Ex Libris C . K. OGD1 \ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES v 4 WHITEHALL; THE DAYS OF GEORGE IV. . irk*- Gnu SAVK THK KlNfi ! Old Song. ' LONDON : . WILLIAM MARSH, 137, OXFORD-STREET. SJIArKr.f.I. AND IIAYI.IS, JOHNSON S-COUKT. PR 4-0 WH IT EH ALL; OR, GEORGE IV. CHAPTER I. Tli? historian command* attention, and rewards it, by selecting tlie more brilliant circumstances of great events, by unfolding the cha- racteristic qualities of eminent personages, and by tracing well- known effects through all the obliquities, and all the recesses of their secret causes. Parr. It was about five o'clock of the afternoon of Sunday, April the first, in the twenty-seventh year of the nineteenth century, when George IV. was King of England, that the Dover mail- coach, called (in compliment to one of the most eminent statesmen of that time), the El- don, approached, with that velocity for which its movements, like those of its namesake, were ever distinguished, the magnificent bridge of li THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR LOS ANGELES 2 WHITEHALL; Westminster, then forming one of the most popular as well as splendid approaches to the overgrown and luxurious metropolis of the Bri- tannic empire. Two of the persons seated on the summit of the vehicle, were observed by the multitude of on-.ookers to contemplate the scene before tnem with the intense and fixed gaze of surprise and wonder. It was obvious to the most superficial glance that they had never seen London before. Their demeanour was now studied with increasing anxiety, and a murmur of inquiry began to be diffused among the mul- titudinous mass : — " Who," said many a startled citizen, " are these stedfast starers? From what far distant region have they been wafted to the shores of free and happy England ?" " I am decidedly of opinion," remarked a strong-built man of middle age to his wife (who, according to the interesting manners of the period, had her arm linked in his) — " I am decidedly of opinion that this is a young nabob OR r GEORGE IV. 8 from the East Indies. The great Chinese fleet lias, according to the John Bull * of this morning, arrived safely in the Channel.' " Methinks," replied the lady, " the broad- brimmed hat of white straw, which forms part of his costume, points rather to a western than to an eastern origin. Depend upon it, my love, 'tis a planter from Jamaica." " I hope so," returned the husband, " for we have been anxiously looking for ships from that quarter. Limes are extremely scarce, dear, and (I must say) bad at this moment , and those black devils appear to be in a pretty state — rot them. I dined, as you are aware, yester- day, at the Thatched House, and positively the punch for the turtle was made with lemons alone "" * John Bull. The principal church and monarchy news- paper of the time, and written by the most learned members of the hierarchy. The jocose papers — afterwards gathered in a volume, and published by John Murray in 1830 — were chiefly the productions of Bothers, Bishop of Norwich, B 2 4 WHITEHALL; " Bless us !" said the affectionate dame — " not a single lime at the Thatched House !" This conversation took place during the time that the guard and coachman of the Eldon were enjoying a cup of Lamb's-wool (/'. e. lukewarm milk and rum), opposite the gates of the Elephant and Castle hostelrie ; the last pause which was to occur in the course of their present journey. The closing drop of the nutritive and exhilarating beverage had now been imbibed ; the vessels had been returned into the hands of the smiling Boniface;* the conductor received once more into his own skilful fingers the reins, which had been entrusted for the moment to a stern-looking passenger in a huge military cloak of blue cloth, trimmed luxuriously with ermine and scarlet, a bear-skin foraging cap, St. Albans,f * Boniface, i. e. Innkeeper. Vide the Rev. Dr. Toddy's edition of Johnson. f St. Albans. The name of a fashionable species of breeches, so called after the Duke of St, Albans, Master of the Ordnance to George IV. OR, GEORGE IV. O and Wellingtons ; * the guard, lifting his re- splendent horn to his lips, sounded the first movement of the Rule Britannia, and in a second the foaming horses were again in full career for llegent- street. " Well, off they go," cries the lady; " we shall see what the newspapers have got to say in the morning; but, on second thoughts, my dear, I'll lay my life that that diere youth on the near side, though he has a black with him, is no more a West Indian than I am." " What do you mean ?" said Hawkins. " I mean that he looks like a gentleman," was the reply. " And are there no gentlemen in the West Indies?" retorted Hawkins. " I'm sure, there was Major Fellovves, that you knew at Worthing — did you think the Major was not a gentleman, Ma'am ?" * Wellingtons, i. e. military top-boots, named after the celebrated general who introduced and patronized them. () WHITEHALL ; " They told us he had a wonderful fine pro- perty in Dcmerara," was the apparently indif- ferent reply. " A fine property, indeed !" sneered the gentleman ; " a property chiefly of human flesh, I believe, as you call it. But why should we fall out about this Johnny Newcome ? 'Tis no concern of ours — is it, Luey, my darling ?"' The last words were addressed to a young female, who had taken no part in this conversa- tion, and her only answer was a start and a long- drawn sigh. " What's the matter, my love P" says the father ; " you look very pale, Lucy — what has come over thee, girl ?" Still no answer. " Oh ! nonsense," said the elder female ; " there's nothing wrong with Lucy, but what her dinner will set to rights. Come, let's be moving. The mutton will be roasted to rags ere we can reach Portland-place." OR, GEOEGE IV, The poor girl grasped her father's arm, and the party proceeded on their way for some time in total silence. They had reached the centre of the bridge when Mrs. Hawkins (for that was the name of ihe family) jogged Mr. Hawkins on the elbow, and asked, in a hurried tone, " who was that lady that bowed to you from the green barouche ¥"* " That lady, 11 replied Hawkins, with a sim- per — " why that lady is Madame Vcstris. , '-f- " And how do you know any thing of Ma- dame Vestris, Mr. Hawkins ? v — and Mrs. Haw- kins fanned herself. " I met her down in Gloucestershire last Christmas, 1 ' he answered — " she is a charming actress; French, English, Italian, all come alike to her. Really a wonderful creature." " Mr. Hawkins, 11 said the lady, " there's no * Barouche. It is now the generally received opinion that this vehicle was a low phaeton with four wheels. See, however, Bacon Sangareeville, vol. iii. p. 505, and (he references of the Appendix. t Vestris. See Biographia Magna, sub voce. Art. 5. * WHITEHALL; understanding you — there again ! another nod ! Upon my word, you have no scarcity of ac- quaintance." " I never saw Lady Caroline looking better, - " ejaculated Hawkins — " quite in bloom, 'pon my honour. Lucy, my dear, 11 he continued, " what sets thee a shivering and shaking so ? — I protest thou art affected with some malady that should be seen to. 1 ' " O, no, Sir 1 ' sighed Lucy—" there's no- thing in the world the matter with me." " I believe not, indeed,' 1 replied Mrs. Haw- kins the second. " Bless us, there's the Dover coach again. My eye, she's setting down all her passengers at Holmes's."' " And a very comfortable hotel it is,' 1 says Hawkins — " our friend with the white hat has made a very good election. Only look what a quantity of luggage they are getting out of the boot."* * Moot. Sec Transactions of the Kentucky Royal So- ciety, vol. xxx vi, pp. 1G — 74. OR, GEORGE IV. 9 " By this time the party had reached the entrance of Holmes's hotel. Several passengers stood on the pavement superintending the deli- very of their baggage. An elderly African, of a noble corpulence, and shewing all his fine teeth, in a smile of exquisite delight, was among the rest receiving sundry portmanteaus, sacs-de- nuit, trunks, dressing cases, hat-boxes, &c. &c. &c. from the guard of the Eldon ; and three sharp-eyed, nimbled-jointed aids or waiters were assisting him. The unknown, who had struck Mrs. Hawkins as having the air of a gentle- man, said, just as the pedestrians were passing him — " Caesar, mind my shaving things;" when he was interrupted by a short, quick, piercing scream. Lucy Hawkins gasped for breath, staggered, and fainted. The stranger rushed forwards, caught the beautiful creature in his arms ; and, motioning to Hawkins, bore her, without the delay of a moment, into the hotel. The crowd which had been attracted and 10 WHITEHALL ; detained by these occurrences, soon dispersed, and the Eldon drove off" with redoubled speed. On more than one observer, however, a con- siderable impression had been made ; and the singular grace and elegance of the unknown maiden's figure and features continued to form a common topic of consideration during several ensuing hours. The Speaker of the House of Commons, dressed in his full official costume, happened to have been passing at the moment when Lucy swooned away in the arms of the interesting stranger, (who, we may remark, par parenthese, was decidedly a Creole) in company with the Right Honourable Henry Brougham, Sir Daniel Whittle Harvey,* the Marquis of Londonderry, and some other eminent states- men of the times ; and this distinguished party separated almost immediately afterwards ; the Marquis turning down Downing Street, where * Afterwards Lord Keeper, under the title of Vibeount u hittletoo, 'if CostscheBter. OK, GK0IH1K IV. 11 lie was engaged to an early family dinner party with that too celebrated descendant of the mar- tyred Byng — known by the fatal surname of Poodle ; while the Speaker and Sir Daniel con- tinued their walk to Lambeth, and Brougham seeing the venerable patriot Raikes pass along alone in his cabriolet, took a seat by his side and returned to Brookes's.* The consequence was, that the intelligence of what had happened was immediately conveyed into some of the most influential circles in the capital. The charms of the lovely unknown were discussed with zealous interest by the assembled heads of the opposition in their favourite rendezvous, and a solemn bumper to her recovery was among the earliest healths of that festive board , Three cabinet ministers, who were that day taking a quiet beef-steak and a cigar together at the Foreign Office, to discuss an approaching * Brookes's. A celebrated whig chop-house. ^See the Encyclopaedia, sub voce.) 12 WHITEHALL; question of the first moment, were not less af- fected by the glowing narrative of the youthful, yet veteran chieftain of the celebrated Tenth Legion. Nor were Dr. Parr, Mr. Edward Ir- ving, the Bishops of Chester and Gretna Green, and the venerable Earls Harborough and Bexley, who had dropt in to partake in the Lord Pri- mate's celebrated pork-chops* and peach brandy, at all insensible to the enthusiastic encomiums in which the Speaker and his interesting friend, Sir Daniel Whittle Harvey, strove to outvie each other. Lucy Hawkins was the heroine of the event- ful evening. • The antiquarian reader will be reminded of the song in " Old English Ditties," " Lord Wenables eats turtles, " Lord Primate, he eats Thurtells," &c. &c. Vol.iii. p. 246. Thurtells were pork-chops, so called, it is supposed, from a butcher of Ware, who excelled in them. The Kcvercnd Dr. Toddy is quite wrong, as usual, on this point. OR, GEORGE IV. 13 CHAPTER II. " I hope I don't intrude." Old Play. " Enchanting girl f" said the unfortunate youth to himself, as soon as the hackney coacli had borne from the door of the hotel, the im- perfectly recovered Lucy — " Enchanting girl ! miserable man ! what hope can be for me ? — what link can ever connect the fortunes of this radiant angel and the desolate Smithers ? v Caesar entered the parlour some minutes after- wards, and found his master still sittino- with one elbow on the sideboard, and holding in the other hand the tumbler which Lucy Hawkins had touched with her lips, and in which three or four tiny bubbles of the soda water yet lin- gered. The good old man with instinctive 14 WHITK.irAT.l. ; discrimination, saw at once how deeply his mastef had been affected — a kindred heart beat beneath the dusky bosom of the tried dependant, and forbearing from idle questions, his delicate tact took upon itself the arrangement of every detail. In a word, the dinner was ordered and set silently upon the table, ere yet our hero (for such in truth he is) had at all vanquished, by the suggestions of reason, the morbid in- fluence of that passionate stupor. Minds of gigantic vigour, however, contain within themselves an ever salutary principle of i icily, of whose intense energies vulgar souls will in vain attempt to realize any adequate ima- gination : and so it was with Smithers upon this trying emergence. Caesar, motioning to the waiter that his attendance might be dispensed with, lifted, with his own hand, the cover from a di^li of the most beautiful herrings, and another of mashed potatoes, and said in a cheer- ful accent, c ' Come, Massa John." To have OR, GEOKGE IV. 15 said more would have been superfluous. The whole truth of his situation at once rushed into the mind of Smithers. — " Fool, driveller, that I am !" he muttered to himself, rising impetu- ously from the hair-bottomed chair which had so long detained him. — " Madman, idiot, re- creant, traitor, poltroon ! Is it for tJiis that I have sworn the deadly vow — «"» Is it for this that I have abandoned the solitary matron? — But hold — that word must not be uttered be- neath a foreign sky — Is it for this that I tread the soil of England, that I breathe the atmo- sphere of the capital of George ?" — A smile of noble and elevated exultation passed over his lips, as he internally continued the strain of thought. "Isitfor ends likethese that I am actually within the same city with a Buxton, a Brougham, and a Wilberforce ?"' — But a red light gleamed in his eyes as the glance of intellect shot on to the ideas of the tyrannic Liverpool and his instrument of ire, the ferocious Michael Augelo Taylor — 1() WHITEHALL ; disgrace of that highborn and heroic name. In this mood John Jeremy seated himself, and de- voured with rapid earnestness the viands which Caesar had provided. Some boiled veal and bacon and greens terminated the repast, dur- ing which the youth emptied two pots of deli- cious porter, doubly endeared to his palate by its title of " Buxton's Entire ;"" and finally, Caesar putting a pint of Cape Madeira and a noggin of rum on the table, retired to eat his own dinner in an adjoining apartment, where, ex- hausted with fatigue, and tempted with new liquors of the richest influence, he soon yielded up his reason to the powers of intoxication. Our hero thus left in solitude, began, sipping insensibly the fluids before him, to ponder over the particulars of his present situation and future conduct, with that calm self-command which formed one of the primary qualities of his character, and to arrange and revise the letters of introduction and other documents which had on, GEORGE IV. 17 been entrusted to his keeping. The result of his deliberations was, that as soon as another day had broken upon the world, he should pro- ceed at once to seek out the distinguished phi- lanthropist Zebediah Macfarlane, and lay be- fore him in their utmost truth of detail the un- paralleled circumstances under which he had torn himself from the soil of his birth, and planted his foot upon that of his paternal ances- try. " Yes," said he to himself — " there can be no use for dilatory procrastination and im- becile hesitation now ; I have set my fortunes upon a cast — I will go to-morrow, immediately after breakfast, to the immortal Macfarlane." To finish what remained of his rum, to lock up his documents in a small portable case, to ring the bell and desire the attendance of the chambermaid, was the work of a moment. Smithers was conducted to a neat bed-room, up three pair of stairs, by a comely damsel, who bore the candlestick before him with an air c 18 WHITEHALL ; of native grace, which redeemed within the boundaries of respect the menial character of her functions. Placing it on a little table covered with a napkin of snowy whiteness, she cast her fine grey eyes full upon him, and then drop- ping over them large and tender lids, which par- took in the suffusion of rosy modesty that had now mounted upwards from bosom, neck, and cheek, said in a tone of tremulous gentleness, " Missis don't allow no snuffers or 'stinguish- ers ; but if you ring when you are in bed, Sir, I will come and fetch away the light." " I respect the precaution, , ' > said Smithers, " which dictated this regulation, and when I ring you will find the candle outside the door." The poor girl started and met Smithers"' eye. The blood recoiled from her visage ; and pale as a statue, trembling as a leaf, she turned away from the pure and penetrating, but neither haughty nor triumphant, glance of virtue. She retreated in silence; and there was that about OR, GEORGE IV. 19 her humbled demeanour which would not suffer him to repress a cordial " good night." The young woman thanked him by a melancholy, half-formed smile. No unworthy emotion of scorn or pride found even a momentary shelter within the breast of Smithers ; but we see no reason why we should suppress the fact, that as he lay down, " severe in youthful beauty," and " naked in his innocence," a sweet vision seem- ed to pass lightly before him, and diffuse over his inmost heart-strings a breath of softening and soothing gratulation. " Angelic form,' 1 he inly whispered, " desert not the fancy when slum- ber folds her light wings over the gross world of reality. Be mine, Lucy, be mine, thou peerless loveliness, be mine at least in my dreams." Oh! enviable elasticity of youth and hope! The destined participator in a thousand perils, the sworn avenger of blood-buried virtue, closed, ere many minutes elapsed, those eyes which she who had once perused their deep and c c > 20 WHITEHALL ; majestic mystery of sentiment could never for- get, in sleep as calm as ever rested on the cradle of an unconscious infant. In vain was all the hum of men, all the trampling of steeds, all the rush and roar of carriages ; in vain did the bugle and the trumpet speak and echo the sig- nals of the night from tower to fort, and from camp to barrack ; in vain did the sonorous peal- ing of a thousand bells from chapel, church, abbey, and cathedral, disturb the pillow of dark- ness ; in vain did hoarse watchmen and horse- patroles shout ever and anon the harsh an- nouncement of the progressive march of time ; in vain did arriving guests, in every stage of inebriety, scream within the hotel itself for waiters, chambermaids, candlesticks, warming- pans, toast water, ginger beer, porter, negus, bishop and grog ; in vain was the night broken by clamours after punch, and the morning star- tled by cries for purl ; the whole turbulence and hubbub of the nocturnal babel fell unheeded on OR, GEORGK IV. 21 the dreaming ear, while the airy power of un- fettered imagination had overleaped all barriers and boundaries of space, circumstance, and law, and pressed the lip of youthful constancy to the cheek of far distant beauty. 22 Whitehall ; CHAPTER III. Can tyrants but by tyrants vanquished be, And freedom find no champion and no child ? B*RON. It was one of the old maxims of the genuine unsophisticated wisdom of yet undegraded England which proclaimed that " Early to bed, and early to rise, Is the way to be healthy, and wealthy, and wise ;" and in the spirit of this venerable saying, had our young hero been trained up from his earliest infancy by the saintly parent now entombed be- neath the sod of an insulted land. That parent's precepts, however, had survived in all their OK, GEORGE IV. 23 strength of influence the savage blow that levelled his existence with the dust ; and the first-born of his heart rung with determined hand for hot water exactly at half past eight on Monday morning, and before the authoritative clock of the Horse-Guards 1 chapel* had struck the hour of nine, he was already seated at one of the numerous breakfast tables of the great or public saloon of Holmes's hotel. The aids mentioned in a tone of regretful concern, that owing to the arrival of new company during the night, they could no longer give him possession of the par- lour he had occupied the preceding evening, but that ere that day was over they should have a better at his service. Little did they know of Smithers, who could for a moment suspect him of attaching any importance to such trivial things as these. The young man replied with a smile, the benignity of which at once restored * See Vicomte de Marmalades Antiquites Militaires de la Grande Bretagne, torn. 3. p. 543, 24 WHITEHALL * these vulgar spirits to tranquillity, that, " he would as soon breakfast in the coffee-room as in the proudest retirements of the establishment." Having finished a slight and simple meal, the youth now prepared for the business of the day. The attention of the hotel-keeper soon provided him with an experienced guide, under whose direction the most intricate recesses of the vast metropolis might be traversed with ease and safety ; and dressed in weeds of the deepest mourning, with a long crape round his white straw-hat, Smithers sallied forth at once into Parliament-street. The faithful Caesar followed him, bearing the documents, to which we have already alluded, in a green bag under his left arm, while a stout bamboo, carried with an air of the most fearless determination over the right shoulder, manifested the proud feelings with which the emancipated bondsman was resolved to protect the precious deposit with which he found himself entrusted. The guide, by name or, George iv. 25 Peter Cheltenham, was a light active lad, the natural son of a proud noble who had never condescended to take the smallest care of his education, but abandoned him, with the most heartless indifference, to be tossed about like a vessel without helm or helmsman on the wide sea of life. It was, therefore, no wonder that he occupied the situation of runner, or message- bearer, in Mr. Holmes's employment ; nor if, in the course of existence to which he thus from necessity submitied, he had acquired, together with an intimate knowledge of the streets, lanes, and squares of London, something also of un- settled character, a certain cynical contempt for the established forms of social intercourse, and a lamentable indifference to religious sanctions, ought the blame to be exclusively attached to the unfortunate stripling himself. Gay of heart, and airy of demeanour, Peter Cheltenham was one of those short-sighted individuals who es- tablish it as their principal rule of conduct to 26 WHITEHALL ; take things as they find them, and would re- luctantly consider that day as ill spent in which moderate exertion had been rewarded with the means of making a comfortable dinner, and en- oying a merry carouse after an equally satis- factory supper, in company with some loose minded, jolly, toping cad*, or under groom, or perhaps some lovely but capricious and incon- stant " cynthia of the minute." Such was our hero's new attendant, the mere creature of cir- cumstances, the very sport of fortune — : But to our tale Caesar did not perhaps regard with deeper feelings of astonishment than his master the scenes of novel splendour which developed them- selves as the party ascended towards Whitehall, and so on to the heart of the political region of the British metropolis ; but the openness with which his comparatively uncultivated mind re- vealed its impressions, afforded a signal contrast * Cad. Vide Archdeacon Tgnare's Glossary, sub voce. OR, GEORGE IV. 27 to the quiet demeanour of Smithers. His eyes now roamed about dazzled and distracted, now rested with a basilisk stedfastness on some one commanding object of wonder : and the reader can hardly need to be told that such gestures as these, accompanied as they were by many an unsophisticated ejaculation, forcibly attracted the notice, and amused the fancy of the practised Cockney*, Peter. To confess the truth, Chel- tenham early discovered a rich vein of merriment in the simple African ; nor was he slow to work what he had thus detected. The rude ribaldry, however, in which he began to indulge called down ere long the grave and manly rebuke of Smithers ; and the lad, resolving to reserve Caesar for a private perambulation, proceeded to ex- plain to our hero himself in a respectful manner the several structures which appeared to excite his admiration, pointing out occasionally, as he went on, such eminent individuals as hap. * Cockney. Vide Archdeacon Ignare's Glossary sub voce. 28 WHITEHALL ; pened to pass them in that tumultuous thorough- fare. On one side of the way Cheltenham directed the eye of Smithers to that superb establishment in "which the naval empire of England was then administered. A gigantic Neptune, leaning on his trident, in the midst of an enormous fountain of marble, around whose edge thirty sea-horses and dolphins spouted water in many a playful circumgyration, seemed to guard the main access to the princely edifice ; while on either side a long range of statues by Cibber, Flaxman, Chantry, and Roubilliac recalled the glories of the principal marine heroes of the state. Here, for example, appeared the indomitable sturdiness of a Blake, there the serene dignity of a Shovel : on one hand an immense bronze steam-boat forms an appropriate basis for the colossal height of Cochrane, the emancipator of Greece, and the conqueror of Egypt ; while immediately oppo- site to him is seen the one-armed Nelson, writhing OR, GEORGE IV. 29 under the arrow of Fate, (who hovers in the distance on the mimic mast of a hostile admiral,) and supported between the weeping figures of Magnanimity and Captain Hardy, Britannia, and Lady Hamilton. Lost in a maze of agitating reflections, Smithers and his African stood so long before these miracles of art, that the group at length attracted the observation of the Cap- tain of Marines, who with his troop kept guard on horseback in front of the naval palace ; and this gentleman, by name Parry, thought it his duty to convey the suspicions which had been excited in his mind to the authorities in the in- terior. The result may easily be guessed. At that period the fermentation of popular senti- ment in the Antillic Colonies was at its height, and the alarming truth was but too well known at the council-board of the Lord High Admiral of England. " The case is plain ;" said a mea- * Parry. Subsequently discoverer of the North Pole, and Governor of Barrowtaria. SO wurrEHALi. ; gre, fiery-faced veteran, who occupied the seat at the right hand of the president. " The news of last night are but too fully confirmed ! Bar- badocs, Demerara, Jamaica herself, are on the eve of insurrection ! Let us have these creole vagabonds before us without the delay of another moment." " Ah ! Geordie Warrender," said the presi- dent, with a gentle smile, and tapping a huge mull* made out of the horn of a moose deer, and garnished with a jingling appendage of chains, brushes, spoons, &c.f " commend me to thee, mon, for finding oot the sting o 1 abumbee ! Fse warrant they're just e'en tway three idle land- loupers gapin at the Leeons o' Lunnun. Hoot away, mon, hoot away, wi ye noo. I mind weel, my father, puir mon, tellin"* us when we were wee weans how he gapit, and glowrit aboot * Mull, Sfc. Vide Professor Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language. t See Caledonia Antiqua, by Professor Schwamm, Vol. 2. pp. 230. 