 from his overweening love of kingly authority, 
 which may yet lead him covertly to favor Ar- 
 minianism as a spiritual power to uphold his 
 kingly right in all things." 
 
 But Master Milton did not hold this rather 
 gloomy view of the old Puritan divine. Things 
 were bad enough, he knew, but he hoped the 
 next change might be for the better. The 
 power of the House of Commons was cer- 
 tainly on the increase. The spread of learn- 
 ing all over the country had raised the intelli- 
 7
 
 ioo SAXBY. 
 
 gence of the people, and the king could not 
 control the election of members, as once had 
 been the custom. 
 
 " King James hardly understood this when 
 he told the Parliament a few years ago ' that 
 as it was blasphemy to question what the Al- 
 mighty could do by his power, so it was sedi- 
 tion to inquire what a king could do by virtue 
 of his prerogative.' " 
 
 " Ah, ah, that was a bold speech, and made 
 many tremble, I trow," remarked Master 
 Saxby. 
 
 " Doubtless many trembled ; but not our 
 brave Commons ; for not long afterward they 
 boldly told the king that ' new laws could not 
 be instituted, nor imperfect laws reformed, nor 
 inconvenient laws abrogated by any other 
 power than that of the high court of Parlia- 
 ment ; ' that is, by the agreement of the Com- 
 mons, the accord of the Lords, and the assent 
 of the king," said Master Milton, triumph- 
 antly. 
 
 " Yes, yes, the struggle has begun, but 
 when and how will it end ? " said Master Gat- 
 aker, with something of a sigh. 
 
 " The king has certainly put an end to this 
 struggle for the present by ruling without a 
 Parliament, and I have heard that their boast-
 
 A Social Evening. 101 
 
 ed power could not save one Master Pym 
 from imprisonment for vaunting words spoken 
 in this same Parliament," remarked Master 
 Saxby. 
 
 " That is true enough," assented Master 
 Milton ; " but there are already whispers 
 abroad that the king will be compelled to call 
 another Parliament ere long, and men are pre- 
 paring themselves for the struggle, for many 
 things need reforming in the State as well as 
 in the Church." 
 
 " An the king will let us worship God ac- 
 cording to our own conscience, would it not 
 be better to leave other things alone and not 
 meddle with the king's prerogative ? " ques- 
 tioned gentle Dame Milton. 
 
 But her husband shook his head, and Mas- 
 ter Stocke remarked, " The Reformation has 
 taught men to think for themselves, to inquire 
 into the use and value of many things our fa- 
 thers reverenced without understanding them. 
 The uselessness and evil of many of these led 
 them to overthrow the religious tyranny by 
 which they had been governed for centuries, 
 and now the secular power must reform at the 
 bidding of this same principle, or it will share 
 the fate of the Church that governed England 
 before the Reformation."
 
 io2 SAXBY. 
 
 " They are bold words, my brother," said 
 the elder divine, warningly. 
 
 " It were better for Christians to let the 
 world alone, I trow," said Dame Milton. 
 
 " Nay, nay, dame ; that might be an our 
 blessed Saviour had never said, ' Ye are the 
 salt of the earth,' " said her husband, tenderly, 
 patting the smooth white hand that had been 
 laid upon his shoulder as if to stay him in this 
 dangerous work they were discussing. 
 
 " Ah, dame, 'tis a pity the world cannot be 
 reformed without all this struggling and fight- 
 ing," remarked Master Saxby with a sigh, as 
 he thought of his son and the struggle going 
 on in the Protestant States of Germany. 
 
 " I have so often thought of Master Pym 
 being shut up in the Gate-house when the Par- 
 liament was over, and of Dame Pym and her 
 bitter disappointment and anxiety when he 
 did not reach home as she expected, and all 
 this suffering for a few brave words that did 
 but anger the king " 
 
 " Nay, nay, dame ; Master Pym did but 
 speak the thoughts of many in England to- 
 day, and 'tis but fair to warn the king that we 
 will not wear the yoke he would fain impose 
 upon us." 
 
 " But 'tis all about worldly matters the Par-
 
 A Social Evening. 103 
 
 liament concerns itself," objected the lady ; 
 " if it were a matter of conscience, such as 
 you have suffered for, John, I would not say 
 one word against it." 
 
 John Milton had come of a noble, wealthy, 
 Catholic family, and his friends had cast him 
 off on his embracing the Protestant faith. It 
 was to this his wife referred. 
 
 " Nay, but dame, State matters and Church 
 matters the right to worship God after our 
 own hearts' desire are so interwoven now 
 that we cannot separate them. Spiritual and 
 civil liberty are bound up together, and both 
 must be won or lost in this struggle," said 
 Master Stocke. 
 
 " I cannot bear to think of it," said the lady 
 with a shiver of apprehension. It was but 
 yesterday I heard of another man being seized 
 for speaking against the Court of Star-cham- 
 ber, and none, can tell who may be the next 
 even for speaking against these shameful new 
 monopolies." 
 
 " That is true enough, dame. But think 
 you honest folk ought quietly to give up their 
 money to enrich such creatures as this Sir 
 Giles Mompesson and the court gallant Buck- 
 ingham, without a lawful protest being made 
 against this most unlawful exaction ? "
 
 104 SAX BY. 
 
 " But who would dare to make the pro- 
 test ? " asked Dame Milton. 
 
 " None would have the right to do it but 
 Parliament, and they will doubtless tell the 
 king that this thing may not be repeated ex- 
 cept by their consent." 
 
 " And then some more good, brave men will 
 be thrust into prison, and their wives and lit- 
 tle children be plunged into sorrow and mourn- 
 ing. Nay, nay, I would rather pay ten times 
 as much for my currants, and never more wear 
 silver lace than that this should happen." 
 
 " Ah, dame, I can feel for you there," said 
 Master Gataker ; " but, I fear me, if the same 
 spirit was in our Parliament men we should 
 have to leave out in our readings those pre- 
 cious words of David : ' The earth is the Lord's, 
 and the fullness thereof,' for it would be full 
 of violence and extortion, and the devil would 
 soon have it all his own way. -Nay, nay, the 
 world belongs to God still, and we wont give 
 it up to the devil, hard as he may try for it." 
 
 " But think of the sorrow and the suffering ! 
 Only last week I saw a man in the pillory for 
 writing something that had given offense to 
 the king and council." 
 
 " Ah, true, dame ; and there was a cross 
 reared once on a green hill-top, and one suf-
 
 A Social Evening. 105 
 
 fered there more cruel pangs than those of the 
 pillory ; and all because he so loved the world 
 that he would not let the devil keep the prize 
 he thought he had cheated God of. He never 
 taught us that God's work of saving the world 
 could be easily or cheaply done, and so we 
 must not be surprised at the struggling and 
 fighting, or shrink from bearing our part in it, 
 if God call us to endure it. Now, friends, let 
 us pray. This is the true source of strength 
 and courage and all might;" and Master Gat- 
 aker prayed with a fervor that carried all hearts 
 with him, and made even timid Dame Milton 
 forget her fears for the present. 
 
 Then the Bible was brought out, and Master 
 Gataker turned its leaves over to the account 
 of Gideon, and his heroic deeds on behalf of 
 an oppressed people; and read it aloud in such 
 tones of thrilling power that every heart was 
 stirred and strengthened, and almost longed 
 for some call of duty bidding them emulate 
 the noble deeds of the heroic old Hebrew. 
 
 Whatever we may think, and whatever critics 
 may say, about this portion of God's word, it 
 is incontestible that our Puritan forefathers 
 the heroes of their own and of every age 
 drew inspiration, strength, and courage by 
 drawing deeply and largely from this well of
 
 106 SAXBY. 
 
 salvation. Many a weak heart, wearied with 
 the long, long struggle of right against might, 
 came back to this old story of Gideon, and 
 read, with ever-rising courage and hope, the 
 glorious triumphant song of Deborah and Ba- 
 rak. Even their very weakness was turned 
 into a source of strength, and was gloried in 
 and triumphed over, as making them the chos- 
 en instruments of God to confound the wise 
 and mighty of the world. We read the same 
 soul-stirring words now, and our hearts break 
 into a song, but little do we know of their 
 sweetness and strength as compared with those 
 held perhaps within prison walls for essaying 
 to do some noble deed, or uttering some true 
 brave words, yet comforting themselves with 
 the thought that the battle was no uncertain 
 one, since God was on their side ; and though 
 they might be shut up and never permitted to 
 lift a hand again in the fight, others would 
 grasp the standard and press on to victory. 
 
 Some such thoughts as these rested in the 
 hearts of all our friends as they separated for 
 the night. They could hear the watch ap- 
 proaching, and under their escort Master Sax- 
 by would return to the " Mermaid," and the 
 ministers would go together to the home of 
 Master Stocke, close to All-hallows Church,
 
 Gammer Grove. 107 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GAMMER GROVE. 
 
 MASTER SAXBY'S stay in London was 
 not a long one, but while the necessary 
 deeds were being prepared he contrived to see 
 little John Milton very often, and most of his 
 evenings were spent in the quiet family circle 
 listening to the music of which Master Milton 
 was so fond, or talking to gentle Dame Milton 
 as she sat sewing. But the week in London 
 soon came to an end, and with a promise to 
 call and see the scrivener whenever he should 
 visit the great city again, Master Saxby once 
 more turned his steps homewards. He went 
 a mile or two out of his way to call upon John 
 Hampden and leave the deeds for him to look 
 over, and there he was met with a tale of fresh 
 troubles having fallen upon Master Drayton. 
 
 " Some meddlesome body in Great Kimble 
 has accused poor old Gammer Grove of being a 
 witch, because they saw Master Drayton leave 
 her cottage after dark. It was not deemed 
 safe that the ministers who have met together 
 with him for the study of God's Word should
 
 io8 SAX BY. 
 
 go to his house just now, since the place is 
 doubtless watched by the bishop's spies, and 
 so Gammer Grove's cottage was chosen as the 
 place of meeting Master Drayton knowing 
 her to be a godly, steadfast woman, not likely 
 to betray them. Little did he think it could 
 bring trouble upon her, seeing she was held 
 in such high esteem by the neighbors. But a 
 day or two ago, when she went through the 
 village, a few of the idle lads set up the cry 
 after her, ' a witch ! a witch ! ' and yesterday, 
 when she went to inquire after the blacksmith's 
 sick child, the door was slammed in her face, 
 and she was accused of making the little fellow 
 ill, as well as causing all the sickness among 
 the cattle in the neighborhood. Then another 
 angry woman asked her who the tall stranger 
 was, with horns and hoofs, who came to visit 
 her so often; which at once convinced the 
 poor old woman what was the cause of the ac- 
 cusation. She begged Master Drayton not to 
 come again to her cottage, and she hoped the 
 affair would blow over ; but he is anxious to 
 go at once and declare the whole business, and 
 I hardly know what to advise in the matter." 
 
 " Leave it to me, Master Hampden, and tell 
 Master Drayton not to stir in the business, 
 and I'll protect poor old Gammer Grove, never
 
 Gammer Grove. 109 
 
 fear," said Master Saxby, quickly. "The wit- 
 less knaves must surely be mad to accuse that 
 poor old woman of being a witch. Why, she 
 was always ready to lend a helping hand to 
 any one in trouble, and when there was so 
 much sickness in the village two years ago, 
 Gammer Grove was nurse to every poor body 
 in turn." 
 
 " Well, well, if you can make them see rea- 
 son, neighbor Saxby, I shall be glad if Master 
 Drayton can be spared making any stir in the 
 matter, as it might bring trouble to two or 
 three other ministers in these parts; but re- 
 member the poor old woman must be protect- 
 ed at all costs," said Master Hampden. 
 
 " Never fear, never fear but I will protect 
 her," said the farmer, rising as he spoke. 
 
 The deeds had been handed to Master 
 Hampden, and a few words said about the 
 worthy scrivener who had drawn them up ; and 
 had there been time more would have been 
 said about the meeting with the two Puritan 
 divines at Master Milton's house, but Master 
 Saxby was anxious to reach home now, with 
 as little delay as possible. He, therefore, urged 
 his horse to a brisk canter as soon as he left 
 Master Hampden's door. At first he thought 
 he would stop at the blacksmith's shed, and
 
 SAXBY. 
 
 inquire what the village news was, and whether 
 any thing had happened during his absence, as 
 he frequently did when he had been a few 
 days from home, but second thoughts made 
 him decide to go straight home and get the 
 news there. His dame would be sure to have 
 heard all the village gossip, and ready enough 
 to tell him every thing that had happened, 
 which the blacksmith might not be very for- 
 ward to do if he had joined in this foolish out- 
 cry against poor old Gammer Grove. 
 
 So he did not draw rein until he reached 
 the porch before his own door, where his wife 
 appeared the next minute to meet and wel- 
 come him home. 
 
 As soon as the first greetings were over and 
 Hodge had been called to take his horse to the 
 stable, Master Saxby said quickly, " What is 
 all this about Gammer Grove, Moll ? " 
 
 " Gammer Grove ? " repeated the dame, 
 bustling off to prepare a meal for her hungry 
 husband. " Here, Deb, bring that cold chine, 
 and Sally come and set the table ready for 
 supper," she called, as she hurried to the dairy 
 to get some fresh butter. 
 
 Master Saxby saw it would be little use 
 questioning his wife until supper was on the 
 table, at least, but Roger and Larry coming in
 
 Gammer Grove. 1 1 r 
 
 at that moment, he at once began questioning 
 them. Lawrence did not answer his father's 
 question at all, but left his elder brother to do 
 this, while he went and stood at the window. 
 
 Roger hesitated, and seemed confused when 
 his father said, " My lad, I want you tell me 
 all you know about this foolish business of 
 Gammer Grove being a witch." 
 
 " But I don't know that it is so foolish, fa- 
 ther," said Roger, plucking up a little courage 
 at last. " There's a witch about somewhere, 
 that's certain, and more than one person in 
 these parts is bewitched, to say nothing of the 
 cattle that's dying all round. Our Cowslip's 
 dead." 
 
 "Cowslip?" repeated the farmer; "how 
 came you to let that happen ? I wouldn't 
 have spared fifty pounds to save that cow." 
 
 " We did all we could, father. Hodge sat 
 up all the night before last to see that the 
 witch did not come nigh the barn, and he used 
 all sorts of things to break the spells, but it 
 was all of no use ; there's no fighting against 
 witch spells ; and they say Gammer Grove is 
 a bad one, for all she is so demure." 
 
 " Gammer Grove a witch ! Why you will 
 say your own mother is one next, you witless 
 knave," said Master Saxby, half angrily. .
 
 1 1 2 SAXBY. 
 
 " But there's Cowslip, and she's not the only 
 cow that's died about here lately," objected 
 Roger. 
 
 " Poor Cowslip ! I wish I had been home 
 before she died. But still, I'll never believe 
 Gammer Grove had any thing to do with her 
 sickness or death. There must be some dis- 
 ease among the cattle just now. A kind- 
 hearted old woman like the gammer, who has 
 nursed every child in the village and been 
 ready to do any body a good turn, would never 
 kill my cows." 
 
 " Not until the devil got hold of her," said 
 Roger a sentiment he devoutly believed in 
 himself. 
 
 But Master Saxby shook his head. " I 
 doubt whether the devil comes so readily un- 
 less he is invited, and we know Gammer Grove 
 too well to think that of her. Besides, Roger, 
 I know the gammer has had nothing to do with 
 this business," concluded Master Saxby in a 
 decided tone. 
 
 " Well, father, I might have said the same 
 about the gammer once, but it's no use going 
 against the whole village when they've seen 
 the Evil One leaving her cottage more than 
 once ay, and smelt him too," concluded 
 Roger.
 
 Gammer Grove. \ \ 3 
 
 " What will the witless knaves say next ? " 
 exclaimed Master Saxby. 
 
 " It 's true enough, I can tell you, father." 
 
 " That they said it ? Well, perhaps so ; but 
 what will you say, Roger, when I tell you that 
 I know who it was left Gammer Grove's cot- 
 tage, and that he was an honest gentleman who 
 little thought to get the poor old woman into 
 trouble through it ? " 
 
 But Roger was still unconvinced. All the 
 village said she was a witch, and how could his 
 father know any thing about it, since he had 
 been in London ever since the discovery had 
 been made ? At this moment Dame Saxby 
 came in, and her husband at once turned to 
 question her. 
 
 " Don't ask me what I think about the de- 
 ceitful, wicked old woman, to kill my favorite 
 cow because she saw I was finding out her 
 wickedness and how she was bewitching every 
 body and making every thing miserable for 
 us." 
 
 " Come, come, dame, I shall think you are 
 bewitched if you talk like this of poor old 
 Gammer Grove," said her husband. 
 
 " Well, perhaps I am. At all events some 
 folks not far from me are ! " snapped the dame. 
 
 " Perhaps we are all bewitched together,"
 
 1 14 SAXBY. 
 
 said Roger, in a grumbling tone, glancing 
 down at the stockings that had been made for 
 him out of his brother's table cover. Every 
 private grievance that any body had against 
 another was being set down to the spells Gam- 
 mer Grove had woven against them ; and as 
 Harry, in his kindly good nature, had often 
 spoken a pleasant word, or helped the old 
 woman home with a load of sticks, Roger had 
 taken up the notion that it was through the 
 spells of witchcraft he was such a favorite with 
 his mother and every body who knew him, and 
 that she had worked against him to a like de- 
 gree. What but this ill feeling against him 
 could have made his mother cut his stockings 
 out of the damaged table-cover that had been 
 Harry's ? Not that there was any fault spe- 
 cially to be found with the stockings ; they 
 were as good as perhaps rather better than 
 those he usually wore, and Larry had a pair 
 like them, but then Larry's had been cut from 
 cloth specially provided, and not from his 
 brother's left-off things ; and here lay the sting 
 to Roger. Of course he dared not give vent 
 to these feelings aloud, but he nursed them in 
 his own heart, and they grew in bitterness, day 
 by day, increasing the dislike, almost hatred, 
 he felt against his absent brother, and often
 
 Gammer Grove. 1 1 5 
 
 making him morose and gloomy even toward 
 Larry. 
 
 Master Saxby knew not what to do when 
 he heard his wife declare her belief in the 
 charge brought against poor old Gammer Grove. 
 He was both surprised and disappointed too, 
 for he had secretly relied upon receiving both 
 help and advice from his shrewd wife in this 
 delicate affair ; and to find himself thus sud- 
 denly thrown upon his resources was a puzzle 
 he knew not how to solve. 
 
 He had no appetite for supper now, and 
 even the savory pie that had been specially 
 prepared for his home-coming was pushed 
 aside almost untasted, to Dame Saxby's great 
 vexation, who began to fear now that her hus- 
 band was going to be ill, since he could not 
 eat savory pie. 
 
 In vain the poor man protested that he was 
 only tired from his long journey, and a little 
 put out by this business of Gammer Grove's. 
 His wife would not believe in the one, and de- 
 clared that the old woman was not worth 
 troubling about, and the sooner she was out of 
 the way the better. 
 
 Master Saxby did not attach much impor- 
 tance to these last words, and soon after the 
 table was cleared away he went to bed to try
 
 n6 SAXBY. 
 
 and think out some plan of action for the next 
 day, for something must be done at once to 
 stop the general outcry against the poor old 
 woman, or there was no telling how it might 
 end. 
 
 Meanwhile Dame Saxby and Roger were 
 talking over the same matter down-stairs, and 
 if the farmer could only have heard the con- 
 ference he would probably have got up that 
 very night and sought further aid on the poor 
 old woman's behalf. 
 
 " What do you think now, my son, about 
 your father and this witch-wife ? " said Dame 
 Saxby, when she and Roger were left to 
 themselves. 
 
 Roger shrugged his shoulders. " I don't 
 know what to think. My father says he knows 
 who it is that has been to her cottage of late." 
 
 " Of course he says so ; of course the old 
 witch has made her tale good told him it was 
 some Puritan parson, I dare say ; for, now I 
 come to think of it, she used to be reckoned 
 a Puritan when there was such a rout among 
 them, ten or twelve years ago ; and though I 
 never heard any of them accused of witchcraft, 
 depend upon it they don't mind seeking its 
 aid to get the help and countenance of a rich 
 man like your father. It 's through her witch
 
 Gammer Grove. 117 
 
 spells that she has made him so ready to lose 
 every thing for the sake of declaring himself a 
 Puritan." 
 
 Dame Saxby had talked herself out of breath 
 in her anger, and now paused. " But how are 
 we to stop the mischief now, mother ? " said 
 Roger. " I cannot bear to see my father ruin 
 himself, as he will do, I am sure ; for only to- 
 day, when I met Parson Crane, he stopped 
 and asked me if it was true that my father had 
 determined to protect that treasonable Puritan 
 in the next parish." 
 
 "What did you tell him, Roger?" asked 
 Dame Saxby. " It will not do to offend Mas- 
 ter Crane now, you know," she added. 
 
 " I said I knew little of my father's affairs, 
 but that I always meant to abide by my own 
 parish church, and never run after sectaries, 
 whoever they might be." 
 
 " That's right, Roger ; and we must all be 
 careful to be seen in our places at church, too. 
 To-morrow you shall carry Master Crane a 
 couple of fowls and a score of eggs. If he 
 cannot preach a sermon he has the ear of the 
 bishop, I'm told, and may make things lighter 
 for your father, if the worst comes to the 
 worst. And, now, about this witch ; she must 
 be got rid of somehow. I wish she would go
 
 n8 SAXBY. 
 
 right away from the place, and never come 
 back." 
 
 " What would be the good of that, if she 
 left her spells upon my father and and the 
 rest of us ? " asked Roger, significantly. " No, 
 mother, we must try her in the usual way, 
 and the sooner the better. Some of them 
 were talking about it yesterday; the pond is 
 pretty full now, and " 
 
 " But I should not like her to be drowned, 
 Roger. She saved poor Harry's life when he 
 was struck with the plague, and I was worn 
 out with nursing him ; for no one else would 
 come nigh the house." 
 
 " Well, mother, every body has got some 
 such tale about the old woman, and yet you 
 were the first to get up this cry against her. 
 What is it you do want ? " 
 
 Truth to tell, the fact of having saved his 
 brother's life, and so prevented him from in- 
 heriting the rich Saxby lands, did not tell 
 much in the old woman's favor with Roger, 
 and he rather angrily repeated, " Now, mother, 
 tell us what it is you do want." 
 
 " Well, Roger, I shouldn't like to think the 
 poor old woman was drowned, and through 
 me, too ; but if you could threaten her with 
 it, and drive her away from the village, so that
 
 Gammer Grove. 119 
 
 she'd be afraid ever to show her head in these 
 parts again, things would soon come right of 
 themselves, I know." 
 
 " Well, mother, we '11 try your plan if we 
 can, though I don't see much difference my- 
 self in drowning the old witch outright and 
 driving her away to die of starvation ; for 
 what is she to do anywhere else but beg or 
 starve ? She can't take her cottage and gar- 
 den with her, and she is past work now, you 
 know." 
 
 " No, I don't know any thing about it, nor 
 you either, Roger. She may have friends to 
 go to for what you can tell ; at all events you 
 ought to drive her away, if you can, before 
 she does any more mischief." 
 
 " Very well, mother, I '11 talk to some of 
 them in the village to-morrow, and hear what 
 they say. The blacksmith is ready for any 
 thing since his little lad fell sick, and Hodge 
 is the same since poor Cowslip died." 
 
 " Very well, then, tell them to give the old 
 woman a good fright. I '11 say nothing against 
 that, but give them a horn of strong ale to 
 do it. But, mind, your father must know 
 nothing of this, or he will interfere, and he 
 would rather have you all stood in the stocks, 
 though you are his own son, Roger, than that
 
 i2o SAXBY. 
 
 any thing happen to this old woman, I do 
 believe." 
 
 " Never fear, mother, we will keep it close 
 from him. I don't need to be told that I am 
 nothing to my father," he added bitterly, as 
 he left the room and went up to bed.
 
 Trying the Witch. 121 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 TRYING THE WITCH. 
 
 MASTER SAXBY walked down to the 
 village the next day as soon as the 
 ordinary business of the farm had been dis- 
 patched and the state of the cattle more care- 
 fully noted. They all seemed healthy enough 
 now, and Master Saxby hoped he should not 
 hear of any sickness among his neighbors' 
 stock, for he had set himself the task of rea- 
 soning the people out of their foolish fears 
 about Gammer Grove being a witch. 
 
 The first place he stopped at in his walk 
 through the village was the blacksmith's forge, 
 to tell him of a little job he wanted done, to 
 ask after the sick child, and so lead on to the 
 foolish outcry against Gammer Grove ; for 
 Master Saxby knew that Dobbs was some- 
 thing of a leader among the village gossips, 
 and his forge was the general rendezvous after 
 the ale-house. But Master Saxby had scarcely 
 asked the question about the child before the 
 blacksmith began pouring out his complaints 
 about Gammer Grove and the mischief she
 
 122 SAXBY. 
 
 was doing; and how he hoped a stop would 
 soon be put to her wickedness, for his little 
 lad was no better, although every known rem- 
 edy against witch-spells had been tried, and 
 he was then wearing three charms, each of 
 which his wife had been assured was infallible 
 in curing sickness. 
 
 The farmer sighed as he listened to the 
 swarthy blacksmith's tale of distress, but still 
 he ventured to say, as the man concluded : 
 " Well, Dobbs, I don't doubt but the child is 
 very ill, but still I cannot see why you charge 
 poor old Gammer Grove with causing this 
 sickness. I am sure she would rather help 
 than injure you." 
 
 " Ah, ah, sir, that was when things went 
 pretty much her own way ; but we all know 
 she's a Puritan and dead set against Church 
 ales, wakes, and all Sunday frolicking. Since 
 Parson Crane come among us, and taught so 
 much of the king's ' Sport Book,' the old 
 v/oman has never set her foot inside the church, 
 telling folks the service was half Papist, and 
 she would none of it." 
 
 " Well, Dobbs, I myself have heard you say 
 there never was so much rioting and drunken- 
 ness as since the Sunday revels began." 
 
 "Yes, sir, I have, and I'll say it again; and
 
 Trying the Witch. 123 
 
 not only Sunday, but Monday, too, and half 
 the week the witless knaves are drinking ale 
 and lamb's wool instead of doing their work ; 
 but still it is not for me to set myself above 
 my betters, and say it is all through the junk- 
 etings on Sunday." 
 
 " Well, I will say it, and I have told Master 
 Crane the same thing, and that he ought to 
 teach us that the whole day should be kept 
 holy." 
 
 " Well, sir, I suppose the king and bishops 
 know best about that, and we are bound to 
 believe them and do as we are taught least- 
 ways that is Parson Crane's opinion, and it 
 suits a good many of us, you see." 
 
 " I have no doubt it does ; but don't you 
 think a man ought to ponder over these ques- 
 tions, and decide for himself, instead of be- 
 lieving every thing he is told to believe?" 
 
 " Well, sir, hammering is more in my way 
 than thinking. I never was much at that. 
 When Parson Hammond was here, of course 
 I was bound to believe what he said go to 
 church twice on Sundays and keep out of the 
 ale-house, if I possibly could ; but now Parson 
 Crane says I may go, and the king will not 
 iave me hindered. Why should I stay away, 
 since his majesty has taken so much trouble
 
 1 24 SAXBY. 
 
 that his loyal subjects shall not be hindered 
 in taking their pleasure ? It is only for us 
 who are loyal," added the man, with a touch 
 of pride in his tone, " for Papists and Puritans 
 are forbidden the privilege of these Sunday 
 sports." 
 
 " Well, well, it is useless for me to raise my 
 voice against them, I see ; but now I ask you, 
 Dobbs, as an honest man, to do what you can 
 to stop this foolish outcry about Gammer 
 Grove being a witch. You know it isn't true." 
 
 " No, sir, I don't ; and I can't promise to do 
 more than this that she sha'n't be interfered 
 with for another week, if you'll send her out 
 of the parish right away out of Buckingham- 
 shire, so that she '11 never come back." 
 
 " But, Dobbs, how can I do that ? Would 
 you have her driven away to die of starva- 
 tion ? For it would be nothing less ! " ex- 
 claimed Master Saxby in astonishment. 
 
 The feeling Dobbs manifested against the 
 poor old woman was so much stronger than 
 he expected that he hardly knew what to do. 
 But still he did not despair of being able to 
 modify the opinion of the villagers so that 
 they would, at least, leave her alone, though 
 doubtless she would be shunned and looked 
 upon with suspicion for some time to come.
 
 Trying the Witch. 125 
 
 So from the blacksmith's forge he went on to 
 the ale-house, and called for a mug of lamb's 
 wool to be brought to him in the porch, where 
 two or three old cronies of the village were 
 talking over the much-vexed question of 
 Prince Charles' marriage with a princess of 
 Spain. 
 
 " What would our good Queen Elizabeth 
 have said to this Popish match, bringing our 
 blackest foe into the kingdom ? " said one old 
 farmer, with a groan. 
 
 " Ah, ah, neighbor, you may well say that. 
 When I was in London I went to see Smith- 
 field, where so many martyr fires were lighted, 
 and mainly 'through another Spanish match, 
 if all is true that our fathers have told us," 
 said Master Saxby, joining the group of gos- 
 sips. 
 
