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 A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION, 
 
 BY ST. GEORGE TUCKER. 
 f) 
 
 Rebellion ! foul dishonouring word 
 
 Whose wrongful blight so oft has stained 
 The holiest cause that tongue or sword 
 
 Of mortal ever lost or gained. 
 How many a spirit, born to bless, 
 
 Hath sunk beneath that withering narnej 
 Whom but a day's, an hour's success, 
 
 Had wafted to eternal fame! 
 
 MOORE. 
 
 RICHMOND, VA.: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY GEORGE M. WEST 
 BOSTON: PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO. 
 
 185?. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, 
 
 By GEORGE M. WEST, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Virginia. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IT is the design of the author, in the following pages, to 
 illustrate the period of our colonial history, to which the 
 story relates, and to show that this early struggle for free- 
 dom was the morning harbinger of that blessed light, 
 which has since shone more and more unto the perfect 
 day. 
 
 Most of the characters introduced have their existence 
 in real history Hansford lived, acted and died in the 
 manner here narrated, and a heart as pure and true as 
 Yirginia Temple's mourned his early doom. 
 
 In one of those quaint old tracts, which the indefati- 
 gable antiquary, Peter Force, has rescued from oblivion, it 
 is stated that Thomas Hansford, although a son of Mars, 
 did sometimes worship at the shrine of Yenus. It was his 
 unwillingness to separate forever from the object of his 
 love that led to his arrest, while lurking near her residence 
 in Gloucester. From the meagre materials furnished by 
 history of the celebrated rebellion of Nathaniel Bacon the 
 following story has been woven. 
 
 It were an object to be desired, both to author and to 
 reader, that the fate of Thomas Hansford had been dif- 
 ferent. This could not be but by a direct violation of 
 history. Yet the lesson taught in this simple story, it 
 is hoped, is not without its uses to humanity. Though 
 Uc5oO.ll 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 vice may triumph for a season, and virtue fail to meet its 
 appropriate reward, yet nothing can confer on the first, nor 
 snatch from the last, that substantial happiness which is 
 ever afforded to the mind conscious of rectitude. The 
 self-conviction which stings the vicious mind would make a 
 diadem a crown of thorns. The mens sibi conscia recti 
 can make a gallows as triumphant as a throne. Such is 
 the moral which the author designs to convey. If a darker 
 punishment awaits the guilty, or a purer reward is in reserve 
 for the virtuous, we must look for them to that righteous 
 Judge, whose hand wields at once the sceptre of mercy and 
 the sword of justice. 
 
 And now having prepared this brief preface, to stand 
 like a portico before his simple edifice, the author would 
 cordially and respectfully make his bow, and invite his 
 guests to enter. If his little volume is read, he will be 
 amply repaid ; if approved, he will be richly rewarded. 
 
HANSFORD. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. , /;, .- , ; : i 
 
 " The rose of England bloomed on Gertrude's cheek ; 
 What though these shades had seen her birth ? Her sire 
 A Briton's independence taught to seek 
 Far western worlds." 
 
 Gertrude of Wyoming. 
 
 AMONG those who had been driven, by the disturbances 
 in England, to seek a more quiet home in the wilds of 
 Virginia, was a gentleman of the name of Temple. An 
 Englishman by birth, he was an unwilling spectator of the 
 revolution which erected the dynasty of Cromwell upon the 
 ruins of the British monarchy. He had never been able to 
 divest his mind of that loyal veneration in which Charles 
 Stuart was held by so many of his subjects, whose better 
 judgments, if consulted, would have prompted them to 
 unite with the revolutionists. But it was a strong principle 
 with that noble party, who have borne in history the dis- 
 tinguished name of Cavaliers, rarely to consult the dictates 
 of reason in questions of ancient prejudice. They preferred 
 rather to err blindly with the long line of their loyal for- 
 bears in submission to tyranny, than to subvert the ancient 
 principles of government in the attainment of freedom. 
 They saw no difference between the knife of the surgeon 
 and the sword of the destroyer between the wholesome 
 medicine, administered to heal, and the deadly poison, 
 given to destroy. 
 
 5 
 
6 HANSFORD : 
 
 Nor are these strong prejudices without their value in the 
 administration of government, while they are absolutely 
 essential to the guidance of a revolution. They retard and 
 moderate those excesses which they cannot entirely control, 
 and even though unable to avoid the descensus Averni, they 
 render that easy descent less fatal and destructive. Nor is 
 there anything in the history of revolutions more beautiful 
 than this steady adherence to ancient principles this faith- 
 ful devotion to a falkn prince, when all others have forsaken 
 ''him* and ifed. While 'man is capable of enjoying the bles- 
 sings of freedom, the memory of Hampden will be cherished 
 and revered ; and yet there is something scarcely less attrac- 
 tive in the disinterested loyalty, the generous self-denial, of 
 the devoted Hyde, who left the comforts of home, the pride 
 of country and the allurements of fame, to join in the lonely 
 wanderings of the banished Stuart. 
 
 When at last the revolution was accomplished, and 
 Charles and the hopes of the Stuarts seemed to sleep in 
 the same bloody grave, Colonel Temple, unwilling longer 
 to remain under the government of a usurper, left England 
 for Yirginia, to enjoy in the quiet retirement of this infant 
 colony, the peace and tranquillity which was denied him at 
 home. From this, the last resting place of the standard 
 of loyalty, he watched the indications of returning peace, 
 and with a proud and grateful heart he hailed the advent 
 of the restoration. For many years an influential member 
 of the House of Burgesses, he at last retired from the busy 
 scenes of political life to his estate in Gloucester, which, 
 with a touching veneration for the past, he called Windsor 
 Hall. Here, happy in the retrospection of a well spent 
 life, and cheered and animated by the affection of a devoted 
 wife and lovely daughter, the old Loyalist looked forward 
 with a tranquil heart to the change which his increasing 
 years warned him could not be far distant. 
 
 His wife, a notable dame of the olden time, who was 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 7 
 
 selected, like the wife of the good vicar, for the qualities 
 which wear best, was one of those thrifty, bountiful bodies, 
 who care but little for the government under which they 
 live, so long as their larders are well stored with provisions, 
 and those around them are happy and contented. Pos- 
 sessed of a good mind, and of a kind heart, she devoted her- 
 self to the true objects of a woman's life, and reigned supreme 
 at home. Even when her husband had boen immersed in 
 the cares and stirring events of the revolution, and she 
 was forced to hear the many causes of complaint urged 
 against the government and stoutly combatted by the 
 Colonel, the good dame had felt far more interest in market 
 money than in ship money in the neatness of her own 
 chamber, than in the purity of the Star Chamber and, in 
 short, forgot the great principles of political economy in her 
 love for the more practical science of domestic economy. 
 We have said that at home Mrs. Temple reigned supreme, 
 and so indeed she did. Although the good Colonel held 
 the reins, she showed him the way to go, and though he 
 was the nominal ruler of his little household, she was the 
 power behind the throne, which even the throne submis- 
 sively acknowledged to be greater than itself. 
 
 Yet, for all this, Mrs. Temple was an excellent woman, 
 and devoted to her husband's interests. Perhaps it was but 
 natural that, although with a willing heart, and without a 
 murmur, she had accompanied him to Virginia, she should, 
 with a laudable desire to impress him with her real worth, 
 advert more frequently than was agreeable to the heavy 
 sacrifice which she had made. Nay more, we have but 
 little doubt that the bustle and self-annoyance, the flurry 
 and bluster, which always attended her domestic prepara- 
 tions, were considered as a requisite condiment to give relish 
 to her food. We are at least certain of this, that her fre- 
 quent strictures on the dress, and criticisms on the manners 
 of her husband, arose from her real pride, and from her 
 
S HANSFORD : 
 
 desire that to the world he should appear the noble per- 
 fection which he was to her. This the good Colonel fully 
 understood, and though sometimes chafed by her incessant 
 taunts, he knew her real worth, and had long since learned 
 to wear his fetters as an ornament. 
 
 Since their arrival in Virginia, Heaven had blessed the 
 happy pair with a lovely daughter a bliss for which they 
 long had hoped and prayed, but hoped and prayed in vain. 
 If hope deferred, however, maketh the heart sick, it loses 
 none of its freshness and delight when it is at last realized, 
 and the fond hearts of her parents were overflowing with 
 love for this their only child. At the time at which our 
 story commences, Yirginia Temple (she was called after 
 the fair young colony which gave her birth) had just com- 
 pleted her nineteenth year. Reared for the most part in 
 the retirement of the country, she was probably not pos- 
 sessed of those artificial manners, which disguise rather 
 than adorn the gay butterflies that flutter in the fashionable 
 world, and which passes for refinement ; but such conven- 
 tional proprieties no more resemble the innate refinement 
 of soul which nature alone can impart, than the plastered 
 rouge of an old faded dowager resembles the native rose 
 which blushes on a healthful maiden's cheek. There was 
 in lieu of all this, in the character of Virginia Temple, a 
 freshness of feeling and artless frankness, and withal a 
 refined delicacy of sentiment and expression, which made 
 the fair young girl the pride and the ornament of the little 
 circle in which she moved. 
 
 Under the kind tuition of her father, who, in his retired 
 life, delighted to train her mind in wholesome knowledge, 
 she possessed a great advantage over the large majority of 
 her sex, whose education, at that early period, was wofully 
 deficient. Some there were indeed (and in this respect the 
 world has not changed much in the last two centuries), who 
 were tempted to sneer at accomplishments superior to their 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 9 
 
 own, and to hint that a book-worm and a bluestocking 
 would never make a useful wife. But such envious insinu- 
 ations were overcome by the care of her judicious mother, 
 who spared no pains to rear her as a useful as well as an 
 accomplished woman. With such a fortunate education, 
 Virginia grew up intelligent, useful and beloved j and her 
 good old father used often to say, in his bland, gentle man- 
 ner, that he knew not whether his little Jeanie was more 
 attractive when, with her favorite authors, she stored her 
 mind with refined and noble sentiments, or when, in her 
 little check apron and plain gingham dress, she assisted her 
 busy mother in the preparation of pickles and preserves. 
 
 There was another source of happiness to the fair Vir- 
 ginia, in which she will be more apt to secure the sympathy 
 of our gentler readers. Among the numerous suitors who 
 sought her hand, was one who had early gained her heart, 
 and with none of the cruel crosses, as yet, which the young 
 and inexperienced think add piquancy to the bliss of love ; 
 with the full consent of her parents, she had candidly 
 acknowledged her preference, and plighted her troth, with 
 all the sincerity of her young heart, to the noble, the gen- 
 erous, the brave Thomas Hansford. 
 
10 HANSFORD: 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Heaven forming each on other to depend, 
 A master, or a servant, or a friend, 
 Bids each on other for assistance call, 
 Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all. 
 Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally 
 The common interest, or endear the tie. 
 To these we owe true friendship, love sincere, 
 Each homefelt joy that life inherits here." 
 
 Essay on Man. 
 
 BEGIRT with love and blessed with contentment, the little 
 family at Windsor Hall led a life of quiet, unobtrusive 
 happiness. In truth, if there be a combination of circum- 
 stances peculiarly propitious to happiness, it will be found 
 to cluster around one of those old colonial plantations, 
 which formed each within itself a little independent barony. 
 There first was the proprietor, the feudal lord, proud of his 
 Anglo-Saxon blood, whose ambition was power and per- 
 sonal freedom, and whose highest idea of wealth was in the 
 possession of the soil he cultivated. A proud feeling was 
 it, truly, to claim a portion of God's earth as his own ; to 
 stand upon his own land, and looking around, see his broad 
 acres bounded only by the blue horizon walls,* and feel in 
 its full force the whole truth of the old law maxim, that he 
 owned not only the surface of the soil, but even to the cen- 
 tre of the earth, and the zenith of the heavens, f There 
 can be but little doubt that the feelings suggested by such 
 
 * The immense grants taken up by early patentees, in this country, 
 justifies this language, which might otherwise seem an extravagant 
 hyperbole. 
 
 f Cujua est solum, ejus est usque ad ccelum. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 11 
 
 reflections are in the highest degree favorable to the develop- 
 ment of individual freedom, so peculiar to the Anglo-Saxon 
 race, and so stoutly maintained, especially among an agri- 
 cultural people. This respect for the ownership of land is 
 illustrated by the earliest legislation, which held sacred the 
 title to the soil even from the grasp of the law, and which 
 often restrained the freeholder from alienating his land from 
 the lordly but unborn aristocrat to whom it should descend. 
 Next in the scale of importance in this little baronial 
 society, were the indented servants, who, either for felony 
 or treason, were sent over to the colony, and bound for a 
 term of years to some one of the planters. In some cases, 
 too, the poverty of the emigrant induced him to submit 
 voluntarily to indentures with the captain of the ship which 
 brought him to the colony, as some compensation for his 
 passage. These servants, we learn, had certain privileges 
 accorded to them, which were not enjoyed by the slave : 
 the service of the former was only temporary, and after the 
 expiration of their term they became free citizens of the 
 colony. The female servants, too, were limited in their 
 duties to such employments as are generally assigned to 
 women, such as cooking, washing and housework ; while it 
 was not unusual to see the negro women, as even now, in 
 many portions of the State, managing the plough, hoeing 
 the maize, worming and stripping the tobacco, and harvest- 
 ing the grain. The colonists had long remonstrated against 
 the system of indented servants, and denounced the policy 
 which thus foisted upon an infant colony the felons and the 
 refuse population of the mother country. But, as was too 
 often the case, their petitions and remonstrances were 
 treated with neglect, or spurned with contempt. Besides 
 being distasteful to them as freemen and Cavaliers, the 
 indented servants had already evinced a restlessness under 
 restraint, which made them dangerous members of the body 
 politic. In 1662, a servile insurrection was secretly organ- 
 
12 HANSFORD : 
 
 ized, which had well nigh proved fatal to the colony. The 
 conspiracy was however betrayed by a certain John Berken- 
 head, one of the leaders in the movement, who was incited 
 to the revelation by the hope of reward for his treachery ; 
 nor was the hope vain. Grateful for their deliverance, the 
 Assembly voted this man his liberty, compensated his mas- 
 ter for the loss of his services, and still further rewarded 
 him by a bounty of five thousand pounds of tobacco. Of 
 this reckless and abandoned wretch, we will have much to 
 say hereafter. 
 
 Another feature in this patriarchal system of government 
 was the right of property in those inferior races of men, who 
 from their nature are incapable of a high degree of liberty, 
 and find their greatest development, and their truest happi- 
 ness, in a condition of servitude. Liberty is at last a 
 reward to be attained after a long struggle, and not the 
 inherent right of every man. It is the sword which becomes 
 a weapon of power and defence in the hands of the strong, 
 brave, rational man, but a dangerous plaything when 
 entrusted to the hands of madmen or children. And thus, 
 by the mysterious government of Him, who rules the earth 
 in righteousness, has it been wisely ordained, that they only 
 who are worthy of freedom shall permanently possess it. 
 
 The mutual relations established by the institution of 
 domestic slavery were beneficial to both parties concerned. 
 The Anglo-Saxon baron possessed power, which he has 
 ever craved, and concentration and unity of will, which was 
 essential to its maintenance. But that power was tempered, 
 and that will controlled, by the powerful motives of policy, 
 as well as by the dictates of justice and mercy. The Afri- 
 can serf, on the other hand, was reduced to slavery, which, 
 from his very nature, he is incapable of despising ; and an 
 implicit obedience to the will of his master was essential to 
 the preservation of the relation. But he, too, derived 
 benefits from the institution, which he has never acquired in 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 13 
 
 any other condition ; and trusting to the justice, and relying 
 on the power of his master to provide for his wants, he 
 lived a contented and therefore a happy life. Improvident 
 himself by nature, his children were reared without his care, 
 through the helpjess period of infancy, while he was soothed 
 and cheered in the hours of sickness, and protected and 
 supported in his declining years. The history of the world 
 does not furnish another example of a laboring class who 
 could rely with confidence on such wages as competency and 
 contentment. 
 
 In a new colony, where there was but little attraction as 
 yet, for tradesmen to emigrate, the home of the planter be- 
 came still more isolated and independent. Every land- 
 holder had not only the slaves to cultivate his soil and to 
 attend to his immediate wants, but he had also slaves edu- 
 cated and skilled in various trades. Thus, in this busy hive, 
 the blaze of the forge was seen and the sound of the anvil 
 was heard, in repairing the different tools and utensils of 
 the farm ; the shoemaker was found at his last, the spinster 
 at her wheel, and the weaver at the loom. Nor has this 
 system of independent reliance on a plantation for its own 
 supplies been entirely superseded at the present day. There 
 may still be found, in some sections of Virginia, plantations 
 conducted on this principle, where the fleece is sheared, and 
 the wool is carded, spun, woven and made into clothing by 
 domestic labor, and where a few groceries and finer fabrics 
 of clothing are all that are required, by the independent 
 planter, from the busy world beyond his little domain. 
 
 Numerous as were the duties and responsibilities that 
 devolved upon the planter, he met them with cheerfulness 
 and discharged them with faithfulness. The dignity of the 
 master was blended with the kind attention of the friend on 
 the one hand, and the obedience of the slave, with the 
 fidelity of a grateful dependent, on the other. And thus 
 was illustrated, in their true beauty, the blessings of that 
 
 2 
 
14 HANSFORD: 
 
 much abused but happy institution, which should ever 
 remain, as it has ever been placed by the commentators of 
 our law, next in position, as it is in interest, to the tender 
 relation of parent and child. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " An old worshipful gentleman, who had a great estate, 
 That kept a brave old house at a bountiful rate, 
 With an old lady whose anger one word assuages, 
 Like an old courtier of the queen's, 
 And the queen's old courtier." 
 
 Old Ballad. 
 
 A PLEASANT home was that old Windsor Hall, with its 
 broad fields in cultivation around it, and the dense virgin 
 forest screening it from distant view, with the carefully 
 shaven sward on the velvet lawn in front, and the tall forest 
 poplars standing like sentries in front of the house, and the 
 venerable old oak tree at the side, with the rural wooden 
 bench beneath it, where Hansford and Virginia used to sit 
 and dream of future happiness, while the tame birds were 
 singing sweetly to their mates in the green branches above 
 them. And the house, too, with its quaint old frame, its 
 narrow windows, and its substantial furniture, all brought 
 from England and put down here in this new land for the 
 comfort of the loyal old colonist. It had been there for 
 years, that old house, and the moss and lichen had fastened 
 on its shelving roof, and the luxuriant vine had been trained 
 to clamber closely by its sides, exposing its red trumpet 
 flowers to the sun ; while the gay humming-bird, with her 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 15 
 
 pretty dress of green and gold, sucked their honey with her 
 long bill, and fluttered her little wings in the mild air so 
 swiftly that you could scarcely see them. Then there was 
 that rude but comfortable old porch, destined to as many 
 uses as the chest of drawers in the tavern of the Deserted 
 Tillage. Protected by its sheltering roof alike from rain 
 and sunshine, it was often used, in the mild summer weather, 
 as a favorite sitting-room, and sometimes, too, converted 
 into a dining-room. There, too, might be seen, suspended 
 from the nails and wooden pegs driven into the locust pil- 
 lars, long specimen ears of corn, samples of grain, and 
 different garden seeds tied up in little linen bags ; and in 
 the strange medley, Mrs. Temple had hung some long 
 strings of red pepper-pods, sovereign specifics in cases of 
 sore throat, but which seemed, among so many objects 
 of greater interest, to blush with shame at their own inferi- 
 ority. It was not yet the season when the broad tobacco 
 leaf, brown with the fire of curing, was exhibited, and 
 formed the chief staple of conversation, as well as of trade, 
 with the old crony planters. The wonderful plant was just 
 beginning to suffer from the encroaches of the worm, the 
 only animal, save man, which is life-proof against the deadly 
 nicotine of this cultivated poison. 
 
 In this old porch the little family was gathered on a 
 beautiful evening towards the close of June, in the year 
 1676. The sun, not yet set, was just sinking below the tall 
 forest, and was dancing and flickering gleefully among the 
 trees, as if rejoicing that he had nearly finished his long 
 day's journey. Colonel Temple had just returned from his 
 evening survey of his broad fields of tobacco, and was 
 quietly smoking his pipe, for, like most of his fellow colo- 
 nists, he was an inveterate consumer of this home produc- 
 tion. His good wife was engaged in knitting, an occupation 
 now almost fallen into disuse among ladies, but then a very 
 essential part of the duties of a large plantation. Virginia, 
 
16 HANSFORD : 
 
 with her tambour frame before her, but which she had neg- 
 lected iii the reverie of her own thoughts, was caressing the 
 noble St. Bernard dog which lay at her feet, who returned 
 her caresses by a grateful whine, as he licked the small 
 white hand of his mistress. This dog, a fine specimen of 
 that noble breed, was a present from Hansford, and for that 
 reason, as well as for his intrinsic merits, was highly prized, 
 and became her constant companion in her woodland ram- 
 bles in search of health and wild flowers. With all the 
 vanity of a conscious favorite, Nestor regarded with well 
 bred contempt the hounds that skulked in couples about the 
 yard, in anxious readiness for the next chase. 
 
 As the young girl was thus engaged, there was an air of 
 sadness in her whole mien such a stranger to her usually 
 bright, happy face, that it did not escape her father's 
 notice. 
 
 " Why, Jeanie," he said, in the tender manner which he 
 always used towards her, " you are strangely silent this 
 evening. Has anything gone wrong with my little daugh- 
 ter ?" 
 
 " No, father," she replied, " at least nothing that I am 
 conscious of. We cannot be always gay or sad at our 
 pleasure, you know." 
 
 " Nay, but at least," said the old gentleman, " Nestor has 
 been disobedient, or old Giles is sick, or you have been 
 working yourself into a sentimental sadness over Lady Wil- 
 loughby's* troubles." 
 
 " No, dear 'father ; though, in reality, that melancholy 
 story might well move a stouter beart than mine. " 
 
 "Well, confess then," said her father, "that, like the 
 young French gentleman in Prince Arthur's days, you are 
 sad as night only for wantonness. But what say you, 
 
 * I have taken those beautiful memoirs, now known to be the produc- 
 tion of a modern pen, to be genuine. Their truthfulness to nature cer- 
 tainly will justify me in such a liberty. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 17 
 
 mother, has anything gone wrong in household affairs to 
 cross Virginia ?" 
 
 " No, Mr. Temple," said the old lady. " Certainly, if 
 Virginia is cast down at the little she has to do, I don't 
 know what ought to become of me. But that's a matter 
 of little consequence. Old people have had their day, and 
 needn't expect much sympathy." 
 
 " Indeed, dear mother," said Virginia, " I do not com- 
 plain of anything that I have to do. I know that you 
 do not entrust as much to me as you ought, or as I 
 wish. I assure you, that if anything has made me sad, 
 it is not you, dear mother," she added, as she tenderly kissed 
 her mother. 
 
 " Oh, I know that, my dear ; but your father seems to 
 delight in always charging me with whatever goes wrong. 
 Goodness knows, I toil from Monday morning till Saturday 
 night for you all, and this is all the thanks I get. And if 
 I were to work my old fingers to the bone, it would be all 
 the same. Well, it won't last always." 
 
 To this assault Colonel Temple knew the best plan was 
 not to reply. He had learned from sad experience the 
 truth of the old adages, that " breath makes fire hotter," 
 and that " the least said is soonest mended." He only 
 signified his consciousness of what had been said by a quiet 
 shrug of the shoulders, and then resumed his conversation 
 with Virginia. 
 
 " Well then, my dear, I am at a loss to conjecture the 
 cause of your sadness, and must throw myself upon your 
 indulgence to tell me or not, as you will. I don't think you 
 ever lost anything by confiding in your old father." 
 
 " I know I never did," said Virginia, with a gentle sigh, 
 " and it is for the very reason that you always make my 
 foolish little sorrows your own, that I am unwilling to 
 trouble you with them. But really, on the present occasion- 
 
 I scarcely know what to tell you. " 
 
 2* 
 
1 8 HANSFORD I 
 
 "Then why that big pearl in your eye?" returned her 
 father. "Ah, you little rogue, I have found you out at 
 last. Mother, I have guessed the riddle. Somebody has 
 not been here as often lately as he should. Now confess, 
 you silly girl, that I have guessed your secret." 
 
 The big tears that swam in his daughter's blue eyes, and 
 then rolling down, dried themselves upon her cheek, told 
 the truth too plainly to justify denial. 
 
 " I really think Virginia has some reason to complain," 
 said her mother. " It is now nearly three weeks since Mr. 
 Hansford was here. A young lawyer's business don't keep 
 him so much employed as to prevent these little courteous 
 attentions." 
 
 " We used to be more attentive in our day, didn't we, 
 old lady ?" said Colonel Temple, as he kissed his good wife's 
 cheek. 
 
 This little demonstration entirely wiped away the remem- 
 brance of her displeasure. She returned the salutation 
 with an affectionate smile, as she replied, 
 
 " Yes, indeed, Henry ; if there was less sentiment, there 
 was more real affection in those days. Love was more in 
 the heart then, and less out of books, than now. " 
 
 " Oh, but we were not without our little sentiments, too. 
 Virginia, it would have done you good to have seen how 
 gaily your mother danced round the May-pole, with her 
 courtly train, as the fair queen of them all ; and how I, all 
 ruffs and velvet, at the head of the boys, and on bended 
 knee, begged her majesty to accept the homage of our loyal 
 hearts. Don't you remember, Bessy, the grand parliament, 
 wher. we voted you eight subsidies, and four fifteenths to be 
 paid in flowers and candy, for your grand coronation ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes !" said the old lady ; " and then the coronation 
 itself, with the throne made of the old master's desk, all 
 nicely carpeted and decorated with flowers and evergreen ; 
 and poor Billy Newton, with his long, solemn face, a paste- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 19 
 
 board mitre, and bis sister's night-gown for a pontifical robe, 
 acting the Archbishop of Canterbury, and placing the crown 
 upon my head !" 
 
 " And the game of Barley-break in the evening," said the 
 Colonel, fairly carried away by the recollections of these old 
 scenes, " when you and I, hand in hand, pretended only to 
 catch the rest, and preferred to remain together thus, in 
 what we called the hell, because we felt that it was a heaven 
 to us."* 
 
 " Oh, fie, for shame!" said the old lady. "Ah, well, 
 they don't have such times now-a-days." 
 
 "No, indeed," said her husband; "old Noll came with 
 his nasal twang and puritanical cant, and dethroned May- 
 queens as well as royal kings, and his amusements were 
 only varied by a change from a hypocritical sermon to a 
 psalm-singing conventicle." 
 
 Thus the old folks chatted on merrily, telling old stories, 
 which, although Yirgnia had heard them a hundred times 
 and knew them all by heart, she loved to hear again. 
 She had almost forgotten her own sadness in this occupa- 
 tion of her mind, when her father said 
 
 " But, Bessy, we had almost forgotten, in our recollec- 
 tions of the past, that our little Jeanie needs cheering up. 
 You should remember, my daughter, that if there were any 
 serious cause for Mr. Hansford's absence, he would have 
 
 * The modern reader will need some explanation of this old game, whose 
 terms seem, to the refined ears of the present day, a little profane. Bar- 
 ley-break resembled a game which I have seen played in my own time, 
 called King Cantelope, but with some striking points of difference. In 
 the old game, the play-ground was divided into three parts of equal size, 
 and the middle of these sections was known by the name of hell. The 
 boy and girl, whose position was in this place, were to attempt, with 
 joined hands, to catch those who should try to pass from one section to 
 the other. As each one was caught, he became a recruit for the couple in 
 the middle, and the last couple who remained uncaught took the places 
 of those in hell, and thus the game commenced again. 
 
20 HANSFORD I 
 
 written to yon. Some trivial circumstance, or some matter 
 of business, has detained him from day to day. He will be 
 here to-morrow, I have no doubt." 
 
 " I know I ought not to feel anxious," said Virginia, her 
 lip quivering with emotion ; " he has so much to do, not 
 only in his profession, but his poor old mother needs his 
 presence a great deal now ; she was far from well when he 
 was last here." 
 
 " Well, I respect him for that," said her mother. " It is 
 too often the case with these young lovers, that when they 
 think of getting married, and doing for themselves, the poor 
 old mothers are laid on the shelf." 
 
 " And yet," continued Virginia, " I have a kind of pre- 
 sentiment that all may not be right with him. I know it is 
 foolish, but I can't I can't help it ?" 
 
 " These presentiments, my child," said her father, who 
 was not without some of the superstition of the time, 
 " although like dreams, often sent by the Almighty for wise 
 purposes, are more often but the phantasies of the imagi- 
 nation. The mind, when unable to account for circum- 
 stances by reason, is apt to torment itself with its own 
 fancy and this is wrong, Jeanie." 
 
 "I know all this," replied Virginia, "and yet have no 
 power to prevent it. But," she added, smiling through her 
 tears, " I will endeavor to be more cheerful, and trust for 
 better things." 
 
 " That's a good girl ; I assure you I would rather hear 
 you laugh once than to see you cry a hundred times," said 
 the old man, repeating a witticism that Virginia had heard 
 ever since her childish trials and tears over broken dolls or 
 tangled hair. The idea was so grotesque and absurd, that 
 the sweet girl laughed until she cried again. 
 
 "Besides," added her father, "I heard yesterday that 
 that pestilent fellow, Bacon, was in arms again, and it may 
 be necessary for Berkeley to use some harsh means to pun- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 21 
 
 ish his insolence. I would not be at all surprised if Hans- 
 ford were engaged in this laudable enterprise." 
 
 " God, in his mercy, forbid," said Virginia, in a faint 
 yoice. 
 
 " And why, my daughter ? Would you shrink from 
 lending the services of him you love to your country, in her 
 hour of need ? 
 
 " But the danger, father!" 
 
 " There can be but little danger JQ an insurrection like 
 this. Strong measures will soon suppress it. Nay, the 
 very show of organized and determined resistance will 
 strike terror into the white hearts of these cowardly knaves. 
 But if this were not so, the duty would be only stronger." 
 
 "Yes, Virginia," said her mother. "No one knows 
 more than I, how hard it is for a woman to sacrifice her 
 selfish love to her country. But in my day we never hesi- 
 tated, and I was happy in my tears, when I saw your father 
 going forth to fight for his king arid country. There was 
 none of your ' God forbid ' then, and you need not expect 
 to be more free from trials than those who have gone 
 before you." 
 
 There was no real unkindness meant in this speech of 
 Mrs. Temple, but, as we have before reminded the reader, 
 she took especial delight in magnifying her own joys and 
 her own trials, and in making an invidious comparison of 
 the present day with her earlier life, always to the prejudice 
 of the former. Tenderly devoted to her daughter, and 
 deeply sympathizing in her distress, she yet could not forego 
 the pleasure of reverting to the time when she too had 
 similar misfortunes, which she had borne with such exem- 
 plary fortitude. To be sure, this heroism existed only in 
 the dear old lady's imagination, for no one gave way to 
 trials with more violent grief than she. Virginia, though 
 accustomed to her mother's peculiar temper, was yet affected 
 by her language, and her tears flowed afresh. 
 
22 HANSFORD : 
 
 " Cheer up,' my daughter," said her father, "these tears 
 are not only unworthy of you, but they are uncalled for 
 now. This is at last but conjecture of mine, and I have no 
 doubt that Hansford is well and as happy as he can be 
 away from you. But you would have proved a sad heroine 
 in the revolution. I don't think you would imitate success- 
 fully the bravery and patriotism of Lady Willoughby, whose 
 memoirs you have been reading. Oh ! that was a day for 
 heroism, when mothers devoted their sons, and wives their 
 husbands, to the cause of England and of loyalty, almost 
 without a tear. " 
 
 "I thank God," said the weeping girl, "that he has not 
 placed me in such trying scenes. With all my admiration 
 for the courage of my ancestors, I have no ambition to suffer 
 their dangers and distress." 
 
 " Well, my dear," replied her father, " I trust you may 
 never be called upon to do so. But if such should be your 
 fate, I also trust that you have a strong heart, which would 
 bear you through the trial. Come now, dry your tears, and 
 let me hear you sing that old favorite of mine, written by 
 poor Dick Lovelace. His Lucasta* must have been some- 
 thing of the same mind as my Yirgiuia, if she reproved him 
 for deserting her for honour." 
 
 " Oh, father, I feel the justice of your rebuke. I know 
 that none but a brave woman deserves the love of a brave 
 man. Will you forgive me ?" 
 
 "Forgive you, my daughter? yes, if you have done 
 anything to be forgiven. Your old father, though his head 
 is turned gray, has still a warm place in his heart for all 
 your distresses, my child ; and that heart will be cold in 
 death before it ceases to feel for you. But come, I must 
 not lose my song, either." 
 
 * The lady to whom the song is addressed. It may be found in Percy's 
 Reliques, or in almost any volume of old English poetry. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 23 
 
 And Virginia, her sweet voice rendered more touchingly 
 beautiful by her emotion, sang the noble lines, which have 
 almost atoned for all the vanity and foppishness of their 
 unhappy author. 
 
 " Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind, 
 
 If from the nunnery 
 Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind, 
 To war and arms I fly. 
 
 " True, a new mistress now I chase, 
 
 The first foe in the field, 
 And with a stronger faith embrace 
 The sword, the horse, the shield. 
 
 " Yet, this inconstancy is such 
 
 As you too shall adore j 
 I had not loved thee, dear, so much, 
 Loved I not honour more !" 
 
 " Yes," repeated the old patriot, as the last notes of the 
 sweet voice died away ; " yes, ' I had not loved thee, dear, 
 so much, loved I not honour more 1' This is the language 
 of the truly noble lover. Without a heart which rises 
 superior to itself, in its devotion to honour, it is impossible 
 to love truly. Love is not a pretty child, to be crowned 
 with roses, and adorned with trinkets, and wooed by soft 
 music. To the truly brave, it is a god to be worshipped, a 
 reward to be attained, and to be attained only in the path 
 of honour 1" 
 
 " I think," said Mrs. Temple, looking towards the wood, 
 " that Yirginia's song acted as an incantation. If I mis- 
 take not, Master Hansford is even now coming to explain 
 his own negligence." 
 
24 HANSFORD I 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Camo there a certain lord, neat, triinly dressed, 
 Fresh as a bridegroom." 
 
 Henry IV. 
 
 IN truth a young man, well mounted on a powerful bay, 
 was seen approaching from the forest, that lay towards 
 Jamestown. Virginia's cheek flushed with pleasure as she 
 thought how soon all her fears would vanish away in the 
 presence of her lover and she laughed confusedly, as her 
 father said, 
 
 " Aye, come dry your tears, you little rogue those eyes 
 are not as bright as Hansford would like to see. Tears are 
 very pretty in poetry and fancy, but when associated with 
 swelled eyes and red noses, they lose something of their 
 sentiment. " 
 
 As the horseman came nearer, however, Virginia found 
 to her great disappointment, that the form was not that of 
 Hansford, and with a deep sigh she went into the house. 
 The stranger, who now drew up to the door, proved to be 
 a young man of about thirty years of age, tall and well- 
 proportioned, his figure displaying at once symmetrical 
 beauty and athletic strength. He was dressed after the 
 fashion of the day, in a handsome velvet doublet, trussed 
 with gay-colored points at the waist to the breeches, which 
 reaching only to the knee, left the finely turned leg well 
 displayed in the closely-fitting white silk stockings. Around 
 his wrists and neck were revealed graceful ruffles of the 
 finest cambric. The heavy boots, which were usually worn 
 by cavaliers, were in this case supplied by shoes fastened 
 with roses of ribands. A handsome sword, with orna- 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 25 
 
 merited hilt, and richly chased scabbard, was secured 
 gracefully by his side in its fringed hanger. The felt hat, 
 whose wide brim was looped up and secured by a gold 
 button in front, completed the costume of the young stranger. 
 The abominable fashion of periwigs, which maintained its 
 reign over the realm of fashion for nearly a century, was 
 just beginning to be introduced into the old country, and 
 had not yet been received as orthodox in the colony. The 
 rich chestnut hair of the stranger fell in abundance over 
 his fine shoulders, and was parted carefully in the middle 
 to display to its full advantage his broad intellectual fore- 
 head. But in compliance with custom, his hair was dressed 
 with the fashionable love-locks, plaited and adorned with 
 ribands, and falling foppishly over either ear. 
 
 But dress, at last, like "rank, is but the guinea's stamp, 
 the man's the gowd for a' that," and in outward appearance 
 at least, the stranger was of no alloyed metal. There was 
 in his air that easy repose and self-possession which is 
 always perceptible in those whose life has been passed in 
 association with the refined and cultivated. But still there 
 was something about his whole manner, which seemed to 
 betray the fact, that this habitual self-possession, this frank 
 and easy carriage was the result of a studied and constant 
 control over his actions, rather than those of a free and 
 ingenuous heart. 
 
 This idea, however, did not strike the simple minded 
 Virginia, as with natural, if not laudable curiosity, she 
 surveyed the handsome young stranger through the win- 
 dow of the hall. The kind greeting of the hospitable old 
 colonel having been given, the stranger dismounted, and 
 the fine bay that he rode was committed to the protecting 
 care of a grinning young African in attendance, who with 
 his feet dangling from the stirrups trotted him off towards 
 the stable. 
 
 "I presume," said the stranger, as they walked towards 
 3 
 
26 HANSFORD : 
 
 the house, " that from the directions I have received, I have 
 the honor of seeing Colonel Temple. It is to the kind- 
 ness of Sir William Berkeley that I owe the pleasure I 
 enjoy in forming your acquaintance, sir," and he handed a 
 letter from his excellency, which the reader may take the 
 liberty of reading with us, over Colonel Temple's shoulder. 
 
 " Right trusty old friend," ran the quaint and formal, yet 
 familiar note. " The bearer of these, Mr. Alfred Bernard, 
 a youth of good and right rare. merit, but lately from Eng- 
 land, and whom by the especial confidence reposed in him 
 from our noble kinsman Lord Berkeley, we have made our 
 private secretary, hath desired acquaintance with some of 
 the established gentlemen in the colony, the better for his 
 own improvement, to have their good society. And in all 
 good faith, there is none, to whom I can more readily com- 
 mend him, than Colonel Henry Temple, with the more per- 
 fect confidence in his desire to oblige him, who is always a3 
 of yore, his right good friend, 
 
 "WILLIAM BERKELEY, Kn't. 
 " From our Palace at Jamestown, June 20, A. D. 1676." 
 
 " It required not this high commendation, my dear sir," 
 said old Temple, pressing his guest cordially by the hand, 
 "to bid you welcome to my poor roof. But I now feel 
 that to be a special honour, which would otherwise be but 
 the natural duty of hospitality. Come, right welcome to 
 Windsor Hall." 
 
 With these words they entered the house, where Alfred 
 Bernard was presented to the ladies, and paid his devoirs 
 with such knightly grace, that Virginia admired, and Mrs. 
 Temple heartily approved, a manner and bearing, which, 
 she whispered to her daughter, was worthy of the old 
 cavalier days before the revolution. Supper was soon an- 
 nounced not the awkward purgatorial meal, perilously 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 27 
 
 poised in cups, and eaten with greasy fingers so dire a foe 
 to comfort and silk dresses but the substantial supper of 
 the olden time. It is far from our intention to enter into 
 minute details, yet we cannot refrain from adverting to the 
 fact that the good old cavalier grace was said by the Colo- 
 iiel, with as much solemnity as his cheerful face would 
 wear that grace which gave such umbrage to the Puritans 
 with their sour visages and long prayers, and which con- 
 sisted of those three expressive words, " God bless us." 
 
 "I have always thought," said the Colonel, apologeti- 
 cally, " that this was enough -for where's the use of praying 
 over our meals, until they get so cold and cheerless, that 
 there is less to be thankful for." 
 
 "Especially," said 'Bernard, chiming in at once with the 
 old man's prejudices, " when this brief language contains 
 all that is necessary for even Omnipotence can but bless 
 us and we may easily leave the mode to Him." 
 
 " Well said, young man, and now come and partake of 
 our homely fare, seasoned with a hearty welcome," said the 
 Colonel, cordially. 
 
 Nor loth was Alfred Bernard to do full justice to the 
 ample store before him. A ride of more than thirty miles 
 had whetted an appetite naturally good, and the youth of 
 "right rare merit," did riot impress his kind host very 
 strongly with his conversational powers during his hearty 
 meal. 
 
 The repast being over, the little party retired to a room, 
 which the old planter was pleased to call his study, but 
 which savored far more of the presence of the sportive 
 Diana, than of the reflecting muses. Over the door, as 
 you entered the room, were fastened the large antlers of 
 some noble deer, who had once bounded freely and grace- 
 fully through his native forest. Those broad branches are 
 now, by a sad fatality, doomed to support the well oiled 
 fowling-piece that laid their wearer low. Fishing tackle, 
 
28 HANSFORD : 
 
 shot- pouches, fox brushes, and other similar evidences and 
 trophies of sport, testified to the Colonel's former delight 
 in angling and the chase ; but now alas I owing to the 
 growing infirmities of age, though he still cherished his 
 pack, and encouraged the sport, he could only start the 
 youngsters in the neighborhood, and give them God speed ! 
 as with horses, hounds, and horns they merrily scampered 
 away in the fresh, early morning. But with his love for 
 these active, manly sports, Colonel Temple was devoted to 
 reading such works as ran with his prejudices, and savored 
 of the most rigid loyalty. His books, indeed, were few, for 
 in that day it was no easy matter to procure books at all, 
 especially for the colonists, who cut off from the great foun- 
 tain of literature which was then just reviving from the 
 severe drought of puritanism, were but sparingly supplied 
 with the means of information. But a few months later 
 than the time of which we write, Sir William Berkeley 
 boasted that education was at a low ebb in Yirginia, and 
 thanked his God that so far there were neither free schools 
 nor printing presses in the colony the first instilling and the 
 last disseminating rebellious sentiments among the people. 
 Yet under all these disadvantages, Colonel Temple was 
 well versed in the literature of the last two reigns, and with 
 some of the more popular works of the present. Shakspeare 
 was his constant companion, and the spring to which he 
 often resorted to draw supplies of wisdom. But Milton 
 was held in especial abhorrence for the prose writings of 
 the eloquent old republican condemned unheard the sub- 
 lime strains of his divine poem. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 29 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 " A man in all the world's new fashion planted, 
 That hath a mint of phrases in his brain ; 
 One, whom the music of his own vain tongue, 
 Doth ravish like enchanting harmony ; 
 A man of compliments." Love's Labor Lost. 
 
 "WELL, Mr. Bernard," said the old Colonel as they 
 entered the room, " take a seat, and let's have a social chat. 
 We old planters don't get a chance often to hear the news 
 from Jamestown, and I am afraid you will find me an 
 inquisitive companion. But first join me in a pipe. There 
 is no greater stimulant to conversation than the smoke of 
 our Virginia weed." 
 
 "You must excuse me," said Bernard, smiling, "I have 
 not yet learned to smoke, although, if I remain in Virginia, 
 I suppose I will have to contract a habit so general here." 
 
 " What, not smoke !" said the old man, in surprise. " Why 
 tobacco is at once the calmer of sorrows, the assuager of 
 excitement ; the companion of solitude, the life of company ; 
 the quickener of fancy, the composer of thought." 
 
 " I had expected," returned Bernard, laughing at his 
 host's enthusiasm, "that so rigid a loyalist as yourself, 
 would be a convert to King James's Counterblast. Have 
 you never read that work of the royal pedant ?" 
 
 " Read it !" cried the Colonel, impetuously. " No I and 
 what's more, with all my loyalty and respect for his mem- 
 ory, I would sooner light my pipe with a page of his Basili- 
 con, than subscribe to the sentiments of his Counterblast." 
 
 "Oh, he had his supporters too," replied Bernard, 
 smiling. " You surely cannot have forgotten the song of 
 
 3* 
 
30 HANSFOIID : 
 
 Cucullus in the Lover's Melancholy ;" and the young man 
 repeated, with mock solemnity, the lines, 
 
 " They that will learn to drink a health in hell, 
 Must learn on earth to take tobacco well. 
 For in hell they drink no wine, nor ale, nor beer, 
 But fire and smoke and stench, as we do here." 
 
 "Well put, my young friend," said Temple, laughing in 
 his turn. " But you should remember that John Ford had 
 to put such a sentiment in the mouth of a Bedlamite. 
 Here, Sandy," he added, kicking a little negro boy, who 
 was nodding in the corner, dreaming, perhaps, of the 
 pleasures of the next 'possum hunt, " Run to the kitchen, 
 Sandy, and bring me a coal of fire." 
 
 " And, now, Mr. Bernard, what is the news political 
 and social in the big world of Jamestown ?" 
 
 "Much to interest you in both respects. It is indeed a 
 part of my duty in this visit, to request that you and the 
 ladies will be present at a grand masque ball to be given 
 on Lady Frances's birth-night." 
 
 "A masque in Virginia I" exclaimed the Colonel, "that 
 will be a novelty indeed ! But the Governor has not the 
 opportunity or the means at hand to prepare it." 
 
 " Oh, yes !" replied Bernard, "we have all determined to 
 do our best. The assembly will be in session, and the 
 good burgesses will aid us, and at any rate if we cannot 
 eclipse old England, we must try to make up in pleasure, 
 what is wanting in brilliancy. I trust Miss Temple will 
 aid us by her presence, which in itself will add both plea- 
 sure and brilliancy to the occasion." 
 
 Virginia blushed slightly at the compliment, and re- 
 plied 
 
 "Indeed, Mr. Bernard, the presence which you seem to 
 esteem so highly depends entirely on my father's permis- 
 sion but I will unite with you in urging that as it is a 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 31 
 
 novelty to me, he will not deny his assent. I should like 
 of all things to go." 
 
 "Well, my daughter, as you please but what says mo- 
 ther to the plan ? You know she is not queen consort only, 
 and she must be consulted." 
 
 "I am sure, Colonel Temple," said the good lady, "that 
 I do as much to please Virginia as you can. To be sure, 
 a masque in Virginia can afford but little pleasure to me, 
 who have seen them in all their glory in England, but 
 I have no doubt it will be all well enough for the young 
 people, and I am always ready to contribute to their 
 amusement." 
 
 " I know that, my dear, and Jeanie can testify to it as 
 well as I. But, Mr. Bernard, what is to be the subject of 
 this masque, and who is the author, or are we to have a 
 rehash of rare Ben Jonson's Golden Age ?" 
 
 " It is to be a kind of parody of that, or rather a bur- 
 lesque ;" replied Bernard, " and is designed to hail the 
 advent of the Restoration, a theme worthy of the genius of 
 a Shakspeare, though, unfortunately, it is now in far hum- 
 bler hands." 
 
 "A noble subject, truly," said the Colonel, "and from 
 your deprecating air, I have no doubt that we are to be 
 indebted to your pen for its production." 
 
 "Partly, sir," returned Bernard, with an assumption of 
 modesty. " It is the joint work of Mr. Hutchinson, the 
 chaplain of his excellency, and myself." 
 
 " Oh ! Mr. Bernard, are you a poet," cried the old lady 
 in admiration; "this is really an honour. Mr. Temple 
 used to write verses when we were young, and although 
 they were never printed, they were far prettier than a great 
 deal of the lovesick nonsense that they make such a fuss 
 about. I was always begging him to publish, but he never 
 would push himself forward, like others with not half his 
 merit." 
 
32 HANSFORD : 
 
 " I do not pretend to any merit, my dear madam," said 
 Bernard, " but I trust that with my rigid loyalty, and par- 
 son Hutchinson's rigid episcopacy, the roundhead puritans 
 will not meet with more favour than they deserve. Neither 
 of us have been long enough in the colony to have learned 
 from observation the taste of the Yirginians, but there is 
 abundant evidence on record that they were the last to 
 desert the cause of loyalty, and to submit to the sway of 
 the puritan Protector." 
 
 " Right, my friend, and she ever will be, or else old 
 Henry Temple will seek out some desolate abode untainted 
 with treason wherein to drag out the remainder of his days." 
 
 " Your loyalty was never more needed," said Bernard ; 
 " for Virginia, I fear, will yet be the scene of a rebellion, 
 which may be but the brief epitome of the revolution." 
 
 "Aye, you refer to this Baconian movement. I had 
 heard that the demagogue was again in arms. But surely 
 you cannot apprehend any danger from such a source." 
 
 " Well, I trust not ; and yet the harmless worm, if left 
 to grow, may acquire fangs. Bacon is eloquent and popu- 
 lar, and has already under his standard some of the very 
 flower of the colony. He must be crushed and crushed at 
 once ; and yet I fear the worst from the clemency and de- 
 lay of Sir William Berkeley." 
 
 " Tell me ; what is his ground of quarrel ?" asked Tem- 
 ple." 
 
 " Why, simply that having taken up arms against the 
 Indians without authority, and enraging them by his in- 
 justice and cruelty, the governor required him to disband 
 the force he had raised. He peremptorily refused, and de- 
 manded a commission from the governor as general-in-chief 
 of the forces of Virginia to prosecute this unholy war." 
 
 "Why unholy?" asked the Colonel. "Rebellious as 
 was his conduct in refusing to lay down his arms at the 
 command of the governor, yet I do not see that it should 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 33 
 
 be deemed unholy to chastise the insolence of these sa- 
 vages." 
 
 " I will tell you, then," replied Bernard. " His avowed 
 design was to avenge the murder of a poor herdsman by a 
 chief of the Doeg tribe- Instead of visiting his vengeance 
 upon the guilty, he turned hi.s whole force against the Sus- 
 quehannahs, a friendly tribe of Indians, and chased them 
 like sheep into one of their forts. Five of the Indians re- 
 lying on the boasted chivalry of the whites, came out of the 
 fort unarmed, to inquire the cause of this unprovoked at- 
 tack. They were answered by a charge of musketry, and 
 basely murdered in cold blood." 
 
 "Monstrous !" cried Temple, with horror. " Such infi- 
 delity will incense the whole Indian race against us and 
 involve the country in another general war. " 
 
 "Exactly so," returned Bernard, "and such is the go- 
 vernor's opinion ; but besides this, it is suspected, and with 
 reason too, that this Indian war is merely a pretext on the 
 part of Bacon and a few of his followers, to cover a deeper 
 and more criminal design. The insolent demagogue prates 
 openly about equal rights, freedom, oppression of the mother 
 country, and such dangerous themes, and it is shrewdly 
 thought that, in his wild dreams of liberty, he is taking 
 Cromwell for his model. He has all of the villainy of 
 the old puritan, and a good deal of his genius and ability. 
 But I beg pardon, ladies, all this politics cannot be very 
 palatable to a lady's taste. We will certainly expect you, 
 Mrs. Temple, to be present at the masque ; and if Miss 
 Virginia would prefer not to play her part in the exhibi- 
 tion, she may still be there to cheer us with her smiles. I 
 can speak for the taste of all gallant young Virginians, that 
 they will readily pardon her for not concealing so fair a 
 face beneath a mask." 
 
 " Ah, I can easily see 1 that you are but lately from Eng- 
 land," said Mrs. Temple, delighted with the gallantry of 
 
34 HANSFORD : 
 
 the young man. " Your speech, fair sir, savours far more 
 of the manners of the court than of these untutored forests. 
 Alas ! it reminds me of my own young days." 
 
 "Well, Mr. Bernard," said the Colonel, interrupting his 
 wife in a reminiscence, which bid fair to exhaust no brief 
 time, "you will find that we have only transplanted old 
 English manners to another soil. 
 
 " ' Coelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt.' " 
 
 11 1 am glad to see," said Bernard, casting an admiring 
 glance at Virginia, " that this new soil you speak of, Colonel 
 Temple, is so favourably adapted to the growth of the 
 fairest flowers." 
 
 " Oh, you must be jesting, Mr. Bernard," said the old 
 lady, " for although I am always begging Virginia to pay 
 more attention to the garden, there are scarcely any flowers 
 there worth speaking of, except a few roses that I planted 
 with my own hands, and a bed of violets." 
 
 "You mistake me, my dear madam," returned Bernard, 
 still gazing on Virginia with an affectation of rapture, " the 
 roses to which I refer bloom on fair young cheeks, and the 
 violets shed their sweetness in the depths of those blue eyes." 
 
 " Oh, you are at your poetry, are you ?" said the old 
 lady. 
 
 " Not if poetry extends her sway only over the realm of 
 fiction," said Bernard, laying his hand upon his heart. 
 
 "Indeed, Mr. Bernard," said Virginia, not displeased at 
 flattery, which however gross it may appear to modern ears, 
 was common with young cavaliers in former days, and rel- 
 ished by the fair damsels, " I have been taught that flowers 
 flourish far better in the cultivated parterre, than in the 
 wild woods. I doubt not that, like Orlando, you are but 
 playing off upon a stranger the sentiments, which, in reality, 
 you reserve for some faithful Rosalind whom you have left 
 in England." 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 35 
 
 " You now surprise me, indeed," returned Bernard, " for 
 do you know that among all the ladies that grace English 
 society, there are but few who ever heard of Rosalind or 
 her Orlando, and know as little of the forest of Ardennes as 
 of your own wild forests in Virginia. " 
 
 "I have heard," said the Colonel, "that old Will Shaks- 
 peare and his cotemporaries peers he has none have been 
 thrown aside for more modern writers, and I fear that 
 England has gained nothing by the exchange. Who is now 
 your prince of song ?" 
 
 " There is a newly risen wit and poet, John Dryden by 
 name, who seems to bear the palm undisputed. Waller is 
 old now, and though he still writes, yet he has lost much 
 of his popularity by his former defection from the cause of 
 loyalty." 
 
 " Well, for my part, give me old wine, old friends and 
 old poets," said the Colonel. " I confess I like a bard to 
 be consecrated by the united plaudits of two or three gene- 
 rations, before I can give him my ready admiration." 
 
 " I should think your acquaintance with Horace would 
 have taught you the fallacy of that taste," said Bernard. 
 "Do you not remember how the old Roman laureate com- 
 plains of the same prejudice existing in his own day, and 
 argues that on such a principle merit could be accorded to 
 no poet, for all must have their admirers among cotempo- 
 raries, else their works would pass into oblivion, before 
 their worth were fairly tested ?" 
 
 " I cannot be far wrong in the present age at least," said 
 Temple, "from what I learn and from what I have myself 
 seen, the literature of the present reign is disgraced by the 
 most gross and libertine sentiments. As the water of a 
 healthful stream if dammed up, stagnates and becomes the 
 fruitful source of unwholesome malaria, and then, when re- 
 leased, rushes forward, spreading disease and death in its 
 course, so the liberal feelings imd manners of old England, 
 
36 HANSFOKD: 
 
 restrained by the rigid puritanism of the Protectorate, at 
 last burst forth in a torrent of disgusting and diseased 
 libertinism." 
 
 Bernard had not an opportunity of replying to this ela- 
 borate simile of the good old Colonel, which, like Fadla- 
 deen, he had often used and still reserved for great oc- 
 casions. Further conversation was here interrupted by a 
 new arrival, which in this case, much to the satisfaction of 
 the fair Yirginia, proved to be the genuine Hansford. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "Speak of Mortimer! 
 
 Zounds, I will speak of him; and let my soul 
 Want mercy, if I do not join with him." 
 
 Henry IV. 
 
 THOMAS HANSFORD, in appearance and demeanour, lost 
 nothing in comparison with the accomplished Bernard. He 
 certainly did not possess in so high a degree the easy 
 assurance which characterized the young courtier, but his 
 self-confidence, blended with a becoming modesty, and his 
 open, ingenuous manners, fully compensated for the differ- 
 ence. There was that in his clear blue eye and pleasant 
 smile which inspired confidence in all whom he approached. 
 Modest and unobtrusive in his expressions of opinion, he 
 was nevertheless firm in their maintenance when announced, 
 and though deferential to superiors in age and position, and 
 respectful to all, he was never servile or obsequious. 
 
 The same kind of difference might be traced in the dress 
 of the two young men, as in their manners. 'With none of 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 3f 
 
 the ostentatious display, which we have described as belong- 
 ing to the costume of Bernard, the attire of Hansford was 
 plain and neat. He was dressed in a grey doublet and 
 breeches, trussed with black silk points. His long hose 
 were of cotton, and his shoes were fastened, not with the 
 gay colored ribbons before described, but with stout leather 
 thongs, such as are still often used in the dress of a country 
 gentleman. His beaver was looped with a plain black 
 button, in front, displaying his fair hair, which was brushed 
 plainly back from his forehead. He, too, wore a sword by 
 his side, but it was fastened, not by handsome fringe and 
 sash, but by a plain belt around his waist. It seemed 
 as though it were worn more for use than ornament. 
 We have been thus particular in describing the dress of 
 these two young men, because, as we have hinted, the con- 
 trast indicated the difference in their characters a differ- 
 ence which will, however, more strikingly appear in the 
 subsequent pages of this narrative. 
 
 " Well, my boy," said old Temple, heartily, " I am glad 
 to see you ; you have been a stranger among us lately, but 
 are none the less welcome on that account. Yet, faith, lad, 
 there was no necessity for whetting our appetite for your 
 company by such a long absence." 
 
 " I have been detained on some business of importance," 
 replied Hansford, with some constraint in his manner. "I 
 am glad, however, my dear sir, that I have not forfeited 
 my welcome by my delay, for no one, I assure you, has had 
 more cause to regret my absence than myself." 
 
 "Better late than never, my boy," said the Colonel. 
 11 Corne, here is a new acquaintance of ours, to whom I 
 wish to introduce you. Mr. Alfred Bernard, Mr. Hans- 
 ford." 
 
 The young men saluted each other respectfully, and 
 Hansford passed on to " metal more attractive." Seated 
 once more by the side of his faithful Virginia, he forgot the 
 
 4 
 
38 HANSFORD : 
 
 presence of all else, and the two lovers were soon deep in 
 conversation, in a low voice. 
 
 " I hope your absence was not caused by your mother's 
 increased sickness," said Virginia. 
 
 " No, dearest, the old lady's health is far better than it 
 has been for some time. But I have many things to tell 
 you which will surprise, if they do not please you." 
 
 " Oh, you have no idea what a fright father gave me this 
 evening," said Virginia. " He told me that you had pro- 
 bably been engaged by the governor to aid in suppressing 
 this rebellion. I fancied that there were already twenty 
 bullets through your body, and made a little fool of myself 
 generally. But if I had known that you were staying away 
 from me so long without any good reason, I would not have 
 been so silly, I assure you." 
 
 " Your care for me, dear girl, is very grateful to my feel- 
 ings, and indeed it makes me very sad to think that I may 
 yet be the cause of so much unhappiness to you." 
 
 " Oh, come now," said the laughing girl, " don't be senti- 
 mental. You men think very little of ladies, if you sup- 
 pose that we are incapable of listening to anything but 
 flattery. Now, there's Mr. Bernard has been calling me 
 flowers, and roses, and violets, ever since he came. For 
 my part, I would rather be loved as a woman, than admired 
 as all the flowers that grow in the world." 
 