27G. OR, GEORGE IV. 31 at a'thing, whan he came up a raw laddie, wi 1 a towzy head and twal puns Scotch in his poke, like the Eesralites to Canaan in quest o' a land o 1 milk and honey."" " My Lord," replied Warrender firmly, " your Excellency may laugh as long as you please ; but I must repeat my caution. My lord, it is my duty to protest against this frigid indifference at such a crisis as is here !" So say- ing, the old admiral rose from his place. Solemnly laying his hand upon his breast, he cast his fierce eye around the circle, and cried, with the voice of a Stentor, " I charge you, gentlemen, to do your duties as I have done mine." A stamp with the wooden leg (which supplied the place of that lost at La Hogue). gave additional energy to the exclamation. " Arrah now, sure Milvil, my frind," whispers the secretary, " what's the fun of this ? Is it any harm to have up the pretty boys, and be tipping them a little touch of the long pole ?" J32 WH1TF.HALI. ; " Bring them in, bring them in," said several voices. " Weel, weel," cries the Lord High Admiral; " my conscience ! wullfu 1 bodies wull hae their ain gait ; he that will to Cupar, maun to Cupar."" With this he nodded to the secretary, who in- stantly began to draw out the necessary warrants; but it was obvious how much the temperate chief still disapproved of the proceedings into which the tumult of a popular assembly was hurrying him. He said nothing, except " Havers, havers, a 1 havers, by Bannockburn !" in a whisper ; but he strode with passionate gestures towards the window, his tartans rustling vehemently, and the dirk and claymore ringing audibly with every movement of his martial frame. The government of Britain, it may be well nigh superfluous to observe, though keeping up a certain external show of liberal institutions, habeas corpus, hustings, jury-trial, Houses of Parliament, unpaid magistrates, forty shilling Oil, GEORGE IV. 33 voters, common council assemblies, county meet- ings, &c. &c, had long ere the time at which we take up a portion of her history, degenerated in reality into a practical despotism, but little less offensive in its operation than the avowed auto- cracies of St. Petersburgh or Byzantium. No sooner, therefore, were the documents subscribed and sealed, than Smithers, Caesar and Chelten- ham found themselves marching between double files of dragoons toward the council-room of the Admiralty. Hazardous as our hero could not but feel his position to be, it was still impossible for him to traverse the magnificent corridors of this enormous pile without lending a momentary tribute of attention to the gorgeous display which they unfolded to the unaccustomed gaze. A singularly noble and picturesque imagination had presided over the conceptions of the archi- tect who reared those unrivalled halls. The roofs, whose altitude surpassed conjecture, were painted so as to represent the heavens under D 34 WHITEHALL ; every possibility of storm and calm. Over one saloon unnumbered stars of gold or silver gleamed steadily on a firmament of the serenest azure. In a second, a floating mass of clouds were tinged with the richest hues of an autumnal sun- set. In a third, the luminary of day broad and scarlet was seen cleaving the cold mist of a De- cember morn. In a fourth, a resplendent rain- bow spanned with its magical arch the concave of a recently troubled expanse. In a fifth, the upturned eye shrunk instinctively from the fear- fully veracious portraiture of lurid clouds and flashing lightnings with which the whole canvas seemed to be impregnated. The innumerable banners won in a thousand sea-fights from the ..nemies of England hung waving in the breeze that coursed through the upper air of these haughty saloons; the flag of Suetonius Paulinus taken at Mona, floated here in unconscious con- tact with that which Saladin's Dromound struck to Cccur de Lion on the one hand, and the more OR, GEORGE IV. 35 richly blazoned ensign which De Winter yielded to Duncan on the other. Gigantic cartoons of the most startling discoveries and terrific en- gagements covered the upper walls: and ranged along the ground some hundreds of stern-eyed men-of-wars' men of every gradation of rank, armed to the teeth with spears, blunderbusses, boarding-pikes, hand-grenades, steam-guns, and Congreve rockets, prescribed the assurance of a power against which resistance must to the boldest group of individuals, have been entirely hopeless. Smithers passed on in silence, con- scious of innocence and resigned to fate : Caesar utterly unable to comprehend the events of the morning, followed him with a gaze of anxious stupor, yet without the smallest appearance of trembling. Cheltenham marched the last of the three. He was not one of those who carry their hearts upon their sleeves ; yet it could not be concealed that he felt the unpleasantness of his situation, at least, as painfully as either of the v 2 i36 WHITEHALL; strangers who preceded him. Yet he was not altogether unpractised in such scenes, and his mind reverted to occurrences in Bow-street, where he had borne a principal part, having by the mild and virtuous Birnie been, after an in- genious defence, committed to that gyratory mender of manners which revolved in the subur- ban shades of Brixton. The procession at length reached an inner court of Saracenic architecture, in the midst of which three cannons of the largest dimensions, attended by a suitable party of artillery men with matches ready lighted, announced the im- mediate vicinity of the conclave.* Commodore Parry, commanding the whole band to sound a solemn note of warning, advanced within the massive arcade, and knocking three times with the hilt of his sabre upon the iron gates of the * Marmalade's Antiquite"* Militaires, torn. 5. pp. 32, 87,9?, 104,233. OH, GEORGE IV. i$7 council chamber, reported in the accustomed formula of words, that he had performed his duty, and that the prisoners were in attendance. A brief, but anxious pause ensued ; and Sir George Naylor, in his heraldic scarf and tabard issuing from the portal, uttered, amidst the breathless silence of the expectant bystanders, the decisive words: — " O yes, O yes, O yes ! Be it known, that Donald, by the grace of God, Lord High Ad- miral of Great Britain, France and Ireland, herewithin present in council, commandeth the personal attendance forthwith of three men, names as yet unknown, now in the custody of his excellency's guard." He added in a more familiar tone, " Commo- dore Parry will search the prisoners, deprive them of their arms and papers, &c. and conduct them into the presence of the board between three files of picked grenadiers. 1 ' 38 WHITEHALL ; The Commodore signed imperatively to a subaltern officer, and he in his turn nodded signi- ficantly to a serjeant of colossal stature, who, halbert in hand, stept forward to the sound of a solitary bugle. The prisoners offered no resist- ance ; and the satellite of despotism began with a grin of savage exultation to ransack every part of their persons. Two penknives and Caesar's bamboo were all, we need scarcely observe, that could be discovered in the shape of arms ; but the addresses of the letters in the green bag, appeared to call up feelings of the liveliest de- scription in the breasts of the inspectors. Little or nothing was said audibly ; but a deep mutter- ing and glances of ardent suspicion were suffici- ently intelligible. After a momentary pause, Parry, gathering all the articles into the bag, moved once more towards the half open gate of entrance ; and the victims of oppression followed with downcast eyes, each individual guarded OR, GEORGE IV. 39 between two soldiers with drawn faulchions, while the bugle to which we alluded above, marked with its agitated and wailing notes every step that they progressed. 40 WHITEHALL ; CHAPTER IV Now's the day and now's the hour, See the front of battle lour. ISaAKAM. The first hurried glance which Smithers cast around the council-room, shewed him a numer- ous company of dignified persons, chiefly in naval uniforms, many of them wearing the in- signia of the Bath and Guelphic orders, seated around a large circular table covered with deep blue velvet, embroidered all over with anchors and naval crowns. The president, as has already been hinted, appeared in the noble garb of his clan at the upper end of the table ; a gorgeous canopy of silk tartan, with thistle plumes waved OR, GEORGE IV 41 over his chair of state, and an enormous two handed claymore half-drawn out of its crimson- satin scabbard lay immediately before him, and elose to the mace and fasces which formed more strictly speaking the proper ensigns of his authority. Apart a little way, at a separate table of smaller dimensions, sat the secretary of state for the naval department, in a richly furred gown of black velvet, and gold chain of SS. He wore that singularly shaped mitre of yellow corduroy decorated with bells, which was the strange emblem of his office, while a bunch of shamrocks at the button-hole of his inner vest, and the pale blue cordon of St. Patrick, announced, before he spoke a single word, that a native of " Green Erin" could still occupy this important office. After he spoke his coun- try needed no other announcement. The apart- ment, it may be observed, though of magnificent extent, was so framed and furnished as to pre- sent the complete likeness of a marine cabin. An 42 WHITEHALL ; orrery of gigantic size swung from the centre of the tent-like roof, the armour of renowned admi- rals of the olden times decorated the walls, and the grand banner of England hung in heavy folds at the farther extremity of a saloon. The scene was imposing, nor had the circumstances under which Smithers surveyed it any tendency to diminish its natural impression. The secretary received the green-bag, and produced the letters, which it was voted by acclamation should immediately be opened; and while he was doing this, the president waving one hand, while the other was busily occupied in relieving a titillating sensation in his nether extremity, addressed in a perfectly mild tone of voice the prisoners at the bar, " Weel, lads," said he; "the best gait for a' concerned wull e'en be, that ye make a clean breast o't, and tell us at ance wha ye are, whare ye came frae, and what's your buzzness in Lun- nun ?" OR, GEOltGE IV. *> " John Jeremy Smithers !" interrupts the secretary, who had just finished reading the first document, " which is the poet among you that answers to that ?" * : I do" — said our hero firmly, with a voice that echoed through the vaulted roof. " Nay, nay," interrupted the president, " the cheeld need na say ony thing that may meeli- tate against himsell gin he does na like.* Ye'll mind the case of my father, puir mon, and that body Trotter." " I understand your meaning, my lord," cries Smithers, " and I thank you for your compasionate consideration of an unfortunate stranger's case : but come weal, come woe, I scorn to retract the admission which has once proceeded from my lips. Let who will take refuge under the shelter of cold and barren forms, far be from me and mine the heart that * Vide Blackstone, Vol. II. p. 333. -14 Whitehall; could brook such degradation. Here I am, a free born, and an innocent man — let power look to its own proceedings — I rely solclv on the strength of that guardian so beauti- fully mentioned in the page of Dante — yes, my lords — " * Conscienza m' assicura La buona compagna chi l'uom francheggia Sotto l'usbergo dell' esser puro.' " " I dinna understand Gaelic, 1 ' said the pre- sident ; " I mind my father, puir mon — " But he did not proceed far : there was some- thing so noble in the air and attitude with which this short address was delivered, that an instinc- tive feeling of surprise and admiration seemed to circulate round the assembly as if touched by some instantaneous electricity of mind. In fact, a rising murmur of applause was only repressed by the president's knocking on the table with the mace. But this was but a momentary pause. OR, GEORGK IV. 4 The dark wheel of destiny was not to be so easily arrested in its onward course. " My lords," cries the secretary, " these docu- ments, you see, contain matter which must be examined into with closed doors : it is my jewty to suggist that the prisoners be withdrawn ; but ere this be done, let me ax whither this nagro baste is the Sazer mintioned in the peepers now before me ?" Smithers exchanged a glance with the African, and immediately said, " This is Caesar Clark- son, an emancipated citizen of Berbice, my ser- vant, and my friend." " Do you admit this, Sazer, my jolly old snow-ball ?" says the secretary of state. " Ay, ay, Massa," cries the poor but honour- able man, and a movement of satisfaction per- vaded the board. " To close all," says our hero, " this lad is my guide ; I have him from Holmes's, to shew me the way through London, and I don't as yet know his name." 4G WHITEHALL ; " Peter CheYnham, at your worship's ser- vice," says the Cicerone ; " you may go for to ax my character at Mr. Robins, he's our head waiter, please your lordships' honours. I only come out to let the gemman see the way to ould Macfarlane's, him as stays in the hellewated hapartments o' No. 7, Stone Buildings. No, no, cry your pardon, that there's the young gemman who's striving to be a bit of a lawyer : I means him as has that there queer ould brick house, with them two corcomdiles upon the pilas- ters; your honours must know the place, 'tis right opposite the Noll's Head, in Kensington. I'm a decent lad, please your worships, and can have the best o' characters from my three last places." " I presume," remarked a member hitherto silent, "■ that we have now heard enough.'" " Let the prisoners," (cries another,) " be kept in separate chambers while the council con- sider these papers." " And ironed," savs Warrender. Oil, GEOKGE IV. 47 " Yes, 1 ' said the secretary, " boulted, for fear they boult,'" and he laughed at his own pun. " Od ye're a droll chiel, ri quoth the chief, " but I see nae need for that." " Nor I — nor I — nor I," cry several lords, speaking together. " My motion is overruled," sighs War- render. " The responsibility rests not with me, damme." " Parry, my lad," exclaims the secretary, ¥ you have heard his excellency's commands, barring you're deaf." " I have, Sir," replies the officer; "and by the splendour of Frobisher, I shall obey them." " Come, prisoners, right about face — for- wards — march !" 48 WHITEHALL ; CHAPTER V. On through that gate mis-named, through which before Went Sidney, Raleigh, Hampden, Russell, More. Rogers. • Smithers, after being led through an appa- rently interminablemazeof labyrinthine passages, was left alone in a small apartment into which a single doubly-grated window, high up in the wall, scarcely admitted rays of light sufficient to mark the character of the furniture. By degrees, * Though this amiable and good-humoured man is now chiefly remembered by " Sam Rogers's Jest Bock," a work which appears to have been merely a jeu (Tesprit of his youth, yet those who are acquainted with our neglected literature, acknowledge him a beautiful and indeed elegant versifier. OR, GEORGE IV. 49 however, the eyes of the captive became in some measure accustomed to the surrounding gloom : and he perceived that, by placing a chair upon a table, he could reach the window. He accord- ingly did so ; and grasping the iron bars with his hand, obtained a glimpse of what was pass- ing in a narrow and damp looking court-yard, oval in shape, and surrounded with buildings of a singularly dismal appearance. In the door- way of one of these he observed a cook wench scouring a fish-kettle, and singing dolorously, " Di piacermi balza il cor," with a pathetic ex- pression that thrilled through the sensitive bosom of the incarcerated Smithers. Ere long, however, he was interrupted in his contemplations of the gloomy scene by a pungent sensation in the gluteus maximus ; and looking round, perceived that a squint-eyed guardsman was pricking him with his bayonet, as a signal to descend. To have argued with such a being, E 50 WHITEHALL J would have been not merely useless, but degrad- ing, and our hero complied. " By jing," said the soldier, " I thinks as how you must be deaf, for I am sure I hollored to you ten minutes before I lifted my piece ; but I hopes I have not hurted you bad." Smithers, disdaining to reply, asked simply, ''What's my fate?" " All's ready," answers the Briton ; " I hears as how you beez to have foin lodgings for nothing." " Where ?" cried Smithers, sternlv. " That there's no consarn of mine, Master," was the unfeeling rejoinder of the scarlet slave. " Walk on, Sir," he added ; and Smithers fol- lowing him without hesitation, they soon reached a low portal carved in the solid rock, when the soldier opening a postern with a key of massive structure, and snatching a lamp from the wall, informed our hero that he must prepare for a descent. OR, GEOKGE IV. 51 They picked their way accordingly down a long flight of steps, and treading a subterraneous arched passage of about a quarter of a mile in length, reached a vault of apparently gigantic dimensions, in which the air seemed to be con- siderably more elastic. Here Sinithers was in- stantly lifted by two or three rough hands, manacles were clasped around his wrists, and almost before he knew that he was off the ground, a dashing of oars met his ears, timbers groaned and bounded beneath the stroke, an enormous pair of folding doors expanded, and the wherry shot with the rapidity of thought into the open current of The Thames. The sudden transi- tion into a meridian blaze of light dazzled his eyes for a moment ; after which he perceived that he was placed between two armed sentinels, that Caesar, similarly bound and guarded, was confined at the opposite extremity of the boat, and that an officer in a magnificent naval uni- e 2 58 WHITEHALL; form, seated immediately behind himself, had the command of the detachments. Smithers continued to survey in silence the variegated scenery which this mighty stream presented, until they had reached a bridge which spans it about the centre of the metropolis. It was here that the gentleman behind him, tap- ping him on the shoulder, said, with an easy and even playful air, " I understand you have never been in town before — this is Waterloo Bridge: 1 " So called," he replied, " after the great victory of Wellington, I presume.' 1 " Even so, 11 rejoins the officer ; " do you not think it a magnificent structure ?" M I do, 11 says Smithers. " Pray what are the names of the other bridges, of which I begin to descry the outlines? 11 " Blackfriars and London, 11 was the answer. " Ha !" says Smithers, " methinks there OR, GEORGE IV. 5'3 ought to be a Trafalgar bridge too, since there are so many." " You are not the first that has made that remark," says the other, thrusting his fingers deep into the contents of his quid-box. " But now the prince is all for the land service, Forgetting Rodney, Nelson, Hood, and Jervis." " Is England," continues our hero, " so un- just — for ungenerous would be too weak a word — is England so unjust as to prefer the transi- tory comet of her military, to the unsetting sun of her naval greatness ?""' The sailor made no reply, but handed his box to the prisoner, who, of course, accepted the courtesy as it became him. This commenced a conversation, which increased in interest with every inch that the boat advanced ; but as it was chiefly conducted in the French language, for the purpose of veiling the sentiments and opinions it expressed, we shall not attempt to 54> WHITEHALL ; give it in detail. Suffice it to say, that our hero received from his new acquaintance many hints both as to the past, the present, and the future, which in the after course of events proved of eminent benefit to him. It was not, he now perceived, from the Carribean colonies alone that the proud supremacy of the English tyranny was menaced. A wider line of circumvallation had been drawn around the citadel of lawless power, and the question was not whether millions should arm themselves in the conflict, but what nervous hand should commence it. The anticipations to which these suggestions could scarcely fail to give birth, were, how- ever, chilled not a little when the wherry glided under the first dark shadows of the towers of Julius, London's lasting shame." A deep sepulchral gloom rested here on the sublambent tide, whose troubled aspect seemed to present an eternal memento of the tears and OK, GKORGE IV. 55 the blood that had so often dyed its bosom. " From the first Caesar to the fourth George, how many sceptre-wielding despots (said Smithers to himself,) have made these horrid vaults the receptacles of fettered virtue ! What patriots have languished amidst these damp and vapour- ous recesses ! Pure souls of heroic Hampden, and martyred Russell ! Noble shade of de- parted Despard ! Stern spectres of Thistlewood and Ings ! If yet ye deign to hover over the scenes sanctified by your unmerited sufferings, breathe gently as I approach the hallowed spot ! Sustain me, ye immortal influences ; be to me even as ye were to the great heart of Burdett when the voice of gore rose from reeking Man- chester, and one Englishman kindled at the echo I" It was in such a mood that Smithers felt him- self borne rapidly along towards tf that gate misnamed, 1 ' of which the memory will survive in the page of romantic Rogers, while poetry is 56 WHITEHALL ; the language of the heart. The warders, on re- ceiving through the grate the lettre de cachet, which the commander of the wherry presented to them, caused the gates to be flung back upon their dank hinges, and the boat penetrated at a single sweep within the first vault of the fortress. Our hero being commanded to step on shore, was formally resigned to the care of the lieu- tenant of the Tower ; and the crew who had conveyed him took their departure with looks of sympathy which could not be misunderstood. Their officer, in particular, exchanged a most tender adieu and a 'bacco-box with Smithers. The gates re-opened, the boat bounded once more into the current of Thames, and the face of society no doubt soon obliterated every trace of painful feeling on the one side. Alas ! it was very different on the other. The lieutenant of the Tower, a man of on the whole a most ruthless aspect, informed his prisoner that he must be contented with such accommo- OR, GEOKGE IV. 57 nn dations as might be afforded ; hinting in a word that nearly all the apartments assigned to state prisoners were at that crisis occupied. " By the holy," said he, " they're as thick here as rooks in the ould rookery of Kilmacthomas. Your name, my lad o' wax, I persavc is Smithereens." " Smithers," replied our hero, emphatically, and with an air of native dignity that would have repelled any one save an Hibernian — but the Major heeded it not. " Smithers, — a nate name enough to open a pew door with. I think I remember a name- sake of your's in Trinity, when that old buck of a father of mine, the Bishop, was commander-in- chief there. By the twist o' yer tongue you're likely to be a yankee doodle." " I am a man, Sir," was the answer. " I was born beneath the canopy of the western sky, in the land discovered by the ill-treated Colum- bus ! But the starspangled banner claims me not as a subject, though I hail as a patriot the 58 WHITEHALL ; glorious domain over which it floats in streaky triumph. I was born at Cuckold's-row, within half an hour's walk of Point Shoulder of Mut- ton in Jamaiky, and I hope I shall never dis- grace that romantic land, the very name of which kindles glowing emotions in my soul." " Cuckold's-row !" said the Major. " No doubt the place is well named, as your father, I suppose, honest man, had his own rasons for knowing. But you need not get into a huff, my friend Smithereens — Smithers, I mane— at my taking you for a yankee — for I know very dacent fellows yankees, who had as little of an Ould Bailey look about them as if their fathers had never got the wink from the Recorder. But I'm wasting time. So, I'll just report you, and you'll know the result in a crack. 1 ' Smithers bowed in submission; and the officer strode magnificently away, his long ironsheathed sword clattering sonorously along the hollow passages of the corridor. Our hero and Caesar OR, GEORGE IV. 59 were left standing in an open court-yard under the care of a small party of military. Ere long a swarthy corporal approached from the interior of the Castle, and bade the prisoners follow him. They did so, and were led through several wards, each more gloomy than the other, until, at length, they reached the great quadran- gle, an area of vast expanse, in which a scene of comparative loveliness and animation met their view. The superb menagerie of the kings of England had, from malignant political motives, for ages been kept in this the chief strong hold of their authority; and the huge and massive dens of the wild beasts, formed of blocks of gra- nite of the most gigantic size, and barred with enormous bolts of brass and iron, had attracted a crowd of gazing spectators, that nearly filled the nether end of the square. The bellowings of the furious tenants of those awful caverns re- echoed like thunder among the loftv walls and towers around them ; while keepers shouting, (JO Vt'HlTKIIALL ; children screaming, and females in hysterical agitation, doubled the confusion. Our prisoners, however, were not suffered to linger here. They were marched onwards, and halted only when they had reached the opposite extremity of the quadrangle, where also a considerable assemblage of onlookers had collected, but around a spec- tacle of a very different description. A troop of dismounted dragoons were practising the ex- ercise of the broad-sword beneath the inspection of a square-built, bandy-legged officer, whose very slovenly dress presented a strange and re- markable contrast to the stern precision of his air and demeanour. There was a patch, neither short nor narrow, on the left knee of his grey pantaloons; his boots had obviously been foxed ;* and a very shabby surtout or cassock of blue cloth exhibited no epaulettes w hatever to denote the regimental rank of the wearer. A button • Fnxcd Boots. See Vie priv^e des Anglais, torn. IV, p. 551. OR, GEOllGE IV. Gl having given way, the back flap of an unem- broidered cocked hat or chapcau-bras* dangled loose upon the collar, and the folds of a huge neckcloth, which had once probably been white, appeared arranged in a manner that would have caused the bosom of a Nicholt to thrill with in- dignation. But the compact and rigid massive- ness of the countenance — the bronzed cheeks, aquiline nose, and eyes of more than aquiline brilliancy — the picturesque simplicity of the short curling hair and whiskers, both of which were as white as wool — and the extraordinary quick- ness with which, while the left hand rested on the pummel of a beltless sabre, the right played a basket-handled rattan about the knuckles, elbows, and skins of the more awkward soldiery — these were circumstances which could not but arrest the close observation of so shrewd a spec- tator as Smithers. * Chapeau-bras. Ibid, torn. 1, pp.50, 371, 403. t Nt'chol of Jermyn St., the first neckclothier of the period. See Vie prive"e, torn. 1, p. 70. 62 WHITEHALL ; To this person, after a brief pause, the lieu- tenant of the Tower advanced, and, touching his cap with the forefinger of his right hand,* said some words in a tone not audible where our hero and his faithful negro were stationed. The officer addressed turned round on the instant and clapping a small pocket glass to his right eye, while he shut the left, surveyed the pri- soners with a singularly earnest glance of scru- tiny. This, however, was but for a moment ; lie dropt the glass and said something to the lieutenant ; but his tone also was that of a whis- perer, and the result of the deliberation or the command, whichever it might be, was all that came to the knowledge of Smithers. He and Caesar were marched into a wide saloon, the walls of which were bare stone, and the only window an enormous skylight. A simple bench of uncovered fir-plank was all the furniture of • See Antiques Militaires, torn. 3 ; also the Trim Papers, vol. 2. p. 55. 