 He was eagerly welcomed, and the latest 
 news he had brought from London, and the 
 opinions he had heard there about this dis- 
 tasteful marriage of their future king, were 
 warmly discussed. It was with some difficulty 
 he could introduce the subject he had so much 
 at heart just now poor old Gammer Grove, 
 and the charge brought against her. Then 
 he found that these old folks had not troub- 
 led themselves much about her.
 
 126 SAXBY. 
 
 " She may have made a bargain with the 
 devil, as the youngsters are saying, but it need 
 not trouble us that I see," said one jovial old 
 man. 
 
 " Not if she leaves our cattle alone, and 
 don't use her witch spells against any of us ; 
 but neighbor Saxby, I have heard, has lost 
 one of the finest cows in the country side 
 through the old woman's arts, and so 
 
 " Nay, nay, I never said she killed poor 
 Cowslip," interposed Master Saxby ; " I don't 
 believe the old woman would do any one an 
 ill turn," he added. 
 
 " Well, that may be, and it may not," said 
 one ; " but you can't deny that she's always 
 been strange and unsociable like, unless it was 
 at a time of sickness, and then I've thought, 
 may be that being her own evil work, she 
 wanted to come in and see it, to say nothing 
 of its screening her from all suspicion." 
 
 " Prithee, now you come to talk of it in 
 that way, nothing is more likely," said a third 
 burly farmer, " and though nothing in the 
 way of polygamy or infanticide could be 
 proved against the sectaries who used to meet 
 in her barn, before they were driven out of 
 the parish, depend upon it there was much 
 evil done among them, and old Gammer
 
 Trying tlie Witch. 127 
 
 Grove has been practicing their arts again of 
 late." 
 
 " Nay, nay, good neighbors, be just even in 
 your anger against the poor old gammer. No 
 one could ever say these sectaries or Brown- 
 ists were other than sober and industrious 
 folk, and you know that, as justice of the 
 peace, I went more than once to see what was 
 done at their meetings, of which I had re- 
 ceived complaint ; but I never saw or heard 
 aught but what would profit any Christian 
 man to follow. Praying and reading God's 
 word, with some simple exhortation to live as 
 became the children of God, was all that took 
 place in Gammer Grove's old barn." 
 
 " Ah, ah, Master Saxby, these Brownists, or 
 Independents, as they loved to call them- 
 selves, were too cunning to practice any evil 
 deeds with a justice of the peace present; but, 
 depend upon it, there was some truth in the 
 tales that were talked about them, or else 
 why did they not go to church ? for Parson 
 Hammond was as much a Puritan as them- 
 selves." 
 
 "Well, neighbor, I never had any complaint 
 about these sectaries except in the matter of 
 their not going to church, and their holding 
 meetings in Gammer Grove's old barn ; but as
 
 128 SAXBY. 
 
 that has been pulled down long since, and these 
 Puritans gone beyond the seas, I don't think 
 we can charge the gammer with their doings. 
 So I hope we shall all be fair and just in our 
 dealings with her as becomes Englishmen." 
 
 "Ah, ah, we'll be fair enough with her,- 
 neighbor Saxby," said one or two, as Master 
 Saxby turned away. He had another visit to 
 pay after leaving the ale-house porch, and he 
 hoped if he could win over those whom he 
 would see next, Gammer Grove might be 
 freed from any further molestation. It was a 
 small farm at the further end of the village, 
 and the three grown-up sons who did all the 
 work of the place were the most successful at 
 the running, wrestling, and vaulting matches 
 for miles around. This gave them no incon- 
 siderable influence among their compeers of 
 the village. 
 
 But Master Saxby's hopes on this score were 
 dashed to the ground as soon as he reached 
 the farm-house door. 
 
 " Here is Squire Saxby himself. Now, Job, 
 go and fetch the two chickens ! " exclaimed 
 the farmer's wife before a word of greeting 
 could be exchanged. 
 
 "How now, dame, what is the matter?" 
 asked Master Saxby, stepping into the clay-
 
 Trying the Witch. 129 
 
 floored keeping-room, whither she led the 
 way. 
 
 " Two of my best fowls, Master Saxby, have 
 been killed in the night, and no mortal hand 
 has touched them, for not a feather has been 
 ruffled ; they've just dropped dead from the 
 perch like stones." 
 
 " I am very sorry," began Master Saxby. 
 
 " Sorry ! " interrupted the dame, seizing the 
 chickens as her youngest son brought them 
 in. " Look here, don't that look like witch's 
 work?" she said, turning them over in her 
 hand ; " fine, plump young things, as brisk as 
 any of them when I fed them last night, and 
 stone dead in the hen-house this morning." 
 
 " They must have been taken with the 
 cramp or the pip," ventured her visitor. 
 
 " The cramp ! " scornfully exclaimed the an- 
 gry dame. " I shall begin to think the village 
 is right, and that you are under the old witch's 
 spells. But, squire," she said, suddenly chang- 
 ing her tone, " this can't go on. It must n't 
 be said we are harboring a witch here in Great 
 Kimble, that has always been loyal to Church 
 and king, although there have been sectaries 
 and Puritans among us." 
 
 "Well, dame, but I think" 
 
 " Squire Saxby, it wont do to think now ;
 
 130 SAXBY. 
 
 you must do something to get rid of that old 
 witch, Gammer Grove. We all knew she was 
 a sectary and a Brownist long ago, and no 
 doubt they are all in league with the Evil 
 One ; but now we can prove it against her, 
 and she must leave Great Kimble." 
 
 " But but if we drive the poor old woman 
 away from here, where is she to go ? " asked 
 Master Saxby. 
 
 " O, never fear but the devil will take care 
 of his own. But go from here she must," 
 concluded the farmer's wife. 
 
 " Very well, dame, bring your complaint be- 
 fore me, in proper form, next Tuesday, and I 
 will see what the law says about it," answered 
 her visitor ; for he knew it would be useless to 
 attempt arguing with an angry woman, and he 
 bade her good-morning, and turned his steps 
 homeward. 
 
 He had promised to pay Master Hampden 
 a visit on Sunday, for the proscribed minister 
 was to be there with a few other friends, and 
 a private service was to be held among them- 
 selves in the library, and so if it was necessary 
 he could talk over this affair of Gammer Grove 
 with them afterward ; for he feared she would 
 be obliged to leave the village, for a time at 
 least, until this affair had blown over.
 
 Trying the Witch. 131 
 
 So, thinking over this compromise, and won- 
 dering whether she would be willing to sell 
 him her cottage and little bit of land, which 
 adjoined his own, he took his way to Hamp- 
 den on Sunday morning, meeting on his way 
 several people going to church who had not 
 been there lately. He exchanged a friendly 
 smile and greeting with most of them, but 
 quite failed to detect how curiously some of 
 them looked at him as they passed. The fact 
 was, this walk to Hampden to-day, after the 
 stir there had been made about people going 
 to their own parish church, was taken as a 
 convincing proof of his being bewitched, and 
 some few, remembering his leaning to and pro- 
 tection of the sectaries years before, went so 
 far as to say that the squire was in league with 
 the witch, and would never do any thing to 
 rid them of her presence. 
 
 In happy ignorance of all these surmises 
 Master Saxby spent a pleasant and profitable 
 Sunday with Master Hampden, and before he 
 left a plan was discussed for saving Gammer 
 Grove, and the villagers too, if she would only 
 consent to adopt it, and Master Saxby was re- 
 turning home feeling that that trouble at least 
 was at an end. 
 
 But as he reached the village green, which 
 9
 
 132 SAXBY. 
 
 he had to pass on his way, he saw a crowd" 
 gathered round the horse-pond at one corner. 
 There was a momentary lull in the excitement 
 that seemed to prevail as he first turned out 
 of the lane, but the next minute hoarse voices 
 were calling, " Duck her again, Hodge ! Give 
 the old witch another taste ! " Then followed 
 a splash and brutal shouts of laughter, in the 
 midst of which Master Saxby pushed his way 
 in among them to see what was going on. 
 
 " Here 's another Puritan ! another Puritan ! " 
 shouted two or three half-drunken voices, and 
 Roger Saxby himself, too tipsy and stupid to 
 recognize his father, called out, " Pitch him in 
 after the old witch. We've done for Gammer 
 Grove, and we'll serve all Puritans alike." 
 
 " Go home, sir, this moment ! Is this what 
 you learn from the king's ' Sport Book ?'" and 
 Master Saxby spoke in such a tone of com- 
 mand that the drunken, silly crowd fell back, 
 and Roger recovered himself sufficiently to 
 slink away and stagger homeward. 
 
 To rescue Gammer Grove, and send one of 
 the crowd for help from the ale-house, was the 
 work of a very few minutes; but it was too 
 late to be of any use. The poor old woman 
 was dead before she was taken out of the 
 water, and Master Saxby could with difficulty
 
 rying the Witch.
 
 Trying the Witch. 135 
 
 get any one to carry her away from the edge 
 of the pond to the solitude of her own cot- 
 tage ; for no one cared to touch her now she 
 was dead, although they had been ready enough 
 to drag her from her home an hour before. 
 
 Before they began to disperse Master Saxby 
 informed them that a coroner's inquest would 
 be held on the poor old woman, and some of 
 them would probably be charged with murder, 
 a threat sufficient to sober one or two among 
 them, who forthwith began protesting they 
 had only done as Dame Saxby bade them 
 there was no other way of getting rid of the 
 old witch. Master Saxby did not pay much 
 heed to these protestations now, but he went 
 home feeling sad enough for the share Roger 
 had taken in this cruel business.
 
 136 SAX BY. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PILGRIM FATHERS. 
 
 inquiry into the death of Gammer 
 -1- Grove was not very satisfactory in its re- 
 sult. The belief in witchcraft was so general 
 in those days, and public opinion in Great 
 Kimble had been so deeply aroused against 
 the poor old woman, that her murder was held 
 to be almost justifiable, although the coroner 
 warned the accused that they ought to have 
 given notice to the justice of the peace, and 
 proceeded against the deceased in due form. 
 There was also another difficulty in the way 
 of justice being done. Half a dozen of the 
 ringleaders in the crowd had been arrested, 
 but every body was so tipsy before the out- 
 rage had even been thought of that no one 
 could say who had proposed it, or who had 
 actually caused her death. They were half 
 ashamed of the cowardly deed now, and cer- 
 tainly, but for the Church ales they had been 
 drinking it would never have been perpetrated. 
 But though little satisfaction was given for 
 poor old Gammer Grove, a great deal of ill-
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers. 137 
 
 feeling was roused against her friend, Master 
 Saxby, for taking up her case so warmly ; and 
 whispers were rife about his being under witch- 
 spells, and more than half a Brownist, and in 
 league with the witch. Dame Saxby, too, 
 found her position any thing but an enviable 
 one, for her neighbors looked upon her with 
 sly suspicion, as having roused the persecu- 
 tion against Gammer Grove, and then turned 
 against them for having carried out her wishes 
 only too well in getting rid of the old woman ; 
 for Dame Saxby, when she heard of the death, 
 was most vehement in denouncing its cruelty, 
 reproaching Roger for his share in it as strong- 
 ly as her husband reproached her for having 
 first set the rumor afloat that the old woman 
 was a witch. 
 
 And so the winter of 1619 passed slowly 
 away, bringing but one letter from Harry, just 
 after he reached Prague. News traveled slow- 
 ly and uncertainly in those days, and it was 
 not until the middle of February, 1620, that 
 news reached Great Kimble of the crowning of 
 the king's son-in-law as king of Bohemia and 
 head of the Protestant cause in Germany, and 
 with it came news of his utter defeat at the 
 battle of Prague, and that the Palatinate, as 
 well as Bohemia, was wrested from his grasp.
 
 138 SAXBY. 
 
 The news ran th'rough England like an elec- 
 tric shock, and showed how deeply rooted was 
 Protestantism in the heart of the nation ; for 
 the murmurs of discontent against the king's 
 policy ran so high that, in deference to this, 
 James was obliged to promise to summon an- 
 other Parliament, and Master John Hampden 
 was chosen to share the danger of those who 
 were determined to compel the king to do 
 something to help the Protestant cause on the 
 continent. 
 
 There was a stir and bustle in many an 
 English household that spring, for hundreds 
 of gentlemen were following Harry Saxby's 
 noble example, and, without waiting for the 
 king's tardy movements, were going at their 
 own expense to join in the struggle for relig- 
 ious liberty. 
 
 In this universal unrest Master Saxby felt 
 that he could not stay at Great Kimble. Anx- 
 iety to know the fate of his dearly-loved son 
 made him long to be in London, where he 
 might meet some one who had seen him or 
 fought by his side ; and so, when the affairs of 
 the farm were set in order so that they might be 
 left to Roger's management for a few months, 
 Master Saxby, with his wife and younger son, 
 removed to London and took lodgings in a
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers. 139 
 
 pleasant house overlooking the Thames and 
 within easy reach of Master Milton's, whom he 
 often visited of an evening when the scriv- 
 ener's work was over. 
 
 Among the Puritan friends meeting at Mas- 
 ter Milton's he heard that a vessel was to sail 
 from London in July, carrying some emigrants 
 who were to join their friends from the Low- 
 lands at Southampton. Shortly afterward Mas- 
 ter Saxby went to look over the " Mayflower," 
 as the little vessel was called. Various places 
 had been suggested to the travelers as their fu- 
 ture home ; the Prince of Orange wishing them 
 to join the Dutch settlement of Amsterdam 
 merchants, on the River Hudson. But ar- 
 rangements had now been entered into with 
 the Virginia Company for their settlement at 
 a place sufficiently remote from those planta- 
 tions, that the religious difference between the 
 settlers should not be a cause of quarrel, and 
 yet that they should still be under the British 
 crown ; as one of those who had been in the 
 Lowlands, and was about to sail with the little 
 company of emigrants, said to Master Saxby. 
 
 " It is grievous to us to live from under the 
 protection of the State of England, for we are 
 likely to lose our language and our very name 
 of English. In Holland, too, we could do but
 
 140 SAXBY. 
 
 little good, for we could never persuade them 
 to reform the Sabbath, while our children 
 could never be educated as we ourselves had 
 been ; and so, if God be pleased to discover 
 some place unto us in America, we may show 
 our countrymen, no less burdened than our- 
 selves, where they may live, and, being free 
 from antichristian bondage, may keep their 
 names and nation, and not only be a means to 
 enlarge the dominions of the English State, 
 .but the Church of Christ also." 
 
 "Ah, ah, and many, I doubt not, will follow 
 your brave example," exclaimed Master Saxby. 
 " I would that I could go with you," he added 
 the next minute, with something of a sigh as 
 lie thought of Harry righting in the German 
 war, and Roger, who had of late been such a 
 source of anxiety to him. 
 
 A letter had come from Harry lately, telling 
 of his escape after the battle of Prague, but no 
 word of his probable return ; and Roger, he 
 feared, cared less for the Sabbath than ever, 
 unless it was as a day of rioting and drunken- 
 ness. It was well that Master Saxby had the 
 affairs of these emigrants to interest himself 
 in, and that many of them were poor almost 
 ruined through the fines that had been imposed 
 upon them making them all the more Mas-
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers. 141 
 
 ter Saxby's friends ; many a gift which he 
 thought might be useful to them on the voy- 
 age, or when they reached the strange, deso- 
 late shores of America, was added to their 
 slender store through Master Saxby's kindness. 
 He would go with them to Southampton, 
 too, and see his old friend, Robert Cushman, 
 and his family, who were coming from Holland 
 in the " Speedwell," as the two vessels were 
 to sail to America in company. It was near 
 the end of July, 1620, that the " Mayflower " 
 sailed from London with its party of emi- 
 grants and a few friends who wished to see the 
 whole party depart from Southampton. The 
 " Speedwell " had not reached its destina- 
 tion when the London party got there, but 
 in a day or two she arrived safely from her 
 voyage across the sea. Then it was found that 
 there were about one hundred and twenty to 
 sail in the two vessels. Robert Cushman was 
 of the number, and right glad he was to see 
 Master Saxby and two or three other friends 
 who had come to bid them a last farewell. 
 
 " You will not cast in your lot with us ? " 
 said Cushman, grasping his friend's hand, as 
 they stood on the shore watching the sunlit 
 waves as they danced and rippled round the 
 prow of the little vessel.
 
 142 SAXBY. 
 
 " Not now, not now, friend ; but I may come 
 by and by. If it were not for the Saxby lands 
 I know not whether I would not join your 
 company or go to the German war and fight 
 beside my son. You have brought me no 
 tidings of him," added Master Saxby ; for, 
 somehow, he had thought that coming from 
 beyond the sea, these friends must have heard 
 of Harry, and he had indulged the hope that, 
 coming to Southampton, he should surely see 
 some one who had seen him lately. 
 
 But Master Cushman shook his head. " God 
 grant we may make another England beyond 
 the sea, where there shall be no more religious 
 wars," he said, and then he added more brisk- 
 ly, " But, my friend, why should your land be 
 as a fetter binding you to bondage ? Many 
 among us had lands and goodly houses and 
 honorable names, but we have forsaken all for 
 that Christian liberty that is denied to us 
 here." 
 
 " Ah, ah, but you know not all concerning 
 our Saxby lands," replied his friend ; for, some- 
 how, his superstitious fears concerning the 
 threatened curse had increased since the death 
 of poor old Gammer Grove, though why he 
 should connect the one with the other it was 
 hard to say.
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers. 143 
 
 It was arranged that a parting service should 
 be held just before the vessels finally sailed, 
 and at that meeting a letter, or, rather, an ad- 
 dress, should be read that had been given to 
 some of them just before leaving Leyden by 
 their minister, Mr. Robinson, already known 
 as the " Father of the Independents," although 
 he did not follow entirely the doctrine of 
 Brown, whose name was properly given to the 
 sect. 
 
 Master Saxby hardly knew what to do about 
 going to this meeting, for his leaning toward 
 " sectaries," who were looked upon askance 
 even by the Puritans of the Church, had already 
 got him into such ill odor among his friends at 
 home that he had resolved to keep more aloof 
 from them in future. But his friendship for 
 Cushman and one or two others of the party 
 overcame his timidity at last, and right glad 
 he was afterward ; for, as he told Master Mil- 
 ton and his friends when he returned to Lon- 
 don, he would not have missed hearing Rob- 
 inson's address for any thing, sectary though 
 he might be. 
 
 When the little company of pilgrims and 
 their few friends were gathered together and 
 prayer had been offered, one of the eldest of 
 them a tall, noble-looking man stood up and
 
 144 SAXBY. 
 
 read, amid breathless silence, the words of the 
 minister who, like themselves, had shared per- 
 secution and tasted of every danger and hard- 
 ship that beset them while presiding over their 
 little Church in Holland. 
 
 " Brethren, we are now quickly to part from 
 one another, and whether I may ever live to 
 see your faces on earth any more the God of 
 heaven only knows. But whether the Lord 
 has appointed that or no, I charge you before 
 God and his blessed angels that you follow me 
 no further than you have seen me follow the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 " If God reveal any thing to you by any 
 other instrument of his, be as ready to receive 
 it as ever you were to receive any truth by my 
 ministry ; for I am verily persuaded the Lord 
 has more truth yet to break forth out of his 
 holy word. 
 
 " For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail 
 the condition of the Reformed Churches who 
 are come to a period in religion, and will go at 
 present no further than the instruments of their 
 reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn 
 to go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever 
 part of his will our God has revealed to Cal- 
 vrh, they will rather die than embrace it ; and 
 the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers. 145 
 
 were left by that great man of God, who yet 
 saw not all things. 
 
 " This is a misery much to be lamented, for 
 though they were burning and shining lights 
 in their times, yet they penetrated not into the 
 whole counsel of God, but were they now liv- 
 ing would be as willing to embrace further light 
 as that which they first received. I beseech 
 you remember it as an article of your Church 
 covenant that you be ready to receive what- 
 ever truth shall be made known to you from 
 the written word of God. 
 
 " But I must here withal exhort you to take 
 heed what ye receive as truth ; examine it, 
 consider it, and compare it with other Script- 
 ures of truth before you receive it ; for it is 
 not possible the Christian world should come 
 so lately out of such thick antichristian dark- 
 ness and that perfection of knowledge should 
 break forth at once." 
 
 At the conclusion of this address a chapter 
 from God's word was read and a suitable 
 prayer offered, but Master Saxby was thinking 
 little of either. The wonderful address of this 
 sectary, who had been driven out of England, 
 had so impressed him that he could give little 
 thought to any thing else. The broad, Chris- 
 tian liberality that was shown in exhorting his
 
 146 SAXBY. 
 
 flock to receive the truth from any one who 
 could teach them, so different from any thing 
 he had ever heard before, made him almost 
 forget where he was until there was a little 
 stir in the congregation, and then, as they rose 
 to separate, he looked round upon the little 
 party of pilgrims, whose souls had been fed 
 and nourished on such strong meat as this 
 minister Robinson could doubtless give them, 
 and truly they looked no unworthy disciples. 
 
 Brave, resolute, noble-looking men they were, 
 and women too, worthy to be the fathers and 
 mothers of a new, free, brave race. These 
 were no puling, miserable, discontented sect, 
 but the very flower of Englishmen, with all 
 the grand old English virtues, aided by noble 
 birth and gentle breeding in many cases, and 
 strengthened and braced by enduring persecu- 
 tion and poverty for the sake of that liberty 
 they held more dear than life. 
 
 The 5th of August saw the two vessels sail 
 from bright Southampton bay amid the prayers 
 of the little company gathered on the shore to 
 see the last of the white sails as a fair wind 
 carried them down the Channel.* 
 
 Then Master Saxby turned his steps toward 
 London once more, to tell his friend Milton, 
 * See Frontispiece.
 
 Tlie Pilgrim Fathers. 147 
 
 and Master Gataker, and other Puritan friends, 
 who could only half believe in the Christianity 
 of these sectaries, of the wonderful address of 
 this Independent minister which he had heard 
 at Southampton. But good men were slow 
 to believe in the goodness of any thing out- 
 side the Church in those days, even though 
 they might differ from it in many points, both 
 as to doctrine and ritual ; still, the sin of schism 
 was to them so awful that they were willing to 
 endure any thing rather than be guilty of what 
 they held these Independents to have commit- 
 ted. So Master Gataker could only shake his 
 head and deplore that so many good men 
 should leave the Church of England instead of 
 staying within her pale and striving for a fur- 
 ther reform in her liturgy and services. 
 
 " I have heard it was what many said about 
 Luther ; and even his first thoughts were not 
 that he would leave the corrupt Romish 
 Church, but reform it," said Master Saxby. 
 
 " Ah, but it was too corrupt," said Master 
 Milton, " and would not be reformed." 
 
 " Well, well, I say not that our Church is 
 as the Church of Rome, but will she cast aside 
 what still savors too much of Papistry to please 
 our Protestant stomachs ?" said Master Saxby. 
 
 " I hope so. I hope to see the day when
 
 148 SAXBY. 
 
 every vestige of the old Popish service shall 
 be cast away." 
 
 " Many fear that day will never dawn, and 
 in despair of this have separated themselves 
 from us, as Luther did from his Church," said 
 Master Saxby, whose leaning to sectaries was 
 decidedly stronger than ever since his visit to 
 Southampton. 
 
 The ground of this argument was gone over 
 by these friends, but they failed to convince 
 each other, although they still remained" 
 friends ; for no one could help liking kindly 
 Master Saxby, whether they agreed with his 
 opinions or not.
 
 Another Citation from the BisJiop. 149 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ANOTHER CITATION FROM THE BISHOP. 
 
 MASTER SAXBY spent a good deal of 
 his time in Paul's Walk or Duke 
 Humphrey's Walk as the principal aisle in 
 St. Paul's Cathedral was called. It was the 
 most frequented promenade in the city, both 
 for idlers and men of business. Here lawyers 
 would meet their clients, fashionable people 
 their friends, to exchange the news of the day ; 
 and the pillars of the sacred pile served as ad- 
 vertisement sheets, in the absence of newspa- 
 pers, for servants wanting places and masters 
 wanting servants. 
 
 Here every scrap of news concerning the 
 struggle now going on in Germany was at once 
 circulated ; but little satisfaction, however, 
 could Master Saxby glean from any thing he 
 heard, and the hope of seeing Harry again 
 shortly grew less day by day, although he 
 contrived to send more than one letter to him 
 urging him to come home and take the man- 
 agement of the farm into his own hands. 
 
 At last he grew tired of the inaction and 
 10
 
 150 SAXBY. 
 
 weary waiting for news that never came news 
 of Harry himself for beyond a few hastily- 
 penned lines saying he had escaped after the 
 battle of Prague, no word had come to cheer 
 the anxious father and mother. So one day, 
 about a month after his return from South- 
 ampton, when he had spent nearly the whole 
 day in wandering up and down Paul's Walk 
 and among the booksellers' shops in St. Paul's 
 Church-yard, he returned home, and his first 
 words almost made Dame Saxby jump for joy. 
 
 " Moll, we must go back to Great Kimble ; 
 we must go back in time for harvest," he said 
 with a deep yawn. 
 
 " Yes, to be sure ; I don't know what Roger 
 will do without us in the busy season," said 
 Dame Saxby, who was heartily tired of these 
 pent-up London lodgings, and she bustled 
 about to get her husband's supper with re- 
 newed vigor at the thought of so soon going 
 back to their own bright country home. 
 
 " But, father, we cannot go yet not for a 
 fortnight at least for you promised Master 
 Oliver Cromwell and Mistress Bourchier you 
 would go to their wedding," said Larry, who 
 was by no means tired of London yet. 
 
 " True, my lad, I had forgotten that. When 
 is the wedding to be, dame ? " he asked.
 
 Another Citation from the Bishop. 151 
 
 " The twentieth of this month. We might 
 stay and see the young couple married and 
 begin our journey the same day." 
 
 " Master Cromwell will journey to Hunting- 
 don with Mistress Elizabeth as soon as the 
 wedding is over," said Larry. 
 
 " Ah, ah, you have heard all the news, I 
 trow," said his father. 
 
 " Yes, I know that Master Cromwell has got 
 six sisters, and those who are not married are 
 to live with him and his wife and mother," 
 said Larry. 
 
 So it was settled that they should go to St. 
 Giles' Church, Cripplegate, in the early morn- 
 ing, and then, without waiting for the wed- 
 ding-feast, begin their journey back to Buck- 
 inghamshire at once ; for now that he had 
 once decided to go home again, Master Saxby 
 was impatient to get there. He was not satis- 
 fied with the last account he had heard of 
 Roger, and he was anxious to see his friend, 
 Master Hampden, again; for the much-talked- 
 of Parliament had not assembled yet, although 
 people were grumbling more loudly than ever 
 about the oppressive monopolies and taxes, 
 the Spanish match of Prince Charles, and the 
 backwardness of the king in helping the Ger- 
 man Protestant cause.
 
 152 SAXBY. 
 
 But if Master Saxby was glad to be among 
 his own fields and farm-buildings, his wife was 
 ten times more glad to get back to her dairy 
 and poultry, and take up the scolding of her 
 serving maids again ; and Larry, though he 
 had enjoyed visiting the various sights of Lon- 
 don in company with his new friend, young 
 John Milton, and his father, still even he 
 seemed glad to get back to his brother and all 
 the household pets. Dame Saxby hoped that 
 during their long stay in London Gammer 
 Grove had been forgotten by their neighbors, 
 and that she should never hear the old wom- 
 an's name again. 
 
 The affairs of the farm had not prospered 
 under Roger's management, and for the first 
 few weeks Master Saxby 's time was fully taken 
 up with setting things right, as far as that 
 could be done. But when the busy season 
 was over he went at once to see his friend 
 Master John Hampden, and hear whether any 
 further steps had been taken to call a Parlia- 
 ment together. 
 
 Dame Saxby had already paid young Dame 
 Hampden a visit, for a baby had come to 
 brighten their stately home while the Saxbies 
 were in London, and Dame Saxby had chafed 
 sorely when she heard the news that she was
 
 Another Citation from the Bishop. 153 
 
 not at hand to give her advice and help at the 
 time. 
 
 Now she thought Master Hampden would 
 surely be content to let the king's affairs alone, 
 and not run into such danger as Master Pym 
 had incurred at the close of the last Parlia- 
 ment, and she told the young matron the 
 whole story of his imprisonment, as she had 
 heard it from Dame Milton. 
 
 But, to her surprise, the young mother, 
 though she stooped to kiss her baby with a 
 look of more tender love in her eyes, said 
 quite calmly, " John and I have talked it all 
 over, dame, and I have promised never to 
 hold him back from what he sees to be his 
 duty by any weak fears of mine." 
 
 " Weak fears," repeated Dame Saxby ; " but, 
 my dear Bessie, you ought to keep your hus- 
 band out of such danger for your child's sake, 
 if not for your own." 
 
 " Nay, but, dame, do not think I am forget- 
 ful of my little Bessie, if I keep not my hus- 
 band back from what he deems it his duty to 
 do," said the young mother, with a quiver in 
 her voice, and Dame Saxby saw that it was 
 not so easy after all for her to send her hus- 
 band on such a dangerous errand as attending 
 Parliament threatened to be.
 
 1 54 SAXBY. 
 
 But before this much-talked-of Parliament 
 assembled Master Saxby was startled by a 
 visit from Robert Cushman, whom he had seen 
 sail from Southampton in the " Mayflower." 
 It was a tale of disaster the brave man had to 
 tell, and filled the friends with anxious fears 
 and forebodings for the safety of the pilgrims 
 who had set forth once more in search of a 
 new home. 
 