 " Who is this Mr. Bernard ?" asked Hansford. 
 
 " He is the Governor's private secretary, and a very nice 
 fellow he seems to be, too. He has more poetry at his 
 finger's ends than you or I ever read, and he is very hand- 
 some, don't you think so ?" 
 
 " It is very well that I did not prolong my absence 
 another day," said Hansford, " or else I might have found 
 my place in your heart supplied by this foppish young 
 fribble."* 
 
 * A coxcomb, a, popinjay. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 39 
 
 " Nay, now, if you are going to be jealous, I will get 
 angry," said Virginia, trying to pout her pretty lips. " But 
 say what you will about him, he is very smart, and what's 
 more, he writes poetry as well as quotes it." 
 
 " And has he told you of all his accomplishments so 
 soon ?" said Hansford, smiling ; " for I hardly suppose you 
 have seen a volume of his works, unless he brought it here 
 with him. What else can he do ? Perhaps he plays the 
 flute, and dances divinely ; and may-be, but for ' the vile 
 guns, he might have been a soldier. ' He looks a good deal 
 like Hotspur's dandy to my eyes." 
 
 " Oh, don't be so ill-natured," said Virginia, " He never 
 would have told about his writing poetry, but father 
 guessed it." 
 
 " Your father must have infinite penetration then," said 
 Hansford, "for I really do not think the young gentleman 
 looks much as though he could tear himself from the mirror 
 long enough to use his pen." 
 
 " Well, but he has written a masque, to be performed 
 day-after-to-morrow night, at the palace, to celebrate Lady 
 Frances' birth-day. Are you not going to the ball. Of 
 course you'll be invited." 
 
 " No, dearest," said Hansford, with a sigh. " Sir Wil- 
 liam Berkeley might give me a more unwelcome welcome 
 than to a masque." 
 
 " What on earth do you mean ?" said Virginia, turning 
 pale with alarm. " You have not " 
 
 " Nay, you shall know all to-morrow," replied Hansford. 
 
 " Tom," cried Colonel Temple, in his loud, merry voice, 
 " stop cooing there, and tell me where you have been all 
 this time. I'll swear, boy, I thought you had been helping 
 Berkeley to put down that d d renegade, Bacon." 
 
 " I am surprised," said Hansford, with a forced, but 
 uneasy smile, " that you should suppose the Governor had 
 entrusted an affair of such moment to me." 
 
40 HANSFORD I 
 
 " Zounds, lad," said the Colonel, " I never dreamed that 
 you were at the head of the expedition. Oh, the vanity of 
 youth ! No, I suppose my good friends, Colonel Ludwell 
 and Major Beverley, are entrusted with the lead. But I 
 thought a subordinate office " 
 
 " You are mistaken altogether, Colonel," said Hansford. 
 " The business which detained me from Windsor Hall had 
 nothing to do with the suppression of this rebellion, and 
 indeed I have not been in Jamestown for some weeks." 
 
 " Well, keep your own counsel then, Tom ; but I trust it 
 was at least business connected with your profession. I 
 like to see a young lawyer give his undivided attention to 
 business. But I doubt me, Tom, that you cheat the law 
 out of some of the six hours that Lord Coke has allotted 
 to her." 
 
 " I have, indeed, been attending to the preparation of a 
 cause of some importance," said Hansford. 
 
 " Well, I'm glad of it, my boy. Who is your client ? I 
 hope he gives you a good retainer." 
 
 " My fee is chiefly contingent," replied the young lawyer, 
 sorely pressed by the questions of the carious old Colonel. 
 
 " Why, you are very laconic," returned Temple, trying 
 to enlist him in conversation. " Come, tell me all about it. 
 I used to be something of a lawyer myself in my youth, 
 didn't I, Bessy ?" 
 
 " Yes, indeed," said his wife, who was nearly dozing over 
 her eternal knitting ; " and if you had stuck to your pro- 
 fession, and not mingled in politics, my dear, we would 
 have been much better off. You know I always told 
 you so." 
 
 "I believe you did, Bessy," said the Colonel. "But 
 what's done can't be undone. Take example by me, Tom, 
 d'ye hear, and never meddle in politics, my boy. But I 
 believe I retain some cobwebs of law in my brain yet, and 
 I might help you in your case. Who is your client ?" 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 41 
 
 " The Colony is one of the parties to the cause," replied 
 Hansford ; " but the details cannot interest the ladies, you 
 know ; I will confer with you some other time on the sub- 
 ject, and will be very happy to have your advice. " 
 
 All this time, Alfred Bernard had been silently watching 
 the countenance of Hansford, and the latter had been 
 unpleasantly conscious of the fact. As he made the last 
 remark, he saw the keen eyes of Bernard resting upon him 
 with such an expression of suspicion, that he could not 
 avoid wincing. Bernard had no idea of losing the advan- 
 tage which he thus possessed, and with wily caution he pre- 
 pared a snare for his victim, more sure of success than an 
 immediate attack would have been. 
 
 " I think I have heard something of the case," he said, 
 fixing a penetrating glance on Hansford as he spoke, " and 
 I agree with Mr. Hansford, that its details here would not 
 be very interesting to the ladies. By the way, Colonel, your 
 conjecture, that Mr. Hansford was employed in the suppres- 
 sion of the rebellion, reminds me of a circumstance that I 
 had almost forgotten to mention. You have heard of that 
 fellow Bacon's perjury " 
 
 " Perjury !" exclaimed the Colonel. " No ! on the con- 
 trary I had been given to understand that, with all his faults, 
 his personal honour was so far unstained, even with sus- 
 picion." 
 
 " Such was the general impression," returned Bernard, 
 " but it is now proven that he is as capable of the greatest 
 perfidy as of the most daring treason." 
 
 " You probably refer, sir, to an affair," said Hansford, 
 " of which I have some knowledge, and on which I may 
 throw some light which will be more favorable to Mr. 
 Bacon." 
 
 " Your being able to conjecture so easily the fact to which 
 I allude," said Bernard, " is in itself an evidence that the 
 general impression of his conduct is not so erroneous. I 
 
 4* 
 
42 HANSFORD : 
 
 am happy," he added, with a sneer, "that in this free coun- 
 try, a rebel even can meet with so disinterested a defender." 
 
 " If you refer, Mr. Bernard," replied Hansford, disre- 
 garding the manner of Bernard, " to the alleged infraction 
 of his parole, I can certainly explain it. I know that 
 Colonel Temple does not, and I hope that you do not, wish 
 deliberately to do any man an injustice, even if he be a foe 
 or a rebel." 
 
 " That's true, my boy," said the generous old Temple. 
 " Give the devil his due, even he is not as black as he is 
 painted. That's my maxim. How was it, Tom ? And 
 begin at the beginning, that's the only way to straighten a 
 tangled skein." 
 
 " Then, as I understand the story," said Hansford, in a 
 slow, distinct, voice, " it is this : After Mr. Bacon returned 
 to Henrico from his expedition against the Indians, he was 
 elected to the House of Burgesses. On attempting to go 
 down the river to Jamestown, to take his seat, he was 
 arrested by Captain Gardiner, on a charge of treason, and 
 brought as a prisoner before Sir William Berkeley. The 
 Governor, expressing himself satisfied with his disclaimer 
 and open recantation of any treasonable design, released 
 him from imprisonment on parole, and, as is reported, prom- 
 ised at the same time to grant him the commission he 
 desired. Mr. Bacon, hearing of the sickness of his wife, 
 returned to Henrico, and while there, secret warrants were 
 issued to arrest him again. Upon a knowledge of this fact 
 he refused to surrender himself under his parole." 
 
 " You have made a very clear case of it, if the facts be 
 true," said Bernard, in a taunting tone, " and seem to be 
 well acquainted with the motives and movements of the 
 traitor. I have no doubt there are many among his deluded 
 followers who fail to appreciate the full force of a parole 
 d'honneur." 
 
 " Sir !" said Hansford, his face flushing with indignation. 
 
A TALE OE BACON'S REBELLION. 43 
 
 " I only remarked," Lsaid Bernard, in reply, "that a traitor 
 to his country knows but little of the laws which govern 
 honourable men. My remark only applied to traitors, and 
 such I conceive the followers and supporters of Nathaniel 
 Bacon to be." 
 
 Hansford only replied with a bow. 
 
 " And so does Tom," said Temple, " and so do we all, 
 Mr. Bernard. But Hansford knew Bacon before this late 
 movement of his, and he is very loth to hear his old friend 
 charged with anything that he does not deserve. But see, 
 my wife there is nodding over her knitting, and Jeanie's 
 pretty blue eyes, I know, begin to itch. Our motto is, Mr. 
 Bernard, to go to bed with the chickens and rise with the 
 lark. But we have failed in the first to-night, and I reckon 
 we will sleep a little later than lady lark to-morrow. So, 
 to bed, to bed, my lord." 
 
 So saying, the hospitable old gentleman called a servant 
 to show the gentlemen to their separate apartments. 
 
 " You will be able to sleep in an old planter's cabin, Mr. 
 Bernard," he said, " where you will find all clean and coin- 
 "ortable, although perhaps a little rougher than you are 
 accustomed to. Tom, boy, you know the ways of the 
 aouse, and I needn't apologize to you. And so pleasant 
 Ircams and a good night to you both." 
 
 After the Colonel ha.d gone, and before the servant had 
 appeared, Hansford touched Bernard lightly on the shoul- 
 ler. The latter turned around with some surprise. 
 
 "You must be aware, Mr. Bernard," said Hansford, 
 "that your language to-night remained unresented only 
 because of my respect for the company in which we were." 
 
 " I did not deem it of sufficient importance," replied 
 Bernard, assuming an indifferent tone, "to inquire whether 
 your motives for silence were respect for the family or regard 
 for yourself." 
 
 " You now at least know, sir. Let me ask you whether 
 
44 HANSFORD: 
 
 you made the remark to which I refer with a full knowledge 
 of who I was, and what were my relations towards Mr. 
 Bacon." 
 
 " I decline making any explanation of language which, 
 both in manner and expression, was sufficiently intelligible." 
 
 " Then, sir," said Hansford, resolutely, "there is but one 
 reparation that you can make," and he laid his hand signifi- 
 cantly on his sword. 
 
 "I understand you," returned Bernard, "but do not hold 
 myself responsible to a man whose position in society may 
 be more worthy of my contempt than of my resentment." 
 
 " The company in which you found me, and the gentleman 
 who introduced us, are sufficient guarantees of my position. 
 If under these circumstances you refuse, you take advantage 
 of a subterfuge alike unworthy of a gentleman or a brave 
 man." 
 
 " Even this could scarcely avail you, since the family are 
 not aware of the treason by which you have forfeited any 
 claim to their protection. But I waive any such objection, 
 sir, and accept your challenge. " 
 
 " Being better acquainted with the place than yourself," 
 said Hansford, "I would suggest, sir, that there is a little 
 grove in rear of the barn-yard, which is a fit spot for our 
 purpose. There will there be no danger of interruption." 
 
 "As you please, sir," replied Bernard. "To-morrow 
 morning, then, at sunrise, with swords, and in the grove you 
 speak of." 
 
 The servant entered the room at this moment, and the 
 two young men parted for the night, having thus settled in 
 a few moments the preliminaries of a mortal combat, with 
 as much coolness as if it had been an agreement for a fox- 
 hunt. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 45 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " 'We try this quarrel hilt to hilt.' 
 Then each at once his falchion drew, 
 Each on the ground his scabbard threw, 
 Each looked to sun, and stream, and plain, 
 As what they ne'er might see again j 
 Then foot, and point, and eye opposed, 
 In dubious strife they darkly closed." 
 
 Lady of the Lake. 
 
 IT is a happy thing for human nature that the cares, and 
 vexations, and fears, of this weary life, are at least excluded 
 from the magic world of sleep. Exhausted nature will seek 
 a respite from her trials in forgetfulness, and steeped in the 
 sacred stream of Lethe, like the young Achilles, she 
 becomes invulnerable. It is but seldom that care dares 
 intrude upon this quiet realm, and though it may be truly 
 said that sleep " swift on her downy pinions flies from woe," 
 yet, when at last it does alight on the lid sullied by a tear, 
 it rests as quietly as elsewhere. We have scarcely ever 
 read of an instance where the last night of a convict was 
 not passed in tranquil slumber, as though Sleep, the sweet 
 sister of the dread Terror, soothed more tenderly, in this 
 last hour, the victim of her gloomy brother's dart. 
 
 Thomas Hansford, for with him our story remains, slept 
 as calmly on this night as though a long life of happiness 
 and fame stretched out before his eyes. 'Tis true, that ere 
 he went to bed, as he unbelted his trusty sword, he looked 
 at its well-tempered steel with a confident eye, and thought 
 of the morrow. But so fully imbued were the youth of 
 that iron age with the true spirit of chivalry, that life was 
 but little regarded where honour was concerned, and the pre- 
 carious tenure by which life was held, made it less prized 
 by those who felt that they might be called on any day to 
 
46 HANSFORD: 
 
 surrender it. Hansford, therefore, slept soundly, and the 
 first red streaks of the morning twilight were smiling 
 through his window when he awoke. He rose, and dressing 
 himself hastily, he repaired to the study, where he wrote a 
 few hasty lines to his mother and to Virginia the first to 
 assure her of his filial love, and to pray her forgiveness for 
 thus sacrificing life for honour ; and the second breathing 
 the warm ardour of his heart for her who, during his brief 
 career, had lightened the cares and shared the joys which 
 fortune had strewn in his path. As he folded these two 
 letters and placed them in his pocket, he could not help 
 drawing a deep sigh, to think of these two beings whose 
 fate was so intimately entwined with his own, and whose 
 thread of life would be weakened when his had been sev- 
 ered. Repelling such a thought as unworthy a brave man 
 engaged in an honourable cause, he buckled on his sword 
 and repaired with a firm step to the place of meeting. 
 Alfred Bernard, true to his word, was there, 
 
 And now the sun was just rising above the green forest, 
 to the eastward. The hands, as by a striking metonymy 
 those happy laborers were termed, who never knew the 
 cares which environ the head, were just going out to their 
 day's work. Men, women and children, some to plough 
 the corn, and one a merry teamster, who, with his well 
 attended team, was driving to the woods for fuel. And in 
 the barn-yard were the sleek milch cows, smelling fresh with 
 the dewy clover from the meadow, and their hides smoking 
 with the early dew of morning ; and the fowls, that strutted 
 and clucked, and cackled, in the yard, all breakfasting on 
 the scanty grains that had fallen from the horse-troughs 
 all save one inquisitive old rooster, who, flapping his wings 
 and mounting the fence to crow, eyed askant the two young 
 men, as though, a knight himself, he guessed their bloody 
 intent. And the birds, too, those joyous, happy beings, 
 who pass their life in singing, shook the fresh dew from 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 4T 
 
 their pretty wings, cleared their throats in the bracing air, 
 and like the pious Persian, pouring forth their hymn of 
 praise to the morning sun, fluttered away to search for their 
 daily food. All was instinct with happiness and beauty. 
 All were seeking to preserve the life which God had given 
 but two, and they stood there, in the bright, dewy morning, 
 to stain the fair robe of nature with blood. It is a sad 
 thought, that of all the beings who rejoice in life, he alone, 
 who bears the image of his Maker, should have wandered 
 from His law. 
 
 The men saluted one another coldly as Hansford ap- 
 proached, and Bernard said, with a firm voice, " You see, 
 sir, I have kept my appointment. I believe nothing 
 remains but to proceed." 
 
 "You must excuse me for again sj chesting," said Hans- 
 ford, " that we wait a few moments, until these labourers 
 are out of sight. We might be interrupted." 
 
 Bernard silently acquiesced, and the combatants stood at 
 a short distance apart, each rapt in his own reflections. 
 What those reflections were may be easily imagined. Both 
 were young men of talent and promise. The one, the 
 favourite of Sir William Berkeley, saw fame and distinction 
 awaiting him in the colony. The other, the beloved of the 
 people, second only to Bacon in their affections, and by that 
 great leader esteemed as a friend and entrusted as a confi- 
 dant, had scarce less hope in the future. The one a stranger, 
 almost unknown in the colony, with little to care for in the 
 world but self; the other the support of an aged mother, 
 and the pride of a fair and trusting girl the strong rock, 
 on whose protection the grey lichen of age had rested, and 
 around which the green tendrils of love entwined. Both 
 men of erring hearts, who in a few moments might be sum- 
 moned to appear at that dread bar, where all the secrets 
 of their hearts are known, and all the actions of their lives 
 are judged. The two combatants were nearly equally 
 
48 HANSFORD 
 
 matched in the use of the sword. Bernard's superior skill 
 in fence being fully compensated by the superior coolness 
 of his adversary. 
 
 Just as the last labourer had disappeared, both swords 
 flashed in the morning sun. The combat was long, and the 
 issue doubtful. Each seemed so conscious of the skill of 
 the other, that both acted chiefly on the defensive. But 
 the protracted length of the fight turned to the advantage 
 of Hansford, who, from his early training and hardy exer- 
 cise, was more accustomed to endure fatigue. Bernard 
 became weary of a contest of such little interest, and at 
 last, forgetting the science in which he was a complete adept, 
 he made a desperate lunge at the breast of the young colo- 
 nist. This thrust Hansford parried with such success, that 
 he sent the sword of his adversary flying through the air. 
 In attempting to regain possession of his sword, Bernard's 
 foot slipped, and he fell prostrate to the ground. 
 
 " Now yield you," cried the victor, as he stood above the 
 prostrate form of his antagonist, " and take back the foul 
 stain which you have placed upon my name, or, by my troth, 
 you had else better commend yourself to Heaven." 
 
 " I cannot choose but yield," said Bernard, rising slowly 
 from the ground, while his face was purple with rage and 
 mortification. "But look ye, sir rebel, if but I had that 
 good sword once more in my hand, I would prove that I 
 can yet maintain my honour and my life against a traitor's 
 arm. I take my life at your hands, but God do so to me, 
 and more also, if the day do not come when you will wish 
 that you had taken it while it was in your power. The life 
 y9U give me shall be devoted to the one purpose of 
 revenge." 
 
 "As you please," said Hansford, eyeing him with an 
 expression of bitter contempt. " Meantime, as you value 
 your life, dedicated to so unworthy an object, let me hear no 
 more of your insolence." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 49 
 
 " Nay, by my soul," cried Bernard, " I will not bear your 
 taunts. Draw and defend yourself!" At the same time, 
 with an active spring, he regained possession of his lost 
 sword. But just as they were about to renew the attack, 
 there appeared upon the scene of action a personage so 
 strange in appearance, and so wild in dress, that Bernard 
 dropped his weapon in surprise, and with a vacant stare 
 gazed upon the singular apparition. 
 
 The figure was that of a young girl, scarce twenty years 
 of age, whose dark copper complexion, piercing black eyes, 
 and high cheek bones, all proclaimed her to belong to that 
 unhappy race which had so long held undisputed posses- 
 sion of this continent. Her dress was fantastic in the 
 highest degree. Around her head was a plait of peake, 
 made from those shells which were used by the Indians at 
 once as their roanoke, or money, and as their most highly 
 prized ornament of dress. A necklace and bracelets of the 
 same adorned her neck and arms. A short smock, made 
 of dressed deer-skin, which reached only to her knees, and 
 was tightly fitted around the waist with a belt of wampum, 
 but scantily concealed the swelling of her lovely bosom. 
 Her legs, from the knee to the ancle, were bare, and her feet 
 were covered with buckskin sandals, ornamented with beads, 
 such as are yet seen in our western country, as the handi- 
 work of the remnant of this unhappy race. Such a pic- 
 turesque costume well became the graceful form that wore 
 it. Her long, dark hair, which, amid all these decorations, 
 was her loveliest ornament, fell unbound over her shoulders 
 in rich profusion. As she approached, with light and elastic 
 step, towards the combatants, Bernard, as we have said, 
 dropped his sword in mute astonishment. It is true, that 
 even in his short residence in Virginia, he had seen Indians 
 at Jamestown, but they had come with friendly purpose to 
 ask favors of the English. His impressions were therefore 
 somewhat similar to those of a man who, having admired 
 
50 HANSFORD : 
 
 the glossy coat, and graceful, athletic form of a tiger in a 
 menagerie, first sees that fierce animal bounding towards 
 him from his Indian jungle. The effect upon him, however, 
 was of course but momentary, and he again raised his sword 
 to renew the attack. But his opponent, without any desire 
 of engaging again in the contest, turned to the young girl 
 and said, in a familiar voice, " Well, Mamalis, what brings 
 you to the hall so early this morning ?" 
 
 " There is danger there," replied the young girl, solemnly, 
 and in purer English than Bernard was prepared to hear. 
 " If you would help me, put up your long knife and follow 
 me." 
 
 " What do you mean ?" asked Hansford, alarmed by her 
 manner and words. 
 
 " Manteo and his braves come to take blood for blood," 
 returned the girl. " There is no time to lose." 
 
 "In God's name, Mr. Bernard," said Hansford, quickly, 
 "come along with us. This is no time for private quarrel. 
 Our swords are destined for another use." 
 
 "Most willingly," replied Bernard; "our enmity will 
 scarcely cool by delay. And mark me, young man, Alfred 
 Bernard will never rest until he avenges the triumph of 
 your sword this morning, or the foul blot which you have 
 placed upon his name. But let that pass now. Can this 
 creature's statement be relied on ?" 
 
 " She is as true as Heaven," whispered Hansford. " Come 
 on, for we have indeed but little time to lose ; at another 
 time I will afford you ample opportunity to redeem your 
 honour or to avenge yourself. You will not find my blood 
 cooler by delay." And so the three walked on rapidly 
 towards the house, the two young men side by side, after 
 having sworn eternal hostility to one another, but yet wil- 
 ling to forget their private feud in the more important duties 
 before them. 
 
 The reader of the history of this interesting period, will 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 51 
 
 remember that there were, at this time, many causes of dis- 
 content prevailing among the Indians of Virginia. As has 
 been before remarked, the murder of a herdsman, Robert 
 Hen by name, and other incidents of a similar character, 
 were so terribly avenged by the incensed colonists, not only 
 upon the guilty, but upon friendly tribes, that the discontent 
 of the Indians was wide spread and nearly universal. Nor 
 did it cease until the final suppression of the Indian 
 power by Nathaniel Bacon, at the battle of Bloody Run. 
 This, however, was but the immediate cause of hostilities, 
 for which there had already been, in the opinion of the 
 Indians, sufficient provocation. Many obnoxious laws had 
 been passed by the Assembly, in regard to the savages, that 
 were so galling to their independence, that the seeds of dis- 
 cord and enmity were already widely sown. Among these 
 were the laws prohibiting the trade in guns and ammunition 
 with the Indians ; requiring the warriors of the peaceful 
 tribes to wear badges in order that they might be recog- 
 nized ; restricting them in their trade to particular marts ; 
 and, above all, providing that the Werowance, or chief of 
 a tribe, should hold his position by the appointment of the 
 Governor, and not by the choice of his braves. This last 
 provision, which struck at the very independence of the 
 tribes, was so offensive, -that peaceable relations with the 
 Indians could not long be maintained. Add to this the 
 fact, which for its inhumanity is scarcely credible, that the 
 English at Monados, now the island of New York, had, 
 with a view of controlling the monopoly of the trade in furs 
 and skins, inspired the Indians with a bitter hostility toward 
 the Virginians, and it will easily be seen that the magazine 
 of discontent needed but a spark to explode in open hos- 
 tility. 
 
 So much is necessary to be premised in order that the 
 reader may understand the relations which existed, at this 
 period, between the colonists and the Indians around them. 
 
52 HANSFOHD : 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " And in, the buskined hunters of the deer, 
 To Albert's home with shout and cymbal throng." 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 THE surprise and horror with which the intelligence of 
 this impending attack was received by the family at Wind- 
 sor Hall may be better imagined than described. Manteo, 
 the leader of the party, a young Indian of the Pamunkey 
 tribe, was well known to them all. With his sister, the 
 young girl whom we have described, he lived quietly in his 
 little wigwam, a few miles from the hall, and in his inter- 
 course with the family had been friendly and even affec- 
 tionate. But with all this, he was still ardently devoted to 
 his race, and thirsting for fame ; and stung by what he con- 
 ceived tho injustice of the whites, he had leagued himself 
 in an enterprise, which, regardless of favour or friendship, 
 was dictated by revenge. 
 
 It was, alas ! too late to hope for escape from the hall, 
 or to send to the neighboring plantations for assistance ; 
 and, to add to their perplexity, the whole force of the farm, 
 white servants and black, had gone to a distant field, where 
 it was scarcely possible that they could hear of the attack 
 until it was too late to contribute their aid in the defence. 
 But with courage and resolution the gentlemen prepared to 
 make such defence or resistance as was in their power, and, 
 indeed, from the unsettled character of the times, a plan- 
 ter's house was no mean fortification against the attacks of 
 the Indians. Early in the history of the colony, it was 
 found necessary, for the general safety, to enact laws 
 requiring each planter to provide suitable means of defence, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 53 
 
 in case of any sudden assault by the hostile tribes. Accord- 
 ingly, the doors to these country mansions were made of 
 the strongest material, and in some cases, and such was the 
 case at Windsor Hall, were lined on the interior by a thick 
 sheet of iron. The windows, too, or such as were low 
 enough to be scaled from the ground, were protected by 
 shutters of similar material. Every planter had several 
 guns, and a sufficient store of ammunition for defence. 
 Thus it will be seen that Windsor Hall, protected by three 
 vigorous men, well armed and stout of heart, was no con- 
 temptible fortress against the rude attacks of a few savages, 
 whose number in all probability would not exceed twenty. 
 The greatest apprehension was from fire ; but, strange to 
 say, the savages but seldom resorted to this mode of ven- 
 geance, except when wrought up to the highest state of 
 excitement.* 
 
 "At any rate," said the brave old Colonel, "we will 
 remain where we are until threatened with fire, and then 
 at least avenge our lives with the blood of these infamous 
 wretches. " 
 
 The doors and lower windows had been barricaded, and 
 the three men, armed to the teeth, stood ready in the hall 
 for the impending attack. Virginia and her mother were 
 there, the former pale as ashes, but suppressing her emotions 
 with a violent effort in order to contribute to her mother's 
 comfort. In fact, the old lady, notwithstanding her boast 
 of bravery on the evening before, stood in need of all the 
 consolation that her daughter could impart. She vented 
 her feelings in screams as loud as those of the Indians she 
 feared, and refused to be comforted. Virginia, forgetful 
 
 * This fact, which I find mentioned by several historians, is explained 
 by Kercheval, in his history of the Valley of Virginia, by the supposition 
 that the Indians for a long time entertained the hope of reconquering the 
 country, and saved property from destruction which might be of use to 
 them in the future. See page 90 of Valley of Va. 
 
 5* 
 
54 HANSEORD : 
 
 of her own equal danger, leant tenderly over her mother, 
 who had thrown herself upon a sofa, and whispered those 
 sweet words of consolation, which religion can alone sug- 
 gest in the hour of our trial : 
 
 "Mother, dear mother," she said, "remember that 
 although earthly strength should fail, we are yet in the 
 hands of One who is mighty." 
 
 " Well, and what if we are," cried her mother, whose 
 faith was like that of the old lady, who, when the horses 
 ran away with her carriage, trusted in Providence till the 
 breeching broke. " Well, and what if we are, if in a few 
 minutes our scalps may be taken by these horrible savages ?" 
 
 " But, dear mother, He has promised " 
 
 " Oh, I don't know whether he has or not but as sure 
 as fate there they come," and the old lady relapsed into her 
 hysterics. 
 
 " Mother, mother, remember your duty as a Christian 
 remember in whom you have put your trust," said Virginia, 
 earnestly. 
 
 " Oh, yes, that's the way. Of course I know nothing 
 of my duty, and I don't pretend to be as good as others. 
 I am nothing but a poor, weak old woman, and must be 
 reminded of my duty by my daughter, although I was a 
 Christian long before she was born. But, for rny part, I 
 think it's tempting Providence to bear such a judgment with 
 so much indifference." 
 
 "But, Bessy," interposed the Colonel, seeing Virginia 
 was silent under this unusual kind of argument, " your 
 agitation will only make the matter worse. If yon give 
 way thus, we cannot be as ready and cool in action as we 
 should. Come now, dear Bessy, calm yourself." 
 
 " Oh, yes, it's well to say that, after bringing me all the 
 way into this wild country, to be devoured by these wild 
 Indians. Oh, that I should ever have consented to leave 
 my quiet home in dear old England for this ! And all be- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 55 
 
 cause a protector reigned instead of a king. Protector, 
 forsooth ; I would rather have a hundred protectors at this 
 moment than one king." 
 
 " Father," said Virginia, in a tremulous voice, " had we 
 not better retire to some other part of the house ? We can 
 only incommode you here." 
 
 " Right, my girl," said her father. " Take your mother 
 up stairs into your room, and try and compose her." 
 
 " Take me, indeed," said his worthy spouse. " Colonel 
 Temple, you speak as if I was a baby, to be carried about as 
 you choose. I assure you, I will not budge a foot from you." 
 
 " Stay where you are then, "replied Temple, impatiently, 
 "and for God's sake be calm. Ha! now my boys here 
 they come !" and a wild yell, which seemed to crack the very 
 welkin, announced the appearance of the enemy. 
 
 " I think we had all better go to the upper windows," 
 said Hansford, calmly. " There is nothing to be done by 
 being shut up in this dark hall ; while there, protected from 
 their arrows, we may do some damage to the enemy. If we 
 remain, our only chance is to make a desperate sally, in 
 which we would be almost certainly destroyed." 
 
 "Mr. Hansford," said Virginia, " give me a gun there 
 is one left and you shall see that a young girl, in an hour 
 of peril like this, knows how to aid brave men in her own 
 defence." 
 
 Hansford bent an admiring glance upon the heroic girl, 
 as he placed the weapon in her hands, while her father said, 
 with rapture, " God bless you, my daughter. If your arm 
 were strong as your heart is brave, you had been a hero. 
 I retract what I said on yesterday," he added in a whisper, 
 with a sad smile, " for you have this day proved yourself 
 worthy to be a brave man's wife." 
 
 The suggestion of Hansford was readily agreed upon, 
 and the little party were soon at their posts, shielded by the 
 windows from the attack of the Indians, and yet in a posi- 
 
56 HANSFORD : 
 
 tion from which they could annoy the enemy considerably 
 by their own fire. From his shelter there, Bernard, to 
 whom the sight was entirely new, could see rushing towards 
 the hall, a party of about twenty savages, painted in the 
 horrible manner which they adopt to inspire terror in a foe, 
 and attired in that strange wild costume, which is now 
 familiar to every school-boy. Their leader, a tall, athletic 
 young Indian, surpassed them all in the hideousness of his 
 appearance. His closely shaven hair was adorned with a 
 tall eagle's feather, and pendant from his ears were the 
 rattles of the rattlesnake. The only garment which con- 
 cealed his nakedness was a short smock, or apron, reaching 
 from his waist nearly to his knees, and made of dressed deer 
 skin, adorned with beads and shells. Around his neck and 
 wrists were strings of peake and roanoke. His face was 
 painted in the most horrible manner, with a ground of deep 
 red, formed from the dye of the pocone root, and varie- 
 gated with streaks of blue, yellow and green. Around his 
 eyes were large circles of green paint. But to make his 
 appearance still more hideous, feathers and hair were stuck 
 all over his body, upon the fresh paint, which made the war- 
 rior look far more like some wild beast of the forest than a 
 human being. 
 
 Brandishing a tomahawk in one hand, and holding a car- 
 bine in the other, Manteo, thus disguised, led on his braves 
 with loud yells towards the mansion of Colonel Temple. 
 How different from the respectful demeanour, and more 
 modest attire, in which he was accustomed to appear before 
 the family of Windsor Hall. 
 
 To the great comfort of the.inmates, his carbine was the 
 only one in the party, thanks to the wise precaution of the 
 Assembly, in restricting the sale of such deadly weapons to 
 the Indians. His followers, arrayed in like horrible cos- 
 tume with himself, followed on with their tomahawks and 
 bows ; their arrows were secured in a quiver slung over the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 57 
 
 shoulder, which was formed of the skins of foxes and rac- 
 coons, rendered more terrible by the head of the animal 
 being left unsevered from the skin. To the loud shrieks and 
 yells of their voices, was added the unearthly sound of their 
 drums and rattles the whole together forming a discordant 
 medley, which, as brave old John Smith has well and 
 quaintly observed, " would rather affright than delight any 
 man." 
 
 All this the besieged inmates of the hall saw with mingled 
 feelings of astonishment and dread, awaiting with intense 
 anxiety the result. 
 
 " Now be perfectly quiet," said Hansford, in a low tone, 
 for, by tacit consent, he was looked upon as the leader of 
 the defence. " The house being closed, they may conclude 
 that the family are absent, and so, after their first burst 
 of vengeance, retire. Their bark is always worse than their 
 bite." 
 
 Such indeed seemed likely to be the case, for the Indians, 
 arrived at the porch, looked around with some surprise at 
 the barred doors and windows, and began to confer 
 together. Whatever might have been the event of their 
 conference, their actions, however, were materially affected 
 by an incident which, though intended for the best, was 
 well nigh resulting in destruction to the whole family. 
 
58 HANSFORD : 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " Like gun when aimed at duck or plover, 
 Kicks back and knocks the shooter over." 
 
 THERE was at Windsor Hall, an old family servant, 
 known alike to the negroes and the "white folks," by the 
 familiar appellation of Uncle Giles. He was one of those 
 old-fashioned negroes, who having borne the heat and burden 
 of the day, are turned out to live in comparative freedom, 
 and supplied with everything that can make their declining 
 years comfortable and happy. Uncle Giles, according to 
 his own account, was sixty-four last Whitsuntide, and was 
 consequently born in Africa. It is a singular fact con- 
 nected with this race, that whenever consulted about their 
 age, they invariably date the anniversary of their birth at 
 Christmas, Easter or Whitsuntide, the triennial holydays to 
 which they are entitled. Whether this arises from the fact 
 that a life which is devoted to the service of others should 
 commence with a holyday, or whether these three are the only 
 epochs known to the negro, is a question of some interest, 
 but of little importance to our narrative. So it was, that 
 old uncle Giles, in his own expressive phrase was, " after 
 wiking all his born days, done turn out to graze hissclf to 
 def." The only business of the old man was to keep him- 
 self comfortable in winter by the kitchen fire, and in summer 
 to smoke his old corn-cob pipe on the three legged bench 
 that stood at the kitchen door. Added to this, was the 
 self-assumed duty of " strapping" the young darkies, and 
 lecturing the old ones on the importance of working hard, 
 and obeying " old massa," cheerfully in everything. And 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 59 
 
 so old uncle Giles, with white and black, with old and 
 young, but especially with old uncle Giles himself, was a 
 great character. Among other things that increased his 
 inordinate self-esteem, was the possession of a rusty old 
 blunderbuss, which, long since discarded as useless by his 
 master, had fallen into his hands, and was regarded by him 
 and his sable admirers as a pearl of great price. 
 
 Now it so happened, that on the morning to which our 
 story refers, uncle Giles was quietly smoking his pipe, and 
 muttering solemnly to himself in that grumbling tone so 
 peculiar to old negroes. When he learned, however, of the 
 intended attack of the Indians, the old man, who well 
 remembered the earlier skirmishes with the savages, took 
 his old blunderbuss from its resting-place above the door of 
 the kitchen, and prepared himself for action. The old gun, 
 which owing to the growing infirmities of its possessor, had 
 not been called into use for years, was now rusted from 
 disuse and neglect ; and a bold spider had even dared to 
 seek, not the bubble reputation, but his more substantial 
 gossamer palace, at the very mouth of the barrel. Not- 
 withstanding all this, the gun had all the time remained 
 loaded, for Giles was too rigid an economist to waste a 
 charge without some good reason. Armed with this for- 
 midable weapon, Giles succeeded in climbing up the side 
 of the low cabin kitchen, by the logs which protruded from 
 either end of the wall. Arrived at the top and screening 
 himself behind the rude log and mud chimney, he awaited 
 with a patience and immobility which Wellington might 
 have envied, the arrival of the foe. Here then he was 
 quietly seated when the conference to which we have 
 alluded took place between the Indian warriors. 
 
 "Bird flown," said Manteo, the leader of the party, 
 "Nest empty." 
 
 Two or three of the braves stooped down and began to 
 examine the soft sandy soil to discover if there were any 
 
60 HANSFORD : 
 
 tracks or signs of the family having left. Fortunately the 
 search seemed satisfactory, for the foot-prints of Bernard's 
 and Hansford's horses, as they were led from the house 
 towards the stable on the previous evening, were still quite 
 visible. 
 
 This little circumstance seemed to determine the party, 
 and they had turned away, probably to seek their vengeance 
 elsewhere, or to return at a more propitious moment, when 
 the discharge of a gun was heard, so loud, so crashing, and 
 so alarming, that it seemed like the sudden rattling of 
 thunder in a storm. 
 
 Luckily, perhaps for all parties, while the shot fell 
 through the poplar trees like the first big drops of rain in 
 summer, the only damage which was done was in clipping 
 off the feather which was worn by Manteo as a badge of 
 his position. When we say this, however, we mean to 
 refer only to the effect of the charge, not of the discharge 
 of the gun, for the breech rebounding violently against old 
 Giles shoulder, the poor fellow lost his balance and came 
 tumbling to the ground. The cabin was fortunately not 
 more than ten feet high, and our African hero escaped into 
 the kitchen with a few bruises a happy compromise for the 
 fate which would have inevitably been his had he remained 
 in his former position. The smoke of his fusil mingling 
 with the smoke from the chimney, averted suspicion, and with 
 the simple-minded creatures who heard the report and wit- 
 nessed its effects the whole matter remained a mystery. 
 
 " Tunder," said one, looking round in vain for the source 
 from which an attack could be made. 
 
 " Call dat tunder," growled Manteo, pointing signifi- 
 cantly to his moulted plume that lay on the ground. 
 
 " Okees* mad. Shoot Pawcussacksf from osies,"J said 
 one of the older and more experienced of the party, 
 
 * Gods. f Guns. J Heaven. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION, 61 
 
 endeavouring to give some rational explanation of so 
 inexplicable a mystery. 
 
 A violent dispute here arose between the different war- 
 riors as to the cause of this sudden anger of the gods ; some 
 contending that it was because they were attacking a 
 Netoppew or friend, and others with equal zeal 'contending 
 that it was to reprove the slowness of their vengeance. 
 
 From their position above, all these proceedings could 
 be seen, and these contentions heard by the besieged party. 
 The mixed language in which the men spoke, for they had 
 even thus early appropriated many English words to supply 
 the deficiencies in their own barren tongue, was explained 
 by Mamalis, where it was unintelligible to the whites. 
 This young girl felt a divided interest in the fate of the 
 besieging and besieged parties ; for all of her devotion to 
 Virginia Temple could not make her entirely forget the 
 fortunes of her brave brother. 
 
 In a few moments, she saw that it was necessary to take 
 some decisive step, for the faction which was of harsher 
 mood, and urged immediate vengeance, was seen to prevail 
 in the conference. The fatal word " fire" was several 
 times heard, and Mautco was already starting towards the 
 kitchen to procure the means of carrying into effect their 
 deadly purpose. 
 
 "I see nothing left, but to defend ourselves as we may," 
 said Hansford in a low voice, at the same time raising his 
 musket, and advancing a step towards the window, with a 
 view of throwing it open and commencing the attack. 
 
 " Oh, don't shoot," said Mamalis, imploringly, " I will go 
 and save all." 
 
 " Do you think, my poor girl, that they will hearken to 
 mercy at your intercession," said Colonel Temple, shaking 
 his head, sorrowfully." 
 
 "No I" replied Mamalis, " the heart of a brave knows not 
 mercy. If he gave his ear to the cry of mercy, he would 
 
 6 
 
62 HANSFOED I 
 
 be a squaw and not a brave. But fear not, I can yet save 
 you," she added confidently, "only do not be seen." 
 
 The men looked from one to the other to decide. 
 
 " Trust her, father," said Virginia, " if you are discovered 
 blood must be shed. She says she can save us all. Trust 
 her, Hansford. Trust her, Mr. Bernard." 
 
 " We could lose little by being betrayed at this stage of 
 the game," said Temple, " so go, my good girl, and Heaven 
 will bless you 1" 
 
 Quick as thought the young Indian left the room, and 
 descended the stairs. Drawing the bolt of the back door 
 so softly, that she scarcely heard it move, herself, she went 
 to the kitchen, where old Giles, a prey to a thousand fears, 
 was seated trembling over the fire, his face of that peculiar 
 ashy hue, which the negro complexion sometimes assumes 
 as an humble apology for pallor. As she touched the old 
 man on the shoulder, he groaned in despair and looked up, 
 showing scarcely anything but the whites of his eyes, while 
 his woolly head, thinned and white with age, resembled ashes 
 sprinkled over a bed of extinguished charcoal. Seeing the 
 face of an Indian, and too terrified to recognize Mamalis, 
 he fell on his knees at her feet, and cried, 
 
 "Oh, for de Lord sake, massa, pity de poor old nigger 1 
 My lod a messy, massa, I neber shoot anudder gun in all 
 my born days." 
 
 "Hush," said Mamalis, "and listen to me. I tell lie, 
 you say it is truth ; I say whites in Jamestown ; you say 
 so too went yesterday." 
 
 "But bress your soul, missis," said Giles, " sposen dey ax 
 me ef I shot dat cussed gun, me say dat truf too ?" 
 
 " No, say it was thunder." 
 
 At this moment the tall dark form of Manteo entered 
 the room. He started with surprise, as he saw his sister 
 there, and in such company. His dark eye darted a fierce 
 glance at Giles, who quailed beneath its glare. Then 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 63 
 
 turning again to his sister, he said in the Indian tongue, 
 which we freely translate: 
 
 " Mamalis with the white man ! where is he that I may 
 drown my vengeance in his blood." 
 
 " He is gone ; he is not within the power of Manteo. 
 Manitou* has saved Manteo from the crime of killing his 
 best friend." 
 
 " His people have killed my people for the offence of the 
 few, I will kill him for the cruelty of many. For this is 
 the calumetf broken. For this is the tree of peacej cut 
 down by the tomahawk of war." 
 
 " Say not so," replied Mamalis. " Temple is the netop- 
 pew of Manteo. He is even now gone to the grand 
 sachem of the long knives, to make Manteo the Werowance|| 
 of the Pamunkeys." 
 
 " Ha ! is this true ?" asked Manteo, anxiously. 
 
 " Ask this old man," returned Mamalis. " They all went 
 to Jamestown yesterday, did they not ?" she asked in Eng- 
 lish of Giles, who replied, in a trembling voice, 
 
 " Yes, my massa, dey has all gone to Jimson on yestiddy. " 
 
 " And I a Werowance !" said the young man proudly, in 
 his own language. " Spirits of Powhatan and Opechan- 
 canough, the name of Manteo shall live immortally as 
 yours. His glory shall be the song of our race, and the 
 young men of his tribe shall emulate his deeds. His life 
 shall be brilliant as the sun's bright course, and his spirit 
 shall set in the spirit land, bright with unfading glory." 
 
 Then turning away with a lofty step, he proceeded to 
 rejoin his companions. 
 
 * The good spirit of the Indians. -f- The pipe of peace. 
 
 J When a peace was concluded a tree was planted, and the contracting 
 parties declared that the peace should be as long lived as the tree. 
 
 $ The friend or benefactor. 
 
 || The Werowance, or chief of a tribe, was appointed by the Governor, 
 and this mode of appointment gave great dissatisfaction to the Indians. 
 
64 HANSFORD : 
 
 The stratagem was successful, and Manteo, the bravest^ 
 the noblest of the braves, succeeded after some time in per- 
 suading them to desist from their destructive designs. In 
 a few moments, to the delight of the little besieged party, 
 the Indians had left the house, and were soon buried in the 
 deep forest. 
 
 " Thanks, my brave, generous girl," said Temple, as 
 Mamalis, after the success of her adventure, entered the 
 room. " To your presence of mind we owe our lives." 
 
 " But I told a lie," said the girl, looking down ; " I said 
 you had gone to make Manteo the Werowance of the 
 Pamunkeys." 
 
 " Well, my girl, he shall not want my aid in getting the 
 office. So you, in effect, told the truth." 
 
 " No, no ; I said you had gone. It was a lie." 
 
 " Ah, but, Mamalis," said Virginia, in an encouraging 
 voice, for she had often impressed upon the mind of the 
 poor savage girl the nature of a lie, " when a falsehood is 
 told for the preservation of life, the sin will be freely for- 
 given which has accomplished so much good." 
 
 "Ignatius Loyola could not have stated his favourite prin- 
 ciple more clearly, Miss Temple," said Bernard, with a 
 satirical smile. " I see that the Reformation has not made 
 so wide a difference in the two Churches, after all." 
 
 " No, Mr. Bernard," said old Temple, somewhat offended 
 at the young man's tone ; " the stratagem of the soldier, 
 and the intrigue of the treacherous Jesuit, are very different. 
 The one is the means which brave men may use to accom- 
 plish noble ends ; the other is the wily machinations of a 
 perfidious man to attain his own base purposes. The one 
 is the skilful fence and foil of the swordsman, the other the 
 subtle and deceitful design of the sneaking snake." 
 
 " Still they both do what is plainly a deception, in order 
 to accomplish an end which they each believe to be good. 
 Once break down the barrier to the field of truth, and it is 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 65 
 
 impossible any longer to distinguish between virtue and 
 
 error. 
 
 " Well," said Mrs. Temple, " I am the last to blame the 
 bridge which carries me over, and I'll warrant there is not 
 one here, man or woman, who isn't glad that our lives have 
 been saved by Mamalis's falsehood for I have not had such 
 a fright in all my days." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Religion, 'tis that doth distinguish us 
 From their bruit humour, well we may it know, 
 That can with understanding argue thus, 
 Our God is truth, but they cannot do so." 
 
 Smith's History. 
 
 As may be well imagined, the Indian attack formed the 
 chief topic of conversation at Windsor Hall during the 
 day. Many were the marvellous stones which were called 
 to memory, of Indian warfare and of Indian massacres of 
 the sad fate of those who had been their victims, the tortures 
 to which their prisoners had been subjected, and the relent- 
 less cruelty with which even the tender babe, while smiling 
 in the face of its ruthless murderer, was dashed pitilessly 
 against a tree. Among these narratives, the most painful 
 was that detailing the fate of George Cassen, who, tied to 
 a tree by strong cords, was doomed to see his flesh and 
 joints cut off, one by one, and roasted before his eyes ; his 
 head and face flayed with sharp mussel shells, and his belly 
 ripped open ; until at last, in the extremity of his agony, he 
 
 6* 
 
66 HANSFORD : 
 
 welcomed the very flames which consumed him, and rescued 
 his body from their cruelty.* 
 
 Uncle Giles, whose premature action had so nearly ruined 
 them all, and yet had probably been the cause of their ulti- 
 mate safety, was the hero of the day, and loud was the 
 laugh at the incident of the gun and kitchen chimney. The 
 old man's bruises were soon tended and healed, and the 
 grateful creature declared that " Miss Ginny's lineaments 
 always did him more good than all the doctors in the 
 world ;" and in truth they were good for sore eyes. 
 
 It was during the morning's conversation that Bernard 
 learned from his host, and from Virginia, the intimate rela- 
 tions existing between Mamalis and the family at Windsor 
 Hall. Many years before, there had been, about two miles 
 from the hall, an Indian village, inhabited by some of the 
 tribe of the Pamunkeys. Among them was an old chieftain 
 named Nantaquaus,f who claimed to be of the same lineage 
 as Powhatan, and who, worn out with war, now resided 
 among his people as their patriarchal counsellor. In the 
 hostilities which had existed before the long peace, which 
 was only ended by the difficulties that gave rise to Bacon's 
 Rebellion, the whole of the inhabitants of the little village 
 had been cut off by the whites, with the exception of this 
 old patriarch and his two orphan grand-children, who were 
 saved through the interposition of Colonel Temple, exerted 
 in their behalf on account of some kindness he had received 
 at their hands. Grateful for the life of his little descendants, 
 for he had long since ceased to care for the prolongation of 
 his own existence, old Nantaquaus continued to live on 
 terms approaching even to intimacy with the Temples. 
 When at length he died, he bequeathed his grand-children 
 
 * Fact. 
 
 f This was also the name of the only son of the great Powhatan, as 
 appears by John Smith's letter to the Queen, introducing the Princess 
 Pocahontas. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 6t 
 
 to the care of his protector. It was his wish, however, that 
 they should still remain in the old wigwam where he had 
 lived, and where they could best remember him, "and, in 
 visions, visit his spirit in the far hunting ground. In com- 
 pliance with this, his last wish, Manteo and Mamalis con- 
 tinued their residence in that rude old hut, and*secured a 
 comfortable subsistence he by fishing and the chase, and 
 she by the cultivation of their little patch of ground, where 
 maize, melons, pompions, cushaus, and the like, rewarded 
 her patient labour with their abundant growth. Besides 
 these duties, to which the life of the Indian woman was 
 devoted, the young girl in her leisure moments, and in the 
 long winter, made, with pretty skill, mats, baskets and san- 
 dals, weaving the former curiously with the long willow 
 twigs which grew along the banks of the neighbouring York 
 river, and forming the latter with dressed deer skin, orna- 
 mented with flowers made of beads and shells, or with the 
 various coloured feathers of the birds. Her little manu- 
 factures met with a ready sale at the hall, being exchanged 
 for sugar and coffee, and other such comforts as civilization 
 provides ; and for the sale of the excess of these simple 
 articles over the home demand, she found a willing agent 
 in the Colonel, who, in his frequent visits to Jamestown, 
 disposed of them to advantage. 
 
 Despite these associations, however, Manteo retained 
 much of the original character of his race, and the wild 
 forest life which he led, bringing him into communication 
 with the less civilized members of his tribe, helped to cherish 
 the native fierceness of his temper. Clinging with tenacity 
 to the superstitions and pursuits of his fathers, his mind 
 was of that sterile soil, in which the seeds of civilization 
 take but little root. His sister, without having herself lost 
 all the peculiar features of her natural character, was still 
 formed in a different mould, and her softer nature had 
 already received some slight impress from Virginia's teach- 
 
68 HANSFORD : 
 
 ings, which led her by slow but certain degrees towards the 
 truth. His was of that fierce, tiger nature, which Horace 
 has so finely painted in his nervous description of Achilles, 
 
 " Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer !" 
 
 While her's can be best understood by her name, Mamalis, 
 which, signifying in her own language a young fawn, at once 
 expressed the grace of her person and the gentleness of her 
 nature. 
 
 Such is a brief but sufficient description of the characters 
 and condition of these two young Indians, who play an 
 important part in this narrative. The description, we may 
 well suppose, derived additional interest to Bernard, from 
 its association with the recent exciting scene, and from the 
 interest which his heart began already to entertain for the 
 fair narrator. 
 
 But probably the most amusing, if not the most instruc- 
 tive portion of the morning's conversation, was that in 
 which Mrs. Temple bore a conspicuous part. The danger 
 being past, the good woman adverted with much pride to 
 the calmness and fortitude which she had displayed during 
 the latter part of the trying scene. She never suspected 
 that her conduct had been at all open to criticism, for in 
 the excess of her agitation, she had not been aware, either 
 of her manner or her language. 
 
 " The fact is, gentlemen," she said, "that while you all 
 displayed great coolness and resolution, it was well that 
 you were not surrounded by timid women to embarrass you 
 with their fears. I was determined that none of you should 
 see my alarm, and I have no doubt you were surprised at 
 my calmness." 
 
 " It was very natural for ladies to feel alarm," said 
 Hansford, scarcely able to repress the rising smile, " under 
 circumstances, which inspired even strong men with fear. 
 I only wonder that you bore it so well. " 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 69 
 
 "Ah, it is easy to sec you are apologizing for Virginia, 
 and I must confess that once or twice she did almost shake 
 my self-possession a little by her agitation. But poor 
 thing ! we should make allowance for her. She is unac- 
 customed to such scenes. I, who was, you may say, 
 cradled in a revolution, and brought up in civil war, am 
 not so easily frightened." 
 
 " No, indeed, Bessy," said old Temple, smiling good 
 humouredly, " so entirely were you free from the prevailing 
 fears, that I believe you were unconscious half the time of 
 what was going on." 
 
 ''Well, really, Colonel Temple," said the old lady, 
 bristling up at this insinuation, " I think it ill becomes you 
 to be exposing me as a jest before an entire stranger. 
 However, it makes but little difference. It won't last 
 always. " 
 
 This prediction of his good wife, that " It," which always 
 referred to her husband's conduct immediately before, was 
 doomed like all other earthly things to terminate, was 
 generally a precursor to hysterics. And so she shook her 
 head and patted her foot hysterically, while the Colonel 
 wholly unconscious of any reasonable cause for the offence 
 he had given, rolled up his eyes and shrugged his shoulders 
 in silence. 
 
 Leaving the good couple to settle at their leisure those 
 little disputes which never lasted on an average more than 
 five minutes, let us follow Virginia as she goes down stairs 
 to make some preparation for dinner. As she passed 
 through the hall on her way to the store-room, she saw the 
 graceful form of Mamalis just leaving the house. In the 
 conversation which ensued we must beg the reader to 
 imagine the broken English in which the young Indian 
 expressed herself, while we endeavor to give it a free and 
 more polite translation. 
 
70 HANSFORD : 
 
 " Mamalis, you are not going home already, are you," 
 said Virginia, in a gentle voice. 
 
 "Yes," replied the girl, with a sigh. 
 
 " Why do you sigh, Mamalis ? Are you unhappy, my 
 poor girl ?" 
 
 " It is very sad to be alone in my poor wigwam," she 
 replied. 
 
 " Then stay with us, Manteo is away, and will probably 
 not be back for some days." 
 
 " He would be angry if he came home and found me 
 away. " 
 
 " Oh, my poor girl," said Virginia, taking her tenderly 
 by the hand, " I wish you could stay with me, and let me 
 teach you as I used to about God and heaven. Oh, think 
 of these things, Mamalis, and they will make you happy 
 even when alone. Wouldn't you like to have a friend 
 always near you when Manteo is away ?" 
 
 " Oh yes," said the girl earnestly. 
 
 " Well, there is just such a Friend who will never desert 
 you ; who is ever near to protect you in danger, and to 
 comfort you in distress. Whose eye is never closed in 
 sleep, and whose thoughts are never wandering from his 
 charge." 
 
 "That cannot be," said the young Indian, incredulously. 
 
 " Yes, it both can be and is so," returned her friend. 
 " One who has promised, that if we trust in him he will 
 never leave us nor forsake us. That friend is the powerful 
 Son of God, and the loving Brother of simple man. One 
 who died to show his love, and who lives to show his 
 power to protect. It is Jesus Christ." 
 
 "You told me about him long ago," said Mamalis, 
 shaking her head, " but I never saw him. He never comes 
 to Manteo's wigwam." 
 
 " Nay, but He is still your friend," urged Virginia ear- 
 nestly. "When you left the room this morning on that 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 71 
 
 work of mercy to save us all, I did not see you, and yet I 
 told my father that I knew you would do us good. Were 
 you less my friend because I didn't see you ? 
 
 "No." 
 
 "JX~o," continued Yirginia, "you were more my friend, 
 for if you had remained with me, we might all have been 
 lost. And so Jesus has but withdrawn Himself from our 
 eyes that He may intercede with his offended father, as you 
 did with Manteo." 
 
 " Does he tell lies for us ?" said the girl with artless sim- 
 plicity, and still remembering her interview with her 
 brother. Virginia felt a thrill of horror pass through her 
 heart as she heard such language, but remembering the 
 ignorance of her poor blinded pupil, she proceeded. 
 
 " Oh ! Mamalis, do not talk thus. He of whom I speak 
 is not as we are, and cannot commit a sin. But while He 
 cannot commit sin Himself, He can die for the sins of 
 others." 
 
 " Well," said the poor girl, seeing that she had unwit- 
 tingly hurt the feelings of her friend, " I don't understand 
 all that. Your God is so high, mine I can see and under- 
 stand. But you love your God, I only fear mine." 
 
 " And do you not believe that God is good, my poor 
 friend ?" said Yirginia, with a sigh. 
 
 " From Manitou all good proceeds," replied Mamalis, as 
 with beautiful simplicity she thus detailed her simple creed, 
 which she had been taught by her fathers. " From him is 
 life, and joy, and love. The blue sky is his home, and the 
 green earth he has made for his pleasure. The fresh 
 smelling flowers and the pure air are his breath, and the 
 sweet music of the wind through the woods is his voice. 
 The stars that he has sown through heaven, are the pure 
 shells which he has picked up by the rivers which flow 
 through the spirit land ; and the sun is his chariot, with 
 which he drives through heaven, while he smiles upon the 
 
72 HANSFORD I 
 
 world. Such is Manitou, whose very life is the good 
 giving; the bliss-bestowing." 
 
 " My sweet Mamalis," said Yirginia, " you have, indeed, 
 in your ignorance, painted a beautiful picture of the benefi- 
 cence of God. And can you not do you not thank this 
 Giver of every good and perfect gift for all his mercies." 
 
 " I cannot thank him for that which he must bestow," 
 said the girl. " We do not thank the flower because its 
 scent is sweet ; nor the birds that fill the woods with their 
 songs, because their music is grateful to the ear. Manitou 
 is made to be adored, not to be thanked, for his very 
 essence is good, and his very breath is love." 
 
 " But remember, my friend, that the voice of this Great 
 Spirit is heard in the thunder, as well as in the breeze, and 
 his face is revealed in the lightning as well as in the flower. 
 He is the author of evil as well as of good, and should we 
 not pray that He would avert the first, even if He heed not 
 our prayer to bestow the last." 
 
 If Virginia was shocked by the sentiments of her pupil 
 before, Mamalis was now as much so. Such an idea as 
 ascribing evil to the great Spirit of the Universe, never 
 entered the mind of the young savage, and now that she 
 first heard it, she looked upon it as little less than open 
 profanity. 
 
 " Manitou is not heard in the thunder nor seen in the 
 lightning," she replied. " It is Okee whose fury against 
 us is aroused, and who thus turns blessings into curses, 
 and good into evil. To him we pray that he look not 
 upon us with a frown, nor withhold the mercies that flow 
 from Manitou ; that the rains may fall upon our maize, and 
 the sun may ripen it in the full ear ; that he send the fat 
 wild deer across my brother's path, and ride on his arrow 
 until it reach its heart ; that he direct the grand council in 
 wisdom, and guide the tomahawk in its aim in battle. But 
 I have tarried too long, my brother may await my coming." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 73 
 
 " Nay, but you shall not go at least," said Virginia, 
 " without something for your trouble. You have nearly 
 lost a day, already. And come often and see me, Mamalis, 
 and we will speak of these things again. I will teach you 
 that your Manitou is good, as well as the author of good ; 
 and that he is love, as well as the fountain of love in others ; 
 that it is to him we should pray and in whom we should 
 trust, and he will lead us safely through all our trials in 
 this life, and take us to a purer spirit land than that of 
 which you dream." 
 