4to. edit. OK GF.OKGE IV. ()ti the dreary hall ; and here the lieutenant and his party having wished our exiles a good morning, the huge oaken door, thickly studded with cop- per-headed iron nails, was closed on those un- fortunates, with a clang that thrice reverberated throughout the wide vault above their heads. Smithers cast his eyes upwards at the last growl of the echo, and became sensible that a sudden change had overspread the face of nature. Hitherto, as has been intimated in the course of our narrative, the weather had been particularly fine, the blue serenity of a cloudless sky had lain in repose and brightness above the towers of London, and Thames had reflected the untroubled gorgeousness of a glowing sunshine from his placid bosom. But now a contrast not to be overlooked presented itself. As if called together by the momentary waving of some magician's rod, an army of clouds, large, broad, thick, lurid, inky, and tremendous, had gathered themselves over the fair face of the G4> WHITEHALL ; heavens. Noontide was dark ; the gaiety of the spheres appeared to be wrapt in gloom ; the skylight over the heads of our hero and his African having lost several panes, heavy drops of dark iron-gray-coloured rain began to descend upon the subjacent floor, which being composed of broad, smooth, white-washed flag-stones of the hardest quartz, every single globule left a deeply marked stain, not only where it smote, but, around that spot as from a centre, diffused first a sparkling, and then in a wider circle a spray-like influence. A solitary sparrow, who had been flitting gaily about the beams, now composed herself on one particular corner, and folded her wings in a pensive fashion. The wind meantime moaned above Smithers, and whistled beneath his feet from many a hitherto undetected cranny. Ask not the fate of Cheltenham ! His know- ledge of London rendered him an object of dread, and he died pierced by five mortal wounds in the OR, GEORGE IV. 65 gloomy subterraneous dungeons of the admiralty. None dared to inquire into his fate, and when his mangled corse, enveloped in a sack, was taken up at Deptford, whither it had been wafted by the tide, the spectators of the bloody sight merely shook their heads in terrified silence. ()G WHITEHALL ; CHAPTER VI. And if I do not may my hands rot off, And never brandish more revengeful steel Over the glittering helmet of my foe ! Simkspeare. Fierce wars and faithful loves shall moralize my song. Spense*. We gather that our prisoners remained to gether in this wide and waste saloon for the space of two hours, during all which time the storm continued to rage with undiminished violence. The floor, in short, was quite flooded underneath the ill-glazed aperture already alluded to, ere a sentinel entered, and desired Smithers, and Smithers alone, to follow him. OR, CF.ORGE IV. 67 Our hero, squeezing his good African's hand, obeyed ; and having passed along a narrow cor- ridor of considerable extent, arrived in a guard- room crowded with soldiery, some of whom were playing at drafts, others smoking tobacco, and a few uniting both of these laudable occupations. The sentinel who conducted Smithers led him past these various groups, and tapping at a small door covered with green baize, and adorned with brass-head nails, said, " Here we are." With this he laid his hand upon Smithers' arm, and opening the door shoved him into an airy, cheerful-looking apartment, furnished in a style of the greatest simplicity, a plain wooden table, and two cane-bottomed chairs, were all the moveables he could discover. The table was, however, a large one, and upon it, there lay open, or partly so, several maps of extensive dimensions, with pins stuck here and there in them ; to say nothing of a pewter pot with porter f 2 t)S WHITKHALL ; frothing above its rim, and a plate of the com- monest stone ware, or English porcelain, con- taining a slice of brown bread, a small lump of double Gloucester cheese, and half a dozen raw onions ; an ink-stand of horn and brass, with one of Brahma's* patent pens dipped in its lateral orifice ; various portfolios of black and red leather, and a despatch box covered with green morocco, at the centre of which a semi-circular out-bulging excrescence exhibited a key-hole of quaint and arabesque design, and over that an imperial crown in gilding, with the letters, C. T. L. in bold relievo. — Behind this table there extended zig-zag*wise a screen of six folds, about eight feet high, and garnished all over with paintings of the English masters, Hay don, Gour- • Brahma's pens. The Kentucky transactions (vol. 4.) contain a curious inquiry as to which of the novels of the Brambletye series were written with these pens. By the name they are evidently of an Indian origin. OK, GKORGE IV. 69 lay, Cruikshank and others. Here you might see the immortal Napoleon the First, set forth (O noble hostility) under the guise of a baker, with a shovelful of gingerbread kings and grand dukes, just drawn out of the oven, while Sheridan in pimpled pride stood by upon a shelf, as yet unbaked. There the martyred Caroline of Brunswick, painted in such colours as op- pression would fain daub over all its victims, appeared in the act of examining some special statues, to which a hideous caricature of the much misrepresented and heroically devoted Bergami was pointing her attention with a ring-girt finger. On one side the pencil of some unprincipled limner, (let us hope that the tra- dition which ascribes the enormity to a Lawrence speaks falsely) had dared to place before the eye of more than infantine credulity the philan- thropic Joseph Hume, dissecting with his own hand the pale and bloody corse of a brither of his own illustrious house ; while opposite to that 70 WHITEHALL ; a cartoon scarcely less revolting to every feeling of propriety, exhibited the philotheric Martin, the Wilberforce of the quadruped operatives, in the act of shooting several christian friends on account of some transactions connected with a contested election in the county of Gal way. The sentinel had retired, and finding the apartment quite untenanted, our hero had by degrees stept round the table, the better to scru- tinize these extraordinary performances. He had been doing so for some minutes with much intentness — for there are moments in which the merest trifles can withdraw the mind of man from the most appalling weight of misery, and such moments came as frequently perhaps to Smithers, as to any other fine spirit that ever dignified earth with sorrows patiently borne — when a faint, long-drawn sigh reached his ear, and he began to suspect, that after all there was some individual quite close to him on the other side of the canvas. The sound recurred ; a third OR, GEORGE IV. 71 time the sigh was breathed forth with yet deeper intonation. No, there could be no mistake about the matter, unquestionably there was some- body behind the screen. Nor in truth did the unknown long remain concealed. Smithers standing with his head half-turned round towards the left shoulder, saw- first a nose, and shortly after the remainder of the figure gradually develope itself, and step forwards towards the table. He recognized the officer who had been drilling the dragoons in the court of Lions ; and gently edging himself round within the indentation of the screen in which he had for some minutes been standing, so as to face the table, but still without leaving the zig-zag, awaited in silence the moment in which his fate was to be decided. The officer in the plain blue surtout, however, appeared to have totally forgotten the circum- stances of the case. In fact, it seemed as if he had 72 WHITEHALL ; not the slightest suspicion that Smithers was in the room. He ate some fragments of the bread and cheese before him, crunched an onion or two, and finally lifting the porter pot in his left hand, took a long, deep, and earnest draught of its con- tents. Replacing the lightened pewter on the board, he then retreated some yards, gazing all the while with a most melancholy fixity of eye, on a small statue, fabricated by an Italian artist, which our hero had not hitherto observed, but which in point of fact, stood conspicuous enough upon a high and projecting mantel-piece within a few feet of the table. It was upon this tiny piece of sculpture that the officer continued for some moments to rivet his resplendent eyes, until whether from physical straining or internal emo- tion, tears slow and solemn burst from them over his manly cheeks. The blood rushed into the noble countenance of Smithers, as the thought flashed upon his mind OK, GKOKGE IV. 73 that he had unconsciously been betrayed into the position of a spy. But it was too late ; to retreat was impossible, to remain was only torture. " Ha!" cried the unknown, dashing- the brine fiom his cheeks with a large and bony hand, which seemed to have grown hard and dark amidst the earthquake breath of an hundred battle fields — " Ha ! — is it come to this— to this — to this ? Aye, so it is ; even so ! hum ! ha!" After a pause, he thus continued — " Thou dwarfish mimicry of manhood, by what accursed charm hast thou left the board of thy peripatetic artist to thus unman me? Nay, keep not thy arms folded in that calm contempt upon thy plaster bosom ! Openly and boldly did I spur my good horse against thee, but I thought at least that duty blew the trumpet which impelled me to that fatal charge ; but never, O never, did I bare the secret knife, never did I brandish 74 WHITEHALL ; the jailer's key— frown not, thou pallid shade, confound me not with a Lowe !" In saying so, the officer laid his right hand upon his heart, and cried aloud, " Heaven hears me, Napoleon, Heaven attests my tale. I fought against thee, because I believed thee the eternal enemy of freedom and of man. If I was wrong, Heaven will even forgive the error, nor should the manes of a hero dwell upon it in inexpiable wrath. " I am innocent, Napoleon, I am innocent — let these tears be my witnesses" — and the stern soldier lifted up his voice and wept. He was still lost in this trance of agony, when a young and lovely female tript lightly into the room, and gliding between Smithers and the duke, without perceiving the presence of the former, laid her hand gently on the shoulder of the latter, and whispered softly but quite audibly, " Fie, fie, my lord : your grace forgets yourself. OR, GEORGE IV. 75 Are these paroxysms to be of eternal recur- rence ?" He turned half round, and wiping his red eyelids with the edge of his scarf, and finishing the contents of the pot in an agonizing gulp, said, with a faint attempt at a smile, " Forgive me this once, my darling, I had sad dreams yesternight. But 'tis all over now— yes, yes, Harriette, I am myself again — quite myself. Leave me, leave me, sweet maid ; I will attend thee on the instant in thy bower." The pale girl turned with a sorrowful wave of her hand from the suffering man, and her eye fell full upon the figure of Smithers. " Ha !" cried she — " treason, my lord duke — treason !' The unknown wheeled round impetuously, and unsheathing his sabre, said in a fierce tone, " Traitor ! thine hour is come ; be thy prayers brief!" 76 WHITEHALL; " Hold, hold, my good lord," interrupted the damsel — " let not the sword of a hero be stained with the blood of a caitiff'!** " Thou say'st aright," he replied, dropping his point ; " let him find a fate more worthy of his baseness. Who art thou ?*" he continued — " speak, wretched thing, what is thy name, and who hath suborned thee to play the eaves- dropper within this royal fortress?' 1 " My name," answered our hero, in a tone as calm as the other's was vehement, '" my name is John Jeremy Smithers, and no eavesdropper, nor the suborned instrument of any man's base- ness ; but an innocent stranger arrested, he knows not why, by the Lord High Admiral of Eng- land, and conducted, he knows not by whom, into this chamber, where, as he understood, the cause of his imprisonment was to be revealed to him by the keeper of this castle." " Ha !"" said the unknown, as if striving to recollect himself — " Smithers ! Smithers — of a on, george: iv. 77 surety methinks I have heard that name ere now — " " It is a name,''' proudly replied the youth — " which has been dignified by all the virtues of humanity. I inherit it from a patriot, a mar- tyr, a hero !" " Did your father serve in the Peninsula?" quoth the unknown. " Never, never " •'At Waterloo?" " My father never drew sword of flesh, nor mustered beneath the banner of carnage — the blood of a slaughtered saint cries aloud for ven- geance, and Heaven will hear it !" " A saint !" quoth the other — " a slaughtered saint ! Rash youth, see that thou sportest not with me — knowest thou in whose presence thou standest ?" " I do not," says Smithers. " Behold, then, Arthur of Wellington, con- stable of the Tower." 78 WHITEHALL; The first impulse of Smithers was to kneel ; but a moment's reflection chased that unworthy thought. — " My lord," cries he, " I respect the genius of a great captain, however I may protest against the cause in which it has ex- pended its energies ; and I am proud to know that my fate, whatever it is to be, depends upon no vulgar arbitrament." " Young man," replied the duke, sheathing his weapon, " there is that about thee which seems to merit better things ; but let me read the warrant." 1 ' And without delay he began to examine the contents of one of the boxes on the table, and after a little, unfolding a parchment scroll, read it through with attention and replace it where he had found it. " Sir," he resumed, " this case is a serious one; you are charged witli coming to England for the purpose of communicating with the Irish insurgents, on the part of the rebellious negroes of Berbice. The warrant says, that papers of OK, GEORGE IV. 79 the most suspicious tendency have been found in your keeping, and you are committed here until you can be acquitted or condemned in due course of English law." " So be it," says Smithers, " I am innocent, and I am prepared." " Meantime,"' continues the constable ; " no discretion is left with me : you must be confined in solitude, nor can either pen, ink, or paper be allowed you ; but as to all others, trust me, Sir, it will give me much satisfaction to consult your personal comfort. There is, however, one con- sideration which I must impose." " Name it, my lord," cries the victim. " Swear upon this blade," says Wellington, again baring his steel, " swear upon this blade, that thou wilt never, under any circumstances, reveal to mortal ear what thou hast heard in this chamber, while I believed myself to be in my privacy.'" " I swear," cries Smithers, solemnly pressing 80 H HTTEHALL ; his lips upon the sabre — " I swear to respect the sanctity of imagined solitude." " 'Tis enough," says the duke, laying the sword on the table ; " you shall have the best dungeon the castle may afford." In saying so, Wellington struck the bell, and a sentinel enter- ing upon the summons, said, " Here, Fitzroy, take this gentleman to the White Tower." " One word, my lord," said the victim of tyranny. " It is too late," said the duke. " One word, and no more," reiterated Smithers, in a tone of energy. " Be brief then — Fitzroy, stand at the door," said Wellington, " speak now what you desire/' " I'm devilish hungry," said the hero, with a voice of deep emotion ; " I have eaten nothing to speak of for the last four hours." " It shall be looked to," said the duke. " I shall order the purveyor of the fortress to send you a supply of whatever dainties you please." OR, GEORGE IV. 81 "Pork and molasses, then, my lord ; but ah ! I forget that the Atlantic rolls between me and that happy land where only that dish is to be procured. Some tripe," he said, after a pause, " and a few pounds of bullock's liver." " I grant it — but remember !" said the duke. The sentinel returned, Smithers exchanged a glance — (it was but one — yet what volumes did it not speak?) — with the lady — bowed to the constable, and followed the dragoon. END OF BOOK I. S l > WHITEHALL i BO () K II. CHAPTER I. Like people viewing at a distance Two persons thrown out of a casement, All we can do for your assistance Is to afford you our amazement. We see men thrown from a high story, And never think the sight's so odd. Whether the patient's Whig or Tory But take things as it pleases God. Captain Basil Halls Craty Tales. The traveller who, smitten with the natural ambition of visiting scenes rendered illustrious by the recollections of famous men of old, visits the solitary shores of Tiber, Seine, or Thames, and filled with proud though melancholy OK, GEOKGE IV. 83 thoughts, revolves over the glorious deeds of a Scipio, a Napoleon, or a Nugent, may in his wanderings through London have noticed that green lane which leads towards the presidential residence of the Protector of the Trinobantine Republic — the chief state of the great Anglican federation. That lane in the days of which we speak was called Bond-street*, and was the favourite resort of the conviviality which so much distinguished the days of King George the Fourth. A celebrated wine-house, over which swung, in all the splendour of gilding, a gorgeous likeness of the renowned Lord Clarendon, executed by the famous Sir Ben- jamin Haydon, w r as the haunt of many a wit of those times. The Boniface of these vaults, * So called from General Head Bond, discoverer of the Pampas, and Hetman of the Gauchos. The Rev. Dr. Toddy is wrong in deriving it from Bonds, which signified in these days stocks or bills of change. The place where that business was done, was in the Royal Exchange on Tower Hill. G o 84 WHITEHALL ; Jeronymo Jacquiero, was himself a pleasant, cheery, Falstaff-looking fellow, a fit specimen of the hosts of those times when England de- served the name of merry. Seated upon the broad stone bench outside his door, you never missed the goodly man, cheering his rotund cor- poration with a mug of stout, and a pipe of pig- tail. Near him was seen the jolly form of Sam Rogers, ever ready with his joke ; and still in- separable here, Lords Alvanley and Aldjo join- ing in the jovial song, chased away the dulness of London fogs, by potations of London porter. The goodness of this last article in the house procured it the custom of the bishops, and the presence of so many reverend persons seated at Jeronymo 1 s door, really made the stone slab above mentioned (as Rogers delighted to say) " an Episcopal bench. 1 ' On the day when the events which have oc- cupied the preceding book took place, Jeronymo was inside his tap, when Sam Hodges came in. OK, G±.OllOE IV. 85 This singular and eccentric man was never seen by strangers but with astonishment. Nature, which made him by profession a punster, seemed to have intended his very person for a sort of joke. He was about four feet high, and his head was at least a quarter of that size. It hung heavily to one side, and his countenance, of an unearthly paleness, drooped like an over- grown turnip hanging upon a pole. His under- jaw projected considerably, and gave him the appearance of a perpetual grin. His lack lustre eye shot its leaden beams from under shaggy eye-brows, and his locks, untamed by brush or comb, hung in grisly knots over his wrinkled brosv. Lord Byron, with that disregard for decorum of language, which so conspicuously marked the conversations of that celebrated poet,* used, rather blasphemously, to call him a caricature of a crucifixion. Strange beino- ! • See Conversations of Lord Bjion. by Captain Pimp, p. 337, 349,362, 411, &c. 86 WHITEHALL ", Yet, under that odd and repulsive appearance, he possessed wit unbounded, jocularity un- ceasing, deliberate courage, magnanimous phi- lanthropy. Sage in council, jocose at table, valiant in action, luxurious in ease, he was the idol of London. v Wherever he went, joy brightened every countenance, and the very phrase, " it is a saying of Sam's," became pro- verbial to express the highest degree of wit. In this particular, indeed he was unequalled : none in fact approached him, except the illustrious Hallam, who, we are informed by some of the principal critical works* of the age, wrote a • Morning Advertiser, vol. 48, folio 201. Pierce Egan's Life in London, vol 13, fol. 97. Westminster Review, vol. 3, p. 9. Rambler's Magazine, vol.6, p. 118. We may remark that Archdeacon Ignares blunderingly calls this gentleman Balaam, which however is not his name, but the title generally applitd to his books. He is the same gentleman mentionfd by Lord Byron in Engli h Bards and Scotch Reviewers, as — " Clissic Hallam, much renowned for Greek ;" OR, GEORGE IV. 87 jocular treatise on the middle ages, which has not come down to posterity, but which in his own generation appears to have excited an universal laugh whenever it was mentioned. " What, ho ! dish my wig ! my bully-rock, my old lad of the castle, 11 said the host, " is this you ? — So, my old mouser, you're here at last. 1 ' " As sure as death," said Sam, with a side- long inclination of his head to the right, " What will you drink, my cock-of-wax, my Trojan, true as ever whistled. Ale, wine, beer, brandy, rum, rack, grog, punch, flip, puri, lambswool, half and half, mum, brown-stout, perry or cider. Speak, you Anthropophaginian — speak, I say, dish my wig." " I am for some of your old rum,' 1 said Sam. " You know I am of the Ecole Rum-antique. 1 ' lie having very much distinguished himself hy a severe cutling-up of the Greek of Pindar, which obtained him a great deal of glory. 88 WHITEHALL ? Jeronymo filled him a bumper, which soon disappeared from the face of the earth. " Supernaculum, 1 ' said Sam. " I dub thee, Jeronymo, Magister Morum." M Ay," said the host, " old chanticleer of the roost, as much more rum as you like. But what's the news?'' Sam was preparing to answer this, but the entrance of a soldier of the Grenadier Guards prevented the necessity. He was a tall man, standing six feet four inches, with a countenance indicative of determination, if not of ferocity. A circular mark, in which the blue colour had begun to yield to the yellow, round his left eye, testified that he had not long before been engaged in personal rencontre ; while the pustulary ey crescences that disfigured his aquiline nose, shewed that he was not less accustomed to the combats of Bacchus than those of Mars. He wore a fur tiara, of enormous dimensions and a conical figure. A pewter plate, indented witli on, GEOKGE IV. 89 the royal arms of England — gules sable, on a lion passant, guarded by an unicorn wavy, on a fess double of or argent, with a crest sinople of the third quarter proper, and inscribed with the names of several victories, won or claimed by the household troops of England, proved him to be a member of the Horse Guards. A red doublet, with a blue cuff, cape, and lappelles, was buttoned with mother-of-pearl buttons reaching from his waist to his chin, where they were met by a black leather stock, garnished and fastened by a brass clasp, on which was inscribed, Dieu et mon Droit, the well known war-cry of the English nation. White kerseymere trowsers, buttoned at the knee, and a pair of D. D. boots — as they were called, from the circumstance of their having been invented by a Duke of Darling- ton — completed his dress. His arms were a ponderous cut-and-thrust sword, with a handle imitating a lion's head, sheathed in an iron scabbard, that clanked as he moved along. Over 90 WHITEHALL ; his shoulder was slung a carbine, or short gun, which military law required to be always primed, loaded, and cocked. A pair of horse pistols Mere stuck in his leathern belt, and in his hand he bore a large spontoon, or pike. Such was the dress of the *Hanoverian Horse Guards of England at that period ; and such, even in se- condary occasions, their formidable armour ; for the absence of the hauberk, (or morion) and of the ponderous target of bull's-hide and ormolu, • S:e Cobbett, vol. 317. p. 1248 ; ibid, p. 716. (note) &c. &c. Consult also Sir Francis Burnett's Ode to Earl Canning, stanza 37. Nor pass, dear friend, the dark array, Beneath their mercenary sway The blood of England flows, Base instruments of despot's ire, That trample in insanguincd mire Britannia's virgin rose. Their hands the iron fetters forge, By whose fell means the tyrant George Keeps freemen's spirit dumb ; What time from whiskered Gottinyen (Immortal thanks to Canning's pen !) To London town they come — &c. kc. OR, GEORGE IV. Ql showed that the gigantic Hussar was not at present upon actual duty. " Tousand teefel i" vociferated the soldier, " give me ein glass of shnaps. Ich bin as dry as " " As Dudley's last speech in the Lords," said Sam, interrupting him. " Here, sourcrout of Almain," said Jeronymo, " here my old jackboot of Germany, put that into thy gob, with a murrain to thee, thou prime cock of the mall." Fritz Esterhazy (for this was the German's name) threw a sequin upon the board, and re- ceiving in change two roubles, a toomaun, five piastres, a bob and a tizzy, which he imme- diately deposited in his left holster, drank off the gin with a firm though tranquil air. lie- placing the vase out of which he drank upon the table, he sighed heavily. No wonder that he did so: he had just come from the Tower, where he had been attending the sanguinary duties of the guillotine, which had that morning dropt on 9~ WHITEHALL ; the venerable neck of Jeremy Bentham, by the fierce orders of the stern Sturges Bourne. " It is evident," said Sam, " that this is a Grenadier of sighs." " Donner and blitzen," said Esterhazy, " what, for a schelm, is dis ere ?" " A Paphlagonian Troubadour," said Jero- nymo, " hero of Hanover, if ever such was in Byzantium of Thessaly, an old batterer in the wars of Troy. Ay — by the belly of Saint Bene- dict, a Christian of the true church, if any ever emptied a pot — a man of action, bully rock, a lad of the game." " Hold there, old Greek of the Spiggott," said the poet, turning a quid in his jaw — " a truce to thy (piips and thy cranks, with a ronnion to thee. Sir," he addressed the soldier, " my name by baptism is Samuel, by contraction Sam." " Hark ye," says Jcronymo, lifting himself on tip-toe to reach the soldier's ear, '• did you never read in the bible of that Samuel, com- OR, GEOUGE IV. 93 mander in chief of the people of Israel, that the old badger of a witch of Kndor, who never shaved but once in three weeks, raised by art of magic and hocus-pocus jugglery out of his wooden surtout, to frighten the Queen of Sheba?'' A deadly paleness overspread the manly countenance of the bombardier. His knees shook, and his under jaw dropped ; but soon resuming his wonted courage, he laid his hand upon his matchlock, and addressed the punster in these words : " Ihr Engelen von himmel gnade uns bey- standen ! Bist du ein heiliger gheist oder ein feind von dcm abgrund ? Sprechen sie, sagich im Christus name — Sprechen sie du unendlichste gestalt ! What is what brings you from the dead ? Are there no Bow-street officers in Lon- don Stadt, to hinder dead mens from walking about the strassen ?" " O, powers of pewter," quoth Jeronymo. 1)4 WHITEHALL ; " What a gibberish ! I never yet could make out the reason why those foreigners can't speak English. I know I spoke it at once without any teaching — dish my wig, but they must be damned stupid sons of sea-horses," and he emptied his capacious pot with a smile of satis- faction. " Truce," said Sam, " to this nonsense. Here, bully rock, a half-crown bowl — I am a loyal subject, and like to keep always under the crown — some clean pipes and no prate." " Amen T responded the Hanoverian, smooth- ing his grisly beard ; and drawing out an enor- mous tobacco-box from his capote, he presented it to the poet. The black-jack was soon spiced, and the trio sat down to partake of its fragrant contents at one of the oaken tables that filled the immense area of the tea-garden. Enveloped in the smoke of their pipes, the three friends, for such we must now call them, contemplated on, GEORGE IV. 95 through the leafy foliage of the vernal boughs, the insect tribes of men, moving with noisy step and laughing aspect, along the glittering boule- vard below them. " A song, Sam, my sweet singer of Israel, 1 ' said Jeronymo, after a pause — " lift thy chin out of thy winding-sheet, and give us a stave." " I should be sorrv to think I was a butt," was the answer. " Sappermcnt, I am sure thee has ribs enow," said Esterhazv, rubbing his brawny hand down the attenuated form of the poet, who composing his features into their usual good-humoured smile, and helping himself to a bumper, which he drank off with a smack that was heard as far as Crockford's, commenced the celebrated ditty of the saintly Montgomery — ** There was an old woman behind the door, " Her husband was sitting upon the floor," &c. of which he had just completed the third stanza 90 WHITEHALL ; when he was interrupted by the agonized voice of a female. She was singing — " Where is my love that came over the sea, " Smelillu— Smelillu, whack foil de roll, " A fine strapping fellow of six foot and three, " Sing the green willow shall be my girlonde." "What maiden is this?" said Jeronymo, starting up. But before he had gone a pace from the table she had burst into the garden. Her height rose to the majestic, yet every motion, even deranged as she was, was redolent of elasticity and grace. Her complexion was of that clear and radiant tint, which the pencil of Titian has sometimes ap- proached. Her eyes, large and lustrous, gleamed with a maniac splendour, which however could not entirely extinguish the intense loveliness of their natural expression. Her lofty brow, white and cold as marble, was partly shaded by luxuriant dishevelled tresses, darker, sleeker, and glossier than the plumage of the new-born raven. Flow- OR, GEORGE IV. 97 ing garments of Cyprus and black-satin, negli- gently thrown on, betrayed more of the symme- trical loveliness of her form than was perhaps consistent with the prudish notions of that highly artificial period. Wild flowers, such as dahlias, rhododendrons, camella-japonicas, sola- num-tuberosums, quimolias, dandelions, gowans, and emperors of morocco, which the unfortunate damsel had gathered in her progress through the blooming parterres of Hatton-garden, were arranged fantastically among her locks. She rushed forward, and twining her long and deli- cate fingers among the venerable elf locks of the songster, chaunted, in a high and clear tone — " Bloody old fellow, come from the dead, Lillibullero, Bullen a la: "Where has my lovely Creole fled? Lero, lero, Lillibullero, lero, lero, Bullen a la !" " Something has turned her head," said Jero- nimo. " I wish she would take her hand off of H 98 WHITEHALL \ mine," replied the indefatigable bard — " but" — starting up, as he got a clearer view of her features, he exclaimed in a melancholy tone, " Can it be ? Is it that peerless girl— is it Lucy Hawkins — the fair, the angelic Lucy — Oh yes, 1 ' he added, with a deep-drawn sigh, " it is indeed luce clarius. , ' > " I thought, just now," said Jeronimo, "you said her name was Hawkins. Poor girl !" Her sad strain recommenced — " O, if I were a little bird to build upon his breast, ** Or if I were a nightingale to sing my love to rest, " To gaze upon his lovely eyes all my reward should be, " For 1 love my love, because I know my love loves me." Tears burst from the iron eyes of Esterhazy, v. ho, exclaiming, " O mein Gott, was fur ein htibsche miidchen," ladled out the last relics of the bowl, and presenting the goblet to the fair unfortunate, said, " Trink, trink, meinherz, das make the bauch warmer, trinken sie immer fort im Gottes name." or, &eorge iv. 99 " Sie sind sehr htiflich, mein heir," replied Lucy, in the