 The " Mayflower " and " Speedwell," carry- 
 ing the pilgrims from Leyden, had kept to- 
 gether ; but before proceeding far on their 
 journey it was found necessary for the " Speed- 
 well " to put back for repairs, and they ran the 
 vessels into Dartmouth. After being detained 
 here some days they put to sea again, some- 
 what disheartened at the delay, but still hop- 
 ing to reach their destination before winter set 
 in. They ran about a hundred leagues, losing 
 sight of the white cliffs of their dear native land, 
 when the " Speedwell " sprang another leak, 
 and they were again compelled to put back. 
 This time they came into Plymouth, where, 
 upon examination, the " Speedwell " was found 
 to be unseaworthy, and the captain refused to 
 venture upon the voyage again. 
 
 By these delays a month was lost precious 
 time that the pilgrims could ill afford to lose,
 
 Another Citation from the Bishop. 155 
 
 now that winter was approaching, and they 
 knew nothing of the climate of the " New En- 
 gland " they were to colonize. But these 
 were not the men to be turned from their 
 purpose by difficulties or disappointments, 
 and so many as the " Mayflower " could with 
 safety convey resolved to go ; and only eight- 
 een out of the hundred and twenty were left 
 behind. The rest sailed from Plymouth the 
 fourth of September, leaving their friends in 
 no small anxiety for their safety and the ulti- 
 mate success of the venture. 
 
 Robert Cushman had lingered at Plymouth 
 for some time to hear if any further disaster 
 befell the pilgrims, or any homeward-bound 
 ship had brought news of the little vessel; but 
 nothing had been heard of them since the day 
 they sailed, and they must be content to wait 
 until tidings reached them from the far-off 
 unknown land to which they had gone. 
 Months or even a year might elapse before 
 news could reach them, for the " Mayflower " 
 was not to return at once ; and unless the 
 Virginia Company should hear of these new 
 settlers from those who were out there, the 
 prospect of which was very remote, for it had 
 been purposely arranged, on account of the 
 religious differences known to exist between
 
 1 56 SAXBY. 
 
 them, that the two colonies should be entirely 
 separated, and one placed at some distance 
 from the other. 
 
 It seemed that this winter was to be full 
 of surprises, for preparations had hardly com- 
 menced for securing fit members for the com- 
 ing Parliament, which was at length to meet 
 in March, 1621, when a letter reached Master 
 Saxby from Harry, telling his father of his 
 marriage ; and, as though this in itself was not 
 sufficient surprise, he had married a French 
 lady, who, with her family, had been driven 
 from her ancestral home in the south of 
 France by the cruel persecution still being 
 carried on against the Huguenots, as the 
 French Protestants were called. Harry took 
 care to explain that his wife was a Protestant, 
 and a most devoted Christian, as well as a 
 gentle, amiable, tender wife, who had already 
 done much to alleviate the hardship of his 
 soldier life. His mother forgot or overlooked 
 all this, and the bare fact that he had married 
 a stranger and a French woman made her for- 
 get even her love for him for the time, and 
 she declared she would never own him never 
 see him again and the Saxby lands should 
 never be given to the children of this French- 
 woman. All this, and a great deal more, did
 
 Another Citation from the Bishop. 157 
 
 Dame Saxby say in her passion, and Roger 
 took care to keep his mother's anger from 
 abating by words dropped now and then 
 about the land passing into the hands of for- 
 eigners by and by. He hoped by this means 
 to induce his father to alter the disposition of 
 the property ; for although it had come down 
 from the father to the eldest son for genera- 
 tions, it was not strictly entailed, and Master 
 Saxby could cut off his elder son and leave it 
 to Roger if he pleased. From this time Roger 
 made up his mind that this should be done, 
 and he set himself to please his father as stu- 
 diously as he could. Now that there was little 
 fear of the land ever becoming the property of 
 his elder brother he developed an aptitude in 
 the care and management of it quite unknown 
 before, and Master Saxby could but feel 
 pleased and gratified, more especially as 
 Roger went less frequently to the Sunday 
 revels at the ale-house than he formerly did. 
 It comforted him a little for the disappoint- 
 ment he felt about Harry for this marriage 
 had disappointed him, and crossed more than 
 one fondly-cherished plan which he and his 
 wife had talked over for his benefit. They 
 had arranged between themselves that when 
 Harry came home the visit they had promised
 
 158 SAXBY. 
 
 to pay young Oliver Cromwell at Huntingdon 
 should be paid, and they would take Harry 
 with them that he might see the sisters of 
 Cromwell ; and then, what more natural than 
 that he should choose one of them for a wife ? 
 his father and mother had argued. So they 
 had laid their plans for this marriage, and the 
 installment of the young couple in the old 
 homestead, while another farm should be 
 bought for Roger, and they would take Larry 
 and remove to London, or go to this new col- 
 ony in America, where they would not be 
 harassed with vexatious fines for non-attend- 
 ance at church, or be looked upon with sus- 
 picion and distrust if they sympathized with 
 sectaries. 
 
 Dame Saxby could hardly be said to sym- 
 pathize much with her husband in these latter 
 aspirations. She did not see why he should 
 not conform to the law and go to his own 
 parish church, whatever the doctrine might be 
 that was preached ; but as he would not do 
 this, and she dreaded the fines and impover- 
 ishment that must follow his refusal even more 
 than he did, she was willing to do any thing 
 to escape them, so as to leave the property 
 intact for their children. She began to blame 
 herself now for not having tried to conciliate
 
 Another Citation from the Bishop. 159 
 
 poor old Gammer Grove, and so have induced 
 her to remove the witch spells in which it 
 seemed her husband was still bound ; for, not 
 content with offending their own parson, he 
 openly avowed his sympathy with Master 
 Drayton, who had been ejected from the next 
 parish for his Puritan teaching, and helped to 
 support him as a traveling lecturer, but he 
 actually permitted him to lecture in one of 
 his own barns occasionally, and welcomed all 
 who liked to come and hear him. 
 
 Of course this could not go on long without 
 attracting the notice of those in power, and 
 before the winter was over Master Saxby was 
 summoned to appear before the bishop. The 
 weather was very cold, and the roads almost 
 impassable with snow, when the summons ar- 
 rived, and Master Saxby found it impossible 
 to reach the place which had been appointed 
 by the bishop by the day named in the sum- 
 mons. 
 
 For this delay he was kept in prison for a 
 month at his own charge, and, not being pro- 
 vided with means for this unexpected delay, 
 and unwilling to vex his wife by what he knew 
 she looked upon as being caused by his own 
 folly, he would not send home for any more 
 money, and so suffered much from the cold,
 
 160 SAX BY. 
 
 as well as from the damp, unwholesome prison 
 where he was lodged. 
 
 But, so far from yielding on the point for 
 which he was imprisoned for he had been 
 asked if he was prepared to yield obedience 
 to the bishop in future before he was con- 
 demned to this punishment, and had refused 
 so far from yielding now, he was more de- 
 termined than ever not to wound his own con- 
 science by a weak compliance to ordinances 
 he despised, and to a spiritual tyranny growing 
 more like that of Rome every day. 
 
 He obtained the use of a Bible in his prison, - 
 and would sit for hours poring over the stories 
 of the old Hebrew worthies, " Who through 
 faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous- 
 ness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
 of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped 
 the edge of the sword, out of weakness were 
 made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to 
 flight the armies of the aliens." And Master 
 Saxby found the promises made good ; " for 
 out of weakness " was he " made strong," and 
 he could look forward with confident hope to 
 the day when old England, as well as the New 
 England a handful of brave men were going 
 to found, would be freed from the spiritual 
 bondage in which she was now held, and all
 
 Another Citation from the Bishop. 161 
 
 her sons be permitted to worship God accord- 
 ing to the dictates of their own conscience. 
 But the struggle for this freedom must come 
 first. He saw that more clearly than ever, and 
 he, too, must do his small part in maintaining 
 it. Nothing would be gained, but a step lost 
 in the onward march, if he yielded now ; and 
 so, looking on to the victory that must come 
 by and by, he grew brave and strong in spite 
 of his meager fare and close imprisonment, 
 and the bishop found that his spirit had by 
 no means been broken by this taste of the 
 rigors of the law. He was certainly disap- 
 pointed, but, hoping that a few words of warn- 
 ing as to what he might expect for a second 
 offense might be more effective than continued 
 punishment, he imposed a moderate fine, and 
 when this was paid Master Saxby returned 
 home, but not to attend his parish church, 
 or to turn his back on his friend, Master Dray- 
 ton, but to give more earnest heed in conduct- 
 ing his household after a godly fashion.
 
 162 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 KING JAMES AND HIS PARLIAMENT. 
 
 SPRING came round once more, and in 
 March Master John Hampden went to 
 take his seat in Parliament, and his friend, 
 Master Saxby, journeyed to London with him 
 to hear all the news about the German war, 
 and make inquiries about the pilgrims who 
 had gone to America, and the prospects of the 
 new colony established there. 
 
 The men chosen by the country as their 
 representatives might have convinced the king 
 that they were in earnest, and were not likely 
 to submit even to his kingly authority in the 
 matter of these unlawful monopolies, and the 
 secret favor he was showing to the Papists by 
 his unwillingness to help the struggling Prot- 
 estants of Germany. 
 
 But he thought to intimidate them at their 
 first sitting, and therefore told them they were 
 no more than his council to give him advice ; 
 and as to their anxiety about the Palatinate 
 and his daughter, who, with her children, had 
 been turned out of house and home almost
 
 King James and his Parliament. 163 
 
 destitute, while her husband was feebly main- 
 taining the unequal struggle for the Protestant 
 cause, he was quite as anxious as they were, 
 and if he could not get the Palatinate re- 
 stored by fair means his crown, his treasure, 
 and his blood should be given to restore them. 
 
 He then commanded the Parliament not to 
 waste their time in hunting after grievances, 
 but to use all dispatch in voting him the 
 money to commence the war. 
 
 Believing the king's protestations, the Com- 
 mons at once voted him two subsidies, but the 
 king took no step toward beginning the prom- 
 ised war; and seeing this, the Commons began 
 their inquiries about the illegal monopolies on 
 currants, silver lace, and the licenses granted 
 to hostelries which were in the hands of Sir 
 Giles Mompesson and Mitchell, two creatures 
 of the Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 But the king was by no means disposed to 
 have his favorite's arrangements interfered with 
 in this way. The country was his estate, and 
 existed for his pleasure, and if he permitted 
 Parliament to meet and advise with him upon 
 its management occasionally, they must be 
 taught that they could not, and should not, 
 interfere with his prerogative. This was King 
 James' view of the situation, and he cut short
 
 164 SAXBY. 
 
 their inquiries into grievances, and prorogued 
 Parliament until the following November, to 
 give him time to commence the promised war. 
 So Master John Hampden journeyed back 
 into Buckinghamshire, by no means averse to 
 meeting his dear wife and baby daughter again, 
 but more grave, more anxious, than ever he 
 had been before. He had held many conver- 
 sations with Master John Pym, who had al- 
 ready been in prison for his bold speaking in 
 Parliament, and it seemed to him now that the 
 struggle between the king and country was 
 but beginning, instead of being nearly over, 
 as he had sometimes hoped it was. Which 
 would conquer in the end he did not know, for 
 on the one side was the deep, calm, but ever- 
 growing desire for more freedom, balanced by 
 a reverence for kingly authority, and a deep 
 sense of the duty of obedience to all lawful 
 authority up to a certain point. On the other 
 hand there was the obstinate determination to 
 stretch the limits of kingly prerogative beyond 
 what had ever been assumed by any sovereign 
 before. James aimed at nothing less than 
 being a despotic ruler, while the people were 
 every day growing less likely to submit to it. 
 This hasty dissolution of Parliament, so soon 
 as he could grasp the money voted, was sow-
 
 King James and his Parliament. 165 
 
 ing the seed that might yield a bitter harvest 
 by and by, either to the king or his son, al- 
 though Hampden hoped, from what he had 
 heard of Prince Charles, that he would make a 
 better king than his father, if only this match 
 with Spain could be broken off. 
 
 Master Saxby was returning home again for 
 the summer, at least, and as they journeyed 
 along the roads he and Master Hampden dis- 
 cussed these public affairs, and whether it 
 would be better to seek a home in the new 
 country at once, or stay and do what they 
 could to save their dear native land from fall- 
 ing under the tyranny of priestcraft again, of 
 which there seemed such imminent danger. 
 
 Master Saxby 's own opinion was, that it 
 was decidedly his neighbor's duty to stay, 
 more especially since he could raise his voice 
 in Parliament, and make one of the band of 
 brave patriots who had determined to be the 
 mouth-piece of thousands of their oppressed 
 countrymen. But for himself he was not so 
 sure what was the right course to be pursued. 
 He had been threatened with a second and 
 heavier fine in case of his non-compliance with 
 existing laws, and his return to Great Kimble 
 now might bring upon him a summons from 
 
 the bishop and a second term of imprison- 
 11
 
 166 SAXBY. 
 
 mcnt, as well as a fine of some hundreds or 
 even thousands of pounds ; for this court of 
 High Commission, like that of the Star-cham- 
 ber, rarely allowed a victim to escape until it 
 had ruined him ; and ruin meant worse than 
 poverty to his children, for it would bring upon 
 them the unknown power of their ancestor's 
 curse. 
 
 Little wonder was it, therefore, that Master 
 Saxby was going back to his home in fear and 
 trembling, or that he longed for the rest and 
 security of some place where he might worship 
 God in peace and quietness, though he should 
 have to work hard and endure many priva- 
 tions, for the wandering life he would have to 
 lead now, banished from his home, if he would 
 save it for his children, was already growing 
 irksome almost intolerable. True, there was 
 one way by which he could save himself and 
 live in peace and security, but the price de- 
 manded was too high Master Saxby could 
 not violate his conscience, even for the sake of 
 peace and rest and security. 
 
 Of course his coming home brought as much 
 pain as pleasure to his wife and sons, for 
 he still absented himself from church, and 
 went to hear Master Drayton whenever he 
 preached in the market-places of the neighbor-
 
 King James and his Parliament. 167 
 
 ing towns, which soon set the village talking 
 again, and made Dame Saxby glance fearfully 
 and furtively down the road half a dozen times 
 a 'day in expectation of seeing the bishop's 
 messenger riding up with another summons, 
 as he came that sorry day last winter. This 
 anxious watchfulness on the part of his wife 
 could not escape Master Saxby long, and it 
 fretted and worried him more than the fear 
 of summons itself did. 
 
 " If only Harry would come home, dame, 
 we would go away and leave the lads with the 
 land, and you and I would find a home for 
 ourselves in this new colony of America, where 
 we should no longer be harassed with fear of 
 bishops' messengers and fines, but might end 
 our days in peace and rest." 
 
 " I never shall know peace and rest again," 
 said Dame Saxby, bursting into tears ; " and 
 as to Harry coming home, what would be the 
 use of his coming now with a fine madam of a 
 French wife ? She would ruin every thing in a 
 twelvemonth. What would she know about a 
 dairy and our way of managing poultry? and, 
 after all, why should we depend so much upon 
 Harry? there is Roger." 
 
 Master Saxby looked at his wife in blank 
 amazement ; for never before would she hear
 
 168 SAXBY. 
 
 of Roger being put upon an equality with 
 their eldest son. This had been his intention 
 when the boys were young, to divide the land 
 between them ; but Dame Saxby had instantly 
 and vehemently opposed it. Harry had been 
 her darling always, and her partiality had often 
 been unduly manifest, which, doubtless, had 
 caused much of the jealousy felt by Roger 
 against his brother a jealousy which, although 
 Master Saxby had regarded it as a mere boyish 
 feeling, had often caused him some anxiety, 
 and first suggested to him the idea of dividing 
 the land. 
 
 His wife's opposition, however, had pre- 
 vailed. She generally did contrive to have 
 her own way in most things, and Harry had 
 been brought up as the heir to the family 
 estates, while Roger's future was to himself at 
 least somewhat uncertain, although his father 
 had always promised that he should be amply 
 provided for. Now that Harry had so deeply 
 offended his mother, it suddenly flashed across 
 his father's mind that his original plan about 
 dividing the land might be carried out now, 
 and he ventured to hint as much to his wife. 
 
 She did not notice this part of his sugges- 
 tion at first, but said sharply, "You must de- 
 stroy that deed giving the land to Harry be-
 
 King James and Jiis Parliament. 169 
 
 fore your death. Let Roger have it. The lad 
 is steadier now and skillful in managing the 
 stock, and with a good wife to look after the 
 dairy, he might " 
 
 " Nay, nay, dame, the lads shall divide it 
 between them. 1 always wished it so, you 
 know, and I will ride over to Master Hampden 
 to-morrow and get the deed back. It is hard- 
 ly just to Harry, perhaps, since he was brought 
 up to expect all the land ; but he was ever 
 kind and generous, and will not grudge his 
 brother his due share. This done, I will go to 
 London again ; the ' Mayflower ' is expected 
 to return shortly, and the shipmaster will be 
 able to tell us all the news about our friends 
 who have gone to America, and whether the 
 ' Mayflower ' will take out a second party this 
 year." 
 
 " Nay, but you will not think of going to 
 this New England just yet. Wait awhile until 
 Parliament meets again, and it may be that 
 Master Hampden and some of the other Puri- 
 tan members may persuade the king to alter 
 the laws that press upon them so heavily." 
 
 But her husband shook his head rather 
 mournfully. " Nay, nay, Moll, we must not 
 expect this just yet. Many grievances must be 
 considered, many wrongs set right before this
 
 1 70 SAXBY. 
 
 can be reached, and, I fear, each concession 
 will be wrung from the king only after much 
 struggling, and it may be much suffering for 
 those who have made the country's cause their 
 own." 
 
 " Dear heart ! then, if it is to cause so much 
 trouble, would it not be better to yield at 
 once, and go to church in a decent fashion, 
 and listen to the king's ' Book of Sports ' and 
 all other things he may command." 
 
 " Nay, nay, Moll, did you never hear of the 
 Smithfield fires in Queen Mary's days ? They 
 do not burn us now, but there is still some 
 work to do which the martyrs begun. They 
 died to free our land from the pope at Rome, 
 and we must struggle to free ourselves from 
 the popes of the High Commission at West- 
 minster. TJiey did not talk of yielding because 
 the warfare might be long and difficult. They 
 died true to God and what they held to be his 
 sacred truth, and we must live and struggle 
 for our right to hold the same." 
 
 But Dame Saxby could not sympathize 
 much in her husband's noble aspirations. Her 
 one aim was to make life easy and comfort- 
 able, and serve God after the same fashion if 
 she could ; so she contrived to turn the con- 
 versation now by some question about the
 
 King James and his Parliament. 171 
 
 harvest and the storing of the winter cheese, 
 and then, when he spoke of journeying to 
 London again as soon as the harvest was over, 
 she persuaded him to promise that he would 
 not think any thing more about going to 
 America just yet ; that he would wait and see 
 how the next Parliament prospered. He could 
 stay with Master Hampden and learn all par- 
 ticulars of this, and visit his friends the Mil- 
 tons, and then, in the spring, they would pay 
 their promised visit to Huntingdon, and take 
 Roger with them that he might choose one of 
 Master Oliver Cromwell's sisters for a wife. 
 Only, before he returned to London, he must 
 get back the deed he had lodged with Master 
 Hampden, and destroy it. 
 
 " Nay, nay, dame, I cannot promise to de- 
 stroy it. I will keep it for the present ; but 
 the land shall be divided between the lads an 
 you will," said her husband, and with this 
 concession Dame Saxby was obliged to be 
 content. 
 
 The next day the parchment making over 
 the Saxby lands by deed of gift to Harry was 
 brought home and put away, and then prep- 
 arations were commenced for Master Saxby's 
 speedy return to London ; for although the 
 Parliament did not meet until November, and
 
 i/2 SAXBY. 
 
 Master Hampden would not go up until he 
 was obliged, Dame Saxby's restless fear, though 
 she never spoke of it, was all too apparent to 
 her husband, for him to enjoy any peace or 
 rest. So, as soon as the principal part. of the 
 harvest was gathered in, he rode away once 
 more, thankful to escape from his home with- 
 out a visit from the bishop's messenger, but 
 feeling sadly like a man banished and doomed 
 to wander a stranger among strangers for the 
 rest of his life. 
 
 The whole summer had passed, and the 
 king's promise and the purpose for which he 
 had received the two subsidies were still unful- 
 filled. No army had been sent to help the 
 struggling Protestants of Germany, and all En- 
 gland was filled with the bitterest discontent ; 
 for it was pretty generally known now that it 
 was for fear of offending Spain, that mighty 
 mistress of Europe, and spoiling his son's 
 chance of marrying the Infanta, that James 
 had broken his promise to his subjects, and 
 well-nigh broken many a father and mother's 
 heart ; for many had given up their sons, as the 
 Saxbies had, hoping their king would soon 
 bring the struggle to a close. But now the 
 war had already dragged through three years, 
 and many a brave young Englishman of noble
 
 King James and his Parliament. \ 73 
 
 birth, as well as some of her poorer sons, had 
 left their bones to whiten on those German 
 battle-fields. And it was to please Spain this 
 had to be endured. Spain ! their deadly foe, 
 through whose king the persecution under 
 Mary had been mainly instigated ; who had 
 since sent against them the mighty Armada 
 with the avowed purpose of dethroning their 
 Protestant queen and handing the kingdom 
 over to the power of the pope. Was it won- 
 derful that the heart of England beat with 
 the bitterest indignation against this Spanish 
 match ? or that one of the first actions of the 
 re-assembled Parliament should be to protest 
 against it ? They drew up a remonstrance, 
 showing the danger in which the Protestant 
 religion now stood from the growth and en- 
 couragement given to Popery, both at home 
 and abroad ; for, at the request of the Spanish 
 embassador, many of the laws made against 
 Papists were allowed to fall into disuse. They 
 also begged the king to break off this Spanish 
 match and marry his son to a Protestant prin- 
 cess, and take up the sword at once for the 
 recovery of the Palatinate, which would re- 
 store something of the Protestant balance in 
 Europe. 
 
 But prayers and remonstrances alike proved
 
 r 74 SAXBY. 
 
 unavailing. The king indignantly forbade 
 their meddling with his government or his 
 son's marriage, and tells them he is at liberty 
 to punish any man's misdemeanor in Parlia- 
 ment during its sitting as well as after, which 
 he warns them he will not spare. 
 
 They at once drew up another remonstrance, 
 insisting upon the laws of the country being 
 observed and freedom of debate in Parliament. 
 In his answer the king denied them what they 
 call their ancient and undoubted right and in- 
 heritance. 
 
 They entered a protestation in their journal 
 in maintenance of their claim, but the king 
 tore it out and once more dissolved Parliament. 
 
 But in the intervals of this warfare the Com- 
 mons had contrived to do one or two good 
 things, which, doubtless, tended to increase 
 the king's wrath against them. They de- 
 stroyed several monopolies created by royal 
 prerogative, and Sir Giles Mompesson and 
 Edward Villiers, brother of the reigning favor- 
 ite, fled beyond seas, and were doomed to life- 
 long banishment. An attempt was also made 
 to break the power of the Star-chamber, and 
 check corruption and bribery among judges 
 and among State officials ; and the lord chan- 
 cellorthe great Lord Bacon was brought
 
 King James and his Parliament. 175 
 
 to trial before the House of Lords, and con- 
 demned to pay a ruinous fine. 
 
 But if the Parliament thus scored a few vic- 
 tories, their feeling of triumph was but short- 
 lived, for no sooner were the Houses dissolved 
 than all the leaders were arrested and thrown 
 into prison. Sir Edward Coke, Sir Robert 
 Phillips, Pym, Selden, and Mallory were com- 
 mitted to the Gate-house. The Earls of Ox- 
 ford and Southampton were sent to the Tower, 
 while others were banished to Ireland. Little 
 wonder was it that Hampden and several oth- 
 ers who narrowly escaped a similar fate should 
 return home depressed and dismayed at these 
 high-handed acts of semi-despotism. What 
 would be the end of such a struggle as this ?
 
 176 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 AT THE SIGN OF THE SPREAD EAGLE. 
 
 SIX years have passed since the close of our 
 last chapter six years of alternate hope 
 and bitterest disappointment for England, and 
 for Master Saxby, as well as for thousands of 
 others. King James had been called to render 
 an account of his stewardship in 1625, and the 
 nation hoped that the young King Charles 
 would rule them wisely and well, in spite of 
 his having taken a Roman Catholic princess 
 for a wife ; for although the Spanish match, 
 which had so long been a nightmare to the 
 whole nation, was at last broken off by the 
 favorite, Buckingham, arrangements were at 
 once made for his marriage with Henrietta 
 Maria, of France, a most bigoted Roman 
 Catholic. But still, although her influence 
 over her husband was, doubtless, very great, 
 Queen Mary as she was called cannot be 
 charged with having brought all the evils upon 
 the nation under which they groaned, or even 
 as much as she was charged with in those 
 days ; though, doubtless, her extravagance and
 
 At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 1 77 
 
 bigotry helped to aggravate the numerous 
 evils. 
 
 This year, 1628, had well-nigh broken the 
 nation's heart and its faith in the king's plight- 
 ed word. England would never again be what 
 it had been, and hundreds of the best and 
 bravest of her sons were betaking themselves 
 to the shores whither the little " Mayflower," 
 had gone eight years before. Difficulties be- 
 fore which less resolute men would have given 
 up in despair had been well-nigh conquered 
 now, and the brave, unselfish Pilgrim Fathers 
 had seen the desire of their hearts accom- 
 plished and a New England founded " where 
 they could show their countrymen, by their 
 example, where they might live and comfort- 
 ably subsist, and, being free from antichristian 
 bondage, might keep their names and nation 
 and be a means to enlarge the dominion of the 
 English State and the Church of Christ also." 
 Their " countrymen " had shown their appre- 
 ciation of their effort by going out to the new 
 colony in increasing numbers each year, until, 
 at the time of which we are writing, the num- 
 bers had reached over a thousand a year ; and 
 these were not from the poorer classes, but 
 mainly from the most educated, thoughtful, 
 and refined portion of society. The very
 
 i/8 SAXBY. 
 
 flower of the English State and nation were 
 thus forsaking the mother country for con- 
 science' sake, and to enjoy that civil and relig- 
 ious liberty that yearly grew less and less pos- 
 sible at home. 
 
 Master Saxby and his wife were now in Lon- 
 don, waiting for the sailing of a vessel that was 
 to take them to New Plymouth, on the other 
 side of the Atlantic ; for the good man had 
 been so harassed with fines and imprisonment 
 during the last two years that Dame Saxby 
 had at last urged their going before they 
 should be utterly ruined ; for, in addition to 
 fines, subsidies were constantly being raised 
 without the sanction of Parliament, and mo- 
 nopolieswere imposed upon almost everyarticle 
 of daily use, besides forced loans, which those 
 who would not pay were imprisoned for refusing, 
 and those who could not were forced to serve in 
 in the army or navy, leaving their families to 
 starve. The kinghad threatened the Parliament, 
 which met in March, with " new counsels " be- 
 cause they had dared to force from him his as- 
 sent to the " Petition of Right," which was to 
 secure for every subject personal liberty unless 
 he had offended against the law of the land. 
 The " new counsels " appeared in the shape of 
 a naked despotism. Every thing short of the
 
 At tJic Si ii of the Spread Eagle. 179 
 
 absolute surrender of the subject to the mus- 
 kets of the soldiery was resorted to, and had 
 the king any military force on which he could 
 rely, he would at once have thrown off the 
 mask and governed without any regard to par- 
 liamentary privileges. But his army was new- 
 levied, ill-paid, and worse disciplined, and no- 
 wise superior to the militia, who were much 
 more numerous and were under the influence 
 of the country gentlemen, who, instead of being 
 subservient to the king and the commands 
 which he issued through the pulpits of the 
 country, dared to refuse to lend their money 
 unjustly, though arrest and imprisonment fol- 
 lowed. Every patriot had known something 
 of this experience by this time, and it was well 
 that gentle Dame Hampden and her husband 
 had counted the cost of his going to Parlia- 
 ment, or he would long ago have given up what 
 must have often seemed a vain struggle, and 
 settled down to the easy life which his wealth 
 and position entitled him to enjoy. 
 
 How often had he come home weary, jaded, 
 almost despairing, to be cheered by the brave, 
 gentle wife and his family of growing boys 
 and girls ! Had he wanted an excuse to aban- 
 don his post and leave his bleeding country 
 to the mercy of the oppressor, he might have
 
 i So SAXBY. 
 
 found it in the demands his growing family 
 had upon his time and care, but neither he 
 nor his friend, John Pym, ever thought of giv- 
 ing up the struggle. It might be a forlorn 
 hope they were leading, for all the remon- 
 strances, petitions, and protestations were pow- 
 erless to move the king to redress the wrongs 
 of the country, and while the court grew more 
 extravagant and corrupt every day, a more 
 grinding taxation was imposed to maintain it. 
 Who could blame those who, like Master Sax- 
 by, fled from the country to save themselves 
 from utter ruin? Master Hampden did not, 
 although he refused to cast in his lot with 
 them just yet. By and by, perhaps, if things 
 grew utterly hopeless, he and his friends, Lord 
 Say, and Lord Brook, and his cousin, Oliver 
 Cromwell, would go to America. Lord Say 
 and Lord Brook were already so far anticipat- 
 ing that time as to negotiate for the purchase 
 of some land and the building of some houses, 
 which were to form the nucleus of a town, to 
 be called after them Saybrook. But not yet 
 would they abandon their posts. 
 