 Mamalis shook her head, but promised she would come. 
 Then loading her With such things as she thought she 
 stood in need of, and which the poor girl but seldom met 
 with, except from the same kind hand, Virginia bid her 
 God speed, and they parted; Mamalis to her desolate 
 wigwam, and Virginia to her labours in the household 
 affairs, which had devolved upon her.* 
 
 * In the foregoing scene the language of Mamalis has been purposely 
 rendered more pure than as it fell from her lips, because thus it was better 
 suited to the dignity of her theme. As for the creed itself, it is taken 
 from so many sources, that it would be impossible, even if desirable, to 
 quote any authorities. The statements of Smith and Beverley, are, how- 
 ever, chiefly relied upon. 
 
t4 HANSFORD: 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 " And will you rend our ancient love asunder, 
 And join with men in scorning your poor friend." 
 
 Midsummer Nightfs Dream. 
 
 WHILE Virginia was thus engaged, she was surprised by 
 hearing a light step behind her, and looking up she saw 
 Hansford pale and agitated, standing in the room. 
 
 " What in the world is the matter ?" she cried, alarmed 
 at his appearance ; " have the Indians " 
 
 " No, dearest, the Indians are far away ere this. But 
 alas ! there are other enemies to our peace than they." 
 
 "What do you mean ?" she said, " speak ! why do you 
 thus agitate me by withholding what you would say." 
 
 "My dear Virginia," replied her lover, "do you not 
 remember that I told you last night that I had something 
 to communicate, which would surprise and grieve you. I 
 cannot expect you to understand or appreciate fully my 
 motives. But you can at least hear me patiently, and by 
 the memory of our love, by the sacred seal of our plighted 
 troth, I beg you to hear me with indulgence, if not for- 
 giveness." 
 
 " There are but few things, Hansford, that you could 
 do," said Virginia, gravely, " that love would not teach me 
 to forgive. Go on. I hear you patiently." 
 
 "My story will be brief," said Hansford, "although it 
 may involve sad consequences to me. I need only say, that 
 I have felt the oppressions of the government, under which 
 the colony is groaning ; I have witnessed the duplicity and 
 perfidy of Sir William Berkeley, and I have determined 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 75 
 
 with the arm and heart of a man, to maintain the rights 
 of a man." 
 
 " What oppressions, what perfidy, what rights, do you 
 mean ?" said Virginia, turning pale with apprehension. 
 
 " You can scarcely understand those questions dearest. 
 But do you not know that the temporizing policy, the 
 criminal delay of Berkeley, has already made the blood of 
 Englishmen flow by the hand of savages. Even the agony 
 which you this morning suffered, is due to the indirect 
 encouragement given to the Indians by his fatal in- 
 dulgence." 
 
 "And you have proved false to your country," cried 
 Virginia. " Oh 1 Hansford, for the sake of your honour, 
 for the sake of your love, unsay the word which stains your 
 soul with treason." 
 
 " Nay, my own Virginia, understand me. I may be a 
 rebel to my king. I may almost sacrifice my love, but I 
 am true, ever true to my country. The day has passed, 
 Virginia, when that word was so restricted in its meaning 
 as to be confounded with the erring mortal, who should be 
 its minister and not its tyrant. The blood of Charles the 
 First has mingled with the blood of those brave martyrs 
 who perished for liberty, and has thus cemented the true 
 union between a prince and his people. It has given to 
 the world, that useful lesson, that the sovereign is invested 
 with his power, to protect, and not to destroy the rights 
 of his people ; that freemen may be restrained by whole- 
 some laws, but that they are freemen still. That lesson, 
 Sir William Berkeley must yet be taught. The patriot who 
 dares to teach him, is at last, the truest lover of his 
 country." 
 
 "I scarcely know what you say," said the young girl, 
 weeping, " but tell me, oh, tell me, have you joined your 
 fortunes with a rebel ?" 
 
 "If thus you choose to term him who loves freedom 
 
76 HANSFORD: 
 
 better than chains, who would rather sacrifice life itself 
 than to drag out a weary existence beneath the galling 
 yoke of oppression, I have. I know you blame me. I 
 know you hate me now," he added, in a sad voice, " but 
 while it was my duty, as a freeman and a patriot, to act 
 thus, it was also my duty, as an honourable man, to tell 
 you all. You remember the last lines of our favourite 
 song, 
 
 " I had not loved thee dear, so much, 
 Loved I not honour more." 
 
 "Alas! I remember the words but too well," replied 
 Virginia, sadly, " but I had been taught that the honour 
 there spoken of, was loyalty to a king, not treason. Oh, 
 Hansford, forgive me, but how can I, reared as I have 
 been, with such a father, how can I" she hesitated, unable 
 to complete the fatal sentence. 
 
 "I understand you," said Hansford. "But one thing 
 then remains undone. The proscribed rebel must be an 
 outlaw to Virginia Temple's heart. The trial is a sore 
 one, but even this sacrifice can I make to my beloved 
 country. Thus then I give you back your troth. Take 
 it take it," he cried, and with one hand covering his eyes, 
 he seemed with the other to tear from his heart some trea- 
 sured jewel that refused to yield its place. 
 
 The violence of his manner, even more than the fatal 
 words he had spoken, alarmed Virginia, and with a wild 
 scream, that rang through the old hall, she threw herself 
 fainting upon his neck. The noise reached the ears of the 
 party, who remained above stairs, and Colonel Temple, his 
 wife, and Bernard, threw open the door and stood for a 
 moment silent spectators of the solemn scene. There stood 
 Hansford, his eye lit up with excitement, his face white as 
 ashes, and his strong arm supporting the trembling form 
 of the young girl, while with his other hand he was chafing 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 77 
 
 her white temples, and smoothing back the long golden 
 tresses that had fallen dishevelled over her face. 
 
 " My child, my child," shrieked her mother, who was the 
 first to speak, " what on earth is the matter ?" 
 
 " Yes, Hansford, in the devil's name, what is to pay ?" 
 said the old colonel. " Why, Jeanie," he added, taking 
 the fair girl tenderly in his arms, "you are not half the 
 heroine you were when the Indians were here. There 
 now, that's a sweet girl, open your blue eyes and tell old 
 father what is the matter." 
 
 "Nothing, dear father," said Yirginia, faintly, as she 
 slowly opened her eyes. " I have been very foolish, 
 that's all." 
 
 "Nay, Jeanie, it takes more than nothing or folly to 
 steal the bloom away from these rosy cheeks." 
 
 " Perhaps the young gentleman can explain more easily," 
 said Bernard, fixing his keen eyes on his rival. " A little 
 struggle, perhaps, between love and loyalty." 
 
 " Mr. Bernard, with all his shrewdness, would probably 
 profit by the reflection," said Hansford, coldly, " that as a 
 stranger here, his opinions upon a matter of purely family 
 concern, are both unwelcome and impertinent." 
 
 "May be so," replied Bernard with a sneer; "but 
 scarcely more unwelcome than the gross and continued 
 deception practised by yourself towards those who have 
 honoured you with their confidence." 
 
 Hansford, stung by the remark, laid his hand upon his 
 sword, but was withheld by Colonel Temple, who cried out 
 with impatience, 
 
 " Why, what the devil do you mean ? Zounds, it seems 
 to me that my house is bewitched to-day. First those 
 cursed Indians, with their infernal yells, threatening death 
 and destruction to all and sundry ; then my daughter here, 
 playing the fool before my face, according to her own con- 
 fession ; and lastly, a couple of forward boys picking a 
 
 7* 
 
78 HANSFORD : 
 
 quarrel witli one another after a few hours' acquaintance. 
 Damn it, Tom, you were wont to have a plain tongue in 
 your head. Tell me, what is the matter ?" 
 
 "My kind old friend," said Hansford, with a tremulous 
 voice, " I would fain have reserved for your private ear, an 
 explanation which is now rendered necessary by that inso- 
 lent minion, whose impertinence had already received the 
 chastisement it deserves, but for an unfortunate interrup- 
 tion." 
 
 "Nay, Tom," said the Colonel, "no harsh words. 
 Remember this young man is my guest, and as such, enti- 
 tled to respect from all under my roof." 
 
 " Well then, sir," continued Hansford, " this young 
 lady's agitation was caused by the fact that I have lately 
 pursued a course, which, while I believe it to be just and 
 honourable, I fear will meet with but little favour in your 
 eyes." 
 
 " As much in the dark as ever," said the Colonel, per- 
 plexed beyond measure, for his esteem for Hansford pre- 
 vented him from suspecting the true cause of his daughter's 
 disquiet. Damn it, man, Davus sum non (Edipus. Speak 
 out plainly, and if your conduct has been, as you say, con- 
 sistent with your honour, trust to an old friend to forgive 
 you. Zounds, boy, I have been young myself, and can. 
 make allowance for the waywardness of youth. Been 
 gaming a little too high, hey ; well, the rest* was not so 
 low in my day, but that I can excuse that, if you didn't 
 'pull down the side.'"f 
 
 " I would fain do the young man a service, for I bear 
 him no ill-will, though he has treated me a little harshly," 
 said Bernard, as he saw Hansford silently endeavouring to 
 frame a reply in the most favourable terms, " I see he is 
 
 * Rest was the prescribed limit to the size of the venture. 
 f To pull down the side was a technical term with our ancestors for 
 cheating. , ,. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 79 
 
 ashamed of his cause, and well he may be ; for you must 
 know that he has become a great man of late, and has 
 linked his fate to a certain Nathaniel Bacon." 
 
 The old loyalist started as he heard this unexpected 
 announcement, then with a deep sigh, which seemed to 
 come from his very soul, he turned to Hansford and said, 
 " My boy, deny the foul charge ; say it is not so." 
 
 " It is, indeed, true," replied Hansford, mournfully, " but 
 when " 
 
 " But when the devil I" cried the old man, bursting into 
 a fit of rage ; " and you expect me to stand here and listen 
 to your justification. Zounds, sir, I would feel like a traitor 
 myself to hear you speak. And this is the serpent that I 
 have warmed and cherished at my hearthstone. Out of my 
 house, sir I" 
 
 " To think," chimed in Mrs. Temple, for once agreeing 
 fully with her husband, " how near our family, that has 
 always prided itself on its loyalty, was being allied to a 
 traitor. But he shall never marry Virginia, I vow. " 
 
 " No, by God," said the enraged loyalist ; " she should 
 rot in her grave first." 
 
 " Miss Temple is already released from her engagement," 
 said Hansford, recovering his calmness in proportion as the 
 other party lost their's. " She is free to choose for her- 
 self, sir." 
 
 " And that choice shall never light on you, apostate," 
 cried Temple, " unless she would bring my grey hairs in 
 sorrow to the grave." 
 
 " And mine, too," said the old lady, beginning to weep. 
 
 " I will not trouble you longer with my presence," said 
 Hansford, proudly, " except to thank you for past kindness, 
 which I can never forget. Farewell, Colonel Temple, I 
 respect your prejudices, though they have led you to curse 
 me. Farewell, Mrs. Temple, I will ever think of your 
 generous hospitality with gratitude. Farewell, Virginia, 
 

 80 HANSFORD : 
 
 forget that such a being as Thomas Hansford ever darkened 
 your path through life, and think of our past love as a 
 dream. I can bear your forgetfulness, but not your hate. 
 For you, sir," he added, turning to Alfred Bernard, "let 
 me hope that we will meet again, where no interruption will 
 prevent our final separation." 
 
 With these words, Hansford, his form proudly erect, but 
 his heart bowed down with sorrow, slowly left the house. 
 
 " Are you not a Justice of the Peace ?" asked Bernard, 
 with a meaning look. 
 
 " And what is that to you, sir ?" replied the old man, sus- 
 pecting the design of the question. 
 
 " Only, sir, that as such it is your sworn duty to arrest 
 that traitor. I know it is painful, but still it is your duty." 
 
 " And who the devil told you to come and teach me my 
 duty, sir ?" said the old man, wrathfully. " Let me tell 
 you, sir, that Tom Hansford, with all his faults, is a d d 
 sight better than a great many who are free from the stain 
 of rebellion. Rebellion ! oh, my God ! poor, poor 
 Tom." 
 
 " Nay, then, sir," said Bernard, meekly, "I beg your par- 
 don. I only felt it my duty to remind you of what you 
 might have forgotten. God forbid that I should wish to 
 endanger the life of a poor young man, whose only fault 
 may be that he was too easily led away by others." 
 
 " You are right, by God," said the Colonel, quickly. 
 " He is the victim of designing men, and yet I never said a 
 word to reclaim him. Oh, I have acted basely and 
 not like a friend. I will go now and bring him back, 
 wife ; though if he don't repent zounds ! neither will I ; 
 no, not for a million friends." 
 
 So saying, the noble-hearted old loyalist, whose impul- 
 sive nature was as prompt to redeem as to commit an error, 
 started from the room to reclaim his lost boy. It was too 
 late. Hansford, anticipating the result of the fatal revela- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 81 
 
 tion, had ordered his horse even before his first interview 
 with Virginia. The old Colonel only succeeded in catch- 
 ing a glimpse of him from the porch, as at a full gallop he 
 disappeared through the forest." 
 
 With a heavy sigh he returned to the study, there to meet 
 with the consolations of his good wife, which were contained 
 in the following words : 
 
 " Well, I hope and trust he is gone, and. will never darken 
 our doors again. You know, my dear, I always told you 
 that you were wrong about that young man, Hansford. 
 There always seemed to be a lack of frankness and openness 
 in his character, and although I do not like to interpose my 
 objections, yet I never altogether approved of the match. 
 You know I always told you so." 
 
 " Told the devil !" cried the old man, goaded to the very 
 verge of despair by this new torture. " I beg your pardon, 
 Bessy, for speaking so hastily, but, damn it, if all the angels 
 in Heaven had told me that Tom Hansford could prove a 
 traitor, I would not have believed it." 
 
 And how felt she, that wounded, trusting one, who thus 
 in a short day had seen the hopes and dreams of happiness, 
 which fancy had woven in her young heart, all rudely 
 swept away ! 'Twere wrong to lift the veil from that poor 
 stricken heart, now torn with grief too deep for words too 
 deep, alas ! for tears. With her cheek resting on her white 
 hand, she gazed tearlessly, but vacantly, towards the forest 
 where he had so lately vanished as a dream. To those who 
 spoke to her, she answered sadly in monosyllables, and then 
 turned her head away, as if it were still sweet to cherish 
 thus the agony which consumed her. But the bitterest drop 
 in all this cup of woe, was the self-reproach which mingled 
 with her recollection of that sad scene. When he had 
 frankly given back her troth, she, alas ! had not stayed his 
 hand, nor by a word had told him how truly, even in his 
 guilt, her heart was his. And now, she thought, when 
 
82 HANSFORD : 
 
 thus driven harshly into the cold world, his only friends 
 among the enemies to truth, his enemies its friends, how one 
 little word of love, or even of pity, might have redeemed 
 him from error, or at least have cheered him in his dark 
 career. 
 
 But bear up bravely, sweet one ; for heavier, darker sor- 
 rows yet must cast their shadows on thy young heart, ere 
 yet its warm pulsations cease to beat, and it be laid at 
 rest. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 lf Wounded in both my honour and my love ; 
 
 They have pierced me in two tender parts. 
 Yet, could I take my just revenge, 
 
 It would in some degree assuage my smart." 
 
 Vanbrngh. 
 
 IT was at an early hour on the following morning that 
 the queer old chariot of Colonel Temple one of the few, 
 by the way, which wealth had as yet introduced into the 
 colony was drawn up before the door. The two horses 
 of the gentlemen were standing ready saddled and bridled, 
 in the care of the hostler. In a few moments, the ladies, 
 all dressed for the journey, and the gentlemen, with their 
 heavy spurs, long, clanging swords, and each with a pair 
 of horseman's pistols, issued from the house into the yard. 
 The old lady, declaring that they were too late, and that, 
 if her advice had been taken, they would have been half 
 way to Jamestown, was the first to get into the carriage, 
 armed with a huge basket of bread, beef's tongue, cold 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 83 
 
 ham and jerked venison, which was to supply the place of 
 dinner on the road. Yirginia, pale and sad, but almost 
 happy at any change from scenes where every object brought 
 up some recollection of the banished Hansford, followed her 
 mother ; and the large trunk having been strapped securely 
 behind the carriage, and the band-box, containing the old 
 lady's tire for the ball and other light articles of dress, 
 having been secured, the little party were soon in motion. 
 
 The hope and joy with which Yirginia had looked forward 
 to this trip to Jamestown had been much enhanced by the 
 certainty that Hansford would be there. With the joyous- 
 ness of her girlish heart, she had pictured to herself the 
 scene of pleasure and festivity which awaited her. The 
 Lady Frances' birthday, always . celebrated at the palace 
 with the voice of music and the graceful dance with the 
 presence of the noblest cavaliers from all parts of the 
 colony, and the smiles of the fairest damsels who lighted 
 the society of the Old Dominion was this year to be cele- 
 brated with unusual festivities. But, alas ! how changed 
 were the feelings of Virginia'now ! how blighted were the 
 hopes which had blossomed in her heart I 
 
 Their road lay for the most part through a beautiful 
 forest, where the tall poplar, the hickory, the oak and the 
 chestnut were all indigenous, and formed an avenue shaded 
 by their broad branches from the intense rays of the sum- 
 mer sun. Now and then the horses were startled at the 
 sudden appearance of some fairy-footed deer, as it bounded 
 lightly but swiftly through the woods ; or at the sudden 
 whirring of the startled pheasant, as she flew from their 
 approach ; or the jealous gobble of the stately turkey, as 
 he led his strutting dames into his thicket-harem. The 
 nimble grey squirrel, too, chattered away saucily in his high 
 leafy nest, secure from attack from his very insignificance. 
 Birds innumerable were seen flitting from branch to branch, 
 and tuning their mellow voices as choristers in this forest- 
 
84 HANSFORD: 
 
 temple of Nature. The song* of the thrush and the red- 
 bird came sweetly from the willows, whose weeping branches 
 overhung the neighbouring banks of a broad stream ; the 
 distant dove joined her mournful melody to their cheerful 
 notes, and the woodpecker, on the blasted trunk of some 
 stricken oak, tapped his rude bass in unison with the happy 
 choir of the forest. 
 
 All this Virginia saw and heard, and felt yes, felt it all 
 as a bitter mockery : as if, in these joyous bursts from the 
 big heart of Nature, she were coldly regardless of the sor- 
 rows of those, her children, who had sought their happiness 
 apart; as though the avenging Creator had given man 
 naught but the bitter fruit of that fatal tree of knowledge, 
 while he lavished with .profusion on all the rest of his 
 creation the choicest fruits that flourished in His paradise. 
 
 In vain did Bernard, with his soft and winning voice, 
 point out these beauties to Virginia. In vain, with all the 
 rich stores of his gifted mind, did he seek to alienate her 
 thoughts from the one subject that engrossed them. She 
 scarcely heard what he said, and when at length urged by 
 the impatient nudges of her mother to answer, she showed 
 by her absence of mind how faint had been the impression 
 which he made. A thousand fears for the safety of her 
 lover mingled with her thoughts. Travelling alone in that 
 wild country, with hostile Indians infesting the colony, what, 
 alas ! might be his fate ! Or even if he should escape 
 these dangers, still, in open arms against his government, 
 proclaimed a rebel by the Governor, a more horrible des- 
 tiny might await him. And then the overwhelming thought 
 came upon her, that be his fate in other respects what it 
 might whether he should fall by the cruelty of the savage, 
 the sword of the enemy, or, worst of all, by the vengeance 
 of his indignant country to her at least he was lost for- 
 ever. 
 
 Avoiding carefully any reference to the subject of her 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 85 
 
 grief, and bending his whole mind to the one object of 
 securing her attention, Alfred Bernard endeavored to be- 
 guile her with graphic descriptions of the scenes he had 
 left in England. He spoke and on such subjects none 
 could speak more charmingly of the brilliant society of 
 wits, and statesmen, and beauties, which clustered together 
 in the metropolis and the palace of the restored Stuart 
 Passing lightly over the vices of the court, he dwelt upon 
 its pageantry, its wit, its philosophy, its poetry. The tal- 
 ents of the gay and accomplished, but vicious Rochester, 
 were no more seen dimmed in their lustre by his faithlessness 
 to his wife, or his unprincipled vices in the beau monde of 
 London. Anecdote after anecdote, of Waller, of Cowley, 
 of Dryden, flowed readily from his lips. The coffee-houses 
 were described, where wit and poetry, science and art, poli- 
 tics and religion, were discussed by the first intellects of 
 the age, and allured the aspiring youth of England from 
 the vices of dissipation, that they might drink in rich 
 draughts of knowledge from these Pierian springs. The 
 theatre, the masque, the revels, which the genial rays of the 
 Restoration had once more warmed into life, next formed 
 the subjects of his conversation. Then passing from this 
 picture of gay society, he referred to the religious discus- 
 sions of the day. His eye sparkled and his cheek glowed 
 as he spoke of the triumphs of the established Church over 
 puritanical heresy ; and his lip curled, and he laughed 
 satirically, as he described the heroic sufferings of some 
 conscientious Baptist, dragged at the tail of a cart, and 
 whipped from his cell in Newgate to Tyburn hill. Gradu- 
 ally did Virginia's thoughts wander from the one sad topic 
 which had engrossed them, and by imperceptible degrees, 
 even unconsciously to herself, she became deeply interested 
 in his discourse. Her mother, whom the wily Bernard took 
 occasion ever and anon, to propitiate with flattery, was 
 completely carried away, and in the inmost recesses of her 
 
 8 
 
86 HANSFORD: 
 
 heart a hope was hatched that the eloquent young courtiei 
 would soon take the place of the rebel Hausford, in the 
 affections of her daughter. 
 
 We have referred to a stream, along whose forest-banks 
 their road had wound. That stream was the noble York, 
 whose broad bosom, now broader and more beautiful than 
 ever, lay full in their view, and on which the duck, the 
 widgeon and the gull were quietly floating. Here and there 
 could be seen the small craft of some patient fisherman, as 
 it stood anchored at a little distance from the shore, its 
 white sail shrouding the solitary mast ; and at an opening 
 in the woods, about a mile ahead, rose the tall masts of an 
 English vessel, riding safely in the broad harbour of York- 
 town then the commercial rival of Jamestown in the 
 colony. 
 
 The road now became too narrow for the gentlemen any 
 longer to ride by the side of the carnage, and at the sug- 
 gestion of the Colonel, an arrangement was adopted by 
 which he should lead the little party in front, while Bernard 
 should bring up the rear. This precaution was the more 
 necessary, as the abrupt banks of the river, with the dense 
 bushes which grew along them, was a safe lurking place for 
 any Indians who might be skulking about the country. 
 
 " A very nice gentleman, upon my word," said Mrs. 
 Temple, when Alfred Bernard was out of hearing. " Vir- 
 ginia, don't you like him ?" 
 
 " Yes, very much, as far as I have an opportunity of 
 judging." 
 
 " His information is so extensive, his views so correct, 
 his conversation so delightful. Don't you think so ?" 
 
 " Yes, mother," replied Virginia. 
 
 " Yes, mother 1 Why don't you show more spirit ?" said 
 her mother. " There you sat moping in the carriage the 
 whole way, looking for all the world as if you didn't under- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 8T 
 
 stand a word he was saying. That isn't right, my dear ; 
 you should look up and show more spirit d'ye hear 1" 
 
 "You mistake, mother ; I did enjoy the ride very much, 
 and found Mr. Bernard very agreeable." 
 
 " Well, but you were so lack-a-daisical and yea, nay, in 
 your manner to him. How do you expect a young man 
 to feel any interest in you, if you never give him any 
 encouragement ?" 
 
 "Why, mother, I don't suppose Mr. Bernard takes any 
 more interest in me than he would in any casual acquain- 
 tance ; and, indeed, if he did, I certainly cannot return it. 
 But I will try and cheer up, and be more agreeable for 
 your sake." 
 
 " That's right, my dear daughter ; remember that your 
 old mother knows what is best for you, and she will never 
 advise you wrong. I think it is very plain that this young 
 gentleman has taken a fancy to you already, and while I 
 would not have you too pert and forward, yet it is well 
 enough to show off, and, in a modest way, do everything to 
 encourage him. You know I always said, my dear, that 
 you were too young when you formed an attachment for that 
 young Hansford, and that you did not know your own 
 heart, and now you see I was right." 
 
 Yirginia did not see that her mother was right, but she 
 was too well trained to reply ; and so, without a word, she 
 yielded herself once more to her own sad reflections, arid, 
 true-hearted girl that she was, she soon forgot the fascina- 
 tions of Alfred Bernard in her memory of Hansford. 
 
 They had not proceeded far, when Bernard saw, seated 
 on the trunk of a fallen tree, the dusky form of a young 
 I ndian, whom he soon recognized as the leader of the party 
 who the day before had made the attack upon Windsor 
 Hall. The interest which he felt in this young man, whose 
 early history he had heard, combined with a curiosity to 
 converse with one of the strange race to which he belonged, 
 
88 IIANSFORD : 
 
 and, as will bo seen, a darker motive and a stronger reason 
 than either, induced Bernard to rein up his horse, and per- 
 mitting his companions to proceed some distance in front, 
 to accost the young Indian. Alfred Bernard, by nature 
 and from education, was perfectly fearless, though he lacked 
 the magnanimity which, united with fearlessness, constitutes 
 bravery. Laying his hand on his heart, which, as he had 
 already learned, was the friendly salutation used with and 
 toward the savages, he rode slowly towards Manteo. The 
 young Indian recognized the gesture which assured him of 
 his friendly intent, and rising from his rude seat, patiently 
 waited for him to speak. 
 
 " I would speak to you," said Bernard. 
 
 "Speak on." 
 
 " Are you entirely alone ?" 
 
 "Ugh," grunted Manteo, affirmatively. 
 
 " Where are those who were with you at Windsor Hull ?" 
 
 " Gone to Delaware,* to Matchieomoco. " f 
 
 " Why did you not go with them ?" asked Bernard. 
 
 " Manteo love long-knife Pamunkey hate Manteo 
 drive him away from his tribe," said the young savage, sor- 
 rowfully. 
 
 The truth flashed upon Bernard at once. This young 
 savage, who, in a moment of selfish ambition, for his own 
 personal advancement, had withheld the vengeance of his 
 people, was left by those whom he had once led, as no longer 
 worthy of their confidence. In the fate of this untutored 
 son of the forest, the young courtier had found a sterner 
 rebuke to selfishness and ambition than he had ever seen in 
 the court of the monarch of England. 
 
 " And so you are alone in the world now ?" said Ber- 
 nard. 
 
 * The name of the village at the confluence of Pamunkey and Mat- 
 t-apony, now called West Point. 
 f Grand Council of the Indians. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 89 
 
 " Ugh !" 
 
 " With nothing to hope or to live for ?' ; 
 
 "One hope left," said Manteo, laying his hand on his 
 tomahawk. 
 
 "What is that?" 
 
 "Revenge." 
 
 " On whom ?" 
 
 " On long-knives and Pamunkeys." 
 
 " If you live for revenge," said Bernard, " we live for 
 nearly the same object. You may trust me I will be your 
 friend. Do you know me ?" 
 
 "No !" said Manteo, shaking his head. 
 
 "Well, I know you," said Bernard. "Now, what if I 
 help you to the sweet morsel of revenge you speak of ?" 
 
 " I tank you den." 
 
 " Do you know your worst enemy ?" 
 
 " Manteo 1" 
 
 How why so ?" 
 
 " I make all my oder enemy." 
 
 " Nay, but I know an enemy who is even worse than 
 yourself, because he has made you your own enemy. One 
 who oppresses your race, and is even now making war upon 
 your people. I mean Thomas Ilansford." 
 
 " Ugh !" said Manteo, with more surprise than he had 
 yet manifested ; and for once, leaving his broken English, 
 he cried in his own tongue, "Ahoaleu Virginia." (He 
 loves Virginia Temple.) 
 
 " And do you ?" said Bernard, guessing at his meaning, 
 and marking with surprise the more than ordinary feeling 
 with which Manteo had uttered these words. 
 
 " See dcre," replied Manteo, holding up an arrow, which 
 he had already taken from his quiver, as if with the inten- 
 tion of fixing it to his bow-string. "De white crenepo,* 
 
 *A 
 

 90 HANSFORD : 
 
 de maiden, blunt Manteo's arrow when it would fly to her 
 father's heart." At the same time he pointed towards the 
 road along which the carriage had lately passed. 
 
 " By the holy Virgin," muttered Bernard, " methinks the 
 whole colony, Indians, negroes, and all, are going stark 
 mad after this girl. And so you hate Hansford, then ?" he 
 said aloud. 
 
 " No, I can't hate what she loves," replied Manteo, feel- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Why did you aid in attacking her father's house then, 
 yesterday ?" 
 
 " Long-knives strike only when dey hate ; Pamunkey 
 fight from duty. If Manteo drop de tomahawk because he 
 love, he is squaw, not a brave." 
 
 " But this Hansford," said Bernard, " is in arms against 
 your people, whom the government would protect." 
 
 " TJgh !" grunted the young warrior. " Pamunkey want 
 not long-knives' protect. De grand werowance of long- 
 knives has cut down de peace tree and broke de pipe, and 
 de tomahawk is now dug up. De grand werowance pro- 
 tect red man like eagle protect young hare." 
 
 " Nay, but we would be friends with the Indians," urged 
 Bernard. " We would share this great country with them, 
 and Berkeley would be the great father of the Pamunkeys." 
 
 The Indian looked with ineffable disdain on his com- 
 panion, and then turning towards the river, he pointed to a 
 large fish-hawk, who, with a rapid swoop, had caught in his 
 talons a fish that had just bubbled above the water for 
 breath, and borne him far away in the air. 
 
 " See dere," said Manteo ; " water belong to fish hawk 
 is fish's friend." 
 
 Bernard saw that he had entirely mistaken the charac- 
 ter of his companion. The vengeance of the Indians being 
 once aroused, they failed to discriminate between the authors 
 of the injuries which they had received, and those who 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 91 
 
 Bought to protect them ; and they attributed to the great 
 werowance of the long-knives (for so they styled the Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia) all the blame of the attack and slaugh- 
 ter of the unoffending Susquehannahs. But the wily Ber- 
 nard was not cast down by his ill success, in attempting to 
 arouse the vengeance of Manteo against his rival. 
 
 " Your sister is at the hall often, is she not ?" he asked, 
 after a brief pause. 
 
 " Ugh," said the Indian, relapsing into this affirmative 
 grunt. 
 
 " So is Hansford your sister knows him." 
 
 " What of dat ?" 
 
 " Excuse me, my poor friend," said Bernard, " but I came 
 to warn you that your sister knows him as she should not." 
 
 The forest echoed with the wild yell that burst from the 
 lips of Manteo at this cruel fabrication so loud, so wild, 
 so fearful, that the ducks which had been quietly basking in 
 the sun, and admiring their graceful shadows in the water, 
 were startled, and with an alarmed cry flew far away down 
 the river. 
 
 The Indian character, although still barbarous, had been 
 much improved by association with the English. Respect 
 for the female sex, and a scrupulous regard for female purity, 
 which are ever the first results of dawning civilization, had 
 already taken possession of the benighted souls of the In- 
 dians of Virginia. More especially was this so with the 
 young Manteo, whose association with the whites, notwith- 
 standing his strong devotion to his own race, had imparted 
 more refinement and purity to his nature than was enjoyed 
 by most of his tribe. Mamalis, the pure, the spotless 
 Mamalis she, whom from his earliest boyhood he had 
 hoped to bestow on some young brave, who, foremost in 
 the chase, or most successful in the ambuscade, could tell 
 the story of his achievements among the chieftains at the 
 council-fire it was too much ; the stern heart of the young 
 
92 HANSFORD : 
 
 Indian, though "trained from his tree-rocked cradle the 
 fierce extremes of good and ill to bear," burst forth in a 
 gush of agony, as he thus heard the fatal knell of all his 
 pride and all his hope. 
 
 Bernard was at first startled by the shriek, but soon 
 regained his composure, and calm and composed regarded 
 his victim. When at length the first violence of grief had 
 subsided, he said, with a soft, mild voice, which fell fresh as 
 dew upon the withered heart of the poor Indian, 
 
 " I am sorry for you, my friend, but it is too true. And 
 now, Manteo, what can be your only consolation ?" 
 
 " Revenge is de wighsacan* to cure dis wound, "said the 
 poor savage. 
 
 " Bight. This is the only food for brave and injured 
 men. Well, we understand each other now don't we ?" 
 
 " Ugh," grunted Manteo, with a look of satisfaction. 
 
 " Yery well," returned Bernard, " is your tomahawk 
 sharp ?" 
 
 " It won't cut deep as dis wound, but I will sharpen it 
 on my broken heart," replied Manteo, with a heavy sigh. 
 
 " Right bravely said. And now farewell ; I will help 
 you as I can," said Alfred Bernard, as he turned and rode 
 away, while the poor Indian sank down again upon his rude 
 log seat, his head resting on his hands. 
 
 " And this the world calls villainy !" mused Bernard, as 
 he rode along. " But it is the weapon with which nature 
 has armed the weak, that he may battle with the strong. 
 For what purpose was the faculty of intrigue bestowed upon 
 man, if it were not "to be exercised ? and, if exercised at 
 all, why surely it can never be directed to a purer object 
 than the accomplishment of good. Thus, then, what the 
 croaking moralist calls evil, may always be committed if 
 good be the result ; and what higher good can be attained 
 
 * A root used by the Indi n ns successfully in the cure of all wounds. 
 
A TALE or BACON'S REBELLION. 93 
 
 in life than happiness, and what purer happiness can there 
 be than revenge ? No man shall ever cross my path bat 
 once with safety, and this young Virginia rebel has already 
 done so. He has shown his superior skill and courage with 
 the sword, and has made me ask my life at his hands. Let 
 him look to it that he may not have to plead for his own 
 life in vain. This young Indian's thirst will not be 
 quenched but with blood. By the way, a lucky hit was 
 that. His infernal yell is sounding in my ears yet. But 
 Hansford stands in my way besides. This fair young 
 maiden, with her beauty, her intellect, and her land, may 
 make my fortune yet ; and who can blame the poor, friend- 
 less orphan, if he carve his way to honour and indepen- 
 dence even through the blood of a rival. The poor, duped 
 savage whom I just left, said that he was his own worst 
 enemy ; I am wiser in being my own best friend. Tell me 
 not of the world it is mine oyster, which I will open by 
 my wits as well as by my sword. Prate not of morality 
 and philanthropy. Man is a microcosm, a world within 
 himself, and he only is a wise one who uses the world with- 
 out for the success of the world within. Once supplant 
 this Hansford in the love of his betrothed bride, and I suc- 
 ceed to the broad acres of Windsor Hall. Old Berkeley 
 shall be the scaffolding by which I will rise to power and 
 position, and when he rots down, the building I erect will 
 be but the fairer for the riddance. Who recks the path 
 which he has trod, when home and happiness are in view ? 
 What general thinks of the blood he has shed, when the 
 shout of victory rings in his ears ? Be true to yourself, 
 Alfred Bernard, though false to all the world beside ! At 
 last, good father Bellini, thou hast taught me true wisdom 
 ' Success sanctifies sin.'" 
 
94 HANSFOHD : 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 "Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days?" 
 
 Isaiah. 
 
 " One mouldering tower, o'ergrown with ivy, shows 
 Where first Virginia's capital arose, 
 And to the tourist's vision far withdrawn 
 Stands like a sentry at the gates of dawn. 
 The church has perished faint the lines and dim 
 Of those whoso voices raised the choral hyrnn, 
 Go read the record on the mossy stone, 
 'Tis brief and sad oblivion claims its own !" 
 
 Thonyjson's Virginia, 
 
 THE traveller, as he is borne on the bosom of the noble 
 James, on the wheezing, grunting steamboat, may still see 
 upon the bank of the river, a lonely ruin, which is all that 
 now remains of the old church at Jamestown. Despite its 
 loneliness and desolation, that old church has its memories, 
 which hallow it in the heart of every Yirginian. From its 
 ruined chancel that "singular excellent" Christian and man, 
 good Master Hunt, was once wont, in far gone times, to 
 preach the gospel of peace to those stern old colonists, who 
 in full armour, and ever prepared for Indian interruptions, 
 listened with devout attention. There in the front pew, 
 which stood nearest the chancel, had sat John Smith, whose 
 sturdy nature and strong practical sense were alone suffi- 
 cient to repel the invasion of heathen savages, and provide 
 for the wants of a famishing colony. Yet, with all the 
 sternness and rigour of his character, his heart was subdued 
 by the power of religion, as he bowed in meek submission 
 to its precepts, and relied with humble confidence upon its 
 promises. The pure light of Heaven was reflected even 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 95 
 
 from that strong iron heart. At that altar had once knelt 
 a dusky but graceful form, the queenly daughter of a noble 
 king ; and, her savage nature enlightened by the rays of the 
 Sun of righteousness, she had there received upon her royal 
 brow the sacred sign of her Redeemer's cross. And many 
 a dark eye was bedewed with tears, and many a strong 
 heart was bowed in prayer, as the stout old colonists stood 
 around, and saw the baptismal rite which sealed the profes- 
 sion and the faith of the brave, the beautiful, the generous 
 Pocahontas. 
 
 But while this old ruin thus suggests many an association 
 with the olden time, there is nothing left to tell the anti- 
 quary of the condition and appearance of Jamestown, the 
 first capital of Virginia. The island, as the narrow neck 
 of land on which the town was built is still erroneously 
 called, may yet be seen ; but not a vestige of the simple 
 splendour, with which colonial pride delighted to adorn it, 
 remains to tell the story of its glory or destruction. And 
 yet, to the eye and the heart of the colonist, this little town 
 was a delight : for here were assembled the Governor and 
 his council, who, with mimic pride, emulated the grandeur 
 and the pageant of Whitehall. Here, too, were the bur- 
 gesses congregated at the call of the Governor, who, with 
 their stately wives and blooming daughters, contributed to 
 the delight of the metropolitan society. Here, too, was the 
 principal mart, where the planters shipped their tobacco for 
 the English market, and received from home those articles 
 of manufacture and those rarer delicacies which the colony 
 was as yet unable to supply. And here, too, they received 
 news from Europe, which served the old planters and 
 prurient young statesmen with topics of conversation until 
 the next arrival ; while the young folks gazed with wonder 
 and delight at the ship, its crew and passengers, who had 
 actually been in that great old England of which they had 
 heard their fathers talk so much. 
 
96 HANSFORD : 
 
 The town, like an old-fashioned sermon, was naturally 
 divided into two parts. The first, which lay along the 
 river, was chiefly devoted to commercial purposes the 
 principal resort of drunken seamen, and those land harpies 
 who prey upon them for their own subsistence. Here were 
 located those miserable tippling-houses, which the Assembly 
 had so long and so vainly attempted to suppress. Here 
 were the busy forwarding houses, with their dark counting- 
 rooms, their sallow clerks, and their bills of lading. Here 
 the shrewd merchant and the bluff sea-captain talked loudly 
 and learnedly of the laws of trade, the restrictive policy of 
 the navigation laws, and the growing importance of the 
 commercial interests of the colony. And here was the 
 immense warehouse, under the especial control of the gov- 
 ernment, with its hundreds of hogsheads of tobacco, all 
 waiting patiently their turn for inspection ; and the sweat- 
 ing negroes, tearing off the staves of the hogsheads to dis- 
 play the leaf to view, and then noisily hammering them 
 together again, while the impatient inspector himself went 
 the rounds and examined the wide spread plant, and 
 adjudged its quality ; proving at the same time his capa- 
 city as a connoisseur, by the enormous quid which he rolled 
 pleasantly in his mouth. 
 
 But it is the more fashionable part of the town, with 
 which our story has to do ; arid here, indeed, even at this 
 early day, wealth and taste had done much to adorn the 
 place, and to add to the comfort of the inhabitants. At 
 one end of the long avenue, which was known as Stuart 
 street, in compliment to the royal family, was situated the 
 palace of Sir William Berkeley. Out of his private means 
 and the immense salary of his office, the governor had done 
 much to beautify and adorn his grounds. A lawn, with its 
 well shaven turf, stretched in front of the house for more 
 than a hundred yards, traversed in various directions with 
 white gravelled walks, laid out with much taste, and inter- 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 9f 
 
 spersed with large elms and poplars. In the centre of the 
 lawn was a beautiful summer-house, over which the white 
 jessamine and the honeysuckle, planted by Lady Frances' 
 own hand, clambered in rich profusion. The house, itself, 
 though if it still remained, it would seem rather quaint and 
 old-fashioned, was still very creditable as a work of archi- 
 tecture. A long porch, or gallery, supported by simple 
 Doric pillars, stretched from one end of it to the other, and 
 gave an air of finish and beauty to the building. The 
 house was built of brick, brought all the way from Eng- 
 land, for although the colonists had engaged in the manu- 
 facture of brick to a certain extent, yet for many years after 
 the time of which we write, they persisted in this extraor- 
 dinary expense, in supplying the materials for their better 
 class of buildings. 
 
 At the other end of Stuart street was the state-house, 
 erected in pursuance of an act, the preamble of which 
 recites the disgrace of having laws enacted and judicial 
 proceedings conducted in an ale-house. This building, 
 like the palace, was surrounded by a green lawn, orna- 
 mented with trees and shrubbery, and enclosed by a hand- 
 some pale midway the gate and the portico, on either side 
 of the broad gravel walk, were two handsome houses, one 
 of which was the residence of Sir Henry Chicherley, Yice- 
 President of the Council, and afterwards deputy-governor 
 upon the death of Governor Jeffreys. The other house 
 was the residence of Thomas Ludwell, Secretary to the 
 colony, and brother to Colonel Philip Ludwell, whose 
 sturdy and unflinching loyalty during the rebellion, has 
 preserved his name to our own times. 
 
 The state-house, itself, was a large brick building, 
 with two wings, the one occupied by the governor and his 
 council, the other by the general court, composed indeed 
 of the same persons as the council, but acting in a judicial 
 capacity. The centre building was devoted to the House 
 
 9 
 
98 HANSFORD : 
 
 Burgesses exclusively, containing their hall, library, and 
 apartments for different offices. The whole structure was 
 surmounted by a queer looking steeple, resembling most 
 one of those high, peaked hats, which Hogarth has placed 
 on the head of Hudibras and his puritan compeers. 
 
 Between the palace and the state-house, as we have said 
 before, ran Stuart street, the thoroughfare of the little 
 metropolis, well built up on either side with stores and the 
 residences of the prominent citizens of the town. There 
 was one peculiarity in the proprietors of these houses, 
 which will sound strangely in the ears of their descend- 
 ants. Accustomed to the generous hospitality of the 
 present day, the reader may be surprised to learn that 
 most of the citizens of old Jamestown entertained their 
 guests from the country for a reasonable compensation ; 
 and so, when the gay cavalier from Stafford or Gloucester 
 had passed a week among the gaieties or business of the 
 metropolis, 
 
 He called for his horse and lie asked for his way, 
 While the jolly old landlord cried " Something to pay." 
 
 But when we reflect that Jamestown was the general resort 
 of persons from all sections of the colony, and that the 
 tavern accommodations were but small, we need not be 
 surprised at a state of things so different from the glad 
 and gratuitous welcome of our own day. 
 
 Such, briefly and imperfectly described, was old James- 
 town, the first capital of Virginia, as it appeared in 1676, 
 to the little party of travellers, whose fortunes we have 
 been following, as they rode into Stuart street, late in the 
 evening of the day on which they left Windsor Hall. The 
 arrival, as is usual in little villages, caused quite a sensa- 
 tion. The little knot of idlers that gathered about the 
 porch of the only regular inn, desisted from whittling the 
 store box, in the demolishing of which they had been busily 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. Jf 
 
 engaged and looked up with an impertinent stare at the 
 new comers. Mine host bustled about as the carriage, 
 drove up before the door, and his jolly red face grew 
 redder by his vociferous calls for servants. In obedience 
 to his high behest, the servants came the hostler, an 
 imported cockney, to examine the points of the horses 
 committed to his care, and to measure his provender by 
 their real worth ; the pretty Scotch chambermaid to con- 
 duct the ladies to their respective rooms, and a brisk and 
 dapper little French barber to attack the colonel vehe- 
 mently with a clothes-brush, as though he had hostile 
 designs upon the good man's coat. 
 
 Bernard, in the meantime, having promised to come for 
 Virginia, and escort her to the famous birth-night ball, 
 rode slowly towards the palace ; now and then casting a 
 haughty glance around him on those worthy gossips, 
 who followed his fine form with their admiring eyes, and 
 whispered among themselves that " Some folks was cer- 
 tainly born to luck ; for look ye, Gaffer, there is a young 
 fribble, come from the Lord knows where, and brought 
 into the colony to be put over the heads of many worthier; 
 and for all he holds his head so high, and sneers so mighty 
 handsome with his lip, who knows what the lad may be. 
 The great folk aye make a warm nest for their own bas- 
 tards, and smooth the outside of the blanket as softly as 
 the iii, while houester folks must e'en rough it in frieze and 
 Duffield. But na'theless, I say nothing, neighbor." 
 
100 HANSFORD I 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 " There was a sound of revelry by night 
 
 And Belgium's capital had gathered then 
 Her beauty and her chivalry ; and bright 
 
 The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ; 
 A thousand hearts beat happily; and when 
 
 Music arose with its voluptuous swell, 
 Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spoke again, 
 And all went merry as a marriage bell." 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
 THE ball at Sir William Berkeley's palace was of that 
 character, which, in the fashionable world, is described as 
 brilliant ; and was long remembered by those who attended 
 it, as the last scene of revelry that was ever known in 
 Jamestown. The park or lawn which we have described 
 was brilliantly illuminated with lamps and transparencies 
 hung from the trees. The palace itself was a perfect blaze 
 of light. The coaches of the cavaliers rolled in rapid suc- 
 cession around the circular path that led to the palace, 
 and deposited their fair burdens, and then rolled rapidly 
 away to await the breaking up of the ball. Young beaux, 
 fairly glittering with gold embroidery, with their handsome 
 doublets looped with the gayest ribbons, and their hair 
 perfumed and oiled, and plaited at the sides in the most 
 captivating love-knots ; their cheeks beplastered with 
 rouge, and their moustache carefully trimmed and brushed, 
 passed gracefully to and fro, through the vast hall, and 
 lucked love to soft eyes that spake again. And those 
 young eyes, how brightly did they beam, and how freshly 
 did the young cheeks of their lovely owners blush, even 
 above the rouge with which they were painted, as they 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLtCfeC ' 10 L' 
 
 met the admiring glance of some fiwor,ed 
 ingly upon them ! How graceful, too, the attitude which 
 these fair maidens assumed, with their long trails sweeping 
 and fairly carpetting the floor, or when held up by their 
 tapering fingers, how proudly did they step, as they 
 crossed the room to salute the stately and dignified, but 
 now smiling Lady Frances Berkeley and she the queenly 
 centre of that vast throng, leaning upon the arm of her 
 noble and venerable husband, with what grace and dignity 
 she bowed her turbaned head in response to their saluta- 
 tions ; and with what a majestic air of gratified vanity did 
 she receive the courteous gratulations of the chivalrous ca- 
 valiers as they wished her many returns of the happy day, 
 and hoped that the hours of her life would be marked by 
 the lapse of diamond sands, while roses grew under her feet ! 
 Sir William Berkeley, of whose extraordinary character 
 we know far more than of any of the earlier governors of 
 Virginia, was now in the evening of his long and prosper- 
 ous life. " For more than thirty years he had governed 
 the most flourishing country the sun ever shone upon,"* 
 and had won for himself golden opinions from all sorts of 
 people. Happy for him, and happy for his fame, if he had 
 passed away ere he had become "encompassed," as he 
 himself expresses it, "with rebellion, like waters." To all 
 he had endeared himself by his firmness of character and 
 his suavity of manner. In 1659, he was called, by the 
 spontaneous acclaim of the people of Virginia, to assume 
 the high functions of the government, of which he had been 
 deprived during th4. Protectorate, and, under his lead, Vir- 
 ginia was the first to throw off her allegiance to the Pro- 
 tector, and to declare herself the loyal realm of the banished 
 Charles. Had William Berkeley died before the troublous 
 scenes which now awaited him, and which have cast so dark 
 
 * This is his own language. 
 
102 
 
 HANSPORD ! 
 
 & hado.W upon his character, scarce any man in colonial 
 history had left so pure a name, or been mourned by 
 sincerer tears. Death is at last the seal of fame, and over 
 the grave alone can we form a just estimate of human worth 
 and human virtue. 
 
 In person he was all that we delight to imagine in one 
 who is truly great. Age itself had not bent his tall, majes- 
 tic figure, which rose, like the form of the son of Kish, 
 above all the people. His full black eye was. clear and 
 piercing, and yet was often softened by a benevolent expres- 
 sion. And this was the true nature of his heart, formed at 
 once for softness and for rigour. His mouth, though fre- 
 quently a pleasant smile played around it, expressed the in- 
 flexible firmness and decision of his character. No man to 
 friends was more kind and gentle ; no man to a foe was more 
 relentless and vindictive. The only indication of approach- 
 ing age was in the silver colour of his hair, which he did 
 not conceal with the recently introduced periwig, and 
 which, combed back to show to its full advantage his fine 
 broad brow, fell in long silvery clusters over his shoulders. 
 
 Around him were gathered the prominent statesmen of 
 the colony, members of the Council and of the House of 
 Burgesses, conversing on various subjects of political inte- 
 rest. Among those who chose this rational mode of enter- 
 tainment was our old friend, Colonel Henry Temple, who 
 met many an old colleague among the guests, and every- 
 where received the respect and attention which his sound 
 sense, his sterling worth, and his former services so richly 
 deserved. 
 
 The Lady Frances, too, withdrawing her arm from that 
 of her husband, engaged in elegant conversation with the 
 elderly dames who sought her society ; now conversing 
 with easy dignity with the accomplished wives of the 
 councillors ; now, with high-bred refinement, overlooking 
 the awkward blunders of some of the plainer matrons, whose 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 103 
 
 husbands were in the Assembly ; and now smiling good- 
 humouredly at the old-fashioned vanity and assumed dig- 
 nity of Mrs. Temple. The comparison of the present 
 order of things with that to which she had been accustomed 
 in her earlier days, formed, as usual, the chief theme of 
 this good lady's discourse. But, to the attentive observer, 
 the glance of pride with which from time to time she looked 
 at her daughter, who, with graceful step and glowing cheek, 
 was joining in the busy dance, plainly showed that, in some 
 respects at least, Mrs. Temple had to acknowledge that the 
 bright present had even eclipsed her favourite past. 
 
 Yes, to the gay sound of music, amid the bright butter- 
 flies of fashion, who flew heartlessly through the mazes of 
 the graceful dance, Virginia Temple moved with them, 
 but not of them. She had not forgotten Hansford, but 
 she had forgotten self, and, determined to please her mother, 
 she had sought to banish from her heart, for the time, the 
 sorrow which was still there. She had come to the ball 
 with Bernard, and he, seeing well the effort she had made, 
 bent all the powers of his gifted mind to interest her 
 thoughts, and beguile them from the absorbing subject of 
 her grief. She attributed his efforts to a generous nature, 
 and thanked him in her heart for thus devoting himself to 
 her pleasure. She had attempted to return his kindness by 
 an assumed cheerfulness, which gradually became real and 
 natural, for shadows rest not long upon a young heart. 
 They fly from the blooming garden of youth, and settle 
 themselves amid the gloom and ruins of hoary age. And 
 never had Alfred Bernard thought the fair girl more lovely, 
 as, with just enough of pensive melancholy to soften and 
 not to sadden her heart, she moved among the gay and 
 thoughtless throng around her. 
 
 The room next to the ball-room was appropriated to such 
 of the guests as chose to engage in cards and dice ; for in 
 this, as in many other respects, the colony attempted to 
 
104 HANSFORD : 
 
 imitate the vices of the mother country. It is true the 
 habit of gaming was not so recklessly extravagant as that 
 which disgraced the corrupt court of Charles the Second, 
 and yet the old planters were sufficiently bold in their risks, 
 and many hundreds of pounds of tobacco often hung upon 
 the turn of the dice-box or the pip* of a card. Seated 
 around the old fashioned card-table of walnut, were sundry 
 groups of those honest burgesses, who were ready enough 
 in the discharge of their political functions in the state- 
 house, but after the adjournment were fully prepared for all 
 kinds of fun. Some were playing at gleek, and, to the 
 uninitiated, incomprehensible was the jargon in which the 
 players indulged. " Who'll buy the stock ?" cries the 
 dealer. " I bid five " " and I ten " " and I fifty. " Tie, 
 revie, surrevie, capote, double capote, were the terms that 
 rang through the room, as the excited gamesters, with 
 anxious faces, sorted and examined their cards. At another 
 table was primero, or thirty-one, a game very much resem- 
 bling the more modern game of vingt-et-un ; and here, too, 
 loud oaths of " damn the luck," escaped the lips of the 
 betters, as, with twenty-two in their hands, they drew a ten, 
 and burst with a pip too many. Others were moderate in 
 their risks, rattled the dice at tra-trap, and playing for only 
 an angel a game, smoked their pipes sociably together, and 
 talked of the various measures before the Assembly. 
 
 Thus the first hours of the evening passed rapidly away, 
 when suddenly the sound of the rebecksf ceased in the ball- 
 room, the gaming was arrested in an instant, and at the 
 loud cry of hall-a-hall, J the whole company repaired to the 
 long, broad porch, crowding and pushing each other, the 
 unwary cavaliers treading on the long trains of the fair 
 ladies, and receiving a well-merited frown for their care- 
 
 * Pip signified the spot on a card. 
 
 f Fiddles. 
 
 jl The cry of the herald for silence at the beginning of the masque. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 105 
 
 lessness. The object of this general rush was to see the 
 masque, which was to be represented in the porch, illu- 
 minated and prepared for the purpose. At one end of the 
 porch a stage was erected, with all the simple machinery 
 which the ingenuity of the youth of Jamestown could 
 devise, to aid in the representation the whole concealed 
 for the present from the view of the spectators by a green 
 baize curtain. 
 
 The object of the masque, imitated from the celebrated 
 court masques of the seventeenth century, which reflected 
 so much honour on rare Ben Jonson, and aided in establish- 
 ing the early fame of John Milton, was to celebrate under 
 a simple allegory the glories of the Restoration. Alfred 
 Bernard, who had witnessed such a representation in Eng- 
 land, first suggested the idea of thus honouring the birth- 
 night of the Lady Frances, and the suggestion was eagerly 
 taken hold of by the loyal young men of the little colonial 
 capital, who rejoiced in any exhibition that might even 
 faintly resemble the revels to which their loyal ancestors, 
 before the revolution, were so ardently devoted. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " Then help with your call 
 For a hall, a hall ! 
 Stand up by the wall, 
 Both good-men and tall, 
 We are one man's all !" 
 
 The Gipaey Metamorphosed. 
 
 WITH the hope that a description of the sports and 
 pastimes of their ancestors may meet with like favour from 
 the reader, we subjoin the following account of this little 
 
106 HANSFORD: 
 
 masque which was prepared for the happy occasion by 
 Alfred Bernard, aided by the grave chaplain, Arthur 
 Hutchinson, and performed by some of the gay gallants 
 and blooming damsels of old Jamestown. We flatly 
 disclaim in the outset any participation in the resent- 
 ment or contempt which was felt by these loyal Yirginians 
 towards the puritan patriots of the revolution. 
 
 The curtain rises and discovers the genius of True 
 Liberty, robed in white, with a wreath of myrtle around 
 her brow; holding in her right hand a sceptre entwined 
 with myrtle, as the emblem of peace, and in her left a sprig 
 of evergreen, to represent the fabled Moly* of Ulysses. 
 As she advances to slow and solemn music, she kneels at 
 an altar clothed with black velvet, and raising her eyes to 
 heaven, she exclaims : 
 
 " How long, oh Heaven ! shall power with impious hand 
 In cruel bondage bind proud Britain's land, 
 Or heresy in fair Religion's robe 
 Usurp her empire and control the globe ! 
 Hypocrisy in true Religion's name 
 Has filled the land of Britain long with shame, 
 And Freedom, captive, languishes in chains, 
 While with her sceptre, Superstition reigns. 
 
 Restore, oh Heaven ! the reign of peace and love, 
 And let thy wisdom to thy people prove 
 That Freedom too is governed by her rules, 
 No toy for children, and no game for fools ; 
 'reed from restraint the erring star would fly 
 Darkling, and guideless, through the untravelled sky 
 The stubborn soil would still refuse to yield 
 The whitening harvest of the fertile field ; 
 The wanton winds, when loosened from their caves, 
 Would drive the bark uncertain through the waves 
 
 * The intelligent reader, familiar with the Odyssey, need not to bo 
 reminded that with this wand of Moly, which Mercury presented to 
 Ulysses, the Grecian hero was enabled to restore his unhappy com- 
 panions, who, by the magic of the goddess Circe, had been transformed 
 into swine. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 107 
 
 This magnet lost, the sea, the air, the world, 
 To wild destruction would be swiftly hurled ! 
 And say, just Heaven, oh say, is feeble man 
 Alone exempt from thy harmonious plan ? 
 Shall he alone, in dusky darkness grope, 
 Free from restraint, and free, alas ! from hope ? 
 Slave to his passions, his unbridled will, 
 Slave to himself, and yet a freeman still ? 
 No ! teach him in his pride to own that he 
 Can only in obedience be free 
 That even he can only safely move, 
 When true to loyalty, and true to love." 
 
 As she speaks, a bright star appears at the farther end 
 of the stage, and ascending slowly, at length stands over 
 the altar, where she kneels. Extending her arm towards 
 the star, she rises and cries in triumph : 
 
 " I hail the sign, pure as the starry gem, 
 Which rested o'er the babe of Bethlehem 
 My prayer is heard, and Heaven's sublime decree 
 Will rend our chains, and Britain shall be free I" 
 
 Then enters the embodiment of Puritanism, represented 
 in the peculiar dress of the Roundheads with peaked hat, 
 a quaint black doublet and cloak, rigidly plain, and cut in 
 the straight fashion of the sect ; black Flemish breeches, 
 and grey hose ; huge square-toed shoes, tied with coarse 
 leather thongs ; and around the waist a buff leather belt, in 
 which he wears a sword. He comes in singing, as he walks, 
 one of the Puritan versions, or rather perversions of the 
 Psalms, which have so grossly marred the exquisite beauty 
 of the original, and of which one stanza will suffice the 
 reader : 
 
 "Arise, oh Lord, save me, my God, 
 For thou my foes hast stroke, 
 All on the cheek-bone, and the teeth 
 Of wicked men hast broke."* 
 
 * A true copy from the records. 
 