purest Saxon accent, and accepted the offered beverage, which she had no sooner drained than her whole countenance, neck and bosom were visibly suffused with a purpureate glow ; and springing with the grace of a Gazelle several yards to the right, she snapped her fin- gers towards the astonished Hodges, and sung : " Fy, let us a' to the wedding, " For there'll be lilting there, " For Jock'll be married to Maggie, " The lass with the gowden hair.' 1 Suddenly reverting to the melancholy ex- pression, she screamed rather than sung : — " O saw you my father, " Or saw you my mother, " Or saw ye my true love John ?'' " Not I, by gum, Ma'am," ejaculated Jero- nimo. " I don't think as how I ever seed the young man since we turned him off last Lammas- h 2 100 WHITEHALL; tide — that is, you mean John, the hosier, fair pearl of Pomerania." " John the ostler, base caitiff, slave ! Unhand me, miscreant. I speak of Smithers — O — O — Smithers — Smithers — Smithers — Smith " And she fainted. OH, GEORGE IV. 10 CHAPTER II. The first, the very first, oli ! none Can icel again as they have done In love, in war, in pride, — in all The planets ! LL. D. W E return to our hero. It was night. The exhausted spirits of the captive were at last folded in the mantle of Nature's repose. The straw pallet, the slimy floor, the lizard-stained dank walls and roof, the narrow oriel high up amidst the entablatures of the dungeon, through which alone either sun or star could send one gleam of light to the eye of Smithers — the heavy chain, the grinding manacle, the filthy pewter pan, with its filthier 102 Whitehall ; water — the refuse of the Dolphin* — the greasy little plate of Worcester-delft ware, with the crust which indignation had disdained to masticate — (for though the duke had, with perfect good faith, ordered the delicate viands of bullock's liver and tripe, as he had promised, they had been intercepted by the ferocious Irish major, who had devoured them with unrelenting jaws, regardless of the wants of the captive) — prison- house and its accompaniments, all were alike forgotten. His dreams were deep, but fantastic. Now the airy power transported him to the mystery of some far transatlantic wilderness, where, a young hunter, bounding from rock to rock beneatli the gloom of antediluvian mahogany, he tracked to his lair the infuriated tiger ; or, a bold angler of the primeval stream, he hooked • Dolphin, i. e. The poisonous water of the Dolphin River, then used in London — the same which was supposed 1o produce the terrible pestilence of 1830. OR, GEORGE IV. 103 some giant crocodile of the wave, and rode the writhing monster to the bay which his gore was to saturate with the crimson draught of death. The visions of maturer years succeeded, or mingled themselves with these infantile forms. Lonely and wild was the thyme bush beside the gushing fountain of the snow-crested Cordillera, where the voluptuous breath of noon played on his cheek : while close to him, upon the perfumed herbage, lay and panted the angel breast of Lucy Hawkins. " Heaven of Heavens," he muttered audibly, " do I hold thee in my arms ? Is this truth, or am I deceived ? O sweet maiden ! confess that this is no delusion — confess, confess, angel, darling, my love,— love — love — " He started suddenly from the embrace of slumber, andraisinghimself on his noisomecouch, perceived a fair, mild face, mournfully bent over him. The lady held a lamp in her left hand, while the fingers of the right held together on her bosom 104: WHITEHALL; the up gathered foldings of a resplendent drapery. A tear stood in either eye — her lip was pale, and trembling — Smithcrs gazed in utter stupor on the heavenly vision. " Azrael I" he said at last, " I know thee ! Strike, angel of repose ! O, Azrael, never did thy icy dart transfix a more yielding bosom ! Spirit of the tomb, I am ready."" " So you really take me for Azrael, the angel of death ?" said the fair one, smiling on the prostrate youth — " upon my word, Mr. Smithers, I thought you would not have forgotten me quite so soon, mon ami — but who were you dreaming of? — Come, tell me frankly — elites mob, mon chcr." " Never,' 1 answered our hero. " Prepare for the icy dart, then, 1 ' said his visitant — and she dropped part of her mantle, and tapped his forehead lightly with an ivory fan, which its folds had previously concealed. OK, GEORGE IV. 105 " I am ready," said Smithers, gaily. — " To be serious, Madam, will you have the goodness to state the purpose of this very unexpected con- descension ! j11 u In one word, Smithers," replied the lovely creature, " from the moment I saw you in the Lord Constable's chamber I felt a deep interest in your fate. It is in my power to break these fetters — arise, and be a freeman." " What !" cries Smithers — " what do I hear ? — / escape, / creep like a caitiff out of the bonds of tyranny — / leave it to be said, now and here- after, that I stooped to avoid the penalties of wrong, by profiting by the compassion of a woman ! You do not know me, fair stranger !"" " 'Tis well - " — she answered' — " I knew it would be so — I made the offer but in sportive- ness — But come, I have a real proposal, and I hope to that you will readily assent." " Speak," was the laconic reply. " Hear'st thou not," she proceeded, " this rush of chariots, this trampling of steeds, this 10G WHITEHALL ; tempest of brawling obj urgations among coach- men and cads, and the crowded menials of pomp ? — See'st thou not, even here, the red reflection of a thousand flambeaux ? Does not the distant violin send one note to thy pillow ?'' " Lady, my senses, like my principles, are still mine own. 1 ' " Then rise and follow me. This night, the Lord Constable has summoned all that is noble, and wealthy, and gay, and potent in the land to the wassail. I have brought a mask and a domino — arise, and array thee. It shall be mine to thread for thee the mysterious corridors of the fortress — it shall be mine to place thee in the centre of the magnificent scene — to point out to thee the rulers of England, on whom thy fate must in the issue depend. It may be of considerable advantage to your case, that you possess a clear knowledge of the features and motives of your future judges." Smithers made no answer, but to extend his ponderously chained arm from the straw of his lair. OR, GEOltGK IV. 107 " Here," said the lady, " I have provided for all that. Take this tiny key. Apply it to the mid link of each fetter, and they will all con- fess its mastery. This small portmanteau, which I placed at your feet ere you awoke, contains every thing necessary for your disguise — arise, and obey." A blush mantled over the hitherto pale coun- tenance of the youth. The lady perceived and appreciated his feeling ; and silently turned her back towards him until he had completed his toilette. This being at last accomplished, she took up the lamp, opened the door of the cell, and glided away before him into the yawning blackness of the vaulted gallery of the donjon keep. Smithers, wrapped in his novel weeds, stepped lightly after the maid. She seemed well acquainted with every wind- ing angle of the devious way. " You must be cautious here," said she, just before they entered a vault, from the roof of which a lamp swung dangling, fastened to an iron ring — " for that 108 WHITEHALL ; spiral opening at the top, which seems intended merely to carry off the smoke of the argand, really leads up to the very ear of mon general, and he is watchful, comme quatre. But I suppose he is too busy dandifying himself just now. However, caution is the word. Take off your shoes as I do." So saying, she stooped down to unloose her sandals, in the course of which operation she displayed a beautifully turned pair of ancles. Looking archly in his face, while the light from above, streaming down her animated coun- tenance, gave her a most bewitching appearance, she seemed to call his attention to her pretty legs. But it was in vain. The image of Lucy, as before, was present to the eyes of Smithers, and he saw not what she did. Taking off' his mocassins, he followed her through the trea- cherous vault. " I appreciate this favour," he thought, for his mind was too delicate to utter it ; " but if she expect my love, she is deceived. I wonder who OH, GEORGE IV. 109 she is ; or by what means she has obtained such power over the stern mind of the Lord Higli Constable." " We may talk now,'' said she ; " this portal leads to my chamber. Stoop, for the passage is not of the highest. But what are you so glum about ? A penny for your thoughts, as the Marchioness says." He smiled, and replied, " I was thinking then of you." " You flatter, you coaxing rogue. Well, you Mulattoes are irresistible. But what were you thinking about me, if the question is fair ?" " The object of it, beautiful maid," said Smithers, bowing with a native grace, that went to the heart of the incognita, " is fair. I was wishing that I knew who you were." " O, pish |" said she, colouring slightly, for she expected a different answer. " I thought every one knew me. I am La Belle Harriette. 110 WHITEHALL CHAPTER III. Silver lamps, like moonlight, fell O'er mirrors and the tapestried swell Of gold and purple : — on they went Through rooms each more magnificent. Lai>y Morgan. They soon entered her bed-chamber, where every thing was disposed with all the elegance of an Anastasius Hope, or a France and Banting. From a hundred perfumed vases, streamed odours brought from distant India, groaning at that time under the iron yoke of a Malcolm,* and his faith- less associate, the tyrannical ChundooLoll. Silks * The celebrated author of the Sketches of Persia, Baron Munchausen, and other entertaining romances. My Lord Canning afterwards gave him the high title of Bahader Jaw, of which he was justly proud, being conscious he had well earned it. OH, GEOEGE IV. Ill of China, shone upon tables of teak, cut in the subjugated provinces of Arracan. A gorgeous mirror, framed in silver, dug from the mine of San Pedro Nolasco, in the snowy Andes, by the toil of the unfortunate Apire, enlarged, doubled, and blended the glowing tints of purple and of gold which shone on every side. A magnificent chiffonniere or bookcase, of solid marble, the product of Paros, just emancipated by the illus- trious Stanhope, contained, in splendid bindings, executed by the hands of Absolute John Murray, the great literary productions of the age. Here the eye of the student was charmed by the tragedies of Lord John Russell and Mr. T. C. Grattan, " teachers best of moral wisdom ;"* the comedies of a Moncrieff stood in delightful company with those of a Parry, or a Davidge : whilst, the Epic poems of a Penny, well worth his name, were next the moral muse of a Gompertz. The novels of a Lathom, the historiettes of a Sullivan, the critical labours of 112 WHITEHALL ; a Praed, decorated the room, and threw over it an air of gay hilarity, which, in the unaffected language of the time, was truly refreshing. Here were to be seen the Memoirs of Lady Caroline, written by herself — here Lord Nugent's political treatises — here the general had placed the military essays of Sir Robert Wilson. In fact, almost all the great and master minds of Eng- land had deposited their works in this beautiful boudoir. " Don't stand gazing, my dear Smithers," said the lady, " I hear the music of the masque- rade. Put on this domino* — you had better not assume any character, lest your voice should betray you. And wear this mask 1 '' — putting over his head a grotesque representation of the face of a satyr, with a very conspicuous pair of horns. * Domino. A white habit, studded with black spots, so called from its resemblance to the counters used in the game of the same title. OR, GEORGE IV. 113 " Is not this," said Smithers, " rather a strange mask?" " No, pas du tout, moil ami. I can assure you that several of our nobility wear one of the kind. But depechez vous, depechez" , While this was saying, she had put on a sylph-like dress of *leno muslin, sprigged with blue stars representing a Zodiac, and covering her face with a mask of Diana, she again led the way. He followed, and they passed in silence through a darkened corridor, she informing him in a whisper, that she feared to bring him by the usual way. They groped along in the dark for three or four minutes, until an unexpected turn brought them immediately into the great saloon of Apsley House, which in those days formed the eastern quadrangle of the Tower. The transit from perfect darkness to light almost rivalling day was electric, and Smithers * See Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary for this word. Also, Vie Privet, Vol. iv. p. 71 G. 1 14< WHITEHALL ; started back. A whisper from his guide, " Be firm, your life and mine depend upon your caution," brought him back to his senses ; and he soon gazed steadily on the wondrous scene. It was wondrous. All that was great and gay of London was there. Brilliant dukes, shining with stars, and glittering with garters, — valiant warriors and rich bankers honoured by innumerable orders, — haughty and high-born beauties, — resistless wits, — luxurious dandies, — weighty dowagers, — heralds and knights, — sewers and seneschals filled the hall. Wines of the most delicious description, sent from the Cape of Good Hope, or purchased from the cele- brated Wright — gin from the great vineyard of Hodges, or the celebrated Thompson and Fea- ron, and porter brewed by the immortal Whit- bread, flowed in abundance. On every one of the hundred ivory tables spread with luxurious cates, lights of every curious variety, from tal- OR, GEORGE IV. 115 low to gas, diffused a tender perfume over the room which they illuminated by their splendour. Every thing was magnificent, in short ; yet it was easy to see by the agitated air of many of the party, that they despaired of the common- wealth. The clarion sound, wafted ever and anon from the left bank of the Thames, fell sadly upon the ear, for it reminded them of the near vicinity of the Irish army which had just conquered Rotherhithe under the illustrious Sheelanagig, after an obstinate resistance of its devoted governor, Sir Ruffian Donkey. But the Duke on this occasion, as on a former one, deter- mined to hide anxiety by the display of mirth. London was, indeed, in a strange situation at that period. It was in a manner besieged, and half of its population was discontented. The grievances of the subject were enormous. The massacre of Manchester had not been inquired into, in spite of the numerous denunciations of the virtuous Hunt. Arrest on mesne process i 2 lib' WHITEHALL; was allowed, and the manner of collecting money by briefs in churches was truly awful. The land- lords were so unreasonable as to expect rent for their lands, and the fundholders secured their quarterly dividends with a ruthless avidity. Fourteen extra clerks were employed in the Home Office, though the disinterested Hume — the friend of Greece— pointed out the waste of i?79. 14s. 9.d. arising from that circumstance, In the House of Commons the cry of the people was not heard — even Wood was contemptuously coughed down. As for the peers, they had adopted the fatal measure known by the name of Sixty-six Shillings a Quarter, and dismissed from their bar the ingenious Wakefield to the fortress of Newgate. And yet with all these eorroding abominations, the face of things was gay. Every body admitted that the nation Mas ruined; and yet if you visited their palace-like theatres, to see the tragedies of Shakspeare or Farley, to weep with Liston, or laugh at Wal- OK, GEORGE 1 V. 1 IT Jack, they were full. The Opera was crowded — private parties were given in all quarters. Tattersall's was crammed — Crockford , s crowded. In fact, every place where money was to be spent, displayed crowds of people, who all could testify to the melancholy fact that there was no money in the country. But we wander from our tale. Smithers became interested in the passing con- versation. We shall just give a few scraps of it, to shew how they conversed in the highest society in England. If any one should be incre- dulous as to the correctness of the transcript — if any doubt should exist, that colloquy so refined was practicable even in the highest circles — let them read the delicious novels of Almacks and High Life, where the contemporary manners are depicted with so singular a fidelity. They will be found such as I have attempted to paint them. " Nay, nay, nay indeed, my very good lord, 118 WHITEHALL; the thing that is impossible can't be, and never, never, never comes to pass."" " Pardie, you're a provoking little slut — that you are."" " Bona verba, bona verba precor ; upon my word, you gentlemen of the Foreign Office give yourselves pretty airs." " You shall dance, you devil.' 1 " Oh, you coaxing humbug, you will always have your own way — La, Fitztruckle ! are you not ashamed of yourself? don't pinch my arm quite blue — Gad-a-mercy, boy V " By jingo, you black-eyed filly, if you don't step out better, the quadrillo will be filled up ! Dang me, 'tis even as I anticipated. That doodle, the Marquiss of Hungryville, has just strutted into the only open place with his eter- nal brokeress. Confusion confound the pair of filthy sinners !" " Choke the beasts ! well, I really am disap- OR, GEORGE IV 119 pointed. Let's go in to the country-dance saloon — come along, there's an active fellow : I'm determined to have my hop— I'faith the calf of my leg is all of a quiveration already. 1 ' The parties were both masked; but Harriette whispered to Smithers, who had scarcely as yet recovered from the surprise excited by the first coup-doeil of the gorgeous assembly—" There they go !— that's an old story ! Well, I thought Lord Francis would have been sick of the dowdy ere the second season commenced." " Honorable depravity !" mentally ejaculated our hero. " Alas ! alas ! does lawless love thus dare to bravado it, even in the midst of the con- gregation ?" " Listen to this here couple thafs a coming," whispered his fair guide; "I'll warrant you they're looking out for some quiet corner. Ay, ay, that will do." The two new masks had seated themselves on the divan immediately behind my hero; some L20 WHITEHALL; part of their colloquy could not. but be over- heard, even by the most unwilling bye-stander. The form and attitude of the female mask, were magnificent ; her hand was ungloved ; the slim, snowy fingers, were laden with a blaze of dia- monds, beryls, agates, and horn blends. Every thing in her air and bearing spake lofty birth and wealth unlimited. Yet she leaned, with a sort of languid and dejected grace, on the arm of one whose gestures and voice breathed a sullen austerity, but little compatible with the atmosphere around him, and the lady (appa- rently) of his love. " Rouse thee ! rouse thee !" said the fair, giving him a smart poke with her forefinger just in the centre vertebra of the back bone. " What in Heaven's name, is it that ails thee ?"'' "• Oh ! Oh ! Oh !" was the responded sigh, " "'tis all up — the game's done — we're now out, depend upon it. I know we'll never be able to manage now !" OB, GEORGE IV. 121 " Pooh ! pooh ! my dear lord — what nonsense vou will talk ! And after all, am not la Whig ? Must you Tories always be in f Fie, fie, you darling!" " You a Whig! you be hanged!" — was the fierce rejoinder. " Civil !" resumed the beauty—" Well, is there really no hope of his recovery ?" u By Jupiter ! his chance is not worth a hair of his ugly old beard — dang it, what business have people in that situation to play such tricks ?" " Come, mio crtro," whispered the lady, Ci you forget yourself — uno pulsat pede — you remember the rest of it— the poor man could not help his misfortune. Will be prime ?" she added. " I don't believe it. He ought to try — but he's deucedly in earnest about the humbug :— that's the truth on't, my love; the man's a spoon. There's nobody else cares a fig for it" 1 ]0O WHITEHALL; " Don't you ?"— " Not this," he answered, squirting a quid of pig-tail on the spangled floor of the saloon— " but I'll tell you what I do care about, and that is" Here, unfortunately, a haut-boy struck up in the gallery, immediately above the speaker, and the rest of his speech was lost to our hero — after a pause, he caught the following fragment. " One, two, three, four — that's flat— five, yes, I'm sure on't — six — yes six — seven — upon my perdition I think we shall be seven." " Yes," replied the lady—" you remember Sir William Wordsworth's fine poem 1 But still the May would have her way, Indeed, Sir, we are seven." " Flesh and blood !" growled her attendant — clasping his brows with his hands. "Hush — hush!" — said Harriette, darting from the side of the bewildered Smithers. In a moment she had seized a harp from one of the OR, GKOKGE IV. 123 gentlemen of the choir, rushed back with it to the place where the passionate colloquy was held, and seating herself in an attitude of the most enchanting elegance, trilled a few notes of prelude that effectually arrested the atten- tion of every ear in the saloon, but two. Those two also, her art was ere long to command. It was thus that the lay flowed.— Smithers stood over against her as she sang, the big tear-drops coursing down his cheeks, until the silk, of his mask was through all its texture softened and moistened with the gracious shower. SONG. Who will come dwell with flowers and me ? My silver mine is the almond tree ! I have watched the lily unclose, I have kissed the cheek of the rose ! But I know not which is the sweetest yet— The white and the azure violet : I know the breath of the violet well ! I drink the dew of the blue hare-bell ! 1 wear a wreath of the Cistus flower ! 124 WHITEHALL; When she had come to this part of her song, a loud and piercing scream broke it off. The cause was soon explained. Smithers, captivated by the beauty of the verse, the harmony of the music, and the charms of the singer, had for- gotten where he was, and incautiously removed the mask, which had become wet and oppressive, and gazed in wonder on the syren. Just at that moment, a tall and burly figure in the disguise of Cocker, entered the room, and his eye was caught by the countenance of Smithers. In a moment, he exclaimed, " Oh — horror !" The guests crowded round the new comer, u hose agitation increased to the utmost pitch of emotion. "What!" said he, dashing his mask on the ground, and thereby revealing to the gaze of the company, the purple physiognomy of Lord Goderich — " What !" said he, " do the graves give up their dead — do the tenants of the tomb OK, GEORGE IV. 1 '•'> walk into our saloons, to remind us of our deeds of darkness?" " Your Lordship raves," said Doctor Aber- netliy, who was there in the character of Punch ; c; permit me to feel your pulse : if you will read my book, you will find at page seventy-two — " • " A vaunt, caitiff!'' said his Lordship ; "gulfed be your book in the bowels of Pyriphlegethon. Speak, shade or demon, what brings you here?" Smithers, alarmed as he was at his situation, and perfectly unable to account for this burst of emotion, on the part of a man quite a stranger to him, did not lose either his pre- sence of mind, or nobility of expression. " I am not bound to reveal to you, Sir, the secrets of my mission. I came for justice, and I find oppression ; for liberty, and my free-born limbs are girt with the manacles of a slave." His Lordship appeared to revive somewhat, but Said, in a tone of intense agony, 12li WHITEHALL; " Are you not then the ghost of Smithers, the missionary hanged in the West Indies, by order of the British Government?" " It avails me not to deny what I am, and falsehood never stained my lips ; of that great and martyred man, I am the son, not the ghost. My injured mother, who mourns her departed love, prepared his culinary fare by day, and shared his couch by night. Africa claimed her birth, and the name by which she was known is Jock.' 1 An anxious and breathless crowd had by this time gathered round the two principal actors of this unprecedented scene. Lord Gode- rich soon resumed that fierce courage, for which he was renowned. " So then," said he, " you ruffian of a Mulatto, it is not to haunt me, but to cut my throat you are come. How did you get into this fortress and this saloon ?" " As for his getting into the fortress,'' said OR, GEORGE IV. 127 the constable, who just came up at the moment, " I can answer, that he is a prisoner on a griev- ous charge from the Admiralty. How he got into this room, I must discover. Fellow," said he, addressing Smithers, " how came you here ?" " Did the question affect myself only, 1 ' said our hero, " the reply should be prompt as the lightning flash, but it may affect others, and I am silent.' 1 " We shall make you speak," said the con- stable, in wrath. " Fitzroy, order the rack in : we shall twist this scoundrel a trifle." " Bless me, 1 ' said the Duchess of Arbutlmot to a lady next her, " is Arthur going to bring the rack into the ball room, and torture the fellow before us ? Well, it is quite new, and must be rather amusing." " Infinitely so," said the Countess, and she drank a glass of blue ruin. But he was not destined to suffer. La Belle 128 " WHITEHALL ; Harriette had been hitherto silent, and appeared to be a spectator as indifferent as the rest of the company ; but the idea of her love — for her passion for Smithers had by this time swelled into idolatry — being exposed to the tortures of the hideous rack, overcame her, and she burst for- ward, overturning Lord Tankerville in her wav — " Spare him, my Lord !" said she, " spare him ! I can tell you the truth/' " You, you little fool," said the constable, " what can you know of such things ? " But I do,"' said she. " If I prove to you that I do, will you spare the rack ?" " Ye — ye — yes," said the Duke, " I will ; we have had enough of that trinket of late, and there is no use of running a good thing too hard. Well, then, what do you know ?*' " Nay, nay, 11 said Smithers, " beautiful creature, do not betray " " Hold your tongue, you sooty vagabond, said Lord Goderieli, " let the woman peach. 11 OR, GEORGE IV. 129 a Why, then,"" said she, raising her vestal form — " it was 77" Astonishment pervaded the assembly — but she continued — " I opened his cell with this key (holding it up), and led him through my boudoir into this room. Tyrants, do your worst !" Exhausted nature here put in her claim. Har- riette had hitherto been supported by enthu- siasm, but the effort having been made, she burst into tears. The Duke eyed both with furious indignation, for jealousy had entered his soul. He stamped on the ground, and bit his lips with rage till they bled ; at last he exclaimed — " They shall die — both die— and die this moment ! Let a scaffold be prepared in the court-yard." " One embrace," said Harriettc, " my Smi- thers, and I die in peace !" and she sprang into his arms. " Part them," said the Duke, livid with rage K ISO WHITEHALL; at the sight ; and Lord Goderich was proceed- ing to do so, when a horrible clamour outside the fortress rivetted the attention of all, and the Major burst into the room. " By my word," said he, " but it's fine fun making cockadoodles of yourselves here, play- acting for the bare life, when all the vajmbones of London have risen in a ruction agen you, with a little rawhead-and-bloody-bones of an ould man at the head of 'em. I can tell vou it was my father's son had the hard work to beat them off the draw-bridge, and get down the portcullis, or else they'd have been here, three- nanalya in the middle of you, knocking you about as if you cost nothing." Terror or defiance pervaded the assembly on hearing this eloquent address. " An insurrection !" said the Duke; " it must be looked to. Slave," said he to Smithers, " you are respited for one hour. Tear that woman from his embrace, and confine them both OR, GEORGE IV. 131 in the topmost donjon of the white tower, load- ing them both with irons. Away !" The agents of despotism performed the man- date, and beauty was dragged from the arms of valour. She exchanged a glance with Smithers ere she was pulled out of the room, and, press- ing her hand to her lips, flung him an impas- sioned kiss. Is it to be wondered at, that for an instant he felt for her an emotion warmer than that of gratitude? Stern must be the moralist who could censure him, when he saw a lovely female, dragged to prison, and condemned to death for his sake, testifying, even at that dreadful moment, inalterable love, if he for a mo- ment forgot Lucy Hawkins. But fidelity soon resumed its sway, as he exclaimed, with a sigh, " I wish she had never seen me." He had not time, however, for making many tender speeches, for he was almost instantly hurried away, re- ceiving a kick at parting from the ferocious foot of Lord Goderich on the seat of honour, in k 2 i 132 WHITEHALL; order, as his Lordship expressed it, to freshen his way. " Faith," said the Major, " one would take him to be an Irishman, he 's such a devil among the girls. And, by my word, he 's a mighty nate notion of breaking out of jail. I suppose he had many opportunities of trying his hand at it. But I can't stay idling here, and they playing hell's delights at the gate. However, I would not be the worse for a drop of drink." The Major then mixed himself a glass of whiskey and water in equal portions, in the de- serted ball-room — for all had left it; and the evacuation of the tumbler being concluded, went to the ramparts, where he found the Duke coun- selling and executing all that wisdom could dictate, and heroism perform. The occasion demanded the full exertion of both.