 Master Saxby urged that things could not 
 be worse than they were, for the king had 
 broken his pledged word, and copies of this 
 famous " Petition of Right " were printed by
 
 At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 181 
 
 the king's order containing his first assent, 
 which had been refused by Parliament as too 
 indefinite, and omitting altogether his second, 
 which, had been wrung from him with so much 
 trouble, and which alone made it binding. 
 Then again, since Parliament had been pro- 
 rogued, fresh monopolies had been imposed, 
 and several friends on the patriots' side had 
 been won over to the king's party. News had 
 just reached them of the parting of Pym and 
 his dearest friend in Parliament, Sir Thomas 
 Wentworth. Pym was neither to be bribed 
 or frightened into forsaking his party; but it 
 well-nigh broke his heart, and he knew the 
 defection of such an able leader as Wentworth 
 would be a heavy blow to their party. The 
 news of that parting at Greenwich, and Pym's 
 words of warning to his friend," You are going 
 to be undone, and remember that, though you 
 are going to leave us, I will never leave you 
 while your head is upon your shoulders ! " 
 These and all the attendant circumstances of 
 that parting were whispered and treasured in 
 men's minds ; some wondering whether Pym, 
 too, would turn traitor and betray his friends. 
 But, though this year brought such bitter 
 trials and cruel defections among the ranks .of 
 
 the patriots, it brought them also a little hope 
 12
 
 1 82 SAXBY. 
 
 and encouragement in the election of Oliver 
 Cromwell for Huntingdon. None but Hamp- 
 den, perhaps, knew the value this plain coun- 
 try farmer was likely to prove to their party. 
 Some deemed him scarcely worth notice in his 
 country-cut, clumsily-made clothes, his collar 
 tumbled and none too clean ; but they knew 
 and valued the opinion of John Hampden, the 
 finished scholar and perfect gentleman ; and 
 when he told them there was more in his un- 
 polished cousin than they dreamed of, they 
 took his word, and Cromwell was admitted to 
 the special coteries and councils that were 
 held at Pym's house, in Gray's Inn Lane, and 
 Sir Robert Cotton's library, in Westminster. 
 These were the favorite meeting-places of the 
 patriots, and the latter was of untold value 
 to them, for Sir Robert possessed one of the 
 most valuable libraries in the kingdom, and 
 here they could study points of law touching 
 constitutional right and kingly prerogative 
 such as few other books would afford. All 
 the remonstrances and petitions in this dire 
 struggle were but for the re-establishment 
 of constitutional right, and the patriots were 
 most careful to abide by the law in all that 
 they did. 
 
 But it is time now that we turn to some
 
 At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 183 
 
 of our old friends gathered at the sign of the 
 Spread Eagle, in Broad -street, for Master 
 Saxby was staying here as the friend of the 
 scrivener, John Milton, as being the only way 
 he was likely to escape fresh trouble. An arbi- 
 trary command had been issued by the king 
 ordering all gentlemen having homes in the 
 country to live there and leave London. To 
 compel obedience, tavern keepers were for- 
 bidden to sell cooked meat, and no hostelry 
 might supply more than one meal to a trav- 
 eler. 
 
 So, instead of going to Shakspeare's " Mer- 
 maid," as he usually did, Master Saxby was 
 accommodated at his friend's opposite ; for 
 young John was at Cambridge now, studying 
 with a view to enter the Church by and by. 
 The scrivener was very proud of his son, who 
 already gave promise of being not only a 
 learned, but a rarely gifted man, for he had 
 already gained for himself some notice among 
 his father's friends by the poetry he had writ- 
 ten. One hymn, which, with a few slight 
 alterations, now finds its way into many a 
 modern hymn book, had been written about 
 five years before, when he was a lad of fif- 
 teen ; and now as the friends gathered in the 
 pleasant keeping-room over the shop, Master
 
 1 84 SAXBY. 
 
 Stocke proposed that they should have a little 
 music first, and sing Master John's hymn. 
 
 The fond father and mother were nothing 
 loth, and the old scrivener seated himself at 
 the organ, and they all joined in singing 
 " John's Hymn : " 
 
 " Let us with a gladsome mind 
 Praise the Lord, for he is kind, 
 For his mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure." 
 
 When the hymn was sung the friends natu- 
 rally fell to talking of the writer and his future 
 prospects, and then of the Church and the 
 growth of Arminianism and Popery, which the 
 new Bishop of London, Laud, was doing so 
 much to promote. Church and State were 
 working together now to put down all free- 
 dom of thought and action, and the Puritans 
 of London knew that they had little favor to 
 expect from their new Bishop, whose sole aim 
 was to bring the Church into strict conformity 
 with his ideal of what the ritual and doctrine 
 of a Church should be. He was sincere and 
 devout, but narrow-minded and bigoted ; spoke 
 of the Reformation as a deformation, and at 
 once set about bringing back some of the 
 Romish practices that had been swept away. 
 
 Master Stocke, the minister of Allhallows,
 
 At t/te Sign of the Spread Eagle. 185 
 
 had received notice to rail off the chancel of 
 the church, and place a table altarwise within 
 the rails, around which communicants were to 
 kneel when they partook of the sacrament, in- 
 stead of standing or sitting round the long 
 movable table, as had hitherto been the cus- 
 tom among Puritan congregations. Master 
 Milton and his gentle wife looked amazed and 
 shocked. " So soon ! " uttered the scrivener. 
 "What do you propose to do, Master Stocke?" 
 
 " Nothing. I cannot wound my own con- 
 science, and the conscience of my people, by 
 setting up Popery and the worship of the 
 mass in their midst ; and what is it less than 
 that?" 
 
 " Ah, ah, we in country parishes have long 
 groaned under this bondage," said Master 
 Saxby. 
 
 " Will you not appeal to the Archbishop ? 
 It is well known that godly Master Abbot has 
 no favor to Arminianism ; and these high- 
 Church notions of Bishop Laud, who would 
 fain have made himself Pope when he was but 
 Dean of Gloucester, cannot be borne here in 
 London." 
 
 " I might appeal, but 'tis well known that 
 the archbishop is in no favor at court now, for 
 his leaning to Puritanism ; and his age and in-
 
 1 86 SAXBY. 
 
 firmities will be an excuse for investing our 
 
 * c> 
 
 new bishop with the power of the primate be- 
 fore he shall succeed to that office," said Mas- 
 ter Stocke, with a deep-drawn sigh. 
 
 " Then Parliament must appeal when it shall 
 meet again, in October," said Master Milton. 
 
 "The Parliament is determined to proceed 
 in its impeachment of Buckingham, as the 
 primary cause of all our troubles, and also of 
 our helping those who sought to crush our 
 Protestant brethren of France in their last 
 stronghold of Rochelle." 
 
 " Nay, nay, but we did not crush them, and 
 we are now about to help them. The duke 
 has even now gone to their relief; he left 
 London this morning, to sail with the fleet 
 which lies at Portsmouth waiting his arrival." 
 
 " The duke has gone to gratify his personal 
 revenge against the French Cardinal Richelieu, 
 and the most effectual blow can be struck at 
 him by helping the Huguenots in their last 
 struggle for religious liberty," said Master 
 Stocke. 
 
 " Ah, ah, when the great duke was friendly 
 with the court of France we were compelled 
 to send our fleet against these poor Rochellers, 
 and but for the one Protestant heart that beat 
 in every sailor's bosom, England would have
 
 At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 187 
 
 earned for herself the undying infamy of hav- 
 ing crushed these noble Huguenots. But, 
 thank God, we were saved from this shame 
 and disaster by the mutiny of our brave sailors, 
 who, to a man, declared they would not fight 
 against their Protestant brethren." 
 
 " Ah, Master Saxby, you may well say we 
 were saved from that shame, but what have 
 we done to help the struggling Protestants of 
 Europe," said Master Stocke, as he pulled from 
 his pocket a printed sheet. " The Corantes," 
 it was called, and was the first English news- 
 paper published. It gave the latest intelli- 
 gence about the German war, and this was all 
 it dared to do ; for home politics and the do- 
 ings of court and Parliament dare not be men- 
 tioned. Already several brave men had been 
 imprisoned for daring to question the doings 
 of the queen and court, and the decisions of 
 the court of Star-chamber. But news of the 
 German war was gladly welcomed ; for, apart 
 from the national interest in the struggle, so 
 many had friends and relatives fighting in the 
 cause of freedom that, like Master Saxby now, 
 they forgot all else for the time in their eager- 
 ness to read Butter's " Corantes." 
 
 " We may hear of Harry now, before we go, 
 dame," whispered Master Saxby to his wife,
 
 1 88 SAXBY. 
 
 as the minister prepared to read aloud some 
 of the latest items of news. This awful war, 
 which had already raged for eight years, and 
 was destined to last for twenty-two years long- 
 er, had desolated some of the fairest provinces 
 of Germany, and famine and sickness had fol- 
 lowed in its train ; so that this sheet of foreign 
 news was but the recapitulation of skirmishes, 
 battles, sieges, retreats and victories, sickness 
 and death. Regiments engaged, and the names 
 of some who had died or distinguished them- 
 selves, were often mentioned, and once Master 
 Saxby had the joy of seeing Harry's name 
 mentioned in terms of the highest commenda- 
 tion for some deed of heroism, by which a party 
 of women and children refugees from some 
 neighboring town were saved from death, by 
 his prompt and brave activity. 
 
 But there was no mention of Harry, or his 
 regiment either, to-day, and when a little time 
 had been given to the discussion of what had 
 been read, Master Stocke opened the great 
 Bible that had been placed before him, and 
 read a portion of God's word, so dear to every 
 Puritan heart and lover of freedom the old 
 heroic days of the children of Israel, when 
 they were ruled by judges, who were first their 
 deliverers.
 
 A Strange Meeting. 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A STRANGE MEETING. 
 
 PORTSMOUTH was full of visitors when 
 our friend, Master Saxby, reached there ; 
 for the fleet had not yet sailed, but lay in the 
 offing, waiting the embarkation of the Duke 
 of Buckingham, who was to lead them to the 
 relief of the struggling French Protestants 
 besieged in Rochelle. But that embarkation 
 was never to take place. While Master Saxby 
 was inquiring for lodgings at a quiet hostelry 
 in the outskirts of the town, a traveler came 
 in bringing news that the duke had been 
 murdered. 
 
 " Murdered!" exclaimed half a dozen voices. 
 
 " Ay, stabbed to the heart ; but they have 
 taken the wretch, who scarcely tried to escape," 
 said the informant. 
 
 " He is one of these Puritans, doubtless, who 
 thinks he has done a good deed, and is willing 
 to be a martyr." 
 
 " Nay, nay, friend, these are not Puritan 
 ways, to stab even an enemy," said Master 
 Saxby, warmly.
 
 1 90 SAXBY. 
 
 " But you cannot deny that the Puritans in 
 Parliament meant to impeach the duke of 
 treason, and I know not what," said the man, 
 in a swaggering tone. 
 
 "The duke would, doubtless, have been 
 called to account for many things which he 
 has caused to be done against the laws of this 
 realm, but he would have been judged accord- 
 ing to law, which the Puritans are struggling 
 to uphold," replied Master Saxby. 
 
 " Ah, well, the Parliament is saved a troub- 
 lesome piece of work, and the fellow might 
 have killed many a better man," said another, 
 carelessly. 
 
 This last opinion seemed to express the 
 feelings of most of those present, although 
 several went out at once to ascertain if the re- 
 port of this murder was true, and gather fur- 
 ther particulars about it. 
 
 While they had been talking another party 
 of travelers had come in a young gentleman, 
 evidently just returned from foreign travel, 
 two or three servants, and two children. The 
 gentleman wanted accommodation for the serv- 
 ants, children, and luggage that had been left 
 on the ship. He himself was anxious to jour- 
 ney to London at once, but the children re- 
 quired rest before they journeyed farther, and
 
 A Strange Meeting. 191 
 
 the servants would bring them on by easy 
 stages a day or two later. While the gentle- 
 man was arranging with the landlord, Dame 
 Saxby tried to enter into conversation with 
 the children, but she found they could not 
 speak a word of English. 
 
 This evidently surprised and disappointed 
 the elderly lady, and she said to her husband, 
 " They certainly look like English children in 
 spite of their outlandish clothes, and the little 
 girl is just like what our Harry used to be." 
 
 Master Saxby glanced carelessly at the chil- 
 dren, but something in the little girl's face 
 in the expression of her eyes, reminded him so 
 forcibly of what his eldest son had been, as a 
 child, that he, too, stooped down and spoke to 
 her. But the child only shook her head and 
 turned to her brother for protection against 
 these strangers.; and he, sheltering his little 
 sister, turned such a look of angry defiance 
 upon them, that Master Saxby gave up the 
 attempt to become friendly with them. A 
 little later he asked the landlord who his guests 
 were, and was told that the gentleman was 
 Master Harry Vane, who was returning from 
 Geneva, where he had been studying for a year. 
 
 From the servants he learned that their 
 master's family were about the court ; his fa-
 
 i g2 SAXBY. 
 
 ther, Sir Harry Vane, being comptroller of the 
 king's household. So Master Saxby had little 
 doubt but that the gentleman had hurried 
 away in consequence of the duke's death, about 
 which there was no doubt now. 
 
 If Master Saxby could only have known 
 that it was himself the gentleman was anxious 
 to see ; that his journey to London was but a 
 stage on his way to Great Kimble to arrange 
 for the arrival of the children at their paternal 
 home ! Ah, if Dame Saxby could only have 
 known that the little girl, who had so strange- 
 ly interested her, was her dear son's mother- 
 less child, how it would have altered all their 
 plans for the future. 
 
 But they knew nothing of all this, and so 
 went on board the little vessel next day that 
 was to carry them to the New World, leaving 
 Portsmouth in greater excitement than ever, 
 and the two children eagerly watching the busy 
 crowds in the streets, and condescending to 
 nod a farewell in response to Dame Saxby as 
 she cast a last lingering look at the dear little 
 face framed in the quaint cap of the period, 
 and pressed against the diamond panes of the 
 casement over the gate-way of the hostelry. 
 An hour or two after the departure of Master 
 Saxby and his wife a servant entered the room
 
 A Strange Meeting. 193 
 
 where the two children were still standing at the 
 window. " Master Rupert, the horses will be 
 ready at six to-morrow morning, and we may 
 continue our journey an you will ; but my 
 master bade that you should not be hurried, 
 and so if you would rest here longer we can 
 tarry until Thursday." 
 
 The man spoke in German, and the boy an- 
 swered him in the same language, with the air 
 of one used to control his own actions and or- 
 der others. " We will journey forward," he 
 said shortly, and then turned to his sister again. 
 He could scarcely have been more than six, 
 but looked eight or ten years old, and the 
 grave protective air with which he drew his 
 sister toward him was very touching. She 
 laid her little head on his shoulder and looked 
 at him with her sweet blue eyes, and said, in 
 a half whisper, " I wonder what it will all be 
 like, Rupert, this new home? Shall we be 
 strangers there like we are here?" 
 
 The boy shook his head gravely. " I don't 
 know what it will be like, but it cant be home, 
 you know ; no place can be that any more 
 here, now dear mamma has gone to the bright 
 home above the sky." 
 
 " But father said our English grandmother 
 would be kind, and we should live in a nice
 
 194 SAXBY. 
 
 home where we should never be afraid of rude 
 soldiers coming, or have to move away for fear 
 of the town being burned, as we had to do 
 when mamma was ill." 
 
 Rupert sighed such an old sigh for a child ! 
 " I am afraid war is a very bad thing for peo- 
 ple," he said. 
 
 " But father is a soldier, and mamma told us 
 he was the best man that ever lived," exclaimed 
 his sister. 
 
 " Yes, yes, that's true enough, and I want 
 to be a man to go and help my father in the 
 battles ; for I've heard him say it is a noble 
 thing to fight and struggle for the right ; but 
 still I can't help thinking that war is bad, for 
 it killed our dear mamma, you know. She 
 would not have died if we had not been 
 obliged to move in such a hurry, just when 
 she was so ill." 
 
 " We won't talk about war, then, if it is bad, 
 for I don't like bad things. What do you 
 think grandmother's house will be like, Ru- 
 pert?" 
 
 " Father said it was a farm-house, with fields 
 all round it, and a herb garden, and cows and 
 chickens. You will like the chickens, Winny." 
 
 " Will they be like our own dear little Ger- 
 man hens, with feathers all over them ? "
 
 A Strange Meeting. 195 
 
 Rupert laughed. " Of course they will. I 
 suppose English chickens do have feathers all 
 over them," he said, turning to the servant, 
 who came in at that moment. 
 
 " O yes, sir, they are pretty much alike 
 every-where," he said. 
 
 " Then you will feel quite at home with the 
 chickens, Winny," said her brother ; and then 
 they began to conjecture what the house would 
 be like, and the English uncles Roger and 
 Lawrence, and the grandfather and grand- 
 mother, who were to be as parents to them un- 
 til the war should be over, and their father 
 could come and claim them again. Little did 
 they think they had already seen their English 
 relatives about whom they had talked so much 
 lately. 
 
 Master Vane was almost a stranger to them, 
 and his servants too. They only knew him as 
 a friend of their father's, who had offered to 
 bring them to England and place them in the 
 care of friends ; and in the disturbed state of 
 the country Harry Saxby had thankfully ac- 
 cepted the offer, sending letters and every 
 thing necessary by the hand of Master Vane, 
 and never doubting but that his children would 
 be as eagerly welcomed in his old home as he 
 himself would have been.
 
 196 SAXBY. 
 
 It had been arranged between the servants 
 and their master that they should go direct to 
 his father's house upon their arrival in London, 
 and there wait his return from Buckingham- 
 shire, if he was not there to meet them. But, 
 in the present excited state of London, it was 
 no easy matter to reach the Strand, where the 
 mansion of Sir Harry Vane was situated, and 
 the crowds of strange-looking people fright- 
 ened the children so much that when at last 
 they reached their destination the sight of a 
 kind, gentle, womanly face quite overcame 
 them. The lady happened to be passing 
 through the great hall, and, thinking she must 
 be the grandmother who was to be so kind to 
 them, little Winny threw herself into her arms 
 and burst into tears ; while Rupert, quite for- 
 getting himself and feeling that their haven 
 of rest was reached at last, hid his face in the 
 elegant skirt of her dress and murmured, " O, 
 mamma ! mamma ! " 
 
 The lady looked down at the children and 
 then across at the servants strangers to her, 
 but wearing the badge of the Vanes. 
 
 " Prithee, now, tell me who are these chil- 
 dren ? " she said, tenderly soothing little 
 Winny, and laying her hand on Rupert's head. 
 
 The servant advanced a step or two and ex-
 
 The Children Find a Friend.
 
 A Strange Meeting. 199 
 
 plained that they had been committed to his 
 master's charge by an English officer serving 
 in the German war, and he had gone to Buck- 
 inghamshire to prepare their relatives for their 
 arrival. 
 
 " Poor little strangers ! And so you mis- 
 took me for your mamma, my boy ? " she said, 
 patting Rupert's head. 
 
 The servant explained that they did not un- 
 derstand English, as Rupert looked up won- 
 deringly in her face. 
 
 " Can they speak French ? " she said, and, 
 without waiting for the servant's answer, she 
 asked if they were tired in that language, 
 which was in such general use among the la- 
 dies of the court now that most of them could 
 speak it quite fluently. 
 
 It was his mother's tongue, and the sound 
 of the dear, familiar words again overcame him 
 more even than his fright at the strange crowds 
 in the streets, and he answered with quivering 
 lips, adding that his mother had been a noble 
 French lady. 
 
 " Come, then, with me to my own room, and 
 you shall tell me all about your mother," she 
 said ; and she led the children away, talking to 
 them in French, and leaving the servant to 
 
 dispose of the luggage and find his master. 
 13
 
 200 SAXBY. 
 
 But Master Harry Vane had not returned 
 from his journey to Buckinghamshire, and his 
 father was so occupied by his duties at court, 
 and Lady Vane in as close attendance upon 
 the queen, that little notice would have been 
 taken of the children if it had not been for 
 Dame Meredith, a widowed cousin of Lady 
 Vane, who usually made her residence with 
 the Vanes when she came to court. 
 
 To this wealthy, childless widow the moth- 
 erless children became a well-spring of delight, 
 and they became almost as strongly attached 
 to her. There was a tender motherliness about 
 her that constantly reminded the children of 
 their own mother, while the stately court man- 
 ners, the elegance of her dress, and even the 
 soft, faded beauty of her face, were a perfect 
 fascination to Rupert. He soon began to un- 
 derstand, even before she explained it, that 
 this could not be the English grandmother 
 who took care of the chickens and made cheese 
 and butter ; for this lady had a maid to dress 
 her and another to wait upon her, and seemed 
 to do nothing for herself except kneel and 
 pray in the little oratory that opened out of 
 her private sitting-room. 
 
 Rupert and Winifred had been taken there 
 the second day after their arrival, as soon as
 
 A Strange Meeting, 201 
 
 the lady knew that they had been taught to 
 pray. It was a very beautiful little room, Ru- 
 pert thought, with its purple velvet-cushioned 
 chairs, and the tiny altar with the silver can- 
 dlesticks, and the handsomely-bound prayer 
 book lying between ; but when the lady led 
 them forward, and told them to kneel and 
 thank God for bringing them safely to En- 
 gland and to friends, Rupert drew back quick- 
 ly, and would have pulled his sister away, too, 
 but Winny had fallen on her knees, and cov- 
 ered her face with her little hands, as she used 
 to do at her mother's knee. 
 
 " And why did not you kneel, Rupert ? " 
 asked the lady a little sternly when they 
 stepped into the outer room again. 
 
 " My father has taught me never to pray to 
 any image," said the boy. " We are Protest- 
 ants, and I mean to fight against the Pope and 
 every body that worships him by and by." 
 
 " But I do not worship the Pope, dear child. 
 The little crucifix above the prayer book in 
 there is but to assist me in my devotions; and 
 surely we are right in using all the helps we 
 can get to worship God ' in the beauty of 
 holiness.' " 
 
 " I have looked into some of the Popish 
 Churches in Germany, and they looked very
 
 202 SAXBY. 
 
 beautiful, and the priests were dressed in 
 robes of white and red, and there were lights 
 and glittering gold; but my father did not say 
 the people went there to worship God ' in the 
 beauty of holiness/ but said these beautiful 
 things did but hide God and make people for- 
 get him ; and Master Vane told us the same as 
 we were journeying to England." 
 
 " Master Vane has strange notions about 
 many things," said the lady. " Not that I 
 think him wrong in this, or your father either. 
 You have only made a mistake in thinking my 
 little oratory like the grand Popish churches. 
 I am not a Papist, as Harry well knows, but 
 love the Church of England, and long to see 
 it restored to something like what our new 
 godly Bishop Laud believes it will be." 
 
 It puzzled Rupert a little to account for the 
 difference in the mode of worship adopted by 
 the Church of England at home and abroad. 
 During his father's visits at home, when his 
 regiment had been in the neighborhood of 
 where they lived, he had been accustomed to 
 go with him to what was known as " the En- 
 glish Church," but there had been no ivory and 
 gold crucifix, or fringed velvet-covered altar 
 there ; a few plain deal seats, a reading-desk, 
 and a movable table, where his father and a
 
 A Strange Meeting. 203 
 
 few others took their seats at one part of the 
 service. This was Rupert's recollection of 
 that English Church, and being an observant, 
 thoughtful child, he was not likely to forget it 
 or to fail to contrast it with Dame Meredith's 
 oratory, where she spent many an hour of the 
 day, leaving them to amuse themselves in the 
 garden, watching the boats pass to and fro on 
 the Thames, or to be amused by one of her 
 maids, but to no other servant than her own 
 attendants were the children now allowed to 
 speak.
 
 204 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DAME MEREDITH. 
 
 THE movements of Master Harry Vane 
 were of small moment to his father just 
 now. He had seen him immediately upon his 
 arrival in London, and knew, therefore, that 
 he was safe ; but the bustle incident upon the 
 murder of the Duke of Buckingham, who had 
 always been the reigning favorite of King 
 Charles, as well as his father, absorbed Sir 
 Harry's attention just now. 
 
 He may have heard of the arrival of the 
 two children, but this addition to his large 
 household was nothing to him, and so nearly a 
 fortnight passed before Master Harry Vane's 
 return, but no one commented upon it except 
 his own personal attendants, and they won- 
 dered where their master could be. His aunt, 
 who loved her nephew as much perhaps more 
 than his own mother did begin to grow anx- 
 ious for his return, although at the same time 
 she dreaded it as the signal for her separation 
 from the children who had so strangely wound 
 themselves round her widowed heart. The day
 
 Dame Meredith. 205 
 
 came at last, however, when Master Harry's 
 footstep was heard along the corridor leading 
 to his aunt's suite of apartments, and he met 
 the stately lady with the same affectionate 
 deference that he had felt for her as long as 
 he could remember. 
 
 " You look troubled, Harry," said his aunt 
 as soon as he was seated. 
 
 " I am troubled, dear aunt, for these chil- 
 dren's relatives will have nought to do with 
 them." 
 
 " I am glad, very glad," said Dame Mere- 
 dith, quickly, " for now I can keep them all to 
 myself, and that is what I have been longing 
 to do ever since they have been in the house." 
 
 A smile passed over the grave face of the 
 young man as his aunt said this. " I know 
 not whether this may be," he said, " but I will 
 write to Master Saxby, and tell him how ill \ 
 have sped on my errand to his home." 
 
 " His father and mother refused to take the 
 sweet children ? " asked the lady. 
 
 " Nay, nay ; his father and mother have 
 gone to America. I stayed some days with a 
 neighbor who knew them well, Master John 
 Hampden, a most courteous and honorable 
 gentleman, who told me much about these 
 Saxbys, and this Roger, who is in possession
 
 206 SAXBY. 
 
 of the old farm a churlish and evil man, I 
 trow he must be." 
 
 " Hampden, did you say this gentleman's 
 name was?" asked Dame Meredith. 
 
 " Yes, aunt. Do you know aught of him ? " 
 
 " I think I have heard his name, as well as 
 that of Pym, as a most bitter malcontent, and 
 so I hope, Harry, you will have no more to do 
 with him. I will take good care of the chil- 
 dren, and do you return to Oxford without 
 further trouble concerning them." 
 
 But the lad he was scarcely more than a 
 lad, hardly seventeen although the gentle 
 gravity of his face made him look much older, 
 shook his head as he said, " I want to talk to 
 you, aunt, about this same Oxford business; 
 you understand me better than any one else, 
 I think." 
 
 " I trust this holiday trip to Geneva has not 
 put you out of conceit of your own university, 
 Harry," said the lady. 
 
 " Nay, nay, aunt, you know I never had any 
 liking for the society I met with there, and 
 you, yourself, said my father did but send me 
 that I might forget the serious thoughts I 
 have had of late, and deny the Lord who hath 
 redeemed me from the sin and the evil of the 
 world."
 
 Dame Meredith. 207 
 
 " Well, well, Harry, your father does not 
 understand these matters, but he wishes you 
 well, and fears such seriousness will stand in 
 your way at court." 
 
 " I shall never be a courtier," said Harry 
 decidedly, "for I cannot take the oath of alle- 
 giance and supremacy even to matriculate, 
 and" 
 
 " Harry, Harry, anger not your father by 
 such whimsies; nay, it is worse, 'tis next to 
 treason to refuse allegiance to your king," said 
 the lady, excitedly. 
 
 " I was afraid it would grieve you, aunt, to 
 hear what I had to say; 'but you understood 
 all my doubts and fears and hopes and " 
 
 " Yes, yes, your desire to live a pure and 
 godly life I understand well enough, and I 
 have told your father and mother that they 
 ought to thank God that you have given up 
 the follies of the world, and run not to the 
 excess of riot so many do in these days ; but 
 this, Harry I cannot understand this whim- 
 sey," and the lady shook her head sadly. 
 
 Harry Vane looked scarcely less distressed, 
 for he loved his aunt very dearly, and it was 
 mainly through her influence and example that 
 he had been led to decide for God thus early ; 
 but while Dame Meredith had been living with
 
 208 SAXBY. 
 
 her prayer book and oratory, and giving her- 
 self up to the teaching and guidance of Bishop 
 Laud, her nephew had been watching another 
 pattern of the " beauty of holiness " differing 
 altogether from the bishop's ideal concerning 
 rites and ceremonies and ritual. His friend 
 and school-fellow, Arthur Hazelrig, had intro- 
 duced him to Puritan friends, and now this 
 short stay with Hampden and Pym had con- 
 firmed him in his liking for the plain, simple, 
 unadorned service of the Puritans, while the 
 lives and bearing of the men he had met with 
 among these new friends, contrasting so strong- 
 ly with the self-seeking displayed by almost 
 all he had ever met before, could not but im- 
 press the deeply-observant mind of young 
 Vane. 
 