108 HANSFORD: 
 
 Then standing at some distance from the altar, he rolls up 
 his eyes, till nothing but the whites can be seen, and is 
 exercised in prayer. With a smile of bitter contempt the 
 genius of True Liberty proceeds : 
 
 " See where he comes, with visage long and grim, 
 Whining with nasal twang his impious hymn ! 
 See where he stands, nor bows the suppliant knee, 
 He apes the Publican, but acts the Pharisee 
 Snatching the sword of just Jehovah's wrath, 
 And damning all who leave his thorny path. 
 
 Now by this wand which Hermes, with a smile, 
 Gave to Ulysses in the Circean isle, 
 I will again exert the power divine, 
 And change to Britons these disgusting swine." 
 
 She waves the sprig of Moly over the head of the Puri- 
 tan three or four times, who, sensible of the force of the 
 charm, cries out : 
 
 " Hah! what is this ! strange feelings fill my heart; 
 Avaunt thee, tempter ! I defy thy art 
 Up, Israel ! hasten to your tents, and smite 
 These sons of Belial, and th' Amalekite, 
 Philistia is upon us with GoTtah, 
 Come, call the roll from twelfth of Nehemiah,* 
 Gird up your loins and buckle on your sword, 
 Fight with your prayers, your powder, and the word. 
 How, General ' Faint-not,' f has your spirit sunk ? 
 Let not God's soldier yield unto a Monk."J 
 
 Then, as the charm increases, he continues in a feebler 
 voice : 
 
 * "Cromwell," says an old writer, "hath beat up his drums clean 
 through the Old Testament. You may learn the genealogy of our Saviour 
 by the names of his regiment. The muster-master has no other list than 
 the first chapter of St. Matthew." If the Puritan sergeant had lost this 
 roll, Nehemiah XII. would serve him instead. 
 
 f The actual name of one of the Puritans. 
 
 J General Monk, the restorer of royalty. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 109 
 
 " Curse on the tempter's art ! that heathenish Moly 
 Has in an instant changed my nature wholly ; 
 The past, with all its triumphs, is a trance, 
 My legs, once taught to kneel, incline to dance, 
 My voice, which to some holy psalm belongs, 
 Is twisting round into these carnal songs. 
 Alas ! I'm lost ! New thoughts my bosom swell; 
 Habakuk, Barebones, Cromwell, fare ye well. 
 Break up conventicles, I do insist, 
 Sing the doxology and be dismissed." 
 
 As he finishes the last line, the heavy roll of thunder is 
 heard, and suddenly the doors of a dungeon in the back- 
 ground fly open, from which emerges the impersonation of 
 Christmas, followed by the Queen of May. Christmas is 
 represented by a jolly, round-bellied, red-nosed, laughing 
 old fellow, dressed in pure white. His hair is thickly pow- 
 dered, and his face red with rouge. In his right hand he 
 holds a huge mince-pie, which ever and anon he gnaws with 
 exquisite humour, and in his left is a bowl of generous was- 
 sail, from which he drinks long and deeply. His brows are 
 twined with misletoe and ivy, woven together in a fantastic 
 wreath, and to his hair and different parts of his dress are 
 attached long pendants of glass, to represent icicles. As 
 he advances to the right of the stage, there descends from 
 the awning above an immense number of small fragments 
 of white paper, substitutes for snow-flakes, with which that 
 part of the floor is soon completely covered. 
 
 The Queen of May takes her position on the left. She 
 is dressed in a robe of pure white, festooned with flowers, 
 with a garland of white roses twined with evergreen upon 
 her brow. In her hand is held the May-pole, adorned with 
 ribbons of white, and blue, and red, alternately wrapped 
 around it, and surmounted with a wreath of various flowers. 
 As she assumes her place, showers of roses descend from 
 above, envelope her in their bloom, and shed a fresh fra- 
 grance around the room. 
 
 10 
 
110 HANSFORD: 
 
 The Genius of Liberty points out the approaching 
 figures to the Puritan, and exclaims : 
 
 " Welcome, ye happy children of the earth, 
 Who strew life's weary way with guileless mirth ! 
 Thus Joy should ever herald in the morn 
 On which the Saviour of the world was born, 
 And thus with rapture should we ever bring 
 Fresh flowers to twine around the brow of Spring. 
 Think not, stern mortal, God delights to scan, 
 With fiendish joy, the miseries of man ; 
 Think not the groans that rend your bosom here 
 Are music to Jehovah's listening ear. 
 Formed by His power, the children of His love, 
 Man's happiness delights the Sire above ; 
 While the light mirth which from his spirit springs 
 Ascends like incense to the King of kings." 
 
 Christmas, yawning and stretching himself, then roars out 
 in a merry, lusty voice : 
 
 "My spirit rejoices to hear merry voices, 
 With a prospect of breaking my fast, 
 For with such a lean platter, these days they call latter* 
 Were very near being my last. 
 
 " In that cursed conventicle, as chill as an icicle, 
 
 I caught a bad cold in my head, 
 And some impudent vassal stole all of my wassail, 
 And left me small beer in its stead. 
 
 " Of all that is royal and all that is loyal 
 
 They made a nice mess of mince-meat, 
 
 With their guns and gunpowder, and their prayers that are louder, 
 But the de'il a mince-pie did I eat. 
 
 " No fat sirloin carving, I scarce kept from starving. 
 
 And my bones have become almost bare, 
 As if I were the season of the gunpowder treason, 
 To be hallowed with fasting and prayer. 
 
 * The Puritans believed the period of the revolution to be the latter 
 days spoken of in prophecy. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. Ill 
 
 " If they fancy pulse diet, like the Jews they may try it, 
 
 Though I think it is fit but to die on. 
 But may the Euiauuel long keep this new Daniel 
 From the den of the brave British Lion. 
 
 "In the juice of the barley I'll drink to King Charley, 
 
 The bright star of royalty risen, 
 
 While merry maids laughing and honest men quaffing 
 Shall welcome old Christmas from prison." 
 
 As he thunders out the last stave of his song, the Queen 
 of May steps forward, and sings the following welcome to 
 Spring : 
 
 " Come with blooming cheek, Aurora, 
 
 Leading on the merry morn; 
 Come with rosy chaplets, Flora, 
 See, the baby Spring is born. 
 
 " Smile and sing each living creature, 
 
 Britons, join me in the strain ; 
 
 Lo ! the Spring is come to Nature, 
 
 Come to Albion's land again. 
 
 " Winter's chains of icy iron 
 
 Melt before the smile of Spring; 
 Cares that Albion's land environ 
 Fade before our rising king. 
 
 " Crown his brow with freshest flowers, 
 
 Weave the chaplet fair as May, 
 While the sands with golden hours 
 Speed his happy life away. 
 
 " Crown his brow with leaves of laurel, 
 
 Twined with myrtle's branch of peace 
 A hero in fair Britain's quarrel, 
 A lover when her sorrows cease. 
 
 " Blessings on our royal master, 
 
 Till in death he lays him down, 
 
 Free from care and from disaster, 
 
 To assume a heavenly crown." 
 
1 1 2 HANSFORD : 
 
 As she concludes her lay, she places the May-pole in 
 the centre of the stage, and a happy throng of gay young 
 swains and damsels enter and commence the maiu dance 
 around it. The Puritan watches them at first with a wild 
 gaze, in which horror is mingled with something of admi- 
 ration. Gradually his stern features relax into 2, grim smile, 
 and at last, unable longer to restrain his feelings, he bursts 
 forth in a most immoderate and carnal laugh. His feet at 
 first keep time to the gay music ; he then begins to 
 shuffle them grotesquely on the floor, and finally, overcome 
 by the wild spirit of contagion, he unites in the dance to 
 the sound of the merry rebecks. While the dance con- 
 tinues, he shakes off the straight-laced puritan dress which 
 he had assumed, aud tossing the peaked hat high in the air, 
 appears, amid the deafening shouts of the delighted audi- 
 tory, in the front of the stage in the rich costume of the 
 English court, and with a royal diadem upon his brow, 
 the mimic impersonation of Charles the Second. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 113 
 
 CHAPTER XYL 
 
 " I charge you, oh women ! for the love you bear to men, to like as 
 much of this play as please you ; and I charge you, oh men ! for the love 
 you bear to women, (as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hate 
 them,) that between you and the women the play may please." 
 
 As you Like It, 
 
 " There is the devil haunts thee, in the likeness of a fat old man ; a 
 tun of man is thy companion." Henry IV. 
 
 THE good-natured guests at the Governor's awarded all 
 due, and more than due merit to the masque which was 
 prepared for their entertainment. Alfred Bernard became 
 at once the hero of the evening, and many a bright eye 
 glanced towards him, and envied the fair Virginia the 
 exclusive attention which he paid to her. Some young 
 cavaliers there were, whose envy carried them so far, that 
 they sneered at the composition of the young poet; de- 
 clared the speeches of Liberty to be prosy and tiresome ; 
 and that the song of Christmas was coarse, rugged, and 
 devoid of wit ; nay, they laughed at the unnatural trans- 
 formation of the grim-visaged Puritan into the royal 
 Charles, and referred sarcastically to the pretentious pe- 
 dantry of the young author, in introducing the threadbare 
 story of Ulysses and the Moly into a modern production 
 and at the inconsistent jumble of ancient mythology and 
 pure Christianity. Bernard heard them not, and if he 
 had, he would have scorned their strictures, instead of 
 resenting them. But he was too much engrossed in con- 
 versation with Virginia to heed either the good-natured 
 applause of his friends, or the peevish jealousy of his 
 young rivals. Indeed, the loyalty of the piece amply 
 10* 
 
114 HANSFOED: 
 
 atoned for all its imperfections, and the old colonists 
 smiled and nodded their heads, delighted at the whole- 
 some tone of sentiment which characterized the whole 
 production. 
 
 The character of Christmas was well sustained by 
 Richard Presley,* a member of the House of Burgesses, 
 whose jolly good humour, as broad sometimes as his 
 portly stomach, fitted him in an eminent degree for the 
 part. He was indeed one of those merry old wags, who, 
 in an illustrated edition of Milton, might have appeared 
 in L'Allegro, to represent the idea of " Laughter holding 
 both his sides." 
 
 Seeing Sir William Berkeley and Colonel Temple en- 
 gaged in earnest conversation, in one corner of the room, 
 the old burgess bustled, or rather waddled up to them, and 
 remaining quiet just long enough to hear the nature of 
 their conversation chimed in, with, 
 
 "Talking about Bacon, Governor? Why he is only 
 imitating old St. Albans, and trying to establish a novum 
 organum in Virginia. By God, it seems to me that Sir 
 Nicholas exhausted the whole of his mediocria firma 
 policy, and left none of it to his kinsmen. Do you not 
 know what he meant by that motto, Governor ?" 
 
 "No;" said Sir William, smiling blandly. 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you, and add another wrinkle to your 
 face. Mediocria firma, when applied to Bacon, means 
 nothing more nor less than sound middlings. But I tell 
 you what, this young mad-cap, Bacon, will have to adopt 
 the motto of another namesake of his, and ancestor, per- 
 haps, for friars aye regarded their tithes more favourably 
 than their vows of virtue and were fathers in the church 
 as well by the first as the second birth. " 
 
 * This jovial old colonist is referred to in the T. M. account of the 
 Rebellion. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 115 
 
 "What ancestor do you allude to now, Dick?" asked 
 the Governor. 
 
 " Why, old Friar Bacon, who lamented that time was, 
 time is, and time will be. And to my mind, when time 
 shall cease with our young squealing porker here, we will 
 e'en substitute hemp in its stead." 
 
 " Thou art a mad wag, Presley," said the Governor, 
 laughing, " and seem to have sharpened thy wit by strap- 
 ping it on the Bible containing the whole Bacon genealogy. 
 Come, Temple, let me introduce to your most favourable 
 acquaintance, Major Richard Presley, the Falstaff of Vir- 
 ginia, with as big a paunch, and if not as merry a wit, at 
 least as great a love for sack aye, Presley ?" 
 
 " Yes, but indifferent honest, Governor, which I fear my 
 great prototype was not," replied the old wag, as he shook 
 hands with Colonel Temple. 
 
 " Well, I believe you can be trusted, Dick," said the 
 Governor, kindly, " and I may yet give you a regiment of 
 foot to quell this modern young Hotspur of Virginia. " 
 
 "Aye, that would be rare fun," said Presley, with a 
 merry laugh, " but look ye, I must take care to attack him 
 in as favourable circumstances as the true Falstaff did, or 
 'sblood he might embowell me. " 
 
 " I would like to own the tobacco that would be raised 
 over your grave then, Dick," said the Governor, laughing, 
 " but never fear but I will supply you with a young Prince 
 Hal, as merry, as wise, and as brave." 
 
 " ^hich is he, then ? for I can't tell your true prince by 
 instinct yet." 
 
 "There he stands talking to Miss Virginia Temple. You 
 know him, Colonel Temple, and I trust that you have not 
 found that ray partiality has overrated his real merit." 
 
 "By no means," returned Temple; "I never saw a 
 young man with whom I was more pleased. He is at 
 once so ingenuous and frank, and so intelligent and just 
 
116 HANSFORD: 
 
 in his views and opinions on all subjects who is he, Sir 
 William ? One would judge, from his whole mien and 
 appearance, that noble blood ran in his veins." 
 
 " I believe not," replied Berkeley, " or if so, as old Pres- 
 ley would say, he was hatched in the nest where some noble 
 eagle went a birding. I am indebted to my brother, Lord 
 Berkeley, for both my chaplain and my private secretary. 
 Good Parson Hutchinson seems to have been the guar- 
 dian of Bernard in his youth, but what may be the real 
 relation between them I am unable to say." 
 
 " Perhaps, like Major Presley's old Friar Bacon," said 
 Temple, "the good parson may have been guilty of some 
 indiscretion in his youth, for which he would now atone by 
 his kindness to the offspring of his early crime." 
 
 "Hardly so," replied the Governor, "or he would pro- 
 bably acknowledge him openly as his son, without all this 
 mystery. I have several times hinted at the subject to Mr. 
 Hutchinson, but it seems to produce so much real sorrow, 
 that I have never pushed my inquiries farther. All that I 
 know is what I tell you, that my brother, in whose parish 
 this Mr. Hutchinson long officiated as rector, recommended 
 him to me and the young man, who has been thoroughly 
 educated by his patron, or guardian, by the same recom- 
 mendation, has been made my private secretary. " 
 
 " He is surely worthy to fill some higher post," said 
 Temple. 
 
 " And he will not want my aid in building up his for- 
 tunes," returned Berkeley; "but they have only been in 
 the colony about six months as yet and the young man 
 has entwined himself about my heart like a son. My own 
 bed, alas ! is barren, as you know, and it seems that a kind 
 providence had sent this young man here as a substitute 
 for the offspring which has been denied to me. See Tem- 
 ple," he added, in a whisper, " with what admiring eyes he 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. lit 
 
 regards your fair daughter. And if an old man may judge 
 of such matters, it is with maiden modesty returned." 
 
 "I think that you are at fault," said Temple, with a 
 sigh ; " my daughter's affections are entirely disengaged at 
 present." 
 
 " Well, time will develope which of us is right. It would 
 be a source of pride and pleasure, Harry, if I could live to 
 see a union between this, my adopted boy, and the daughter 
 of my early friend," said the old Governor, as a tear glis- 
 tened in his eye ; " but come, Presley, the dancing has 
 ceased for a time," he added aloud, " favour the company 
 with a song." 
 
 " Oh, damn it, Governor," replied the old burgess, " my 
 songs won't suit a lady's ear. They are intended for the 
 rougher sex." 
 
 " Well, never fear," said the Governor, " I will check 
 you if I find you are overleaping the bounds of pro- 
 priety. " 
 
 " Yery well, here goes then a loyal ditty that I heard 
 in old England, about five years agone, while I was there 
 on a visit. Proclaim order, and join in the chorus as many 
 as please." 
 
 And with a loud, clear, merry voice, the old burgess gave 
 vent to the following, which he sung to the tune of the 
 " Old and Young Courtier ;" an air which has survived even 
 to our own times, though adapted to the more modernized 
 words, and somewhat altered measure of the "Old English 
 Gentleman : " 
 
 "Young Charley is a merry prince ; he's come unto his own, 
 And long and merrily may he fill his martyred father's throne ; 
 With merry laughter may he drown old Nolly's whining groan, 
 And when he dies bequeath his crown to royal flesh and bone. 
 
 Like a merry King of England, 
 
 And England's merry King. 
 
118 HANSFORD: 
 
 "With bumpers full, to royal Charles, come fill the thirsty glasses, 
 The pride of every loyal heart, the idol of the masses; 
 Yet in the path of virtue fair, old Joseph far surpasses, 
 The merry prince, whose sparkling eye delights in winsome lasses. 
 Like a merry King of England, 
 And England's merry King. 
 
 " For Joseph from dame Potiphar, as holy men assert, 
 Leaving his garment in her hand, did naked fly unhurt; 
 But Charley, like an honest lad, will not a friend desert, 
 And so he still remains behind, nor leaves his only shirt. 
 
 Like a merry King of England, 
 
 And England's merry King. 
 
 " Then here's to bonny Charley, he is a prince divine, 
 He hates a Puritan as much as Jews detest a swine ; 
 But, faith, he loves a shade too much his mistresses and wine, 
 Which makes me fear that he will not supply the royal line, 
 
 With a merry King of England, 
 
 And England's merry King." 
 
 The singer paused, and loud and rapturous was the ap- 
 plause which he received, until, putting up his hand in a 
 deprecating manner, silence was again restored, and with 
 an elaborate impromptu, which it had taken him about 
 two hours that morning to spin from his old brain, he 
 turned to Berkeley, and burst forth again. 
 
 " Nor let this mirror of the king by us remain unsung, 
 To whom the hopes of Englishmen in parlous times have clung : 
 Let Berkeley's praises still be heard from every loyal tongue, 
 While Bacon and his hoggish herd be cured, and then be hung. 
 Like young rebels of the King, 
 And the King's young rebels." 
 
 Various were the comments drawn forth by the last 
 volunteer stanza of the old loyalist. With lowering looks, 
 some of the guests conversed apart in whispers, for there 
 were a good many in the Assembly, who, though not 
 entirely approving the conduct of Bacon, were favourably 
 disposed to his cause. Sir William Berkeley himself 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 119 
 
 restrained his mirth out of respect for a venerable old man, 
 who stood near him, and towards whom many eyes were 
 turned in pity. This was old Nathaniel Bacon, the uncle 
 of the young insurgent, and himself a member of the coun- 
 cil. There were dark rumours afloat, that this old man had 
 advised his nephew to break his parole and fly from James- 
 town ; but, although suspicion had attached to him, it 
 could never be confirmed. Even those who credited the 
 rumour rather respected the feelings of a near relative, in 
 thus taking the part of his kinsman, than censured his con- 
 duct as savouring of rebellion. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " And first she pitched her voice to sing, 
 Then glanced her dark eye on the king, 
 And then around the silent ring, 
 And laughed, and blushed, and oft did say 
 Her pretty oath, by yea and nay, 
 She could not, would not, durst not play." 
 
 Marmion. 
 
 " How did you like Major Presley's song ?" said Ber- 
 nard to Virginia, as he leaned gracefully over her chair, 
 and played carelessly with the young girl's fan. 
 
 " Frankly, Mr. Bernard," she replied, " not at all. There 
 was only one thing which seemed to me appropriate in the 
 exhibition." 
 
 " And what was that ?" 
 
 " The coarse language and sentiment of the song com- 
 ported well with the singer." 
 
120 HANSFORD: 
 
 " Oh, really, Miss Temple," returned Bernard, " you are 
 too harsh in your criticism. It is not fair to reduce the 
 habits and manners of others to your own purer standard 
 of excellence, any more than to censure the scanty dress of 
 your friend Marnalis, which, however picturesque in itself, 
 would scarcely become the person of one of these fair ladies 
 here." 
 
 "And yet," said Virginia, blushing crimson at the allu- 
 sion, " there can be no other standard by which I at least 
 can be governed, than that established by my own taste and 
 judgment. You merely asked me my opinion of Major 
 Presley's performance ; others, it is true, may differ with 
 me, but their decisions can scarcely affect my own." 
 
 " The fact that there is such a wide variance in the taste 
 of individuals," argued Bernard, "should, however, make 
 us cautious of condemning that which may be sustained by 
 the judgment of so many. Did you know, by the way, Miss 
 Virginia, that ' habit ' and ' custom' are essentially the same 
 words as ' habit ' and ' costume.' This fact for the history 
 of a nation may almost be read in the history of its lan- 
 guage should convince you that the manners and customs 
 of a people are as changeable as the fashions of their 
 dress." 
 
 " I grant you," said Virginia, " that the mere manners 
 of a people may change in many respects ; but true taste, 
 when founded on a true appreciation of right, can never 
 change." 
 
 " Why, yes it can," replied her companion, who delighted 
 in bringing the young girl out, as he said, and plying her 
 with specious sophisms. " Beauty, certainly, is an abso- 
 lute and not a relative emotion, and yet what is more 
 changeable than a taste in beauty. The Chinese bard will 
 write a sonnet on the oblique eyes, flat nose and club feet 
 of his saffron Amaryllis, while he would revolt with horror 
 from the fair features of a British lassie. Old Uncle Giles 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 121 
 
 will tell you that the negro of his Congo coast paints his 
 Obi devil white, in order to inspire terror in the hearts 
 of the wayward little Eboes. The wild Indians of Virginia 
 dye their cheeks " 
 
 " Nay, there you will not find so great a difference be- 
 tween us," said Yirginia, interrupting him, as she pointed to 
 the plastered rouge on .Bernard's cheek. " But really, Mr. 
 Bernard, you can scarcely be serious in an opinion so 
 learnedly argued. You must acknowledge that right and 
 wrong are absolute terms, and that a sense of them is 
 inherent in our nature." 
 
 " Well then, seriously, my dear Miss Temple," replied 
 Bernard, "I do not see so much objection to the gay society 
 of England, which is but a reflection from the mirror of the 
 court of Charles the Second." 
 
 " When the mirror is stained or imperfect, Mr. Bernard, 
 the image that it reflects must be distorted too. That 
 society which breaks down the barriers that a refined senti- 
 ment has erected between the sexes, can never develope in 
 its highest perfection the purity of the human heart." 
 
 " Well, I give up the argument," said Bernard, " for 
 where sentiment is alone concerned, there is no more power- 
 ful advocate than woman. But, my dear Miss Temple, you 
 who have such a pure and correct taste on this subject, can 
 surely illustrate your own idea by an example. Will you 
 not sing ? I know you can your mother told me so." 
 
 " You must excuse me, Mr. Bernard ; I would willingly 
 oblige you, but I fear I could not trust my voice among 
 so many strangers." 
 
 " You mistake your own powers," urged Bernard. There 
 is nothing easier, believe me, after the first few notes of the 
 voice, which sound strangely enough I confess, than for any 
 one to recover self-possession entirely. I well remember 
 the first time I attempted to speak before a large audience. 
 When I arose to my feet, my knees trembled, and my lips 
 11 
 
122 HANSFORD : 
 
 actually felt heavy as lead. It seemed as though every 
 drop of blood in my system rushed back to my heart. The 
 vast crowd before me was nothing but an immense assem- 
 blage of eyes, all bent with the most burning power upon 
 me; and when at length I opened my mouth, and first 
 heard the tones of my own voice, it sounded strange and 
 foreign to my ear. It seemed as though it was somebody 
 else, myself and yet not myself, who was speaking ; and my 
 utterance was so choked and discordant, that I would have 
 given worlds if I could draw back the words that escaped 
 me. But after a half dozen sentences, I became perfectly 
 composed and self-possessed, and cared no more for the 
 gaping crowd than for the idle wind which I heed not. 
 So it will be with your singing, but rest assured that the 
 discord of your voice will only exist in your own fancy. 
 Now will you oblige me ?" 
 
 " Indeed, Mr. Bernard, I cannot say that you have 
 offered much inducement," said Virginia, laughing at the 
 young man's description of his forensic debut. " Nothing 
 but the strongest sense of duty would impel me to pass 
 through such an ordeal as that which you have described. 
 Seriously you must excuse me. I cannot sing." 
 
 " Oh yes you can, my dear," said her mother, who was 
 standing near, and heard the latter part of the conversa- 
 tion. " What's the use of being so affected about it ! You 
 know you can sing, my dear and I like to see young 
 people obliging." 
 
 " That's right, Mrs. Temple," said Bernard, " help me 
 to urge my petition ; I don't think Miss Virginia can be 
 disobedient, even if it were in her power to be disobliging." 
 
 " The fact is, Mr. Bernard," said the old lady, "that the 
 young people of the present day require so much persuad- 
 ing, that its hardly worth the trouble to get them to do any 
 thing." 
 
 " Well, mother, if you put it on that ground," said Vir- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 123 
 
 ginia, " I suppose I must waive my objections and oblige 
 you." 
 
 So saying, she rose, and taking Bernard's arm, she seated 
 herself at Lady Frances' splendid harp, which was sent from 
 England as a present by her brother-in-law, Lord Berkeley. 
 Drawing off her white gloves, and running her little taper- 
 ing fingers over the strings, Virginia played a melancholy 
 symphony, which accorded well with the sad words that 
 came more sadly on the ear through the medium of her 
 plaintive voice : 
 
 " Fondly they loved, and her trusting heart 
 
 With the hopes of the future bounded, 
 Till the trumpet of Freedom condemned them to part, 
 And the knell of their happiness sounded. 
 
 " But his is a churl's and a traitor's choice, 
 
 Who, deaf to the call of duty, 
 Would linger, allured by a syren's voice, 
 On the Circean island of beauty. 
 
 " His country called ! he had heard the sound, 
 And kissed the pale cheek of the maiden, 
 Then staunched with his blood his country's wound, 
 And ascended in glory to Aidenn. 
 
 " The shout of victory lulled him to sleep 
 The slumber that knows no dreaming, 
 But a martyr's reward he will proudly reap, 
 In the grateful tears of Freemen. 
 
 " And long shall the maidens remember her love, 
 
 And heroes shall dwell on his story; 
 She died in her constancy like the lone dove, 
 But he like an eagle in glory. 
 
 " Oh let the dark cypress mourn over her grave, 
 
 And light rest the green turf upon her ; 
 While over his ashes the laurel shall wave, 
 For he sleeps in the proud bed of honour." 
 
124 HANSFORD: 
 
 'The reader need not be told that this simple little ballad 
 derived new beauty from the feeling with which Virginia 
 sang it. The remote connection of its story with her own 
 love imparted additional sadness to her sweet voice, and 
 as she dwelt on the last line, her eyes filled with tears and 
 her voice trembled. Bernard marked the eifect which had 
 been produced, and a thrill of jealousy shot through his 
 heart at seeing this new evidence of the young girl's con- 
 stancy. 
 
 But while he better understood her feelings than others 
 around her, all admired the plaintive manner in which she 
 had rendered the sentiment of the song, and attributed her 
 emotion to her own refined appreciation and taste. Many 
 were the compliments which were paid to the fair young 
 minstrel by old and young; by simpering beaux and 
 generous maidens. Sir William Berkeley, himself, gal- 
 lantly kissed her cheek, and said that Lady Frances might 
 well be jealous of so fair a rival ; and added, that if he 
 were only young again, Windsor Hall might be called 
 upon to yield its fair inmate to adorn the palace of the 
 Governor of Virginia. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 125 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " Give me more love or more disdain, 
 
 The torrid or the frozen zone ; 
 Bring equal ease unto my pain, 
 
 The temperate affords me none ; 
 Either extreme of love or hate, 
 Is sweeter than a calm estate." Thomas Carew. 
 
 WHILE Virginia thus received the meed of merited 
 applause at the hands of all who were truly generous, 
 there were some then, as there are many now, in whose 
 narrow and sterile hearts the success of another is ever a 
 sufficient incentive to envy and depreciation. Among 
 these was a young lady, who had hitherto been the espe- 
 cial favourite of Alfred Bernard, and to whom his atten- 
 tions had been unremittingly paid. This young lady, Miss 
 Matilda Bray, the daughter of one of the councillors, 
 vented her spleen and jealousy in terms to the following 
 purport, in a conversation with the amiable and accom- 
 plished Caroline Ballard. 
 
 " Did you ever, Caroline, see any thing so forward as 
 that Miss Temple ?" 
 
 " I am under a different impression," replied her com- 
 panion. " I was touched by the diffidence and modesty of 
 her demeanor." 
 
 "I don't know what you call diffidence and modesty; 
 screeching here at the top of her voice and drowning every 
 body's conversation. Do you think, for instance, that you 
 or I would presume to sing in as large a company as this 
 with every body gazing at us like a show." 
 
 " No, my dear Matilda, I don't think that we would. 
 First, because no one would be mad enough to ask us ; 
 11* 
 
126 HANSFORD: 
 
 and, secondly, because if we did presume, every body would 
 be stopping their ears, instead of admiring us with their 
 eyes." 
 
 " Speak for yourself," retorted Matilda. " I still hold 
 to my opinion, that it was impertinent to be stopping other 
 people's enjoyment to listen to her." 
 
 " On the contrary, I thought it a most welcome inter- 
 ruption, and I believe that most of the guests, as well as 
 Sir William Berkeley, himself, concurred with me in 
 opinion." 
 
 " Well, I never saw any body so spiteful as you've grown 
 lately, Caroline. There's no standing you. I suppose you 
 will say next that this country girl is beautiful too, with her 
 cotton head and blue china eyes." 
 
 "I am a country girl myself, Matilda," returned Caro- 
 line, " and as for the beauty of Miss Temple, whatever I 
 may think, I believe that our friend, Mr. Bernard, is of that 
 opinion." 
 
 " Oh, you needn't think, with your provoking laugh," said 
 Miss Bray, " that I care a fig for Mr. Bernard's attention 
 to her." 
 
 " I didn't say so." 
 
 " No, but you thought so, and you know you did ; and 
 what's more, it's too bad that you should take such a delight 
 in provoking me. I believe it's all jealousy at last." 
 
 " Jealousy, my dear Matilda," said her companion, " is a 
 jaundiced jade, that thinks every object is of its own yel- 
 low colour. But see, the dance is about to commence 
 again, and here comes my partner. You must excuse me." 
 And with a smile of conscious beauty, Caroline Ballard 
 gave her hand to the handsome young gallant who ap- 
 proached her." 
 
 Bernard and Virginia, too, rose from their seats, but, to 
 the surprise of Matilda Bray, they did not take their places 
 in the dance, but walked towards the door. Bernard saw 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 12t 
 
 how his old flame was writhing with jealousy, and as he 
 passed her he said, maliciously, 
 
 " Good evening, Miss Matilda ; I hope you are enjoying 
 the ball." 
 
 "Oh, thank you, exceedingly," said Miss Bray, patting 
 her foot hysterically on the floor, and darting from her fine 
 black eyes an angry glance, which gave the lie to her words. 
 
 Leaving her to digest her spleen at her leisure, the hand- 
 some pair passed out of the ball-room and into the lawn. 
 It was already thronged with merry, laughing young peo- 
 ple, who, wearied with dancing, were promenading through 
 the gravelled walks, or sitting on the rural benches, 
 arranged under the spreading trees. 
 
 " Oh, this is really refreshing," said the young girl, as 
 she smoothed back her tresses from her brow, to enjoy the 
 delicious river breeze. " Those rooms were very oppres- 
 sive." 
 
 "I scarcely found them so," said Bernard, gallantly; 
 " for when the mind is agreeably occupied we soon learn to 
 forget any inconvenience to which the body may be sub- 
 jected. But I knew you would enjoy a walk through this 
 fine lawn." 
 
 " Oh, indeed I do ; and truly, Mr. Bernard," said the 
 ingenuous girl, " I have much to thank you for. Nearly a 
 stranger in Jamestown, you have made my time pass hap- 
 pily away, though I fear you have deprived yourself of the 
 society of others far more agreeable." 
 
 " My dear Miss Temple, I will not disguise from you, 
 even to retain your good opinion of my generosity, the fact 
 that my attention has not been so disinterested as you sup- 
 pose." 
 
 " I thank you, sir," said Virginia, "for the compliment; 
 but I am afraid that I have not been so agreeable, in return 
 for your civility, as I should. You were witness to a scene, 
 Mr, Bernard, which would make it useless to deny that I 
 
128 HANSFORD: 
 
 have much reason to be sad ; and it makes me more 
 unhappy to think that I may affect others by my gloom." 
 
 " I know to what you allude," replied Bernard, " and be- 
 lieve me, fair girl, sweeter to me is this sorrow in your young 
 heart, than all the gaudy glitter of those vain children of 
 fashion whom we have left. But, alas ! I myself have 
 much cause to be sad the future looms darkly before me, 
 and I see but little left in life to make it long desirable." 
 
 "Oh, say not so," said Virginia, moved by the air of 
 deep melancholy which Bernard had assumed, but mistaking 
 its cause. " You are young yet, and the future should be 
 bright. You have talents, acquirements, everything to 
 ensure success ; and the patronage and counsel of Sir Wil- 
 liam Berkeley will guide you in the path to honourable dis- 
 tinction. Fear not, my friend, but trust hopefully in the 
 future. " 
 
 " There is one thing, alas !" said Bernard, in the same 
 melancholy tone, " without which success itself would 
 scarcely be desirable." 
 
 "And what is that ?" said the young girl, artlessly. 
 " Believe me, you will always find in me, Mr. Bernard, a 
 warm friend, and a willing if not an able counsellor. " 
 
 " But this is not all," cried Bernard, passionately. "Does 
 not your own heart tell you that there must be something 
 more than friendship to satisfy the longings of a true heart ? 
 Oh, Virginia yes, permit me to call you by a name now 
 doubly dear to me, as the home of my adoption and as the 
 object of my earnest love. Dearest Virginia, sweet though 
 it be to the heart of a lonely orphan, drifting like a sailless 
 vessel in this rugged world, to have such a friend, yet 
 sweeter far would it be to live in the sunlight of your love." 
 
 " Mr. Bernard 1" exclaimed Virginia, with unfeigned 
 surprise. 
 
 " jtfay, dearest, do you, can you wonder at this revela- 
 tion ? I had striven, but in vain, to conceal a hope 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 129 
 
 which I knew was too daring. Oh, do not by a word de- 
 stroy the faint ray which has struggled so bravely in my 
 heart." 
 
 " Mr. Bernard," said Virginia, as she withdrew her arm 
 from his, " I can no longer permit this. If your feelings 
 be such as you profess, and as I believe they are for I 
 know your nature to be honorable I regret that I can only 
 respect a sentiment which I can never return." 
 
 " Oh, say not thus, my own Yirginia, just as a new life 
 begins to dawn upon me. At least be not so hasty in a 
 sentence which seals my fate forever." 
 
 " I am not too hasty," replied Yirginia. " But I would 
 think myself unworthy of the love you have expressed, if I 
 held out hopes which can never be realized. You know my 
 position is a peculiar one. My hand but not my heart is 
 disengaged. Nor could you respect the love of a woman 
 who could so soon forget one with whom she had promised 
 to unite her destiny through life. I have spoken thus freely, 
 Mr. Bernard, because I think it due to your feelings, and 
 because I am assured that what I say is entrusted to an 
 honourable man. " 
 
 " Indeed, my dear Miss Temple, if such you can only be 
 to me," said her wily lover, "I do respect from my heart 
 your constancy to your first love. That unwavering devo- 
 tion to another, whom I esteem, because he is loved by 
 you, only makes you more worthy to be won. May I not 
 still hope that time may supply the niche, made vacant in 
 your heart, by another whose whole life shall be devoted 
 to the one object of making you happy ?" 
 
 " Mr. Bernard, candour compels me to say no, my friend ; 
 there are vows which even time, with its destroying hand 
 can never erase, and which are rendered stronger and more 
 sacred by the very circumstances which prevent their accom- 
 plishment. Fate, my friend, may interpose her stern decree 
 and forever separate rne from the presence of Mr. Hans- 
 
130 HANSFORD: 
 
 ford, but my heart is still unchangeably his. Ha ! what is 
 that ?" she added, with a faint scream, as from the little 
 summer-house, which we have before described, there came 
 a deep, prolonged groan. 
 
 As she spoke, and as Bernard laid his hand upon his 
 sword to avenge himself upon the intruder, a dark figure 
 issued from the door of the arbor, and stood before them. 
 The young man stood appalled as he recognized by the 
 uncertain light of a neighbouring lamp, the dark, swarthy 
 features of Master Hutchinson, the chaplain of the Go- 
 vernor. 
 
 " Put up your sword, young man," said the preacher, 
 gravely; "they who use the sword shall perish by the 
 sword." 
 
 " In the devil's name," cried Bernard, forgetful of the 
 presence of Virginia, " how came you here ?" 
 
 " Not to act the spy at least," said Hutchinson, " such 
 is not my character. Suffice it to say, that I came as you 
 did, to enjoy this fresh air and sought the quiet of this 
 arbour to be free from the intrusion of others. I have lived 
 too long to care for the frivolities which I have heard, and 
 your secret is safe in my breast a repository of many a 
 darker confidence than that." With these words the bent 
 form of the melancholy preacher passed out of their sight. 
 
 "A singular man," said Bernard, in a troubled voice, 
 "but entirely innocent in his conduct. An abstracted 
 book-worm, he moves through the world like a stranger in 
 it. Will you return now ?" 
 
 " Thank you," said Virginia, " most willingly for I con- 
 fess my nerves are a little unstrung by the fright I received 
 And now, my friend, pardon me for referring to what has 
 passed, but you will still be my friend, won't you ?" 
 
 " Oh, certainly," said Bernard, in an abstracted manner. 
 " I wonder," he muttered "what he could have meant by 
 that hideous groan ?" 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 131 
 
 And sadly and silently the rejected lover and his unhappy 
 companion returned to the heartless throng, who still lit up 
 the palace with their hollow smiles. 
 
 Alike the joyous dance, the light mirth, and the splendid 
 entertainment passed unheeded by Yirginia, as she sat 
 silently abstracted, and returned indifferent answers to the 
 questions which were asked her. And Bernard, the gay 
 and fascinating Bernard, wandered through the crowd, like 
 a troubled spectre, and ever and anon muttered to himself, 
 "I wonder what he could have meant by that hideous 
 groan ?" 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " His heart has not half uttered itself yet, 
 And much remains to do as well as they. 
 The heart is sometime ere it finds its focus, 
 And when it does with the whole light of nature 
 Strained through it to a hair's breadth, it but burns 
 The things beneath it which it lights to death." 
 
 Festua. 
 
 AND now the ball is over. Mothers wait impatiently for 
 their fair daughters, who are having those many last words 
 so delightful to them, and so provoking to those who await 
 their departure, Carriages again drive to the door, and 
 receive their laughing, bright-eyed burdens, and then roll 
 away through the green lawn, while the lamps throw their 
 broad, dark shadows on the grass. Gay young cavaliers, 
 who have come from a distance to the ball, exchange their 
 slippers for their heavy riding-boots and spurs, and mount 
 
132 HANSFORD: 
 
 their pawing and impatient steeds. Sober-sided old states- 
 men walk away arm-in-arm, and discuss earnestly the busi- 
 ness of the morrow. The gamesters and dicers depart, 
 some with cheerful smiles, chuckling over their gains, and 
 others with empty pockets, complaining how early the 
 party had broken up, and proposing a renewal of the game 
 the next night at the Blue Chamber at the Garter Inn. 
 Old Presley has evidently, to use his own phrase, " got his 
 load," and waddling away to his quarters, he winks his eye 
 mischievously at the lamps, which, under the multiplying 
 power of his optics, have become more in number than the 
 stars. Thus the guests all pass away, and the lights which 
 flit for a few moments from casement to casement in the 
 palace, are one by one extinguished, and all is dark, save 
 where one faint candle gleams through an upper window 
 and betrays the watchfulness of the old chaplain. 
 
 And who is he, with his dark, melancholy eyes, which 
 tell so plainly of the chastened heart he who seeming so 
 gentle and kind to all, reserves his sternness for himself 
 alone and who, living in love with all God's creatures, 
 seems to hate with bitterness his own nature ? It was not 
 then as it is sometimes now, that every man's antecedents 
 were inquired into and known, and that the young cox- 
 comb, who disgraces the name that he bears and the 
 lineage of which he boasts, is awarded a higher station 
 in society than the self-sustaining and worthy son of toil, 
 who builds his reputation on the firmer foundation of sub- 
 stantial worth. Every ship brought new emigrants from 
 England, who had come to share the fate and to develope 
 the destiny of the new colony, and who immediately as- 
 sumed the position in society to which their own merit 
 entitled them. And thus it was, that when Arthur Hutch- 
 inson came to Virginia, no one asked, though many won- 
 dered, what had blighted his heart, and cast so dark a 
 shadow on his path. There was one man in the colony, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 133 
 
 and one alone, who had known him before and yet Alfred 
 Bernard, with whom he had come to Virginia, seemed to 
 know little more of his history and his character than those 
 to whom he was an entire stranger. 
 
 Arthur Hutchinson was in appearance about fifty years 
 of age. His long hair, which had once been black as the 
 raven's wing, but was now thickly sprinkled with grey, fell 
 profusely over his stooping shoulders. There was that, too, 
 in the deep furrows on his broad brow, and in the expres- 
 sion of his pale thin lips which told that time and sorrow 
 had laid their heavy hands upon him. As has been before 
 remarked, by the recommendation of Lord Berkeley, which 
 had great weight with his brother, Hutchinson had been 
 installed as Chaplain to Sir William, and through his 
 influence with the vestry, presented to the church in 
 Jamestown. Although, with his own private resources, 
 the scanty provision of sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco 
 per annum, (rated at about eighty pounds sterling,) was 
 ample for his comfortable support, yet good Master 
 Hutchinson had found it very convenient to accept Sir 
 William Berkeley's invitation to make his home at the 
 palace. Here, surrounded by his books, which he regarded 
 more as cheerful companions, than as grim instructors, he 
 passed his life rather in inoffensive meditation than in 
 active usefulness. The sad and quiet reserve of his man- 
 ners, which seemed to spring from the memory of some 
 past sorrow, that while it had ceased to give pain, was still 
 having its silent effect upon its victim, made him the object 
 of pity to all around him. The fervid eloquence and 
 earnestness of his sermons carried conviction to the minds 
 of the doubting, arrested the attention of the thoughtless 
 and the wayward, and administered the balm of consolation 
 to the afflicted child of sorrow. The mysterious influence 
 which he exerted over the proud spirit of Alfred Bernard, 
 even by one reproving glance from those big, black, melan- 
 12 
 
134 HANSFORD: 
 
 choly eyes, struck all who knew them with astonishment. 
 He took but little interest in the political condition of the 
 colony, or in the state of society around him, and while, by 
 this estrangement, and his secluded life, he made but few 
 warm friends, he made no enemies. The good people of 
 the parish were content to let the parson pursue his own 
 quiet life undisturbed, and he lost none of their respect, 
 while he gained much of their regard by his refusal to 
 make the influence of the church the weapon of political 
 warfare. 
 
 Hutchinson, who had retired to his room some time 
 before the guests had separated, was quietly reading from 
 one of the old fathers, when his attention was arrested by 
 a low tap at the door, which he at once recognized as 
 Bernard's. At the intimation to come in, the young man 
 entered, and throwing himself into a chair, he rested his 
 face upon his hand, and sighed deeply. 
 
 ''Alfred," said the preacher, after watching him for a 
 moment in silence, "I am glad you have come. I have 
 somewhat to say to you." 
 
 " Well, sir, I will hear you patiently. What would you 
 say?" 
 
 " I would warn you against letting a young girl divert 
 you from the pursuit of higher objects than are to be 
 attained by love." 
 
 " How, sir ?" exclaimed Bernard, with surprise. 
 
 "Alfred Bernard, look at me. Read in this pale 
 withered visage, these sunken cheeks, this bent form, and 
 this broken heart, the brief summary of a history which 
 cannot yet be fully known. You have seen and known 
 that I am not as other men that I walk through the 
 world a stranger here, and that my home is in the dark 
 dungeon of my own bitter thoughts. Would you know 
 what has thus severed the chain which bound me 
 to the world ? Would you know what it is that has 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 135 
 
 blighted a heart which might have borne rich fruit, and 
 turned it to ashes ? Would you know what is the vulture, 
 too cruel to destroy, which feeds upon this doomed 
 form ?" 
 
 " In God's name, Mr. Hutchinson, why do you speak 
 thus wildly ?" said Bernard, for he had never before heard 
 such language fall from the lips of the reserved and quiet 
 preacher. "I know that you have had your sorrows, for 
 the foot-prints of sorrow are indeed on you, but I have 
 often admired the stoical philosophy with which you have 
 borne the burden of care." 
 
 " Stoical philosophy !" exclaimed the preacher, pressing 
 his hand to his heart. " The name that the world has 
 given to the fire which burns here, and whose flame is never 
 seen. Think you the pain is less, because all the heat is 
 concentrated in the heart, not fanned into a flame by the 
 breath of words ?" 
 
 "Well, call it what you will," said Bernard, "and suffer 
 as you will, but why reserve until to-night a revelation 
 which you have so long refused to make ?" 
 
 " Simply because to-night I have seen and heard that 
 which induces me to warn you from the course that you 
 are pursuing. Young man, beware how you seek your 
 happiness in a woman's smile. " 
 
 "You must excuse me, my old friend," said Bernard, 
 smiling, "if I remind you of an old adage which teaches 
 us that a burnt child dreads the fire. If trees were sentient, 
 would you have them to fly from the generous rain of 
 heaven, by which they grow, and live, and bloom, because, 
 forsooth, one had been blasted by the lightning of the 
 storm ?" 
 
 Hutchinson only replied with a melancholy shake of the 
 head, and the two men gazed at each other in silence. 
 Bernard, with all his sagacity and knowledge of human 
 nature, in vain attempted to read the secret thoughts of 
 
136 HANSFORD: 
 
 his old guardian, whose dark eyes, lit up for a moment 
 with excitement, had now subsided into the pensive melan- 
 choly which we have more than once remarked. The 
 affectionate solicitude with which he had ever treated 
 him, prevented Bernard from being offended at his free- 
 dom, and yet, with a vexed heart, he vainly strove to solve 
 a mystery which thus seemed to surround Virginia and 
 himself, who, until a few days before, had been entire 
 strangers to each other. 
 
 "Alfred Bernard," said the old man at length, with his 
 sweet gentle voice, " do you remember your father ? You 
 are very like him." 
 
 " How can you ask me such a question, when you your- 
 self have told me so often that I never saw him." 
 
 " True, I had forgotten," returned Hutchinson, with a 
 sigh, " but your mother you remember ?" 
 
 " Oh yes," said the young man, with a tear starting 
 in his eye, "I can never forget her sad, pensive counte- 
 nance. I have been a wild, bad man, Mr. Hutchinson, but 
 often in my darkest hours, the memory of my mother would 
 come over me, as though her spirit, like a dove, was des- 
 cending from her place in heaven to watch over her boy. 
 Alas ! I feel that if I had followed the precepts which she 
 taught me, I would now be a better and a happier man." 
 No heart is formed entirely hard ; there are moments and 
 memories which melt the most obdurate heart, as the wand 
 of the prophet smote water from the rock. And Alfred 
 Bernard, with all his cold scepticism and selfish nature, 
 was for a moment sincerely repentant. 
 
 " I have often thought, Mr. Hutchinson," he continued, 
 " that if it had pleased heaven to give me some near re- 
 lative on earth, around whom my heart could delight to 
 cling, I would have been a better man. Some kind brother 
 who could aid and sympathize with me in my struggle with 
 the world, or some gentle sister, in whose love I could con- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 13t 
 
 fide, and to whose sweet society I might repair from the 
 bitter trials of this rugged life ; if these had been vouch- 
 safed me, my heart would have expanded into more sympa- 
 thy with my race than it can ever now feel." 
 
 Hutchinson smiled sadly, and replied 
 
 " It has been my object in life, Alfred Bernard, to sup- 
 ply the place of those nearer and dearer objects of affection 
 which have been denied you. I hope in this I have not 
 been unsuccessful." 
 
 " I am aware, Mr. Hutchinson," said Bernard, bitterly, 
 " that to you I am indebted for my education and support. 
 I hope I have ever manifested a becoming sense of grati- 
 tude, and I only regret that in this alone am I able to repay 
 you." 
 
 "And do you think that I wished to remind you of your 
 dependence, Alfred ? Oh, no you owe me nothing. I 
 have discharged towards you a solemn, a sacred duty, which 
 you had a right to claim. I took you, a little homeless 
 orphan, and sought to cultivate your mind and train your 
 heart. In the first you have done more than justice to my 
 tuition and my care. I am proud of the plant that I have 
 reared. But how have you repaid me ? You have imbibed 
 sentiments and opinions abhorrent to all just and moral 
 men. You have slighted my advice, and at times have even 
 threatened the adviser." 
 
 "If you refer to the difference in our faith," said Ber- 
 nard, " you must remember that it was from your teachings 
 that I derived the warrant to follow the dictates of my con- 
 science and my reason. If they have led me into error, 
 you must charge it upon these monitors which God has 
 given me. You cannot censure me." 
 
 " I confess I am to blame," said the good old man, with 
 
 a sigh. " But who could have thought, that when, with my 
 
 hard earnings, I had saved enough to send you to France, 
 
 in order to give you a more extensive acquaintance with the 
 
 12* 
 
138 HANSFORD: 
 
 world you were about to enter who would have thought 
 that it would result in your imbibing such errors as these ! 
 Oh, my son, what freedom of conscience is there in a faith 
 like papacy, which binds your reason to the will of another ? 
 And what purity can there be in a religion which you dare 
 not avow ?" 
 
 " Naaman bowed in the house of Rimmon," returned Ber- 
 nard, carelessly, " and if the prophet forgave him for thus 
 following the customs of his nation, that he might retain a 
 profitable and dignified position, I surely may be forgiven, 
 under a milder dispensation, for suppressing my real senti- 
 ments in order to secure office and preferment. " 
 
 " Alas !" murmured Hutchinson, bitterly. " Well, it is a 
 sentiment worthy of Edward's son. But go, my poor boy, 
 proud in your reason, which but leads you astray wresting 
 scripture in order to justify hypocrisy, and profaning reli- 
 gion with vice. You shall not yet want my prayers that 
 you may be redeemed from error. " 
 
 " Well, good night," said Bernard, as he opened the 
 door. " But do me the justice to say, that though I may 
 be deceitful, I can never be ungrateful, nor can I forget 
 your kindness to a desolate orphan." And so saying, he 
 closed the door, and left the old chaplain to the solitude of 
 his own stricken heart. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 139 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " Oh, tiger's heart, wrapt in a woman's hide." 
 
 Henry VI. 
 
 BRIGHTLY shone the sun through the window of the 
 Garter Inn, at which Virginia Temple sat on the morning 
 after the ball at Sir William Berkeley's palace. Freed from 
 the restraints of society, she gave her caged thoughts their 
 freedom, and they flew with delight to Hansford. She re- 
 proved herself for the appearance of gaiety which she had 
 assumed, white he was in so much danger ; and she inwardly 
 resolved that, not even to please her mother, would she be 
 guilty again of such hypocrisy. She felt that she owed 
 it to Hansford, to herself, and to others, to act thus. To 
 Hansford, because his long and passionate love, and his 
 unstained name, deserved a sacrifice of the world and its 
 joys to him. To herself, because sad as were her reflections 
 on the past, and fearful as were her apprehensions for the 
 future, there was still a melancholy pleasure in dwelling on 
 the memory of her love far sweeter to her wounded 
 heart than all the giddy gaiety of the world around her. 
 And to others, because, but for her assumed cheerfulness, 
 the feelings of Alfred Bernard, her generous and gifted 
 friend, would have been spared the sore trial to which they 
 had been subjected the night before. She was determined 
 that another noble soul should not make shipwreck of its 
 happiness, by anchoring its hopes on her own broken heart. 
 
 Such were her thoughts, as she leaned her head upon her 
 hand and gazed out of the window at the throng of people 
 who were hurrying toward the state-house. For this was 
 to be a great day in legislation. The Indian Bill was to 
 
140 HANSFOBD: 
 
 be up in committee, and the discussion would be an able 
 one, in which the most prominent members of the Assem- 
 bly were to take part. She had seen the Governor's car- 
 riage, with its gold and trappings, the Berkeley coat-of- 
 arms, and its six richly caparisoned white horses, roll 
 splendidly by, with an escort of guards, by which Sir 
 William was on public occasions always attended. She 
 had seen the Burgesses, with their reports, their petitions 
 and their bills, some conversing carelessly and merrily as 
 they passed, and others with thoughtful countenance bent 
 upon the ground, cogitating on some favourite scheme for 
 extricating the colony from its dangers. She had seen 
 Alfred Bernard pass on his favourite horse, and he had 
 turned his eyes to the window and gracefully saluted her ; 
 but in that brief moment she saw that the scenes through 
 which he had passed the night before were still in his 
 memory, and had made a deep impression on his heart. On 
 the plea of a sick headache, she had declined to go with 
 her mother to the " House," and the good old lady had 
 gone alone with her husband, deploring, as she went, the 
 little interest which the young people of the present day 
 took in the politics and prosperity of their country. 
 
 While thus silently absorbed in her own thoughts, the 
 attention of Virginia Temple was arrested by the door of 
 her room being opened, and on looking up, she saw before 
 her the tall figure of a strange, wild looking woman, whom 
 she had never seen before. This woman, despite the 
 warmth of the weather, was wrapped in a coarse red 
 shawl, which gave a striking and picturesque effect to her 
 singular appearance. Her features were prominent and 
 regular, and the face might have been considered hand- 
 some if it were not for the exceeding coarseness of her 
 swarthy skin. Her jet-black hair, not even confined by a 
 comb, was secured by a black riband behind, and passing 
 over the right shoulder, fell in a heavy mass over her bosom. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 141 
 
 Her figure was tall and straight as an Indian's, and her bare 
 brawny arms, which escaped from under her shawl, ga\ 7 e 
 indications of great physical strength ; while there was 
 that in the expression of her fierce black eye, and her finely 
 formed mouth, which showed that 'there was no mere 
 woman's heart in that masculine form. 
 
 The wild appearance and attire of the woman inspired 
 Virginia with terror at first, but she suppressed the scream 
 which rose to her lips, and in an agitated voice, she asked, 
 
 "What would you have with me, madam ?" 
 
 " What are you frightened at, girl," said the woman in a 
 shrill, coarse voice, " don't you see that I am a woman ?" 
 
 "Yes, ma'am," said Virginia, trembling, "I am not 
 frightened, ma'am." 
 
 "You are frightened I see you are," returned her 
 strange guest. " But if you fear, you are not worthy to be 
 the wife of a brave man come, deny nothing I can read 
 you like a book and easier, for it is but little that I know 
 from books, except my Bible." 
 
 "Are you a gipsey, ma'am ?"said Virginia, softly, for she 
 had heard her father speak of that singular race of vagrants, 
 and the person and language of the stranger corresponded 
 with the idea which she had formed of them. 
 
 " A gipsey ! no, I am a Virginian and a brave man's 
 wife, as you would be but that prejudice and fear keep you 
 still in Egyptian bondage. The time has come for woman 
 to act her part in the world and for you, Virginia Tem- 
 ple, to act yours." 
 
 " But what would you have me to do ?" asked Virginia, 
 surprised at the knowledge which the stranger seemed to 
 possess of her history. 
 
 " Do !" shrieked the woman, " your duty that which 
 every human creature, man or woman, is bound before high 
 heaven to do. Aid in the great work which God this day 
 
142 HANSFORD : 
 
 calls upon his Israel to do to redeem his people from cap- 
 tivity and from the hand of those who smite us." 
 
 " My good woman," said Virginia, who now began to 
 * understand the character of the strange intruder, " it is not 
 for me, may I add, it is not for our sex to mingle in contests 
 like the present. We can but humbly pray that He who 
 controls the affairs of this world, may direct in virtue and in 
 wisdom, the hearts of both rulers and people." 
 
 " And why should we only pray," said the woman sternly, 
 " when did Heaven ever answer prayer, except when our 
 own actions carried the prayer into effect. Have you not 
 learned, have you not known, hath it not been told you from 
 the foundation of the world, that faith without works was 
 dead." 
 
 "But there is no part which a woman can consistently 
 take in such a contest as the present, even should she so far 
 forget her true duties as to wish to engage in it. " 
 
 " Girl, have you read your bible, or are you one of those 
 children of the scarlet woman of Babylon, to whom the word 
 of God is a closed book to whom the waters from the foun- 
 tain of truth can only come through the polluted lips of 
 priests as unclean birds feed their offspring. Do you not 
 know that it was a woman, even Kahab, who saved the 
 spies sent out from Shittem to view the land of promise ? 
 Do you not know that Miriam joined with the hosts of Is- 
 rael in the triumph of their deliverance from the hand of 
 Pharaoh ? Do you not know that Deborah, the wife of 
 Lapidoth, judged Israel, and delivered Jacob from the 
 hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, and Sisera the captain of 
 his host and did not Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, 
 rescue Israel from the hands of Sisera ? Surely she fastened 
 the nail in a sure place, and the wife of Sisera, tarried long 
 ere his chariot should come and shall we in these latter 
 days of Israel be less bold than they ? Tell me not of pray- 
 ers, Virginia Temple, cowards alone pray blindly for assist- 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 143 
 
 ance. It is the will of God that the brave should be often 
 under Heaven, the answerers of their own prayers." 
 
 " And pray tell me," said Virginia, struck with the wild, 
 biblical eloquence of the Puritan woman, " why you have 
 thus come to me among so many of the damsels of Virginia, 
 to urge me to engage in this enterprise." 
 
 " Because I was sent. Because one of the captains of 
 our host has sought the hand of Virginia Temple. Ah, 
 blush, maiden, for the blush of shame well becomes one who 
 has deserted her lover, because he has laid aside every 
 weight, and pressed forward to the prize of his high calling. 
 Yet a little while, and the brave men of Virginia will be 
 here to show the malign ant Berkeley, that the servant is not 
 greater than his lord that they who reared up this temple 
 of his authority, can rase it to the ground and bury him in 
 its ruins. I come from Thomas Hansford, to ask that you 
 will under my guidance meet him where I shall appoint to- 
 night." 
 