* * The song (p. 123) is usually printed the other way. The Rev. E. H. Barkerus, O.T.N., with his usual sagacity, has restored the true reading. OK, GEOKGE IV. 133 CHAPTER IV. And we'll march up, and we'll march down, And we cares not who'll oppose us; And the Orange crew we will pursue, With the green flag flying afore us. Right Hon. Thomas, by the Grace of God, Lord Rector ok Glasgow. While these doings were carrying on in the Tower, the heroine of our romance, who, the reader must have noticed, has fainted on the only two occasions on which she has been introduced, lay in the Clarendon alehouse, feebly recover- ing. The three friends continued to carouse, intermixing the flavour of the Nicotian leaf with the potency of porter. They were in eager discussion as to what was to be done in this 134 WHITEHALL ; emergency, when Townsend, a graceful youth of the most taking manners, who officiated occa- sionally at Bow-street, over-heard them. He immediately suggested the propriety of sending for the poor girl's father and mother, who, he said, he happened to know " voz in Huppa Zeymo-street, wisiting a house what voz near ould Tyburn gallows, next to snuffy Tom Campbell, the wiggy ould Scotch pensioner." Such, great genius, was the manner in which thy countrymen spake of thee ! Those who now, rapture-stricken, peruse thy Ritter Bann, or gloat over the melodious sounds of thy Real- lura, in the civilized regions of Shoulder-o"-mut- ton or Passamaquoddy, will hardly believe that Townsend, the witty and the wise, the graceful and the good, described the author of these im- mortal works, the Lord Rector of the Univer- sity of Glasgow, and beadle of the Cockney College, as being no more than a snuffy, wiggy old pensioner from Caledonia. Such is the fate OR, GEORGE lv. l.i/i of talent! But cheer up, young poet — thou, who art now struggling against universal ridi- cule, whoever thou mayest be — and comfort thyself with the reflection, that perhaps thy poetry will be popular, like Campbell's, when that of Homer and Shakspeare is forgotten.* Townsend's suggestion was attended to, and he went on his way rejoicing; while the three friends waited in silence the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins. They soon came, but the scene between the mother and daughter is too touching to be disclosed. The father appeared little af- fected, and after shaking his daughter by the hand, and saying that he had no particular am- bition to be grandfather to quarteroons, but that if the girl had a fancy that way, she might marry, or do worse, for aught he cared, he descended to the bar, where, with a firmness of nerve which proved that his mind was not moved by the * Vide Ricardum de I'orsono, de Plcasuribus Hopi, in Cideri-Cellaro. Die Saturni. Hor. IV. AM. Die. nat. Geo. Tert. 136 WHITEHALL; calamities of his lovely and interesting child, he mixed himself a glass of rum and water, warm, with sugar. There are some souls incapable of the finer sensations. The agonized mother cast an angry glance upon her heartless husband. " He is killing me, Lucy," said she, " his cruelty will be my death. A gloomy despair has seized upon my mind, and I can scarce over- come it by a regular succession of drams. But do you, my dear, cheer up, take a tumbler of punch, with a bit of butter in it, and cover yourself up warm. The young man may cast up somewhere, and you shall marry him if you like. And whv shouldn't vou ? There, there, like a good child go to sleep, and never mind being in love for a while. I hope to be giving you away some fine morning to the young gen- tleman, and our good friend, little Doctor Phil- potts, will marry you. 1*11 dance at your wedding, I assure you." OR, GKOKGE IV. 137 Lucy did not speak, but she cast a look of gratitude at her mother -that would have pene- trated a heart made of adamant or political eco- nomy. Vain, however, are the predictions of the human race. Her mother never was destined to witness Lucy^ union with her beloved mulatto ; for on that very evening the old lady was smothered in her bed. Her epileptic counte- nance and frothing mouth indicated something wrong. The stomach pump was applied by Sir Astley Cooper, assisted by Dr. Eady, but in vain. The vital spirit was extinct, and her spirit, soaring to Heaven, escaped the murky tenements of the earth. We seek not to dissipate the thick clouds of mystery which overshadow this melancholy event. The ru- mours of the public, although suppressed by the despotic authority of the Admiralty, were hor- rible. We therefore dismiss the subject by mentioning that Mr. Hawkins showed no feel- ing on the occasion — gave his wife a splendid 138 WHITEHALL; funeral — and on that day week was married to Miss Chester, who immediately retired from Drury Lane. Their after-life was so unhappy, that she was obliged to return to the stage ; and the success of their celebrated son — a few years after his mother's death — is abundant] v notorious. Lucy did not hear of her mother's decease for some time, for reasons which the reader will soon learn. " Dish my wig," said Jeronymo, " who's that rum 'un I see going up there? — I be hanged if it a'nt Glengall ; the best hand at skittles in England. He won a bowl of punch from me last week, and I must endeavour to recuperate a similar quantity of spirituous fluid from him, anon. Good bye, gemmen ; health attend your potations." So saying, Jeronymo emptying the pot, has- tened after the earl. He overtook him just at the entrance to the famous skittle-ground in the flowery parterres of Burlington Gardens, and OK, GEOKGE IV. 139 they joined in the joyous game. Matter more serious occupied those whom our jolly host had left, behind. Their conversation took a political turn, and they deplored the tyranny under which the na- tion groaned. They both agreed that a crisis was at hand ; and the soldier declared, that his heart revolted so much at the atrocities he was daily compelled to witness or to perpetrate, that he did not think he could support the government any longer. Bred under the liberal principles of Prince Metternich, his heart inwardly in- clined to liberty, though necessity had lent his hand to despotism. He remembered the time when, under the command of the gallant Bis- mark (whose work on Cavalry was about that time so ably translated by Major Beamish),* he fought for freedom, and he panted to do so once again. * See " De Arte Puftandi Indirecte, vel per Head-and- Shoulderos. - ' Auctore Henrico Colburno. In newspaper folio, 3591 vols. 140 Whitehall ; When the conversation had reached this in- teresting part, it so chanced that the naval officer who had conveyed Smithers to the Tower, and, as we have mentioned, sympathized with his sufferings, came into the Clarendon for a Jerry of punch. Sam and he were slightly acquainted, and they fell into chat in the manner then laid down as the regular formula in England — first the weather, and then the ministry. The manly brow of the sailor darkened when political allu- sions began to be made ; and he said, " Avast! bout ship there; that is enough to make a man of feeling as sick as a cockney, steaming for the first time to Margate."" " If so," said Sam, " follow his example, and unbosom yourself. You appear to be in a strange pitch for a tar."" " Why," said the officer, " that's my maxum : " 'As for them who's no pity, why I pities they.' The government is as hard as a knot of OR, GEOllC.E IV. 14-1 oak, and as foul as the bottom of one of Sir Humphry Davy's ships after a cruise, me if it a'nt." " I wish then," said Sam, " that our govern- ment, if it be fowl, would take to itself wings ; — fly away, and be at rest. Rut what is the exact grievance which makes you complain P 1 ' " Wait till I splice the main brace first a bit," said the tar, M and then I may make you pipe an eye." " Mein Gott," said Esterhazy, " was for du no tell?" The much sought for information came at last. The captain having succeeded in pene- trating into the internal recesses of the jerry of punch, commenced his narration. As our readers are already acquainted with what he said, we hold ourselves excused from relating it again at length. With a simple but sublime and touching eloquence, heightened by the ju- dicious use of the technical terms so abundantly 1 I - WHITEHALL ; supplied by the naval dialect, he related the arbitrary seizure of Smithers, the felonious car- rying him through the concealed arches, the heavy irons with which his free-born limbs were manacled, the firm magnanimity displayed by the master, the ardent and unflinching devotion manifested by the man ; and hinted at the deed of blood, as yet however but suspected even by him, perpetrated upon the unhappy Chel- tenham. The horror of his auditors may be conjectured : the pipe remained full — the pot empty ; none thought of whiffling away the con- tents of the one, or calling for a replenishment of the other. Grief, wrath, indignation had seized upon them, and with glaring eyes they sat, listening to the tale of oppression and of woe. When the captain had concluded his history, he slapped his brawny hand upon the table, and with a solemn air exclaimed, " Now that's what I call pretty gammon, a'nt it? My service to you, messmates." And he drank. OR, GEORGE l\ 143 " Ay," said Sam, ' ; such gammon as has never been heard of since the days of Ham, in old times, or of Bacon, in modern. The thing can't go on. Cobbett is right — the feast of the gridiron must be held — nothing can bar it.' 1 " Nein, nein, by Gott," said the German, emphatically, emitting four ponderous whiffs, as he sent forth each word, to the gale. " But all this wont do," said the captain. " What's the valuation of our staying here spin- ning long yarns over our grog, while the younker is stowed away safe in the hold of that 'ere Tower. Let's think if we could not board it, or smuggle him away, one way or other, in a jolly boat." The thought was no sooner uttered than it was immediately caught at, both by Sam and Ester- hazy. A long deliberation ensued in the tea- gardens of the Clarendon, as to the manner in which the design was to be executed, whether, in the words of the poet, by open force or secret I4t WHITEHALL; guile* But the opinion of the German here prevailed. Raising his voice, he sang the cele- brated sword song of Korner — that well known and spirit-stirring ditty, which concludes by the glowing words: And, at last, toll loll in the cor — ner. Toll loll, toll loll de roll, loll toll loll. Toll loll, toll loll de roll, loll toll loll. Toll loll, toll loll de roll, loll toll loll. And at last, toll loll in the cor— ner. The effect of which more than Tyrtaean ballad was electric. Sam, starting up, caught a spit, which the cook, in a moment of casual inebriety, had left under a bench, and waving it over his head, declared he would baste the enemies of freedom. The naval officer, seizing a carver, swore by Goles, he would make that into a marlinspike, which would spiflicate the land- * See Milton travestied, by the Rev. Doctor Toddy, a pleasant and droll book. It is quite impossible to avoid laughing at Toddy's part of it. OR, GEORGE IV. 145 lubbers. Esterhazy himself, ejaculating as much donner und blittzen as would serve for three pantomimes, sputtered forth flashes of vengeance. Stimulated at last to madness, at least to a pitch of enthusiastic ardour approaching thereto, they arose, and having first embraced one ano- ther, performed the war dance with a degree of agility and grace that would have conferred honour on Ilhio-Rhio, Madame Told, and their chamberlain. Reason, however, soon resumed its thi'one, and they sat down coolly to calculate in what manner they should best attack the Tower, how and when they should approach, and what troops they should bring against those awful bastions, the very look of which would suffice to affright the most venturous engineer. Indeed, in the reign of George the Fourth, Bergenop- Zoom, the Tower, and Gibraltar, were considered by scientific men to be the three most formid- able fortresses in the world, and their military L 14() WHITEHALL; architecture was habitually quoted as being highly creditable to the countries of which they formed the chief pride, and the most impregnable defences. The three valiant heroes, however, nothing daunted, devised their well-laid plans. We shall soon see how they were executed ; it would be premature, as the "' gentlemen of the press" say, to give further particulars at the present stage of the proceedings. Succeeding events will sufficiently develope them. Thus, even in this world, wicked as it is, worth and suffering merit is not always neg- lected. Smithers, incarcerated in the lonely donjon keep of the White Tower, was mourned by pure love, was passionately adored by illicit affection, and was the object of care to distant valour. As he paced upon the stony floor of his prison, alone in his glory, his eye happening to look through an iron-grated window, rested upon a lovely lunar rainbow, Oil, GEORGE IV. 147 spanning the Thames. It was to him an object of hope. The bright beams of prosperity were about to shine once more through the gloomy darkness of adverse fate, and the bow, with three listed colours gay, was a token of the miraculous union which was then taking mea- sures to effect his escape. His heart lightened, and he sighed no more. " Shine on," said he, " bright, though tran- sitory meteor. Faint are thy rays, but still faint as they are, they are rays of hope. And are they not now precursors of the orb of day — beams which but forerun the advent of the solar car? May I not then hope that the time is coming when I may look for justice, when my hour of brightness is to spring as unexpectedly from the gloom of prison and oppression, as this rainbow springs unlooked-for in the darkness of night ?" He gazed in silence on the bow which was last fading from his eyes, when he heard his l 2 148 WHITEHALL; name pronounced. Did he dream ? No ! The word was again uttered audibly, and by a voice which he thought he recognized. He could not be mistaken. It seemed to come from beneath, but how could any voice penetrate that floor of massive stone ? " Smithers," at last said the voice, " comme vous etes bete, moii capilalne. Go to your jene'tre" He now knew who spoke, and approaching his grated window by means of a bench which was in the room, he said, as loudly as he durst — " Fair dame, I wait your orders, but I wist not what to do.'' " I am in the cell beneath you," she replied, " and can put my little head through an opening in my grating. The fools have not thought of searching my person, and I still retain the master- key ; but, hclas! man ami, I cannot turn the curscdlv stiff wards of this cursed d off hole into which they have crammed me, though I have OR, GEOKGE IV. 149 been working with all my poor strength for nearly an hour." " And what can I do, fair creature ?" said our hero. " Manacles load my limbs, and the degrading handcuff curbs the motion of my fettered hands. 11 " Try," she replied, " if you can get even a finger and thumb out of your grating, and I shall pass you the key. 1 ' He obeyed, and with some difficulty suc- ceeded. Two or three ineffectual attempts were made to seize the key, in one of which Smithers felt a very unpleasant sensation (it turned out afterwards that it was his little finger which was cut off), but they were finally successful, and Smithers received through his bars the all-im- portant key. Harriette had found in her dun- geon one of the spears of the warriors of Agin- cour, left there by chance ; and her inventive mind suggested to her that if she could fasten the key to this, and forward it to Smithers, he 150 WHITEHALL^ might be able to open the prison locks, though she could not. She succeeded : the cutting off of Smither's finger par hazard by the spear, was indeed an awkward accident, but what is a finger compared to freedom ? Lombard-street to a China orange ! Having received the key, the first use he made of it was to unlock his fetters — a tedious and difficult operation. That point gained, however, the rest was easy. He unlocked his door — groped down stairs to that of Harriette — opened it — fell at her feet in thankfulness, and all but sunk into a swoon. She raised him and pressed her lips on his with a wildness of love. He did not resist — how could he ? He should be indeed a stock or a stone if he had repelled her affectionate caress at such a mo- ment ; but Miss Hawkins was in his mind. His lips were ITarriette's, but his heart Lucy's. " This will not do, however," she remarked ; " I know enough of this unhappy Tower to tell Oil, GEORGE IV. 151 you that escape is difficult here, more difficult than in any other part of the fortress ; for there is but one staircase that leads to the bottom, and that only wide enough to permit one person to pass at a time. This staircase, mon ami, is always guarded by the Sepoys who are brought over from India, as being more faithful and fierce than troops of any other description. We never could get through these infernal Asia- tics, who are nolrs comme Belzcbub. It is, however, a point gained that we are together. I shall go up into your apartment, if you have no objection. Have you any, mon beau m/ulatre ?" Smithers sighed. " No objection, kindest of women, none. Honoured am I by the preference you have bestowed upon me, but" — and he took her ten- derly by the hand — " let not your feelings master your reason — I love another." Harriette's eyes were suffused with tears. She looked upon Smithers at first with anger, then 152 WHITEHALL ; with a glance appealing to his noble nature; at last her natural gaiety succeeded in dispelling the graver passions, at least for a moment. " He bien" she said, " c'est tres mal- heureux. But cannot you have two strings to your bow, I mean two belles to your string. Come, coaxing rogue, we had better lock this door after us, and proceed we to your room. There is some devilish work going on, I am sure, by the terrible bustle I hear. What can it be r Smithers professing his ignorance, fastened the door, gave his arm to the lady, led her gal- lantly to her miserable dungeon, and locking that on the inside, and her in his arms to shelter her from the cold, he sat in mournful silence. Abroad the noise was becoming more and more terrific every moment. The daemons appeared to have been let loose, and the sounds of hell were floating upon the breezes of night. END OF BOOK II. 015, GEORGE IV. 15'J BOOK III. CHAPTER I. While Afric's sons exclaim from shore to shore, Quashee Mahoo, the slave trade is no more. Horace Smith. Cesar had been treated with even less cere- mony than his master. He had been thrown into the lock-up-room,* a miserable dungeon, seven feet by nine, much resembling that in which a tyrannical parliament had confined the illustrious Hobhouse, for standing forward with noble port and manly pride to oppose their oppression. * See Dr. Jamieson, who derives this word from Lok- raan, a hangman. He observes that there is a lock-up house in Dundee. Had he consulted the works of Sir Richard Birnie, passim, he would have found that there was another in London. 151 WHITEHALL; The Major, who rejoiced in such scenes, took him to this dungeon of horror, dragging him by the collar with unrelenting fist. "March after me," said he, "my black bosthoon, in double quick. I suppose it's well you're used to this sort of work, you vaga- bone, in your own country. Were you ever whipped ?*' " Massa, be ver good, 11 said Caesar ; "him no whip me more nor twice a week, and neber on Sunday, neber. Him say him prayers." " Twice a week ?V said the Major, " five times less than you deserve, my nate article. Is the tickling a dacent one? I hope he lays it into you well, so as to make you squeal ?" " No, him floggee wid cart-whip; thirty cuts, then blood come trickly, and him pickle it den wid salt to make well. Him kind massa — him saint, not wicked buckra, what swear at missionars. 1 ' " There's your lodgings for you, 11 said the OK, GEORGE IV. 155 Major, throwing him in ; " it is as black as your own ugly mug, my purty . extract of Day and Martin. You need not fear having your eyes dazzled with too much sun ; so do not dread the spoiling of your complexion. And you shall get airy diet, lest your wind might thicken. So now I leave you to your meditations, ' And blessings on your curly poll, John Anderson, my Jo.' " He locked the dungeon, and departed to bear woe to some other heart pining in this melan- choly Tower. Alas ! that the nation which pro- duced the sentimental Sterne could have endured such horrors. " Disguise thyself," says that celebrated and tender-hearted man— (never, never will we believe that he turned his mother out of doors, beat his wife, and starved his daughters) — " Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, Slavery, thou art a bitter draught ; and though thousands in all ages have been made to 156 WHITEHALL ; drink of thee 11 But why continue to quote a passage already embalmed in the classic pages of Enfield's Speaker, and John Murray's Reader. " Him Irishman," said Caesar, when left to himself. " Irishman big rogue, but funny fellow. Him drink like fish, only fish drink water ; Irishman drink rum, when him catch him." Such was the unsophisticated reflection which came first into the mind of Caesar. " What can we speak of, but of what we know ?" Caesar had been bred and spent all his life in the West Indies, where rum being the popular fluid, it was consumed by the natives of the emerald isle, the state of whose pockets in general inclined them to adopt the maxim of the venerable Ben- tham, the hero of Fleet-street, " the greatest quantity for the least money;" and he therefore naturally thought that the partiality of the Irish pointed to rum. Had Caesar seen him at on, GEORGE IV. 157 home, he would have perceived that whatever might be his potations in foreign climes, nature, true to the finer feelings and softer sympathies of man, directed the Irishman to the native. Do not, however, imagine that Caesar was without consolation in his dark abode. To say nothing of the excellent principles of religion carefully instilled into him by his master, he had contrived to purloin a bottle of Jamaica from the bar at Holmes's, previous to setting out on this ill-starred expedition. How this escaped the beagle nose of the Major is hard to say, but it was so. Caesar, when he heard the key turned, and knew his oppressor gone, earefully uncorked the bottle, and turning his little finger in the direction of the North Pole, swallowed a glass. He had no need of any smaller measure, long continued and judicious experiments hav- ing enabled him to gauge that quantity. A second attempt was equally successful. A third followed. Nor was it until after the fourth, he 10S WHITEHALL ; paused from his labours. Letting the bottle slide gently from his relaxing hand, depositing his head upon his shoulder, slipping his legs from under him, were the simultaneous acts of an in- stant. A loud snoring immediately announced that Caesar, yielding to the spirits of rum and resignation, was clasped within the somniferous arms of Morpheus. How long he slept, we know not, but his dreams transported him across the ocean. There, in imagination, he danced in graceful attitudes, embracing the savoury nymphs of his promis- cuous affection ; there he cooked in thought the one-eyed herring and the dulcet yam; there he pre- pared the ample Sangaree bowl, or listened to the equally ample sermon of his master. Suddenly a change came over the spirit of his dream,* and the awful obcah man seemed to arise before him. With terror he listened to his words of • See Poetical Works of Captain (lie Right Honourable Lord Byron, R. N. Vol. )'.), OH, GEORGE IV. 159 power, or shook at the dreadful ceremonies of the necromantic sage. Before his eyes were up- lifted, a form evoked from the earth, the verv Mumbo Jumbo himself, but that vanished, and he thought a withered crone stood in his place. His hair, uncurling with horror, shot perpendi- cularly from his head, a cold sweat came over his body, and his muscles grew rigid. A voice sounded in his ear, which said — " Get up, you black varmint, out o' crib;" and a slight application of a toe to his epigastric region, convinced him that he was awake. He started bolt upright, and crammed himself into the corner, for he saw the very crone whom his dream had painted. A woman, bent double with toil rather than age, but whose height when erect, must have been majestic, of withered features, coarse dark hair, sallow complexion, and bright black eyes, stood opposite him inside the cell, with a candle of sixteen to the pound in her hand. She wore 160 WHITEHALL; a cap that had once been white, decorated by a ribband which in former years had perhaps been black. Her gown of spotted cotton, fastened round her waist by a blue ribband, hung below her heels. She disdained the assistance of a boddice, nor were her feet fettered in their easy motions by the encumbrance of shoe or stocking. Her history was as striking as her appearance. She was a grand-daughter of a Scotch lady of the name of Margaret Merrilies, who was a retainer in the house of an eminent justice of peace in that country, named Bertram. This lady's adventures are well known, so much so, indeed, that he who did not know all about them, was voted, in the days of which we write, an ignorant and tasteless wretch, as indeed he well deserved to be. But after young Mr. Bertram had recovered his estates, she did not retain her name. It was reported that she had been shot by a Captain Hatteraick, but erro- neously, as she made her appearance under Oil, GEORGE IV. 161 various aliases, in different places, long after that. Finally, after having been employed by several gentlemen, and almost worked to death, she fell into the hands of a respectable attorney, of the name of Smith, in whose employment she lost her brains altogether, and became a mere idiot and a bore. Of her family was the woman whose presence now alarmed the soberized Caesar. " Don't killa me, Obi/' said the poor slave. " Obi,'* said she, drawing up her figure. " I am not O B, nor yet O C. (She had been educated on the Lancasterian system.) Don't be afeared, for I am a woman of flesh and blood, or rather skin and bone.' 1 Of this she soon convinced him, for, to poor Caesar's horror, she seized him by the throat, and with her bony hand dragged him to the ground, he howling with affright. " Now,*" said she, " you see I'm not a ghost; stop your roaring, you black dog, or you'll M 1()2 WHITEHALL ; have the Tower about our ears. Stop, I say, or I shall thrust my fist down your gullet, and listen to me." With difficulty she calmed the fears of Caesar, or at least the noisy expression of them, and she proceeded. " I know you wish to escape from this dun- geon ; that I learnt by an art with which you are unacquainted ; and I have come for the purpose of freeing you : it is in my power. You must, however, obey me, and swear to act as I direct you in all things. I know the god that binds you, so I have brought it in my pocket.' 