 But trouble would come of it he knew. His 
 father was fully aware of his rare ability, and 
 was anxious that he should push his fortunes 
 at court as soon as possible, and he had been 
 sent to Oxford to learn a few fashionable vices, 
 that he might hold his own among the witty 
 young court gallants. But a residence of a few 
 months as gentleman commoner had been 
 enough for Harry, and his trip to the conti- 
 nent had only made him more anxious to spend 
 a year at Geneva instead of Oxford. He wanted
 
 Dame Meredith. 209 
 
 his aunt to undertake the difficult business of 
 \vinning his father's consent to this plan. 
 
 " But I don't like it myself, Harry," said the 
 lady, after he had spent some time explaining 
 and persuading her to see things as he did. 
 " All these Puritans talk about is the making 
 of our beloved Church after the pattern of 
 that at Geneva, and your friendship for these 
 malcontents will not fail to anger your father, 
 especially if he should hear of your visit to 
 this Hampden. I believe he was one of those 
 imprisoned for refusing the king's loan, and 
 only lately released." 
 
 " Yes, he was one of those brave men," 
 quietly answered Harry. 
 
 . " Brave you call it ! I should say disloyal," 
 retorted his aunt. 
 
 " Now, aunt, don't you be angry with me. 
 You have always been my good friend, and I 
 trust to you to smooth the way with my fa- 
 ther. I wish you could see and know this 
 Master Hampden and his friend Pym," he 
 suddenly added. 
 
 " Why should you wish it ? Is not one mal- 
 content enough in a loyal family ? " 
 
 " You would not call them malcontents if 
 you could only see and know them. I did 
 wish you could kneel with me when all the
 
 2io SAXBY. 
 
 family gathered together in the keeping-room 
 for prayers and reading God's word. It seemed 
 like the patriarchal times over again, when the 
 father was the king and priest, and brought 
 all his family and servants to receive God's 
 blessing. The lives of these men are in accord 
 with their prayers ; and so far from being 
 law-breakers, they do but seek to uphold the 
 law against those who would trample it under 
 foot." 
 
 " Harry, Harry, I believe you are more than 
 half a Puritan yourself," said the lady in 
 dismay. 
 
 " Dear aunt, you would be the same if you 
 had seen what I have," said Harry, without 
 denying the imputation. She looked at him 
 in his handsome slashed doublet and long, 
 curling hair, and thought what heights of fame 
 and honor he might reach if only he were more 
 pliant, more yielding and worldly ; but she 
 knew him well enough to feel assured that if 
 once he ranged himself on the side of the 
 " country party," as it was called, wealth, 
 honor, fame, ease all that could tempt a man 
 in this life would be spurned at the dic- 
 tates of conscience ; and she set herself at 
 once to the task of undoing the mischief she 
 feared had already gone too far. This visit to
 
 Dame Meredith. 2 1 1 
 
 Hampden about the young Saxbys had brought 
 down the wavering balance on the wrong side, 
 and she must rectify it if she possibly could. 
 So she appealed to the lad's loyalty and per- 
 sonal liking for the king, and his love for mother 
 and father and brothers and sisters, whose in- 
 terests would all be injured, she said, if he 
 ranged himself among the enemies of the 
 king and court. But, although he was deeply 
 touched, young Vane could not be brought to 
 yield. " It is as much a matter of conscience 
 and of right as serving God. Nay, nay, it is 
 serving God in another way," he added. 
 
 " But what have these men to complain of? " 
 demanded Dame Meredith. " We have plen- 
 tiful harvests, our commerce is large and flour- 
 ishing, and if taxes are somewhat high, the 
 people can afford to pay them, for they never 
 were so well off before as they are now. What 
 have they to complain of, Harry?" she re- 
 peated. 
 
 " Why, this, aunt, that they are slowly but 
 surely being robbed of their liberty ; that the 
 king assumes more and more power to himself 
 as the right of his prerogative, and the whole 
 realm is treated as though it were an estate 
 to be farmed for his benefit ; and last, but not 
 least, that the Reformation in England has
 
 SAXBY. 
 
 been arrested before it has accomplished all 
 that it has done for the Church of Geneva in 
 purifying it from Roman mummeries." 
 
 " But, my dear, our learned and holy Bish- 
 op Laud says that much that was done by 
 these Reformers in the days of King Harry 
 was a deformation, and he would fain bring 
 back" 
 
 " The Roman ritual," interrupted Harry. 
 " I heard of the rejoicing at Rome, and how 
 the Pope was preparing to welcome us as a 
 Roman Catholic nation once more." 
 
 " My dear, the Pope is mistaken, but it is 
 not very wonderful, for Queen 'Mary here made 
 the same mistake, while others felt equally 
 afraid of what the bishop was teaching ; but 
 men's minds are set at rest now, for it is only 
 in a few outward observances that he would 
 alter our Church services to make them accord 
 with that ' beauty of holiness ' he is so anxious 
 to bring back to our beloved Church. Ah, if 
 the good bishop could only have his way in 
 every thing ! " sighed the lady. 
 
 " He and the king would divide the power 
 between them. He would uphold the king in 
 all his unconstitutional attempts to rob the 
 people of their civil liberty, while the king 
 would aid him to create himself another pope
 
 Dame Meredith. 2 1 3 
 
 in spiritual matters. A whisper of this has al- 
 ready gone abroad ; that he will take Buck- 
 ingham's place as the king's adviser ; but they 
 must be careful, for such men as Hampden 
 and Pym and Sir John Eliot are not to be 
 trifled with, and liberty is dearer than wealth 
 or fame to any true Englishman." 
 
 Further conversation, however, was stopped 
 by a little cough from Rupert Saxby, which 
 was the first intimation they had received of 
 the children being in the room. Harry Vane 
 held out his hand and beckoned the boy for- 
 ward. " How would you like to stay here, 
 Rupert, with this lady ? " he asked. 
 
 The boy looked at him, and then at Dame 
 Meredith. " I should like to go to my gran- 
 dam, I think. Winny wants to see the cows 
 and hens," he said. 
 
 " Winny shall see cows and hens and have 
 a little white lamb to play with when we go 
 to Raby Castle," said the lady, coaxingly, and 
 drawing Winny close to her. 
 f "Will it be my very own?" whispered the 
 little girl, raising her sweet mouth to be kissed. 
 
 " Yes, darling, your very own. You will stay 
 with me always, wont you?" almost begged 
 the lady. 
 
 For answer, Winny threw her arms round
 
 214 SAXBY. 
 
 the lady's neck, whispering, " Yes, I will stay, 
 if Rupert may stay with me." 
 
 " And what says Master Rupert ? " asked 
 Harry Vane, looking into the boy's grave, ear- 
 nest eyes. 
 
 " My father said I was to go to my grand- 
 dame," said the boy, dubiously. 
 
 "Yes, my lad, he did; and I would have 
 taken you ere now, as I promised your father, 
 but these good friends of yours have gone to 
 America. I saw a noble gentleman, their 
 neighbor and friend, who told me all about it. 
 Master Hampden knew your father too, and I 
 have promised to take you to see him one day ; 
 but, for the present, it must content you to 
 abide here with your sister. This dear lady, 
 my aunt, will take good care of you both. 
 Will it content you to stay?" 
 
 " Would my father wish it, sir?" asked Ru- 
 pert, thinking of Dame Meredith's oratory, 
 which he persisted in esteeming a popish 
 chapel. 
 
 " Yes, my boy, I am sure your father will be 
 glad to hear you have found a good home 
 and kind friends in England, for he cannot 
 take care of you himself in Germany, while 
 he is fighting with the brave King Gustavus 
 Adolphus."
 
 Dame Meredith. 215 
 
 " And may I learn to be a soldier while I 
 am here?" asked Rupert. 
 
 " I hope you will learn many things besides 
 the duty of a soldier, my boy; my aunt will see 
 to all these things for you," added Harry Vane. 
 
 " But I must learn to be a soldier to help 
 my father in the battles ; for he is fighting for 
 the truth of God and liberty of conscience, as 
 well as for the elector against the Pope and 
 emperor," said Rupert, quickly. 
 
 " Well, my boy, if this long war lasts so long, 
 I hope you will be a brave true soldier, like 
 your father; but, you know, that since the 
 brave King Gustavus has come to their help 
 they have gained so many victories that we 
 are hoping this dreadful war will soon be over, 
 and then your father and many other English 
 gentlemen will return home." 
 
 " If it will content you better you shall learn 
 the use of sword and single-stick and all mar- 
 tial exercises," said Dame Meredith ; " and at 
 our castle of Raby you will meet with many 
 old men who have been soldiers, like your 
 father, and they will teach you many things 
 of that icind an you want to learn." 
 
 " And you shall see my pretty white lamb, 
 Rupert," added his sister, from her cozy seat 
 
 on Dame Meredith's lap. 
 14
 
 216 SAXBY. 
 
 So the matter was settled, and so far rati- 
 fied by the children themselves. A week or 
 two later Harry sent a letter by special mes- 
 senger to Captain Saxby, telling him of his 
 parents' departure for the new colony of Amer- 
 ica, and the adoption of the children by his 
 aunt, until he could return and claim them; 
 adding, however, that he had at last gained his 
 father's permission to spend a year at Geneva, 
 and would bring the children with him when 
 he journeyed thither if he wished it ; at the 
 same time advising that they should be left 
 with their kind friend, as they were very happy 
 and well content to stay.
 
 Harry Vane. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HARRY VANE. 
 
 CAPTAIN SAXBY heard of the depart- 
 ^ ' ure of his parents for the new colony in 
 America before Master Harry Vane's letter 
 reached him. Master Saxby had written a 
 day or two before he left England, and the 
 letter had followed the march of the conquer- 
 ing army of Gustavus Adolphus, but at rather 
 a slow rate ; so that it was only a short time 
 before Harry Vane's messenger reached him 
 that his father's letter came to hand. 
 
 Of course, he could not have his children 
 with him, and so he wisely decided to let them 
 remain with their new-found friends. Before, 
 therefore, Harry Vane departed for Geneva 
 Rupert and Winny went with Dame Meredith 
 to Raby Castle, in Durham. But they did not 
 remain there long, for Dame Meredith fancied 
 it did not suit little Winny to live in the bleak 
 North, so they removed to London again, and 
 then to the lady's own house, at Hadlow, in 
 Kent, where the Vanes also had a country- 
 seat, and where the children usually resided.
 
 2 1 8 SAXBY. 
 
 They were living here when Harry returned 
 from Geneva the following year, bringing news 
 of their father and the German war, but little 
 hope of its speedy close as yet. The day that 
 he arrived Winny was in sad trouble. She had 
 been helping Dame Meredith in washing and 
 clear starching that lady's laces and ruffles, and 
 now her little fingers were smarting and tingling 
 from the soap. Dame Meredith was trying to 
 soothe her, and allay the pain of her inflamed fin- 
 gers, when her nephew Harry was announced. 
 
 " Why, how now, my little wench," said the 
 young man, stooping to the little girl as she 
 sat in his aunt's lap. 
 
 Dame Meredith seemed upon the point of 
 crying, too, as she held up the little inflamed 
 fingers for him to look at. 
 
 " Did you ever see any thing so dreadful, 
 Harry? And it is all through that new soap 
 that we are obliged to use." 
 
 " New soap," repeated Harry Vane in some 
 bewilderment. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, have you not heard what an 
 ado all the washerwomen are making about it? 
 Last week the Lord Mayor and governor of 
 the Tower had two grand washing-days at 
 Guildhall, one day with the old soap and the 
 next with the new."
 
 Harry Vane. 219 
 
 Harry looked at his aunt for a minute, as if 
 to assure himself that he heard aright, or that 
 it was his same sensible aunt speaking to him, 
 and then burst into a hearty fit of laughter. 
 
 " It is nothing to laugh about, Harry this 
 monopoly upon the soap" she said, "for we 
 cannot buy any other now ; and just look at 
 this poor little wench's fingers," and Winny, 
 finding so much pity was forthcoming on her 
 behalf, burst into a fresh flood of tears. 
 
 " Hush, hush, my little wench, that nice 
 cooling balsam will make your fingers well," 
 said Harry Vane, offering to take the child on 
 his knee. But she clung the closer to Dame 
 Meredith, who kissed and fondled her and 
 promised her some conserve if she would be 
 quiet. 
 
 " Where is brother Rupert ? " asked Harry, 
 thinking this might turn the child's thoughts 
 into another channel. 
 
 " Gone," sobbed Winny ; "and it's all through 
 this nasty new soap." 
 
 " Why, has it washed him away," asked 
 Harry Vane, laughing still. 
 
 " No ; I have been obliged to send him out 
 of the room because he spoke disloyally of the 
 king," said Dame Meredith. 
 
 "And he is a naughty king to make us
 
 220 SAXBY. 
 
 use bad soap ; Rupert said he was," persisted 
 Winny. 
 
 " Hush, hush, little one. There, go to Dor 
 othy, and she will find you a large apple," and 
 Dame Meredith sent the little girl out of the 
 room. 
 
 " I feel almost as angry as the children, 
 Harry, about this soap business," she said as 
 she sat down again. " It is nothing but lime 
 and tallow, scalding the fingers and destroying 
 the linen, and yet a proclamation has been sent 
 out forbidding any to make complaint against 
 it, or to use any other, for fear of injury to the 
 monopoly." 
 
 "And the lord mayor's washing days what 
 came of them ? " laughed Harry. 
 
 " Of course they backed up the new soap 
 as the best, and there is a monopoly upon 
 almost every thing now since the last Parlia- 
 ment was dissolved soap, and salt, and starch, 
 and coals, buttons, and hats, and combs, and 
 twenty other things besides," said Dame Mere- 
 dith, indignantly." 
 
 "And they are likely to -last, for I hear the 
 king has determined to govern without a Par- 
 liament in future," said Harry, " and several 
 of the patriots are in prison Sir John Eliot 
 in the Tower."
 
 Harry Vane. 221 
 
 " How can you call these men patriots, 
 Harry?" she demanded angrily; for this new 
 soap, having skinned her darling's fingers, 
 touched her very keenly; but she was not 
 ready to admit that the king or his council 
 was in fault. " If it were not for these men 
 Eliot, and Pym, and Hampden, and their 
 friends the king would not be driven to 
 granting these monopolies ; but since they 
 refuse to lend him their money, or grant him 
 supplies and subsidies, what can he do but 
 make it by selling monopolies on every thing 
 we use ? and then you call these men pa- 
 triots ! " 
 
 " Now, aunt, you are not just to blame 
 Hampden and the country party for these 
 wretched extortions. It is these very things, 
 and the king's illegal use of the royal prerog- 
 ative, that have provoked their opposition to 
 him. If he will but deal truly, and rule his 
 realm lawfully, he will have no more loyal 
 subjects than Pym and Hampden, and those 
 who follow their lead ; for they are conscien- 
 tious, God-fearing men, who will do the right 
 without fear or favor." 
 
 " Dear heart, Harry, I am afraid your jour- 
 ney to Geneva has been of little use in ridding 
 you of these strange notions," sighed his aunt.
 
 222 SAXBY. 
 
 " Nay, but I have learned many things at 
 Geneva of which I had little knowledge be- 
 fore, and I would that our bishops would 
 frame our Church after that of Geneva." 
 
 " That can never be," said the lady. " Our 
 good Bishop of London, who will, doubtless, 
 soon be Archbishop of Canterbury, is framing 
 our Church on a different model from the 
 schismatic Church of Geneva. He would fain 
 see it a perfect Church, and all men made 
 conformable to it perfect in the ' beauty of 
 holiness/ " added Dame Meredith ; but which 
 really meant beauty of ritual, according to 
 Laud's ideas of what that ritual should be. 
 
 " It is a vain dream, dear aunt, this making 
 all men conformable to one Church, even if it 
 could be a perfect one," said Harry Vane 
 quietly. 
 
 His aunt looked her astonishment. " You 
 would make all men conform to the Church 
 of Geneva," she said quietly. 
 
 " Nay, aunt, I am not sure that I should 
 wish to try, and if I did I am sure I should 
 not succeed," said Harry. 
 
 " But but when a perfect Church has been 
 discovered men ought to conform to it," said 
 Dame Meredith. 
 
 " If they could believe it was a perfect
 
 Harry Vane. 223 
 
 Church, doubtless they would, dear aunt. I 
 have been thinking much of this matter of 
 late, and I believe every man has the right to 
 follow the divine voice within him the voice 
 of conscience in this matter. All men will 
 not, cannot, think alike. God has not in- 
 tended that they should. He has not made 
 two leaves of the forest trees, even on the 
 same tree, exactly alike, or two blades of 
 grass, or ears of corn ; and there is the same 
 diversity in men's minds, I trow." 
 
 Harry had thought his aunt must have lost 
 her wits when she told him about the Lord 
 Mayor's washing days, but his astonishment 
 was as nothing to the profound dismay Dame 
 Meredith felt at her nephew's last words. 
 Such a thing as religious toleration for any 
 but their own particular Church, was some- 
 thing unheard of. Each claimed this as his 
 right, but denied it to all who differed from 
 him in this seventeenth century, and the bold, 
 brave words Harry Vane had spoken and 
 which he was not slow to act upon when the 
 time came looked, to his aunt, like heartless- 
 ness or laxity that was most dangerous. 
 
 " Well, well," she said at last, " did you learn 
 this new notion at Geneva, Harry?" I thought 
 they wanted all men to worship after their pat-
 
 224 SAXBY. 
 
 tern. Those stubborn Scotch are not of this 
 mind, for they would fain make all men Pres- 
 byterians." 
 
 " It is the fault of this age, I trow, dear 
 aunt, and an error many good men fall into. 
 Doubtless these Puritan Brownists, or Inde- 
 pendents, as they now call themselves men 
 who have suffered the loss of all things for 
 conscience' sake, and left home and friends 
 here for unknown hardships in the new colony 
 in America would fain make all men Inde- 
 pendents if they could ; but I trust they will 
 learn true liberty in the land to which they 
 have gone. Aunt, I should like to go out to 
 this new colony in America," added the young 
 man. 
 
 Had he said he should like to turn Moham- 
 medan, and go and live with the Grand Turk, 
 at Constantinople, it would scarcely have 
 surprised his aunt after what she had already 
 heard. She was deeply grieved, too. Harry 
 was her favorite among all her nephews and 
 nieces, and she had indulged such high hopes 
 concerning him, especially since he had evinced 
 such decided piety ; for in her mind's eye she 
 saw him brave, witty, prosperous, a bright par- 
 ticular star in the court of King Charles, but 
 moving in it with unsullied purity of mind and
 
 Harry Vane. 225 
 
 manner, drawing all men to him, and to God, 
 by the force of his bright example. A pleas- 
 ant dream this had been to the lady; but she 
 feared it would never be a reality now, unless 
 Sir Harry could prevail upon his son to give 
 up some of these strange notions. 
 
 There was a silence between them after 
 Harry had expressed his wish to go to New 
 England, and then his aunt said, "You will 
 excuse me, Harry, now; it is the hour I spend 
 in my oratory. Come to me again by and by." 
 
 Harry knew that it was to pray for him, and 
 what she feared was his sad declension, that 
 she spent so long a time in the little chapel ; 
 for he did not go home when his aunt left 
 him, but went in search of Rupert Saxby. 
 
 The whole household seemed in a ferment 
 to-day over this soap business, for Dame 
 Meredith's maid had her fingers tied up, and 
 there were sounds of scolding and grumbling 
 from the laundry as he passed on his way to 
 the garden, where he had been told the chil- 
 dren were walking. He found them^ sitting 
 together in a retired arbor, Rupert trying to 
 coax Winny to play, while the little girl was 
 still fretting and complaining about her sore 
 fingers, which Dorothy had tied up in some 
 linen rags. Harry sat down on the seat, and
 
 226 SAXBY. 
 
 took Winny on his knee, condoling with her 
 about her sore fingers, which at once loosened 
 Rupert's tongue about the soap. Dorothy, as 
 well as Dame Meredith, had scolded him for 
 speaking so angrily against the king and those 
 who had bought the monopoly and made such 
 bad soap ; but he gave vent to his feelings 
 afresh now, using no very measured language, 
 either, to express his anger. 
 
 Harry Vane was astonished to hear him, 
 and feared that his aunt must, by her over- 
 indulgence, be spoiling the children. Those 
 were the days when children were not merely 
 supposed to be seen and not heard, but when 
 it was an accomplished fact. That it was not 
 so with the little Saxbys showed a great want 
 of moral training, thought Harry Vane, and 
 it vexed and troubled him exceedingly. 
 
 Rupert was a boy of fine promise, thought- 
 ful beyond his years, generous and loving, and 
 wisely trained. These good qualities might, 
 by the blessing of God, be made a blessing to 
 others so ran Harry Vane's thoughts, as he 
 talked and listened to the children, inwardly 
 wondering what he ought to do what it was 
 his duty to do under these circumstances. He 
 had no love for stirring up strife and oppo- 
 sition, and he feared he should do this only
 
 Harry Vane. 227 
 
 too well on his own account, without offend- 
 ing and paining his aunt by removing the chil- 
 dren from her care. Then again, where could 
 he take them, for the slender pittance Captain 
 Saxby could afford to pay for them, if called 
 upon to do so, would not be sufficient. 
 
 At length he decided to pay another visit 
 to Master Hampden, and take Rupert with 
 him, and perhaps this old friend of the Sax- 
 bys could suggest some plan might even 
 offer to take Rupert for a time. Rupert was 
 his chief anxiety. A little spoiling would not 
 matter so much in Winny's case, he thought, 
 and so he decided to talk to his aunt about 
 this at once. 
 
 Leaving the children to their play, he saun- 
 tered back to the house, but still had to wait 
 some time for his aunt, who had not yet left 
 her oratory, her maid informed him. As soon 
 as she came in Harry noticed the calm, peace- 
 ful expression of her placid face, that had 
 looked so ruffled and troubled when she left 
 him, and the thought instantly crossed his 
 mind, " how can I say hard things about this 
 ritual, and times, and ceremonies, when I see 
 what a help it is to one devout soul ? " Ah, 
 Dame Meredith, when she blamed her nephew 
 for the broad, liberal, Christlike spirit which
 
 228 SAXDY. 
 
 she in her Tearfulness looked upon as laxity, if 
 not actual license, little thought how much 
 her example had to do with planting and fos- 
 tering it. 
 
 " Now, my dear, you will tell me about your 
 travels," she said, taking a stiff, high-backed, 
 but handsomely-embroidered, chair, and invit- 
 ing her nephew to one close to it. 
 
 "Well, aunt, I want to talk to you about 
 another journey I am anxious to take at once, 
 before my father returns from his mission to 
 Sweden. You remember before I went away 
 last year I told you that I promised one of 
 Captain Saxby's friends that he should see 
 these children." 
 
 " Who is this friend ? " asked the lady 
 quickly. " He will not want to take the chil- 
 dren from me, I hope," she added. 
 
 " I only wish to take Rupert with me now. 
 I told you Master Hampden was an old friend 
 of the family, and I had promised the boy 
 should pay him a long visit." 
 
 Dame Meredith's face grew troubled. " I 
 wish you would not go to this man. Take 
 the boy anywhere else you like, Harry- I can 
 trust you fully but why should you take him 
 to this Master Hampden, who is one of the 
 bitterest of these malcontents ? "
 
 Harry Vane. 229 
 
 " He is his father's friend, dear aunt," said 
 Harry in a soothing tone. 
 
 " But why not let the children remain with 
 me until their father comes home?" 
 
 " Because dear aunt, I do not wish to pain 
 you, but there are many reasons why it would 
 be best for Rupert to pay this visit to Master 
 Hampden now," said the young man. 
 
 " Then you are determined to take him, I 
 suppose ? " 
 
 " His father would wish it, I am sure, and, 
 therefore, I feel bound to carry out his 
 wishes." 
 
 " But you will not take my little darling, 
 Winny," said the lady almost imploringly. 
 
 " No, I will leave Winny with you, and, 
 doubtless, Rupert will return in a few months, 
 or even weeks." 
 
 " One thing more, Harry you will spend 
 Sunday with me ? " said Dame Meredith. 
 
 " Yes, aunt, if you wish it, certainly," said 
 Harry, glad to please his aunt in something ; 
 and so it was settled that he and Rupert 
 should start on their journey to Buckingham- 
 shire the following Monday.
 
 230 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS. 
 
 IF Dame Meredith and Harry Vane could 
 only have known what painful memories 
 this Sunday at Hadlow Church was destined 
 to give rise to, each would have been most 
 careful to avoid it, but Dame Meredith had 
 persuaded herself that there was, at least, 
 some small good in her nephew's lax notions 
 about men's conformity to the Church ; for if 
 he held that they might worship God after 
 any pattern, he would not be so violent in his 
 opposition to the changes gradually being in- 
 troduced by Bishop Laud, and surely he would 
 see that the new mode of administering the 
 Lord's Supper was more reverent more in 
 accordance with the beauty of holiness. 
 
 Harry had not been into the parish church 
 since these changes had been made, and he 
 stared in amazement as he walked up the aisle 
 to the railed-off family pew of the Vanes, and 
 saw that a table had been set up at the end of 
 the chancel, furnished like an altar, and sep-
 
 Bitter Disappointments. 231 
 
 arated from the rest of the church by a raised 
 step, and railings around it. 
 
 He had no opportunity of questioning his 
 aunt or any one else until the communion serv- 
 ice commenced, and then, instead of the long, 
 movable table being placed in the center of 
 the church, around which the communicants 
 stood to partake of the Lord's Supper, he saw, 
 to his profound astonishment, that they kneeled 
 around the railings that guarded the altar-like 
 table. 
 
 " Another step and we shall have the mass 
 itself set up in our midst," he said half aloud, 
 as he watched his aunt take her place among 
 the kneeling communicants. Harry had fully 
 intended partaking in this sacred feast, but he 
 could not, would not kneel. To him and to 
 hundreds of others this posture savored too 
 much of idolatry; it was too much like the 
 adoration of the host, and in the recoil from 
 popery and the dread fear of its return which 
 possessed so many just now, they would not 
 yield an inch by which the enemy might gain 
 an advantage. 
 
 Dame Meredith looked sorely pained when 
 she saw that her nephew did not go forward 
 with the rest, and as soon as the service was 
 
 over and they had reached the church-yard, 
 15
 
 232 SAXBY. 
 
 she exclaimed, " O, Harry, Harry, I am sorely 
 grieved ! Why did you not kneel with me to- 
 day at the blessed sacrament ? " 
 
 " I, too, was grieved and sorely disappoint- 
 ed," said the young man with a deep-drawn 
 sigh, " for it seems to me that this Church 
 of England is growing more Romish every 
 day." 
 
 " Nay, nay, it is not Romish, but reverent 
 and becoming to kneel when we partake of 
 the blessed sacrament of the body and blood 
 of Christ," said Dame Meredith, quickly. 
 
 " I cannot kneel I cannot worship this 
 bread and wine, as though it were the body 
 and blood of Christ himself," said Harry. 
 
 " But but, you told me a day or two since 
 you believed God would accept the worship 
 of a sincere and devout soul, whatever the 
 form of worship might be," objected his 
 aunt. 
 
 " And I do believe it, provided the worship 
 be rendered according to a man's conscience," 
 said Harry ; " but I should sorely wound my 
 conscience to kneel for this service where I 
 have always stood ; and, God helping me, I 
 never will," he added solemnly. 
 
 " O, Harry, Harry ! it will sorely grieve your 
 father and the king. You cannot think that
 
 Bitter Disappointments. 233 
 
 so many devout and godly men as follow this 
 way would do wrong." 
 
 " I judge no man but myself," said Harry, 
 " and I can believe in the truth and devotion 
 of many pious souls who conform to this fash- 
 ion, but I cannot do it." 
 
 Dame Meredith sighed as she looked at her 
 impracticable nephew, and thought of the 
 trouble in store for them all. She went home 
 and spent an hour or two in her oratory, pray- 
 ing for the high-souled, but, as she thought, 
 wrong-headed young man, who must, by mere 
 force of character, be such a power in the 
 world for good or evil ; and as Dame Mere- 
 dith looked upon those who opposed the king 
 and all-powerful bishop as very evil, she was 
 the more earnest that her nephew should be 
 saved from such wiles. She decided to see 
 the bishop, too, and talk to him about Harry. 
 Surely a few words from him would bring the 
 wanderer back to the fold ; and so as soon as 
 Harry and Rupert, with the attendant serv- 
 ants, had started on their journey to Bucking- 
 hamshire, Dame Meredith gave orders to her 
 servants to prepare for a visit to London, 
 where she resolved to see Bishop Laud and 
 meet Harry on his return. 
 
 Rupert was very sorry to leave his sister, but
 
 234 SAXBY. 
 
 the novelty of the journey and the anticipa- 
 tion of seeing his father's old friends and old 
 home reconciled him to the separation, while 
 Winny was soothed with a present of comfits 
 and confections now, and a promise of visiting 
 the little prince and seeing his wonderful 
 French toys when they should reach London. 
 
 Harry Vane kept little Rupert as near to 
 him as he could during the journey, often seat- 
 ing him in front of himself as he rode, al- 
 though a pony had been provided for the child, 
 and he had already learned to ride very well. 
 He took care that he should be so seated and 
 he rode his horse at a leisurely pace as they 
 drew near the old Saxby homestead. 
 
 " There, my boy, that is your father's home, 
 and will be yours some day, I doubt not," said 
 Harry Vane as they drew near the gate. 
 