 "This is most strange conduct on his part," said Vh- 
 ginia, flushing with indignation, "nor will I believe him 
 guilty of it. Why did he entrust a message like this to you 
 instead of writing ?" 
 
 "A warrior writes with his sword and in blood," replied 
 the woman. " Think you that they who wander in the wil- 
 derness, are provided with pen or ink to write soft words 
 of love to silly maidens ? But he foresaw that you would 
 refuse, and he gave me a token I fear a couplet from a 
 carnal song." 
 
 " What is it ?" cried Virginia, anxiously. 
 
 " ' I had not loved thee, dear, so much, 
 Loved I not honour more/" 
 
 said the woman, in a low voice. " Thus the words run in 
 my memory." 
 
144 HANSFORD : 
 
 "And it is indeed a true token," said Virginia," but once 
 for all, I cannot consent to this singular request. " 
 
 " Decide not in haste, lest you repent at leisure," returned 
 the woman, " I will come to-night at ten o'clock to receive 
 your final answer. And regret not, Virginia Temple, that 
 your fate is thus linked with a brave man. The babe un- 
 born will yet bless the rising in this country and children 
 shall rise up and call us blest.* And, oh! as you would 
 prove worthy of him who loves you, abide not thou like 
 Reuben among the sheep-folds to hear the bleating of the 
 flocks, and you will yet live to rejoice that you have turned 
 a willing ear to the words and the counsel of Sarah Pruin- 
 mond." 
 
 There was a pause of some moments, during which Vir- 
 ginia was wrapt in her own reflections concerning the sin- 
 gular message of Hansford, rendered even more singular by 
 the character and appearance of the messenger. Suddenly 
 she was startled from her reverie by the blast of a trumpet, 
 arid the distant trampling of horses' hoofs. Sarah Drum- 
 mond also started at the sound, but not from the same 
 cause, for she heard in that sound the blast of defiance the 
 trumpet of freedom, as its champions advanced to the 
 charge. 
 
 "They come, they come," she said, in her wild, shrill 
 voice ; " my Lord, my Lord, the chariots of Israel and the 
 horsemen thereof I go, like Miriam of old, to prophecy in 
 their cause, and to swell their triumph. Farewell. Re- 
 member, at ten o'clock to-night I return for your final 
 answer " 
 
 With these words she burst from the room, and Vir- 
 ginia soon seen her tall form, with hasty strides, moving 
 toward the place from which the sound proceeded. 
 
 * This was her very language during the rebellion. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 145 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 " Men, high minded men, 
 With powers as far above dull brutes endued, 
 
 In forest, brake or den, 
 As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; 
 
 Men, who their duties know, 
 
 But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain, 
 These constitute a state.'' 
 
 Sir William Jones. 
 
 AND nearer, and nearer, came the sound, and the cloud 
 of dust which already rose in the street, announced their 
 near approach. And then, Virginia saw emerging from 
 that cloud a proud figure, mounted on a splendid grey 
 charger, which pranced and champed his bit, as though 
 proud of the noble burden which he bore. And well he 
 might be proud, for that young gallant rider was Nathaniel 
 Bacon, a man who has left his name upon his country's 
 history, despite the efforts to defame him, as the very 
 embodiment of the spirit of freedom. And he looked every 
 inch a hero, as with kingly mien and gallant bearing he 
 rode through that crowded street, the great centre of 
 attraction to all. 
 
 Beside him and around him were those, his friends and 
 his companions, who had sworn to share his success, or to 
 perish in the attempt. 
 
 There was the burley Richard Lawrence, not yet bent 
 under the weight of his growing years. There was Carver, 
 the bold, intrepid and faithful Carver, whose fidelity yet 
 lives historically in his rough, home-brewed answer to the 
 Governor, that " if he served the devil he would be true to 
 his trust." There too was the young and graceful form 
 of one whose name has been honoured by history, and 
 cherished by his descendants whose rising glory has 
 
 13 
 
146 HANSFORD: 
 
 indeed been eclipsed by others of his name more success- 
 ful, but not more worthy of success nor can that long, 
 pure cavalier lineage boast a nobler ancestor than the 
 high-souled, chivalrous, and devoted Giles Bland. There 
 too were Ingram, and Walklate, and Wilford, and Farloe, 
 and Cheesman, and a host of others, whom time would fail 
 us to mention, and yet, each one of whom, a pioneer in 
 freedom's cause, deserves to be freshly remembered. And 
 there too, and the heart of Virginia Temple beat loud and 
 quick as she beheld him, was the gallant Hansford, whom 
 she loved so well ; and as she gazed upon his noble figure, 
 now foremost in rebellion, the old love came back gushing 
 into her heart, and she half forgave his grievous sin, and 
 loved him as before. 
 
 These all passed on, and the well-regulated band of four 
 hundred foot-soldiers, all armed and disciplined for action, 
 followed on, ready and anxious to obey their noble leader, 
 even unto death. Among these were many, who, through 
 their lives had been known as loyalists, who upheld the 
 councils of the colony in their long resistance to the usur- 
 pation of the Protector, and who hailed the restoration of 
 their king as a personal triumph to each and all. There 
 too were those who had admired Cromwell, and sustained 
 his government, and some few grey-headed veterans who 
 even remembered to have fought under the banner of John 
 Hampden Cavaliers and Roundheads, Episcopalians and 
 Dissenters; old men, who had heretofore passed through 
 life regardless of the forms of government under which 
 they lived ; and young men, whose ardent hearts burned 
 high with the spirit of liberty all these discordant ele- 
 ments had been united in the alembic of freedom, and 
 hand-in-hand, and heart-in-heart, were preparing for the 
 struggle. And Virginia Temple thought, as she gazed 
 from the window upon their manly forms, that after all, 
 rebellion was not confined to the ignoble and the base. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 147 
 
 On, on, still on, and now they have reached the gate 
 which is the grand entrance to the state-house square. 
 The crowd of eager citizens throng after them, and with 
 the fickle sympathy of the mob unite in loud shouts of 
 "Long live Bacon, the Champion of Freedom." And 
 now they are drawn up in bristling column before the hall 
 of the assembly, while the windows are crowded thick with 
 the pale, anxious faces of the astounded burgesses. But 
 see ! the leaders dismount, and their horses are given in 
 charge to certain of the soldiers. Conspicuous among 
 them all is Nathaniel Bacon, from his proud and imperial 
 bearing as he walks with impatient steps up and down the 
 line, and reads their resolution in the faces of the men. 
 
 " What will he do I" is whispered from the white and 
 agitated lips of the trembling burgesses. 
 
 " This comes of the faithless conduct of Berkeley," says 
 one. 
 
 " Yes ; I always said that Bacon should have his com- 
 mission," says another. 
 
 "It is downright murder to deny him the right to save 
 the colony from the savages," says a third. 
 
 "And we must suffer for the offences of a despotic old 
 dotard," said the first speaker. 
 
 "Say you so, masters," cried out old Presley, wedging 
 his huge form between two of his brethren at the window 
 and all his loyalty of the preceding night having oozed 
 out a,t his fingers' ends, like Bob Acres' courage, at the 
 first approach of danger " say you so ; then, by God, 
 it is my advice to let him put out the fire of his own 
 raising." 
 
 But see there ! Bacon and his staff are conferring to- 
 gether. It will soon be known what is his determination. 
 It is already read in his fierce and angry countenance as 
 he draws his sword half way from its scabbard, and frowns 
 upon the milder councils of Hansford and Bland. Pre- 
 
148 HANSFORD : 
 
 sently a servant of one of the members comes in with pale, 
 affrighted looks, and whispers to his master. He has 
 overheard the words of Bacon, which attended that 
 ominous gesture. 
 
 " I will bear a little while. But when you see my sword 
 drawn from my scabbard, thus, let that be the signal for 
 attack. Then strike for freedom, for truth, and for 
 justice." 
 
 The burgesses look in wild alarm at each other. What 
 is to be done ? It were vain to resist. They are unarmed. 
 The rebels more than quadruple Governor, Council, and 
 Assembly. Let those suffer who have incurred the wrath 
 of freemen. Let the lightning fall upon him who has called 
 it down. For ourselves, let us make peace. 
 
 In a moment a white handkerchief suspended on the 
 usher's rod streams from the window, an emblem of peace, 
 an advocate for mercy, and with one accordant shout, 
 which rings through the halls of the state-house, the 
 burgesses declare that he shall have his commission. 
 
 Bacon sees the emblem. He hears the shout. His dark 
 eye flashes with delight as he hails this bloodless victory 
 over the most formidable department of the government. 
 The executive dare not hold out against the will of the 
 Assembly. But the victory is not yet consummated. 
 
 Suddenly from the lips of the excited soldiery comes a 
 wild cry, and following the direction of their eyes, he sees 
 Sir William Berkeley standing at the open window of the 
 Council Chamber. Yes, there stands the proud old man, 
 with form erect and noble his face somewhat paler, and 
 his eagle eye somewhat brighter than usual. But these 
 are the only signs he gives of emotion, as he looks down 
 upon that hostile crowd, with a smile of bitter scorn 
 encircling his lip. He quails not, he blenches not, before 
 that angry foe. His pulse beats calmly and regularly, for 
 it is under the control of the brave great heart, which 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 149 
 
 knows no fear. And there he stands, all calm and silent, 
 like a firm-set rock that defies in its iron strength the fury 
 of the storm that beats against it. 
 
 Yet Berkeley is in danger. He is the object, the sole 
 object, of the bitter hate of that incensed and indignant 
 soldiery. He has pledged and he has broken his word to 
 them, and when did broken faith ever fail to arouse the 
 indignation of Virginians ? He has denied them the right 
 to protect, by organized force, their homes and their fire- 
 sides from the midnight attacks of ruthless savages. He 
 has advised the passage of laws restricting their commerce, 
 and reducing the value of their staples. He has urged the 
 erection of forts throughout the colony, armed with a 
 regular soldiery, supported in their idleness by the industry 
 of Virginians, and whose sole object is to check the kindling 
 flame of liberty among the people. He has sanctioned and 
 encouraged the exercise of power by Parliament to tax an 
 unrepresented colony. He has advised and upheld His 
 Majesty in depriving the original patentees of immense 
 tracts of land, and lavishing them as princely donations 
 upon fawning favourites. He has refused to represent to 
 the king the many grievances of the colony, and to urge 
 their redress, and, although thus showing himself to be a 
 tyrant over a free people, he has dared to urge, through 
 his servile commissioners, his appointment as Governor for 
 life. 
 
 Such were some of the many causes of discontent among 
 the colonists which had so inflamed them against Sir 
 William Berkeley. And now, there he stood before them, 
 calm in spite of their menaces, unrelenting in spite of their 
 remonstrances. Without a word of command, and with 
 one accord a hundred fusils were pointed at the breast of 
 the brave old Governor. It was a moment of intense 
 excitement of terrible suspense. But even then his cour- 
 age and his self-reliance forsook him not. Tearing open 
 13* 
 
150 HANSFORD: 
 
 his Test, and presenting himself at the window more fully 
 to their attaqk, he cried out in a firm voice : 
 
 " Aye, shoot ! 'Fore God, a fair mark. Infatuated 
 men, bury your wrongs here in my heart. I dare you to 
 do your worst I" 
 
 " Down with your guns I" shouted Bacon, angrily. But 
 it needed not the order of their leader to cause them to 
 drop their weapons in an instant. The calm smile which 
 still played around the countenance of the old Governor, 
 the unblenching glance of that eagle eye, and the unawed 
 manner in which he dared them to revenge, all had their 
 effect in allaying the resentment of the soldiers. And with 
 this came the memory of the olden time, when he was so 
 beloved by his people, because so just and gentle. Some- 
 thing of this old feeling now returned, and as they lowered 
 their weapons a tear glistened in many a hardy soldier's 
 eye. 
 
 With the quick perception of true genius, Nathaniel 
 Bacon saw the effect produced. Well aware of the vola- 
 tile materials with which he had to work, he dreaded a 
 revolution in the feelings of the men. Anxious to smother 
 the smouldering ashes of loyalty before they were fanned 
 into a flame, he cried with a loud voice, 
 
 " Not a hair of your head shall be touched. No, nor 
 of any man's. I come for justice, not for vengeance. I 
 come to plead for the mercy which ill-judged and cruel delay 
 has long denied this people. I come to plead for the liv- 
 ing my argument may be heard from the dead. The 
 voices of murdered Englishmen call to you from the ground. 
 We demand a right, guarantied by the sacred and inviolable 
 law of self-preservation ! A right ! guarantied by the 
 plighted but violated word of an English knight and a 
 Virginia Governor. A right I which I now hold by the 
 powerful, albeit unwritten, sanction of these, the sovereigns 
 of Virginia." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 151 
 
 The last artful allusion of Bacon entirely restored the 
 confidence of his soldiers, and with loud cries they shouted 
 in chorus, " And we will have it ! we will have it 1" 
 
 Berkeley listened patiently to this brief address, and then 
 turned from the window where he was standing, and took 
 his seat at the council-table. Here, too, he was surrounded 
 by many who, either alarmed at the menaces of the rebels, 
 and convinced of the futility of resisting their demands, or, 
 what is more probable, who had a secret sympathy in the 
 causes of the rebellion, exerted all their influence in molli- 
 fying the wrath and obstinacy of the old Governor. But 
 it was all in vain. To every argument or persuasion which 
 was urged, his only reply was, 
 
 " To have forced from me by rebels the trust confided in 
 me by my king ! To yield to force what I denied to peti- 
 tion ! No, Gentlemen ; 'fore God, if the authority of my 
 master's government must be overcome in Virginia, let me 
 perish with it. I wish no higher destiny than to be a mar- 
 tyr, like my royal master, Charles the First, to the cause 
 of truth and justice. Let them rob me of my life when they 
 rob me of my trust." 
 
 While thus the councillors were vainly endeavoring to 
 persuade the old man to yield to the current which had so 
 set against him, he was surprised by a slight touch on his 
 shoulder, and on looking up he saw Alfred Bernard stand- 
 ing before him. The young man bent over, and in a low 
 whisper uttered these significant words : 
 
 " The commission, extorted by force, is null and void 
 when the duress is removed." 
 
 Struck by a view so apposite to his condition, and so 
 entirely tallying with his own wishes, the impetuous old 
 Governor fairly leaped from his chair and grasped the hand 
 of his young adviser. 
 
 "Right, by God!" he said; "right, my son. Gentle- 
 men, this young man's counsel is worth all of your's. Out 
 
152 HANSFORD: 
 
 of the mouth of babes and sucklings however, Alfred, you 
 would not relish a compliment paid at the expense of your 
 manhood." 
 
 " What does the young man propose ?" drawled the 
 phlegmatic old Cole, who was one of the council board. 
 
 " That I should yield to the current when I must, and 
 resist it when I can," cried Berkeley, exultingly. " Loyalty 
 must only bow to the storm, as the tree bows before the 
 tempest. The most efficient resistance is apparent con- 
 cession." 
 
 The councillors were astounded. Sprung from that 
 chivalric Anglo-Saxon race, who respected honour more 
 than life, and felt a stain like a wound, they could scarcely 
 believe their senses when they thus heard the Governor of 
 Virginia recommending deceit and simulation to secure his 
 safety. To them, rebellion was chiefly detestable because 
 it was an infraction of the oath of loyalty. It could 
 scarcely be more base than the premeditated perjury which 
 Sir William contemplated. Many an angry eye and dark 
 scowl was bent on Alfred Bernard, who met them with au 
 easy and defiant air. The silence that ensued expressed 
 more clearly than words the disapprobation of the council. 
 At length old Ballard, one of the most loyal and esteemed 
 members of the council, hazarded an expression of his 
 views. 
 
 " Sir William Berkeley, let me advise you as your coun- 
 sellor, and warn you as your friend, to avoid the course 
 prescribed by that young man. What effect can your bad 
 faith with these misguided persons have, but to exasperate 
 them ? and when once aroused, and once deceived, be 
 assured that all attempts at reconciliation will be vain. I 
 speak plainly, but I do so because not only your own safety, 
 but the peace and prosperity of the colony are involved in 
 your decision. Were not the broken pledges of that 
 unhappy Stuart, to whom you have referred, the causes of 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 153 
 
 that fearful revolution which alienated the affections of his 
 subjects and at lengtlf cost him his life ? Charles Stuart 
 has not died in vain, if, by his death and his sufferings, he 
 has taught his successors in power that candour, moderation 
 and truth are due from a prince to his people. But, alas ! 
 what oceans of blood must be shed ere man will learn those 
 useful lessons, which alone can ensure his happiness and 
 secure his authority." 
 
 "Zounds, Ballard," said the incensed old ruler, "you 
 have mistaken your calling. I have not heard so fine a 
 sermon this many a day, and, 'fore God, if you will only 
 renounce politics, and don gown and cassock, I will have 
 you installed forthwith in my dismal Hutchinson's living. 
 But," he added, more seriously, as the smile of bitter deri- 
 sion faded from his lips, " I well e'en tell you that you have 
 expressed yourself a matter too "freely, and have forgotten 
 what you owe to position and authority." 
 
 " I have forgotten neither, sir," said Ballard, firmly but 
 calmly. " I owe respect to position, even though I may 
 not have it for the man who holds that position ; and when 
 authority is abused, I owe it alike to myself and to the peo- 
 ple to check it so far as I may." 
 
 The flush of passion mounted to the brow of Berkeley, 
 as he listened to these words ; but with a violent effort he 
 checked the angry retort which rose to his lips, and turning 
 to the rest of the council, he said : 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, I will submit the proposition to you. 
 Shall the commission of General of the forces of Yirginia 
 be granted to Nathaniel Bacon ?" 
 
 "Nay, Governor," interposed another of the council, 
 " we would know whether you intend " 
 
 "It is of my actions that you must advise. Leave my 
 motives to me. What do you advise ? Shall the commis- 
 sion be granted ?" 
 
 " Aye," was responded in turn by each of the council- 
 
154 HANSFORD: 
 
 lors at the board, and at the same moment the heavy tramp 
 of approaching footsteps was heard,* and Bacon, attended 
 by Lawrence, Bland and Hansford, entered the chamber. 
 
 The council remained seated and covered, and preserved 
 the most imperturbable silence. It was a scene not unlike 
 that of that ancient senate, who, unable to resist the attack 
 of barbarians, evinced their pride and bravery by their con- 
 temptuous silence. The sun was shining brightly through 
 the western windows of the chamber, and his glaring rays, 
 softened and coloured by the rich red curtains of damask, 
 threw a deeper flush upon the cheeks of the haughty old 
 councillors; With their eyes fixed upon the intruders, they 
 patiently awaited the result of the interview. On the other 
 hand, the attitude and behaviour of the rebels was not less 
 calm and dignified. They had evidently counselled well 
 before they had determined to intrude thus upon the delibe- 
 rations of the council. It was with no angry or impatient 
 outburst of passion, with no air of triumph, that they came. 
 They knew their rights, and had come to claim and main- 
 tain them. 
 
 There were two men there, and they the youngest of 
 that mixed assembly, who viewed each other with looks 
 of darker hatred than the rest. The wound inflicted in 
 Hansford's heart at Windsor Hall had not yet been healed 
 and with that tendency to injustice so habitual to lovers, 
 with the proclivity of all men to seek out some one whom 
 they may charge as the author of their own misfortune, he 
 viewed Bernard with feelings of distrust and enmity. He 
 felt, too, or rather he feared, that the heart left vacant by 
 his own exclusion from it, might be filled with this young 
 rival. Bernard, on the other hand, had even stronger reason 
 of dislike, and if such motives could operate even upon the 
 noble mind of Hansford, with how much greater force 
 would they impress the selfish character of the young 
 Jesuit. The recollection of that last scene with Virginia 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 155 
 
 in the park, of her unwavering devotion to her rebel lover, 
 and her disregard of his own feelings came upon him now 
 with renewed force, as he saw that rebel rival stand before 
 him. Even if filial regard for her father's wishes and a 
 sense of duty to herself would forever prevent her alliance 
 with Hansford, Alfred Bernard felt that so long as his rival 
 lived there was an insuperable obstacle to his acquisition 
 of her estate, an object which he prized even more than her 
 love. Thus these two young men darted angry glances at 
 each other, and forgot in their own personal aggrievements, 
 the higher principles for which they were engaged of loy- 
 alty on the one hand, and liberty on the other. 
 
 Bacon was the first to break silence. . 
 
 "Methinks," he said, "that your honours are not inclined 
 to fall into the error of deciding in haste and repenting at 
 leisure." 
 
 "Mr. Bacon," said Berkeley, "you must be aware that 
 the appearance of this armed force tends to prejudice your 
 claims. It would be indecorous in me to be overawed by 
 menaces, or to yield to compulsion. But the necessities of 
 the time demand that there should be an organized force, 
 to resist the encroachments of the Indians. It is, there- 
 fore, not from fear of your threats, but from conviction of 
 this necessity that I have determined to grant you the com- 
 mission which you ask, with full power to raise, equip, and 
 provision an army, and with instructions, that you forthwith 
 proceed to march against the savages. " 
 
 Bacon could scarcely suppress a smile at this boastful 
 appearance of authority and disavowal of compulsion, on 
 the part of the proud old Governor. It was with a thrill 
 of rapture that he thus at last possessed the great object of 
 his wishes. Already idolized by the people, he only needed 
 a legal recognition of his authority to accomplish the great 
 ends that he had in view. As the commission was made 
 out in due form, engrossed and sealed, and handed to him, 
 
156 HANSFORD: 
 
 he clutched it eagerly, as though it were a sceptre of royal 
 power. Little suspecting the design of the wily Governor, 
 he felt all his confidence in him restored at once, and from 
 his generous heart he forgave him all the past. 
 
 "This commission, though military," he said, proudly, 
 " is the seal of restored tranquillity to the colony. Think 
 not it will be perverted to improper uses. Royalty is to 
 Virginians what the sun is to the pious Persian. Virginia 
 was the last to desert the setting sun of royalty, and still 
 lingered piously and tearfully to look upon its declining 
 rays. She was the first to hail the glorious restoration of 
 its light, a'nd as she worshipped its rising beams, she will 
 never seek to quench or overcloud its meridian lustre. I go, 
 gentlemen, to restore peace to the fireside and confidence 
 to the hearts of this people. The sword of my country 
 shall never be turned against herself." 
 
 The heightened colour of his cheek, and the bright flash- 
 ing of his eye, bespoke the pride and delight of his heart. 
 With a profound bow he turned from the room, and with 
 his aids, he descended to rejoin his anxious and expectant 
 followers. In a few moments the loud shout of the soldiery 
 was heard testifying their satisfaction at the result. The 
 names of Berkeley and of Bacon were upon their lips and 
 as the proud old Governor gazed from the window at that 
 happy crowd, and saw with the admiring eye of a brave 
 man, the tall and martial form of Nathaniel Bacon at their 
 head, he scarcely regretted in that moment that his loyal 
 name had been linked with the name of a traitor. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 " Me glory summons to the martial scene, 
 The field of combat is the sphere of men ; 
 Where heroes war the foremost place I claim, 
 The first in danger, as the first in fame." 
 
 Pope's Iliad. 
 
 WE return to Yirginia Temple, who, although not an 
 eye-witness of the scene which we have just described, was 
 far from being disinterested in its result. The words of 
 the singular woman, with whom she had conversed, had 
 made some impression upon her mind. Although dis- 
 gusted with the facility with which Dame Drummond had 
 distorted and perverted Scripture to justify her own wild 
 absurdities, Yirginia still felt that there was much cause 
 for self-reproach in her conduct to her lover. She felt 
 every assurance that though he might err, he would err 
 from judgment alone ; and how little did she know of the 
 questions at issue between the aroused people and the 
 government. Indeed, when she saw the character of those 
 with whom Hansford was associated men not impelled by 
 the blind excitement of a mob, but evidently actuated by 
 higher principles of right and justice, her heart misgave 
 her that, perhaps, she had permitted prejudice to carry her 
 too far in her opposition to their cause. The struggle in 
 her mind was indeed an unequal one. It was love plead- 
 ing against ignorant prejudice, and that at the forum of a 
 woman's heart. Can it be wondered at that Yirginia 
 Temple, left to herself, without an adviser, yielded to the 
 powerful plea, and freely and fully forgave her rebel lover ? 
 14 
 
158 HANSPORD: 
 
 And when she thought, too, that, however guilty to 
 his country, he had, at least, been ever faithful to her, 
 she added to her forgiveness of him the bitterest self- 
 reproach. On one thing she was resolved, that notwith- 
 standing the apparent indelicacy of such a course, she 
 would grant him the interview which he requested, and if 
 she could not win him from his error, at least part from 
 him, though forever, as a friend. She felt that it was due 
 to her former love, and to his unwavering devotion, to 
 grant this last request. 
 
 Once determined on her course, the hours rolled heavily 
 away until the time fixed for her appointment with Hans- 
 ford. Despite her attempt to prove cheerful and uncon- 
 cerned, her lynx-eyed mother detected her sadness, but was 
 easily persuaded that it was due to a slight head-ache, with 
 which she was really suffering, and which she pleaded as 
 an excuse. The old lady -was more easily deceived, because 
 it tallied with her own idea, that Jamestown was very 
 unhealthy, and that she, herself, could never breathe its 
 unwholesome air without the most disastrous consequences 
 to her health. 
 
 At length, Colonel Temple, having left the crowd of 
 busy politicians, who were discussing the events of the 
 day in the hall, returned with his good wife to their own 
 room. Virginia, with a beating heart, resumed her watch 
 at the window, where she was to await the coming of 
 Sarah Drummond. It was a warm, still night. Scarcely 
 a breath of air was stirring the leaves of the long line of 
 elms that adorned the street. She sat watching the silent 
 stars, and wondering if those bright worlds contained scenes 
 of sorrow and despair like this ; or were they but the pure 
 mansions which the Comforter was preparing in his 
 heavenly kingdom for those disconsolate children of earth 
 who longed for that peace which he had promised when he 
 told his trusting disciples "Let not your heart be troubled, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 159 
 
 neither let it be afraid." How apt are the sorrowing souls 
 of earth to look thus into the blue depths of heaven, and 
 in their selfishness to think that Nature, with her host of 
 created beings, was made for them. She chose from 
 among those shining worlds, one bright and trembling star, 
 which stood apart, and there transported on the wings of 
 Fancy or Faith, she lived in love and peace with Hansford. 
 Sweet was that star-home to the trusting girl, as she 
 watched it in its slow and silent course through heaven. 
 Free from the cares which vex the spirit in this dark sin- 
 world, that happy star was filled with love, and the blissful 
 pair who knew it as their home, felt no change, save in the 
 " grateful vicissitude of pleasure and repose." Such was the 
 picture which the young girl, with the pencil of hope, and 
 the colours of fancy painted for her soul's eye. But as she 
 gazed, the star faded from her sight, and a dark and heavy 
 cloud lowered from the place where it had stood. 
 
 At the same moment, as if the vision in which she had 
 been rapt was something more than a dream, the door of 
 her chamber opened, and Sarah Drummond entered. The 
 heart of Virginia Temple nearly failed her, as she thought 
 of the coincidence in time of the disappearance of the star 
 and the summons to her interview with Hansford. Her 
 companion marked her manner, and in a more gentle voice 
 than she had yet assumed, she said, 
 
 " Why art thou cast down, maiden ? Let not your 
 heart sink in the performance of a duty. Have you 
 decided ?" 
 
 " Must I meet him alone ?" asked Virginia. " Oh, how 
 could he make a request so hard to be complied with !" 
 
 "Alone !" said Sarah, with a sneer. "Yes, silly girl, 
 reared in the school that would teach that woman's virtue 
 is too frail even to be tempted. Yes, alone ! She who 
 cannot trust her honour to a lover, knows but little of the 
 true power of love." 
 
160 HANSFORD: 
 
 "I will follow you," replied Virginia, firmly, and throw- 
 ing a shawl loosely around her, she rose from her seat and 
 prepared to go. 
 
 "Gome on, then," said Sarah, quickly, "there is no time 
 to be lost. In an hour, at most, the triumphant defenders 
 of right will be upon their march. " 
 
 The insurgents, wearied with their long march the night 
 and day before, and finding no accommodation for their 
 numbers in the inn, or elsewhere, had determined to seek a 
 few hours repose in the green lawn surrounding the state- 
 house, previous to their night march upon the Indians. It 
 was here that Hansford had appointed to meet and bid 
 farewell to his betrothed Virginia. Half leading, half 
 dragging the trembling girl, who had already well nigh 
 repented her resolution, Sarah Drummond walked rapidly 
 down the street, in the direction of the state-house. 
 Arrived at the gate, their further progress was arrested by 
 a rough, uncouth sentinel, who in a coarse voice demanded 
 who they were. 
 
 "I am Sarah Drummond," said the woman, promptly, 
 "and this young maiden would speak with Major Hans- 
 ford." 
 
 " Why, 'stains, dame, what has become of all your reli- 
 gion, that you should turn ribibe on our hands, and be 
 bringing young hoydens this time o' night to the officers. 
 For shame, Dame Drummond." 
 
 " Berkenhead," cried the woman, fiercely, " we all know 
 you for a traitor and a blasphemer, who serve but for the 
 loaves and fishes, and not for the pure word. You gained 
 your liberty, you know, by betraying your fellows in the 
 insurrection of '62, and are a base pensioner upon the 
 bounty of the Assembly for your cowardice and treason. 
 But God often maketh the carnal-minded of this world to 
 fulfil his will, and so we must e'en bear with you yet a little 
 while. Come, let us pass." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 161 
 
 " Nay, dame," said the old soldier, " I care but little for 
 your abuse ; but duty is duty, and so an' ye give me not 
 the shibboleth, as old Noll's canters would say, you may 
 e'en tramp back. You see, I've got some of your slang, 
 and will fight the devil with his own fire : ' And there fell 
 of the children of Ephraini, at the passage of the Jor- 
 dan' " 
 
 " Hush, blasphemer !" said Sarah, impatiently. " But 
 if you must have the pass before you can admit us, take it." 
 And she leaned forward and whispered in his ear the words, 
 "Be faithful to the cause." 
 
 "Right as a trivet," said Berkenhead, "and so pass on. 
 A fig for the consequences, so that my skirts are clear." 
 
 Relieved from this embarrassment, Sarah Drummond 
 and her trembling companion passed through the gate, and 
 proceeded up the long gravelled walk which led to the 
 state-house. They had not gone far before Virginia Tem- 
 ple descried a dark form approaching them, and even 
 before she could recognize the features, her heart told her 
 it was Hansford. In another moment she was in his arms. 
 
 " My own Virginia, my loved one," he cried, regardless 
 of the presence of Mrs. Drummond, " I scarcely dared 
 hope that you would have kept your promise to say fare- 
 well. Come, dearest, lean on my arm, I have much to 
 tell you. You, my kind dame, remain here for a few 
 moments we will not detain you long." 
 
 Quietly yielding to his request, Virginia took her lover's 
 arm, and they walked silently along the path, leaving the 
 good dame Drummond to digest alone her crude notions 
 about the prospects of Israel. 
 
 " Is it not singular," said Hansford at length, " that 
 before you came, I thought the brief hour we must spend 
 together was far too short to say half that I wish, and now 
 I can say nothing. The quiet feeling of love, of pure and 
 tranquil" love, banishes every other thought from my heart." 
 
 H* 
 
1G2 HANSFORD: 
 
 " I fear I fear," murmured Virginia, "that I have done 
 very wrong in consenting to this interview." 
 
 "And why, Virginia," said her lover, "even the male- 
 factor is permitted the poor privilege of bidding fare- 
 well forever to those around him and am I worse 
 than he?" 
 
 "No, Hansford, no," replied Virginia, "but to come 
 thus with a perfect stranger, at night, and without my 
 father's permission, to an interview with one who has met 
 with his disapprobation " 
 
 "True love," replied Hansford, sadly, "overleaps all 
 such feeble barriers as these where the happiness of the 
 loved one is concerned." 
 
 "And, therefore, I came," returned the young girl, "but 
 you forget, Hansford, that the relation which once existed 
 between us has, by our mutual consent, been dissolved 
 what then was proper cannot now be permitted. " 
 
 " If such be the case," replied Hansford, in an offended 
 tone, " Miss Temple must be aware that I am the last 
 person to urge her to continue in a course which her 
 judgment disapproves. May I conduct you to your com- 
 panion ?" 
 
 Virginia did not at first reply. The coldness of man- 
 ner which she had assumed was far from being consonant 
 with her real feelings, and the ingenuous girl could no 
 longer continue the part which she attempted to represent. 
 After a brief pause, the natural affection of her nature 
 triumphed, and with the most artless frankness she said, 
 
 " Oh, no, Hansford, my tongue can no longer speak 
 other language than that which my heart dictates. For- 
 give me for what I have said. We cannot part thus." 
 
 " Thanks, my dearest girl," he cried, "for this assurance. 
 The future is already too dark, for the light of hope to be 
 entirely withdrawn. These troublous times will soon be 
 over, and then " 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION". 163 
 
 " Nay, Hansford," said Yirginia, interrupting him, " I 
 fear you cannot even then hope for that happiness which 
 you profess to anticipate in our union. These things I have 
 thought of deeply and sorrowfully. Whatever may be the 
 issue of this unnatural contest, to us the result must be the 
 same. My father's prejudices and without his consent, I 
 would never yield my hand to any one are so strong 
 against your cause, that come what may, they can never be 
 removed." 
 
 " He must himself, ere long, see the justice of our cause," 
 said Hansford, confidently. "It is impossible that truth 
 can long be hid from one, who, like your noble father, must 
 ever be desirous of its success." 
 
 "And do you think," returned Yirginia, "that having 
 failed to arrive at your conclusions in his moments of calm 
 reflection, he will be apt to change his opinions under the 
 more formidable reasoning of the bayonet ? Believe me, 
 Hansford, that scenes like those which we have this day 
 witnessed, can never reconcile the opposing parties in this 
 unhappy strife." 
 
 " It is true, too true," said Hansford, sorrowfully ; " and 
 is there then no hope ?" 
 
 " Yes, there is a hope," said Yirginia, earnestly. " Let 
 not the foolish pride of consistency prevent you from 
 acknowledging an error when committed. Boldly and man- 
 fully renounce the career into which impulse has driven you. 
 Return to your allegiance to your ancient faith ; and be- 
 lieve me, that Yirginia Temple will rejoice more in your 
 repentance than if all the honours of martial glory, or of 
 civic renown, were showered upon you. She would rather 
 be the trusting wife of the humble and repentant servant of 
 his king, than the queen of a sceptered usurper, who clam- 
 bered to the throne through the blood of the martyrs of 
 faith and loyalty." 
 
1 64 HANSFOED : 
 
 " Oh, Virginia !" said Hansford, struggling hard between 
 duty and love. 
 
 " I know it is hard to conquer the fearful pride of your 
 heart," said Virginia ; " but, Hansford, 'tis a noble courage 
 that is victorious in such a contest. Let me hear your 
 decision. There is a civil war in your heart," she added, 
 more playfully, " and that rebel pride must succumb to the 
 strong arm of your own self-government." 
 
 " In God's name, tempt me no further !" cried Hansford. 
 " We may well believe that man lost his high estate of 
 happiness by the allurements of woman, since even now the 
 cause of truth is endangered by listening to her per- 
 suasions." 
 
 "I had hoped," replied the young girl, aroused by this 
 sudden change of manner on the part of her lover, " that 
 the love which you have so long professed was something 
 more than mere profession. But be it so. The first sacri- 
 fice which you have ever been called upon to make has 
 estranged your heart forever, and you toss aside the love 
 which you pretended so fondly to cherish, as a toy no longer 
 worthy of your regard." 
 
 " This is unkind, Virginia," returned Hansford, in an 
 injured tone. " I have not deserved this at your hands. 
 Sorely you have tempted me ; but, thank God, not even the 
 sweet hope which you extend can allure me from my duty. 
 If my country demand the sacrifice of my heart, then let 
 the victim be bound upon her altar. The sweet memories 
 of the past, the love which still dwells in that heart, the 
 crushed hopes of the future, will all unite to form the sad 
 garland to adorn it for the sacrifice. " 
 
 The tone of deep melancholy with which Hansford 
 uttered these words showed how painful had been the 
 struggle through which he had passed. It had its effect, 
 too, upon the heart of Virginia. She felt how cruel had 
 been her language just before how unjust had been her 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 165 
 
 charge of inconstancy. She saw at once the fierce contest 
 in Hansford's breast, in which duty had triumphed over 
 love. Ingenuous as she ever was, she acknowledged her 
 fault, and wept, and was forgiven. 
 
 " And now," said Hansford, more calmly, "my ow Vir- 
 ginia for I may still call you so in thus severing forever 
 the chain which has bound us, I do not renounce my love, 
 nor the deep interest which I feel in your future destiny. I 
 love you too dearly to wish that you should still love me ; 
 find elsewhere some one more worthy than I to fill your 
 heart. Forget that you ever loved me ; if you can, forget 
 that you ever knew me. And yet, as a friend, let me warn 
 you, with all the sincerity of my heart, to beware of Alfred 
 Bernard." 
 
 " Of whom ?" asked Virginia, in surprise. 
 
 " Of that serpent, who, with gilded crest and subtle 
 guile, would intrude into the garden of your heart," con- 
 tinued Hansford, solemnly. 
 
 "Why, Hansford," said Virginia, "you scarcely know 
 the young man of whom you speak. Like you, my friend, 
 my affections are buried in the past. I can never love 
 again. But yet I would not have you wrong with unjust 
 suspicions one who has never done you wrong. On the 
 contrary, even in my brief intercourse with him, his conduct 
 towards you has been courteous and generous. " 
 
 " How hard is it for innocence to suspect guile," said 
 Hansford. " My sweet girl, these very professions of 
 generosity towards me, have but sealed my estimate of 
 his character. For me he entertains the deadliest hate. 
 Against me he has sworn the deadliest vengeance. I tell 
 you, Virginia, that if ever kindly nature implanted an in- 
 stinct in the human heart to warn it of approaching danger, 
 she did so when first I looked upon that man. My subse- 
 quent knowledge of him but strengthened this intuition. 
 
166 , HANSFORD: 
 
 Mild, insinuating, and artful, he is more to be feared than 
 an open foe. I dread a villain when I see him smile." 
 
 "Hush! we are overheard," said Virginia, trembling, 
 and looking around, Hansford saw Arthur Hutchinson, 
 the preacher, emerging from the shadow of an adjacent 
 elm tree. 
 
 " Young gentleman," said Hutchinson, in his soft melo- 
 dious voice, "I have heard unwillingly what perhaps I 
 should not. He who would speak in the darkness of the 
 night as you have spoken of an absent man, does not care 
 to have many auditors." 
 
 " And he who would screen himself in that darkness, to 
 hear what he should not," retorted Hansford, haughtily, 
 " is not the man to resent what he has heard, I fear. But 
 what I say, I am ready to maintain with my sword and 
 if you be a friend of the individual of whom I have spoken, 
 and choose to espouse his quarrel, let me conduct this 
 young lady to a place of safety, and I will return to grant 
 such satisfaction as you or your principal may desire." 
 
 " This young maiden will tell you," said Hutchinson, 
 " that I am not one of those who acknowledge that bloody 
 arbiter between man and man, to which you refer." 
 
 " Oh, no !" cried Virginia, in an agitated voice ; "this is 
 the good parson Hutchinson, of whom you have heard. " 
 
 "And you, maiden," said Hutchinson, "are not in the 
 path of duty. Think you it is either modest or becoming, 
 to leave your parents and your home, and seek a clandes- 
 tine interview with this stranger. Return to your home. 
 You have erred, grossly erred in this." 
 
 " Nay," cried Hansford, in a threatening voice, " if you 
 say ought in reproach of this young lady, by heavens, your 
 parson's coat will scarce protect you from the just punish- 
 ment of your insolence ;" then suddenly checking himself, 
 he added, "Forgive me, sir, this hasty folly. I believe 
 you mean well, although your language is something of the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 16? 
 
 most offensive. And say to your friend Mr. Bernard, all 
 that you have heard, and tell him for Major Hansford, that 
 there is an account to be settled between us, which I have 
 not forgotten." 
 
 " Hansford !" cried the preacher, with emotion, " Hans- 
 ford, did you say ? Look ye, sir, I am a minister of peace, 
 and cannot on my conscience bear your hostile message. 
 But I warn you, if your name indeed be Hansford, that 
 you are in danger from the young man of whom you speak. 
 His blood is hot, his arm is skilful, and towards you his 
 purpose is not good." 
 
 " I thank you for your timely warning, good sir," re- 
 turned Hansford, haughtily; "but you speak of danger to 
 one who regards it not." Then turning to Virginia, he 
 said in a low voice, " 'Tis at least a blessing, that the des- 
 pair which denies to the heart the luxury of love, at least 
 makes it insensible to fear." 
 
 "And are you such an one," said Hutchinson, overhear- 
 ing him ; "and is it on thee that the iniquities of the father 
 will be visited. Forbid it, gracious heaven, and forgive as 
 thou would'st have me forgive the sins of the past." 
 
 " Mr. Hutchinson," said Hausford, annoyed by the 
 preacher's solemn manner and mysterious words, "I 
 know nothing, and care little for all this mystery. Your 
 brain must be a little disordered for I assure you, that as I 
 was born in the colony, and you are but a recent settler 
 here, it is impossible that there can be any such mysterious 
 tie between us as that at which you so darkly hint." 
 
 " The day may come," replied Hutchinson, in the same 
 solemn manner, "when you will know all to your cost 
 and when you may find that care and sorrow can indeed 
 shake reason on her throne." 
 
 " Well, be it so, but as you value your safety, urge me 
 no further with these menaces. But pardon me, how came 
 you in this enclosure ? Know you not that you are within 
 
168 HANSFORD: 
 
 the boundaries of the General's camp, against his strict 
 orders ?" 
 
 "Aye," replied the preacher, "I knew that the rebels 
 were encamped hereabout, but I did not, and do not, see 
 by what right they can impede a peaceful citizen in his 
 movements." 
 
 "Reverend sir," said Hansford, "you have the reputa- 
 tion of having a sound head on your shoulders, and should 
 have a prudent tongue in your head. I would advise 
 you, therefore, to refrain from the too frequent use of that 
 word 'rebel,' which just fell from you. But it is time we 
 should part. I will conduct you to the gate lest you find 
 some difficulty in passing the sentry, and you will oblige 
 me, kind sir, by seeing this young lady to her home." 
 Then turning to Yirginia, he whispered his brief adieu, 
 and imprinting a long, warm kiss upon her lips, he led the 
 way in silence to the gate. Here they parted. She to 
 return to her quiet chamber to mourn over hopes thus fled 
 forever, and he to for et self and sorrow in the stirring 
 events of martial life. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 1G9 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 " In the service of mankind to be 
 A guardian god below ; still to employ 
 The mind's brave ardour in heroic aims, 
 Such as may raise us o'er the grovelling herd 
 And make us shine forever that is life." 
 
 Thomson, 
 
 IN a short time the bustle and stir in the camp of the 
 insurgents announced that their little army was about to 
 commence its march. Nathaniel Bacon rode slowly along 
 Stuart street, at the head of the soldiery, and leaving 
 Jamestown to the east, extended his march towards the 
 falls of James river. Here, he had received intelligence 
 that the hostile tribes had gathered to a head, and he deter- 
 mined without delay to march upon them unawares, and 
 with one decisive blow to put an end to the war. Flushed 
 with triumph; he thought, the soldiery would more willingly 
 and efficiently turn their arms against the government, and 
 aid in carrying out his darling project of effecting some 
 organic changes in the charter of the colony ; if, indeed, it 
 was not already his purpose to dissolve the political con- 
 nection of Yirginia with the mother country. 
 
 The little party rode on in silence for several miles, for 
 each was buried in his own reflections. Bacon, with his 
 own peculiar views of ambition and glory, felt but little 
 sympathy with those who united in the rebellion for the 
 specific object of a march against the savages. Hansford 
 was meditating on the heavy sacrifice which he had made 
 for his country's service, and striving to see, in the dim 
 future, some gleam of hope which might cheer him in his 
 gloom. Lawrence and Drummond, the two most influential 
 15 
 
170 HANSFORD: 
 
 leaders in the movement, had been left behind in Jamestown, 
 their place of residence, to watch the movements of Berke- 
 ley, in whose fair promises none of the insurgents seemed 
 to place implicit confidence. The rest of the little party 
 had already exhausted in discussion the busy events of the 
 day, and remained silent from want of material for conver- 
 sation. 
 
 At length, however, Bacon, whose knowledge of human 
 nature had penetrated the depths of Harisford's heart, and 
 who felt deeply for his favourite, gave him the signal to 
 advance somewhat in front of their comrades, and the fol- 
 lowing conversation took place : 
 
 " And so, my friend," said Bacon, in the mild, winning 
 voice, which he knew so well how to assume ; " and so, my 
 friend, you have renounced your dearest hopes in life for 
 this glorious enterprise." 
 
 Hansford only answered with a sigh. 
 
 " Take it not thus hardly," continued Bacon. " Think 
 of your loss as a sacrifice to liberty. Look to the future 
 for your happiness, to a redeemed and liberated country 
 for your home to glory as your bride." 
 
 " Alas !" said Hansford, " glory could never repay the 
 loss of happiness. Believe me, General, that personal fame 
 is not what I covet. Far better would it be for me to have 
 been born and reared in obscurity, and to pass my brief 
 life with those I love, than for the glittering bauble, glory, 
 to give up all that is dear to the heart." 
 
 "And do you repent the course you have taken," asked 
 Bacon, with some surprise. 
 
 " Repent ! no ; God forbid that I should repent of any 
 sacrifice which I have made to the cause of my country. 
 But it is duty that prompts me, not glory. For as to this 
 selfsame will-o'-the-wisp, which seems to allure so many 
 from happiness, I trust it not. I am much of the little 
 Prince Arthur's mind 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. Ill 
 
 * By my Christendom, 
 So I were out of prison and kept sheep, 
 I should be as merry as the day is long.' 
 
 Duty is the prison which at last keeps man from enjoying 
 his own happier inclination." 
 
 "There you are wrong, Hansford," said Bacon, "duty 
 is the poor drudge, which, patient in its harness, pursues 
 the will of another. Glory is the wild, un confined eagle, 
 that impatient of restraint would soar to a heaven of its 
 own." 
 
 " And is it such an object as this that actuates you in 
 our present enterprise ?" asked Hansford. 
 
 " Both," replied the enthusiastic leader. " Man, in his 
 actions, is controlled by many forces and duty is chiefly 
 prized when it waits as the humble handmaiden on glory. 
 But in this enterprise other feelings enter in to direct my 
 course. Revenge against these relentless wolves of the 
 forest for the murder of a friend revenge against that 
 proud old tyrant, Berkeley, who, clothed in a little brief 
 authority, would trample me under his feet love of my 
 country, which impels me to aid in her reformation, and to 
 secure her liberty and, nay, don't frown desire for that 
 fame which is to the mere discharge of plain duty what the 
 spirit is to the body which directs and sustains it here, 
 but survives its dissolution. Are not these sufficient mo- 
 tives of action ?" 
 
 "Pardon me, General," said Hansford, "but I see only 
 one motive here which is worthy of you. Self-preservation, 
 not revenge, could alone justify an assault upon these mis- 
 guided savages and your love of country is sufficient 
 inducement to urge you to her protection and defence. 
 But these motives are chiefly personal to yourself. How 
 can you expect them to affect the minds of your followers ?" 
 
 "Look ye, Major Hansford," said Bacon, "I speak to 
 you as I do not to most men because I know you have a 
 
172 HANSFORD: 
 
 mind and a heart superior to them I would dare not 
 attempt to influence you as I do others ; but do you see 
 those poor trusting fellows that are following in our wake ? 
 These men help men like you and me to rise, as feathers 
 help the eagle to soar above the clouds. But the proud 
 bird may moult a feather from his pinion without des- 
 cending from his lofty pride of place." 
 
 " And this then is what you call liberty ?" said Hansford, 
 a little offended at the overbearing manner of the young 
 demagogue. 
 
 " Certainly," returned Bacon, calmly, "the only liberty 
 for which the mass of mankind are fitted. The instincts of 
 nature point them to the man most worthy to control their 
 destinies. Their brute force aids in elevating him to power 
 and then he returns upon their heads the blessings with 
 which they have entrusted him. Do you remember the 
 happy compliment of my old namesake of St. Albans to 
 Queen Elizabeth ? Royalty is the heaven which, like the 
 blessed sun, exhales the moisture from the earth, and then 
 distilling it in gentle rains, it falleth on the heads of those 
 from whom she has received it." 
 
 " I remember the compliment, which beautiful though it 
 may be in imagery, I always thought was but the empty 
 flattery of a vain old royal spinster by an accomplished 
 courtier. I never suspected that St. Albans, far less his 
 relative, Nathaniel Bacon, believed it to be true. And so, 
 with all your high flown doctrines of popular rights and 
 popular liberty, you are an advocate for royalty at last." 
 
 " Nay, you mistake me, I will not say wilfully," replied 
 Bacon, in an offended tone , " I merely used the sentiment 
 as an illustration of what I had been saying. The people 
 must have rulers, and my idea of liberty only extends to their 
 selection of them. After that, stability in government re- 
 quires that the power of the people should cease, and that 
 of the ruler begin. You may purify the stream through 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION". 173 
 
 which the power flows, by constantly resorting to the foun- 
 tain head; but if you keep the power pent up in the foun- 
 tain, like water, it will stagnate and become impure, or else 
 overflow its banks and devastate that soil which it was in- 
 tended to fertilize. " 
 
 " Our ideas of liberty, I confess," said Hansford, "differ 
 very widely. God grant that our antagonistic yiews may 
 not prejudice the holy cause in which we are now engaged." 
 
 " Well, let us drop the subject then," said Bacon, care- 
 lessly, "as there is so little prospect of our agreeing in 
 sentiment. What I said was merely meant to while away 
 this tedious journey, and make you forget your own private 
 griefs. But tell me, what do you think of the result of this 
 enterprise ?" 
 
 " I think it attended with great danger," replied Hans- 
 ford. 
 
 " I had not thought," returned Bacon, with something 
 between a smile and a sneer, " that Thomas Hansford would 
 have considered the question of peril involved in a contest 
 like this." 
 
 " I am at a loss to understand your meaning," said Hans- 
 ford, indignantly. " If you think I regard danger for 
 myself, I tell you that it is a feeling as far a stranger to 
 rny bosom as to your own, and this I am ready to maintain. 
 If you meant no offence, I will merely say that it is the 
 part of every general to ' sit down and consider the cost 7 
 before engaging in any enterprise." 
 
 " Why will you be so quick to take offence ?" said Bacon. 
 "Do I not know that fear is a stranger to your breast ? else 
 why confide in you as I have done ? But I spoke not of 
 the danger attending our enterprise. To me danger is not 
 a matter of indifference, it is an object of desire. They 
 who would bathe in a Stygian wave, to render them invul- 
 nerable, are not worthy of the name of heroes. It is only the 
 unmailed warrior, whose form, like the white plume of 
 15* 
 
174 HANSFORD: 
 
 Navarre, is seen where danger is the thickest, that is truly 
 brave and truly great." 
 
 " You are a singular being, Bacon," said Hansford, with 
 admiration, " and were born to be a hero. But tell me, 
 what is it that you expect or hope for poor Virginia, when 
 all your objects may be attained ? She is still but a poor, 
 helpless colony, sapped of her resources by a relentless 
 sovereign, and expected to submit quietly to the oppres- 
 sions of those who would enslave her." 
 
 "By heavens, no !" cried Bacon, impetuously. " It shall 
 never be. Her voice has been already heard by haughty 
 England, and it shall again be heard in thunder tones. She 
 who yielded not to the call of an imperious dictator she 
 who proposed terms to Cromwell will not long bear the 
 insulting oppression of the imbecile Stuarts. The day is 
 coming, and now is, when on this Western continent shall 
 arise a nation, before whose potent sway even Britain shall 
 be forced to bow. Virginia shall be the Rome and Eng- 
 land shall be the Troy, and history will record the annals 
 of that haughty and imperious kingdom chiefly because she 
 was the mother of this western Rome. Yes," he continued, 
 borne along impetuously by his own gushing thoughts, 
 " there shall come a time when Freedom will look west- 
 ward for her home, and when the oppressed of every nation 
 shall watch with anxious eye that star of Freedom in its 
 onward course, and follow its bright guidance till it stands 
 over the place where Virginia this young child of 
 Liberty is ; and oh ! Hansford, will it then be nothing 
 that we were among those who watched the infant breath- 
 ings of that political Saviour who gave it the lessons of 
 wisdom and of virtue, and first taught it to speak and pro- 
 claim its mission to the world ? Will it then be nothing 
 for future generations to point to our names, and, in the 
 language of pride and gratitude, to cry, there go the 
 authors of our freedom ?" 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 175 
 
 So spake the young enthusiast, thus dimly foreshadowing 
 the glory that was to be the freedom which, just one 
 hundred years from that eventful period, burst upon the 
 world. He was not permitted, like Simeon of old, to see 
 the salvation for which he longed, and for which he wrought. 
 And yet he helped to plant the germ, which expanded into 
 the wide-spreading tree, and his name should not be for- 
 gotten by those who rejoice in its fruit, or rest secure 
 beneath its shade. 
 
 Thus whiling away the hours of the night in such 
 engrossing subjects, Hansford had nearly forgotten his sor- 
 rows in the visions of the future. How beneficent the 
 Providence which thus enables the mind to receive from 
 without entirely new impressions, which soften down, though 
 they cannot erase, the wounds that a harsh destiny has 
 inflicted. 
 
 But it is time that the thread of our narrative was bro- 
 ken, in order to follow the fortunes of an humble, yet wor- 
 thy character of our story. 
 
176 HANSFORD: 
 
 CHAPTER XXIY. 
 
 " I am sorry for thee ; thou art come to answer 
 A Stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, 
 Uncapable of pity, void and empty 
 From any claim of mercy." 
 
 Merchant of Venice. 
 
 IT was on a bright and beautiful morning for mys- 
 terious nature often smiles on the darkest deeds of her 
 children that a group of Indians were assembled around 
 the council-fire in one of the extensive forest ranges of 
 Virginia. Their faces painted in the most grotesque and 
 hideous manner, the fierceness of their looks, and the 
 savageness of their dress, would alone have inspired awe 
 in. the breast of a spectator. But on the present occasion, 
 the fatal business in which they were engaged imparted 
 even more than usual wildness to their appearance and 
 vehemence to their manner. Bound to a neighbouring 
 tree so tightly as to produce the most acute pain to the 
 poor creature, was an aged negro, who seemed to be the 
 object of the vehement eloquence of his savage captors. 
 Although confinement, torture, and despair had effected 
 a fearful change, by tracing the lines of great suffering on 
 his countenance, yet it would not have been difficult even 
 then to recognize in the poor trembling wretch our old 
 negro friend at Windsor Hall. 
 
 After discovering the deception that had been practised 
 on them by Mamalis, and punishing the selfish ambition of 
 Manteo, by expelling him from their tribe, the Indian war- 
 riors returned to Windsor Hall, and finding the family had 
 escaped, seized upon old Giles as the victim on whom to 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. ITT 
 
 wreak their vengeance. With the savage cruelty of their 
 race, his tormentors had doomed him, not to sudden death, 
 which would have been welcome to the miserable wretch, 
 but to a slow and lingering torture. 
 
 It would be too painful to dwell long upon the nature of 
 the tortures thus inflicted upon their victims. With all 
 their coarseness and rudeness of manner and life, the In- 
 dians had arrived at a refinement and skill in cruelty which 
 the persecutors of the reformers in Europe might envy, but 
 to which they had never attained. Among these, tearing 
 the nails from the hands and feet, knocking out the teeth 
 with a club, lacerating the flesh with rough, dull muscle 
 and oyster-shells, inserting sharp splinters into the wounded 
 flesh, and then firing them until the unhappy being is gra- 
 dually roasted to death these were among the tortures 
 more frequently inflicted. From the threats and prepara- 
 tions of his captors, old Giles had reason to apprehend 
 that the worst of these tortures he would soon be called 
 upon to endure. 
 
 There is, thank God, a period, when the burdens of this 
 life become so grievous, that the prayer of the fabled faggot- 
 binder may rise sincerely on the lips, and when death would 
 indeed be a welcome friend when it is even soothing to 
 reflect that, 
 
 "We bear our heavy burdens but a journey, 
 Till death unloads us." 
 
 Such was the period at which the wretched negro had 
 now arrived He listened, therefore, with patient compo- 
 sure to the fierce, threatening language of the warriors, 
 which his former association with Manteo enabled him, 
 when aided by their wild gesticulation, to comprehend. 
 But it was far from the intention of the Indians to release 
 him yet from his terrible existence. One of the braves 
 approaching the poor helpless wretch with a small cord of 
 
H8 HANSFORD: 
 
 catgut, such as was used by them for bow-strings, prepared 
 to bind it tightly around his thumb, while the others gather- 
 ing around in a circle waved their war-clubs high in air to 
 inflict the painful bastinado. When old Giles saw the 
 Indian approach, and fully comprehended his design, his 
 heart sank within him at this new instrument of torture, 
 and in despairing accents he groaned 
 
 " Kill me, kill me, but for de Lord's sake, massa, don't 
 put dat horrid thing on de poor old nigga." 
 
 Regardless of his cries, the powerful Indian adjusted the 
 cord, and with might and main drew it so tightly around 
 the thumb that it entered the flesh even to the bone, while 
 the poor negro shrieked in agony. Then, to drown the 
 cry, the other savages commencing a wild, rude chant, let 
 their war-clubs descend upon their victim with such force 
 that he fainted. Just at this moment the quick ears of the 
 Indians caught the almost inaudible sound of approaching 
 horsemen, and as they paused to satisfy themselves of the 
 truth of their suspicions, Bacon and his little band of faith- 
 ful followers appeared full in sight. Leaving their victim 
 in a moment, the savages prepared to defend themselves 
 from the assault of their intruders, and with the quickness 
 of thought, concealing themselves behind the trees and 
 undergrowth of the forest, they sent a shower of arrows 
 into the unwary ranks of their adversaries. 
 
 " By Jove, that had like to have been my death-stroke," 
 cried Bacon, as an arrow directed full against his breast, 
 glanced from a gilt button of his coat and fell harmless to 
 the ground. But others of the party were not so fortunate 
 as their leader. Several of the men, pierced by the poisoned 
 arrows of the enemy, fell dead. 
 
 Notwithstanding the success of this first charge of the 
 Indians, Bacon and his party sustained the shock with 
 coolness and intrepidity. Their gallant leader, himself 
 careless of life or safety, led the charge, and on his power- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. It 9 
 
 ful horse he was, like the royal hero to whom he had com- 
 pared himself, ever seen in the thickest of the carnage. 
 Well did he prove himself that day worthy of the confi- 
 dence of his faithful followers. 
 