1 Putting her hand into this immense receptacle, she pulled out part of the hoop of a rum cask, and bade him repeat after her, taking this solemn instrument in his hand, — I swear to be true, Good woman, to you, Whatever you bid me to say or to do; If not, may a crew Of devils in blue — " OR, GEORGE TV. 103 " O ! missis, putty missis, no ask poor nigger to say dat." exclaimed Caesar, while his teeth chaptered in agony. " Massa say, talk of de devil and him ''pear.'' " So he shall," said the indignant old woman, " so he shall, and that this moment, unless vou swear after me, as I order you. See, I am going to stamp my foot and he will come." " O ! missis, me swear any ting," cried Caesar, eagerly, " me die wid fright to see him big horns and him saucer eyes." . The oath was continued : " If not, may a c:ew Of devils in blue Through the realms of Old Nick hawl me quite through and through." As this binding ceremony was performed, the Tower clock struck — " Hark !" said she, " one — two — three — four five — six — seven — eight — nine — ten — eleven — twelve. The moment then is come. My son ! m 2 164 WHITEHALL ; my son!" antl her eye kindled with enthusiasm. " Drop that bottle," she continued, on seeing that Caesar was about to finish its contents; " drop it, I say, and catch hold of me ; I must put out the light — and then '' She opened the door, and Caesar followed in darkness. They had not gone many steps when he found lie was in the open air, and could see the lights of the Lord High Constable's gorgeous assembly in the Eastern Tower. The guests also seemed to attract the attention of his guide, who shook her hand at them, and said that she would soon see them dancing a different figure. They crossed a small paved court, and came to an iron gate of massive thickness. " What kept you so long?" said a gruff voice in a whisper, " Grand rounds will be here in a minute ; make haste, you know our bargain." " I do," said she, pressing her finger on her skinny lips, while with her other hand she slipped into the palm of Sturges Bourne (it was OK, GEORGE IV. 165 he who was her accomplice) a double sovereign, just coined by the ingenious Tierney. " Your path," says he, " lies through the armoury — you know the way — haste then — haste — you will meet nobody there, except, perhaps, the ghost of old Bess. There, I heard the step of the grand rounds ;" and he opened the gate. They passed hastily to the entrance of the armoury, which the keeper, bribed by the old woman, had left open, and Caesar saw with astonishment the splendid and authentic collec- tion of armour which at that time graced the Tower. His guide stopped, and taking a tin- der-box from her pocket, struck a light. She appeared to know every recess of the apartment, for she brought Caesar to a nook, from which she desired him to take a sword, a spear, and some pieces of armour. " These arc wanting for the deed I am doomed to do," she whispered. " This is the sword of John De Courcy, which he wielded in l(i() WHITEHALL; the fray ; this the spear of Charles Brandon ; and here's the armour of John of Gaunt ; coneeal these trinkets as well as you can about your person.'' " Him dam heavy, Massa John Cocy's sword," grumbled Caesar. " Work, then, slave, 1 ' she cried; "are beasts of burden like you to growl. Perhaps you will employ Mr. Martin to-morrow to haul me up to Bow Street, but I defy you both, caring for neither of you the valuation of that," as she snapped her fingers, which sounded like casta- nets in the silence of the saloon. Nothing remained for Caesar but to submit, and they left the armoury, and again were in the open air. The old woman, muttering to her- self, " Three steps from the cast and seven steps from the north Will shew us the passage whereby we go forth," paced accordingly three steps from the eastern OK, GEORGE IV. 1G7 wall -and seven from the northern. After two or three unsuccessful experiments, she brought these points to coincide, and there her foot lighted upon a grating. With Caesar's assistance she lifted up this, and desired him to jump down into the chasm below. Caesar hesitated, and no wonder, for he saw no sign of the bottom of the gulph. " No, no, missis, me break my neck ; leap yourself, missis.'' " And if you did break your neck, you villain,' 1 she exclaimed, " would not that be a more creditable way of doing so than by the gallows to which you are doomed ? I leap after you. If you hesitate, the guards will be on us. Hark, I hear them as it is.'' She was right— the measured tread of the soldiers was becoming more and more distinct every moment. Caesar, impelled through fear of the major, and of the devilish crew to whom he had devoted himself in case of disobeying the 168 WHIT KHALI. ; old woman, mustered up courage, and despe- rately leaped down. To his great satisfaction he found that the distance was not more than about ten feet, and he landed in a soft, muddy substance, in which he sunk up to the hips. In a moment he was followed by his female com- panion, who jumped right upon his uplifted face. One of her feet gave him a black eye, or rather turned its sable livid. From the other no accident occurred, save that it knocked out his four front teeth, two of which, in the haste of the moment, he swallowed : she apo- logized, and assured him he should have four more as good as new put in the next morning by Chevalier Ituspini. Before she descended from his face she deliberately closed the grating, lest, as she said, it might afford a clue to the manner of their escape. This being done, she slipped off Caesar, and stood by his side. After groping for a while, she found the passage she wanted ; it was arched, but only four feet high. OK, GEORGE IV. 169 " Squat down,'" 1 she said to Caesar, on entering, " or you'll break your head against the arch," making him feel its key-stone in the intense and rayless darkness. He obeyed her in- junction, and in doing so found that it placed his chin just above the oozing fluid in which he was immersed. " Take care, 1 ' said she, " you do not squat too low upon your hunkers, for if you do, you'll be infallibly smothered.*" " It be dam close here," said Caesar. " No wonder,'"' was the reply, " for we are now wading through the main sewer of London. Have courage, we have only about three miles to go through it; but be cautious: neither knock out your brains, which you will do beyond all question if you go an inch too high, nor get yourself stifled, as will as certainly be the case, if you sink too low : keep the just medium, and catch hold of my tail. By active exertions we may be out of this in about an hour.'' 170 WHITEHALL ; " Got tarn you," muttered Caesar to himself, but he feared to utter it aloud, and they pro- ceeded cutch-a-cutchooing along their journey, winch the old woman enlivened with anecdote and song, suitable to the place. To Caesar the trip was by no means agreeable, particularly as John De Courcy's sword used every now and then to get between his legs, and endanger his steadiness. Once or twice he dipped into the flood, but the old woman reproving him for his awkwardness, pulled him out again. She knew every nook and cranny of the winding passage. In about an hour and a half, to the great relief of Caesar, who was heartily tired of the expedition, a light beaming from above, showed that the toilsome way had reached an end. It was, in fact, the sewer grate of the Clarendon, where the old woman had stationed a page to wait with a torch for her. The grate was soon lifted, and they emerged into the yard of the tea-gardens. OR, GEORGE IV. 171 Jt may be easier to conceive than to describe the appearance of Caesar. Covered from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot with mud, his right eye almost knocked out, his front teeth entirely so, his head bleeding from repeated bruises inflicted by the top of the arch, his shins cut by John De Courcy's sword, and his sides bruised by the armour of the gallant John of Gaunt, it must be con- fessed that his usual noble air was not im- mediately to be recognised ; and it is no wonder that the page, with the usual petulance of youth, indulged in a smile. His mistress reproved him. " Stop your sniggering, you Jackanapes," she said, " and take this honest gentleman to be pumped (you will find it refreshing, Caesar) ; and put some basilicon upon his cuts. As for his teeth, we can't mind them to-night. Per- haps it would be as well to shave his head — i;: 172 WHITEHALL ; certainly would. Do so, then, and put some- raw meat under his eye. — Caesar, unless you have a particular fancy for carrying them, you may here deposit the sword and armour." " Me fancy, missis, Got tarn 'em !" and he flung the sonorous instruments, offensive and defensive, on the ground. The halls of the Clarendon rung in echo, and even the watch- man was awakened ; but in another moment all was still. The page took Caesar to the pump, where half an hour's incessant exertions wiped off all traces of the sable stains, and he was then taken into the kitchen to dry before the ample fire. His head was shaved, and a brown caxon — unluckily a black one could not be found — belonging to Jeronymo, put upon the bald part, for which, however, it was infinitely too small. His head and shins were plastered, and his sides covered with brown paper steeped in vinegar. Seated then upon a stool by the OR, GEORGE IV. 173 fire, he warmed his blistered toes; and being regaled with a jug of swipes, might be consi- dered as tolerably comfortable. Meanwhile, the old woman, threading the in- tricate passages, reached the door of the room where Lucy lay, wrapt in virgin slumber, dream- ing of her love. From this the old woman awakened her ; and her sensations may be con- ceived, when she looked upon the appalling figure, dabbled in mud, and wielding a sword, standing by her side. She was going to scream out, but the old woman arrested her by saying emphatically, " Smithers !" " Come you to tell me of my love ?" said Lucy, gasping for breath. " I do," replied the old woman. " Let me then clasp you to my bosom ; dearer to me than if you were dipped in *otto • So called, from Baron Otto, who invented it. 1 T ^ WHITEHALL; of roses, which, indeed, is far from being the case." and she embraced her. " Lucy Hawkins ! Lucy Hawkins !'' said the crone. " How do you know my name ?" was imme- diately asked. " You lay on these withered knees a child, and your destiny has been watched over by me ever since. Do you remember the fortune- teller you called on amid the shady groves, back of Clare Market ?" " I do." " I am that woman ; do you remember my prophecy ?" u Well, too well ! and truly has it, at least in part, been accomplished. You said, after a solemn consultation of the cards, that I was to be loved by a black man, who would be in trouble and drink, and that there was a fair woman after him." Oil, GEORGE IV. 17o " And that last is true. A fair woman is with him this moment." " Life, then," said Lucy, falling into a flood of tears, " is not worth having;" and snatching a razor with which she used to cut her corns, attempted to sever her throat, but the old woman prevented it. " Rash girl," said she, " forbear. It is in your own power at once to free him, and to win his love." " And how — how, Sibyl of my fate ?" " Do you not, then, remember hearing a voice under your window chaunting a prophetic rhyme ?" " The voice was yours ?" " It was." " O, woman, woman !" said Lucy, in wonder, " how connected you are with my mysterious destinies. The rhyme is fixed in my bosom. Docs it not run thus ? — 1*6* WHITEHALL; ' When a black man is in a tower white, By a virgin, wielding the sword of a knight, His enemies will be put to flight, And valour will link with beauty bright.' " " You, then, Lucy Hawkins," said the old woman, " are the virgin." " But," asked her friend, " where is the sword of the knight ?" " Here !" cried her aged companion, in a voice of thunder, as she uplifted the sword of De Courcy in her withered hand. " Here," she said, *' take the faulchion of the bravest of knights, the conqueror of Ulster, the champion of England. Here, take it in the name of free- dom and of love — take it in the name of ven- geance and retribution — take it, and conquer." Her figure was drawn up, and her eyes gleamed with a spirit that did not seem her own. Her language too was not that usual in Itosemary-lane, where she resided. Lucy seemed transfixed with awe and wonder; but OR, GEORGE IV. 177 soon recovering, accepted the sword that gleamed magnificently in the light of the bed- room candle, and began to dress, which was but the work of a moment. The old woman brought her then to the kitchen, where Lucy kissed Caesar in a transport of joy. She would have asked a thousand questions about his master, but the old woman did not allow time to be wasted. Three skilful armourers, who were sent for, altered in a i'ew minutes John of Gaunt's armour so as to fit Lucy ; and the sword being buckled to her side, and the spear placed within her grasp, the young and the old woman mounted on two palfreys, which had been led to the door. " Caesar," said his conductress, " you must go back the way you came." " Me be tarn first," said the sable son of Afric. " Remember your oath, you vagabond," said the old woman, in a mild, yet energetic tone. N 178 WHITEHALL ; " If me took as much oats as two, three, five horses, me not go back dat dirty march. Me no care for your devils." The quarrel was now growing serious ; and Lucy inquiring into the matter, interceded for Caesar; who was taken into favour again, on condition that he would go, as Lucy's squire, on her dangerous errand. How he was to go was now the only source of embarrassment ; but Lucy, with her usual tact* and good feeling, arranged that point by setting him on her sad- dle, and riding behind him, as was then the fashion of the day for ladiesof rank. Thus, with Charles Brandon's spear in one hand, and her other arm clasped round the waist of the interest- ing name-sake of the hero of Pharsalia, she proceeded to the Tower, the old woman leading the way. • Tact. See Brougham's Speeches, Vol. I. p. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, &c. &c. Ditto, Vols. II. III. IV. to XXVII. Oil, GEORGE IV. 179 Who this old woman was — why she took this interest in the business — whence she ob- tained her information, and procured her power — may be disclosed hereafter. ]S(I WHITEHALL; CHAPTER II. Instantly rose a shout, a rilf-raff-ruffianly roaring, Hullabulloo immense, a most voluminous volley. Frosty-Faced Fogo, Esq. by thf. Grace of God, Poet Laureate to the Fancy. Down with the rogues and the robbers, Down with the vagabonds cruel ; Pepper their phizzes with jobbers, Twist your shillelah, inyjcwel. Thomas Moore, Esq. by the Grace op Captain; Rock, Poet Laureate to the Roman Catholic Association. The preparations made by the soldier, the punster, and the sailor — (why should we any longer conceal the name of the latter, when it was Lord Cochrane, hot from the liberation of Greece ? Glorious man ! whether campaign- ing among the Greeks of the Acropolis, or OK, GEORGE IV. 181 the Greeks of the Alley, thy object was con- sistent and unvaried !) — the preparations, we say, made by the soldier, the punster, and the sailor, were speedily completed, and an ardent and impetuous army was gathered, and became impatient to march against " the Towers of Julius." The skill, with w r hich it was raised, is deserving of attention. They, after much deliberation, had determined on summoning to arms all the discontented in London, who were not already serving under other chieftains. Parliamentary Reform was no longer a topic which could avail, because the tyrannical Admiralty had left no parliament to reform. Besides, the ancient Radicals had al- ready hoisted their famous banner, " No Triangular Parliaments," and were bivouacking in Stamford- street, with the Japanese legions of the valiant Hunt. Roman Catholic Emancipa- tion also was in the proper hands, and Sheelin- 182 WHITEHALL; agig had, as we already mentioned, with the assistance of the jolly Jacklawless, led an army of the Faith, furnished with flails, to the important conquest of Rotherhithe, whilome the city of the famous Gulliver, the President of the Traveller's Club. Dismissing, therefore, these trite topics of complaint, which had kept so many newspaper editors alive for so many years, they looked to other grievances ; and the foreign nations, at that time living in London, naturally occupied their thoughts. The Jews had many reasons to complain. Arbitrary arrests had incarcerated or banished the most chosen of the people. The hand of fate pressed hard upon the Solomonidas ; the patriarchal Ikey himself, had been obliged to emigrate to North America, without being sent there, like the original settlers of that country, at the expense of government. His beauteous consort 3 torn from the happy scenes in which OR, GEOKCE IV. 183 she had so long dwelt in bliss, was removed to the Australasian dominions, there to contem- plate Kangaroos. Reuben Josephs, dragged from Monmouth-street, inhabited the gloomy dungeon of Newgate. The corporation of London had refused to sanction the cow- slaughtering propensities of Samuel Samuels, within the walls of the city ; and Mr. Woulfe was let loose to pray upon the lambs of Israel. Nor had there been a Hebrew champion for many years within the ring ; and the children of Zion remembered, with the brooding bitterness of ancient hate, the overthrow of Mendoza, and with the indignation of modern anger, the prostration of Philip Sampson. In this last case, insult had been added to injury, for Captain Hardman, the poet, was hired for thirteen pence half-penny, to raise that calum- nious song of Christian triumph, which begins with — 18 i- WHITEHALL ; " Go back to Brummagem, go back to Brummagem, Youth of that ancient and half-penny town." The next body which occurred to our me- ditating trio, was the Ravagees.* These gallant men had been banished from Spain and Italy, for the mere crime of having fought too bravely for the constitution of their country. The degraded Ferdinand was unwilling that men who had performed such incredible acts of valour should remain to shame the recreant herds of courtiers around him. He, therefore, by secret machinations expelled them, and they arrived in the hospitable dominions of Britain. Here they were so over fed, that, like Jeshurun in the Scriptures, " they got fat, and kicked." They demanded that they should be; admitted into Parliament, €X officio, to infuse into the councils of England, the same • Put Slangice, for Refugees. See the Reverend Doctors Toddy and Jon Bee, in voce. OR, GEORGE I v. 185 wisdom, that marked the proceedings of the Cortes. This was refused, and thev, in conse- quence, cherished great indignation against the ministry. The Duke of Wellington, it was rumoured, had hired Jeremy Bentham, to poison the venerable Romero Alpuente ; and it was certain, that when that great patriot in- serted three letters in the leading journal of Europe, the conscience-stricken warrior of Waterloo did not dare to answer them. Our conspirators knew, therefore, that they would find willing- auxiliaries in the Iiavagees. The quarrels concerning Passamaquoddy had alienated the Americans, who were, however, somewhat patient under that great wrong, until the unwarrantable conduct of Matthews stung them into rage. Wrathful and infuriate, they thirsted to avenge the injuries of the much ca- lumniated Jonathan W. Doubikins. Matthews, had long before this time, fallen their victim, 18G WHITEHALL; but not satisfied with this individual vengeance, they determined on turning their irritated hands against the nation itself. Lastly, the Germans had for some time com- plained of the inferior quality of the beer, and the good-for-nothingness of the tobacco. And at this moment, they were smarting particularly under the infliction of the Foreign Quarterly Review, which they considered as personal against themselves : nor did they pardon the proprietors of the Annual Souvenirs, for having poached upon their ancient domain. Every plot, in short, laid by the triumvirate succeeded to admiration, and in about two hours the army assembled by moonlight, on the Bou- levard of Bond-street. Such an army, perhaps, had never before been mustered in the cause of Freedom and of Man ! Aid me now, O Muse ! Thou who didst give thine inspiration to the noble Chateaubriand, OR, GEORGE IV. 187 when he sung, how the French host marched against the Natchez, in the immortal work which hears that name. I have to sing of an army just as respectahle. First, then, on the right of the line, a post which they claimed from the antiquity of their descent, stood the tribes of Judah and of Benjamin. From thy flowery purlieus, O, Whitechapel, from the famed fountain of Aid- gate, from the fragrant parterres of Rosemary Lane, from the Holy Temples of Duke-street, there poured forth an Eastern host, led on by Hyam Barnett. The central regions of the Strand, produced from pun-provoking Wych- street — from the street which derives its title from the holiness of its well — a body of people marshalled by Abraham Belasco, a hero who had dwelt long in camps and courts. Thou, region known by the name of the devoted son of Charles the Second, romantic Mon mouth-street ! sent out thy valorous tribes. To them no recess of the I8S WHITEHALL; Seven Dials was unknown. To them the ways of Earl-street, were the paths of pleasantness — those of Tower-street, paths of peace. From the lane of Saint Martin, from the very ex- tremity, where Poekncll sold his animals crus- taceous and testaceous, and where his sister was a prey of the bigamist, to the region bounded on the North, by the City of Holborn, on the West, by what the base punsters used to call the Robert Southey, that is to say, the King's Mews, on the South, by the Charing-Crossical domain of the decapitated Charles, and on the East, by realms unknown, but gradually melting into the Hundreds of Drury, there came the determined Hebraists — the real Masorites. There were among them those whose ven- turous finger had dipped into the flap of coat, or insinuated itself into the pocket of waistcoat. Among them also were those whose sonorous voice had offered to public vendition the selfsame waistcoat, or the identical coat which their bro- OR, GEOJIGE IV. 189 ther Levites had assisted to empty. Men they were despisers of the authority of Knowlys — altogether contemners of their paid friends who sat in the offices which were jocularly called offices of police. An odour arose from this quarter of the army which was of a nature not at all participating in that of the essence of lavender. They had chosen for their chief in the ab- scence of I key Solomons, the celebrated Bar- nabas son of the brother of Moses, who was generally known by the title of Barney Aaron. With a field-marshal's baton, which he had bought at the Duke of Gloucester's sale, he swayed the Israelitish army, marching like their forefathers of old against the towers of Ramoth Gilead. Behind them waved in the breezes of night, the lion banner of modern Judah — a pair of breeches, fresh from decennial wear. The standard-bearer, proud of his charge, was Israel dTsraeli, a curiosity of literature 190 WHITEHALL ; from Bloomsbury. Next to him on his left, stood, beaming in sallow beauty, his illustrious friend, known by the title of Uncle Ben. While on the right he was supported by the Right Hon. John Charles Herries, C. E. who had been, a little before, converted to that faith by the preaching of his friend Roths- child. Rabbi Ganab Ben Zonah, was chaplain to the host, and chaunted the prayers with all the melody of the synagogue. But the minstrel of the army was Braham, who performed upon the celebrated instrument of king David, the Jew's harp, making its tongue of steel, utter forth notes of silver. The song of defiance alternately rung from his mouth, and Israel heard with delight, the melodious voice of Braham uplifting the glorious and spirit-stirring canticle of Dish de vay how Shoo he live?, Mozhy takes and Mozhy gives ; (io along Mozhes, pull away Mozhes, Purty Mozhes, Mozhes my boy. OR, GEORGE IV. 191 The sounds of this heart-rousing strain inspirited the souls of the children of Abraham, and bran- dishing their jemmies, they marched forward, shouting aloud their ancient war-cry, " Clo, clo." Next to these marched the gallant ftavagees. Their uniform was simple but elegant. Dis- daining the covering of a hat, they suffered their uncombed locks to wave gracefully over their faces, undiluted by water. Their uniform was a green coat, at the elbows of which vent-holes had been generally placed, and in so judicious a manner, as to secure all the benefits of a free current of air. Other garment they had none, unless you wish to give that name to their foot- less stockings devoid of leg. They were armed with a paving stone in one hand, carefully ab- stracted from the street under the personal in- spection of Loudon Mc. Adam — in the other, a clove of garlick. From the lofty tenements which under Athenian name, surmount the edi- 192 WHITEHALL ; fices of Orange Court — or from the subter- ranean dwellings which are excavated below the halls of the city of St. Giles, emerging or descending as the case might be, they moved forward in the cause of liberty. At their head was Romero Alpuente, now 158 years old, having been an esquire to Charles V., when he campaigned against the first Francis of France. The banner of these gallant men was a white feather, carried in proud ostentation, by the valiant hand of Quiroga, hero of the great feat of Sauve qui pent ! Blanco White, in an archi- cpiscopal mitre, scattered the smoke of rosin, as incense, among the host, singing forth — Tantum ergo sacramentum Veneramu cernui. Et Burdettum atque Bentum Bettymartin allmyeye. Next the chaplain stood the minstrel Veluti, who with manly voice, shouted aloud — oii, GEORGE IV. 10;} Bepgi, bcggi, bettra trade is, Ti, ti, ti, ti, tal, lal, la, Thana fighti Frenchy Cadiz, High go, scampery, sneaky ba ! Napoli, Espana, runi, runi, Raci, chad, tal, tal, la ! In Britani beggi money, Gulli, goosy, ha ! ha? ha! Brave heroes ! moved by these strains, you moved gallantly to the combat, the beams of the moon, brilliantly illuminating the naked beau- tics of your uncovered limbs. Close to the warlike Ravagees, the American nation was ranked in close column, under the command of the brave sable antagonist of Cribb. This nation wore straw hats, black silk-handkerchiefs, sailors' jackets, nankeen garments which once had been pantaloons, but which repeated washings had shrunk to the more convenient size of breeches and tawny mocassins. Their arms were tomahawks, which they wielded with a deadly dexterity. o 194 WHITEHALL; Ever true to the cause of freedom, they had deserted the flowery walks of New Orleans, the verdant haunts of Charleston — had moved from Alabama and Point Pigsnout — from Biglick and Cape Cod. Well the individuals knew the turns of Bowery in New York, and the purlieus of Second-Street in Philadelphy. Among them were some of those noble indivi- duals, who at the same time commanded regi- ments raised for the destruction of the human body and kept taps for its refreshment. Led were they to the fight by Bill Richmond, the hero of a hundred combats, and behind him the standard of the States was borne by Albert Gallatin, whose colour-sergeant was Stuart Newton, the eminent artist. The standard was not a flag, but, like the Roman Eagle, was fixed stationary on a pole ; it was a Newgate Calendar for the year 1700, in which was recited the gallant deeds of their progenitors in house and road. on, C.KOKGE IV. 195 The Reverend Washington Irving raised the psalm ; and the national melody — Yankee doodle, doodle do, Yankee doodle dandy, Yankee doodle, doodle do For the girls they all love brandy — sung snuffingly from five hundred nostrils. A more imposing body never marched into a field, and as they moved forward, they flung the Nicotian fluid in copious showers from their salivary ducts. Last came the Teutonic tribes : the Honders- pondering Sourcroutian legions. Ample were the breeches of these heroic Allemanians, and their honest cheeks were big with beer. Treut- tel and Wi'irtz were elected their chieftains, and Ackermann, assisted by Schoberl, bore their banner — a bunch of German sausao-es waving in the eye of night. Dr. Kruger kindly volunteered to act as chaplain ; and Mo- schelles, performing on the instrument for o 2 190 WHITEHALL; which he was so famed, that instrument called in the German tongue Der Hurdigengurdigen, in English a hurdy-gurdy — chaunted aloud with melodious tongue, Weber's justly admired air — Ich bin liederlich Du bist liederlich Wir sint liderliche leute, to the enraptured ears of his audience. Armed with snick-a-snees in one hand, and mugs of mum in the other, they deployed upon the left of the line, valorous in soul, and eager to shed the blood of the oppressors of a ruined country. Such, and so various was the army gathered by the conspirators. By unanimous acclaim they appointed Sam Rogers, Generalissimo of the Forces, and crowned him with a punch bowl. His heart swelled with merited pride. It was no wonder ; " For never since created man Met such embodied host." OR, GEORGE IV. 197 When his eye glanced to the right, he sur- veyed the army of Israel, and marked the valiant bearing of those interesting tribes. There he saw Sir Menassez Massez Lopaz linked arm-in-arm with Daniel Meudoza. In another quarter he beheld Hyman Hurwitz, the fabulist, totter- ing under the Talmud. Here he saw Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a proselyte of the gate, who had lately submitted to the last rites and ceremo- nies of initiation into the law of Moses, blowing a ram's horn in the manner of the besiegers of Jericho. As he turned his eyes along the line to the left, he was proud to behold the operatic force of Ebers, headed by the Amazonian Rummins. The valorous Yankees exhilarated his mind, and it was impossible to gaze upon the Teutonic chivalry without admiration. With a proper care for the health and religion of his troops, he made Doctor Eady, Surgeon-General, and the Reverend Mr. Smith, of Penzance, Chaplain in Chief to the Forces, investing him 19 inhabitants of the Tower being OR, GFORGE IV. 207 wholly occupied with the festival of the Lord High Constable. "Forward," said Sam ; " they may have a tower of strength, ours hitherto at least, is the tour cV artifice." Their usual war-cry, " Sour crout, sour crout," rung from the Germans, who rushed forward and actually gained the drawbidge. Fortunately for the inmates the portcullis was down, or there might have been for ever an end to the empire of Great Britain. But the outcry did not escape the vigilant ear of the Major, who exclaiming, " Thunder and turf, but there's music ! I wonder what is to be the fun next," started up, and summoned his attendants to the ramparts. Instantly a shower of stones, or as the major called them, " two years olds," flung by the hands of the Ravagees, and a flight of tomahawks discharged by the ambushed Americans, fell in among them. Thirty were '208 WHITEHALL ; killed on the spot, and seventy-five wounded by these murderous missiles. " Faith," said the Major, " but that's a purty salute in the cool of the evening. However, let us try paceful ways first; so just give'm a volley, and then we must see what they want.' 1 At his word, a thousand muskets sent their bul- lets among the host of the Ravagees. Instantly Quiroga fled and communicated in the western regions the premature and mischievous infor- mation, that all was lost. A bullet passed through the body of Veluti ; he died, exclaim- ing with his stentorian voice, " Popolo ct Egitto, I die like a man," yielded up his soul. The major hung out a flag of truce, which being acceded to, a parley was beaten, and he went to the gate, the drawbridge of which was occupied by the invaders. When the chief- tains approached one another, " Why, then, my little raw-head and bloody OH, GEORGE IV. 209 bones, what in the name of Ould Nick brings you out of your quiet coffin, at this time of night ?" said the Major. " I wonder you ar'n't afraid of getting could. Arrah, go back, man, to your grave, and tuck yourself up snug and warm in your winding sheet, instead of coming here to be bothering us. What do you want, I say P" " To demolish this castle — to set the pri- soners free — if I must be frank, replied the Generalissimo." " Mighty civil indeed," said the Major, " my purty housebreaker. I tell you what, and charge you nothing for the advice, take a plain man's word — to the right-about-face, beat the chamade, and trot to the tune of the rogue's march. I suppose you know that music well. You have no chance of getting in here, I assure you, until you are brought by a bum-bailiff at the scruff' of your neck — than which nothing- looks more likely. M p .'210 WHITEHALL ; " Major," said Sam, " vou argue like a minor. If vou proceed to talk thus about your premises, we can have no middle term. Open your gates, therefore, and submit to my irresistible army of well tried men." " Tried, no doubt," said the Major, " but not well tried, or they would not be here to-night ; long ago their necks would have felt the weight of their heels ; so no more at present, from your's faithfully. Talk spoils conversa- tion — and there's an end to our palaver."' The parley having thus angrily concluded, the Germans made an endeavour to scale the portcullis, when by a dexterous manoeuvre the Major drew it up, hoisting aloft Ackermann, Yates, and Botibol, who were killed upon the spot ; and a body of the most fierce of the Tower warriors, accompanied by all the lions of that fortress, rushed upon the German nation. Dreadful was the combat. The men of the Tower were armed with the long lances which they had found in the armoury ; and they al- on, GEOKGE IV. 211 ternately succeeded in pushing the Germans forward with them ; and in turn the Germans, getting inside the guard of the lances, cut their throats with their snick-a-snees. The Rava- gees and Americans looked on, fearing to dis- charge their weapons, lest in the promiscuous melee on the drawbridge, they might do as much harm to friend as to foe. Deeds of eter- nal fame were performed on both sides ; nine times in a quarter of an hour the bridge was lost and won, and dead bodies choked the moat. The roaring of the lions was tremen- dous, but in the mixed mass they were not so useful as was anticipated ; the only feat of con- sequence which it was known that they per- formed, was the biting off the head of Mos- chelles, and there was nothing in that. At last the Major was victorious, and he chased the invaders from the bridge, and pursued them to their entrenchments. His valour had been con- spicuous in the fight, and his voice floated loudly p2 212 WHITEHALL; above the tumult in the pursuit. " Kill the ruffians — crap the villains — tear out his tripes — quarter is it you want, honey ? I hav'nt time to quarter you, but here goes off your head, if that- will oblige you as well — skiver that vaga- bone— sliver off that blackguard's knowledge box — there you go, my hearties — huzza for the ould Tower Hamlets — Tamaroo!"