 " That ! " exclaimed Rupert, in some sur- 
 prise, for the old house was falling into decay, 
 and Master Vane noticed how neglected and 
 dilapidated every thing was looking now. Paths 
 were weed-grown and untidy, gates were fall- 
 ing off their hinges, hedges were broken down 
 and showed ugly gaps, and an air of miserable 
 desolation reigned over the whole place. 
 
 " It was not like this when I saw it last year, 
 Rupert. I wonder whether your uncle has
 
 Bitter Disappointments. 235 
 
 died and there is no one left to take care of the 
 old place now," and he urged on his horse 
 again toward Hampden, leaving the gossips of 
 Great Kimble in a flutter of astonishment and 
 conjecture as to who the grand visitors could 
 be. 
 
 Very different was the aspect of Master John 
 Hampden's residence. The broad avenue, 
 sheltered by lofty, overarching trees, had been 
 clean swept of the falling leaves, and every 
 thing gave token of the wealthy, careful coun- 
 try gentleman, who was proud of his home and 
 its surroundings. 
 
 The announcement of his visitor's name 
 soon brought Master Hampden to the door to 
 welcome him, and Rupert was taken at once 
 to gentle Dame Hampden, to be introduced 
 to her numerous family of boys and girls, some 
 of whom were older and some younger than 
 Rupert. Orders were issued for servants and 
 horses to be made comfortable, and refresh- 
 ments were at once brought in for Harry Vane. 
 This meal dispatched, he began to question 
 his host about the change that had taken 
 place in the Saxby homestead during the last 
 year. 
 
 " Yes, every thing is going to rack and ruin 
 under Roger's management," said Master
 
 236 SAX BY. 
 
 Hampden, " and, what is worse, he seems to 
 be going the same road himself." 
 
 " There are two brothers living there, I think 
 you said ? " remarked Harry Vane. 
 
 " Yes, Lawrence, the youngest of the three, 
 was left behind at his own request when his 
 mother and father went to America ; for these 
 two boys were very fond of each other, and 
 were to manage the farm between them until 
 Captain Saxby came home, when the key of 
 an old cabinet was to be given to him the 
 key, by the way, is in my possession and he 
 would see, by an examination of its contents, 
 what his father's wishes were about the estate. 
 Roger has never felt satisfied about this, it 
 seems, but he and Lawrence were always good 
 friends until you came last year about the 
 children. They had a serious quarrel after 
 you left the first real quarrel they have ever 
 had. Since then they have been frequent 
 enough, until at last Lawrence has decided to 
 go to his parents in America. He came to 
 consult me about it only last week, and I think 
 it is the best thing he can do, unless he is to 
 go to ruin like his brother." 
 
 " This new colony in America seems the only 
 hope for many of us," said Harry Vane. 
 " Young Saxby may tell his friends that I shall
 
 Bitter Disappointments. 237 
 
 probably take their grandson out with me by 
 and by." 
 
 " You go to this half-civilized place, Master 
 Vane ! You that have been reared in the lux- 
 ury and splendor of a court ! " exclaimed 
 Hampden. 
 
 " Luxury and splendor are not freedom. I 
 cannot even worship God according to my own 
 conscience, Hampden. Do you know a cler- 
 gyman who would let me take the sacrament 
 standing now?" 
 
 Master Hampden shook his head. "We 
 had a brave, true, God-fearing man here a few 
 years ago, in whose defense Master Saxby suf- 
 fered a good many losses and a good many 
 vexations, but he has been imprisoned by 
 Bishop Laud's order, and there is as little hope 
 of his release as of our friend Sir John Eliot's," 
 
 " Your brave leader is in prison again ? " 
 said Harry Vane, questioningly. 
 
 " Yes, most illegally committed to the Tower 
 by the Council and Star-chamber two days after 
 the dissolution of Parliament." 
 
 " What was his offense ? " asked Harry Vane. 
 
 " The old and oft-told tale, denying the 
 king's right to levy taxes without the consent 
 of Parliament. The matter immediately in 
 dispute was that of tonnage and poundage,
 
 238 SAXBY. 
 
 levied immediately after the last Parliament 
 was prorogued, and in direct defiance of the 
 Bill of Rights. You have heard of this famous 
 bill, Master Vane, and the trouble it cost us 
 to gain the king's assent thereto." 
 
 " I would that I had never heard of it, or 
 the king's share in that most dishonorable 
 business," said Harry Vane. 
 
 " Well, well, we will not discuss that now," 
 said Hampden, with delicate courtesy for his 
 visitor's feelings, to whom the king was a per- 
 sonal friend as well as a sovereign. " The Bill 
 of Rights, as you well know, was to make 
 clear, once for all, that the State had not abso- 
 lute power over the lives and property of the 
 subject, as had of late been assumed ; but, in de- 
 fiance of this, tonnage and poundage was imme- 
 diately levied, and three worthy citizens of 
 London had their goods seized, the judges re- 
 fusing them protection because they declined 
 to pay this illegal impost. When Parliament 
 met, Sir John Eliot brought forward a remon- 
 strance against this, but the speaker would 
 have left the chair when it was to be read had 
 not Denzil Hollis held him down while Sir 
 John Eliot read his remonstrance against the 
 king's illegal action." 
 
 " And it was for this he called you a nest of
 
 Bitter Disappointments. 239 
 
 ' vipers,' I suppose," said Harry Vane, who 
 had heard of the king's angry dissolution of 
 this Parliament, and his declared intention to 
 rule the kingdom without a Parliament in 
 future. 
 
 " Master Vane, we have been no vipers, but 
 true men and the king's most loyal subjects ; 
 but if such noble gentlemen as Sir John Eliot 
 are to be imprisoned for speeches in Parlia- 
 ment, the time may come when the king will 
 find us vipers indeed. We are Englishmen, 
 patient and law-abiding, demanding only to 
 be ruled according to law ; but if this be refused 
 us and all our rights denied, a day will comne 
 when remonstrances and protests will be laid 
 aside and sterner weapons taken into use. I 
 tell you this, Master Vane, that you may give 
 a word of warning in time to those whom it 
 may concern I tell you I fear such a day will 
 come, unless the king will take other counsel- 
 ors than Sir Thomas Wentworth, the traitor 
 of our cause, and Laud, the Arminian bishop, 
 who would fain become Pope of the Church 
 of England." 
 
 " I fear words of mine will have but little 
 weight with the king or his party. But, can 
 nothing be done for Sir John Eliot?" 
 
 " I fear not, although his health is suffering
 
 240 SAXBY. 
 
 from the closeness of his confinement. He 
 has used every lawful means to gain his lib- 
 erty, but the king demands that he shall peti- 
 tion, declaring he is sorry he has offended." 
 
 "And he will not do this?" said Harry Vane 
 with flashing eyes. 
 
 " Do it ! Would it not be conceding to the 
 king the right for which we have been con- 
 tending so long? the right of the subject to 
 his liberty and property, unless he has offend- 
 ed against the law. This Sir John Eliot has 
 not done ; and as for being sorry for what he 
 said, he would do it again the next time he 
 stood in Parliament ; for what would freedom 
 be worth to a man like Sir John, if he dare not 
 raise his voice on behalf of the oppressed ? " 
 
 Harry Vane shook his head sadly. " What 
 is coming to our poor England when true, 
 honest men are shut up in the Tower or ban- 
 ished to Ireland, and traitors like Wentworth 
 rewarded for their treachery ? Master Hamp- 
 den, we must all go to this New England the 
 men of the Mayflower have discovered for us." 
 
 But Hampden shook his head. " Not yet," 
 he said ; " not while there is a chance of sav- 
 ing dear old England." 
 
 " But, can we save her?" 
 
 " We will spend our lives in the effort. Pym
 
 Bitter Disappointments. 241 
 
 and Sir John Eliot, my cousin Oliver Crom- 
 well, Masten and Selden, Lord Say, and Lord 
 Brooke, we have all sworn to think of our 
 country's welfare before our own, and we will 
 die rather than see her the down-trodden vic- 
 tim of any oppression." 
 
 "And I will join you," said young Harry- 
 Vane, speaking slowly but firmly. 
 
 Hampden looked at the noble, boyish face, 
 and shook his head. " You will ever be our 
 friend among the court party, I doubt not; 
 but to join us to rank yourself openly on our 
 side, you know not what this will cost you. 
 You have been reared in the midst of the 
 court ; all your friends are of it, and to leave 
 these to give up all your hopes for the future 
 you must consider it well, young sir, before 
 you decide so weighty a question." 
 
 " But I am one with you in conscience and 
 religion, aye, and in politics, too. Think you 
 that, after seeing the Church of Geneva in all 
 its purity and simplicity, I could join this 
 half-Romanized Church that Laud has given 
 us ? I tell you I will never kneel to take the 
 sacrament ; and if no man will give it me 
 standing, I'll wait until your day comes, or I 
 go to this New England and take it with my 
 Puritan brethren there."
 
 242 SAXBY. 
 
 " Well, well, for the matter of that, I blame 
 you not," said Hampden ; " but in this ques- 
 tion of politics be not hasty ; be our friend 
 with the king an you can, but for the rest 
 wait." 
 
 " How long?" asked Harry Vane. "If 1^ 
 come to you and Pym in five years' time, 
 and say, ' Here I am, another man for En- 
 gland ; I have never wavered since I made my 
 choice ' " 
 
 " Then we will receive you gladly," inter- 
 rupted Hampden.
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ROUNDHEAD AND ROYALIST. 
 
 DAME MEREDITH sat in the wide oriel 
 window of the Vane Mansion, in the 
 Strand, watching the swans as they sailed 
 gracefully up and down the river, and the 
 boats and gaily-decorated barges, with their 
 company of fine ladies and gentlemen on their 
 way to and from Whitehall. The sun shone 
 through the little lozenge -shaped panes of 
 glass, making quaint patterns on the polished 
 dark oak floor. At the lady's feet sat a little 
 fair-haired girl, about ten years old, with wide- 
 open, serious-looking eyes. 
 
 " Madam, will my brother Rupert grow 
 up a very bad man an he goes with Master 
 Harry Vane to this New England ? " she said 
 seriously, after a long silence. 
 
 The lady turned her face to gaze at the child 
 for a minute, and the tears were in her eyes as 
 she said : " I would give all I possess to save 
 Master Vane from the presumption, and folly, 
 and spiritual pride that has driven him to turn 
 his back upon his friends, and forsake his king
 
 244 SAXBY. 
 
 and the Church in which he learned to serve 
 God ; but for all this Harry Vane is not a bad 
 man, and he will strive to teach our Rupert 
 all that he thinks right and true and good." 
 
 " Then there are two sorts of goodness, 
 madam ? " said little Winny. 
 
 Dame Meredith seemed puzzled to answer 
 the child's question. " There should not be, 
 little Winny," she said at last; "but the times 
 are out of joint, and many set little store by 
 loyalty to the divine right of the king, or obe- 
 dience to holy Church. But why do I talk to 
 you of these things which you cannot under- 
 stand ? Run to Dorothy and tell her to give 
 you some comfits and take you to walk in the 
 garden. I expect Master Vane will be here in 
 a few minutes." 
 
 " But but, madam, I may see Rupert be- 
 fore he goes across the great sea ? " said Win- 
 ny, doubtfully. 
 
 " Yes, to be sure, child, you shall see your 
 brother. He is coming here to-morrow." 
 
 " Then I will talk to him of this evil way 
 he is in," said Winny with the gravity of Dame 
 Meredith herself; for, having so little com- 
 panionship with children of her own age, the 
 little girl had grown up with the manners 
 and speech of her elders, and thought more
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 245 
 
 than most children of her age over what she 
 heard. 
 
 The child had only just left the room when 
 Harry Vane was announced, and the next 
 minute stood in his aunt's presence. The four 
 or five years that had elapsed since his return 
 from Geneva had altered much of the boyish 
 expression, but not the noble truthfulness of 
 his face. 
 
 "How now, my sweet aunt?" said Harry, 
 doffing his plumed hat and throwing aside his 
 scented love-locks as he stooped to kiss his 
 aunt's hand. 
 
 " How now, Cousin Harry? I looked to see 
 thee as a veritable roundhead knave by this 
 time," said his aunt playfully, laying her hand 
 on his curls, and evidently pleased to see that 
 he still followed some custom of the court, 
 whatever his private opinion might be. 
 
 " Nay, God is not served by the cut of a 
 man's doublet or the shearing of his hair," 
 said Harry with a smile, drawing a narrow, 
 highbacked chair close to his aunt's. 
 
 o 
 
 " Well, now, wherefore is this new whimsy 
 of thine, about which thy father is fretting 
 and fuming? I thought thou and he were 
 close friends since this business at Sweden 
 had occupied you both."
 
 246 SAXBY. 
 
 " In matters of business which touch neither 
 king nor Church my father and I will ever be 
 good friends," said Harry; "but since the king 
 will rule this realm without law " 
 
 "And wherefore should not the king rule it 
 as he will ? Is it not his right ? " interrupted 
 Dame Meredith, sharply. 
 
 " An he would rule according to law no one 
 would gainsay it," replied Harry, and then 
 added : " but you and I are not going to quar- 
 rel, sweet aunt. I love thee too well to go 
 forth on my perilous adventure leaving thee 
 in anger. I came to talk to thee of these 
 children." 
 
 " Thou dost not want to take my sweet bud 
 of promise, Winny, away from me ? " inter- 
 rupted the lady quickly. 
 
 " Nay, dear aunt ; what could I do with a 
 little wench on my adventure ? But the boy 
 is anxious to go to his friends, and they have 
 sent letters to Master Hampden begging he 
 will send them both by the hand of some trusty 
 friend. I will take Rupert, and persuade them 
 to let the little wench abide with thee until 
 her father shall return from the wars, when 
 thou wilt, of course, be willing to give her 
 up." 
 
 " Have I not always said I would yield the
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 247 
 
 little wench to her own father? And now, 
 Harry, a word about yourself; wherefore 
 dost thou continue in this stout rebellion 
 against the king and the true Church ? Why 
 dost thou not obey her, and submit to her 
 authority ? " 
 
 " What ! give my conscience to a priest ! 
 Nay, nay, aunt, I hold that every man is him- 
 self a priest in this matter, and may not dele- 
 gate the office to another without loss to his 
 own soul." 
 
 " I had thought our godly Archbishop Laud 
 would have brought thee to a better mind," 
 said Dame Meredith with a sigh. " How is it 
 thou dost arrogate to thyself a wisdom greater 
 than thy father or mother? Dost thou not 
 think it comes of the presumption of youth 
 and an overweening contempt of authority, 
 which is also another youthful fault, but still 
 not incurable ?" 
 
 But her nephew shook his head. " Sweet 
 aunt, I thought you knew me better by this 
 time," he said. " To please you and my father 
 I had a long discussion with Laud, but he did 
 not move me an inch from the truth I had 
 learned." 
 
 " Harry, Harry, what are you saying ? The 
 archbishop move you from the truth! Nay, 
 16
 
 248 SAXBY. 
 
 nay, he would lead you to the truth, vain boy," 
 said Dame Meredith. 
 
 " I -doubt not Master Laud's sincerity, or 
 that he hath a grip of some fragment of truth, 
 albeit it is well-nigh hidden from the multitude 
 by the ceremonies and mummeries which the 
 Church hath of late imposed. But truth is 
 many-sided, and we speak that we do know 
 and testify that we have seen, and wherefore 
 should I give this up at the bidding of king or 
 archbishop, for Charles himself hath caught me 
 more than once on this hap ? " 
 
 " I would that he had made thee give up thy 
 headstrong ways, that cause such sore grief to 
 thy friends," said Dame Meredith. 
 
 " Nay, sweet aunt, if you have failed, how 
 think you others can succeed ? But now let 
 us talk of other things. I would that I had 
 seen the brave Sir John Eliot before he died, 
 for he had many friends, I trow, in the New 
 England to which I am going." 
 
 " He died a prisoner in the Tower," said 
 Dame Meredith. 
 
 " Sir John died a martyr for his country, 
 the victim of the king's tyranny," said young 
 Vane. 
 
 " I would every evil-minded roundhead was 
 now in the Tower. I would almost send you
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 249 
 
 there an it would cure you of this pestilent 
 heresy," she added ; and truly the good dame 
 would have sent her dearly-loved nephew any 
 where out of the way of these new opinions 
 that were so slowly but surely alienating men's 
 minds from the king, and preparing them for 
 that final struggle when they would fight with 
 other weapons than those of protests, and re- 
 monstrances, and stern parliamentary phrases, 
 which was all that had ever been thought of 
 as yet by the king-loving, law-abiding people, 
 or their leaders either. 
 
 And now the talk of Dame Meredith and 
 Harry Vane was about the voyage across the 
 Atlantic, the retinue of servants and retainers 
 he would take with him, and the need for pro- 
 viding other and more substantial garments 
 than satin and velvet doublets and silver-lace- 
 trimmed cloaks. To his aunt's horror, Harry 
 was bent upon providing himself with several 
 substantial suits of homely frieze and one or 
 two jerkins of buff leather, such as peasants 
 wore, but which would be very unfitting for the 
 court-bred Harry Vane, his aunt argued. But 
 Harry was as determined about the frieze 
 doublets as he was about his religious opinions, 
 only he promised to go on board the vessel in 
 a dress becoming Sir Harry Vane's son ; and
 
 250 SAXBY. 
 
 this was the utmost he would concede to his 
 aunt's whimsy. 
 
 The next day Rupert arrived from Hamp- 
 den, where most of his time had been spent 
 since he first went there with Harry Vane. 
 He had grown a fine, handsome lad, grave 
 perhaps beyond his years, but then he had 
 been brought up in a Puritan household, and 
 they were hardly the times for much merry- 
 making when any day might see father or 
 friends carried off to prison, and such ruinous 
 fines imposed that the whole family might be 
 reduced to ruin. Such things were only too 
 common under the tyranny of the Star-cham- 
 ber, and so it was little wonder that those who 
 lived in constant danger of falling into its 
 power under one pretext or the other should 
 take a serious view of life, or that children 
 should catch the tone of this from their par- 
 ents almost insensibly. 
 
 But Rupert had been brought up among 
 young people near his own age, and his little 
 sister's solemn lectures on the evil of following 
 Master Vane's foolish ways greatly surprised 
 him. 
 
 " I have seen but little of Master Vane, and 
 shall see less, I trow, when I reach Saxby, on 
 the other side the great sea New Saxby my
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 251 
 
 grandfather calls it ; and he would fain give 
 up the old Saxby here in Great Kimble, for it 
 has done my Uncle Roger much mischief, 
 Master Hampden says." 
 
 " But you must not hold by all this Master 
 Hampden tells you. He is an evil-minded 
 roundhead, and would fain take all power from 
 the king and put our godly bishops into 
 prison," said Winny. 
 
 Rupert looked at her in astonishment, and 
 then burst into a merry peal of laughter at 
 Winny's grave face. " So Mistress Dorothy 
 has been teaching you high things, little sis- 
 ter," he said, catching her in his arms and kiss- 
 ing her. 
 
 But Winny struggled to free herself, looking 
 very angry. " You shall not love me an you 
 will not love the king and the good arch- 
 bishop," she said. 
 
 " Nay, nay, have I ever said aught to offend 
 the king or the archbishop ? " said Rupert, in 
 the same tone of amused surprise ; for although 
 the elder children among the Hampdens may 
 have known something of these things re- 
 membered their father's imprisonment and 
 their mother's grief and anxiety at that time 
 the younger ones, with whom Rupert had 
 had his lessons, had heard but little of the dif-
 
 252 SAXBY. 
 
 ferences of opinion that rent the nation and 
 families, and often men's own hearts, as in 
 the case of Harry Vane ; for it was no light 
 thing to forsake home and friends and every 
 prospect of advancement, even the opportunity 
 of doing his party good, as some whispered, 
 for liberty of conscience. His sister's words 
 were, therefore, the more strange to Rupert ; 
 but though he put them aside laughingly he 
 did not forget them, and resolved to ask his 
 friend, Master Vane, all about them, when 
 they were on board the ship. At present they 
 had enough to do, each in his own separate 
 ways, Rupert rambling about the garden and 
 watching the swans on the river, or sometimes 
 going on water excursions as far as Greenwich 
 in the stately family barge, while Master Vane 
 was busy bidding his friends farewell and mak- 
 ing his final preparations for departure. They 
 did not see a great deal of him at home ; most 
 of his time was spent in Gray's Inn Lane, at 
 the house of his dear friend, Master Pym, 
 where he met more congenial friends than 
 those at home or at the palace of Whitehall. 
 So, except his own family, few of his former 
 associates saw any thing of Harry Vane during 
 his last days in England. 
 
 To please his aunt and family Harry went
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 253 
 
 to the vessel in state befitting his father's po- 
 sition. His rich dress and long, scented love- 
 locks, however were a great offense to his fel- 
 low-passengers, most of whom were Puritans, 
 not only in heart but in the cut of their gar- 
 ments and the fashion they wore their hair, 
 and they felt greatly scandalized at their fel- 
 low-passenger's laxity in these particulars. 
 When they heard who he was they regarded 
 him as a spy sent out by the government to 
 report upon the state of the new colony. Be- 
 fore the end of the voyage, however, they had 
 another complaint to bring against this strange 
 young gentleman, not on the score of laxity, 
 for, in the words of an old chronicler we read, 
 " But he that they thought at first sight to 
 have too little of Christ for their company did 
 soon after appear to have too much for them." 
 
 What a wonderful voyage that was for 
 young Rupert Saxby ! Harry Vane, whom 
 his fellow-passengers turned from in coldness 
 and suspicion, found the little lad a most 
 pleasant companion, eager to learn all he 
 could tell him of the strange and wonderful 
 sights passing around him, anxious, too, to un- 
 derstand his little sister's strange words about 
 the king and the bishops. 
 
 The boy's mind was opening and ripening.
 
 254 SAXBY. 
 
 but Harry Vane wondered how far it would 
 be well for him to know of the strife that 
 was continually growing in Church and State, 
 and had already created the New England to 
 which they were sailing, and which they would 
 probably find very different from the dear 
 home-country they were leaving far behind. 
 
 At length he decided to tell the lad some- 
 thing of the great struggle that was now con- 
 vulsing not only England but the whole Con- 
 tinent of Europe ; for the German war was still 
 raging, and Rupert's father was fighting with 
 sword and battle-ax for freedom and liberty of 
 conscience, as Pym and Hampden had fought 
 by protests and remonstrances many a like 
 battle in the English Parliament ; still the 
 struggle was going on the war of right 
 against might in which all who loved the 
 truth must engage, if they would win the truth 
 for themselves. 
 
 Many an hour did they sit on the deck of 
 the little vessel, wrapped closely in their warm 
 frieze coats, for it was cold weather now, talk- 
 ing of the grand battle that was going on in 
 the world the battle that Luther had begun 
 and Calvin carried on as far as he was able, 
 but which the powers of darkness seemed to 
 have determined should be carried no farther.
 
 Roundhead and Royalist. 255 
 
 Henceforth men's minds were to be bound in 
 the fetters of the past ; there was to be no 
 more growth. God himself was to stand aside 
 and make no further revelations to man, and 
 men, for their part, were to shrink from the 
 thought that God had not yet given them all 
 he had to give, or, at the peril of losing their 
 souls, were to receive any further manifesta- 
 tions of truth from him. 
 
 Not in the very words I have written- did 
 Harry Vane talk to the lad, thrown upon him 
 for companionship ; but they contain the gist 
 and kernel of many conversations, and embod- 
 ied the broad living principle that ruled Vane's 
 own life and belief, and which he now tried to 
 make Rupert Saxby understand. He did un- 
 derstand it as far as his mind was able to re- 
 ceive it, and, what was of infinitely more value, 
 he believed in his teacher, for he saw, day by 
 day and hour by hour, that he exemplified his 
 teaching in his own Christ-like life, so large in 
 its charity for others, so strict and blameless in 
 the regulation of his own ; and, although no 
 word was said of the sacrifices he had made 
 for conscience* sake, Rupert Saxby knew that 
 these were many, and he wondered how the 
 world could be wicked with two such men in it 
 as Master Hampden and Master Harry Vane.
 
 256 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NEW BOSTON. 
 
 HOW eagerly our travelers looked out for 
 the shores of New England our readers 
 can well imagine. The colony had grown 
 rapidly, for there were now sixteen towns in 
 all clustered round Boston, which was one of 
 the earliest formed, and named in loving re- 
 membrance of the English port from which 
 they had embarked for Holland. 
 
 Rupert Saxby was eager to know what this 
 New England was like ; but Master Vane could 
 only shake his head and tell the boy he would 
 probably find many things different from what 
 they were in the old country, while at the 
 same time he tried .to prepare his own mind 
 for some disappointment some shock, perhaps, 
 to all his preconceived notions of what this 
 new country would be like. 
 
 At length the little timber-built fort, with its 
 two or three mounted guns, commanding the 
 harbor, rose upon their view, and no sooner 
 was it known that a ship from England was in 
 the offing than the colonists crowded the shoiv.s,
 
 New Boston. 257 
 
 eager to welcome the strangers, many hoping 
 to find friends among them. 
 
 Harry Vane was glad he had donned a 
 homely frieze cloak and doublet, for satin and 
 velvet would look sadly out of place among 
 these soberly dressed people, although it was 
 evident many of them wore their holiday dress 
 in honor of the arrival of friends. 
 
 And then the town ! Why, it seemed as 
 though the wilderness and civilization had 
 met in a death-struggle ; but it was hard to 
 say which would conquer yet. Little, strongly 
 built log-huts, set down in the midst of gar- 
 dens and fields, that looked as though they 
 were now only half reclaimed from the forest, 
 were the best mansions that Boston could 
 boast ; and into one of these Harry was taken, 
 for he bore letters of introduction to friends of 
 Pym and Hampden learned and accomplished 
 gentlemen, who had left estates and mansions 
 in England for liberty of conscience. 
 
 His host was not at home, but at work in 
 some distant fields, his wife said ; but she re- 
 ceived Harry Vane with all the grace and 
 courtesy of a high-born English lady, that 
 seemed only the more striking from the hum- 
 ble surroundings. Her visitor could hardly 
 speak for a minute or two, so striking was the
 
 258 SAXBY. 
 
 contrast the rough, unplaned logs that formed 
 the cottage walls, the low door-way, the wide 
 kitchen fire-place opposite the rough home- 
 made settles, with one or two handsome oak 
 chests that occupied the place of honor just 
 under the book-shelves close to the window. 
 
 Rupert Saxby looked round too, and felt 
 something like boyish disgust at the rude, 
 homely surroundings. This was evidently 
 kitchen, dining-room, library, and visitors' 
 parlor all in one, and he had for the last few 
 years enjoyed the abundance and refinement 
 of Master Hampden's luxurious home, and 
 felt the contrast to be painful indeed. 
 
 Presently the master of the house came in, 
 hastened in his return by the messenger sent 
 for him. He was a tall, stately, grave-looking 
 man, with a broad, massive brow, that con- 
 trasted almost as strongly with his soiled 
 hands and earth-stained clothes as his wife's 
 stately courtesy did with the log-cabin in 
 which they lived. 
 
 Master Vane was welcomed to the colony 
 and all the host's house would afford before the 
 letter was read informing him who his visitor 
 was, and how highly Master Pym esteemed 
 him ; but when he had read this his face 
 beamed with delight, and he hastened to lay
 
 New Boston. 259 
 
 aside the leather jerkin he wore, and put on 
 more suitable attire, although it was only of 
 homely frieze, such as had shocked Dame 
 Meredith's refined sense of what was becom- 
 ing for her nephew. . 
 
 While their host was changing his dress in 
 a little lean-to, that formed their only dressing- 
 room, and their hostess was busy in preparing 
 them a meal, Harry Vane told Rupert that his 
 friend was one of the most learned men of the 
 age, and had been offered the chair of the Pro- 
 fessor of Rhetoric at Cambridge to induce him 
 to stay there. They looked at the books in 
 the hanging shelves books in several lan- 
 guages, learned treatises, which none but the 
 most cultivated minds could understand and 
 appreciate. Rupert had seen companion vol- 
 umes in Master Hampden's library at home ; 
 but here was ever any thing so incongruous 
 as this log-cabin and this little library on its 
 walls ? 
 
 Suddenly Master Vane turned to the lad 
 and said : " God is going to make a great and 
 mighty nation here, I trow, and he has set 
 worthy men to be the fathers and founders of 
 it. Look you, lad ; these are no sickly book- 
 worms who must die inside their college walls, 
 but men made in God's own image, who can
 
 260 SAXBY. 
 
 work with their hands as well .as their brains, 
 and are not afraid or ashamed to do it." 
 
 In a short time the table had been spread 
 for the meal, and now came another contrast. 
 Silver drinking-cups, exquisitely chased and 
 beautified, stood beside wooden platters, and 
 the finest table linen covered the rough table. 
 But if the lady of the house was her own cook, 
 as well as chamber-maid and dairy-maid, no 
 fault could be found with the sweet wholesome 
 bread and delicate golden butter and honey, 
 or the tasty little dishes that had been got 
 ready almost by magic, and cooked in the 
 room where they were eaten. 
 
 Such a merry meal as that was ! the host 
 asking after old friends in England, and telling 
 who had joined them in the New England, 
 and the hostess waiting upon them with the 
 gentle grace of Dame Hampden herself, in 
 spite of her homely surroundings. 
 
 " And so this little lad is another Saxby, 
 come out to help his grandparents with the 
 new Saxby they are making here," said their 
 host. 
 