 Nor loth were the Indians to return their charge. 
 Although their party only amounted to about fifty, and 
 Bacon's men numbered several hundred, yet was the idea 
 of retreat abhorrent to their martial feelings. Screening 
 themselves with comparative safety behind the large forest 
 trees, or lying under the protection of the thick under- 
 growth, they kept up a constant attack with their arrows, 
 and succeeded in effecting considerable loss to the whites, 
 who, incommoded by their horses, or unaccustomed to this 
 system of bush fighting, failed to produce a corresponding 
 effect upon their savage foe. 
 
 There was something in the religion of these simple sons 
 of the forest which imparted intrepid boldness to their 
 characters, unattainable by ordinary discipline. The mate- 
 rial conception which they entertained of the spirit-world, 
 where valour and heroism were the passports of admission, 
 created a disregard for life such as no civilized man could 
 well entertain. In that new land, to which death was but 
 the threshold, their pursuits were the same in character, 
 though greater in degree, as those in which they here 
 engaged. There they would be welcomed by the brave 
 warriors of a former day, and engage still in fierce contests 
 with hostile tribes. There they would enjoy the delights 
 of the chase through spirit forests, deeper and more gigan- 
 tic than those through which they wandered in life. Theirs 
 was the Yalhalla to which the brave alone were admitted, 
 and among whose martial habitants would continue the 
 same emulation in battle, the same stoicism in suffering, as 
 in their forest-world. Such was the character of their 
 simple religion, which created in their breasts that heroism 
 
180 HANSPORD : 
 
 and fortitude, in danger or in pain, that has with one accord 
 been attributed to them. 
 
 But despite their valour and resolution, the contest, with 
 such disparity of numbers, must needs be brief. Bacon 
 pursued each advantage which he gained with relentless 
 vigour, ever and anon cheering his followers, and crying 
 out, as he rushed onward to the charge, " Don't let one of 
 the bloody dogs escape. Remember, my gallant boys, the 
 peace of your firesides and the lives and safety of your 
 wives and children. Remember the brave men who have 
 already fallen before the hand of the savage foe." 
 
 Faithful to his injunction, the overwhelming power of 
 the whites soon strewed the ground with the bodies of the 
 brave savages. The few who remained, dispirited and 
 despairing, fled through the forest from the irresistible 
 charge of the enemy. 
 
 Meantime the unfortunate Giles had recovered from the 
 swoon into which he had fallen, and began to look wildly 
 about him, as though in a dream. To the fact that the 
 contending parties had been closely engaged, and that from 
 this cause not a gun had been fired, the old negro probably 
 owed his life. With the superstition of his race, the poor 
 creature attributed this fortunate succour to a miraculous 
 interposition of Providence in his behalf; and when he saw 
 the last of his oppressors flying before the determined on- 
 slaught of the white men, he fervently cried, 
 
 " Thank the Lord, for he done sent his angels to stop de 
 lion's mouf, and to save de poor old nigger from dere 
 hands." 
 
 " Hallo, comrades," said Berkenhead, when he espied the 
 poor old negro bound to the tree, " who have we here ? 
 This must be old Ochee* himself, whom the Lord has 
 
 * The evil spirit, sometimes called Opitchi Manitou, and worshipped 
 by the Indians, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 181 
 
 delivered into our hands. Hark ye," he added, proceeding 
 to unbind him, " where do you come from ? or are you in 
 reality the evil one, whom these infidel red-skins worship ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, Massa, I a'ant no evil sperrit. A sperrit hab 
 not flesh and bones as you see me hab." 
 
 " Nay," returned the coarse-hearted soldier, " that rea- 
 soning won't serve your purpose, for there is precious little 
 flesh and blood about you, old man. The most you can 
 lay claim to is skin and bones." 
 
 Hansford, who had been standing a little distance off, 
 was attracted by this conversation, and turning in the 
 direction of the old negro, was much surprised to recog- 
 nize, under such horrible circumstances, the quondam 
 steward, butler and factotum of Windsor Hall. Nor was 
 Giles' surprise less in meeting with Miss Virginia's "buck" 
 in so secluded a spot. It was with difficulty that Hansford 
 could prevent him from throwing his arms around his neck ; 
 but giving the old man a hearty shake of the hand, he 
 asked him the story of his captivity, which Giles, with much 
 importance, proceeded to relate. But he had scarcely 
 begun his narrative, when the attention of the insurgents 
 was attracted by the approach of two horsemen, who ad- 
 vanced towards them at a rapid rate, as though they had 
 some important intelligence to communicate. 
 
 16 
 
182 HANSFORD: 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 " Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks, 
 Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast." 
 
 Eichard HI. 
 
 THE new comers were Lawrence and Drummond, who, as 
 will be recollected by the reader, were left in Jamestown to 
 watch the proceedings of the Governor, and to convey to 
 Bacon any needful intelligence concerning them. Although 
 he had, in the first impulse of triumph after receiving his 
 commission, confided fully in the promises of the vacillating 
 Berkeley, yet, on reflection, Bacon did not rely very impli- 
 citly upon them. The Governor had once before broken 
 his word in the affair of the parole, promising to grant the 
 commission which he craved, upon condition of his confes- 
 sion of his former disloyal conduct and his promise to 
 amend. Bacon was not the man to be twice deceived, and 
 it did not therefore much surprise him to see the two 
 patriots so soon after his departure from Jamestown, nor to 
 hear the strange tidings which they had come to detail. 
 
 " Why, how is this, General ?" said Lawrence. " You 
 have had bloody work already, it seems ; and not without 
 some loss to your own party." 
 
 " Yes, there they lie," returned Bacon. " God rest their 
 brave souls ! But being dead, they yet speak speak to 
 us to avenge their death on the bloody savages who have 
 slaughtered them, and to proclaim the insane policy of 
 Berkeley in delaying our march against the foe. But what 
 make you from Jamestown ?" 
 
 " Bad news or good, General, as you choose to take it," 
 replied Lawrence. " Berkeley has dissolved the Assembly 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 183 
 
 in a rage, because they supported you in your demand of 
 yesterday, and has himself, with his crouching minions, 
 retired to Gloucester." 
 
 " To Gloucester I" cried Bacon. " That is indeed news. 
 But what can the old dotard mean by such a movement ?" 
 " He has already made known his reasons," returned 
 Lawrence. " He has cancelled your commission, and pro- 
 claimed you, and all engaged with you, as rebels and 
 traitors." 
 
 " Why, this is infamous 1" said Bacon. " Is the old 
 knave such an enemy to truth that it cannot live upon his 
 lips for one short day ? And who, pray, is rash enough to 
 uphold him in his despotism, or base enough to screen him 
 in his infamy ?" 
 
 " It was whispered as we left," said Drummond, " that a 
 certain Colonel Henry Temple had avouched the loyalty of 
 Gloucester, and prevailed upon the Governor to make his 
 house his castle, during what he is pleased to term this 
 unhappy rebellion." 
 
 " And by my soul," said Bacon, fiercely, " I will teach 
 this certain Colonel Henry Temple the hazard that he runs 
 in thus abetting tyranny and villainy. If he would not 
 have his house beat down over his ears, he were wise to 
 withdraw his aid and support ; else, if his house be a castle 
 at all, it is like to be a castle in Spain. " 
 
 Hansford, who was an eager listener, as we may suppose, 
 to the foregoing conversation, was alarmed at this deter- 
 mination of his impulsive leader. He knew too well the 
 obstinate loyalty of Temple to doubt that he would resist 
 at every hazard, rather than deliver his noble guest into the 
 hands of his enemies. He felt assured, too, that if the re- 
 port were true, Virginia had accompanied her father to 
 Gloucester, and his very soul revolted at the idea of her 
 being subjected to the disagreeable results which would flow 
 from an attack upon Windsor Hall. The only chance of 
 
184 HANSFORD: 
 
 avoiding the difficulty, was to offer his own mediation, and 
 in the event, which he foresaw, of Colonel Temple refusing 
 to come to terms, he trusted that there was at least mag- 
 nanimity enough left in the old Governor to induce him to 
 seek some other refuge, rather than to subject his hospitable 
 and loyal host to the consequences of his kindness. There 
 was indeed some danger attending such a mission in the 
 present inflamed state of Berkeley's mind. But this, Hans- 
 ford held at naught. Hastily revolving in his mind these 
 thoughts, he ventured to suggest to Bacon, that an attack 
 upon Colonel Temple's house would result in the worst con- 
 sequences to the cause of the patriots ; that it would effect 
 no good, as the Governor might again promise, and again 
 recant and, that it would be difficult to induce his followers 
 to embark in an enterprise so foreign to the avowed object 
 of the expedition, and against a man whose character was 
 well known, and beloved by the people of the Colony. 
 
 Bacon calmly heard him through, as though struck with 
 the truth of the views he presented, and then added with a 
 sarcastic smile, which stung Hansford to the quick, " and 
 moreover, the sight of soldiers and of fire-arms might alarm 
 the ladies." 
 
 " And, if such a motive as that did influence my opinion," 
 said Hansford, " I hope it was neither unworthy a soldier 
 or a man." 
 
 " Unworthy alike of both," replied Bacon, " of a soldier, 
 because the will and command of his superior officer should 
 be his only law and of a man, because, in a cause affecting 
 his rights and liberties, any sacrifice of feeling should be 
 willingly and cheerfully made." 
 
 "That sacrifice I now make," said Hansford, vainly en- 
 deavouring to repress his indignation, "in not retorting 
 more harshly to your imputation. The time may yet come 
 when no such sacrifice shall be required, and when none, I 
 assure you, shall be made." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 185 
 
 "And, when it comes, young man," returned Bacon, 
 haughtily, " be assured that I will not be backward in af- 
 fording you an opportunity of defending yourself mean- 
 time you are under my command and will please remember 
 that you are so. But, gentlemen," he continued, turning 
 to the others, " what say you 'to our conduct in these cir- 
 cumstances. Shall we proceed to Powhatan, against the 
 enemy of a country to which we are traitors, or shall we 
 march on this mendacious old Knight, and once again wipe 
 off the stigma which he has placed upon our names ?" 
 
 " I think," said Lawrence, after a pause of some moments, 
 " that there is a good deal of truth in the views presented 
 by Major Hansford. But, could not some middle course be 
 adopted. I don't exactly see how it can be effected, but, 
 if the Governor were met by remonstrance of his injustice, 
 and informed of our determination to resist it as such, it 
 seems to me that he would be forced to recant this last pro- 
 clamation, and all would be well again!" 
 
 " And who think you would carry the remonstrance," said 
 Bacon. " It would be about as wise to thrust your head 
 in a lion's mouth, as to trust yourself in the hands of the 
 old fanatic. I know not whom we could get to bear such 
 a mission," he added, smiling, " unless our friend Ingram 
 there, who having been accustomed to ropes in his youth, 
 if report speaks true, need have no fear of them in age. "* 
 
 "In faith, General," replied the quondam rope-dancer, 
 "I am only expert in managing the cable when it supports 
 my feet. But I have never been able to perform the feat 
 of dancing on nothing and holding on by my neck." 
 
 " General Bacon," said Hansford, stepping forward, " I 
 am willing to execute your mission to the Governor." 
 
 " My dear boy," said Bacon, grasping him warmly by the 
 hand, "forgive me for speaking so roughly to you just now, 
 
 * He was in truth a rope-dancer in his early life. 
 
 16* 
 
186 HANSFOKD: 
 
 I am almost ready to cut my tongue out of my head for 
 having said anything to wound your feelings. But damn 
 that old treacherous fox, he inflamed me so, that I must 
 have let out some of my bad humour or choked in retaining 
 it." 
 
 Hansford returned his grasp warmly, perhaps the more 
 ready to forgive and forget, as he saw a prospect of attain- 
 ing his object in protecting the family of his friend from 
 harm. 
 
 "But you shall not go," continued Bacon. "It were 
 madness to venture within the clutch of the infuriated old 
 madman." 
 
 " Whatever were the danger," said Hansford, "this was 
 my proposition, and on me devolves the peril, if peril there 
 be in its execution. But there is really none. Colonel 
 Temple, although a bigot in his loyalty, is the last person 
 to violate the rites of hospitality or to despise a flag of truce, 
 And Sir William Berkeley dare not disregard either whilst 
 under his roof. " 
 
 "Well, so let it be then," said Bacon, "but I fear that 
 you place too much reliance on the good faith of your old 
 friend Temple. Believe me, that these Tories hold a doc- 
 trine in their political creed, very much akin to the Papal 
 doctrine of intolerance. ' Faith towards heretics, is infi- 
 delity to religion. ' But you must at least take some force 
 with you." 
 
 "I believe not," returned our hero, "the presence of aii 
 armed force would be an insuperable barrier to a reconcilia- 
 tion. I will only take my subaltern, Berkenhead, yonder, 
 and that poor old negro, in whose liberation I sincerely re- 
 joice. The first will be a companion, and in case of danger 
 some protection ; and the last, if you choose," he added 
 smiling, ". will be a make-peace between the political papist 
 and the rebel heretic." 
 
 " Well, God bless you, Hansford," said Bacon, with much 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 1ST 
 
 warmth, " and above all, forget my haste and unkindness 
 just now. We must learn to forgive like old Romans, if 
 we would be valiant like them, and so 
 
 ' When I am over-earnest with you, Hansford, 
 You'll think old Berkeley chides, and leave me so.' " 
 
 " With all my heart, my noble General," returned Hans- 
 ford, laughing, "and now for my mission what shall I say 
 on behalf of treason to his royal highness ?" 
 
 " Tell him," said Bacon, gravely, " that Nathaniel Bacon, 
 by the grace of God, and the special trust and confidence 
 of Sir William Berkeley, general-in-chief of the armies of 
 Yirginia, desires to know for what act of his, since such 
 trust was reposed in him, he and his followers have been 
 proclaimed as traitors to their king. Ask him for what 
 reason it is that while pursuing the common enemies of the 
 country while attacking in their lairs the wolves and lions 
 of the forest, I, myself, am mercilessly assaulted like a savage 
 wild beast, by those whom it is my object to defend. Tell 
 him that I require him to retract the proclamation he has 
 issued without loss of time, and in the event of his re- 
 fusal, I am ready to assert and defend the rights of freemen 
 by the last arbiter between man and man. Lastly, say to 
 him, that I will await his answer until two days from this 
 time, and should it still prove unfavourable to my demands, 
 then woe betide him. " 
 
 Charged with the purport of his mission, Hansford shook 
 Bacon cordially by the hand, and proceeded to prepare for 
 his journey. As he was going to inform his comrade, old 
 Lawrence gently tapped him on the shoulder, and whis- 
 pered, " Look ye, Tom, I like not the appearance of that 
 fellow Berkenhead." 
 
 " He is faithful, I believe," said Hansford, in the same 
 tone; "a little rough and free spoken, perhaps, but I do 
 not doubt his fidelity." 
 
188 HANSFORD: 
 
 " I would I were of the same mind," returned his com- 
 panion ; " but if ever the devil set his mark upon a man's 
 face that he might know him on the resurrection morning, 
 he did so on that crop-eared Puritan. Tell me, aint he 
 the same fellow that got his freedom and two hundred 
 pounds for revealing the insurrection of sixty-two ?" 
 
 " The same, I believe," said Hansford, carelessly; "but 
 what of that ?" 
 
 " Why simply this," said the honest old cavalier, " that 
 faith is like a walking-cane. Break it once and you may 
 glue it so that the fracture can scarcely be seen by the 
 naked eye ; but it will break in the same place if there be 
 a strain upon it." 
 
 " I hope you are mistaken," said Hansford; "but I thank 
 you for your warning, and will not disregard it. I will be 
 on my guard." 
 
 " Here, Lawrence," cried Bacon, "what private message 
 are you sending to the Governor, that you must needs be 
 delaying our ambassador ? We have a sad duty to perform. 
 These brave men, who have fallen in our cause, must not 
 be suffered to lie a prey to vultures. Let them be buried 
 as becomes brave soldiers, who have died right bravely with 
 their harness on. I would there were some one here who 
 could perform the rites of burial but their requiem shall 
 be sung with our song of triumph. Peace to their souls ! 
 Comrades, prepare their grave, and pay due honour to their 
 memory by discharging a volley of musketry over them. 
 I wot they well loved the sound while living nor will they 
 sleep less sweetly for it now. " 
 
 By such language, and such real or affected interest in 
 the fate of those who followed his career, Nathaniel Bacon 
 won the affection of his soldiery. Never was there a leader, 
 even in the larger theatres of action, more sincerely beloved 
 and worshipped and to this may be attributed in a great 
 degree the wonderful power which he possessed over the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 189 
 
 minds of his followers moulding their opinions in strict 
 conformity with his own ; breathing into them something 
 of the ardent heroism which inspired his own soul, and 
 making them thus the willing and subservient instruments 
 of his own ambitious designs. 
 
 With sad countenances the soldiers proceeded to obey the 
 order of their general. Scooping with their swords and 
 bayonets a shallow grave in the soft virgin soil of the forest, 
 they committed the bodies of their comrades to the ground, 
 earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust and as they 
 screened their ashes forever from the light of day, the 
 "aisles of the dim woods" echoed back the loud roar of 
 the unheard, unheeded honour which they paid to the 
 memory of the dead. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 " But the poor dog, in life the dearest friend, 
 The first to welcome, foremost to defend, 
 Whose honest heart is still his master's own ; 
 Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone, 
 Unhonoured falls, unnoticed all his worth, 
 Denied in heaven the soul he had on earth." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 WHEN the last sad rites of burial had been performed 
 over the grave of those who had fallen, Hansford, accom- 
 panied by Berkenhead and old Giles, proceeded to the 
 discharge of the trust which had been reposed in him. It 
 was indeed a mission fraught with the most important 
 consequences to the cause of the insurgents, to the family at 
 
190 HANSFORD: 
 
 Windsor Hall, and to himself personally. It required both 
 a cool head and a brave heart to succeed in its execution. 
 Hansford well knew that the first burst of rage from the 
 old Governor, on hearing the bold proposition of the rebels, 
 would be dangerous, if not fatal to himself; and with all 
 the native boldness of his character, it would be unnatural 
 if he failed to feel the greatest anxiety for the result. But 
 even if he escaped the vengeance of Berkeley, he feared the 
 impulsive nature of Bacon, in the event of the refusal of 
 Sir William to comply with his demands, would drive him 
 into excesses ruinous to his cause, and dangerous alike to 
 the innocent and the guilty. If Temple's obstinacy and 
 chivalry persisted in giving refuge to the Governor, what, 
 he thought, might be the consequences to her, whose inte- 
 rest and whose safety he held so deeply at heart ! Thus 
 the statesman, the lover, and the individual, each had a 
 peculiar interest in the result, and Hansford felt like a wise 
 man the heavy responsibility he had incurred, although he 
 resolved to encounter and discharge it like a bold one. 
 
 It was thus, with a heavy heart that he proceeded on his 
 way, and buried in these reflections he maintained a moody 
 silence, little regarding the presence of his two companions. 
 Old Giles, too, had his own food for reflection, and vouch- 
 safed only monosyllables in reply to the questions and 
 observations of the loquacious Berkenhead. But the sol- 
 dier was not to be repulsed by the indifference of the one, 
 or the laconic answers of the other of his companions. 
 Finding it impossible to engage in conversation, he con- 
 tented himself with soliloquy, and in a low, muttering 
 voice, as if to himself, but intended as well for the ears of 
 his commander, he began an elaborate comparison of the 
 army of Cromwell, in which he had served, and the army 
 of the Virginia insurgents. 
 
 " To be sure, they both fought for liberty, but after that 
 there is monstrous little likeness between 'em. Old Noll was 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 191 
 
 always acting himself, and laying it all to Providence when 
 he was done ; while General Bacon, cavorting round, first 
 after the Indians and then after the Governor, seems hardly 
 to know what he is about, and yet, I believe, trusts in 
 Providence at last more than Noll, with all his religion ; 
 and, faith, it seems to me it took more religion to do him 
 than most any man I ever see. First psalm singing, and 
 then fighting, and then psalm singing agen, and then more 
 fighting for all the world like a brick house with mortar 
 stuck between. But I trow that it was the fighting that 
 made the house stand, after all. And yet I believe, for all 
 the saints used to nickname me a sinner, and call me one 
 of the spawn of the beast, because I would get tired of the 
 Word sometimes and, by the same token, old brother 
 Purge-the-temple Whithead had a whole dictionary of 
 words, much less the one yet, for all come and gone, I 
 believe I would rather hear a long psalm, than to be 
 doomed to solitary confinement to my own thoughts, as I 
 am here." 
 
 " And so you have served in old NolPs army, as you call 
 it," said Hansford, smiling in spite of himself, and willing 
 to indulge the old Oliverian with some little notice. 
 
 " Oh, yes, Major," replied Berkenhead, delighted to have 
 gained an auditor at last ; " and a rare service it was too. 
 A little too much of what they called the church militant, 
 and the like, for me ; but for all that the fellows fought like 
 devils, if they did live like saints and, what was rare to 
 me, they did not deal the less lightly with their swords for 
 the fervour of their prayers, nor pray the less fervently for 
 their enemies after they had raked them with their fire, or 
 hacked them to pieces with their swords. 'Faith, an if 
 there had been many more battles like Dunbar and Wor- 
 cester, they had as well have blotted that text from their 
 Bible, for precious few enemies did they have to pray for 
 after that." 
 
192 HANSPORD: 
 
 " You did not agree with these zealots in religion, then," 
 said Hansford. " Prythee, friend, of what sect of Chris- 
 tians are you a member ?" 
 
 " Well, Major, to speak the truth and shame the devil, as 
 they say, my religion has pretty much gone with my sword. 
 As a soldier must change his coat whenever he changes his 
 service, so I have thought he should make his faith the 
 robe of his righteousness, as they call it adapt itself to 
 that of his employer. " 
 
 " The cloak of his hypocrisy, you mean," said Hansford, 
 indignantly. " I like not this scoffing profanity, and must 
 hear no more of it. He who is not true to his God is of a 
 bad material for a patriot. But tell me," he added, seeing 
 that the man seemed sufficiently rebuked, " how came you 
 to this colony ?" 
 
 " Simply because I could not stay in England," replied 
 Berkenhead. " Mine has been a hard lot, Major ; for I 
 never got what I wanted in this life. If I was predestined 
 for anything, as old Purge-the-temple used to say we all 
 were, it seems to me it was to be always on the losing side. 
 When I fought for freedom in England, I gained bondage 
 in Virginia for my pains ; and when I refused to seek my 
 freedom, and betrayed my comrades in the insurrection of 
 sixty-two, lo, and behold ! I was released from bondage for 
 my reward. What I will gain or lose by this present move- 
 ment, I don't know ; but I have been an unlucky adven- 
 turer thus far. " 
 
 "I have heard of your behaviour in sixty-two," said 
 Hansford, " but whether such conduct be laudable or cen- 
 surable, depends very much upon the motive that prompted 
 you to it. You came to this country then as an indented 
 servant ?" 
 
 " Yes, sold, your honour, for the thirty pieces of silver, 
 like Joseph was sold into Egypt by his brethren." 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 193 
 
 " I suspect that the resemblance between yourself and 
 that eminent patriarch ceased with the sale." 
 
 "It is not for me to say, your honour. But in the 
 present unsettled state of affairs, who knows who may be 
 made second only to Pharaoh over all Egypt ? I wot well 
 who will be our Pharaoh, if we gain our point ; and I have 
 done the state some service, and may yet do her more." 
 
 " By treachery to your comrades, I suppose," said Hans- 
 ford, disgusted with the conceit and self-complacency of the 
 man. 
 
 " Now, look ye here, Major, if I was disposed to be 
 touchy, I might take exception at that remark. But I have 
 seen too much of life to fly off at the first word. The axe 
 that flies from the helve at the first stroke, may be sharp as 
 a grindstone can make it, but it will never cut a tree down 
 for all that." 
 
 " And if you were to fly off, as you call it, at the first or 
 the last word," said Hansford, haughtily, "you would only 
 get a sound beating for your pains. How dare you speak 
 thus to your superior, you insolent knave !" 
 
 " No insolence, Major," said Berkenhead, sulkily ; " but 
 for the matter of speaking against your honour, I have seen 
 my betters silenced in their turn, by their superiors." 
 
 " Silence, slave !" cried Hansford, his face flushing with 
 indignation at this allusion to his interview with Bacon, 
 which he had hoped, till now, had been unheard by the 
 soldiers. " But come," he added, reflecting on the impru- 
 dence of losing his only friend and ally in this perilous 
 adventure, " you are a saucy knave, but I suppose I must 
 e'en bear with you for the present. We cannot be far from 
 Windsor Hall, I should think." 
 
 " About two miles, as I take it, Major," said Berken- 
 head, in a more respectful manner. " I used to live in 
 Gloucester, not far from the hall, and many is the time I 
 have followed my master through these old woods in a deer 
 
 It 
 
194 HANSFORD: 
 
 chase. Yes, there is Manteo's clearing, just two miles from 
 the hall." 
 
 Scarcely were the words out of the speaker's mouth, 
 when, to the surprise of the little party, a large dog of the 
 St. Bernard's breed leaped from a thicket near them, and 
 bounded towards Hansford. 
 
 " Brest ef it a'ant old Nestor," said Giles, whose tongue 
 had at length been loosened by the sight of the family 
 favourite, and he stooped down as he spoke to pat the dog 
 upon the head. But Nestor's object was clearly not to be 
 caressed. Frisking about in a most extraordinary manner, 
 now wagging his tail, now holding it between his legs, now 
 bounding a few steps in front of Hansford's horse, and 
 anon crouching by his side and whining most piteously, he 
 at length completed his eccentric movements by standing 
 erect upon his hind legs and placing his fore feet against 
 the breast of his old master. Struck with this singular 
 conduct, Hansford, reining in his horse, cried out, " The 
 poor dog must be mad. Down, Nestor, down I tell you !" 
 
 Well was it for our hero that the faithful animal refused 
 to obey, for just at that moment an arrow was heard whiz- 
 zing through the air, and the noble dog fell transfixed 
 through the neck with the poisoned missile, which else had 
 pierced Hansford's heart.* The alarm caused by so sud- 
 den and unexpected an attack had not passed off, before 
 another arrow was buried deep in our hero's shoulder. 
 But quick as were the movements of the attacking party, 
 the trained eye of Berkenhead caught a glimpse of the 
 tall form of an Indian as it vanished behind a large oak 
 tree, about twenty yards from where they stood. The sol- 
 dier levelled his carbine, and as Manteo (for the reader has 
 probably already conjectured that it was he) again emerged 
 from his hiding place to renew the attack, he discharged 
 
 * An incident somewhat similar to this is on record as having actually 
 occurred. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 195 
 
 his piece with deadly aim and effect. With a wild yell of 
 horror, the young warrior sprang high in the air, and fell 
 lifeless to the ground, 
 
 Berkenhead was about to rush forward towards his vic- 
 tim, when Hansford, who still retained his seat on the 
 horse, though faint from pain and loss of blood, cried out, 
 " Caution, caution, for God's sake, there are more of the 
 bloody villains about." But after a few moments' pause, 
 the apprehension of a further attack passed away, and the 
 soldier and Giles repaired to the spot. And there in the 
 cold embrace of death, lay the brave young Indian, his 
 painted visage reddened yet more by the life-blood which 
 still flowed from his wound. His right hand still grasped 
 the bow-string, as in his last effort to discharge the fatal 
 arrow. A haughty smile curled his lip even in the moment 
 in which the soul had fled, as if in that last struggle his 
 brave young heart despised the pang of death itself. 
 
 Gazing at him for a moment, yet long enough for old 
 Giles to recognize the features of Manteo in the bloody 
 corpse, they returned to Hansford, whose condition indeed 
 required their immediate assistance. Drawing out the 
 arrow, and staunching the blood as well as they could 
 with his scarf, Berkeuhead bandaged it tightly, and 
 although still in great pain, the wounded man was en- 
 abled slowly to continue his journey. A ride of about 
 half an hour brought the little party to the door of Wind- 
 sor Hall. 
 
19.6 HANSFORD: 
 
 CHAPTER XXYII. 
 
 " 111 tell thee truth 
 Too oft a stranger to the royal ear, 
 But far more wholesome than the honeyed lies 
 That fawning flatterers offer." 
 
 Any Port in a Storm. 
 
 BRIEF as was the time which had elapsed, the old hall 
 presented a different appearance to Hansford, from that 
 which it maintained when he last left it under such disheart- 
 ening circumstances. The notable mistress of the mansion 
 had spared no pains to prepare for the reception of her 
 honoured guest ; and, although she took occasion to com- 
 plain to her good husband of his inconsiderate conduct, in 
 foisting all these strangers upon her at once, yet she in- 
 wardly rejoiced at the opportunity it presented for a display 
 of her admirable housewifery. Indeed, the ease-loving old 
 Colonel almost repented of his hospitality, amid the bustle 
 and hurry, the scolding of servants, and the general bad 
 humour which were all necessary incidents to the good dame's 
 preparation. Having finally " brought things to something 
 like rights," as she expressed it, her next care was to pro- 
 vide for the entertainment of her distinguished guest, which 
 to the mind of the benevolent old lady, consisted not in 
 sparkling conversation, or sage counsels, (then, alas ! much 
 needed by the Governor,) but in spreading a table loaded 
 with a superabundance of delicacies to tempt his palate, and 
 cause him to forget his troubles. It was a favourite saying 
 of hers, caught up most probably in her early life, during 
 the civil war in England, that if the stomach was well gar- 
 risoned with food, the heart would never capitulate to 
 sorrow. 
 
A, TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 197 
 
 But the truth of this apothegm was not sustained in the 
 present instance. Her hospitable efforts, even when united 
 with the genial good humour and kindness of her husband 
 were utterly unavailing to dispel the gloom which hung 
 over the inmates of Windsor Hall. Sir William Berkeley 
 was himself dejected and sad, and communicated his own 
 dejection to all around him. Indeed, since his arrival at 
 the Hall, he had found good reason to repent his haste in 
 denouncing the popular and gifted young insurgent. The 
 pledge made by Colonel Temple of the loyalty of the people 
 of Gloucester, had not been redeemed at least so far as 
 an active support of the Governor was concerned. Berke- 
 ley's reception by them was cold and unpromising. The 
 enthusiasm which he had hoped to inspire no where pre- 
 vailed, and the old man felt himself deserted by those whose 
 zealous co-operation he had been led to anticipate. It was 
 true that they asserted in the strongest terms their profes- 
 sions of loyal devotion, and their willingness to quell the 
 first symptoms of rebellion, but they failed to see anything 
 in the conduct of Bacon to justify the harsh measures of 
 Berkeley towards him and his followers. " Lip-service 
 lip-service," said the old Governor, sorrowfully, as their 
 decision was communicated to him, " they draw near to me 
 with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but their 
 heart is far from me." But, notwithstanding his disap- 
 pointment, nothing could shake the proud spirit of Berkeley 
 in his inflexible resolution, to resist any encroachments on 
 his prerogative ; and, so providing his few followers with 
 arms from the adjacent fort on York River, he prepared to 
 maintain his power and his dignity by the sword. 
 
 Such was the state of things on the evening that Thomas 
 Hansford and his companions arrived at Windsor Hall. 
 The intelligence of their arrival created much excite- 
 ment, and the inmates of the mansion differed greatly 
 in their opinions as to the intention of the young rebel. 
 
198 HANSFORD: 
 
 Poor Mrs. Temple, in whose mind fear always predomi- 
 nated over every other feeling, felt assured that Hansford 
 had come, attended by another " ruffian," forcibly to abduct 
 Virginia from her home and a violent fit of hysterics was 
 the result of her suspicions. Virginia herself, vacillating 
 between hope and fear, trusted, in the simplicity of her 
 young, girlish heart, that her lover had repented of his 
 grievous error, and had come to claim her love, and to sue 
 to the Governor for pardon. Sir William Berkeley saw in 
 the mission of Hansford, a faint hope that the rebels, alarmed 
 by his late proclamation, had determined to return to their 
 allegiance, and that Hansford was the bearer of a proposi- 
 tion to this effect, imploring at the same time the clemency 
 and pardon of the government, against which they had so 
 grievously offended. 
 
 "And they shall receive mercy, too, at my hands," said 
 the old knight, as a tear glistened in his eye. " They have 
 learned to fear the power of the government, and to respect 
 its justice, and they shall now learn to love its merciful 
 clemency. God forbid, that I should chasten my repenting 
 people, except as children, for their good." 
 
 " Not so fast, my honoured Governor," said Philip 
 Ludwell, who, with the other attendants of Berkeley, had 
 gathered around him in the porch ; "you may be mistaken 
 in your opinion. I believe I know that your wish is 
 father to the thought in this matter. But look at the 
 resolution and determined bearing of that young man. 
 Is his the face or the bearing of a suppliant?" 
 
 Ludwell was right. The noble countenance of Hansford, 
 always expressive, though sufficiently respectful to the pre- 
 sence which he was about to enter, indicated any thing 
 rather than tame submission. His face was very pale, and 
 his lip quivered for a moment as he approached the anxious 
 crowd of loyalists, who remained standing in the porch, but 
 it was at once firmly compressed by the strength of resolu- 
 
A TALE OF BACONS REBELLION. 199 
 
 tion. As he advanced, he raised his hat and profoundly 
 saluted the Governor, and then drawing himself up to his 
 full height, he stood silently awaiting some one to speak. 
 Colonel Temple halted a moment between his natural kind- 
 ness for his friend and his respect for the presence of Sir 
 William Berkeley. The first feeling prompted him to rush 
 up to Hansford, and greeting him as of old, to give him a 
 cordial welcome to the hall but the latter feeling pre- 
 vailed. Without advancing, then, he said in a tone, in 
 which assumed displeasure strove in vain to overcome his 
 native benevolence 
 
 " To what cause am I to attribute this unexpected visit 
 of Mr. Hansford ? 
 
 " My business is with Sir William Berkeley," replied 
 Hansford, respectfully, " and I presume I am not mistaken 
 in supposing that I am now in his presence." 
 
 "And what would you have from me young man," said 
 Berkeley, coldly ; " your late career has estranged you and 
 some of your friends so entirely from their Governor, that 
 I feel much honoured by this evidence of your returning 
 affection." 
 
 " Both I and my friends, as far as I may speak for them," 
 returned Hansford, in the same calm tone, " have ever been 
 ready and anxious to show our devotion to our country 
 and its rulers, and our present career to which your excel- 
 lency has been pleased to allude, is in confirmation of the 
 fact. That we have unwittingly fallen under your dis- 
 pleasure, sir, I am painfully aware. To ascertain the cause 
 of that displeasure is my reason for this intrusion." 
 
 " The cause, young man," said Berkeley, " is to be found 
 in your own conduct, for which, may I hope, you have come 
 for pardon ?" 
 
 " I regret to say that you are mistaken in your conjec- 
 ture," replied Hansford. " As it is impossible that our 
 conduct could have invoked your displeasure, so it is 
 
200 HANSFORD I 
 
 equally impossible that we should sue for pardon for an 
 offence which we have never committed." 
 
 "And, prythee, what then is your worshipful pleasure, 
 fair sir," said Berkeley, ironically; "perhaps, in the abun- 
 dance of your mercy, you have come to grant pardon, if 
 you do not desire it. Nay 1" he exclaimed, seeing Hans- 
 ford shake his head ; " then, peradventure, you would ask 
 me to abdicate my government in favour of young Crom- 
 well. I beg pardon young Bacon, I should say the 
 similarity of their views is so striking, that as my memory 
 is but a poor one, I sometimes confound their names. 
 Well 1 any thing in reason. Nay, again ! well then, I 
 am at a loss to conjecture, and you must yourself explain 
 the object of your visit." 
 
 " I would fain convey my instructions to Sir William 
 Berkeley's private ear," said Hansford, unmoved by the 
 irony of the old knight. 
 
 "Oh pardon me, fair sir," said Berkeley; "yet, in this 
 I must crave your pardon, indeed. A sovereign would 
 never wittingly trust himself alone with a rebel, and neither 
 will I, though only an obscure colonial Governor. There 
 are none but loyal ears here, and I trust Mr. Hansford has 
 no tidings which can offend them." 
 
 "I am sure," said Hansford, in reply, "that Sir William 
 Berkeley does not for a moment suspect that I desired to 
 see him in private from any sinister or treasonable motive." 
 
 "I know, sir," said Berkeley, angrily, "that you have 
 proved yourself a traitor, and, therefore, I have the best 
 reason for suspecting you of treasonable designs. But I 
 have no time no disposition to dally with you thus. Tell 
 me, what new treason, that my old ears are yet strangers to, 
 I am yet doomed to hear ?" 
 
 " My instructions are soon told," said Hansford, repress- 
 ing his indignation. " General Nathaniel Bacon, by virtue 
 of your own commission, Commander-in-chief of the forces 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 201 
 
 of Virginia, desires to know, and has directed me to in- 
 quire, for what cause you have issued a proclamation 
 declaring both him and his followers traitors to their 
 country and king ?" 
 
 Berkeley stood the shock much better than Hansford 
 expected. His face flushed for a moaent, but only for a 
 moment, as he replied, 
 
 " This is certainly an unusual demand of a rebel ; but 
 sir, as I have nothing to fear from an exposure of my rea- 
 sons, I will reply, that Nathaniel Bacon is now in arms 
 against the government of Virginia." 
 
 " Not unless the government of Virginia be allied with 
 the Indians, against whom he is marching," said Hansford, 
 calmly. 
 
 "Aye, but it is well known," returned Berkeley, " that he 
 has covert views of his own to attain, under pretext of this 
 expedition against the Indians." 
 
 " Why, then," replied Hansford, "if they are covert from 
 his own followers, proclaim them traitors with himself; or, 
 if covert from the government, how can you ascertain that 
 they are treasonable ? But, above all, if you suspected 
 such traitorous designs, why, by your commission, elevate 
 him to a position in which he may be able to execute them 
 with success ?" 
 
 " Tore God, gentlemen, this is the most barefaced inso- 
 lence that I have ever heard. For yourself, young man, 
 out of your own mouth will I judge you, and convict you 
 of treason ; and for your preceptor whose lessons, I doubt 
 not, you repeat by rote you may tell him that his com- 
 mission is null and void, because obtained by force and 
 arms." 
 
 " I had not expected to hear Sir William Berkeley make 
 such an acknowledgment," returned Hansford, undauntedly. 
 " You yourself declared that the commission was not given 
 from fear of threats; and even if this were not so, the 
 
202 HANSFORD : 
 
 argument would scarce avail for on what compulsion was 
 it that your signature appears in a letter to his majesty, 
 warmly approving the conduct of General Bacon, and com- 
 mending him for his zeal, talents and patriotism ?" * 
 
 " Now, by my knighthood," said Berkeley, stung by this 
 last unanswerable argument, " I will not be bearded thus by 
 an insolent, braggart boy. Seize him 1" he cried, turning 
 to Bernard and Ludwell, who stood nearest him. " He is 
 iny prisoner, and as an example to his vile confederates, he 
 shall hang in half an hour, until his traitorous tongue has 
 stopped its vile wagging." 
 
 Hansford made no attempt to escape, but, as the two 
 men approached to disarm and bind him, he fixed his fine 
 blue eyes full upon Colonel Temple, and said, mildly, 
 
 " Shall this be so ? Though Sir William Berkeley should 
 fail to respect my position, as the bearer of a peaceable 
 message from General Bacon, I trust that the rites of hos- 
 pitality may not be violated, even in my humble person." 
 
 Colonel Temple was much embarrassed. Notwithstand- 
 ing the recent conduct of Hansford had alienated him to a 
 great degree, he still entertained a strong affection for his 
 boy nor could he willingly see him suffer a wrong when 
 he had thus so confidingly trusted to his generosity. But, 
 apart from his special interest in Hansford, the old Yir- 
 ginian had a religious regard for the sacred character of a 
 guest, which he could never forget. And yet, his blind 
 reverence for authority the bigoted loyalty which has 
 always made the English people so cautious in resistance to 
 oppression, and which retarded indeed our own colonial 
 revolution made him unwilling to oppose his character of 
 host to the authority of the Governor. He looked first at 
 Sir William Berkeley, and his resolution was made ; he 
 
 * This was indeed true, and renders the conduct of Berkeley entirely 
 inexplicable. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 203 
 
 turned to Hansford, and as he saw his noble boy standing 
 resolutely there, without a friend to aid him, it wavered. 
 The poor old gentleman was sadly perplexed, but, after a 
 brief struggle, his true, generous heart conquered, and he 
 said, turning to Sir William : 
 
 11 My honoured sir, I trust you will not let this matter 
 proceed any further here. My house, my life, my all, is at 
 the service of the king and of his representative ; but I 
 question how far we are warranted in proceeding to 
 extremities with this youth, seeing that although he is 
 rather froward and pert in his manners, he may yet mean 
 well after all." 
 
 " Experience should have taught me," replied Berkeley, 
 coldly, for his evil genius was now thoroughly aroused, 
 " not to place too much confidence in the loyalty of the 
 people of Gloucester. If Colonel Temple's resolution to 
 aid the crumbling power of the government has wavered at 
 the sight of a malapert and rebellious boy, I had better 
 relieve him of my presence, which must needs have become 
 irksome to him." 
 
 " Nay, Sir William," returned Temple, reddening at the 
 imputation, "you shall not take my language thus. Let 
 the youth speak for himself; if he breathes a word of trea- 
 son, his blood be on his own head my hand nor voice 
 shall be raised to save him. But I am unable to construe 
 any thing which he has yet said as treasonable." Then 
 turning to Hansford, he added, "speak, Mr. Hansford, 
 plainly and frankly. What was your object in thus com- 
 ing ? Were you sent by General Bacon, or did you come 
 voluntarily ?" 
 
 " Both," replied Hansford, with a full appreciation of 
 the old man's unfortunate position. " It was my proposi- 
 tion that some officer of the army should wait upon the 
 Governor, and ascertain the truth of his rumoured procla- 
 mation. I volunteered to discharge the duty in person." 
 
204 HANSFORD: 
 
 "And in the event of your finding it to be true," said 
 Berkeley, haughtily, " what course did you then intend to 
 pursue ?" 
 
 This was a dangerous question ; for Hansford knew that 
 to express the design of the insurgents in such an event, 
 would be little less than a confession of treason. But he 
 had a bold heart, and without hesitation, but still maintain- 
 ing his respectful manner, he replied, 
 
 " I might evade an answer to your question, by saying 
 that it would then be time enough to consider and deter- 
 mine our course. But I scorn to do so, even when my 
 safety is endangered. I answer candidly then, that in such 
 an event the worst consequences to the country and to 
 yourself would ensue. It was to prevent these conse- 
 quences, and as far as I could to intercede in restoring 
 peace and quiet to our distracted colony, that I came to 
 implore you to withdraw this proclamation. Otherwise, 
 sir, the sword of the avenger is behind you, and within two 
 days from this time you will be compelled once more to 
 yield to a current that you cannot resist. Comply with 
 my request, and peace and harmony will once more pre- 
 vail ; refuse, and let who will triumph, the unhappy colony 
 will be involved in all the horrors of civil war." 
 
 There was nothing boastful in the manner of Hansford, 
 as he uttered these words. On the contrary, his whole 
 bearing, while it showed inflexible determination, attested 
 his sincerity in the wish that the Governor, for the good of 
 the country, would yield to the suggestion. Nor did Sir 
 William Berkeley, in spite of his indignation, fail to see the 
 force and wisdom of the views presented ; but he had too 
 much pride to acknowledge it to an inferior. 
 
 " Now, by my troth," he cried, "if this be not treason, I 
 am at a loss to define the term. I should think this would 
 satisfy even your scepticism, Colonel Temple ; for it seems 
 we must consult you in regard to our course while under 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 205 
 
 your roof. You would scarcely consent, I trust, to a self- 
 convicted traitor going at large." 
 
 " Of course you act in the premises, according to your 
 own judgment," replied Temple, coldly, for he was justly 
 offended at the overbearing manner of the incensed old 
 Governor, "but since you have appealed to me for my 
 opinion, I will e'en make bold to say, that as this young 
 man came in the character of an intercessor, you might well 
 be satisfied with his parole. I will myself be surety for his 
 truth." 
 
 " Parole, forsooth, and do you not think I have had 
 enough of paroles from these rebel scoundrels zounds, 
 their faith is like an egg-shell, it is made to be broken." 
 
 " With my sincere thanks to my noble friend," said Hans- 
 ford, " for his obliging offer, I would not accept it if I could. 
 Unconscious of having done any thing to warrant this de- 
 tention, I am not willing to acknowledge its justice, by 
 submitting to a qualified imprisonment." 
 
 "It is well," said Berkeley, haughtily; " we will see 
 whether your pride is proof against an ignominious 
 death. Disarm him and hold him in close custody until 
 my farther pleasure shall be known." 
 
 As he said this, Ilansford was disarmed, and led away 
 under a strong guard to the apartment which Colonel Tem- 
 ple reluctantly designated as the place of his confinement. 
 
 Meantime Berkenhead had remained at the gate, guarded 
 by two of the soldiers of the Governor ; while old Giles, 
 with a light heart, had found his way back to his old stand 
 by the kitchen door, and was detailing to his astonished 
 cronies the unlucky ventures, and the providential deliver- 
 ance, which he had experienced. But we must forbear 
 entering into a detailed account of the old man's sermon, 
 merely contenting ourselves with announcing, that such 
 was the effect produced, that at the next baptizing day, 
 old Elder Snivel was refreshed by a perfect pentecost of 
 18 
 
206 HANSFORD: 
 
 converts, who attributed their "new birf" to the wrestling 
 of "brudder Giles." 
 
 We return to Berkenhead, who, at the command of Col. 
 Ludwell, was escorted, under the guard before mentioned, 
 into the presence of Sir William Berkeley. The dogged 
 and insolent demeanour of the man was even more dis- 
 pleasing to the Governor than the quiet and resolute man- 
 ner of Hansford, and in a loud, threatening voice, he cried, 
 
 " Here comes another hemp-pulling knave. 'Fore God, 
 the colony will have to give up the cultivation of tobacco, 
 and engage in raising hemp, for we are like to have some 
 demand for it. Hark ye, sir knave do you know the 
 nature of the message which you have aided in bearing from 
 the traitor Bacon to myself ?" 
 
 " Not I, your honour no more than my carbine knows 
 whether it is loaded or not. It's little the General takes ah 
 old soldier like me into his counsels ; but I only know it is 
 my duty to obey, if I were sent to the devil with a message," 
 and the villain looked archly at the Governor. 
 
 " Your language is something of the most insolent, "said 
 Sir William. " But tell rne instantly, did you have no 
 conversation with Major Hansford on your way hither, and 
 if so, what was it ?" 
 
 "Little else than abuse, your honour," returned Ber- 
 kenhead, " and a threat that I would be beat over the head 
 if I didn't hold my tongue ; and as I didn't care to con- 
 verse at such a disadvantage, I was e'en content to keep 
 my own counsel for the rest of the way." 
 
 " Do you, or do you not, consider Bacon and his follow- 
 ers to be engaged in rebellion against the government ?" 
 
 " Rebellion, your honour 1" cried the renegade. " Why, was 
 it not your honour's self that sent us after these salvages ? 
 An' I thought there was any other design afloat, I would 
 soon show them who was the rebel. It is not the first time 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 207 
 
 that I have done the State some service by betraying trea- 
 son." 
 
 " Look ye," said the Governor, eyeing the fellow keenly, 
 " if I mistake not, you are an old acquaintance. Is your 
 name Berkenhead ?" 
 
 " The same, at your honour's service." 
 
 " And didn't you betray the servile plot of 1662, and 
 get your liberty and a reward for it ?" 
 
 " Yes, your honour, but I wouldn't have you think that 
 it was for the reward I did it ?" 
 
 " Oh, never mind your motives. If you are Judas, you 
 are welcome to your thirty pieces of silver," said the Gov- 
 ernor, with a sneer of contempt. " But to make the analogy 
 complete, you should be hanged for your service." 
 
 " No, faith," said the shrewd villain, quickly. " Judas 
 hanged himself, and it would be long ere ever I sought the 
 apostle's elder tree.* Arid besides, his was the price of 
 innocent blood, and mine was not. Look at my hand, your 
 honour, and you will see what kind of blood I shed." 
 
 Berkeley looked at the fellow's hand, and saw it stained 
 with the crimson life-blood of the young Indian. With a 
 thrill of horror, he cried, " What blood is that, you infernal 
 villain ?" 
 
 " Only fresh from the veins of one of these painted red- 
 skins," returned Berkenhead. "And red enough he was 
 when I left him ; but, forsooth, he reckons that the paint 
 cost him full dear. He left his mark on Major Hansford, 
 though, before he left." 
 
 " Where did this happen ?" said Berkeley, astonished. 
 
 " Oh, not far from here. The red devil was a friend at 
 the hall here, too, or as much so as their bloody hearts will 
 let any of them be. Colonel Temple, there, knows him, 
 and I have seen him when I lived in Gloucester. A fine 
 
 * The name given to the tree on which Judas hanged himself. 
 
208 HANSFORD: 
 
 looking fellow, too ; and if his skin and his heart had been 
 both white, there would have been few better and braver 
 dare-devils than young Manteo." 
 
 As he pronounced the name, a wild shriek rent the air, 
 and the distracted Mamalis rushed into the porch. Her 
 long hair was all dishevelled and flying loosely over her 
 shoulders, her eye was that of a maniac in his fury, and 
 tossing her bare arms aloft, she shrieked, in a wild, harsh 
 voice, 
 
 "And who are you, that dare to spill the blood of 
 kings ? Look to it that your own flows not less freely in 
 your veins." 
 
 Berkenhead turned pale with fright, and shrinking from 
 the enraged girl, muttered, "the devil !" while Temple, in 
 a low voice, whispered to the Governor the necessary 
 explanation, "She is his sister." 
 
 " Yes, his sister !" cried the girl, wildly, for she had 
 overheard the words. " His only sister ! and my blood 
 now flows in no veins but my own. But the stream runs 
 more fiercely as the channel is more narrow. Look to it 
 look to it !" And, with another wild shriek, the maddened 
 girl rushed again into the house. It required all the tender 
 care of Virginia Temple to pacify the poor creature. She 
 reasoned, she prayed, she endeavoured to console her ; but 
 her reasons, her prayers, her sweet words of consolation, 
 were all lost upon the heart of the Indian maiden, who 
 nourished but one fearful, fatal idea revenge ! 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXYIII. 
 
 " His flight was madness." 
 Macbeth. 
 
 YES, Yirgiiaia ! She who had so much reason for con- 
 solation herself, forgot her own sorrows for the time, in 
 administering the oil of consolation to the poor, wounded, 
 broken-hearted savage girl. She had been sitting at the 
 window of the little parlour, where she could witness the 
 whole scene, and hear the whole interview between the 
 Governor and Hansford ; and oh I how her heart had sunk 
 within her as she heard the harsh sentence of the stern old 
 knight, which condemned her noble, friendless lover to 
 imprisonment, perhaps to death ; and yet, a maiden modesty 
 restrained her from yielding to the impulse of the moment, 
 to throw herself at the feet of Berkeley, confess her love, 
 and implore his pardon. Alas ! ill-fated maiden, it would 
 have been in vain as she too truly, too fatally discovered 
 afterwards. 
 
 The extraordinary appearance and conduct of Mamalis 
 broke up for the present any further conference with Ber- 
 kenhead, who his mendacity having established his inno- 
 cence in the minds of the loyalists walked off with a 
 swaggering gait, rather elated than otherwise with the 
 result of his interview. Alfred Bernard followed him until 
 they turned an angle of the house, and stood beneath the 
 shade of one of the broad oaks, which spread its protecting 
 branches over the yard. 
 
 Meantime the Governor, with such of his council as had 
 attended him to Windsor Hall, retired to the study of the 
 old Colonel, which had been fitted up both for the chamber 
 
 18* 
 
210 HANSFORD: 
 
 of his most distinguished guest and for the deliberations of 
 the council. The subject which now engaged their atten- 
 tion was one of more importance than any that had ever 
 come before them since the commencement of the dissen- 
 sions in Virginia. The mission of Hansford, while it had 
 failed of producing the effect which he so ardently desired, 
 had, notwithstanding, made a strong impression upon the 
 mind of the Governor. He saw too plainly that it would 
 be vain to resist the attack of Bacon, at the head of five 
 hundred men, among whom were to be ranked the very 
 chivalry of Virginia ; while his own force consisted merely 
 of his faithful adherents in the council, and about fifty mer- 
 cenary troops, whose sympathies with the insurgents were 
 strongly suspected. 
 
 " I see," said the old man, gloomily, as he took his seat 
 at the council-board, "that I must seek some other refuge. 
 I am hunted like a wild beast from place to place, through 
 a country that was once my own, and by those who were 
 once the loving subjects of my king." 
 
 " Remain here !" said the impulsive old Temple. " The 
 people of Gloucester will yet rally around your standard, 
 when they see open treason is contemplated ; and should 
 they still refuse, zounds, we may yet offer resistance with 
 my servants and slaves." 
 
 "My dear friend," said Berkeley, sorrowfully, " if all 
 Virginians were like yourself, there would have been no re- 
 bellion there would have been no difficulty in suppressing 
 one, if attempted. But alas ! the loyalty of the people of 
 Gloucester has already been weighed in the balance and 
 found wanting. No, I have acted hastily, foolishly, blindly. 
 I have warmed this serpent into life by my forbearance and 
 indulgence, and must at last be the victim of its venom and 
 my folly. Oh ! that I had refused the commission, which 
 armed this traitor with legal power. I have put a sword 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 211 
 
 into the hands of an enemy, and may be the first to fall 
 by it." 
 
 " It is useless to repine over the past," said Philip Lud- 
 well, kindly; "but the power of these rebels cannot last 
 long. The people who are loyal at heart will fall from 
 their support, and military aid will be received from Eng- 
 land ere long. Then the warmed reptile may be crushed." 
 
 " To my mind," said Ballard, "it were better to repair 
 the evil that has been done by retracing our steps, rather 
 than to proceed further. When a man is over his depth, 
 he had better return to the shore than to attempt to cross 
 the unfathomable stream." 
 
 " Refrain from enigmas, if you please," said Berkeley, 
 coldly, "and tell me to what you refer." 
 
 " Simply, "replied Ballard, firmly, "that all this evil has 
 resulted from your following the Jesuitical counsel of a boy, 
 rather than the prudent caution of your advisers. My 
 honoured sir, forgive me if I say it is now your duty to 
 acquiesce in the request of Major Hansford, and withdraw 
 your proclamation." 
 
 "And succumb to traitors!" cried Berkeley. "Never 
 while God gives me breath to reiterate it. He who would 
 treat with a traitor, is himself but little better than a 
 traitor." 
 
 The flush which mounted to the brow of Ballard attested 
 his indignation at this grave charge ; but before he had 
 time to utter the retort which rose to his lips, Berkeley 
 added, 
 
 " Forgive me, Ballard, for my haste. But the bare idea 
 of making terms with these audacious rebels roused my 
 very blood. No, no ! I can die in defence of my trust, but 
 I cannot, will not yield it." 
 
 " But it is not yielding," said Ballard. 
 
 " Nay no more of that," interrupted Berkeley; "let us 
 devise some other means. I have it," he added, after a 
 
212 HANSFORD: 
 
 pause. " Accomac is still true to ray interest, and divided 
 from the mainland by the bay, is difficult of access. There 
 will I pitch my tent, and sound my defiance and when aid 
 shall come from England, these proud and insolent traitors 
 shall feel the power of my vengeance the more for this insult 
 to my weakness." 
 
 This scheme met with the approbation of all present, 
 with the exception of old Ballard, who shook his head, and 
 muttered, that he hoped it might all be for the best. And 
 so it was determined that early the next morning the loyal 
 refugees should embark on board a vessel then lying off 
 Tindal's Point, and sail for Accomac. 
 
 "And we will celebrate our departure by hanging up 
 that young rogue, Hansford, in half an hour," said Berkeley. 
 
 "By what law, may it please your excellency ?" asked 
 Ballard, surprised at this threat. 
 
 "By martial law." 
 
 "And for what offence?" 
 
 " Why zounds, Ballard, you have turned advocate-general 
 for all the rebels in the country," said Berkeley, petulantly. 
 
 " No, Sir William, I am advocating the cause of justice 
 and of my king " 
 
 " Well, sir, what would you advise ? To set the rogue 
 at liberty, I suppose, and by our leniency to encourage 
 treason." 
 
 "By no means," said Ballard. "But either to commit 
 him to custody until he may be fairly tried by a jury of his 
 peers, or to take him with you to Accomac, where, by fur- 
 ther developments of this insurrection, you may better judge 
 of the nature of his offence. " 
 
 " And a hospitable reception would await me in Acco- 
 mac, forsooth, if I appeared there with a prisoner of war, 
 whom I did not have the firmness to punish as his crime 
 deserves. No, by heaven ! I will not be encumbered with 
 prisoners. His life is forfeit to the law, and as he would 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 213 
 
 prove an apostle of liberty, let him be a martyr to his 
 cause." 
 
 " Let me add my earnest intercession to that of Colonel 
 Ballard," said Temple, "in behalf of this unhappy man. 
 I surely have some claim upon your benevolence, and I ask 
 his life as a personal boon to me." 
 
 " Oh, assuredly, since you rely upon your hospitable pro- 
 tection to us, you should have your fee," said Berkeley, with 
 a sneer. " But not in so precious a coin as a rebel's life. 
 If you have suffered by the protection afforded to the 
 deputy of your king, you shall not lack remuneration. But 
 the coin shall be the head of Carolus II. j* this rebel's head 
 I claim as my own." 
 
 " Now, by heaven !" returned Temple, thoroughly aroused, 
 " it requires all my loyalty to stomach so foul an insult. My 
 royal master's exchequer could illy remunerate me for the 
 gross language heaped upon me by his deputy. But let 
 this pass. You are my guest, sir j and that I cannot sepa- 
 rate the Governor from the man, I am prevented from 
 resenting an insult, which else I could but little brook." 
 
 "As you please, mine host," replied Berkeley. "But, 
 in truth, I have wronged you, Temple. But think, my 
 friend, of the pang the shepherd must feel, when he finds 
 that he has let a wolf into his fold, which he is unable to 
 resist. Oh, think of this, and bear with me !" 
 
 Temple knew the old Governor too well to doubt the 
 sincerity of this retraxit, and with a cordial grasp of the 
 hand, he assured Berkeley of his forgiveness. "And yet," 
 he added, warmly, " I cannot forget the cause I advocate, 
 for this first rebuff. Believe me, Sir William, you will gain 
 nothing, but lose much, by proceeding harshly against this 
 unhappy young man. In the absence of any evidence of 
 his guilt, you will arouse the indignation of the colonists to 
 such a height, that it will be difficult to pacify them." 
 