* When he had got them into their intrench- ments, he retreated, drew up the drawbridge, put down the portcullis, and closed the gate. " Stay there, my beauties," he shouted from the ramparts, " stay there, my lads o'wax, cool- ing your heels outside o' the door. I am going to tell the master, and if he does not pummell the rascally souls out of your rascally bodies, call me a cuckoo. 1 ' Having made this peroration, he proceeded to report to the duke, as the reader has seen already. ' See the song, " Crickey, how he used to swear — Tamaroo." — Mrs. Hemans. OR, GEORGE IV. 2V.i CHAPTER III. O God ! O God ! O God ! what will become of mc! O dear ! O dear! O dear ! O my poor wife and children ! O blood and turf. I'm dyin g (' ATTAIN HAUn.MAN The clamour, as we have hinted, did not fail to reach the ears of Smithers and his fair com- panion in incarceration. In vain did they strain their anxious eyes through their grating — it did not command a view of the scene of action. A thought, however, suddenly struck the lady. " I have heard mon capitaine" said she, " hint one evening in his cups, that there is a trap door in the topmost donjon of this abomi- nable white Tower, by which a person could 214 WHITEHALL; get upon the platform on the outside. I fear that it will be of no use to us in the way of escape, as the tower is too high ; but as it com- mands a complete prospect of the whole country round, suppose we try if it be possible to get at the trap. If we succeed, we shall learn what this tintamarre du diable means. 1 ' Smithers proferred his assistance in any way in his power, and accordingly the lady mounted on his shoulders, his cautious modesty confin- ing her nether garments, so that her taper ancle should not be disclosed to the unhallowed gazing of a male eye. Harriette, muttering somewhat, of which Smithers only heard the word " bete" sounded the ceiling of the tower with her lance. After making our hero move about all parts of the room, for half an hour at a pretty quick trot, she had the satisfaction of hearing a hollow sound. By probing dex- terously, and in a manner which proved, alas ! that she had too intimate a knowledge of the OK, (.liOKGE IV. 215 general practices of these horrible haunts, she succeeded, in about ten minutes more, during which time she kept Smithers in a posture of uniform steadiness, in touching the spring ; and in an instant down dropped an iron ring, which had been painted of the colour of the ceiling. The whole had been constructed by George III , who, after having been wounded by Margaret Nicholson, became very suspicious, and retired to this almost impregnable tower. It was a secret confided but to few, that he spent most of his time upon this platform, from which he could see from a far distance the per- sons of those who .sought an interview, which was granted or refused, according to the opinion which the King formed of them from personal inspection. She without delay pulled this in- valuable ring, and the trap-door came down, overturning her and her supporter by its weight. She was unhurt, and the injuries 216 WHITEHALL ; which he received were trifling, being no more than the breaking of his nose, and the other- wise general disfiguration of his countenance. His eyes and teeth were providentially unin- jured, and the loss of the ear, which he after wards suffered, was more justly attributable to the ignorance of his surgeon, than to any really important injury received from the slanting descent of the ponderous trap. The ether poured down from above ; and from the moon, reigning predominant in heaven, there gushed a flood of glory almost rivalling the solar ray. O ! luminary of the night ! why do no poets sing thy praises ? Why have we no sonnets beginning with, O Moon ! — no hymns, which by their being printed with capital letters at their beginnings, are generally considered to be verse ? Why does Lord Byron content himself with saying, " Hail, Moon," &c. ? Hut thus it is with retiring modesty ; it is Oil, GEORGE IV. ill~ neglected, while thousands flock to welcome the rising sun.* By the aid of Smithers, Harriette mounted, and speedily got out on the narrow platform on the summit of the Tower ; but Smithers could not follow her, and besides, a constitutional malady had always affected him in the Iliac re- gions, whenever he heard the noise of fight. Harriette, he thought in his magnanimous bosom, stands as lonely in the world, as she does now on the lofty apex of this solitary tower. If a casual ball deprive her of life, her loss is no more felt in society than that of a drop of water from the expansive bosom of the billowy sea. But in my case, my life is va- luable, and if I fell, it would be not as if a drop were lost, but as if the vast estuary of the Amazons was forbidden to roll its mighty tide * Vide Sanctum Stephanum, passim. Tractat. var. de Rattibus, Whiggibus, Toribusque. p. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, — usque ad 750. Voluminibb. annuar. 218 W HITEHALL ; into the breast of the Atlantic. I shall therefore stay where I am. Having thus resolved, he remained in quiet- ness, awaiting the report of the maiden on the castle top. She had, indeed, a wonderful, per- haps an unparalleled combat to behold. She had taken her position precisely at the most interesting period. The Duke, on proceeding to the ramparts, had ordered the cannon to be pointed on the entrenchments of the besiegers ; but, to his infinite rage and disappointment, he discovered that the Ordnance Department in the general corruption had omitted supplying balls, which they had preferred selling to Astley's, Sadler's Wells, Vauxhall, and other places of entertainment,* where the sanguinary taste of the nation demanded the representation of real battles. • See Price's Drury, Kimble's Garden, Terry and Y.,t. s's Pilot, with many otluis. Consult also Vie PriveV, vol. mi. j). 219. OK, GEOAGE IV. 219 With equal horror he discovered that the sally of the Major had exhausted all the powder. It is in difficulties that the great mind is most easily discerned. With a promptitude not to be expected from ordinary men, his grace ordered that all arms in the armoury should be brought forth, ordering for himself the armour of John of Gaunt. " It is no time, now," said he, on learning that it was no where to be found, " when we are in this dreadful crisis, to make inquiries ; but by Jupiter Stator, I shall, the moment the combat is over, cause such an investigation, as that the person who has secretly carried out this armour, will wish he had never been born." Unhappy coincidence of sound ! St urges Bourne, who did not catch the whole of the sentence, thought that this last word was his name. lie turned pale, and his teeth chattered with agony. In a moment the Duke had seized him by the collar. 220 WHITEHALL ; " Speak, caitiff," said he— " speak on—" " O, your Grace, your Grace," exclaimed the trembling man, " spare my life, and I'll tell all !" " Brief, then, villain, brief !" " I gave them to an old woman, who carried off also John de Courcy's sword, and Charles Brandon's spear. O spare me ! spare me !" At the mention of De Courcy's sword, the Duke turned pale. " You — dare not name yourself now. The woman was bent with age Qv> " She was, your Grace, she was." " Capless, and shoeless ?" " Yes, your Grace, yes."" " Her hair was grizzled, a sable silver, as List on says ?" " Yes, your Grace, yes." "Die, then, caitiff'!" exclaimed the Duke, and ere the unfortunate victim could say another word, he flung him over the ramparts into the ditch below. The miserable man was heard for OU, GEORGE IV. 221 sonic moments rolling clown the scarp, and a heavy squelch, attended by a cry of despair, an- nounced that his mortal career was o'er. The verdict of the coroner's inquest was, " Found Drowned.' 1 fk This then is the moment. The hour is come," exclaimed the Duke. "Was it this that was meant by the mysterious man to whom I gave a shilling for telling mv fortune in Ram- Alley, Cowcross-street. It must be so. What were the words ? In the white tower, by Courcy's sword, A lovely lady will be gored, Who was much beloved by a lord, And the dark face shall be restored. The sword shall surely pass away, In the hands of bent, shoeless, capless, and grey. I did not understand the last line until now — but how is the sword to get into the Tower ! It is impossible to tell. I'll think no more. Major," he cried, and that functionary advanced. ' ' - WHITEHALL ; The Duke lowered his voice to a whisper — " Major, I can trust you, I hope. 11 " Is it me ?" said the Major ; " why by the holy " " There is no need of swearing. Obey me in this; leave the ramparts and go to the foot of the white tower ; examine the Sepoys on guard, as to whether any person has had access to the dungeon in which she — you know whom I mean — is confined ; and if not, keep the watch yourself, I can depend upon your vigilance, and if any one appear with John De Courcy's sword, ap- prehend that person, be it male or female, old or young; remain there 'till I relieve you in person. Go at once — not a moment is to be lost." The Major obeyed. " Very fine oysters," said he, as he departed. " So I must go looking after a petticoat and a rusty on Id sword, and bating going on outside OR, GEORGE IV. 323 as chape as dirt. Well ! them women, when once they get into a man's head, knock every thing clane out of it — and why shouldn't they, the darlins ?" On arriving at his station, he found that no one had passed the Sepoys, and began to pace up and down before the Tower, sighing occa- sionally when he heard the murmur of the dis- tant fight ; in which his soul yearned to be. The Duke had hastily armed his men with pikes, half-pikes, spontoons, mangonels, mercis- de-dieu, malls, maces, bills, and other instru- ments of ancient war ; the army advanced, ani- mated by the cheering oratory of Mr. Figgins of the common-council. The American toma- hawk again fled with deadly effect ; again the paving stones of the gallant Ravagees, fell en ricochet on the covert way of the Tower. Again the sonorous voice of Germany uttered defiance, and the attack general was made up the glacis, precisely at the moment that Harriette ascended £21 WHITEHALL ; the platform. It was a glorious and spirit- stirring scene, and well worthy of the picture in which it is immortalized by the undying pencil of Day and Martin. " I see," said Harriette, " I see, my Smi- thers, an unheard of sight. The most gal- lant army ever human eye beheld, is attacking this accursed fortress. Who rides in the front upon a grey Arabian, I know not, but I take it to be Death on the pale horse, coming to view the destruction of this devoted Tower. Ah ! who are those? Treuttel and Wurtz, Guten Morgen, mein herren — gliickiiche reise ! I knew those brave bibliopoles, quand j'etais a Paris, aire man Colonel. Behind them march their warlike countrymen. But who flanks them ? Their raven locks hang over their taper shoulders, or their unwashed faces — their coats are green, and nothing but the balmy atmo- sphere shrouds the remainder of their limbs.' 1 " That force, Madam," said Smithers, who OR, GEORGE IV. 225 had, under the care of Dr. Meyrick, made him- self master of all the European uniforms, and whose youthful soul had been, in the Antilles, wonder-stricken by the courage and. wisdom dis- played by the patriarchs* of Spain and Italy, — " that force, Madam, is the far-famed Ravagees : the terror of tyranny in Naples and Cadiz, and of the parishes in London, Westminster, and South wark. What weapons do those heroic men wield ?" " As well as I can see," said the lady, " they brandish stones ; and lo ! this moment a shower of lapidary missiles is falling on the rampart." " More flinty than these missiles," said Smithers, " must be that heart, which " " Truce to sentiment, my lovely mulatto," said Harriette. " What is this that wings through air ? From unseen hands a shower of * Vulgar for Patriots. See Pierce Egan, vol. 35, p. iii. Dick Martin, Orationes, vol. 7, p. 199. Discours de M. le Vicomte Chateaubriand, torn. Go, p. 379. 226 WHITEHALL ; tomahawks comes waving on the wind. Thick as autumnal leaves fall the men on the ban- quette.'" " "What warriors, fair lady," asked Smithers, " stand forward in defence of England's throne ?" " To the right you may see,' 1 she answered, " the Bishops of Salisbury and Durham, girt in episcopal armour, cheering on the troops with a loud huzza. With them are the champions of England : Cribb, potent, though in gout ; Spring, valiant, though in business ; and Scrog- gins, terrific, though in liquor. In the centre, Mon Due, and Lord Goderich, with the judicial authorities of the law : Best, patron of the fray, and Grahame, vigorous in a row. To the left are Birnie, brave and polite, the prince of thief- catchers, linked with the venerable Halls. There attend the Episcopalian Bishop, and the benignant Clements. Various other great men are sprinkled along the wall. Ah ! cruel tomahawk ! thou hast dashed in the forehead of OR, GEORGE IV. 227 Petersham, and his vast quantity of brain is distaining his manly whiskers. An arrow from the rampart transfixes the bosom of the scienti- fic Eady, my friend and physician. Alas ! his specific avails him not now !" and she wept for a moment. But the harsh times of war do not lonff admit of the soft resources of the tender feelings. " He is dead," said she ; " thank Heaven, we still are left Warren and Larnder." " How is the war carried on ?" said Smithers. " Does Fortune adverse, or prosperous, wait on the besiegers ?" " Your question is this moment answered," replied his friend. " Victoria ! Victoria ! We are free. Chief Baron Alexander, after nVhtinn- valorously, is obliged to fly with the rapidity of a hare : and Romero Alpuente has knocked out the brains of Baron Grahame. Arthur, look to thyself— thou art almost alone. Goderich gives way— Anglesea totters. But what is this ? q 2 228 WHITEHALL ; Thou art alone ! Gallant knight — in vain dost thou strive. The Ravagees have scaled the ramparts, and even now pour in upon thy defence. But useless, it appears, are their pummelings upon thy jointed armour — the paving-stones fly off, and leave thee unhurt. Thou art spattered by the dirt of thine enemies in vain ; it hurts thee not !" " Is the Duke then by himself?" asked Smithers. " Completely. How his faulchion descends like lightning ! There goes a head, there an arm — here is lopped off a thigh, here the grinding steel passes through a yielding trunk. O, Ravagces, Ravagecs, what is this ! You fly before one man : useless are your paving stones ! Alas ! whither do you fly ? Luck- less men, into the angle of the bastion, which you are never doomed to scale ! Hark ! heard you not that cry of horror ? The treacherous earth, hollowed bv the art of the miner, has OR, GEORGE IV. 2$) sunk beneath their tread ; they are hurled down the precipice of five hundred feet deep, and not a Ravagce has escaped to tell the tale. Peace be to their ashes. I cannot help admiring the valour of their conqueror, even though it tells against ourselves." " Is there, then," said Smithers, " no chance for the invading host— are all enveloped in the misfortune of the Ravaeees ?" " Hope" —she cried — " bright, brilliant, elastic hope. The Generalissimo on the white horse, has brought up his heroes to the gate — they have burst it, and Cribb and the Bishop of Chester have been trampled in the entrance. AVith snick-a-snee in hand, they cut, they maim, they hack, they maul. And — a miracle ! ■ A host I did not see before, dark- looking, bearded, and clo-crying, have, as it were, emerged from the earth. Who can they be r " Fair dame," said Smithers, " they must £30 WHITEHALL ; be the descendants of Abraham. But on which side are they. For the King, or against him ? Have you looked in the ' Times 1 of the morning, to see how ran the state of the Money Market ? An eighth per cent, would make all the dif- ference." " I have not seen the ' Times,' " said Harriette, " the paper I read is the ' Post,' in which the only part I look at is the fashionable arrivals. But thev are here against the Kinff. One of them •/CD o has fallen : an ancient Rabbi, to all appear- ance." She was right in all she said. The Jews, while the other armies were en- gaged, had been actively employing their jemmies in picking the lock of a low sally-port, and after some time, had succeeded. They emerged, jemmy in hand, shouting as we have already observed, and as Harriette remarked, their ancient war-cry of, " Clo, clo." The part where they entered was slightly guarded, OK, GEORGE IV. 231 and they drove in the picquets before them. A parting- shot, however, from a catapult, hastily erected by Mr. Galloway, who had just de- serted from the Greeks, hit Coleridge in the forehead, and in a few moments he breathed his last. He died as he had lived." " We are told," slowly snuffled he, " that the swan floating upon the beautiful bosom of the river Cayster, emits its musical note once only, and that once, when seized upon by the icy and inevitable hand of death. It is a magnificent and sublime fiction, if it be a fiction, which I doubt ; for the marvellous of nature hath always appeared to me much more probable than what the prosaic men of an unpoetic age have looked upon to be the common and every-day workings of human life — as if they, prosaic as they are, and regarding things merely as they are in detail, without referring to the original impulses, the holy radiances, the metaphysical naturalities, from which all things flow, could tell 2352 WHITEHALL; whether any thing in detail, even that which they saw before them existing, existed or not ; much less were the every-day workings of that incom- prehensible thing, called life or not — I say, waving further discussion on this parenthetical point, I mean parenthetical in form, though thematic in substance, and taking'it for granted, protesting for ever, nevertheless, against the assumption, that it is merely a fiction — it is one of those sublime and magnificent fictionsjwhich in their essence truth, are by their adornment exalted into something not greater than truth ; for truth is greatest ; but into something which, by the strangeness of the garb, i. e. the imaginative clothings in which it is conveyed, is calculated to take a firmer hold upon th mind, than if that which it meant — supposing it a mere allegorical fiction, an interpretation against which I have already protested — had been conveyed in its abstract form, viz. that pure souls, typified by white swans, never utter such words of hope and glory, OK, GEORGE IV. 233 typified by song, as at the moment of death. Therefore, as I shall explain hereafter— but, for God's sake, a glass of brandy and water — there- fore, when we consider the ramifications of idea, that idiosyn " He died : Gillman, of Highgate, sorrowed at his death : and the grief descended the hill as far as the Castle, the hotel of the ingenious Carter, as thou enterest the slope of Kentish Town. " There appears to be anew manoeuvre going forward, 11 says Harriette ; " the Germans seem puzzled ; they have got between two walls, and cannot scale the second. The General- issimo is ordering a horrid instrument for- ward, which he is pushing against the wall. What can it be ?" " A battering ram," said Smithers. " O, yes," said she, " I perceive who are the corps appointed to play the ram. Well 23i WHITEHALL ; done, Sir Jacob Astley ! But where are the Jews ? Has the banner of Judah departed ?" She well might ask, for it was nowhere to be seen ; as usual the tribes had gone into dis- persion. It was impossible to keep them to- gether, for each went in quest of swag and toggery* A great opportunity was thus lost. While they were in quest of antiquarian breeches, and. antediluvian coats — while their fingers were nimbly examining, whether a half- penny lurked in the pocket, or a note had carelessly remained in a fob — the Germans had established themselves in the space between the two glacis of the Tower, and were heard at work battering at the inner rampart. Had the tribe of Judah been at its post, its lion banner, the ancient inexpressibles, might have witnessed a * Hebrew for plunder, and old clothes. See Jon Eee's Hebrew Lexicon. Also Collectanea Solomonica, and the Reverend Hartwell Home. OK, GEORGE IV. 235 victory over the host of Wellington. But they loitered too long over the prey, and the moment was lost for ever. Suddenly a cry was raised that the Tower was won, and the Americans ad- vanced, perfectly convinced that there was now no danger ; and, according to the usual custom of that chivalrous nation, they went forward slick right away, pretty considerable and tar- nation valiant, we calculate, in the manner of him never to be named without honour and glory.* Fate, however, had doomed their speedy destruction. The military tactics of the Duke were never so conspicuously displayed as on this great and trying occasion. He had, in fact, suffered the Germans to get into the hollow gully between the two ramparts, not fearing the efforts of the knights of the ram, at least, for some hours, on * Vide Johnium vel potius Jackium Reevium apud Adelphiura extra Templum Barrium,coramTerryetyatesium horis post meridian, post haust, sumpt. 236 Whitehall; the granite surface of the inner wall, which was built with blocks brought from the Giant's Causeway. It was at his instigation too that the deceitful cry was raised, which seduced the Americans forward. The Yankees, precipi- tating themselves hastily on the rear of the Ger- mans, occasioned much squeezing and confusion ; and while this was at its height, while Sam Rogers was in vain endeavouring to restore order, Sir Gregor Mac Gregor was sent for- ward to delude the Jews into that fatal pass. The talent of that great man, and his interest with the Hebrews, soon succeeded. " Sheenies ! Sheenies !" cried he, "a fence, a fence !" The cry was sufficient. In a moment the Israelites rushed forward from all quarters, loaded with the trophies of their dexterity, to the supposed place of deposit. A loud rustling of silks and corduroys, flannels and muslins, broadcloth and drugget, felt and beaver, announced their arrival, as, loudly shouting — " Who'll puy, who'll puy ? OR, GEORGE IV. 237 foivety pe-shent under cosht ; traps and toggery, traps and toggery, who'll puy, who'll puy !" they entered the press ; while Sir Gregor, with as much adroitness as he displayed at Portohello, evaded them, by climbing up the wall. In a moment the Duke drew up a strong battalion of Jarveys* at the end of the pass, so as to op- pose all lateral egress, and by an echelon move- ment, Sir W. Draper Best, attended by his beloved orderly,-]- Sergeant Wilde, impanelled a strong array of mounted coal-heavers, hastily summoned for the occasion, on the outer ram- part, which was gained without difficulty, as the invaders were all inside; and that distin- guished cavalry, armed with pots of porter, sung * See "The Universal Songster, by Mrs. Hemans." " Jarvey, Jarvey — here am I, your honour." t Dr. Toddy is, as usual, in error, when he derives this word from order. See Transactions of the Court of Com- mon Fleas— Chapters good humour and good man- xrrs,— folio 97, p. 742 and 749. 23S WHITEHALL; out, " Heavy Wet !" looking with stern defiance on the entrapped and devoted army below. The invaders, unable to escape to the right through the bull-headed knights of the whip, repelled by the granite towers in front, and hemmed in behind by Sir William and his coal- heavers, had turned upon themselves, Jew fell by the snick-a-snee of the German, and the jemmy of the Jew, battered out the brain of the Teutonic warrior. The toma- hawk, of Yankee land, descended with fierce impartiality on the pate of sour-crout or of sheeny ; and in turn the juvenile crow-bar, or the shortened sabre of these nations, entered into the cranium or ripped up the jejunal tripe of the Americans. No method of escape presented itself but through the left, and the conclusion demonstrated the danger of that defile. Sam did all that man could do, to bring his army into order. Napoleon at Waterloo, or Nugent at Cadiz, never did more ; but the hand OR, GEORGE TV. 239 of fate was upon him. He was about to ex- perience God's revenge against punning. The influx of the Jews alarmed him, and Sir Gregor's cry led him to remark that " this fence would ruin his defence." But when he saw the mag- nificent coal-heavers, led forward by their ac- tive chief, " Quels superbes chevaux !"" he ex- claimed, " I am done. Best ! Best ! thou hast put me to the worst ! Hadst thou been on foot, I'd have heeded thee not ; but now my case is hopeless, for you are the devil at a charge." 