 "Is my grandfather's place called Saxby?" 
 Rupert ventured to ask. 
 
 " Yes, my lad, it is ; and a goodly place it is, 
 or will be; and if thy other uncle and thy father
 
 New Boston. 261 
 
 could but come over here, the old man's heart 
 would be at rest. He clung steadfastly to the 
 old Saxby, the home of his forefathers, but 
 God has led him to a goodly heritage here, and 
 he hath but one desire now, to be rid of the 
 old place, lest it rob him of his children." 
 
 The meal was over, and the host proposed 
 that they should call upon their minister, Mas- 
 ter John Cotton. He was formerly rector of 
 St. Botolph's, Boston, for nearly twenty years, 
 but the growth of despotism in the Church 
 under Laud, and its subservience to the State, 
 had at last compelled him to resign his living 
 and seek a refuge among his Puritan friends 
 in the new Boston they had founded. As 
 they passed the little wattled church, less pre- 
 tentious than many a gentleman's barn in the 
 old country, Harry Vane and his friend stopped 
 to look at it. 
 
 " Master Cotton must surely feel the differ- 
 ence between this and his old church," said 
 Harry Vane ; " for the church of Boston is more 
 like a cathedral than any other in England." 
 
 " Yes, yes, 'tis a grand building, Master 
 Vane, and I am not of those who would de- 
 spise such, for I hold that God should have 
 of our best ; but still Master Cotton has in this 
 little wattled church what he had not at last
 
 262 SAXBY. 
 
 in yonder stone temple liberty to teach the 
 whole doctrine of God ; and that is dearer to 
 such a man than splendid churches and costly 
 living. But here comes worthy Master Cotton 
 himself, and I can see my boys and girls just 
 beyond him, too." 
 
 The young folks passed the minister, but not 
 unrecognized. Each bowed in lowly reverence 
 before this honored servant of God ; the boys 
 doffing their caps and the girls dropping a 
 courtsey as they wished him good day. They 
 stopped before their father, paying him the 
 same deference, and glancing shyly at the 
 stranger as they passed. They were just re- 
 turning from school, and their father bade 
 them hasten home, as their mother wanted 
 John to fetch her water from the well and 
 Molly to scour the platters. 
 
 " Our young ones must all be useful here," 
 he remarked to Harry Vane. 
 
 " And God's blessing will always be with 
 them while they are," said the minister, who 
 overheard the remark. " And who have we 
 here?" he said, extending his hand to Harry 
 Vane. " Another friend from the dear home- 
 land, I trow." 
 
 " This is Master Vane, whose father is of 
 the king's household," said his host.
 
 New Boston. 263 
 
 " Ah, a court gallant ; and what may bring 
 such fine birds among us?" said the old min- 
 ister, a little doubtfully. 
 
 " Nay, nay, good Master Cotton, I am no 
 court gallant, and have grievously offended 
 my father and the king thereby," said Harry 
 Vane, while his host hastened to say how 
 warmly he had been commended by Master 
 Pym, in his letter of introduction. " I was even 
 now bringing to you the letter and my visitor," 
 he added, as they paused at the minister's 
 garden gate. 
 
 " Come in, come in," said Master Cotton, 
 leading the way into a little log-cabin, no more 
 pretentious-looking than the rest. Next to 
 the governor, Master Cotton considered him- 
 self the chief protector of the little colony, 
 and he was by no means disposed to have fine 
 court gallants, fresh from the frivolous life of 
 Whitehall, going about among his flock, lead- 
 ing the young ones astray, and teaching them 
 all sorts of idle vanities, if not worse ; and so, 
 after inviting his visitors to be seated, he sat 
 down himself and prepared to examine Harry 
 Vane, both by question and the study of his 
 face. 
 
 Few young men could have passed such an 
 ordeal without losing their temper, but Harry 
 17
 
 264 SAXBY. 
 
 Vane understood the old man's motive, and 
 was quite willing that he should assure him- 
 self at once that he was not a wolf in sheep's 
 clothing, which he evidently feared. 
 
 When it was over, Master Cotton rose and 
 grasped the hand of Vane, saying, " Welcome 
 to our colony, and may your stay among us be 
 for many years, an the Lord will." 
 
 " It must be seen first whether I can be of 
 service to you, " said Vane. 
 
 " Well, well, there is little doubt of the serv- 
 ice, I trow ; for we are glad of any who can 
 help us with hands or brains. And now, hav- 
 ing told me so much about yourself and your 
 life, it is meet I should tell you how I came to 
 be in this place, after serving the Lord twenty 
 years in the dear old Boston of the home- 
 land." 
 
 " Nay, sir, I doubt not it was for conscience' 
 sake," said Harry. 
 
 " But conscience and reason should go to- 
 gether, young man ; and think not because a 
 few good men have come here they are all 
 fools or all bad that stay behind. But I had 
 been watching the course of the Church of 
 England for more than twenty years, and dur- 
 ing all that time she was growing more and 
 more corrupt. The Reformation had been
 
 New Boston. 265 
 
 cut short before its work was done. It went 
 on, see you, in the hearts and minds of the 
 people, but stopped short in the Church. It 
 was not perceived at first, but in proportion 
 to what she at last felt to be the growing dis- 
 taste in which her corruptions were held by 
 the people did she seek support from the 
 crown by making her sacred functions sub- 
 servient to its arbitrary purposes. There is 
 no country, except Rome itself, where an alli- 
 ance with the State has led churchmen into 
 such shameless servility as England ; until, 
 at last, my Lord of Canterbury, knowing the 
 king wants to raise an illegal loan, does but 
 send letters throughout the kingdom, and 
 forthwith eveiy pulpit is used to teach the 
 doctrine that if the king's right to do this is 
 denied or questioned it is at the peril of his 
 soul who shall dare to do it ; and I, John Cot- 
 ton, as a true Englishman and honest man, 
 could but refuse to preach this." 
 
 " I would to God that many others would 
 do likewise. But 'tis well that we have not 
 the keeping of other men's consciences, and 
 that we are bidden to 'judge not,'" added 
 Harry Vane. 
 
 He had taken Master Cotton's heart by 
 storm as well as his host's, and it was with
 
 266 SAXBY. 
 
 some difficulty that he could get away from 
 Boston until other visits had been paid ; but 
 he was anxious to take Rupert Saxby to his 
 grandparents with as little delay as possible, 
 and so preparations for the thirty miles' jour- 
 ney to Ipswich was commenced at once. 
 
 Thirty miles' journey through forest clear- 
 ings, in a bullock wagon, was not a rapid mode 
 of traveling, and so Rupert did not reach 
 Saxby until he had been nearly a week in the 
 colony, and somewhat used to the strange 
 condition of things he saw around him. The 
 strangeness had worn off a little, and he was 
 better able to appreciate the substantial com- 
 fort of his grandfather's log-house, although it 
 did lack many of the comforts and luxuries to 
 which he had been accustomed at Hampden. 
 He was received with almost rapturous de- 
 light by Dame Saxby as well as her husband, 
 and even his likeness to his French mother 
 was forgiven and forgotten when he said, " I 
 am so glad you have called this nice new place 
 Saxby." 
 
 "He is the same, the very same, boy that 
 we spoke to at Southampton," said Dame Sax- 
 by, looking him over critically. 
 
 " I do not remember you, madam," said 
 Rupert.
 
 New Boston. 267 
 
 " Perhaps not, and I did not know that I 
 should remember you ; for it was the little 
 wench I noticed most. Where is she ? Where 
 is your sister ? " suddenly asked the dame. 
 
 " She is in England, madam," said Rupert ; 
 and then Harry Vane hastened to explain how 
 fond his aunt had grown of the little girl, and 
 how unwilling to part with her to any but her 
 own father, and how impossible it was for him 
 to bring her without a maid-servant. 
 
 " Dear heart ! if I had only known, I would 
 have come myself to fetch the little wench," 
 said her grandmother, almost crying with dis- 
 appointment ; for she had made up her mind 
 that the children would come together when 
 they did come. 
 
 It was needless to ask if the old couple were 
 happy in their wilderness home. Master Saxby 
 looked ten years younger than he did when he 
 left England, although he had been working 
 harder than ever he did in his life before. But, 
 as he explained to Harry Vane, his heart was 
 at rest now. He was never in fear of being 
 driven from his home or harassed by fines and 
 imprisonment if he ventured to cross its thresh- 
 old. They had long walks and talks together, 
 Harry Vane learning much of the polity and 
 self-government of the colony ; how the gov-
 
 268 SAXBY. 
 
 ernor was assisted by a council of assessors ; 
 how all paid a tax in money or the produce of 
 their farms for the making of roads and such 
 other public works as were necessary for the 
 general comfort and safety of all ; how the 
 lands were bought of the Indians and fairly 
 paid for, and how anxious the colonists were 
 to keep up their friendly relations with all the 
 tribes of the country, if possible. 
 
 Saxby was at the outermost fringe of civili- 
 zation, reclaimed from the primeval forest, and 
 so they often saw some of the red-skins, but 
 they had had little trouble with them beyond 
 a few fights at first, and Master Saxby was 
 now warmly interested in a question that had 
 lately been mooted among them by Master 
 Eliot, the minister of Roxbury, who thought 
 it was the duty of Christian people to try and 
 convert the heathen. This doctrine was too 
 new and strange to win general acceptance ; 
 some good souls looking upon the project as 
 nothing less than presumption. But Harry 
 Vane did not look upon it in this light, and 
 entered so warmly into the scheme that Mas- 
 ter Saxby declared he would go back with 
 him to Roxbury and introduce him to Master 
 John Eliot.
 
 Governor Vane. 269 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 GOVERNOR VANE. 
 
 A WEEK or two was spent at Saxby and 
 visiting the neighboring town of Ips- 
 wich, during which time Master Vane made 
 many friends for himself, and gained a few for 
 Master Eliot's project for teaching the Indians 
 the truths of the gospel as well as the arts of 
 civilization. He obtained promises of mate- 
 rial help, too, for this first apostle to the In- 
 dians ; for Harry Vane had the rare gift of in- 
 spiring others with enthusiasm a gift which 
 brought him many friends, but often as many 
 foes. At present, however, he had none but 
 friends among the colonists, who were as much 
 charmed by Harry Vane's pleasant manner as 
 by the fact of his having so resolutely turned 
 his back upon the world, and chosen that 
 " better part " which led him to cast in his lot 
 with these few despised Puritans, when he 
 might be enjoying every court favor. Dame 
 Saxby was sorry to part with her guest, but 
 he promised to visit them again, and, what 
 was even better, send them a parcel of books,
 
 270 SAXBY. 
 
 and copies of Butler's first newspaper, which 
 would tell them all about the German war. 
 Master Saxby could bring these back with him 
 from Boston when his work as an assessor was 
 over. The laws of that period were rather 
 Draco-like, and offenses singled out with a mi- 
 nuteness that must have given magistrates 
 some work to do even in such a small and well- 
 ordered community. Witchcraft, perjury, and 
 blasphemy were made capital offenses, and 
 children were also punished with death for 
 cursing or striking their parents. All who 
 were detected either in lying, drunkenness, or 
 dancing were to be publicly whipped. Doubt- 
 less these severe punishments had a deterrent 
 effect upon a few when they first came to the 
 colony young men who came with parents 
 and friends but the moral atmosphere of the 
 whole community was far more effective than 
 any laws that could be enacted, however se- 
 vere. Harry Vane paid a visit to Master Eliot 
 at Roxbury, and then took up his residence 
 at Boston. 
 
 When he had been here little more than a 
 year the colonists showed their estimation of 
 him by choosing him for go*vernor at the an- 
 nual election. This was in the year 1636, when 
 Harry Vane was little more than twenty-four
 
 Governor Vane. 271 
 
 years of age. The rejoicings in which the 
 people indulged upon that occasion called for 
 some tact and management on the part of the 
 new governor, such as one rarely sees in so 
 young a man. There were fifteen large ves- 
 sels in port, which fired a salute to the new 
 governor ; and this calling the attention of the 
 inhabitants to their presence, a deputation 
 waited upon Vane, stating that such a large 
 force of foreign vessels was in itself a disagree- 
 able circumstance in the condition of a feeble 
 settlement. Vane saw the justice of it at once, 
 and even more than had been represented, for 
 there was no doubt that the influence of the 
 habits of the men of these ships could not be 
 other than injurious to the morals and social 
 condition of the inhabitants of the town. But 
 how to alter this without giving* offense to the 
 captains of the vessels, and thus injuring the 
 commerce of the growing little colony, was a 
 matter not so easily settled. 
 
 At length the new governor invited all the 
 captains of the vessels to dine with him, and 
 after dinner laid the difficulty before them, 
 when it was discussed in the most friendly 
 manner on both sides. The adjustment of it 
 which Master Vane proposed was readily 
 agreed to, which was that all inward bound
 
 272 SAXBY. 
 
 vessels should anchor below the fort, and wait 
 for the governor's pass before coming up to the 
 town, and, last but not least, that the crews 
 should never be allowed on shore after sunset. 
 
 A little later there was another and even 
 more delicate matter to settle between the 
 colonists and some captains about hoisting the 
 English flag, where Vane's tact saved them 
 not only from offending the touchy seamen, 
 but, what was of far more importance just 
 now, from giving any shadow of offense to the 
 home government. What difficulties this tact 
 of the young governor saved the struggling 
 colony they, doubtless, never knew, though 
 they did know later what private friends had, 
 doubtless, informed Vane of at the time that 
 the home government was growing jealous of 
 the rising colony ; and this same year the whole 
 of it was sold in Westminster Hall over the 
 heads of the inhabitants, and in direct viola- 
 tion of the patent granted by James to the 
 original settlers who went over in the " May- 
 flower." It is true no action was taken upon 
 this sale, but had the colonists given the slight- 
 est offense, doubtless advantage would have 
 been taken of this, and Vane, who knew the 
 tempers of both parties, foresaw it. 
 
 About the same time another difficult ques-
 
 Governor Vane. 273 
 
 tion came to the front, which the aristocratic 
 young governor doubtless had no inconsider- 
 able share in deciding, though it was against 
 his own class in society. Lord Say and Lord 
 Brooke had always been good friends to the 
 colonists, helping them most materially, and 
 at this time they sent to propose coming to 
 the colony to settle, with a few other gentle- 
 men. But the proposal was burdened with 
 conditions. The new-comers were to form an 
 upper and distinct class ; their heirs and suc- 
 cessors were always to be gentlemen. Then 
 the colony was to be governed by two houses 
 of legislature ; the first to consist of this hered- 
 itary peerage, answering to the English House 
 of Lords, and from among these alone the 
 governor was to be chosen ; the lower house 
 to consist of freeholders, as representatives 
 of the whole people. Doubtless the coming 
 of such noblemen would bring many present 
 advantages to the colonists, but these men 
 had not forsaken all things for any temporal 
 advantage, however great, and they felt, as 
 doubtless their young governor foresaw, that 
 they would be bartering their dear-bought lib- 
 erty for a very questionable gain, and a court- 
 eous but decided refusal was sent to the two 
 noblemen.
 
 274 ,SAXBY. 
 
 A few months after his election as governor 
 letters arrived from England pressing him to 
 return at once, and he was disposed to do so, 
 on account of a religious controversy that had 
 arisen, and which threatened to separate dear- 
 est friends in its fierceness. 
 
 The keen intellectual life of Boston, even 
 when she could only boast of log-cabins and 
 turf-thatched churches, made her society pecul- 
 iarly liable to this form of discussion ; and the 
 arrival of an accomplished English lady, Mrs. 
 Anne Hutchinson, set the whole colony to- 
 gether by the ears, and soon brought upon 
 herself and young Governor Vane the charge 
 of heresy. As godly Master Cotton, however, 
 was himself among the heretics, we may be 
 sure the heresy was not of a very strong type, 
 and consisted for the most part in Harry Vane's 
 old claim of liberty of conscience for all. Our 
 Puritan forefathers did not understand liberty 
 after the Vane type. They claimed that men 
 should have liberty to think as they did, but 
 they must go no further ; and doubtless it was 
 very annoying to Master Wilson and other 
 learned divines to have their long sermons 
 pulled to pieces and criticised by a clever 
 woman like Dame Hutchinson, in the presence 
 of half the matrons of the city.
 
 Governor Vane. 275 
 
 It was the custom for the members of the 
 Church to meet each week to talk over and 
 impress upon their minds the discourses of 
 the previous Sunday; and Dame Hutchin- 
 son, following out this custom, soon instituted 
 similar meetings for women. So attractive 
 and interesting were these prayer-meetings 
 that nearly all the ladies in the place attended 
 them. 
 
 The clergy of the colony were startled at 
 first, and then grew jealous of the free inquiry 
 that was encouraged at these meetings, and 
 of the influence the new-comer was gaining 
 over the minds of their flocks. She, with a lack 
 of wisdom and Christian charity, retaliated 
 by criticising the previous Sunday's sermon, 
 or circulating imputations against their learn- 
 ing and the soundness of the doctrine they 
 preached. 
 
 This was not to be borne. She herself was 
 a heretic, and must be handed over for punish- 
 ment due to heresy. At this point Governor 
 Vane interfered to protect Dame Hutchinson 
 from her enemies, and the controversy grew 
 more fierce and bitter from that time. The 
 truth seems to be that both Harry Vane and 
 Dame Hutchinson were a little ahead of the 
 age in which they lived ; and what we should
 
 276 SAXBY. 
 
 call a large-hearted Christian charity was by 
 our stricter forefathers branded as laxity in 
 doctrine and perilous heresy. 
 
 This, at last, drove Master Vane from the 
 land of his adoption, and he returned to En- 
 gland in the autumn of 1637. 
 
 But if New England was in a state of fer- 
 ment over a religious difficulty, old England 
 was no less disturbed by the famous trial that 
 had just taken place between Master Hamp- 
 den and the king over the famous ship-money 
 business. This was the king's last mode of 
 increasing the revenue ; but, ostensibly for the 
 purpose of maintaining a fleet, it was at first 
 imposed on sea-ports only, but soon extended 
 to inland towns, and, as one of the famous 
 lawyers of the day characterized it, was, in 
 fact, " a spring and magazine that should have 
 no bottom, and for an everlasting supply on 
 all occasions." 
 
 People grumbled, but had paid this tax, il- 
 legal as it was deemed to be ; but Master 
 Hampden refused, and tested the case as a 
 point of law. The decision had been against 
 him through the servility of time-serving 
 judges, but there had been so great difference 
 in their various judgments that the whole trial 
 was a severe blow to the State.
 
 Governor Vane. 2/7 
 
 But if there was little political freedom, 
 there was less for those who dared to differ 
 in religious matters. A pitiable scene had 
 been enacted this summer in front of West- 
 minster Hall, by order of the Star-chamber. 
 A doctor, minister, and lawyer, three learned 
 men and worthy citizens, had been publicly 
 whipped, their noses slit, their ears cut off, 
 and, thus maimed, had been branded in the 
 cheek, and imprisoned for life. The minister's 
 offense was writing a book entitled "Zion's 
 Plea against Prelacy," and the other two had 
 given voice to the popular discontent against 
 the illegal acts of the king and corruptions of 
 the court. 
 
 So if Master Vane found it difficult to live 
 peaceably in New England, he was not likely 
 to find life a bed of roses in his old home ; 
 for Laud had carried things with a high hand 
 since he had been Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 and the king under his persuasion had at- 
 tempted to force episcopacy upon his Scottish 
 subjects. 
 
 When Harry Vane reached his father's house 
 in the Strand, the first result of this attempt 
 was being warmly discussed in many an En- 
 glish household, and nowhere with greater 
 warmth or greater pity than between Dame
 
 278 SAXBY. 
 
 Meredith and her adopted daughter, Winifred 
 Saxby. How they pitied those foolish, igno- 
 rant Scotch people, who could see no beauty 
 in priestly vestments and ecclesiastical orna- 
 ments, and even resisted the introduction of a 
 prayer-book, preferring their own bald service 
 to any thing the English Church could give 
 them in exchange ! But who shall picture the 
 horror and indignation of Winifred when the 
 news reached her of what had taken place 
 in Edinburgh that July Sunday, when Jenny 
 Geddes had thrown her stool at the bishop's 
 head? It had been the signal for hisses and 
 groans, and cries of " A pope ! a pope ! Down 
 with the priest of Baal ! " and what had been 
 begun as a most impressive and awe-inspiring 
 service ended in a riot and a general flight of 
 the clergy. 
 
 " Is not the sin of this Scotch woman un- 
 pardonable?" asked Winifred, with a little 
 shiver. She was sitting at the window, looking 
 through the tiny lozenge-shaped eye-holes of 
 glass at the river, with its burden of boats and 
 barges, and one of these was being moored to 
 their own private steps at the bottom of the 
 garden. 
 
 " Somebody is coming here, madam," she 
 remarked.
 
 Governor Vane. 279 
 
 "I have told Dorothy I do not wish to be 
 disturbed to-day," said Dame Meredith. 
 
 She had only reached London the day be- 
 fore, and news of this Scotch business had not 
 penetrated to the quiet of Hadlow, and so this 
 and various other items almost as painful and 
 disturbing had met her all at once in Lon- 
 don. Poor Dame Meredith, who thought the 
 Church of England perfect, or at least grow- 
 ing every day more perfect under Archbishop 
 Laud's direction, had had high hopes for this 
 Scotch episcopacy movement ; and how peo- 
 ple could willfully resist what was intended for 
 their good she was at a loss to understand. 
 
 " If people would only be quiet, and let the 
 king and archbishop have their own way, how 
 much better it would be for them !" she said, 
 following out her own thoughts rather than 
 answering Winny's question. 
 
 " How is it, madam, that people dare to 
 disobey God's anointed?" asked the girl. 
 
 " Because they do not understand, or will 
 not believe, that all that is done is for their 
 good. If they could once believe this, I feel 
 sure they would not resist as they do, and 
 
 But here the talk was interrupted by the 
 entrance of Dorothy, who, with a lurking 
 
 smile, but all-becoming gravity, announced, 
 
 18
 
 280 SAXUY. 
 
 " The Governor of Massachusetts." If she 
 had announced a Sachem of the Pequot In- 
 dians, Dame Meredith could not have looked 
 more astonished than she did as she said, " I 
 do not receive strangers to-day, and this for- 
 eigner must want my Cousin Vane." 
 
 " So you decline to receive me, aunt ? " said 
 Harry Vane, laughing, as he slipped from be- 
 hind the old waiting woman. 
 
 "Harry, Harry! what! at your school-boy 
 tricks still ? I wonder how often you have 
 played that joke upon us ? " said Dame Mere- 
 dith, in a tremor of delight, and yet turning 
 pale at this sudden apparition of her beloved 
 nephew. 
 
 In a moment Harry saw that his aunt was 
 changed. The two or three years that seemed 
 as nothing to him, now he was back in the old 
 room, had aged her wonderfully. Perhaps it 
 was the first time it had ever come upon him 
 that she was growing old, but it came with 
 marvelous distinctness now, and the next 
 thought was about Winifred, and what would 
 become of her in case of her guardian's death. 
 
 He put them from him now, but they had 
 found a lodgment in his mind, and his talk 
 this first day took some color from the hidden 
 thought ; for he suddenly remembered how
 
 Governor Vane. 281 
 
 anti-Puritan this girl's education had of neces- 
 sity been, and how painful her lot might be 
 when she joined her own friends, whose opin- 
 ions differed so widely from those in which she 
 had been reared. 
 
 " The Governor of Massachusetts!" repeated 
 Dame Meredith. " Methinks you might have 
 chosen a more honorable title, and one that 
 smacks less of rebellion against his majesty," 
 said the lady. 
 
 " Dorothy made a slight mistake. I said 
 the late Governor of Massachusetts. Did you 
 not hear of the honor the good folks yonder 
 had conferred upon me ? " 
 
 " Honor ! " repeated the lady with a very 
 questionable sniff. " We heard some such 
 idle gossip, but thought it well to forget it 
 again, and I mean to forget that and every 
 other disagreeable thing now you have come 
 home to us. You have seen your father, 
 Harry ? " 
 
 " Yes, and he is pleased to say he is glad to 
 have me back," replied the young man. 
 
 " Did he tell you the news ? " asked his 
 aunt. 
 
 " I have heard too much news. That about 
 Prynne and Bostwick is shameful." 
 
 " Yes, yes, I think the Star-chamber is a
 
 282 SAXBY. 
 
 little too hard sometimes," admitted Dame 
 Meredith, " but it was not that I meant, but 
 this Scotch business that is so sorely troubling 
 the king and archbishop just now;" and Dame 
 Meredith told the story of the throwing of 
 Jenny Geddes' stool, and the riot that fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 Almost unconsciously Winny was drawn into 
 taking part in the discussion that followed, and 
 Harry Vane questioned and talked to her, 
 growing each moment more painfully con- 
 vinced of the depth and earnestness of her 
 religious opinions, and how, like his aunt, to 
 her mind the questioning the right of king or 
 bishop to do any thing they pleased was like 
 doubting God himself.
 
 Perplexities. 283 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PERPLEXITIES. 
 
 SUMMER sunshine was again flooding the 
 pleasant gardens of Dame Meredith's 
 mansion at Hadlow, which she rarely left now. 
 The change which Harry Vane had noticed 
 some years before had now become apparent 
 to every body the visits to London had 
 grown more infrequent, and, unwilling as 
 Dame Meredith was to admit it, her growing 
 infirmities compelled her to keep almost en- 
 tirely to her own room. 
 
 The younger Vanes often came to visit her 
 and bring her the news of what was going on 
 in the world ; for the old lady took as keen an 
 interest in what was going forward as ever she 
 did ; but lately Winny had taken upon her- 
 self to sift this news, begging the young Vanes 
 to keep back any thing that would cause her 
 dear old friend the least disquiet. 
 
 These were disquieting times, and the self- 
 imposed censorship often made Winny look 
 grave and anxious beyond her years. She was 
 eighteen now a tall, stately, dignified girl, as
 
 284 SAXBY. 
 
 she was compelled to be, having taken the 
 direction of Dame Meredith's household upon 
 her young shoulders, and behaving in all 
 things as a daughter to the friend who had 
 sheltered her in her helplessness. Not that 
 she felt herself forsaken by her own kindred ; 
 sometimes she almost wished she had been, 
 for she knew all too well now the wide dif- 
 ference that existed between them ; but how a 
 noble, brave-hearted soldier, like her father, 
 who had left his country and spent the best 
 years of his life fighting for King Charles' 
 sister, could at the same time sympathize with 
 such men as Pym and Hampden, was a puzzle 
 Winny could not understand. Clearly he must 
 be mistaken. In the far-off Germany he could 
 not understand the battle that was being 
 waged against the king by these obstinate, 
 misguided men ; and surely their last act the 
 impious daring they had been guilty of in ar- 
 resting and imprisoning Archbishop Laud 
 would convince him how utterly unworthy 
 they were of his regard,. 
 
 This imprisonment of the archbishop was a 
 dread weight upon poor Winny. Hitherto 
 she had carefully guarded the secret from 
 Dame Meredith, for she feared to tell her lest 
 the blow should lay her utterly prostrate.
 
 Perplexities. 285 
 
 She knew the horror that had seized her when 
 she heard of the awful crime the Parliament 
 had committed in laying its ruthless hands 
 upon the sacred person of the archbishop. 
 What they would not dare to do now Winny 
 was at a loss to know perhaps imprison the 
 king himself, if ever they had the power ; and 
 there was no telling what might happen, since 
 they had come to open warfare. Strange to 
 say, this open warfare between the king and 
 his Parliament affected Winny far less than 
 the imprisonment of the archbishop. Several 
 battles had been fought during the last nine 
 months, Prince Rupert, the king's nephew, 
 leading the royalist army, and often fighting 
 against old friends, who had learned all the 
 tactics of war in fighting for his father and 
 mother and the Palatinate, which represented 
 the Protestant cause of Europe. But battles 
 even between Englishmen, and fought on En- 
 glish ground, were nothing in Winny 's mind 
 as compared with the assault made on God's 
 Church in the person of the archbishop. So 
 when young Mistress Vane came and whis- 
 pered, "Another battle has been fought," Win- 
 ny said, " Will it make them release the arch- 
 bishop, think you ?" 
 
 " Nay, nay, I fear not, for our enemies are
 
 286 SAXBY. 
 
 stubborn. But who, think you, has been 
 killed in this battle ? 'Tvvas fought at Chal- 
 grove field, not far from Saxby, my brother 
 tells us." 
 
 For a moment Winny shook her head, and 
 then, with a touch of anxiety in her tone, she 
 said, 
 
 "Not Master Hampden, I hope!" 
 
 Her companion looked at her in surprise. 
 
 " Why should you feel sorry for the death 
 of that rebel ? " she said. " You are almost 
 as bad as Harry, and I never saw him so 
 moved as when the messenger blurted out the 
 news, forgetting he was almost a rebel him- 
 self." 
 
 The younger Vanes rarely admitted so much 
 as this as to their brother's opinions, for he 
 was a great puzzle to them, as he was to many 
 others. 
 
 " But why should you be sorry, Winny ? " 
 asked her companion again. 
 
 " Because my father will be so sorry and 
 disappointed. He is coming home, you know, 
 in a few weeks, and in his last letter he said 
 half the joy of his home-coming would be in 
 seeing his old friend, Master John Hampden." 
 