 * The coin during the reign of Charles II. 
 
214 HANSFORD: 
 
 " Pardon me, Sir William Berkeley," said Bernard, who 
 had joined the party, " but would it not be well to examine 
 this knave, Berkenhead, touching the movements and inten- 
 tions of the insurgents, and particularly concerning any 
 expressions which may have fallen from this young gentle- 
 man ? If it shall appear that he is guiltless of the crime 
 imputed to him, then you may safely yield to the solicita- 
 tions of these gentlemen, and liberate him. But if it shall 
 appear that he is guilty, they, in their turn, cannot object 
 to his meeting the penalty which his treason richly de- 
 serves." 
 
 " Now, by heaven, the young man speaks truthfully and 
 wisely," said Temple, assured, by the former interview with 
 Berkenhead, that he knew of nothing which could convict 
 the prisoner. " Nor do I see, Sir William, what better 
 course you can adopt than to follow his counsel." 
 
 " Truly," said Berkeley, " the young man has proven 
 himself the very Elihu of counsellors. ' Great men are not 
 always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment. 
 But there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the 
 Almighty giveth them understanding.' Yet t fear, Colonel 
 Temple, you will scarcely, after my impetuosity just now, 
 deem me a Job for patience, though Alfred may be an 
 Elihu for understanding. Your counsel is good, young 
 man. Let the knave be brought hither to testify, and look 
 ye that the prisoner be introduced to confront him. My 
 friends, Ballard and Temple, are such sticklers for law, that 
 we must not deviate from Magna Charta or the Petition of 
 Right. But stay, we will postpone this matter till the 
 morrow. I had almost forgotten it was the Sabbath. 
 Loyal churchmen should venerate the day, even when trea- 
 son is abroad in the land. Meantime, let the villain Ber- 
 kenhead be kept in close custody, lest he should escape." 
 
A TALE or BACON'S REBELLION. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 " I tell thee what, my friend, 
 He is a very serpent in my way." 
 
 King John. 
 
 THE reader will naturally desire to know what induced 
 the milder counsel recommended by Alfred Bernard to the 
 Governor. If we have been successful in impressing upon 
 the mind of the reader a just estimate of the character of 
 the young Jesuit, he will readily conjecture that it was from 
 no kindly feeling for his rival, and no inherent love of jus- 
 tice that he suggested such a policy; and if he be of a 
 different opinion, he need only go back with us to the 
 interview between Bernard and Berkenhead, to which allu- 
 sion was made in the chapter immediately preceding th& 
 last. 
 
 We have said that Alfred Bernard followed the renegade 
 rebel until they stood together beneath a large oak tree 
 which stood at the corner of the house. Here they stopped 
 as if by mutual, though tacit consent, and Berkenhead turn- 
 ing sharply around upon his companion, said in an offended 
 tone "What is your further will with me sir?" 
 
 " You seem not to like your comrade Major Hansford ?" 
 
 "Oh well enough," replied Berkenhead; "there are 
 many better and many worse than him. But I don't see 
 how the likes and the dislikes of a poor soldier can have 
 any concernment with you. " 
 
 " I assure you," said Bernard, "it is from no impertinent 
 curiosity, but a real desire to befriend you, that I ask the 
 question. The Governor strongly suspects your integrity, 
 and that you are concealing from him more than it suits 
 
216 HANSFORD: 
 
 you to divulge. Now, I would do you a service and advise 
 you how you may reinstate yourself in his favour." 
 
 " Well, that seems kind on the outside," said the soldier, 
 "seeing as you seems to be one of the blooded gentry, and 
 I am nothing but a plain Dunstable.* But rough iron is 
 as soft as polished steel." 
 
 " I believe you," said Bernard. " Now you have not 
 much reason to waste your love on this Major Hansford. 
 He threatened to beat you, as you say, and a freeborn 
 Englishman does not bear an iusult like that with im- 
 punity. " 
 
 " No, your honour," replied the man, "and I've known 
 the day when a Plymouth cloak ) would protect me from 
 insult as well as a frieze coat from cold. But I am too old 
 for that now, and so I had better swallow an insult dry, 
 than butter it with my own marrow." 
 
 "And are there not other modes of revenge than by a 
 blow ? Where are your wits, man ? What makes the man 
 stronger than the horse that carries him ? I tell you, a keen 
 wit is to physical force what your carbine is to the toma- 
 hawk of these red-skins. It fires at a distance." 
 
 The old soldier looked up with a gleam of intelligence, 
 and Bernard continued 
 
 " Bethink you, did you hear nothing from Hansford by 
 which you might infer that his ultimate design was to over- 
 turn the government?" 
 
 " Why I can't exactly say that I did," returned the fel- 
 low. " To be sure they all prate about liberty and the like, 
 but I reckon that is an Englishman's privilege, providing 
 he takes it out in talking. But there may be fire in the 
 bed-straw for all my ignorance. "{ 
 
 "Well, I am sorry for you," said Bernard, "for if you 
 
 * An old English expression for a rough, honest fellow. 
 
 j- A bludgeon. 
 
 J There may be danger in the design. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 2 If 
 
 could only remember any thing to convict this young rebel, 
 I would warrant you a free pardon and a sound neck." 
 
 " Well, now, as I come to think of it," said the unscru- 
 pulous renegade, " there might be some few things he let 
 drop, not much in themselves, but taken together, as might 
 weave a right strong tow ; and zounds, I don't think a man 
 can be far wrong to untwist the rope about his own neck 
 by tying it to another. For concerning of life, your 
 honour, while I have no great care to risk it in battle, I 
 don't crave to choke it out with one of these hemp cravats. 
 And so being as I have already done the state some ser- 
 vice, I feel it my duty to save her if I can." 
 
 " Now, thanks to that catch-word of the rogue," mut- 
 tered Bernard, "lam like to have easy work to-night. 
 Hark ye, Mr. Berkenhead," he added, aloud, "I think it is 
 likely that the Governor may wish to ask you a question or 
 two touching this matter of which we have been speaking. 
 In the meantime here is something which may help you to 
 get along with these soldiers," and he placed a sovereign 
 in the fellow's hand. 
 
 "Thank your honour," said Berkenhead, humbly, "and 
 seeing its not in the way of bribe, I suppose I may take it." 
 
 " Oh, no bribe," replied Bernard, smiling, " but mark me, 
 tell a good story. The stronger your evidence the safer is 
 your head." 
 
 Bernard returned, as we have seen,- to the Governor, for 
 the further development of his diabolical designs, and in a 
 short time Berkenhead, under a guard of soldiers, was con- 
 ducted to his quarters for the night, in a store-house which 
 stood in the yard some distance from the house. 
 
 As the house to which the renegade insurgent was con- 
 signed was deemed sufficiently secure, and the soldiers 
 wearied with a long march, were again to proceed on their 
 journey on the morrow, it was not considered necessary to 
 place a guard before the door of this temporary cell the 
 19 
 
218 HANSFORD: 
 
 precaution, however, being taken to appoint a sentry at 
 each side of the mansion-house, and at the door of the 
 apartment in which the unhappy Hansford was confined. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 " Ha ! sure he sleeps all's dark within save what 
 A lamp, that feebly lifts a sickly flame, 
 By fits reveals. His face seems turned to favour 
 The attempt. I'll steal and do it unperceived." 
 
 Mourning Bride. 
 
 ALL were wrapt in silence and in slumber, save the weary 
 sentinels, who paced drowsily up and down before the door 
 of the house, humming in a low tone the popular Lillibul- 
 lero, or silently communing with their brother sentry in the 
 sky. The family, providing for the fatigues of the follow- 
 ing day, had early retired to rest, and even Virginia, worn 
 down by excitement and agitation, having been assured by 
 her father of the certain safety of Hansford, had yielded to 
 the restoring influences of "sleep. How little did the art- 
 less girl, or her unsuspicious father, suppose that beneath 
 their roof they had been cherishing a demon, who, by his 
 wily machinations, was weaving a web around his innocent 
 victim, cruel and inextricable. 
 
 We have said that all save the watchful sentinels were 
 sleeping ; but one there was from whose eyes and from 
 whose heart revenge had driven sleep. Mamalis the poor, 
 hapless Mamalis whose sorrows had been forgotten in the 
 general excitement which had prevailed Mamalis knew 
 but one thought, and that was no dream. Her brother, 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 219 
 
 the pride and refuge of her maiden heart, lay stiff and mur- 
 dered by the way-side his death unwept, his dirge unsung, 
 his brilliant hopes of fame cut off ere they had fully budded. 
 And his murderer was near her ! Could she hesitate ? 
 Had she not been taught, in her simple faith, that the blood 
 of the victim requires the blood of his destroyer ? The 
 voice of her brother's blood called to her from the ground. 
 Nor did it call in vain. It is true, he had been harsh, nay 
 sometimes even cruel to her, but when was woman's heart, 
 when moved to softness, ever mindful of the wrongs she 
 had endured ? Ask yourself, when standing by the lifeless 
 corse of one whom you have dearly loved, if then you can 
 remember aught but kindness, and love, and happiness, in 
 your association with the loved one. One gentle word, one 
 sweet smile, one generous action, though almost faded from 
 the memory before, obscures forever all the recollection of 
 wrongs inflicted and injuries endured. 
 
 She was in the room occupied by Virginia Temple. Oh, 
 what a contrast between the two ! Yes, there they were 
 Revenge and Innocence ! The one lay pure and beautiful 
 in sleep ; her round, white arm thrown back upon the pil- 
 low, to form a more snowy resting place for her lovely 
 cheek. From beneath her cap some tresses had escaped, 
 which, happy in release, were sporting in the soft air that 
 wooed them through the open window. Her face, at other 
 times too spiritually pale, was now slightly flushed by the 
 sultry warmth of the night. A smile of peaceful happiness 
 played around her lips, as she dreamed, perhaps, of some 
 wild flower ramble which in happier days she had had with 
 Hansford. Her snowy bosom, which in her restlessness 
 she had nearly bared, was white and swelling as a wave 
 which plays in the calm moonlight. Such was the beautiful 
 being who lay sleeping calmly in the arms of Innocence, 
 while the dark, but not less striking, form of the Indian 
 girl bent over, to discover if she slept. She was dressed as 
 
220 HANSFORD: 
 
 we have before described, with the short deer-skin smock, 
 extending to her knees, and fitted closely round the waist 
 with a belt of wampum. Her long black hair was bound 
 by a simple riband, and fell thickly over her shoulders in 
 dark profusion. In her left hand she held a lamp, and it 
 was fearful to mark, by its faint, glimmering light, the 
 intense earnestness of her countenance. There were some 
 traces of tears upon her cheek, but these were nearly dried. 
 Her bright black eyes were lighted by a strange, unnatural 
 fire, which they never knew before. It seemed as though 
 you might see them in the dark. In her right hand she 
 held a small dagger, which he had given her as a pledge of 
 a brother's love. Fit instrument to avenge a brother's 
 death ! 
 
 She seemed to be listening and watching to hear or see 
 the slightest movement from the slumbering maiden. But 
 all was still ! 
 
 "I slept not thus," she murmured, "the night I heard 
 him vow his vengeance against your father. Before the 
 birds had sung their morning song I came to warn you. 
 Now all I loved, my country, my friends, my brother, have 
 gone forever, and none shares the tears of the Indian 
 maiden." 
 
 She turned away with a sigh from the bedside of Yir. 
 ginia, and carefully replaced the dagger in her belt. She 
 then took a key which was lying on the table and clutched 
 it with an air of triumph. That key she had stolen from 
 the pocket of Alfred Bernard while he slept for what will 
 not revenge, and woman's revenge, dare to do. Then 
 taking up a water pitcher, and extinguishing the light, she 
 softly left the room. 
 
 As she endeavoured to pass the outer door she was 
 accosted by the hoarse voice of the sentinel "Who comes 
 there ?" he cried. 
 
 "A friend," she answered, timidly. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 221 
 
 "You cannot pass, friend, without a permit from the 
 Governor. Them's his orders." 
 
 "I go to bring some water for the sick maiden," she 
 said earnestly, showing him the pitcher. " She is far from 
 well. Let her not suffer for a draught of water." 
 
 " Well," said the pliant soldier, yielding; "you are a 
 good pleader, pretty one. That dark face of yours looks 
 devilish well by moonlight. What say you ; if I let you 
 pass, will you come and sit with me when you get back ? 
 It's damned lonesome out here by myself." 
 
 " I will do any thing you wish when I return," said the 
 girl. 
 
 " Easily won, by Wenus," said the gallant soldier, as he 
 permitted Mamalis to pass on her supposed errand. 
 
 Freed from this obstruction, she glided rapidly through 
 the yard, and soon stood before the door of the small house 
 which she had learned was appropriated as the prison of 
 Berkenhead. Turning the key softly in the lock, she pulled 
 the latch-string and gently opened the door. A flood of 
 moonlight streamed upon the floor, encumbered with a 
 variety of plantation utensils. By the aid of this light 
 Mamalis soon recognized the form and features of the fated 
 Berkenhead, who was sleeping in one corner of the room. 
 She knelt over him and feasted her eyes with the anticipa- 
 tion of her deep revenge. Fearing to be defeated in her 
 design, for with her it was the foiled attempt and " not the 
 act which might confound," she bared his bosom and sought 
 his heart. The motion startled the sleeping soldier. " The 
 devil," he said, half opening his eyes; "its damned light." 
 Just as he pronounced the last word the fatal dagger of 
 Mamalis found its way into his heart. "It is all dark 
 now," she said, bitterly, and rising from her victim, she 
 glided through the door and left him with his God. 
 
 With the native shrewdness of her race, Mamalis did not 
 forget that she had still to play a part, and so without 
 19* 
 
222 HANSFORD: 
 
 returning directly to the house, she repaired to the well 
 and filled her pitcher. She even offered the sentinel a 
 drink as she repassed him on her return, and promising 
 once more to come back, when she had carried the water 
 to the "sick maiden," she stole quietly into the room occu- 
 pied by Bernard, replaced the key in his pocket as before, 
 and hastened up stairs again. 
 
 And there seated once more by the bedside of the sleep- 
 ing Virginia, the young Indian girl sang, in a low voice, 
 at once her song of triumph and her brother's dirge, in 
 that rich oriental improvisation for which the Indians were 
 so remarkable. We will not pretend to give in the original 
 words of this beautiful requiem, but furnish the reader, in 
 default of a better, with the following free translation, which 
 may give some faint idea of its beauty : 
 
 " They have plucked the flower from the garden of my 
 heart, and have torn the soil where it tenderly grew. He 
 was bright and beautiful as the bounding deer, and the 
 shaft from his bow was as true as his unchanging soul 1 
 Best with the Great Spirit, soul of my brother. ! 
 
 " The Great Spirit looked down in pity on my brother ; 
 Manitou has snatched him from the hands of the dreadful 
 Okee. On the shores of the spirit-land, with the warriors 
 of his tribe he sings the song of his glory, and chases the 
 spirit deer over the immaterial plains ! Rest with the Great 
 Spirit, soul of my brother I ' 
 
 " But I, his sister, am left lonely and desolate ; the 
 hearth-stone of Mamalis is deserted. Yet has my hand 
 sought revenge for his murder, and my bosom exults over 
 the destruction of his destroyer ! Rest with the Great 
 Spirit, soul of my brother ! 
 
 " Rest with the Great Spirit, soul of Manteo, till Mama- 
 lis shall come to enjoy thy embraces. Then welcome to 
 thy spirit home the sister of thy youth, and reward with 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 223 
 
 thy love the avenger of thy death! Rest with the Great 
 Spirit, soul of my brother!". 
 
 As her melancholy requiem died away, Mamalis rose 
 silently from the seat, and bent once more over the form of 
 the sleeping Virginia. As she felt the warm breath of the 
 pure young girl upon her cheek, and watched the regular 
 beating of her heart, and then contrasted the purity of the 
 sleeping maiden with her own wild, guilty nature, she 
 started back in horror. For the first time she felt remorse 
 at the commission of her crime, and with a heavy sigh she 
 hurriedly left the room, as though it were corrupted by her 
 presence. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 " And smile, and smile, and smile, and be a villain." 
 
 King John. 
 
 GREAT was the horror of the loyalists, on the following 
 morning, at the discovery of the horrible crime which had 
 been perpetrated ; but still greater was the mystery as to 
 who was the guilty party. There was no mode of getting 
 admittance to the house in which Berkenhead was confined, 
 except through the door, the key of which was in the pos- 
 session of Alfred Bernard. Even if the position and stand- 
 ing of this young man had not repelled the idea that he 
 was cognizant of the crime, his own unfeigned surprise at 
 the discovery, and the absence of any motive for its com- 
 mission, acquitted him in the minds of all. And yet, if this 
 hypothesis was avoided, it was impossible to form any 
 
224 HANSFORD : 
 
 rational theory on the subject. There were but two per- 
 sons connected with the establishment who could be pre- 
 sumed to have any plausible motive for murdering Berken- 
 head. Hansford might indeed be suspected of a desire to 
 suppress evidence which would be dangerous to his own 
 safety, but then Hansford was himself in close confinement. 
 Mamalis, too, had manifested a spirit, the evening before, 
 towards the unhappy man, which might very naturally sub- 
 ject her to suspicion ; but, besides that, she played her part 
 of surprise to perfection it could not be conceived how 
 she had gotten possession of the key of the room. The 
 sentinel might indeed have thrown much light upon the 
 subject, but he kept his own counsel for fear of the conse- 
 quences of disobedience to orders ; and he boldly asserted 
 that no one had left the house during the night. This evi- 
 dence, taken in connection with the fact that the young girl 
 was found sleeping, as usual, in the little room adjoining 
 Virginia's chamber, entirely exculpated her from any par- 
 ticipation in the crime. Nothing then was left for it, but 
 to suppose that the unhappy man, in a fit of desperation, 
 had himself put a period to his existence. A little investi- 
 gation might have easily satisfied them that such an hypo- 
 thesis was as groundless as the rest ; for it was afterwards 
 ascertained by Colonel Temple, after a strict search, that 
 no weapon was found on or near the body, nor in the apart- 
 ment where it lay. But Sir William Berkeley, anxious to 
 proceed upon his way to Accomac, and caring but little-, 
 perhaps, for the fate of a rebel, whose life was probably 
 shortened but a few hours, gave the affair a very hurried 
 and summary examination. Bernard, with his quick saga- 
 city, discovered, or at least shrewdly suspected, the truth, 
 and Mamalis felt, as he fixed his dark eyes upon her, that 
 he had read the mystery of her heart. But, for his own 
 reasons, the villain for the present maintained the strictest 
 silence on the subject. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 225 
 
 But this catastrophe, so fatal to Berkenhead, was fortu- 
 nate for young Hansford. The Governor, more true to his 
 word to loyalists than he had hitherto been to the insur- 
 gents,, released our hero from imprisonment, in the absence 
 of any testimony against him. And, to the infinite chagrin 
 of Alfred Bernard, his rival, once more at liberty, was 
 again, in the language of the treacherous Plantagenet, " a 
 very serpent in his way." He had too surely discovered, 
 that so long as Hansford lived, the heart of Virginia Tem- 
 ple, or what he valued far more, her hand, could never be 
 given to another ; and yet he felt, that if he were out of the 
 Way, and that heart, though widowed, free to choose again, 
 the emotions of mistaken gratitude would prompt her to 
 listen with favour to his suit. With all his faults, too, and 
 with his mercenary motives, Bernard was not without a 
 feeling, resembling love, for Virginia. We are told that 
 there are fruits and flowers which, though poisonous in their 
 native soil, when transplanted and cherished under more 
 genial circumstances, become at once fair to the eye and 
 wholesome to the taste. It is thus with love. In the wild, 
 sterile heart of Alfred Bernard it had taken root, and 
 poisoned all his nature ; but yet it was the same emotion 
 which shed a genial influence over the manly heart- of Hans- 
 ford. If it had been otherwise, there were some as fair, 
 and many far more wealthy, in his adopted colony, than 
 Virginia Temple. But she was at once adapted to his inte- 
 rests, his passions, and his intellect. She could aid his 
 vaulting ambition by sharing with him her wealth ; she 
 could control, by the strength of her character, and the 
 sweetness of her disposition, his own wild nature ; and she 
 could be the instructive and congenial companion of his 
 intellect. And all this rich treasure might be his but for 
 the existence, the rivalry of the hated Hansford. Still his 
 ardent nature led him to hope. With all his heart he would 
 engage in quelling the rebellion, which he foresaw was 
 
226 HANSFORD: 
 
 about to burst upon the colony; and then revenge, the 
 sweetest morsel to the jealous mind, was his. Meantime, 
 he must look the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 
 it ; and curbing his own feelings, must, under pretence of 
 friendship and interest for a rival, continue to plot his ruin. 
 Alfred Bernard was equal to the task. 
 
 It was with these feelings that he sought Virginia Tem- 
 ple on the eve of his departure from Windsor Hall. The 
 young girl was seaied, with her lover, on a rude, rustic 
 bench, beneath the large oak where Bernard had, the eve- 
 ning before, had an interview with the unfortunate Berken- 
 head. As he approached, she rose, and with her usual 
 winning frankness of manner, she extended her hand. 
 
 " Come, Mr. Bernard," she said, " I have determined 
 that you and Major Hansford shall be friends." 
 
 "Most willingly, on my part," said the smooth-tongued 
 Bernard. " And I think I have given the best evidence of 
 my disposition to be so, by aiding feebly in restoring to 
 Miss Temple an old friend, when she must now so soon part 
 with her more recent acquaintance." 
 
 " I am happy to think," said Hansford, whose candour 
 prevented him from suppressing entirely the coldness of his 
 manner, " that I am indebted to Mr. Bernard for any inte- 
 rest he may have taken in my behalf. I hope, sir, you will 
 now add to the obligation under which I at present rest to 
 you, by apprising me in what manner you have so greatly 
 obliged me." 
 
 " Why, you must be aware," replied Bernard, " that your 
 present freedom from restraint is due to my interposition 
 with Sir William Berkeley." 
 
 "Oh yes, indeed," interposed Virginia, "for I heard my 
 father say that it was Mr. Bernard's wise suggestion, adopted 
 by the Governor, which secured your release." 
 
 " Hardly so," returned Hansford, " even if such were his 
 disposition. But, if I am rightly informed, your assistance 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 22 Y 
 
 only extended to a very natural request, that I should not 
 be judged guilty so long as there was no evidence to con- 
 vict me. If I am indebted to Mr. Bernard for impressing 
 upon the mind of the Governor a principle of law as old, I 
 believe, as Magna Charta, I must e'en render him the thanks 
 which are justly his due, and which he seems so anxious to 
 demand." 
 
 " Mr. Hansford," said Virginia, " why will you persist 
 in being so obstinate ? Is it such a hard thing, after all, 
 for one brave man to owe his life to another, or for an inno- 
 cent man to receive justice at the hands of a generous one ? 
 And at least, I should think, ' she added, with the least 
 possible pout, " that, when I ask as a favour that you should 
 be friends, you should not refuse me." 
 
 " Indeed, Miss Virginia," said Alfred Bernard, without 
 evincing the slightest mark of displeasure ; " you urge this 
 reconciliation too far. If Major Hansford have some 
 secret cause of enmity or distrust towards me, of which I 
 am ignorant, I beg that you will not force him to express 
 a sentiment which his heart does not entertain. And as 
 for his gratitude, which he seems to think that I demand, 
 I assure you, that for any service which I may have done 
 him, I am sufficiently compensated by my own conscious- 
 ness of rectitude of purpose, and nobly rewarded by secur- 
 ing your approving smile." 
 
 " Nobly, generously said, Mr. Bernard," replied Yir- 
 ginia, "and now I have indeed mistaken Mr. Hansford's 
 character if he fail to make atonement for his backward- 
 ness, by a full, free, and cordial reconciliation." 
 
 " I must needs give you my left hand, then," said Hans- 
 ford, extending his hand with as much cordiality as he 
 could assume ; " my right arm is disabled as you perceive, 
 by a wound inflicted by one of the enemies of my country, 
 against whom it would seem it is treason to battle." 
 
 " Nay, if you go into that hateful subject again," said 
 
228 HANSFORD: 
 
 Virginia, "I fear there is not much cordiality in your 
 heart yet. " 
 
 " Oh I you are mistaken, Miss Temple," said Bernard, 
 gaily; "you must remember the old adage, that the left is 
 nearest to the heart. Believe me, Major Hansford and 
 myself will be good friends yet, and when we hereafter shall 
 speak of our former estrangement, it will only be to remem- 
 ber by whose, gentle influence we were reconciled. But 
 permit me to hope, Major, that your wound is not serious." 
 
 "A mere trifle, I believe, sir," returned Hansford, "but 
 I am afaid I will suffer some inconvenience from it for some 
 time, as it is the sword arm ; and in these troublous times 
 it may fail me, when it should be prepared to defend. " 
 
 "An that were the only use to which you would apply 
 it," said Virginia, half laughing, and half in earnest, "I 
 would sincerely hope that it might never heal. " 
 
 " Oh fear not but that it will soon heal," said Bernard. 
 ''The most dangerous wounds are inflicted here," laying 
 his hand upon his heart; "a wound dealt not by a savage, 
 but by an angel ; not from the arrow of the ambushed In- 
 dian, but from the quiver of the mischievous little blind 
 boy and the more fatal, because we insanely delight to 
 inflame the wound instead of seeking to cure it." 
 x " Well really, Mr. Bernard," said Virginia, rallying the 
 gay young euphuist, " the flowers of gallantry which you 
 have brought from Windsor Court, thanks to your foster- 
 ing care, flourish quite as sweetly in this wilderness of 
 Windsor Hall. Take pity on an illiterate colonial girl, 
 and tell me whether this is the language of Waller, Cowley 
 or Dryden ?" 
 
 " It is the language of the heart, Miss Temple, on the 
 present occasion at least," said Bernard, gravely; "for I 
 am admonished that it is time I should say farewell. 
 Without flowers or poetry, Miss Virginia, I bid you 
 adieu. May you be happy, and derive from your asso- 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 229 
 
 elation with others that high enjoyment which you are so 
 capable of bestowing. Farewell, Major Hansford, we may 
 meet again, I trust, when it will not be necessary to invoke 
 the interposition of a fair mediator to effect a reconcilia- 
 tion." 
 
 Hansford well understood the innuendo contained in the 
 last words of Bernard, but taking the well-timed hint, 
 refrained from expressing it more clearly, and gave his 
 hand to his rival with every appearance of cordiality. 
 And Virginia, misconstruing the words of the young 
 Jesuit, frankly extended her own hand, which he pressed 
 respectfully to his lips, and then turned silently away. 
 
 " Well, I am delighted," said Virginia to her lover, when 
 they were thus left alone, " that you are at last friends with 
 Bernard. You see now that I was right and you were 
 wrong in our estimates of his character." 
 
 " Indeed I do not, my dear Virginia ; on the contrary, 
 this brief interview has but confirmed my previously formed 
 opinion." 
 
 " Oh! that is impossible, Hansford; you are too suspi- 
 cious, indeed you are. I never saw more refinement and 
 delicacy blended with more real candour. Indeed, Hans- 
 ford, he is a noble fellow." 
 
 "I am sorry to differ with you, dearest; but to my mind 
 his refinement is naught but Jesuitical craft : his delicacy the 
 result of an educational schooling of the lip, to conceal the 
 real feelings of his heart; and his candour but the gilt 
 washing which appears like gold, but after all, only hides 
 the baser metal beneath it." 
 
 " Well, in my life I never heard such perversion I Really, 
 Hansford, you will make me think you are jealous." 
 
 " Jealous, Virginia, jealous !" said Hansford, in a sorrow- 
 ful tone. " Alas ! if I were even capable of such a feeling, 
 what right have I to entertain it ? Your heart is free, and 
 torn from the soil which once cherished it, may be trans- 
 20 
 
230 HANSFORD : 
 
 planted elsewhere, while the poor earth where once it grew 
 can only hope now and then to feel the fragrance which it 
 sheds on all around. No, not jealous, Virginia, whatever 
 else I may be !" 
 
 "You speak too bitterly, Hansford; have I not assured 
 you that though a harsh fate may sever us ; though parental 
 authority may deny you my hand, yet my heart is unalter- 
 ably yours. But tell me, why it is that you can see nothing 
 good in this young man, and persist in perverting every 
 sentiment, every look, every expression to his injury ?" 
 
 Before Hansford could reply, the shrill voice of Mrs. 
 Temple was heard, crying out; " Virginia Temple, Virginia 
 Temple, why where can the child have got to 1" and at the 
 same moment the old lady came bustling round the house, 
 and discovered the unlawful interview of the lovers. 
 
 Rising hastily from her seat, Virginia advanced to her 
 mother, who, without giving her time to speak, even had 
 she been so inclined, sang out at the top of her voice 
 " Gome along, my daughter. Here are the guests in your 
 father's house kept waiting in the porch to tell you good- 
 bye, and you, forsooth, must be talking, tfce Lord knows 
 what, to that young scape-gallows yonder, who hasn't 
 modesty enough to know when and where he's wanted." 
 
 " Dear mother, don't speak so loud," whispered the poor 
 girl. 
 
 "Don't talk so loud, forsooth and why? They that 
 put themselves where they are not wanted and not asked, 
 must expect to hear ill of themselves." 
 
 " There comes my pretty Jeanie," said her old father, 
 as he saw her approach. " And so you found her at last, 
 mother. Come here, dearest, we have been waiting for 
 you." 
 
 The sweet tones of that gentle voice, which however 
 harsh at times to others, were ever modulated to the sweet- 
 est music when he spoke to her, fell upon the ears of the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'8 REBELLION. 231 
 
 poor confused and mortified girl, in such comforting 
 accents, that the full heart could no longer restrain its 
 gushing feelings, and she burst into tears. With swollen 
 eyes and with a heavy heart she bade adieu to the several 
 guests, and as Sir William Berkeley, in the mistaken kind- 
 ness of his heart, kissed her cheek, and whispered that Ber- 
 nard would soon return and all would be happy again, she 
 sobbed as if her gentle heart would break. 
 
 " I always tell the Colonel that he ruins the child," said 
 Mrs. Temple to the Governor, with one of her blandest 
 smiles, on seeing this renewed exhibition of sensibility. 
 " It was not so in our day, Lady Frances ; we had other 
 things to think about than crying and weeping. Tears 
 were not so shallow then." 
 
 Lady Frances Berkeley nodded a stately acquiescence to 
 this tribute to the stoicism of the past, and made some 
 sage, original and relevant reflection, that shallow streams 
 ever were the most noisy and then kissing the weeping 
 girl, repeated the grateful assurance that Bernard would 
 not be long absent, and that she herself would be present 
 at the happy bridal, to taste the bride's cake and quaff 
 the knitting cup,* with other like consolations well calcu- 
 lated to restore tranquillity and happiness to the bosom of 
 the disconsolate Virginia. 
 
 And so the unfortunate Berkeley commenced that fatal 
 flight, which contributed so largely to divert the arms of 
 the insurgents from the Indians to the government, and to 
 change what else might have been a mere unauthorized 
 attack upon the common enemies of the country into a pro- 
 tracted and bloody civil war. 
 
 Hansford did not long remain at Windsor Hall, after the 
 departure of the loyalists. He would indeed have been 
 wanting in astuteness if he had not inferred from the direct 
 
 * A cup drunk at the marriage ceremony in honour of the bride. 
 
232 HANSFORD. 
 
 language of Mrs. Temple that he was an unwelcome visi- 
 tant at the mansion. But more important, if not more 
 cogent reasons urged his immediate departure. He saw 
 at a glance the fatal error committed by Berkeley in his 
 flight to Accomac, and the immense advantage it would 
 be to the insurgents. He wished, therefore, without loss of 
 time to communicate the welcome intelligence to Bacon 
 and his followers, who, he knew, were anxiously awaiting 
 the result of his mission. 
 
 Ordering his horse, he bade a cordial adieu to the good 
 old colonel, who, as he shook his hand, said, with a tear in his 
 eye, " Oh, my boy, my boy ! if your head were as near right 
 as I believe your heart is, how I would love to welcome 
 you to my bosom as my son." 
 
 " I hope, my kind, my noble friend," said Hansford, 
 " that the day may yet come when you will see that I am 
 not wholly wrong. God knows I would almost rather err 
 with you than to be right with any other man." Then 
 bidding a kind farewell to Mrs. Temple and Yirginia, to 
 which the old lady responded with due civility, but without 
 cordiality, he vaulted into the saddle and rode off and as 
 long as the house was still in view, he could see the white 
 'kerchief of Yirginia from the open window, waving a last 
 fond adieu to her unhappy lover. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 233 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 'The abstract and brief chronicle of the time." 
 
 Hamlet. 
 
 IT is not our purpose to trouble the reader with a de- 
 tailed account of all the proceedings of the famous Rebel- 
 lion, which forms the basis of our story. We, therefore, 
 pass rapidly over the stirring incidents which immediately 
 succeeded the flight of Sir William Berkeley. Interesting 
 as these incidents may be to the antiquary or historian, 
 they have but little to do with the dramatis personae of 
 this faithful narrative, in whose fate we trust our readers 
 are somewhat interested. Accoinac is divided from the 
 mainland of Virginia by the broad Chesapeake Bay. 
 Although coatained in the same grant which prescribed 
 the limits to the colony, and although now considered a 
 part of this ancient commonwealth, there is good reason to 
 believe that formerly it was considered in a different light. 
 In one of the earliest colonial state papers which has been 
 preserved, the petition of Morryson, Ludwell & Smith, for 
 a reformed charter for the colony, the petitioners are 
 Btyled the " agents for the governor, council and burgesses 
 of the country of Virginia and territory of Accomac;" and 
 although this form of phraseology appears in but few of 
 the records, yet it would appear that the omission was the 
 result of mere convenience in style-, just as Victoria is 
 more frequently styled the Queen of England, than called 
 by her more formal title of Queen of the United King- 
 doms of Great Britian and Ireland, by the Grace of God, 
 Defender of the Faith. It was, therefore, not without 
 20* 
 
234 HANSFORD: 
 
 reason, that Nathaniel Bacon, glad at least of a pretext for 
 advancing his designs, should have considered the flight of 
 Sir William Berkeley to Accomac as a virtual abdication 
 of his authority, more especially as it had been ordained 
 but two years before by the council at Whitehall, that the 
 governor should be actually a resident of Virginia, unless 
 when summoned by the King to England or elsewhere. At 
 least it was a sufficient pretext for the young insurgent, who, 
 in the furtherance of his designs did not seem to be over-scru- 
 pulous in regard to the powers with which he was clothed. 
 But twelve years afterwards a similar pretext afforded by the 
 abdication of James the Second, relieved the British govern- 
 ment of one of the most serious difficulties which has arisen 
 in her constitutional history. 
 
 Without proceeding on his expedition against the Indians, 
 Bacon had no sooner heard of the abdication of the governor 
 than he retired to the Middle Plantation, the site of the 
 present venerable city of Williamsburg. Here, summoning 
 a convention of the most prominent citizens from all parts 
 of the colony, he declared the government vacated by the 
 voluntary abdication of Berkeley, and in his own name, and 
 the name of four members of the council, proceeded to issue 
 writs for a meeting of the Assembly. It is but just to the 
 memory of this great man to say, that this Assembly, con- 
 vened by his will, and acting, as may well be conceived, 
 almost exclusively under his dictation, has left upon our 
 statute books laws " the most wholesome and good," for 
 the benefit of the colony, and the most conducive to the 
 advancement of rational liberty. The rights of property 
 remained inviolate the reforms were moderate and judi- 
 cious, and the government of the colony proceeded as 
 quietly and calmly after the accomplishment of the revolu- 
 tion, as though Sir William Berkeley were still seated in 
 his palace as the executive magistrate of Virginia. A 
 useful lesson did this young colonial rebel teach to modern 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 235 
 
 reformers who would defame his name the lesson that 
 reform does not necessarily imply total change, and that 
 there is nothing with which it is more dangerous to tamper 
 than long established usage. The worst of all quacks are 
 those who would administer their sovereign nostrums to 
 the constitution of their country. 
 
 The reader of history need not be reminded that the 
 expedition of Bland and Carver, designed to surprise Sir 
 William Berkeley in his new retreat, was completely frus- 
 trated by the treachery of Larimore, and its unfortunate 
 projectors met, at the hands of the stern old Governor, a 
 traitor's doom. Thus the drooping hopes of the loyalists 
 were again revived, and taking advantage of this happy 
 change in the condition of affairs, Berkeley with his little 
 band of faithful adherents returned by sea to Jamestown, 
 and fortified the place to the best of their ability against 
 the attacks of the rebels. 
 
 Nor were the insurgents unwilling to furnish them an 
 opportunity for a contest. The battle of Bloody Run is 
 memorable in the annals of the colony as having forever 
 annihilated the Indian power in Eastern Virginia. Like 
 the characters in Bunyan's sublime vision, this unhappy 
 race, so long a thorn in the side of the colonists, had passed 
 away, and "they saw their faces no more." But his very 
 triumph over the savage enemies of his country, well nigh 
 proved the ruin of the young insurgent. Many of his fol- 
 lowers, who had joined him with a bona fide design of 
 extirpating the Indian power, now laid down their arms, 
 and retired quietly to their several homes. Bacon was 
 thus left with only about two hundred adherents, to prose- 
 cute the civil war which the harsh and dissembling policy of 
 Berkeley had invoked ; while the Governor was surrounded 
 by more than three times that number, with the entire navy 
 of Virginia at his command, and, moreover, secure behind 
 the fortifications of Jamestown. Yet did not the brave 
 
236 HANSFORD: 
 
 young hero shrink from the contest. Though reduced in num- 
 bers, those that remained were in themselves a host. They 
 were all men of more expanded views, and more exalted 
 conceptions of liberty, than many of the medley crew who 
 had before attended him. They fought in a holier cause 
 than when arrayed against the despised force of their savage 
 foes, and, moreover, they fought in self-defence. For, too 
 proud and generous to desert their leader in his hour of 
 peril, each of his adherents lay under the proscriptive ban 
 of the revengeful Governor, as a rebel and a traitor. No 
 sooner, therefore, did Bacon hear of the return of Berkeley 
 to Jamestown, than, with hasty marches, he proceeded to 
 invest the place. It is here, then, that we resume the thread 
 of our broken narrative. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 " When Liberty rallies 
 Once more in thy regions, remember me then." 
 
 Byron. 
 
 IT was on a calm, clear morning in the latter part 
 of the month of September, that the little army of Na- 
 thaniel Bacon, wearied and worn with protracted marches, 
 and with hard fought battles, might be seen winding through 
 the woodland district to the north of Jamestown. The 
 two cavaliers, who led the way a little distance ahead of the 
 main body of the insurgents, were Bacon and his favourite 
 comrade, Hansford engaged, as before, in an animated, 
 but now a more earnest conversation. The brow of the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 23f 
 
 young hero was more overcast with care and reflection than 
 when we last saw him. The game, which he had fondly 
 hoped was over, had yet to be played, and the stake that 
 remained was far more serious than any which had yet 
 been risked. During the brief interval that his undisputed 
 power existed, the colony had nourished and improved, and 
 the bright dream which he had of her approaching delivery 
 from bondage, seemed about to be realized. And now it 
 was sad and disheartening to think that the battle must 
 again be fought, and with such odds against him, that the 
 chances of success were far more remote than ever. But 
 Bacon was not the man to reveal his feelings, and he 
 imparted to others the cheerfulness which he failed to feel 
 himself. From time to time he would ride along the bro- 
 ken ranks, revive their drooping spirits, inspire them with 
 new courage, and impart fresh ardor into their breasts for 
 the glorious cause in which they were engaged. Then 
 rejoining Hansford, he would express to him the fears and 
 apprehensions which he had so studiously concealed from 
 the rest. 
 
 It was on one of these occasions, after deploring the 
 infatuated devotion of so many of the colonists to the 
 cause of blind loyalty, and the desertion of so many on 
 whom he had relied to co-operate in his enterprize, that he 
 said, bitterly : 
 
 " I fear sometimes, my friend, that we have been too pre- 
 mature in our struggle for liberty. Virginia is not yet ready 
 to be free. Her people still hug the chains which enslave 
 them." 
 
 "Alas!" said Hansford, "it is too true that we cannot 
 endue the infant in swaddling bands with the pride and 
 strength of a giant. The child who learns to walk must 
 meet with many a fall, and the nation that aspires to free- 
 dom will often be checked by disaster and threatened with 
 ruin. " 
 
238 HANSFORD : 
 
 "And this it is," said Bacon, sorrowfully, "that makes 
 me sick at heart. Each struggle to be free sinks the chain 
 of the captive deeper into his flesh. And should we fail 
 now, my friend, we but tighten the fetters that bind us." 
 
 " Think not thus gloomily on the subject," replied Hans- 
 ford. " Believe me, that you have already done much to 
 develope the germ of freedom in Virginia. It may be that 
 it may not expand and grow in our brief lives ; and even 
 though our memory may pass away, and the nation we have 
 served may fail to call us blessed, yet they will rejoice in 
 the fruition of that freedom for which we may perish. 
 Should the soldier repine because he is allotted to lead a 
 forlorn hope ? No ! there is a pride and a glory to know, 
 that his death is the bridge over which others will pass to 
 victory." 
 
 " God bless your noble soul, Hansford," said Bacon, with 
 the intensest admiration. " It is men like you and not like 
 me who are worthy to live in future generations. Men 
 who, regardless of the risk or sacrifice of self, press onward 
 in the discharge of duty. Love of glory may elevate the 
 soul in the hour of triumph, but love of duty, and firmness 
 resolutely to discharge it, can alone sustain us in the hour 
 of peril and trial." 
 
 This was at last the difference between the two men. 
 Intense desire for personal fame, united with a subordinate 
 love of country impelled Bacon in his course. Inflexible 
 resolution to discharge a sacred duty, an entire abnegation 
 of self in its performance, and the strongest convictions of 
 right constituted the incentives to Hansford. It was this 
 that in the hour of their need sustained the heart of Hans- 
 ford, while the more selfish but noble heart of his leader 
 almost sank within him ; and yet the effects upon the actions 
 of the two were much the same. The former, unswayed by 
 circumstances however adverse, pressed steadily and firmly 
 on ; while the latter, with the calmness of desperation, know- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 239 
 
 ing that safety, and (what was dearer) glory, lay in the 
 path of success, braced himself for the struggle with more 
 than his usual resolution. 
 
 " But, alas 1" continued Bacon, in the same melancholy 
 tone, " if we should fail, how hard to be forgotten. Your 
 name and memory to perish among men forever your very 
 grave to be neglected and uncared for; and this living, 
 breathing frame, instinct with life, and love, and glory, to 
 pass away and mingle with the dust of the veriest worm 
 which crawls upon the earth. Oh, God ! to be forgotten, 
 to leave no impress on the world but what the next flowing 
 tide may efface forever. Think of it, realize it, Hansford 
 to be forgotten !" 
 
 " It would, indeed, be a melancholy thought," said Hans- 
 ford, with a deep sympathy for his friend " if this were 
 all. But when we remember that we stand but on the 
 threshold of existence, and have a higher, a holier destiny to 
 attain beyond, we need care but little for what is passing 
 here. I have sometimes thought, my friend, that as in man- 
 hood we sometimes smile at the absurd frivolities which 
 caught our childish fancy, so when elevated to a higher 
 sphere we would sit and wonder at the interest which we 
 took in the trifling pleasures, the empty honours, and the 
 glittering toys of this present life." 
 
 " And do you mean to say that honour and glory are 
 nothing here ?" 
 
 " Only so far as they reflect the honour and glory which 
 are beyond. " 
 
 "Pshaw, man!" cried Bacon, "you do not, you cannot 
 think so. You ask me the reason of this desire for fame 
 and remembrance when we are dust. I tell you it is an 
 instinct implanted in us by the Almighty to impel us to 
 glorious deeds." 
 
 "Aye," said Hansford, quietly, "and when that desire, 
 by our own indulgence, becomes excessive, just as the baser 
 
240 HANSFORD I 
 
 appetites of the glutton or the debauchee, it becomes cor- 
 rupt and tends to our destruction." 
 
 "You are a curious fellow, Hansford," said Bacon, 
 laughing, " and should have been one of old Noll's generals 
 for I believe you can preach as well as you can fight, and 
 believe me that is no slight commendation. But you must 
 excuse me if I cannot agree with you in all of your senti- 
 ments. I am sorry to say that old Butler's ' pulpit drum 
 ecclesiastic' seldom beat me to a church parade while I was 
 in England, and here in Virginia they send us the worst 
 preachers, as they send us the worst of every thing. But 
 a truce to the subject. Tell me are you a believer in pre- 
 sentiments ?" 
 
 " Surely such things are possible, but I believe them to 
 be rare," replied his companion. " Future events certainly 
 make an impression upon the animal creation, and I know 
 not why man should be exempt entirely from a similar law. 
 The migratory birds will seek a more southern clime, even 
 before a change of weather is indicated by the wind, and the 
 appearance of the albatross, or the bubbling of the porpoise, 
 if we may believe the sailors' account, portend a storm." 
 
 " These phenomena," suggested Bacon, "may easily be 
 explained by some atmospheric influence, insensible to our 
 nature, but easily felt by them." 
 
 "I might answer," replied Hansford, "that if insensible 
 to us, we are not warranted in presuming their existence. 
 But who can tell in the subtle mechanism of the mind how 
 sensitive it may be to the impressions of coming yet unseen 
 events. At least, all nations have believed in the existence 
 of such an influence, and the Deity himself has deigned to 
 use it through his prophets, in the revelation of his pur- 
 poses to man." 
 
 " Well, true or not," said Bacon, in a low voice, " I have 
 felt the effect of such a presentiment in my own mind, and 
 although I have tried to resist its influence I have been 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 241 
 
 unable to do so. There is something which whispers to me, 
 Hansford, that I will not see the consummation of my hopes 
 in this colony and that dying I shall leave behind me an 
 inglorious name. For what at last is an unsuccessful 
 patriot but a rebel. And oh, as I have listened to the 
 monitions of this demon, it seemed as though the veil of 
 futurity were raised, and I could read my fate in after years. 
 Some future chronicler will record this era of Yirginia's 
 history, and this struggle for freedom on the part of her 
 patriot children will be styled rebellion ; our actions mis- 
 represented ; our designs misinterpreted ; and 1 the leader 
 and in part the author of the movement will be handed 
 down with Wat Tyler and Jack Cade to infamy, obloquy 
 and reproach." 
 
 " Think not thus gloomily," said Hansford, " the feelings 
 you describe are often suggested to an excited imagination 
 by the circumstances with which it is surrounded ; just as 
 dreams are the run mad chroniclers of our daily thoughts 
 and hopes and apprehensions. You should not yield to 
 them, General, they unman you or at least unfit you for the 
 duties which lie before you." 
 
 " You are right," returned Bacon ; " and I banish them 
 from me forever. I have half a mind to acknowledge my- 
 self your convert, Hansford ; eschew the gaily bedizzened 
 Glory, and engage your demure little Quaker, Duty, as my 
 handmaiden in her place." 
 
 " I will feel but too proud of such a convert to my creed," 
 said Hansford laughing. " And now what of your plans 
 on Jamestown ?" 
 
 " Why to tell you the truth," said Bacon gravely ; " I 
 am somewhat at fault in regard to my actions there. I 
 could take the town in a day, and repulse those raw recruits 
 of the old Governor with ease, if they would only sally out. 
 But I suspect the old tyrant will play a safe game with me- 
 and securely ensconced behind his walls, will cut my brave 
 21 
 
242 HANSFORD: 
 
 boys to pieces with his cannon before I can make a suc- 
 cessful breach." 
 
 " You could throw up breastworks for your protection," 
 suggested Hansford. 
 
 " Aye, but I fear it would be building a stable after the 
 horse was stolen. With our small force we could not 
 resist their guns while we were constructing our fortifica- 
 tions. But I will try it by night, and we may succeed. 
 
 The d d old traitor if he would only meet me in open 
 
 field, I could make my way 'through twenty times his 
 stop.'" 
 
 " Well, we must encounter some risk," replied Hansford. 
 " I have great hopes from the character of his recruits, too. 
 Though they number much more than ourselves, yet they 
 serve without love, and in the present exhausted exchequer 
 of the colony, are fed more by promises than money." 
 
 " They are certainly not likely to be fed by angels," said 
 Bacon, " as some of the old prophets are said to have 
 been. But, Hansford, an idea has just struck me, which is 
 quite a new manoeuvre in warfare, and from which your 
 ideas of chivalry will revolt." 
 
 " What is it ?" asked Hansford eagerly. 
 
 " Why if it succeeds," returned Bacon, " I will warrant 
 that Jamestown is in our hands in twenty-four hours, with- 
 out the loss of more blood than would fill a quart canteen." 
 
 " Bravo, then, General, if you add such an important 
 principle to the stock of military tactics, I'll warrant that 
 whispering demon lied, and that you will retain both Glory 
 and Duty in your service." 
 
 " I am afraid you will change your note, Thomas, when 
 I develope my plan. It is simply this to detail a party 
 of men to scour the country around Jamestown, and collect 
 the good dames and daughters of our loyal councillors. 
 If we take them with us, I'll promise to provide a secure 
 defence against the enemies' fire. The beseiged will dare 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 243 
 
 not fire a gun so long as there is danger of striking their 
 wives and children, and we, in the meantime, secure behind 
 this temporary breastwork, will prepare a less objectionable 
 defence. What think you of the plan, Hansford ?" 
 
 " Good God !" cried Hansford, " You are not in earnest 
 General Bacon ?" 
 
 " And why not ?" said Bacon, in reply. " If such a 
 course be not adopted, at least half of the brave fellows 
 behind us will be slaughtered like sheep. While no harm 
 can result to the ladies themselves, beyond the inconvenience 
 of a few hours' exposure to the night air, which they should 
 willingly endure to preserve life." 
 
 Hansford was silent. He knew how useless it was to 
 oppose Bacon when he had once resolved. His chivalrous 
 nature revolted at the idea of exposing refined and delicate 
 females to such a trial. And yet he could not deny that 
 the project if successfully carried out would be the means 
 of saving much bloodshed, and of ensuring a speedy and 
 easy victory to the insurgents. 
 
 " Why, what are you thinking of, man, "said Bacon gaily. 
 " I thought my project would wound your delicate sensi- 
 bilities. But to my mind there is more real chivalry and more 
 true humanity in sparing brave blood to brave hearts, than 
 in sacrificing it to a sickly regard for a woman's feelings." 
 
 " The time has been when brave blood would have leaped 
 gushing from brave hearts," said Hansford proudly, "to 
 protect woman from the slightest shadow of insult." 
 
 " Most true, my brave Chevalier Bayard," said Bacon, in 
 a tone of unaffected good humor, " and shall again and 
 mine, believe me, will not be more sluggish in such a cause 
 than your own. But here no insult is intended and none 
 will be given. These fair prisoners shall be treated with 
 the respect due to their sex and station. My hand and 
 sword for that. But the time has been when woman too 
 was willing to sacrifice her shrinking delicacy in defence of 
 
244 HANSFORD : 
 
 her country. Wot ye how Rome was once saved by the 
 noble intercession of the wife and mother of Caius Marcus 
 or how the English forces were beaten from the walls of 
 Orleans by the heroic Joan, or how " 
 
 "You need not multiply examples," said Hansford inter- 
 rupting him, " to show how women of a noble nature have 
 uusexed themselves to save their country. Your illustra- 
 tions do not apply, for they did voluntarily what the ladies 
 of Virginia must do upon compulsion. But, sir, I have no 
 more to say. If you persist in this resolution, unchivalrous 
 as I believe it to be, yet I will try to see my duty in ame- 
 liorating the condition of these unhappy females as far 
 as possible." 
 
 " And in me you shall have been a most cordial coad- 
 jutor," returned Bacon. " But, my dear fellow, your chivalry 
 is too shallow. Excuse me, if I say that it is all mere sen- 
 timent without a substratum of reason. Now look you 
 you would willingly kill in battle the husbands of these 
 ladies, and thus inflict a life-long wound upon them, and 
 yet you refuse to pursue a course by which lives may be 
 saved, because it subjects them to a mere temporary incon- 
 venience. But look again. Have you no sympathy left 
 for the wives, no chivalry for the daughters of our own 
 brave followers, whose hearts will be saved full many a 
 pang by a stratagem, which will ensure the safety of their 
 protectors. Believe me, my dear Hansford, if chivalry be 
 nought but a mawkish sentiment, which would throw away 
 the real substance of good, to retain the mere shadow re- 
 flected in its mirror, like the poor dog in the fable the 
 sooner its reign is over the better for humanity." 
 
 "But, General Bacon," said Hansford, by no means 
 convinced by the sophistry of his plausible leader, " if the 
 future chronicler of whom you spoke, should indeed write 
 the history of this enterprise, he will record no fact which 
 will reflect less honour upon your name, than that you 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 245 
 
 found a means for your defence in the persons of defenceless 
 women." 
 
 " So let it be, my gallant chevalier," replied Bacon, gaily, 
 determined not to be put out of humour by Hansford's 
 grave remonstrance. "But you have taught me not to 
 look into future records for my name, or for the vindication 
 of my course and your demure damsel Duty has whispered 
 that I am in the path of right. Look ye, Hansford, don't 
 be angry with your friend ; for I assure you on the honour 
 of a gentleman, that the dames themselves will bear testi- 
 mony to the chivalry of Nathaniel Bacon. And besides, 
 my dear fellow, we will not impress any but the sterner old 
 dames into our service. You know the older they are the 
 better they will serve for material for an impregnable 
 fortress. " 
 
 So saying, Bacon ordered a halt, and communicating to 
 his soldiers his singular design, he detailed Captain Wil- 
 ford and a party of a dozen men, selected on account of 
 their high character, to capture and bring into his camp 
 the wives of certain of the royalists, who, though residing in 
 the country, had rallied to the support of Sir William 
 Berkeley, on his return to Jamestown. In addition to 
 these who were thus found in their several homes, the de- 
 tailed corps had intercepted the carriage of our old friend, 
 Colonel Temple ; for the old loyalist had no sooner heard 
 of the return of Sir William Berkeley, than he hastened to 
 join him at the metropolis, leaving his wife and daughter 
 to follow him on the succeeding day. What was the con- 
 sternation and mortification of Thomas Hansford as he saw 
 the fair Virginia Temple conducted, weeping, into the rude 
 camp of the insurgents, followed by her high-tempered old 
 mother, who to use the chaste and classic simile of Tony 
 Lumpkin, " fidgeted and spit about like a Catherine wheel" 
 
 21* 
 
246 HANSFORD I 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 " It is the cry of women, good, my lord." 
 
 Macbeth. 
 
 AGREEABLY with the promise of Bacon, the captured 
 ladies were treated with a respect and deference which 
 allayed in a great degree their many apprehensions. Still 
 they could not refrain from expressions of the strongest 
 indignation at an act so unusual, so violent, and so entirely 
 at war with the established notions of chivalry at the time. 
 As the reader will readily conjecture, our good friend, Mrs. 
 Temple, was by no means the most patient under the 
 wrongs she had endured, and resisting the kind attentions 
 of those around her, she was vehement in her denunciations 
 of her captors, and in her apprehensions of a thousand 
 imaginary dangers. 
 
 " Oh my God !" she cried, " I know that they intend to 
 murder us. To think of leaving a quiet home, and being ex- 
 posed to such treatment as this. Oh, my precious husband, 
 if he only knew what a situation his poor Betsey was in at 
 this moment; but never mind, as sure as I am a living 
 woman, he shall know it, and then we will see." 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Temple," said Mrs. Ballard, another of 
 the captives, " do not give way to your feelings thus. It is 
 useless, and will only serve to irritate these men." 
 
 "Men! they are not men!" returned the excited old 
 lady, refusing to be comforted. " Men never would have 
 treated ladies so. They are base, cruel, inhuman wretches, 
 and, as I said before, if I live, to get to Jamestown, Colonel 
 Temple shall know of it too so he shall." 
 
 " But reflect, my dear friend, that our present condition 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 24T 
 
 is not affected by this very natural resolution which you 
 have made, to inform your husband of your wrongs. But 
 whatever may be the object of these persons, I feel assured 
 that they intend no personal injury to us." 
 
 " No personal injury, forsooth ; and have we not sus- 
 tained it already. Look at my head-tire, all done up nicely 
 just before I left the hall, and now scarcely fit to be seen, 
 And is it nothing to be hauled all over the country with a 
 party of ruffians, that I would be ashamed to be caught in 
 company with ; and who knows what they intend ?" 
 
 " I admit with you, my dear madam," said Mrs. Ballard, 
 "that such conduct is unmanly and inexcusable, and I care 
 not who hears me say so. But still," she added in a low 
 voice, " we have the authority of scripture to make friends 
 even of the mammon of unrighteousness." 
 
 " Friends ! I would die first. I who have been moving 
 in the first circles, the wife of Colonel Temple, who, if he 
 had chosen, might have been the greatest in the land, to 
 make friends with a party of mean, sneaking, cowardly ruf- 
 fians. Never and I'll speak my mind freely too they 
 shall see that I have a woman's tongue in my head and 
 know how to resent these injuries. Oh, for shame! and to 
 wear swords too, which used to be the badge of gentlemen 
 and cavaliers, who would rather have died than wrong a 
 poor, weak, defenceless woman much less to rob and mur- 
 der her." 
 
 "Well, let us hope for the best, my friend," said Mrs. 
 Ballard ; " God knows I feel as you do, that we have been 
 grossly wronged ; but let us remember that we are in the 
 hands of a just and merciful Providence, who will do with 
 us according to his holy will." 
 
 " I only know that we are in the hands of a parcel of 
 impious and merciless wretches," cried the old lady, who, 
 as we have seen on a former occasion, derived but little 
 comfort from the consolations of religion in the hour of 
 
248 HANSFORD : 
 
 trial. " I hope I have as ranch religion as my fellows, who 
 pretend to so much more but I should like to know what 
 effect that would have on a band of lawless cut-throats ?" 
 
 " He has given us his holy promise," said Virginia, in a 
 solemn, yet hopeful voice of resignation, "that though we 
 walk through the valley and the shadow of death, he will 
 be with us his rod and his staff will comfort us yea, he 
 prepareth a table for us in the presence of our enemies, our 
 cup runneth over." 
 
 " Well, I reckon I know that as well as you, miss ; but 
 it seems there is but little chance of having a table pre- 
 pared for us here," retorted her mother, whose fears and 
 indignation had whetted rather than allayed her appetite. 
 But I think it is very unseemly in a young girl to be so 
 calm under such circumstances. I know that when I was 
 your age, the bare idea of submitting to such an exposure 
 as this would have shocked me out of my senses." 
 