240 WHITEHALL; CHAPTER IV. She died for love, and he for glory. Miss Mitford. While this tumultuous spectacle was passing under the eyes of Harriette, another event, in which, poor maiden ! she had a deeper interest than the fate of kingdoms or the success of armies, was going on behind her. The White Tower was in the rear of the fortress, which enclosed it on the north, south, and west. On the east a rock rose perpendicu- lar and abrupt, to the height of about one hun- dred and fifty feet, which being supposed not UU, GEOIHSE TV. 241 only impregnable but impassable, was not fur- nished with any fortifications, except a small halt-moon or ravelin, hastily thrown up by that gallant prince, John Cade, during his short though chivalrous reign, and which had now mouldered into decay. It was therefore deemed unnecessary, on the one hand, to defend it ; on the other, useless to attempt its attack. We shall soon see that they were at least in some degree mistaken. The mysterious old woman had been, as indeed all the Merrilies family were, much con- nected with smugglers ; and in former times had the command of the party which used to sup- ply the soldiery of the Tower with rum and hoi- lands, at reduced prices, and unreduced strength. In those days, the virtuous Moira, P. T. T. P. governed the fortress, and he was strict and severe, having frequently blown smugglers from the muzzle of the Tower guns, without trial. It was therefore a hazardous undertaking ; but a 2t2 WHITEHALL; ingenuity, stimulated by gain, will effect anything. The idea struck one of the party, a gentleman of the name of Kiddy Harris, who died of a pressure on the jugular vein, one fine morning about eight o'clock, while he was in the act of admiring the architecture of St. Sepulchre's, that something might be made of the Impassible rock, as it was called, and a close investigation soon proved the correctness of his supposition. In the middle of the rock ; about eighty feet from the ground, a tree — Heaven knows where it found the earth to grow from— of consider- able dimensions, sprung upwards. By the help of the newly invented science of aero-pleustics, or kite-flying,* he succeeded, after various ex- periments, in fastening a rope to one of the main branches of the tree, by help of which • Consult Bartholomew Lane, Esq., likewise Nicholas Alley, Esq , not to mention Corn Hill, Esq., also John Viscount Glendine, apud Josephum Millerum, p, 41. Vie Prive'e, Chap. Agiotage, vol. 7. p. 365. OR, GEORGE IV. 243 and the rock itself, Kiddy got up to the oak. "What was his astonishment to find here a cave, invisible both from above and below, in which were some mouldering chairs, a table, and in- struments of refreshment, the shape of which denoted them to be of ancient date. On further examination he discovered that a flight of steps had been hollowed up to the base of the tower, where a small unfenced ledge, of about six feet wide, projected beyond the building, from which only it was accessible by a low iron gate, leading through the guard-room of the Sepoys, into the area of the fortress. This platform was rarely visited ; indeed never but at the annual in- spection by the Lord High Constable, escape or attack on that side being considered, and with some justice, totally out of the question. The opening was barely sufficient to admit one person of moderate dimensions,* and * Of this a singular proof occurred some time after the events of which we treat. Mr. Andrews, an eminent book- B °2 214 WHITEHALL; DO one suspected that it led to any thing. Through this, Kiddy Harris, Mr. Johnstone, and the mysterious old woman, who alone were in the secret, used, on the dark nights of the new moon, to smuggle in contraband commo- 7 CO dities. The male accomplices had long before this time perished; Kiddy as we have related ; Johnstone in single combat with Sir Hudson Lowe, who detected him in an attempt to smug- gle away his interesting captive in a chaise percee from St. Helena. And it was a long while since the old woman employed it, because having been convinced of the impropriety of smuggling by Mrs. Fry, she had given up the practice, and commenced the business — in con- junction with her second paramour (of her first, anon) — of a receiver of stolen goods. An occa- seller, who weighed 38 stone, 71b. 9oz , having attempted to pass thiough, stuck in it, and his associates, fo save their own lives and avoid detection, were obliged to cut him in pieces, which they threw into the Thames, to the great im- provement of the breed of oysters. OH, GEORGE IV. 245 sion came now, however, in which it was neces- sary for her to return to her ancient bye-path. The party which left the Clarendon soon arrived at the Tower by a circuitous route. They dismounted, and let the horses loose, the old woman observing that they had no further use of their services. Two of her pages were waiting in concealment ; they were a pair of interesting young natives of the Cambrian prin- cipality, whom she had nick-named Bubble and Squeak. She repeated, in a low tone, chaunting the musical words of the harmonious Taliesin — " Gwrthodi gwrthodes Ereillo tylles Pan goren gormes Yn mhlymwyd maes Gorwythawg Gyw-wydd." To which, a duo of voices replied, one wamb- ling and bubbling as boiling water over po- tatoes, the other squeaking in the manner of °.4G WHITEHALL? a young pig, when some ingenious youth, in boyish disport, squeezes with pinching finger its caudal appendage — *' Trwy iaith ac elfydd Hhitwch rieddawg wydd Gantaw yn lliiyd A rhwyrtian peblig. Cad ar Haw annafig," And as the notes died away, the two youths were seen creeping on their bellies out of the hole in which they were hidden. This was the biffnal agreed on. " Dicw Jb gyda chivif said the old woman. " Dure a'ch beridithio, argkeyddes" was the dutiful reply. " Taffy,'' said she to the eldest, " have you got the ropes and the kites ?" " Je" bubbled the elder mountaineer. " Diammau" squeaked the younger. " Proceed then," said she, " with your operations " OR, GEORGE IV. 247 The mountaineers went instantly to work, and Lucy and Caesar admired the dexterity with which they made their paper bird soar to the oak, as the eagle soars around their native Snowdon. In five minutes their task was ac- complished : the rope ladder was firmly fixed to the tree. " It is done, then, Pendragon ?" asked the woman. " Je," bubbled the first. " Diammau" squeaked the second, as she pre- sented each with a florin, and having promised one some situation about Manchester Buildings, and the other, the high dignity of Grand Goat of the order of St. Cadwallader (in token of which, she stuck a bunch of leeks in his button- hole), she dismissed them. One bubbled out, " Dyiokcch" — the other squeaked forth, " Duw'n rhzcydd i chzci"— and they vanished down an alley. It has never been heard what became of them. 248 WHITEHALL J " Up, up," said the old woman ; " Ca?sar, you go first." " Me feared, Missis, — you go first, Missis*" said the Ashantee. " Yes, you rascal," replied the old woman-, " you want to look at my legs, do you ? Whether you see them or not, you shall feel them" — and suiting the action to the word, as Harmer, the sheriff's officer, says, she applied her foot with no small energy to the nether ex- tremity of Caesar. Against such arguments it is impossible to reason, and accordingly the murmuring negro mounted the giddy ascent He was followed by the old woman, who oc- casionally pricked him, when he displayed any symptoms of fear, or loitering, with Charles Brandon's spear, which made him advance with no small degree of velocity. Lucy bearing the sword, followed, and they reached the tree without any accident, save the small incon- venience, which the repeated insertion of the OH, GEOKGE TV. 249 half-inch of spear blade occasioned to the gluteal organ of Caesar. On arriving at the cave, the old woman applied to these little orifices, soothing plasters of balmy diachylon, and that being done, drew the rope ladder after her, and the kite to which it was attached. Soon did they ascend the steps, and gain the giddy platform. Lucy was terrified at the dizzy height she had ascended, but " love mastered fear,"* and, with undaunted bosom, she awaited the orders of her mystic guide. Fortune for a moment seemed against them. The Major, tired of watching in front, came forth to pace upon the projecting ledge, just at the moment the old woman was preparing to hitch the ladder, by means of the kite, on a projecting buttress of the Tower. His first impulse was to start back with astonishment. " O, by the powers," said he, " what's that ? Are people peeping up out of the could stone * Sir William Scott, afterwards Lord Towel. 250 WHITEHALL » like musharoons, or my friend, Crofty C raker's cluricaunes ? Well, there's no use in talking, we're dished, front and rear, clane done. The Devil and Dr. Foster is agen us. Who are you, in the name of God ?" " You ought to know me well, Major," replied the old woman, " my blood was near being on your head." In a moment, he recognised her. " Ah, then, Mother Solomons, is it you, after all? Faith, I remember well getting you sentenced to be hanged at the Old Bailey for robbery, in spite of all my friend, Charley Phillips, who gets off more rogues in a month, than any other six of his comrades in a year, and all the illigant swarers you brought out of Petticoat Lane, could do for you, and never did I set my eyes on your ugly mug since you broke prison till this blessed moment." " Shame be on you, for thus glorying in your persecution of the tender female, 11 replied OR, GEOIUili IV. 251 Mrs. Solomons ; " but your hour is come. Do you remember what I said ?•" " Much I care about it," was the answer. " You said, I was to lie dead on the top of an ould rock under a stone jug. But M here he perceived Caesar, who vainly endea- voured to skulk behind the woman. " And so you are here too, my purty black mazzard — yes, faith, nate and genteel you look in your new wig. I thought I locked you up snug with my own fore-paws, but the devil is busy in this Tower to-night. How did you get out ?" " There is no use in asking questions," said the old woman. " Surrender, you are our prisoner'" — and as she spoke, she sprung for- ward, snapt the key of the iron gate out of his hand, turned it in the creaking wards, and then flung the instrument clean over the precipice. The Major, disconcerted as he was, and cut 252 WHITEHALL; off from his Sepoys, soon, however, recovered his native intrepidity. " Surrender I no, ma'am, thank you ! It shall never be said, that I surrendered to an old fence, a black ruffian, and a girl. No, faith, you are my prisoners, and I advise you to submit in pace." With a solemn air the old woman turned to Lucy. " Now is the time ! Unsheath the sword of Courcy." " O blood and fire!' 1 exclaimed the Major, " here's the people the Duke wants. Sur- render, I say, you robbing vagabones. I say, surrender in the King's name." She paid no attention, but proceeded : " Unsheath the sword of Courcy, and slay the jailor of your love." At the word, an expressible enthusiam seized on the beauteous maid. She unsheathed the glittering faulchion, and exclaimed — OR, tlEORGE IV, 253 " Whoever thou art, O man, surrender ! Let not thy blood be on my blade, thy grey hairs upon its haft. I give you quarter if you submit to be bound." " Bound I I never was bound but once, and that was in £50 myself, and two recognizances in £25 each, to keep the pace against a young jack-a-dandy, whose head I broke for im- pertinence, and you're no trading justice, I fancy." " Again, I say, submit. Trifle not with thy life." " Is it in airnest, you are, my darling girl. Do you think, I'd lift a hand agen a lady ? God forbid V " Prepare, then," she said, with a solemn tone, " prepare, unhappy man, to die, 11 and she lifted the sword. " So it must be done, after all ! O, murther — murther — that my father's son should ever raise his arm against a girl, except to take the 25 I WHITEHALL ; jewel round the waist and give her a dozen kisses. Well, I won't hurt the cratur, if I can help it. Come out,'' said he, " tickle- gizzard," drawing his cut-and-thrust, " come out. my old joker — ashamed you are, poor fel- low, that you who was never afeared of a man, should, after thirty years' fighting, be lugged out against a woman." With these words, the reluctant soldier began this strange contest. The strength and practice of the Major, was a counterbalance to the superior instrument of the girl, and the combat much resembled that which takes place at the conclusion of the war of Abrahamides.* He ducked beneath her two handed blows — while the length of her weapon made his thrusts unavailing, or, if by chance a hit took place, it glanced harmless from her impenetrable armour. Fire flashed from the blades and the eves of both, and feats of dexterity, agility, and skill * Vide Quadrupeds, Act II. seen. ult. OR, GEORGE IV. 255 were performed, which, when we consider the narrow stage on which they took place, would have done honour to an O'Shaughnessy. At last, however, she was evidently becoming wearied — which, considering the weight of her sword and armour, is not to be wondered at — when the old woman, watching her oppor- tunity, when the Major's back was turned, slipped one of the ropes of her ladder through his arms, and effectually retained him, while Lucy, rushing forward, ran the sword through his body up to the hilt, wounding Caesar, who stood too close behind, slightly in the abdomen. " Me no luck to-night, 1 ' growled the unreason- able negro, in one of those sulky fits, which blacks occasionally take ; but there was no time to notice him. " That will do, darling," said the dying Ma- jor, "give yourself no more trouble about it. That's a thrust which would puzzle the pope. You have managed your tooth-pick in style. 256 WHITEHALL; Believe the word of an ould soldier, I'm done — going to God with a fair wind at my tail. I don't envy your husband the luck of getting you, my purty posy ; faith, hell have no joke in keeping you quiet." Lucy, awe-struck with what she had done, was mute. The old woman, however, addressed the dying Major : — " Is not my prophecy true, hapless man ? Rememberest thou not my words of might ? * On a cold rock you will lie so snug, Perched at the foot of an old stone jug.' " No, faith,' said the expiring man, " I never stuffed such rubbish into mv head, having no taste for poetry. Lave me die in pace. I won- der, do I remember e'er a prayer at all." At the word prayer, the religious feelings of Caesar, who occasionally assisted his master in preaching, were roused, and forgetful of his wound, which he stuffed with a piece of oakum, OR, GEORGE IV. 257 lie happened to have in his pocket, came for- ward, and taking a hymn-book from his breast, approached the Major. " Oh, Massa," said he, " Massa, you bad Massa, you be in de first page of black book. ' Massa Major, for wicked Massa,' de debil write it wid him own big paw. O, Massa, sing dis hymn wid me. My own good Massa, him was hanged, write it himself. Him is hymn dirty. Tickler measure. u < When de wicked buckra die, Debil him is standy by, Wid a fire in him big eye And a tal, lal, la! Did him drink too much sangree, Wid de girls him make too free.' But you no sing, Massa ?" " Sing I" said the Major, whose spirit was fast departing ; "sing! I ■ wish I was well for five minutes, and I'd make you sing at the M'rong side of your mouth. Why, you noisy s 258 AVHTTEHALL J scoundrel, if you had as much religion in you as a rat, you would not be singing anthems over me, like a cock-raven, but would give me something to drink." His mind here wandered. " Ha !" said he,—" the fight— the Tower— in flames — in water — the rush of steeds." — Reason returned for a moment. " I say," said he, " you mangy mullott, if you were any good, you would bring me a glass of grog, cold, without water." Madness again predominated. " The war rages. Who is that on the grey horse ? Slay him. Smite him down. Put me in the thick of the fight, among the clash of spears. Where is my hauberk ? gird on my morrion. Ha — do you fly ? — On, cowards, on to the breach. Huzza, huzza ! They run, they run !" Here another glimpse of reason flashed upon his mind. " I die an honest ould Protestant, in pace OH, GEORGE IV. 259 with all mankind, barring my inimies, and them I hope the devil will soon have by the back of the poll. As for you, Master Sazer, I give you one hint, which is this ; you'll be hanged, my fine fellow, by the neck, and that soon. I wish I had a dro " " Drop," he would have said, but the rattles of death split the P, and cut off the " drink," that was intended to follow. He did not die unrevenged, in some measure ; for just before his dying moment, he flung with his remaining strength his sword at Mrs. Solomons ; it pierced her side, and she immediately fainted on the platform. Lucy, almost distracted, was near fainting herself, when the old woman suddenly revived. " It was doomed," she faintly said ; " I am here to die. But an hour is given me, and in that hour I have much to do." She then calmly bound up her wounds, and proceeded with her task as if nothing had oc- s 2 2()0 WHITEHALL ; curred. Her grieved companions assisted her in her labours, and ere long the kite had fas- tened the ladder to the top of the White Tower. With hasty step they ascended, and soon stood before the astonished Harriette, just at the moment she asked the question as to the dis- appearance of the Jews. It was not easy, how- ever, to disconcert Harriette. " O, mon Dieu !" she exclaimed, " comme cela est bien drole. How is this ?" " Fair Harriette," said Mrs. Solomons, " we have no leisure now to explain. You shall know in due time. Where is Mr. Smithers ?" " Below," she answered, " in the topmost donjon." " Let us then descend to him without delay ; we come to free him and you. 1 ' " Je vous remercie, ma chcre ; but so odd a figure, I never " " No words," said the peremptory matron. Awed into submission, Harriette sprung Oil, tiEOKGE IV. 261 down, and the whole party followed. Who can paint the emotion of Smithers ? Astonish- ment at the descent as it were from the clouds — wonderment at the strange condition of Caesar — amazement at the sibylline figure of the hag, occupied his mind in an instant. But all other feelings were swallowed up when he recognized his love. He asked not how she came ; he of- fered no conjecture as to her warlike gear— her blood-stained sword ; he inquired not as to her strange attendant ; he sympathised not with his bemauled slave ; there she stood, the idol of his affections — the treasured vision of his soul, and all else was forgotten. In a trans- port of joy he clasped her in his arms, he pressed her yielding lips to his, he strained her in a close and rapturous embrace. What were at such a moment to him or to her, the chilly forms of society, the damping decrees of decorum ? Nothing. The old woman, who gazed upon him with °.(j°. R HIT EH ALL ; intense affection, permitted the lovers a few minutes of enjoyment. She herself had once loved, and she now felt for others. Caesar, for- getting his wounds, danced around in an agony of joy. But there was another in the dungeon, to whom the sight brought any thing but hap- piness. It was the hapless Harriette. Rage, first, then grief, took possession of her soul. She seized the whinyard of John de Courcy, which Lucy had dropped in the ardour of her embrace, and at first lifted it to smite her rival, ay, and even her lovely mulatto. But this was no more than a momentary fit ; calmer thoughts succeeded, and the silent tear trickled down her pallid cheek. Unnoticed by the rest, she gazed with a transport of despair, on the entwined lovers. " What !" thought she, in this her altered mood ; " slay him ! Shed the blood of him on whom 1 doat with a devoted attachment ! O ? wicked woman, to suffer such an idea to cross OR, GEORGE IV. 2G3 your mind, even for a seeond. Slay her ! no, no ; too blessed woman, your life is safe. Why should I render him unhappy, why deprive him of the object on which his affections are placed? Live, then, fortunate rival. I will not entail misery on him, for whom I could willingly die. Die ! Happy thought, and for him I will die, and that this moment. 1 ' Such were the tender yet desperate sen- timents of Harriette. Her current of thought, indeed, was habituated to run in the most re- fined and delicate channel. She stepped among the group, with a firm though hurried step. A maniac wildness was in her eye, while the calm determination on death, had stamped a rigid energy on her fea- tures, now paler than the snows of Caucasus. She leant upon De Courcy's sword. The whole would have been a groupe for Raphael or The- odore Lane. The lovers started asunder ; the old woman leant in silence against the wall, and SG-i WHITEHALL ; Caesar, squatting in the manner of the Asia- tics, and Mr. Place, of Charing Cross, scratch- ing his head, awaited the result with open mouth. " A moment," exclaimed Harriette, " but a moment ! I shall not intrude longer on your transports. Smithers, it was a fatal hour that threw thee in my way. Fleeting affections had till then crossed my heart ; but love, burning, glowing, irrepressible love —never before. I thought that my charms — I may speak of them now — charms which royalty had flattered, which had been the toast of a hundred nobles, might have won your affection. I hoped also that the service which I could render you, would have wrought upon you M " Generous woman !" exclaimed Smithers. U J " " Be silent, beloved of my soul, and hear me to the end. I thought I might have enlisted your affections through your gratitude, and my OR, GEORGE IV. 265 day-dreams wove many a fairy scene of bliss, now melted into nothing." She burst into tears. Smithers stammered a few words of consolation ; Lucy had recourse to her smelling bottle, and the old woman to her snuff-box ; and Caesar, dropping his lower jaw still deeper, scratched his head with a more rapid motion. She soon recovered, and re- sumed : " It is done ; Madam, may you be happy ; allow me one kiss from your love. One, only one." Lucy could not speak ; she bowed assent. Smi- thers pressed the cold lip of the girl in silence. " When I lie in death," she continued, " think of me, as one who loved not wisely, but too well. Thus — then — thus — thus !" A cry of horror burst from all, and they rushed forward to prevent the rash purpose, but in vain. With the rapidity of lightning she had thrice plunged the sword in her breast, 2GG WHITEHALL ; and her crimson blood distained her ivory bosom. She died almost in a moment. Her last words were — " John Joseph — Jeremy John " Her last look was on the beauteous eye of Smithers, and in a moment her chaste soul fled to her Creator. A mournful silence ensued, which Mrs. Solo- mons broke. " We have no time now," said she, " for grief. Poor girl ! I knew her when Lord Pon but no matter !" Lucy shed a tear over her hapless rival, and Smithers bit his lip, without saying a word. " Up, Caesar," said the old woman, " up, rascal, we must make you our step-ladder." It was in vain for Caesar to refuse, so first his master, then the old woman, then Lucy, used his shoulders to get upon the summit of the Tower. When there, they deliberated as to what was to be done with Caesar. The old OR, GEOUGE IV. 207 woman proposed leaving him there ; for she argued he might as well be hanged then, as at any other time, and hanged infallibly he would be, when the Duke discovered him with the dead body of Harriette. All the water in the Thames, she said, would not save him. Lucy was neutral, but Smithers pleaded for his faith- ful slave. Caesar's supplications were loud, " He feared the ghost of the dead Missis,' 1 he said, and howled with agony. At last the old woman relented, and lowering a rope, which he fastened under his arm-pits, she pulled him up, with no farther harm than a slight dislocation of the shoulder. 268 WHITEHALL CHAPTER V. At fault ! — Remit your eager speed, Draw up the tightened rein ; Breathe, breathe awhile the impetuous steed, His furious course restrain. Another view ! — Halloo !— Again then we fly, And the speed of our high-mettled coursers we try ; Again ply the whistling lash, Again through the torrent we dash, Down the vale sweep, Climb up the steep, O'er the wall leap. Tally-ho ! Mrs. Hannah More. Woo'd and married and a', Woo'd and married and a' ; And isn't she very well off Who's woo'd and married and a' ? Miss Edoeworth. They descended from the top of the Tower to the platform below, where Smithers noticed, with a grim smile, the stiff and stark body of OR, GEORGE IV. 2G9 his enemy, the Major, and pressed to his heart the hand that did the deed. Thence they reached the cave, where the old woman lay down quite exhausted on the stone floor. " God bless you, my children," she said ; " I have done my business in this world, and my hour is come. John Jeremy, come hither, my beloved, and receive the dying benediction of your grandmother." " My grandmother !" said Smithers, with astonishment. — " Venerated dame, do you speak in earnest ?" " Look here," said she, drawing a lock of curly red hair from her bosom, " this is one of the first locks cut from your father's head." ' : The colour certainly corresponds,"" said our hero. " He had the mark of an anchor burnt in with gunpowder on his left arm, just under the va- riolous cicatrice ?" 270 WHITEHALL; « 'Tis true." " On his right foot there were but four toes — a natural defect ?" " You speak the fact." " Nay, more — read this letter." She handed a rumpled note to our hero, who read it with profound reverence. It ran thus : " Onurd Mother, " This fu lines to let you no Ime live an well thanks be to Godd for the sem. Has got a good berth abord the Praisegodbarebones be- longing to a quaker hows in Livrpool, and Nu York, of the name o Shovel and Slateface, and is bound to the cost of Africa to snap niggars — of wich cattle there's much want now in the West Ingies. " If you cud no anny ship goin to Bonny or Annamaboo, you mite find a sailor to take me sum shurts, an if you cud rise a five poun note, OR, GEORGE IV. 271 so much the better. But don't trubblc yourself about munny only they shirts wud be con- venyent, for cleen linnen is cumfortable here. " Hopping youre well as Ime at this present riting. " I remane " Yr jewtiful sun " till deth " IzZY SiMITHERS. " On lord the Praisegodbarebones " New York Harbor. " July Uh, 1799. " Libberty for ever. Huzza !" It was directed — a To my mother " Mrs. Israel Solomons '* Petticoat Lane " in " London " England." -72 WHITEHALL ; " Yes," said Smithers, visibly affected by tliis interesting document, <; it is his ! The style, the manly sentiments, the peculiar orthography denote the work of Isaac Smithers, my honoured sire. It was on that voyage he kidnapped my mother, beloved woman. What feelings does not this call up. Shovel and Slateface ! Often have I heard him speak of these venerable men. They it was, who, when the Slave Trade was abolished, were so much struck by its horrors, as to raise so potent a cry against it in both hemispheres. To them, too, is the religious bias of my father's mind in his subsequent life to be attributed. To them his pious career in the West Indies, until it was cut off by the rope of the British hangman ! But I must not forget my grandmother." He fell immediately on his knees before her, and she pronounced her avial benediction. Tears flowed from the eyes of Lucy at this touching spectacle. When the agitation of the OR, GEORGE IV. 273 party had somewhat subsided, the old woman continued : " My story is brief. Of gipsy descent, my early life was spent in w r andering with my tribe, which, when I was about fifteen, got into trouble, and was obliged to disperse. I steered, in com- pany with an elder matron, for Wapping, where I fell a victim to the attractive arts, (and three guineas,) of a captain of a collier, whose name I now forget. After remaining with him for about a fortnight, he left me, and I never saw him again. In about four months after, during which time I picked up a precarious existence, my shape denoted that I was destined at that early age soon to become a mother. My charms at this period attracted the eye of Mr. Timothy Smithers, who kept a shop for marine stores, at the corner of Bull Alley, Ratcliffe Highway, and under his roof your father was born." " I shall not fail to visit the hallowed spot," said Smithers, gasping with emotion. T 274 WHITEHALL ; " Mr. Smithers took the child as his own, and baptized him Isaac, in compliment to an out-partner of his, Mr. Isaac, commonly called Mr. Izzy Lazarus. Your grandfather, as I may style him, was a class-leader in the methodist connection, and his picture is to be found in one of the volumes of the Methodist Magazine." " Which volume?" eagerly demanded the hero of our tale. " I forget," she replied, " but I think the thirteenth. His hair was straight and sleek, and his countenance soapy. With him I lived many years, until his dealings attracted the notice of the avaricious magistrates, and the arbitrary order of the ruthless Sir John Sylvester, con- signed him to the Houseof Correction, in which horrid dungeon he died." " Horrible government!" exclaimed Smithers, " no wonder that you are hastening to your fall !" o*., (.f.okci: iv. 275 " I then took up with Mr. Israel Solomons, and embraced the Jewish faith. Ikey, dear, darling Ikey, now in North America, is my son. He has been torn from these a