 "Your father is coming back. Will he join 
 this rebel army, think you ? "
 
 Perplexities. 287 
 
 " My father join the rebels, who have seized 
 the archbishop ! " exclaimed Winny with some- 
 thing like scorn. 
 
 " You forget he is a soldier, and may " 
 
 " Hush, hush ! " interrupted Winny, hold- 
 "ng up her hands as if to ward off a threatened 
 >low. 
 
 "There, hush, dear; I did not mean to hurt 
 you. I know what you are feeling; for we 
 all feel the same about our poor misguided 
 brother. Is he not doing all he can to help 
 Oliver Cromwell and Lord Fairfax, if he is not 
 actually fighting himself, and and worse even 
 than that, Winny? I do not mind telling you, 
 because you, too, have friends among these 
 crop-eared roundheads, and can feel for us. 
 Harry's journey to Scotland, by and by, is to 
 make a solemn league and covenant, as they 
 call it, with the Scotch to help each other in 
 the reformation of religion and the extirpa- 
 tion of popery and prelacy; so that there is 
 '.ittle hope of seeing the archbishop released 
 yet, I fear." 
 
 The mention of the archbishop brought 
 back to Winny's mind the fear that had been 
 uppermost for some days, lest Dame Meredith 
 should hear this suddenly and without prep- 
 aration.
 
 288 SAXBY. 
 
 " Would it not be better, think you, to tell 
 her, since there is so little hope of his re- 
 lease ? " said Winny. " We have kept this 
 secret so long ; but the tale your father told 
 her, about the archbishop's living in strict 
 retirement, she is beginning to doubt, I fear, 
 for she has questioned me several times of 
 late." 
 
 " Poor Winny ! how can I tell you what we 
 have all begun to fear at home ? You know 
 the archbishop's trial is to take place soon." 
 
 "Yes, yes; how dare they presume to judge 
 one whom God alone has the right to bring to 
 judgment?" exclaimed Winny. 
 
 " But they have determined to do it, and 
 they will not My father fears the trial will 
 go against Laud," young Mistress Vane hast- 
 ened to add. 
 
 "And if it should, what then? what could 
 they do ? " asked Winny. 
 
 "What they did to Lord Stafford a little 
 while ago," said her friend scarcely above her 
 breath. 
 
 Winny started away in horror-stricken fright. 
 " They would never do that," she said. " They 
 would never stain their hands with his sacred 
 blood." 
 
 " There is no telling what they may do ; for
 
 Perplexities. 289 
 
 you see the hedge of sacred ordinance, that 
 to us would be his strongest safeguard, has no 
 existence for them. He is no more than an 
 ordinary man to these roundheads, you must 
 remember." 
 
 " But even if it be so, what can they accuse 
 him of worthy of death ? He has led a pure 
 life, and" 
 
 " No one has a word to say against his per- 
 sonal character, but he is to be charged with 
 trying to subvert liberty and religion, and 
 practicing cruelty and oppression through the 
 courts of Star-chamber and High-commis- 
 sion." 
 
 Winny shook her head. " He will not be 
 the first martyr," she said ; " but, still, I 
 hope his life may be spared, that when these 
 troubles are over he may proceed with his 
 work for the Church. How sorely it would 
 grieve him could he know how his work has 
 already been undone how the churches have 
 been stripped and the altars removed ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; it is a mercy for dear aunt 
 that she cannot go to church now, to see how 
 bare it is once more," said young Mistress 
 Vane. 
 
 " But, do you know, she has begun to talk 
 of going again, now that the warm weather
 
 SAXBY. 
 
 has come ? She says it is all very well to 
 spend the hours we are at church in her ora- 
 tory, but it is not like worshiping God in the 
 great congregation, and she cannot let such 
 small ailments as hers interfere with what is 
 a positive duty." 
 
 " Poor, dear aunt ! I wish we could spare 
 her this pain, Winny ; but if she has set her 
 mind upon this, she must be told the truth 
 about the archbishop." 
 
 " And I have to tell her that my father is 
 coming home at last, and that I know she has 
 always dreaded ; for we cannot tell what he 
 may wish me to do." 
 
 " O Winny, you will never leave her?" said 
 her companion quickly. 
 
 " I hope not, dear I will not if I can help 
 it ; but I know it has always been my father's 
 wish that when he came home I should go 
 with him wherever he might decide to live, 
 and it is most likely that he will want to go 
 to this New England." 
 
 " Where they are all crop-eared roundheads 
 and drawling Precisians ! O, my poor Winny, 
 what a dreadful fate ! " 
 
 " Do not laugh at me," said Winny, almost 
 ready to cry. " Every thing seems in such a 
 dreadful tangle for every body. How can we
 
 Perplexities. 291 
 
 know what to do, or even what to pray for? 
 If things were only a little different if there 
 were no good men on the wrong side ; but 
 there is Master Vane, and I feel sure, from all 
 I have heard, Master Hampden was as good, 
 and " 
 
 "Yes, my father says there is less possibility 
 than ever of a reconciliation between the king 
 and Parliament now John Hampden has gone. 
 He had always hoped that Hampden and 
 Lord Falkland might have made peace be- 
 tween them ; for, although he cannot agree 
 with Harry, he says he chose for his friends 
 the best men in the country." 
 
 " Yes, that is where it is so hard, that so 
 many good men are on the wrong side, and 
 forced to do such evil deeds." 
 
 The two young ladies had wandered round 
 the garden and back to the house, and as 
 they reached the door old Dorothy came to 
 tell them Dr. Andrew Fuller had just arrived. 
 He had been spending some time with the 
 king at Oxford, where the rival Parliament 
 was sitting and the court had taken up its 
 abode. 
 
 He was a tall, stately man, but his blue 
 eyes seemed to brim over with mirthfulness ; 
 yet he was as pious, and ruled his life with as
 
 292 SAXBY. 
 
 much strictness, as any Puritan, although he 
 was a stanch royalist and a great friend of 
 Dame Meredith, whom he had come some miles 
 out of his way to visit. He, understanding and 
 appreciating the piety and earnestness of such 
 men as Harry Vane, and Pym, and Hampden, 
 had tried to make peace between the con- 
 tending parties a few weeks .before ; but the 
 rebels, though they listened to his sermon 
 courteously enough as he told the young 
 ladies would have made him a rebel, too, if 
 they could, so he had left London to try what 
 he could do among the cavaliers at Oxford. 
 But his sermons were less appreciated by the 
 rollicking soldiers and court gallants than by 
 their enemies ; still he had great hopes of 
 Lord Falkland being able to do something, 
 if the king would only restrain such men as 
 Prince Rupert from going too far. 
 
 " It is such a pity that all good men do not 
 range themselves on the side of the king ! " 
 said Winny, when she had given orders for 
 refreshments to be brought into the cedar par- 
 lor, and heard from old Dorothy that Dame 
 Meredith was taking her midday nap. 
 
 " Aye, my wenches, it is a sore puzzle to me 
 sometimes; but I trow God can see through 
 the mists and tangles of this life, and, though
 
 Perplexities. 293 
 
 the storm may be fierce, the ark of his Church 
 will outride the roughest billows." 
 
 "You think the Church is safe, although the 
 archbishop is in prison ? " said Winny, who, 
 like many another timid soul, just now thought 
 the safety of the Church was bound up in 
 Archbishop Laud. 
 
 " Yes, yes, God is not going to forsake his 
 Church, although it may be for our sins we 
 shall be sorely tried ; and lest we trust too 
 much in ordinances, some of these may be 
 removed, that we may cleave the closer to 
 God himself." 
 
 " I wish I could believe this always," sighed 
 Winny. 
 
 " It is not thy faith, but God's faithfulness, 
 you must rely upon," said Dr. Fuller; and at* 
 this moment Dorothy came to say that her 
 mistress was awake, and would be glad to see 
 her visitor when he had rested and refreshed 
 himself. 
 
 His frugal meal was soon made, for he was 
 one of the most abstemious of men ; but be- 
 fore he went to Dame Meredith Winny con- 
 trived to explain to him the difficulty she was 
 in through the little deceit that had been 
 practiced upon her aunt concerning the arch- 
 bishop's imprisonment.
 
 294 SAXBY. 
 
 The good man shook his head disapprov- 
 ingly. " Crooked ways are sure to land us in 
 difficulties," he said ; but he undertook to 
 break the painful news to his old friend, and 
 also hint at some of the changes that had al- 
 ready been effected in the Church and ritual 
 how it had been robbed of what Dame Mere- 
 dith called " the beauty of holiness," for the 
 more simple form of worship that had pre- 
 vailed years before. 
 
 It was arranged that Dr. Fuller should spend 
 a few days at Hadlow, for which Winny was 
 most thankful afterward, for the very day of 
 his arrival she was summoned to see a tall 
 bronzed stranger, who refused to give his name 
 at first, asking only for Mistress Winifred Sax- 
 by, whom she supposed must be another mes- 
 senger from her father another veteran from 
 the German war, come to fight in the rebel 
 army. 
 
 He did not make himself known for some 
 time, hoping that some recollection lingered 
 in Winny's mind of her father; but he forgot 
 the lapse of time, and almost failed himself 
 to recognize in the stately young lady, who 
 seemed so perfectly at ease in this luxurious 
 home, the little, curly-haired darling, who had 
 met him with gleeful shouts of joy whenever
 
 Perplexities. 295 
 
 the exigencies of the war allowed him to re- 
 turn for a few days to his home. 
 
 But at last he made himself known, and 
 Winny was locked in the arms of the father 
 she had so often tried to picture to herself. 
 The reality did not disappoint her. She looked 
 up through the mist of tears that had gathered 
 in her eyes with a glow of pride at the bronzed, 
 worn face that had faced so many battles, and 
 carried almost a charmed life through the dan- 
 gers and vicissitudes of this long German war. 
 It was a brave, noble face, telling of calm self- 
 surrender and self-conquest, that stamped it as 
 the brow of a victor, whose word none would 
 gainsay or doubt. Winny was content with 
 her father, and in this their first meeting her 
 heart went out to him, and she felt willing at 
 once that he should decide as to her future. 
 
 It was with this thought in her mind that 
 she said, " You will not ask me to leave Dame 
 Meredith yet, father? she is ill; she cannot 
 live many years, and it will break her heart to 
 lose me just now when so many sad things are 
 happening." 
 
 " My dear, you owe her the duty of a 
 daughter, and how could I grudge your loving 
 service to one who has been as a mother in- 
 deed to you ! " 
 19
 
 296 SAXBY. 
 
 " Then, you will not ask me to go with you 
 to New England yet." 
 
 "To New England, my wench? I am not 
 going to New England at least, not yet. 
 Rupert is coming over here I expect him in 
 a few weeks for old England needs the help 
 of all her sons just now." 
 
 For a moment Winny forgot the difference 
 in their opinions, and stood with clasped hands 
 and radiant face. " I am so glad," she said ; 
 " so glad you have come to help the king before 
 the rebels have gained any decisive victory." 
 
 " My dear, the king has no more loyal sub- 
 jects in this realm than those brave gentlemen 
 whom you call rebels. I am come to serve 
 under Colonel Cromwell, who needs a better 
 army than tapsters and 'prentice lads." 
 
 Winny's hands dropped at her side, and she 
 fell back a pace or two, as though she had been 
 struck a deadly blow. "O, my father," she 
 gasped, " I thought if you only came to En- 
 gland, and heard about the archbishop being 
 in prison, and all about the quarrel, you would 
 surely help the king and try to save our English 
 Church from those who would destroy it." 
 
 " I do know all about the quarrel, Winny. 
 It began before you were born, before I left 
 England, and has been slowly growing through
 
 Father and Daughter.
 
 Perplexities. 299 
 
 all these years. The people have been robbed 
 of their rights and liberty, even their liberty 
 to serve God according to their own conscience. 
 It was this that drove your grandsire, and 
 thousands like him, away from their father- 
 land, and now, at last, the yoke has grown too 
 heavy to be longer borne. We must break it 
 or die. Good-night, Winny ; I will come again 
 to-morrow and see Dame Meredith."
 
 300 SAXBY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 IT would be hard to describe poor Winny's 
 feelings after her father left her. Somehow 
 she had allowed herself to hope that when he 
 came home he would see at once how mistaken 
 he had been, and withdraw the sympathy he 
 had hitherto felt for these Puritans, who want- 
 ed the world turned upside down for their 
 convenience. Now these half-formed hopes 
 were all rudely shattered, for it was plain that 
 her father had come home on purpose to serve 
 in the rebel army, and it might be that he 
 would get killed without a moment granted 
 for repentance, or time to understand the aw- 
 ful mistake he had been under. 
 
 This was a terrible thought to Winny. She 
 had often prayed for Jenny Geddes, that God 
 would pardon her for throwing her stool at the 
 bishop that summer Sunday morning, almost 
 fearing the sin might be unpardonable ; but 
 how much greater was her father's, in raising 
 his hand against the king's sacred majesty in 
 open rebellion ! She and Dame Meredith had
 
 Conclusion. 301 
 
 talked over the news concerning Hampden, 
 and, hearing a rumor that though mortally 
 wounded he was not dead, they had prayed 
 that God would grant him the gift of repent- 
 ance in those last days of his life, that his sun 
 might not go down in utter darkness. Now 
 the same prayer would be offered for her 
 father, but it afforded poor comfort to Winny 
 just now. 
 
 The news of Master Saxby's return was 
 broken to Dame Meredith the next day, but, 
 at the same time, Winny assured her that he 
 had no wish to take her away at present. 
 
 " He will not have to wait long for you, my 
 Winny," said the old lady, stroking the girl's 
 shining hair, as she knelt at her feet, and look- 
 ing down into the sad young face. 
 
 There was no sadness in the old lady's ; she 
 looked brighter than ever this morning, but, 
 somehow, it was a brightness that made Win- 
 ny vaguely uneasy, for it was utterly unlike 
 what she feared would follow upon the news 
 of the archbishop's imprisonment, and she 
 looked at the faded old face very lovingly and 
 tenderly as she whispered, " No one shall ever 
 take me from you." 
 
 " Bless you, sweetheart, for all your love, 
 and you must tell your father I am very thank-
 
 302 SAXBY. 
 
 ful to him for leaving you with me a little 
 longer. I 'm wearing away, Winny. This 
 world is too much for me. I cannot under- 
 stand it, as I thought I could. So many good 
 men are on the wrong side, and so many un- 
 worthy ones where all should be true and 
 brave. Master Fuller has been telling me 
 something of his life at Oxford, and how he 
 was as glad to leave the cavalier camp as he 
 had been to escape from London. I would 
 that the king had such men about him as my 
 nephew, Harry Vane, and some others of the 
 Parliament men ; then there would be more 
 hope of peace for this distracted realm. We 
 must pray for peace, my Winny," concluded 
 the old lady, for at this moment Dr. Fuller 
 came in to read the prayers and lessons for 
 the day, which Dame Meredith never omitted 
 reading for herself or having read to her. 
 
 No questions had been asked Winny about 
 her father and the part he was likely to take 
 in the national quarrel, and she hoped that 
 when he came no mention would be made of 
 this painful topic. It may be that Winny was 
 needlessly anxious about this now, for in truth 
 Dame Meredith had greatly changed within 
 the last few days. The things of earth were 
 shrinking away from her as she approached
 
 Conclusion. 303 
 
 nearer the heavenly city ; and she could even 
 think calmly of the archbishop's imprisonment, 
 and believe, with Dr. Fuller, that God was 
 well able to take care of his Church and of his 
 servant too. 
 
 But if Winny thought less of the old man 
 shut out from the world in the Tower, it was 
 because other anxieties pressed upon her to 
 counterbalance it. The doings of the rival 
 armies wore another aspect after her father 
 had left her, and every day she walked down 
 to the high-road to watch for the king's post 
 riding through the village, in the hope of hear- 
 ing some news of what was going forward at a 
 distance, for here, in lovely Kent, they were 
 far away from the scene of strife. 
 
 She often watched and waited in vain, but 
 
 
 
 not always ; for her patience was sometimes 
 rewarded by hearing sundry scraps of news, 
 which the post was always liberal in bestowing 
 when he reined in his horse at the village 
 ale-house ; and Winny, from the safe shelter 
 of the huge oak where she stationed herself, 
 could hear and see all that passed without her- 
 self being seen. Sometimes letters were left 
 for the Vanes or Dame Meredith, and some- 
 times for herself, for her father divined some- 
 thing of her anxiety on his behalf, and wrote
 
 304 SAX BY. 
 
 as often as he could safely get a letter con- 
 veyed to her. 
 
 From the scraps of news thus gathered 
 Winny learned that the royalists were every- 
 where victorious in the west of England ; but, 
 instead of being able to rejoice, as she felt she 
 ought to do, this good tidings only increased 
 her anxiety, until a word came from her father 
 assuring her he was alive and well. Then 
 Winny would breathe more freely for a time, 
 and go about with a less anxious face, until 
 the rumor of another battle reached her ; and 
 as she had no means of knowing where her fa- 
 ther might be, she, of course, imagined him 
 as being in every battle. 
 
 If he had only been fighting on the royalist 
 side every thing would be so different, as she 
 was often whispering to herself ; but now her 
 heart was so cruelly divided between her love 
 and loyalty and every principle in which she 
 had been reared, that she could not rejoice 
 and thank God for the conquests of the king, 
 for it might be that this very conquest would 
 throw a dark shadow over all her life. 
 
 It was not merely her father's death that 
 Winny lived in such dread of. He would be 
 exposed to the same danger if he had been in 
 the king's army, but Winny would have known
 
 Conclusion. 305 
 
 nothing of the terrible apprehension she now 
 lived in if he had been fighting on the side of 
 king and holy Church. Nay, if he had been 
 slain under such circumstances she would rath- 
 er have gloried in him as a martyr of the good 
 cause who had willingly laid down his life in 
 the service of the king. 
 
 At last came tidings of the battle of New- 
 buiy, where the all-victorious army of the king 
 received its first check, and lost its prince of 
 men " the glory of the royalist party " Lord 
 Falkland. 
 
 Strange to say, the news of his death affected 
 Dame Meredith more strongly than the im- 
 prisonment of the archbishop had done. "Ah 
 me, sweetheart," she sighed ; " peace is fur- 
 ther off than ever from this distracted land, 
 now that good man and brave soldier has been 
 taken. Doubtless he was glad of his discharge, 
 for Prince Rupert and the lawless doings of 
 his soldiers were a sore trouble to him ; but I 
 am thinking of the king and this poor bleeding 
 land no longer ' merry England,' but torn, 
 distracted England, with no hope of healing, 
 now Hampden and Falkland have gone. My 
 poor Winny ! your lot is cast in evil times, and 
 I may not see the end of these troubles ; but, 
 my dear, trust steadily in God."
 
 3o6 SAXBY. 
 
 Happily for herself, Dame Meredith was 
 spared the agony of knowing that not only the 
 archbishop but the king was at length impris- 
 oned and condemned to die by those who had 
 taken the helm of affairs at this perilous junc- 
 ture. It was a very different ending she and 
 Winny had hoped and prayed for, when they 
 pleaded that God would strengthen and build 
 up his Church in righteousness and the beauty 
 of holiness. We know now that these earnest, 
 devout prayers were answered, although it 
 seemed to those who prayed that it was bitter- 
 est defeat ; for to them the " beauty of holi- 
 ness " meant what Laud had interpreted it to 
 mean a mere sensuous worship of splendid 
 ritual, which was gradually choking all true 
 spiritual worship and strangling the life of the 
 Church. God would save her from this even 
 by sore judgment and bitter humiliation, for 
 so it is God often answers the prayers of his 
 servants. 
 
 After the defeat of the royalists at Newbury 
 there were a few months of comparative peace, 
 but neither side were idle, for while Harry 
 Vane and the Parliament were negotiating for 
 assistance from the Presbyterians of Scotland, 
 the king was busy arranging for help from the 
 Roman Catholics of Ireland, to renew the
 
 Conclusion. 307 
 
 struggle at the first favorable opportunity ; 
 and during this lull of hostilities Dame Mere- 
 dith passed away to the land of everlasting 
 peace. 
 
 Poor Winny was overwhelmed with grief at 
 the loss of her friend, who had been a mother 
 to her for so many years. It was small conso- 
 lation to her, either, that she was possessed of 
 an ample fortune, and that a home had been 
 secured for her in the Vane household until 
 her father could claim her. 
 
 And so for six months Winny could do lit- 
 tle but watch and wait the chances of war, 
 during which time another sore blow fell upon 
 her ; for the long-deferred trial against the 
 archbishop was commenced in March, and as 
 it went on it became more certain than ever 
 that he would end his days upon the scaffold. 
 Sorely Winny missed gentle Dame Meredith 
 now. The young Vanes were as hot and pas- 
 sionate in their denunciations of the Parlia- 
 ment, and all who sympathized with them, as 
 Winny had once been, while she well, she 
 could not understand herself, only she wished 
 she could run to Dame Meredith and hear, as 
 she so often had in her last days, tender, piti- 
 ful words, and even excuses made for what had 
 before seemed inexcusable to both of them.
 
 3o8 SAXBY. 
 
 Now her father was one of those whom she 
 had looked upon as enemies, she longed to 
 hear such soothing words again, even though 
 she might herself combat them ; but these 
 hard, bitter words of her young companions 
 fell upon her like blows, sometimes causing 
 her the double anguish of doubting her own 
 loyalty, because they pained her so much. 
 And Winny's was not the only heart in which 
 this fierce battle and bitter pain was added to 
 more physical distress. Of this she knew noth- 
 ing as yet, but she was not long to remain in 
 ignorance of the other side of the gloomy 
 picture. 
 
 Early in July came news of a battle fought 
 at Marston Moor, in Yorkshire, and shortly 
 afterward the king's post brought a letter to 
 Winny, written by her brother Rupert, beg- 
 ging her to come at once to their father, who 
 had been sorely wounded fighting with Colonel 
 Cromwell's Ironsides. A messenger was wait- 
 ing in London to bring her to them without 
 delay, the letter said, and Winny was not long 
 in making her preparations to set out. 
 
 In sunny, smiling Kent the fields were wav- 
 ing with corn and the orchards glowed with 
 their harvest of fruit, and London looked as 
 rich and prosperous and busy as ever. But
 
 Conclusion. 309 
 
 when London was left behind, and they were 
 on the great northern road, they came upon 
 tracts of wilderness and pitiless devastation 
 that made Winny shudder. Wrecks of barns 
 and farm-houses that had once been pleasant 
 homesteads, but now were only heaps of black- 
 ened ruins ; and what pained her almost as 
 much was to hear that this was the work of 
 Prince Rupert, who would often swoop down 
 upon the inhabitants of a peaceful district with 
 a band of his royalist soldiers, and drive off 
 the cattle and all that could be carried away, 
 and then, if the owners resisted or protested, 
 they were hung to their own door-posts as Pu- 
 ritan traitors, and the house fired. 
 
 In this way hundreds of homes in England 
 had been desolated, and the people's heart 
 roused to a hatred against their king such as 
 they had never known before, and which proph- 
 esied ill for the success of the royal cause. 
 
 What Winny felt about all this she kept 
 close in her own heart, but she was thankful 
 when the journey was over and she was no 
 longer forced to see such cruel sights and hear 
 that all the vaunted chivalry of the cavaliers 
 were as so many idle tales. 
 
 She found her father in a less dangerous 
 condition than she feared, although his wounds
 
 3:0 SAXBY. 
 
 were very severe, and he had suffered a good 
 deal from pain and loss of blood. Rupert met 
 her with a half apology for fetching her, for 
 their quarters were poor and there was little 
 accommodation for a lady ; but Winny quickly 
 assured him that her greatest wish was to be 
 at her father's side now Dame Meredith was 
 dead, and she soon proved that she was no 
 dainty fine lady unable to do any thing out of 
 the luxurious home to which she had been 
 accustomed. 
 
 Captain Saxby had been carried to a desert- 
 ed cottage not far from the scene of the fight, 
 and although Rubert and the doctor had done 
 all they could for the comfort of the wounded 
 man, every thing looked cheerless and deso- 
 late in the extreme. 
 
 But in a few hours Winny had altered the look 
 of things in her father's chamber. A few odds 
 and ends of rough furniture that lay strewed 
 about the garden were brought in by her broth- 
 er Rupert, and, cleaned and furbished by Win- 
 ny, soon gave a more home-like look to the 
 place, and the wounded soldier seemed to find 
 a relief from the pain of his wounds and the 
 monotony of his imprisonment in watching the 
 graceful figure of his daughter, who was con- 
 tinually busying herself over these small details,
 
 Conclusion. 311 
 
 that would never have entered a man's head 
 to contrive. 
 
 But when the excitement of her coming was 
 over, and all that could be .devised to make 
 the cottage more comfortable had been done, 
 Winny discovered that her father was going 
 back to the same state of listless brooding he 
 had indulged before she came, and she re- 
 solved to ask her brother, who was still with 
 them, if he knew of any cause for this. The 
 brother and sister, so long parted, had got 
 used to each other again by this time, and all 
 the old love seemed to have revived, in spite 
 of the difference of opinion existing between 
 them a difference that was a bitter pain to 
 both, and yet which helped to convince each 
 how much might be said for the opposite 
 side. 
 
 " Something on his mind," repeated Rupert 
 when his sister told him about her suspicions. 
 
 " Yes, it is something about Uncle Roger, I 
 feel sure," said Winny ; " for I heard him say, 
 ' Roger, Roger,' several tfmes in his sleep this 
 morning. 
 
 " Hush, hush ; yes, it is that, I am afraid," 
 admitted Rupert. " Uncle Roger was fight- 
 ing in the royalist army, and he and our father 
 met on the battle-field and recognized each
 
 312 SAXBY. 
 
 other. It was not the first time they met 
 since father had returned to England ; but 
 they had parted in anger because he refused 
 to admit father's claim to a share of Saxby, 
 and to secure it entirely for himself he took 
 up the royalist cause. They never met again 
 until this battle of Marston Moor, and Uncle 
 Roger has been killed. We did not mean to 
 let father know it just now, but some one 
 spoke of it incautiously, and he overheard 
 what was said. But do you know, Winny, we 
 shall have to move from here soon ? " added 
 Rupert. 
 
 " But can father be moved ? " said Winny, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " The doctor says he will never get better 
 here, and advises his being taken to his native 
 place, Great Kimble. Will you talk to him 
 about it, and try to find out what he thinks of 
 the plan ? " 
 
 To every body's surprise the invalid caught 
 eagerly at the suggestion, and arrangements 
 were at once made to have him conveyed in a 
 litter, and by easy stages, to the village among 
 the chalk hills where he had played as a boy, 
 and which he had left five and twenty years 
 before to fight for freedom and religious lib- 
 erty.
 
 Conclusion, 313 
 
 Rupert hoped that the dear familiar scenes 
 surrounding their ancestral home might soon 
 do all that the doctor thought they would. 
 But, alas, the destroyer had reached Saxby be- 
 fore them, and nothing remained of the old 
 house but a charred heap of blackened ruins, 
 while over fields and orchards desolation and 
 destruction reigned complete. 
 
 " It is enough," said the invalid when he 
 caught sight of the ruin ; " take me away as 
 far as you can. I have looked my last at dear 
 old Saxby, that has cost me my brother's life 
 and my father's banishment. Take me to my 
 father now, children. Thank God, his old 
 eyes will never see this mournful sight ! Take 
 me to New Saxby, Rupert, about which you 
 have told me so much. I would fain see my 
 father once more before I die." 
 
 From this time his one wish was to see his 
 father, and so, as soon as he was sufficiently 
 recovered from his wounds to be able to travel, 
 the three set out on their voyage to the New 
 England that was henceforth to be their home ; 
 and here Winny learned to understand that 
 the Church of God might include many who 
 did not worship him after a pattern set by 
 kings and bishops, while many a Puritan 
 learned to think m.ore k.indly of those who 
 20
 
 314 SAXBY. 
 
 differed from themselves by a visit to the gen- 
 tle royalist maiden living at New Saxby ; for 
 Winny never gave up her love of king and 
 country, and no one ever thought of asking 
 her to do so. 
 
 The success of Oliver Cromwell and the 
 establishment of the Commonwealth in En- 
 gland carried the Reformation a step further ; 
 but this was followed by a retrograde move- 
 ment when Charles II. came to the throne 
 from which his father had been hurled ; his 
 accession sent many to the New England that 
 was now growing to be a might and power in 
 the world the home of liberty, the refuge of 
 brave, true souls, who loved liberty more than 
 ease or life itself. 
 
 The efforts and prayers of the Pilgrim Fa- 
 thers who had first set foot on the western 
 wilds had been wonderfully answered. They 
 had said, " If it please God to discover some 
 place unto us, even though in America, where, 
 free from antichristian bondage, we may retain 
 our names and nationality, and not only be- 
 come a means of enlarging the dominions of 
 the English State, but the Church of Christ 
 also, in that place we will joyfully establish 
 ourselves ; and our persecuted countrymen 
 -shall see how in the distant wilderness men
 
 Conclusion. 3 1 5 
 
 may comfortably subsist, and keep their con- 
 sciences unsullied ; " and in little more than 
 thirty years, under their vigorous leadership, a 
 New England had arisen ; and we trust and 
 pray that the mighty empire born of the Pu- 
 ritans' efforts and prayers will ever be true to 
 her noble lineage, and faithfully keep the price- 
 less trust committed to her by the grand old 
 men of the " Mayflower. 
 
 THE END.
 
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