 Virginia could not help thinking, that considering the 
 lapse of time since her mother was a young girl, there had 
 been marvellously little change wrought in her keen sensi- 
 bility to exposure ; for she was already evidently " shocked 
 out of her senses." But she refrained from expressing 
 such a dangerous opinion, and replied, in a sad tone 
 
 " And can you think, my dearest mother, that I do not 
 feel in all its force our present awful condition ! But, alas I 
 what can we do. As Mrs. Ballard truly says, our best 
 course is to endeavour to move the coarse sympathies of 
 these rebels, and even-if they should not relent, they will at 
 least render our condition less fearful by their forbearance 
 and respect. Oh, my mother I my only friend in this dark 
 hour of peril and misfortune, think not so harshly of your 
 daughter as to suppose that she feels less acutely the hor- 
 rors of her situation, because she fails to express her fears." 
 And so saying, the poor girl drew yet closer to her mother, 
 and wept upon her bosom. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 249 
 
 " I meant not to speak unkindly, dear Jeanie," said the 
 good-hearted old lady, " but you know, my child, that when 
 my fears get the better of me, I am not myself. It does 
 seem to me, that I was born under some unlucky star. 
 Ever since I was born the world has been turning upside 
 down ; and God knows, I don't know what I have done 
 that it should be so. But first, that awful revolution in 
 England, and then, when we came here to pass our old 
 days in peace arid quiet, this infamous rebellion. And yet 
 I must say, I never knew any thing like this. There was 
 at least some show of religion among the old Roundheads, 
 and though they were firm and demure enough, and hated 
 all kinds of amusement, and cruel enough too with all their 
 psalm singing, to cut off their poor king's head, yet they 
 always treated women with respect and decency. But, 
 indeed, even the rebels of the present day are not what 
 they used to be." 
 
 Virginia could scarcely forbear smiling, amid her tears, 
 at this new application of her mother's favourite theory. 
 The conversation was here interrupted by the approach of 
 a young officer, who, bowing respectfully to the bevy of 
 captive ladies, said politely, that he was sorry to intrude 
 upon their presence, but that, as it was time to pursue their 
 journey, he had come to ask if the ladies would partake 
 of some refreshment before their ride. 
 
 "If they could share the rough fare of a soldier, it 
 would bestow a great favour and honour upon him to 
 attend to their wishes ; and indeed, as it would be several 
 hours before they could reach Jamestown, they would stand 
 in need of some refreshment, ere they arrived at more 
 comfortable quarters." 
 
 " As your unhappy prisoners, sir," said Mrs. Ballard, 
 with great dignity, " we can scarcely object to a soldier's 
 fare. Prisoners have no choice but to take the food which 
 the humanity of their jailers sets before them. Your 
 
250 HANSFORD : 
 
 apology is therefore needless, if not insulting to our mis- 
 fortunes." 
 
 "Well, madam," returned Wilford, in the same respect- 
 ful tone, " I did not mean to offend you, and regret that I 
 have done so through mistaken kindness. May I add that, 
 in common with the rest of the army, I deplore the neces- 
 sity which has compelled us to resort to such harsh means 
 towards yourselves, in order to ensure success and safety." 
 
 " I deeply sympathize with you in your profound regret," 
 said Mrs. Ballard, ironically. " But pray tell me, sir, 
 if you learned this very novel and chivalric mode of warfare 
 from the savages with whom you have been contending, or 
 is it the result of General Bacon's remarkable military 
 genius ?" 
 
 " It is the result of the stern necessity under which we 
 rest, of coping with a force far superior to our own. And 
 I trust that while your ladyships can suffer but little incon- 
 venience from our course, you will not regret your own 
 cares, if thereby you might prevent an effusion of blood." 
 
 " Oh, that is it," replied Mrs. Ballard, in the same tone 
 of withering irony. " I confess that I was dull enough to 
 believe that the self-constituted, self-styled champions of 
 freedom had courage enough to battle for the right, and not 
 to screen themselves from danger, as a child will seek pro- 
 tection behind its mother's apron, from the attack of an 
 enraged cow." 
 
 " Madam, I will not engage in an encounter of wits with 
 you. I will do you but justice when I say that few would 
 come off victors in such a contest. But I have a message 
 from one of our officers to this young lady, I believe, which 
 I was instructed to reserve for her private ear." 
 
 " There is no need for a confidential communication," 
 said Virginia Temple, " as I have no secret which I desire 
 to conceal from my mother and these companions in misfor- 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 251 
 
 tune. If, therefore, you have aught to say to me, you may 
 say it here, or else leave it unexpressed." 
 
 "As you please, my fair young lady," returned Wilford. 
 " My message concerns you alone, but if you do not care 
 to conceal it from your companions, I will deliver it in their 
 presence. Major Thomas Hansford desires me to say, that 
 if you would allow him the honour of an interview of a few 
 moments, he would gladly take the opportunity of explain- 
 ing to you the painful circumstances by which you are sur- 
 rounded, in a manner which he trusts may meet with your 
 approbation." 
 
 " Say to Major Thomas Hansford," replied Virginia, 
 proudly, "that, as I am his captive, I cannot prevent his 
 intrusion into my presence. I cannot refuse to hear what 
 he may have to speak. But tell him, moreover, that no 
 explanation can justify this last base act, and that no repa- 
 ration can erase it from my memory. Tell him that she 
 who once honoured him, and loved him, as all that was 
 noble, and generous, and chivalric, now looks back upon 
 the past as on a troubled dream ; and that, in future, if she 
 should hear his name, she will remember him but as one 
 who, cast in a noble mould, might have been worthy of the 
 highest admiration, but, defaced by an indelible stain, is 
 cast aside as worthy alike of her indignation and con- 
 tempt." 
 
 As the young girl uttered the last fatal words, she sank 
 back into her grassy seat by her mother's side, as though 
 exhausted by the effort she had made. She had torn with 
 violent resolution from her breast the image which had so 
 long been enshrined there not only as a picture to be 
 loved, but as an idol to be worshipped and though duty 
 had nerved and sustained her in the effort, nothing could 
 assuage the anguish it inflicted She did not love him 
 then, but she had loved him ; and her heart, like the gloomy 
 chamber where death has been, seemed more desolate for 
 
252 HANSFORD : 
 
 the absence of that which, though hideous to gaze upon, 
 was now gone forever. 
 
 Young Wilford was deeply impressed with the scene, and 
 could not altogether conceal the emotion which it excited. 
 In a hurried and agitated voice he promised to deliver her 
 message to Hansford, and bowing again politely to the 
 ladies, he slowly withdrew. 
 
 In a few moments one of the soldiers came with the 
 expected refreshment, which certainly justified the descrip- 
 tion which Wilford had given. It was both coarse and 
 plain. Jerked venison, which had evidently been the pro- 
 perty of a stag with a dozen branches to his horns, and 
 some dry and moulding biscuit, completed the homely 
 repast. Virginia, and most of her companions, declined 
 partaking of the unsavoury viands, but Mrs. Temple, 
 though bitterly lamenting her hard fate, in dooming her to 
 such hard fare, worked vigorously away at the tough veni- 
 son with her two remaining molars asserting the while, 
 very positively, that no such venison as that existed in her 
 young days, though, to confess the truth, if we may judge 
 from the evident age of the deceased animal, it certainly 
 did. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 253 
 
 CHAPTER XXXY. 
 
 " Yet, though dull hate as duty should be taught, 
 I know that thou wilt love me ; though my name 
 Should be shut from thee, as a spell still fraught 
 With desolation, and a broken claim j 
 Though the grave closed between us, 'twere the same." 
 
 Childe Harold. 
 
 THE daylight had entirely disappeared, and the broad 
 disc of the full September moon was just appearing above 
 the eastern horizon, when Bacon and his followers resumed 
 their march. Each of the captive ladies was placed upon 
 a horse, behind one of the officers, whose heavy riding cloak 
 was firmly girt to the horse's back, to provide a more com- 
 fortable seat. Thus advancing, at a constant, but slow 
 pace, to accommodate the wearied soldiers, they pursued 
 their onward course toward Jamestown. It was Bacon's 
 object to arrive before the town as early as possible in the 
 night, so as to secure the completion of their intrenchments 
 and breastworks before the morning, when he intended to 
 commence the siege. And now, as they are lighted on 
 their way by the soft rays of the autumnal moon, let us hear 
 the conversation which was passing between one of the 
 cavaliers and his fair companion, as they rode slowly along 
 at some distance from the rest. 
 
 We may well suppose that Thomas Hansford, forced thus 
 reluctantly to engage in a policy from which his very soul 
 revolted, would not commit the charge of Virginia's person 
 to another. She, at least, should learn, that though so 
 brutally impressed into the service of the rebel army, there 
 was an arm there to shield her from danger and protect her 
 22 
 
254 HANSFORD : 
 
 from rudeness or abuse. She, at least, should learn that 
 there was one heart there, however despised and spurned 
 by others, which beat in its every throb for her safety and 
 happiness. 
 
 Riding, as we have said, a little slower than the rest, so 
 as to be a little out of hearing, he said, in a low voice, 
 tremulous with half suppressed emotion, "Miss Temple 
 cannot be ignorant of who her companion is ?" 
 
 " Your voice assures me," replied Virginia, " that my 
 conjecture is right, and that I am in the presence of one 
 who was once an honoured friend. But had your voice 
 and form changed as entirely as your heart, I could never 
 have recognized in the rebel who scruples not to insult a 
 defenceless woman, the once gallant and chivalrous Hans- 
 ford." 
 
 " And do you, can you believe that my heart has indeed 
 so thoroughly changed ?" 
 
 " I would fain believe so, else I am forced to the conclu- 
 sion that I have, all my life, been deceived in a character 
 which I deemed worthy of my love, while it was only the 
 more black because it was hypocritical. " 
 
 " Virginia, " said Hansford, with desperation, "you shall 
 not talk thus ; you shall not think thus of me." 
 
 " As my captor and jailer," returned the brave hearted 
 young maiden, " Mr. Hansford may, probably, by force, 
 control the expression of my opinions but thank God ! 
 not even you can control my thoughts. The mind, at least, 
 is free, though the body be enslaved." 
 
 " Nay, do not mistake my meaning, dear Virginia," said 
 her lover. " But alas ! I am the victim of misconstruction. 
 Could you, for a moment, believe that I was capable of an 
 act which you have justly described as unmanly and 
 unchivalrous ?" 
 
 " What other opinion can I have ?" said Virginia. " I 
 find you acting with those who are guilty of an act as 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 255 
 
 cowardly as it is cruel. I find you tacitly acquiescing in 
 their measures, and aiding in guarding and conducting 
 their unhappy captives and I received from you a mes- 
 sage in which you pretend to say that you can justify that 
 which is at once inexcusable before heaven, and in the court 
 of man's honour. Forgive me, if I am unable to separate 
 the innocent from the guilty, and if I fail to see that your 
 conduct is more noble in this attempt to shift the conse- 
 quences of your crime upon your confederates," 
 
 "Now, by Heaven, you wrong me !" returned Hansford. 
 " My message to you was mistaken by Captain Wilford. 
 I never said I could justify your capture ; I charged him 
 to tell you I could justify myself. And as for my being 
 found with those who have committed this unmanly act, as 
 well might you be deemed a participator in their actions 
 now, because of your presence here. I remonstrated, I 
 protested against such a course and when at last adopted 
 I denounced it as unworthy of men, and far more unworthy 
 of soldiers and freemen." 
 
 " And yet, when overwhelmed by the voices of others, 
 you quietly acquiesce, and remain in companionship with 
 those whose conduct you had denounced." 
 
 " What else could I do ?" urged Hansford. " My feeble 
 arm could not resist the action of two hundred- men ; and 
 it only remained for me to continue here, that I might secure 
 the safety and kind treatment of those who were the vic- 
 tims of this rude violence. Alas 1 how little did I think 
 that so soon you would be one of those unhappy victims, 
 and that my heart would deplore, for its own sake, a course 
 from which my judgment and better nature already re- 
 volted." 
 
 The scales fell from Virginia's eyes. She now saw clearly 
 the bitter trial through which her lover had been called to 
 pass, and recognized once more the generous, self-denying 
 nature of Hansford. The stain upon his pure fame, to use 
 
256 HANSFORD: 
 
 her own figure, was but the effect of the false and deceptive 
 lens through which she had looked, and now that she saw 
 clearly, it was restored to its original purity and beauty. 
 
 "And is this true, indeed ?" she said, in a happy voice. 
 " Believe me, Hansford, the relief which I feel at this mo- 
 ment more than compensates for all that I have endured. 
 The renewed assurance of your honour atones for all. Can 
 you forgive me for harbouring for a moment a suspicion 
 that you were aught but the soul of honour ?" 
 
 " Forgive you, dearest ?" returned Hansford. " Most 
 freely most fully ! But scarcely can I forgive those who 
 have so wronged you. Cast in a common lot with them, 
 and struggling for a common cause, I cannot now withdraw 
 from their association ; and indeed, Virginia, I will be 
 candid, and tell you freely that I would not if I could." 
 
 "Alas !" said Virginia, "and what can be the result of 
 your efforts. Sooner or later aid must come from England, 
 and crush a rebellion whose success has only been epheme- 
 ral. And what else can be expected or desired, since we 
 have already seen how lost to honour are those by whom it 
 is attempted. Would you wish, if you could, to subject 
 your country to the sway of men, who, impelled only by 
 their own reckless passions, disregard alike the honour due 
 from man and the respect due to woman ?" 
 
 "You mistake the character of these brave men, Vir- 
 ginia. I believe sincerely that General Bacon was prompted 
 to this policy by a real desire to prevent the unnecessary 
 loss of life ; and though this humanity cannot entirely 
 screen his conduct from reprehension, yet it may cast a veil 
 over it. Bold and reckless though he be, his powerful mind 
 is swayed by many noble feelings ; and although he may 
 commit errors, they nearly lose their grossness in his 
 ardent love of freedom, and his exalted contempt of 
 danger." 
 
 " His love of freedom, I presume, is illustrated by his 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 257 
 
 forcible capture of unprotected females," returned Vir- 
 ginia ; " and his contempt of danger, by his desire to 
 interpose his captives between himself and the guns of his 
 enemies." 
 
 " I have told you," said Hansford, " that this conduct is 
 incapable of being justified, and in this I grant that Bacon 
 has grievously erred." 
 
 " Then why continue to unite your fortunes to a man 
 whose errors are so gross and disgraceful, and whose cul- 
 pable actions endanger your own reputation with your best 
 friends ?" 
 
 " Because," said Hansford, proudly, "we are engaged in 
 a cause, in the full accomplishment of which the faults and 
 errors of its champion will be forgotten, and ransomed 
 humanity will learn to bless his name, scarcely less bright 
 for the imperfections on its disc." 
 
 " Your reasoning reminds me," said Virginia, " of the 
 heretical sect of Cainites, of whom my father once told me, 
 who exalted even Judas to a hero, because by his treason 
 redemption was effected for the world." 
 
 "Well, my dear girl," replied Hansford, "you maintain 
 your position most successfully. But since you quote from 
 the history of the Church, I will illustrate my position 
 after the manner of a sage old oracle of the law. Sir 
 Edward Coke once alluded to the fable, that there was not 
 a bird that flitted through the air, but contributed by its do- 
 nations to complete the eagle's nest. And so liberty, whose 
 fittest emblem is the eagle, has its home provided and fur- 
 nished by many who are unworthy to enjoy the home which 
 they have aided in preparing. Admit even, if you please, 
 that General Bacon is one of these unclean birds, we can- 
 not refuse the contribution which he brings in aid of the 
 glorious cause which we maintain." 
 
 " Aye, but he is like, with his vaulting ambition, to be 
 the eagle himself," returned Virginia; "and to say truth, 
 22* 
 
258 HANSFORD : 
 
 although I have great confidence in your protection, I feel 
 like a lone dove in his talons, and would wish for a safer 
 home than in his eyrie." 
 
 "You need fear no danger, be assured, dearest Virginia," 
 said Hansford, " either for yourself or your mother. It is 
 a part of his plan to send ojie of the ladies under our 
 charge into the city, to apprise the garrison of our strange 
 manoeuvre^ and I have already his word, that your mother 
 and yourself will be the bearers of this message. In a few 
 moments, therefore, your dangers will be past, and you will 
 once more be in the arms of your noble old father." 
 
 " Oh thanks, thanks, my generous protector," cried the 
 girl, transported at this new prospect of her freedom. " I 
 can never forget your kindness, nor cease to regret that I 
 could ever have had a doubt of your honour and integrity." 
 
 " Oh forget that," returned Hansford, " or remember it 
 only that you may acknowledge that it is often better to 
 bear with the circumstances which we cannot control, than 
 by hasty opposition to lose the little influence we may pos- 
 sess with those in power. But see the moonlight reflected 
 from the steeple of yonder church. We are within sight of 
 Jamestown, and you will be soon at liberty. And oh ! Vir- 
 ginia," he said sorrowfully, "if it should be decreed in the 
 book of fate, that when we part to-night we part forever, 
 and if the name of Hansford be defamed and vilified, you 
 at least, I know, will rescue his honour from reproach 
 and one tear from my faithful Virginia, shed upon a pa- 
 triot's grave, will atone for all the infamy which indignant 
 vengeance may heap upon my name." 
 
 So saying, he spurred his horse rapidly onward, until he 
 overtook Bacon, who, with the precious burden under his 
 care, as usual, led the way. And a precious burden it 
 might well be called, for by the light of the moon the 
 reader could hfcve no difficulty in recognizing in the com- 
 panion of the young general of the insurgents, our old 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 259 
 
 acquaintance, Mrs. Temple. In the earlier part of their 
 journey she had by no means contributed to the special 
 comfort of her escort now, complaining bitterly of the 
 roughness of the road, she would grasp him around the 
 waist with both arms, until he was in imminent peril of 
 falling from his horse, and then when pacified by a 
 smoother path and an easier gait, she would burst forth 
 in a torrent of invective against the cowardly rebels who 
 would misuse a poor old woman so. Bacon, however, 
 while alike regardless of her complaints of the road, the 
 horse, or himself, did all in his power to mollify the old 
 lady, by humouring her prejudices as well as he could ; and 
 when he at last informed her of the plan by which she and 
 her daughter would so soon regain their liberty, her temper 
 relaxed, and she became highly communicative. She was, 
 indeed, deep in a description of some early scenes of her 
 life, and was telling how she had once seen the bonnie 
 young Charley with her own eyes, when he was hiding 
 from the pursuit of the Roundheads, and how he com- 
 mended her loyalty, and above all her looks ; and promised 
 when he came to his own to bestow a peerage on her hus- 
 band for his faithful adherence to the cause of his king. 
 The narrative had already lasted an hour or more when 
 Hansford and Virginia rode up and arrested the conversa- 
 tion, much to the relief of Bacon, who was gravely debating 
 in his own mind whether it was more agreeable to hear the 
 good dame's long-winded stories about past loyalty, or to 
 submit to her vehement imprecations on present rebellion. 
 
 The young general saluted Virginia courteously as she 
 approached, expressing the hope that she had not suffered 
 from her exposure to the night air, and then turned to 
 Hansford, and engaged in conversation with him on mat- 
 ters of interest connected with the approaching contest. 
 
 But as his remarks will be more fully understood, and 
 his views developed in the next chapter, we forbear to re- 
 
260 HANSFORD: 
 
 cord them here. Suffice it to say, that among other things 
 it was determined, that immediately upon their arrival before 
 Jamestown, Mrs. Temple and Virginia, under the escort of 
 Hansford, should be conducted to the gate of the town, and 
 convey to the Governor and his adherents the intelligence 
 of the capture of the wives of the loyalists. We will only 
 so far anticipate the regular course of our narrative as to 
 say, that this duty was performed without being attended 
 with any incident worthy of special remark ; and that Hans- 
 ford, bidding a sad farewell to Virginia and her mother, 
 committed them to the care of the sentinel at the gate, and 
 returned slowly and sorrowfully to the insurgent camp. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYL 
 
 " How yet resolves the Governor of the town ? 
 
 This is the latest parle we will admit. 
 
 If I begin the battery once again, 
 
 I will not leave the half achieved Harfleur, 
 
 Till in her ashes she lie buried." 
 
 King Henry F. 
 
 AND now was heard on the clear night air the shrill blast 
 of a solitary trumpet breathing defiance, and announcing 
 to the besieged loyalists, the presence of the insurgents be- 
 fore the walls of Jamestown. Exhausted by their long 
 march, and depressed by the still gloomy prospect before 
 them, the thinned ranks of the rebel army required all the 
 encouraging eloquence of their general, to urge them for- 
 ward in their perilous duty. Nor did they need it long. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 261 
 
 Drawing his wearied, but faithful followers around him, the 
 young and ardent enthusiast addressed them in language 
 like the following : 
 
 " SOLDIERS," 
 
 "Animated by a desire to free your country from the 
 incursions of a savage foe, you have crowned your arms 
 with victory and your lives with honor. You have anni- 
 hilated the Indian power in Virginia, and in the waters of 
 the brook which was the witness of your victory, you have 
 washed away the stains of its cruelty. The purple blood 
 which dyed that fatal stream, has even now passed away ; 
 Yet your deeds shall survive in the name which you have 
 given it. And future generations, when they look upon its 
 calm and unstained bosom, will remember with grateful 
 hearts, those brave men who have given security to their 
 homes, and will bless your patriot names when they repeat 
 the story of Bloody Run. 
 
 " For this you have been proclaimed traitors to your 
 country and rebels to your king. Traitors to a country 
 within whose borders the Indian war whoop has been hushed 
 by your exertions ! Rebels to your king for preserving 
 Virginia, the brightest jewel in his crown, from inevitable 
 ruin ! But though you have accomplished much, much yet 
 remains undone. Then nerve your stout hearts and gird 
 on your armour once more for the contest. Though your 
 enemies are not to be despised, they are not to be feared. 
 They fight as mercenaries uninspired by the cause which 
 they have espoused. You battle for freedom, for honor 
 and for life. Your freedom is threatened by the oppressions 
 of a relentless tyrant and a subservient Assembly. Your 
 honor is assailed, for you are publicly branded as traitors. 
 Your lives are proscribed by those who have basely charged 
 your patriotism as treason, and your defence of your country 
 as rebellion. Be not dismayed with the numbers of your 
 
262 HANSFORD : 
 
 foes. Think only that it is yours to lessen them. Remember 
 that Peace can never come to you, though you woo it never 
 so sweetly. You must go to it, even though your way thither 
 lay through a sea of blood. You will find me ever where 
 danger is thickest. I will share your peril now and your 
 reward hereafter." 
 
 Inspired with new ardour, by the words and still more by 
 the example of their leader, the soldiers proceeded to the 
 task of constructing a breastwork for their defence. Bacon 
 himself at imminent risk to his person, drew with his own 
 hands the line for the entrenchment, while the soldiers pre- 
 pared for themselves a secure defence from attack by a 
 breastwork composed of felled trees, earth, and brushwood. 
 It was a noble sight, I ween, to see these hardy patriots 
 of the olden time, nearly sinking under fatigue, yet working 
 cheerfully and ardently in the cause of freedom to hear 
 their axes ringing merrily through the still night air, and 
 the tall forest trees falling with a heavy crash, as they were 
 preparing their rude fortifications ; and to look up on the 
 cold, silent moon, as she watched them from her high path 
 in heaven, and you might almost think, smiled with cold 
 disdain, to think that all their hopes would be blasted, and 
 their ardour checked by defeat, while she in Tier pride of 
 fulness would traverse that same high arch twelve hundred 
 times before the day-star of freedom dawned upon the land. 
 
 Meantime the besieged loyalists having heard with sur- 
 prise and consternation, the story of Mrs. Temple and Vir- 
 ginia, were completely confounded. Fearing to fire a single 
 gun, lest the ball intended for their adversaries might 
 pierce the heart of some innocent woman, they were forced 
 to await with impatience the completion of the works of 
 the insurgents. The latter had not the same reason for 
 forbearance, and made several successful sorties upon the 
 palisades, which surrounded the town, effecting several 
 breaches, and killing some men, but without loss to any 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 263 
 
 their own party. Furious at the successful stratagems of 
 the rebels and fearing an accession to their number from 
 the surrounding country, Sir William Berkeley at length 
 determined to make a sally from the town, and test the 
 strength and courage of his adversaries in an open field. 
 Bacon, meanwhile, having effected his object in securing a 
 sufficient fortification, with much courtesy dismissed the 
 captive ladies, who went, rejoicing at their liberation, to 
 tell the story of their wrongs to their loyal husbands. 
 
 The garrison of Jamestown consisting of about twenty 
 cavalier loyalists, and eight hundred raw, undisciplined 
 recruits, picked up by Berkeley during his stay in Accomac, 
 were led on firmly towards the entrenchments of the rebels, 
 by Beverley and Ludwell, who stood high in the confidence 
 of the Governor, and in the esteem of the colony, as brave 
 and chivalrous men. Among the subordinate officers in 
 the garrison was Alfred Bernard, rejoicing in the commis- 
 sion of captain, but recently conferred, and burning to dis- 
 tinguish himself in a contest against the rebels. From 
 their posts behind the entrenchment, the insurgents calmly 
 watched the approach of their foes. Undismayed by their 
 numbers, nearly four times as great as their own, they 
 awaited patiently the signal of their general to begin the 
 attack. Bacon, on his part, with all the ardour of his 
 nature, possessed in an equal degree the coolness and pru- 
 dence of a great general, and was determined not to risk a 
 fire, until the enemy was sufficiently near to ensure heavy 
 execution. When at length the front line of the assail- 
 ants advanced within sixty yards of the entrenchment, 
 he gave the word, which was obeyed with tremendous effect, 
 and then without leaving their posts, they prepared to 
 renew their fire. But it was not necessary. Despite the 
 exhortations and prayers of their gallant officers, the royal 
 army, dismayed at the first fire of the enemy, broke ranks 
 and retreated, leaving their drum and their dead upon the 
 
264 HANSFORD : 
 
 field. In vain did Ludwell exhort them, in the name of the 
 king, to return to the assault ; in vain did the brave Bev- 
 erley implore them as Virginians and Englishmen not to 
 desert their colors; in vain did Alfred Bernard conjure 
 them to retrieve the character of soldiers and of men, and 
 to avenge the cause of wronged and insulted women upon 
 the cowardly oppressors. Regardless alike of king, country 
 or the laws of gallantry, the soldiers ran like frightened 
 sheep, from their pursuers, nor stopped in their flight until 
 once more safely ensconced behind their batteries, and 
 under the protection of the cannon from the ships. The 
 brave cavaliers looked aghast at this cowardly defection, and 
 stood for a moment irresolute, with the guns of the insur- 
 gents bearing directly upon them. Bacon could easily 
 have fired upon them with certain effect, but with the mag- 
 nanimity of a brave man, he was struck with admiration for 
 their dauntless courage, and with pity for their helplessness. 
 Nor was he by any means anxious to pursue them, for he 
 feared lest a victory so easily won, might be a stratagem of 
 the enemy, and that by venturing to pursue, he might fall 
 into an ambuscade. Contenting himself, therefore, with 
 the advantage he had already gained, he remained behind 
 his entrenchment, determined to wait patiently for the 
 morrow, before he commenced another attack upon the 
 town. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 2t>5 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 " Let's leave this town ; for they are hairbrained slaves, 
 And hunger will enforce them to be more eager. 
 Of old I know them j rather with their teeth 
 The walls they'll tear down, than forsake the siege." 
 
 King Henry VT. 
 
 IT was very late, but there were few in Jamestown on 
 that last night of its existence that cared to sleep. Those 
 who were riot kept awake by the cares of state or military 
 duties, were yet suffering from an intense apprehension, 
 which denied them repose.- There was " hurrying to and 
 fro," along .Stuart street, and " whispering with white 
 lips," among the thronging citizens. Ever siding with the 
 stronger party, and inclined to attribute to the besieged 
 Governor the whole catalogue of evils under which the 
 colony was groaning, many of the lower classes of the 
 citizens expressed their sympathy with Nathaniel Bacon, 
 and only awaited a secret opportunity to desert to his 
 ranks. A conspiracy was ripening among the soldiery to 
 open the gates to the insurgents, and surrender at once the 
 town and the Governor into their hands but over-awed by 
 the resolute boldness of their leader, and wanting in the 
 strength of will to act for themselves, they found it difficult 
 to carry their plan into execution. 
 
 Sir William Berkeley, with a few of his steady adherents 
 and faithful friends, was anxiously awaiting, in the large 
 hall of the palace, the tidings of the recent sally upon the 
 besiegers. Notwithstanding the superior numbers of his 
 men, he had but little confidence either in their loyalty or 
 courage, while he was fully conscious of the desperate 
 23 
 
266 HANBFORD : 
 
 bravery of the insurgents. While hope whispered that the 
 little band of rebels must yield to the overwhelming force 
 of the garrison, fear interposed, to warn him of the danger 
 of defection and cowardice in his ranks. As thus he sat 
 anxiously endeavouring to guess the probable result of his 
 sally, heavy footsteps were heard ascending the stairs. 
 The heart of the old Governor beat thick with apprehen- 
 sion, and the damp drops wrung from him by anxiety and 
 care, stood in cold beads upon his brow. 
 
 " What news ?" he cried, in a hoarse, agitated voice, as 
 Colonel Ludwell, Robert Beverley, and Alfred Bernard 
 entered the room. " But I read it in your countenances I 
 All is lost I" 
 
 "Yes, Governor Berkeley," said Philip Ludwell, " all is 
 lost I we have not even the melancholy consolation of 
 Francis, 'that our honour is preserved.' The cowardly 
 hinds who followed us, fled from the first charge of the 
 rebels, like frightened hares. All attempts to rally them 
 were in vain, and many of them we understand have joined 
 with the rebels." 
 
 As the fatal tidings fell upon his ear, Berkeley pressed 
 his hand to his forehead, and sobbed aloud. The heart of 
 the brave old loyalist could bear no more and all the 
 haughty dignity of his nature gave way in a flood of bitter 
 tears. But the effect was only transient, and nerving him- 
 self, he controlled his feelings once more by the energy of 
 his iron will. 
 
 " How many still remain with us ?" he asked, anxiously, 
 of Ludwell. 
 
 "Alas! sir, if the rumour which we heard as we came 
 hither be true none, absolutely none. There was an 
 immense crowd gathered around the tavern, listening to 
 the news of our defeat from one of the soldiers, and as we 
 passed a loud and insulting cry went up of " Long live 
 Bacon! and down with tyranny!" The soldiers declared 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 267 
 
 that they would not stain their hands with the blood of 
 their fellow-subjects; the citizens as vehemently declared 
 that the town itself should not long harbour those who had 
 trampled on their rights. Treason stalks abroad boldly 
 and openly, and I fear that the loyalty of Virginia is con- 
 fined to this room." 
 
 " Now, Heaven help me," said Berkeley, sadly, " for the 
 world has well nigh deserted me. And yet, if I fall, I shall 
 fall at my post, and the trust bestowed upon me by my 
 king shall be yielded only with my life." 
 
 " It were madness to think of remaining longer here," 
 said Beverley ; " the rebels, with the most consummate 
 courage, evince the most profound prudence and judgment. 
 Before the dawn they will bring their cannon to bear upon 
 our ships and force them to withdraw from the harbour, 
 and then all means of escape being cut off, we will be 
 forced to surrender on such terms as the enemy may dic- 
 tate." 
 
 "We will yield to no terms," replied Berkeley. "For 
 myself, death is far preferable to dishonour. Rather than 
 surrender the trust which I have in charge, let us remain 
 here, until, like the brave senators of Rome, we are hacked 
 to pieces at our posts by the swords of these barbarians." 
 
 " But what can you expect to gain by such a desperate 
 course," said old Ballard, who, though not without a suf- 
 ficient degree of courage, would prefer rather to admire the 
 heroism of the Roman patriots in history, than to vie with 
 them in their desperate resolution. 
 
 " I expect to retain my honour," cried the brave old 
 Governor. "A brave man may suffer death he can never 
 submit to dishonour." 
 
 " My honoured Governor," said Major Beverley, whose 
 well-known courage and high-toned chivalry gave great 
 effect to his counsel ; " believe me, that we all admire your 
 steady loyalty and your noble heroism. But reflect, that 
 
268 HANSFORD : 
 
 you gain nothing by desperation, and it is the part of true 
 courage not to hazard a desperate risk without any hope 
 of success. God knows that I would willingly yield up my 
 own life to preserve unsullied the honour of my country, 
 and the dignity of my king ; but I doubt how far we serve 
 his real interests by a deliberate sacrifice of all who are 
 loyalto his cause." 
 
 "And what then would you advise ?" said the Governor, 
 in an irritated manner. " To make a base surrender of 
 our persons and our cause, and to grant to these insolent 
 rebels every concession which their insolence may choose to 
 demand ? No ! gentlemen, sooner would William Berke- 
 ley remain alone at his post, until his ashes mingled with 
 the ashes of this palace, than yield one inch to rebels in 
 arms." 
 
 " It is not necessary," returned Beverley. " You may 
 escape without loss of life or compromise of honour, and 
 reserve until a future day your vengeance on these dis- 
 loyal barbarians." 
 
 Berkeley was silent. 
 
 " Look," continued Beverley, leading the old loyalist to 
 the window which overlooked the river ; " by the light of 
 dawn you can see the white sails of the Adam and Eve, as 
 she rests at anchor in yonder harbor. There is still time 
 to escape before the rebels can suspect our design. Once 
 upon the deck of that little vessel, with her sails unfurled 
 to this rising breeze, you may defy the threats of the be- 
 siegers. Then once more to your faithful Accomac, and 
 when the forces from England shall arrive, trained bands 
 of loyal and brave Britons, your vengeance shall then be 
 commensurate with the indignities you have suffered." 
 
 Still Berkeley hesitated, but his friends could see by the 
 quiver of his lip, that the struggle was still going on, and 
 that he was thinking with grim satisfaction of that prom- 
 ised vengeance. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 269 
 
 "Let me urge you," continued Beverley, encouraged by 
 the effect which he was evidently producing ; "let me urge 
 you to a prompt decision. Will you remain longer in 
 Jamestown, this nest of traitors, and expose your faithful 
 adherents to certain death ? Is loyalty so common in Vir- 
 ginia, that you will suffer these brave supporters of your 
 cause to be sacrificed ? Will you leave their wives and 
 daughters, whom they can no longer defend, to the insults 
 and outrages of a band of lawless adventurers, who have 
 shown that they disregard the rights of men, and the more 
 sacred deference due to a woman ? We have done all that 
 became us, as loyal citizens, to do. We have sustained the 
 standard of the king until it were madness, not courage, 
 further to oppose the designs of the rebels. Beset by a 
 superior force, and with treason among our own citizens, 
 and defection among our own soldiers with but twenty 
 stout hearts still true and faithful to their trust our alter- 
 native is between surrender and death on the one hand, and 
 flight and future vengeance on the other. Can you longer 
 hesitate between the two ? But see, the sky grows brighter 
 toward the east, and the morning comes to increase the 
 perils of the night. I beseech you, by my loyalty and my 
 devotion to your interest, decide quickly and wisely." 
 
 " I will go," replied Berkeley, after a brief pause, in a 
 voice choking with emotion. "But God is my witness, 
 that if I only were concerned, rebellion should learn that 
 there was a loyalist who held his sacred trust so near his 
 heart, that it could only be yielded with his life-blood. But 
 why should I thus boast ? Do with me as you please I 
 will go." 
 
 No sooner was Berkeley's final decision known, than the 
 whole palace was in a state of preparation. Hurriedly 
 putting up such necessaries as would be needed in their 
 temporary exile, the loyalists were soon ready for their 
 sudden departure. Lady Frances, stately as ever, remained 
 23* 
 
210 HANSFORD: 
 
 perhaps rather longer before her mirror, in the arrangement 
 of her tke, than was consistent with their hasty flight. 
 Virginia Temple scarcely devoted a moment for her own 
 preparations, so constantly was her assistance required by 
 her mother, who bustled about from trunk to trunk, in a 
 perfect agony of haste found she had locked up her 
 mantle, which was in the very bottom of an immense trunk, 
 and finally, when she had put her spectacles and keys in 
 her pocket, declared that they were lost, and required Vir- 
 ginia to search in every hole and corner of the room for 
 them. But with all these delays ever incident to ladies, 
 and old ones especially, when starting on a journey the 
 little party were at length announced to be ready for their 
 " moonlight flitting. " Sadly and silently they left the palace 
 to darkness and solitude, and proceeded towards the river. 
 At the bottom of the garden, which ran down to the banks 
 of the river, were two large boats, belonging to the Gov- 
 ernor, and which were often used in pleasure excursions. 
 In these the fugitives embarked, and under the muscular 
 efforts of the strong oarsmen, the richly freighted boats 
 scudded rapidly through the water towards the good ship 
 "Adam and Eve," which lay at a considerable distance 
 from the shore, to avoid the guns of the insurgents. 
 
 Alfred Bernard had the good fortune to have the fair 
 Virginia under his immediate charge ; but the hearts of 
 both were too full to improve the opportunity with much 
 conversation. The young intriguer, who cared but little in 
 his selfish heart for either loyalists or rebels, still felt that 
 he had placed his venture on a wrong card, and was about 
 to lose. The hopes of preferment which he had cherished 
 were about to be dissipated by the ill fortune of his patron, 
 and the rival of his love, crowned with success, he feared, 
 might yet bear away the prize which he had so ardently 
 coveted. Virginia Temple had more generous cause for 
 depression than he. Hers was the hard lot to occupy a 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 271 
 
 position of neutrality in interest between the contending 
 parties. Whichever faction in the State succeeded, she 
 must be a mourner ; for, in either case, she was called upon 
 to sacrifice an idol which she long had cherished, and which 
 she must now yield for ever. They sat together near the 
 stern of the boat, and watched the moonlight diamonds 
 which sparkled for a moment on the white spray that 
 dropped from the dripping oar, and then passed away. 
 
 " It is thus," said Bernard, with a heavy sigh. " It is thus 
 with this present transient life. We dance for a moment 
 upon the white waves of fortune, rejoicing in light and hope 
 and joy but the great, unfeeling world rolls on, regardless 
 of our little life, while we fade even while we sparkle, and 
 our places are supplied by others, who in their turn, dance 
 and shine, and smile, and pass away, and are forgotten !" 
 
 "It is even so," said Virginia, sadly then turning her 
 blue eyes upward, she added, sweetly, " but see, Mr. Ber- 
 nard, the moon which shines so still and beautiful in heaven, 
 partakes not of the changes of these reflected fragments of 
 her brightness. So we, when reunited to the heaven from 
 which our spirits came, will shine again unchangeable and 
 happy." 
 
 "Yes, my sweet one," replied her lover passionately, 
 " and were it my destiny to be ever thus with you, and to 
 hear the sweet eloquence of your pure lips, I would not 
 need a place in heaven to be happy." 
 
 "Mr. Bernard," said Virginia, "is this a time or place 
 to speak thus ? The circumstances by which we are sur- 
 rounded should check every selfish thought for the time, in 
 our care for the more important interests at stake. " 
 
 "My fair, young loyalist," said Bernard, "and is it be- 
 cause of the interest excited in your bosom by the fading 
 cause of loyalty, that you check so quickly the slightest 
 word of admiration from one whom you have called your 
 
2Y2 HANSFORD : 
 
 friend? Nay, fair maiden, be truthful even though you 
 should be cruel." 
 
 "To be candid, then, Mr. Bernard," returned Virginia, 
 " I thought we had long ago consented not to mention that 
 subject again. I hope you will be faithful to your promise." 
 
 "My dearest Virginia, that compact was made when 
 your heart had been given to another whom you thought 
 worthy to reign there. Surely, you cannot, after the events 
 of to-night oppose such an obstacle to my suit. Your 
 gentle heart, my girl, is too pure and holy a shrine to 
 afford refuge to a rebel, and a profaner of woman's sacred 
 rights." 
 
 "Mr. Bernard," said Virginia, "another word on this 
 subject, and I seek refuge myself from your insults. You, 
 who are the avowed champion of woman's rights, should 
 know that she owns no right so sacred as to control the 
 affections of her own heart. I have before told you in terms 
 too plain to be misunderstood, that I can never love you. 
 Force me not to repeat what you profess may give you pain, 
 and above all force me not by your unwelcome and ungene- 
 rous assaults upon an absent rival to substitute for the real 
 interest which I feel in your happiness, a feeling more 
 strong and decided, but less friendly." 
 
 " You mean that you would hate me," said Bernard, cut 
 to the heart at her language, at once so firm and decided, 
 yet so guarded and courteous. "Very well," he added, 
 with an hauteur but illy assumed. " I trust I have more 
 independence and self-respect than to intrude my attentions 
 or conversation where they are unwelcome. But see, our 
 journey is at an end, and though Miss Temple might have 
 made it more pleasant, I am glad that we are freed from 
 the embarrassment that we both must feel in a more 
 extended interview." 
 
 And now the loud voice of Captain Gardiner is heard 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 273 
 
 demanding their names and wishes, which are soon told. 
 The hoarse cable grates harshly along the ribs of the vessel, 
 and the boats are drawn up close to her broadside, and the 
 loyal fugitives ascending the rude and tremulous rope- 
 ladder, stand safe and sound upon the deck of the Adam 
 and Eve. 
 
 Scarcely had Berkeley and his adherents departed on 
 their flight from Jamestown, when some of the disaffected 
 citizens of the town, seeing the lights in the palace so sud- 
 denly extinguished, shrewdly suspected their design. With- 
 out staying to ascertain the truth of their suspicions, they 
 hastened with the intelligence to General Bacon, and threw 
 open the gates to the insurgents. Highly elated with the easy 
 victory they had gained over the loyalists, the triumphant 
 patriots forgetting their fatigue and hunger, marched into 
 the city, amid the loud acclamations of the fickle populace. 
 But to the surprise of all there was still a gloom resting 
 upon Bacon and his officers. That cautious and far-seeing 
 man saw at a glance, that although he had gained an im- 
 mense advantage over the royalists, in the capture of the 
 metropolis, it was impossible to retain it in possession long. 
 As soon as his army was dispersed, or engaged in another 
 quarter of the colony, it would be easy for Berkeley, with 
 the navy under his command, to return to the place, and 
 erect once more the fallen standard of loyalty. 
 
 While then, the soldiery were exulting rapturously over 
 their triumph, Bacon, surrounded by his officers, was gravely 
 considering the best policy to pursue. 
 
 " My little army is too small/' he said, "to leave a gar- 
 rison here, and so long as they remain thus organized peace 
 will be banished from the colony ; and yet I cannot leave 
 the town to become again the harbour of these treacherous 
 loyalists." 
 
 " I can suggest no policy that is fit to pursue, in such an 
 emergency," said Ilansford, "except to retain possession 
 
274 HANSFOBD: 
 
 of the town, at least until the Governor is fairly in 
 Accomac again." 
 
 " That, at best," said Bacon, " will only be a dilatory 
 proceeding, for sooner or later, whenef er the army is dis- 
 banded, the stubborn old governor will return and force us 
 to continue the war. And besides I doubt whether we 
 could maintain the place with Brent besieging us in front, 
 and the whole naval force of Virginia, under the command 
 of such expert seamen as Gardiner and Larimore, attacking 
 us from the river. No, no, the only way to untie the Gordian 
 knot is to cut it, and the only way to extricate ourselves 
 from this difficulty is to burn the town." 
 
 This policy, extreme as it was, in the necessities of their 
 condition was received with a murmur of assent. Lawrence 
 and Drummond, devoted patriots, and two of the wealthiest 
 and most enterprising citizens of the town, evinced their 
 willingness to sacrifice their private means to secure the 
 public good, by firing their own houses. Emulating an 
 example so noble and disinterested, other citizens followed 
 in their wake. The soldiers, ever ready for excitement, 
 joined in the fatal work. A stiff breeze springing up, 
 favored their design, and soon the devoted town was en- 
 veloped in the greedy flames. 
 
 From the deck of the Adam and Eve, the loyalists wit- 
 nessed the stern, uncompromising resolution of the rebels. 
 The sun was just rising, and his broad, red disc was met in 
 his morning glory with flames as bright and as intense as 
 his own. The Palace, the State House, the large Garter 
 Tavern, the long line of stores, and the Warehouse, all in 
 succession were consumed. The old Church, the proud old 
 Church, where their fathers had worshipped, was the last to 
 meet its fate. The fire seemed unwilling to attack its 
 sacred walls, but it was to fall with the rest ; and as the 
 broad sails of the gay vessel were spread to the morning 
 breeze, which swelled them, that devoted old Church was 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 275 
 
 seen in its raiment of fire, like some old martyr, hugging 
 the flames which consumed it, and pointing with its tapering 
 steeple to an avenging Heaven. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 " We take no note of time but by its loss." 
 
 Young. 
 
 IT is permitted to the story teller, like the angels of ancient 
 metaphysicians, to pass from point to point, and from event 
 to event, without traversing the intermediate space or time. 
 A romance thus becomes a moving panorama, where the 
 prominent objects of interest pass in review before the 
 eyes of the spectator, and not an atlas or chart, where the 
 toiling student, with rigid scrutiny must seek the latitude 
 and longitude of every object which meets his view. 
 
 Availing ourselves of this privilege, -we will pass rapidly 
 over the events which occurred subsequently to the burning 
 of Jamestown, and again resume the narrative where it 
 more directly affects the fortunes of Hansford and Virginia. 
 We will then suppose that it is about the first of January, 
 1677, three months after the circumstances detailed in the 
 last chapter. Nathaniel Bacon, the arch rebel, as the loyal 
 historians and legislators of his day delighted to call him, 
 has passed away from the scenes of earth. The damp 
 trenches of Jamestown, more fatal than the arms of his 
 adversaries, have stilled the restless beating of that bold 
 heart, which in other circumstances might have insured 
 success to the cause of freedom. An industrious compiler 
 of the laws of Virginia, and an ingenious commentator on 
 her Colonial History, has suggested from the phraseology 
 
276 HANSFORD: 
 
 of one of the Acts of the Assembly, that Bacon met his 
 fate by the dagger of the assassin, employed by the revenge- 
 ful Berkeley. But the account of his death is too authentic 
 to admit of such a supposition, and the character of Sir 
 William Berkeley, already clouded with relentless cruelty, 
 is happily freed from the foul imputation, that to the preju- 
 dices and sternness of the avenging loyalist he added the 
 atrocity of a malignant fiend. We have the most authentic 
 testimony, that Nathaniel Bacon died of a dysentery, con- 
 tracted by his exposure in the trenches of Jamestown, at 
 the house of a Dr. Pate, in the county of Gloucester ; and 
 that the faithful Lawrence, to screen his insensate clay from 
 the rude vengeance of the Governor, gave the young hero 
 a grave in some unknown forest, where after life's fitful 
 fever he sleeps well. 
 
 The cause of freedom, having lost its head, fell a prey to 
 discord and defection. In the selection of a leader to suc- 
 ceed the gallant Bacon, dissensions prevailed among the 
 insurgents, and disgusted at last with the trials to which 
 they were exposed, and wearied with the continuance of a 
 civil war, the great mass of the people retired quietly to 
 their homes. Ingram and Walklate, who attempted to 
 revive the smouldering ashes of the rebellion, were the 
 embodiments of frivolity and stupidity, and were unable to 
 retain that influence over the stern and high-toned patriots 
 which was essential to united action. Deprived of their 
 support, as may be easily conjectured, there was no longer 
 any difficulty in suppressing the ill-fated rebellion ; and 
 Walklate, foreseeing the consequences of further resistance, 
 resolved to make a separate peace for himself and a few 
 personal friends, and to leave his more gallant comrades to 
 their fate. The terms of treaty proposed by Berkeley were 
 dispatched by Captain Gardiner to the selfish leader, who, 
 with the broken remnant of the insurgents, was stationed at 
 West Point. He acceded to the terms with avidity, and 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 27T 
 
 thus put a final end to a rebellion, which, even at that early 
 day, was so near securing the blessings of rational freedom 
 to Virginia. 
 
 Meantime, the long expected aid from England had 
 arrived, and Berkeley, with an organized and reliable force 
 at his command, prepared, with grim satisfaction, to execute 
 his terrible vengeance upon the proscribed and fugitive 
 insurgents. Major Beverley, at the head of a considerable 
 force, was dispatched in pursuit of such of the unhappy 
 men as might linger secreted in the woods and marshes 
 near the river and smaller parties were detailed for the 
 same object in other parts of the colony. Many of the 
 fugitives were captured and brought before the relentless 
 Governor. There, mocked and insulted in their distress, 
 the devoted patriots were condemned by a court martial, 
 and with cruel haste hurried to execution. The fate of the 
 gallant Lawrence, to whom incidental allusion has been 
 frequently made in the foregoing pages, was long uncertain 
 but at last those interested in his fate were forced to the 
 melancholy conclusion, that well nigh reduced to starvation 
 in his marshy fastness, with Roman firmness, the brave 
 patriot fell by his own hand, rather than submit to the 
 ruthless cruelty of the vindictive Governor. 
 
 Thomas Hansford was among those who were proscribed 
 fugitives from the vengeance of the loyalists. He had in 
 vain endeavoured to rally the dispirited insurgents, and to 
 hazard once more the event of a battle with the royal party. 
 He indignantly refused to accept the terms, so readily 
 embraced by Walklate, and determined to share the fate of 
 those brave comrades, in whose former triumph he had 
 participated. And now, a lonely wanderer, he eluded the 
 vigilant pursuit of his enemies, awaiting with anxiety, the 
 respite which royal interposition would grant, to the un- 
 abating vengeance of the governor. He was not without 
 strong hope that the clemency which reflected honour on 
 24 
 
278 HANSFORD: 
 
 Charles the Second, towards the enemies of his father, 
 would be extended to the promoters of the ill-fated rebel- 
 lion in Yirginia. In default of this, he trusted to make 
 his escape into Maryland, after the eagerness of pursuit 
 was over, and there secretly to embark for England where, 
 under an assumed name, he might live out the remnant of 
 his days in peace and security, if not in happiness. It was 
 with a heavy heart that he looked forward to even this 
 remote chance of escape and safety for it involved the 
 necessity of leaving, for ever, his widowed mother, who 
 leaned upon his strong arm for support ; and his beloved 
 Yirginia, in whose smiles of favour, he could alone be 
 happy. Still, it was the only honourable chance that 
 offered, and while as a brave man he had nerved himself for 
 any fate, as a good man, he could not reject the means of 
 safety which were extended to him. 
 
 While these important changes were taking place in the 
 political world, the family at Windsor Hall were differently 
 affected by the result. Colonel Temple, in the pride of his 
 gratified loyalty, could not disguise his satisfaction even 
 from his unhappy daughter, and rubbed his hands gleefully 
 as the glad tinings came that the rebellion had been quelled. 
 The old lady shared his happiness with all her heart, but 
 mingled with her joy some of the harmless vanity of her 
 nature. She attributed the happy result in a good degree 
 to the counsel and wisdom of her husband, and recurred 
 with great delight to her own bountiful hospitality to the 
 fugitive loyalists. Nay, in the excess of her self-gratula- 
 tion, she even hinted an opinion, that if Colonel Temple 
 had remained in England, the cause of loyalty would have 
 been much advanced, and that General Monk would not 
 have borne away the palm of having achieved the glorious 
 restoration. 
 
 But these loyal sentiments of gratulation met with no 
 response in the heart of Yirginia Temple. The exciting 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 279 
 
 scenes through which she had lately passed had left their 
 traces on her young heart. No more the laughing, thought- 
 less, happy girl whom we have known, shedding light and 
 gaiety on all around her, she had gained, in the increased 
 strength and development of her character, much to com- 
 pensate for the loss. The furnace which evaporates the 
 lighter particles of the ore, leaves the precious metal in 
 their stead. Thus is it with the trying furnace of affliction 
 in the formation of the human character, and such was its 
 effect upon Virginia. She no longer thought or felt as a 
 girl. She felt that she was a woman, called upon to act a 
 woman's part ; and relying on her strengthened nature, but 
 more upon the hand whose protection she had early learned 
 to seek, she was prepared to act that part. The fate of 
 Hansford was unknown to her. She had neither seen nor 
 heard from him since that awful night, when she parted 
 from him at the gate of Jamestown. Convinced of his 
 high sense of honour, and his heroic daring, she knew that 
 he was the last to desert a falling cause, and she trembled 
 for his life, should he fall into the hands of the enraged and 
 relentless Berkeley. But even if her fears in this respect 
 were groundless, the future was still dark to her. The 
 bright dream which she had cherished, that he to whom, in 
 the trusting truth of her young heart, she had plighted her 
 troth, would share with her the joys and hopes of life, was 
 now, alas ! dissipated forever. A proscribed rebel, an out- 
 cast from home, her father's loyal prejudices were such that 
 she could never hope to unite her destiny with Hansford. 
 And yet, dreary as the future had become, she bore up nobly 
 in the struggle, and, with patient submission, resigned her 
 fate to the will of Heaven. 
 
 Her chief employment now was to train the mind of the 
 young Mamalis to truth, and in this sacred duty she derived 
 new consolation in her affliction. The young Indian girl 
 had made Windsor Hall her home since the death of her 
 
280 HANSFORD : 
 
 brother. The generous nature of Colonel Temple could 
 not refuse to the poor orphan, left alone on earth without 
 a protector, a refuge and a home beneath his roof. Nor 
 were the patient and prayerful instructions of Yirginia 
 without their reward. The light which had long been 
 struggling to obtain an entrance to her heart, now burst 
 forth in the full effulgence of the truth, and the trusting 
 Mamalis had felt, in all its beauty and reality, the assurance 
 of the promise, " Come unto me all ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Her manners, 
 which, with all of her association with Yirginia, had some- 
 thing of the wildness of the savage, were now softened and 
 subdued. Her picturesque but wild costume, which re- 
 minded her of her former life, was discarded for the more 
 modest dress which the refinement of civilization had pre- 
 scribed. . Her fine, expressive countenance, which had often 
 been darkened by reflecting the wild passions of her unsub- 
 dued heart, was now radiant with peaceful joy ; and as you 
 gazed upon the softened expression, the tranquil and com- 
 posed bearing of the young girl, you might well " take 
 knowledge of her that she had been with Jesus. " 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 281 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 " Farewell and blessings on thy way, 
 
 Where'r thou goest, beloved stranger, 
 Better to sit and watch that ray, 
 And think thee safe though far away, 
 Than have thee near me and in danger." 
 
 Lalla RooJik. 
 
 MOONLIGHT at Windsor Hall ! The waning, January 
 moon shone coldly and brightly, as it rose above the 
 dense forest which surrounded the once more peaceful home 
 of Colonel Temple. The tall poplars which shaded the 
 quiet yard were silvered with its light, and looked like 
 medieval knights all clad in burnished and glistening mail. 
 The crisp hoarfrost that whitened the frozen ground 
 sparkled in the mellow beams, like twinkling stars, descended 
 to earth, and drinking in with rapture the clear light of 
 their native heaven. Not a sound was heard save the 
 dreary, wintry blast, as it sighed its mournful requiuin over 
 the dead year, "gone from the earth for ever." 
 
 Virginia Temple had not yet retired to rest, although it 
 was growing late. She was sitting alone, in her little 
 chamber, and watching the glowing embers on the hearth, 
 as they sparkled for a moment, and shed a ruddy light 
 around, and then were extinguished, throwing the whole 
 room into dark shadow. Sad emblem, these fleeting sparks, 
 of the hopes that had once been bright before her, assum- 
 ing fancied shapes of future joy and peace and love, and 
 then dying to leave her sad heart the darker for their former 
 presence. In the solitude of her own thoughts she was 
 taking a calm review of her past life her early childhood 
 when she played in innocent mirth beneath the shade of the 
 oaks and poplars that still stood unchanged in the yard 
 24* 
 
282 HANSFORD : 
 
 her first acquaintance with Hansford, which opened a new 
 world to her young heart, replete with joys and treasures 
 unknown before all the thrilling events of the last few 
 months her last meeting with her lover, and his prayer that 
 she at least would not censure him, when he was gone 
 her present despondency and gloom all these thoughts 
 came in slow and solemn procession across her mind, like 
 dreary ghosts of the buried past. 
 
 Suddenly she was startled from her reverie by the sound 
 of a low, sweet, familiar voice, beneath her window, and, as 
 she listened, the melancholy spirit of the singer sought and 
 found relief in the following tender strains : 
 
 " Once more I seek thy quiet home, 
 
 My tale of love to tell, 
 Once more from danger's field I come, 
 To breathe a last farewell ! 
 Though hopes are flown, 
 Though friends are gone ; 
 Yet wheresoe'r I flee, 
 I still retain, 
 And hug the chain 
 Which binds my soul to thee. 
 
 " My heart, like some lone chamber left, 
 
 Must, mouldering, fall at last; 
 Of hope, of love, of thee bereft, 
 It lives but in the past. 
 With jealous care, 
 I cherish there 
 The web, however small, 
 
 That memory weaves, 
 And mercy leaves, 
 Upon that ruined wall. 
 
 " Though Tyranny, with bloody laws, 
 
 May dig my early grave, 
 
 Yet death, when met in Freedom's cause, 
 
 Is sweetest to the brave ; 
 
 Wedded to her, 
 
 Without a fear, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 283 
 
 I'll mount her funeral pile, 
 
 Welcome the death 
 
 Which seals my faith, 
 And meet it with a smile. 
 
 " While, like the tides, that softly swell 
 
 To kiss their mother moon, 
 Thy gentle soul will soar to dwell 
 In visions with mine own j 
 
 As skies distil 
 
 The dews that fill 
 The blushing rose at even, 
 
 So blest above, 
 
 I'll mourn thy love 
 And weep for thee in heaven." 
 
 It needed not the well-known voice of Hansford to assure 
 the weeping girl that he was near her. The burden of that 
 sad song, which found an echo in her own heart, told her 
 too plainly that it could be only he. It was no time for 
 delicate scruples of propriety. She only knew that he was 
 near her and in danger. Rising from her chair, and throw- 
 ing around her a shawl to protect her from the chill night 
 air, she hastened to the door. In another moment they 
 were in each other's arms. 
 
 " Oh, my own Virginia," said Hansford, "this is too, too 
 kind. I had only thought to come and breathe a last fare- 
 well, arid then steal from your presence for ever. I felt that 
 it was a privilege to be near you, to watch, unseen, the 
 flickering light reflected from your presence. This itself 
 had been reward sufficient for the peril I encounter. How 
 sweet then to hear once .more the accents of your voice, 
 and to feel once more the warm beating of your faithful 
 heart." 
 
 "And could you think," said Virginia, as she wept upon 
 his shoulder, " that knowing you to be in danger, I could 
 fail to see you. Oh, Hansford ! you little know the truth 
 of woman's love if you can for a moment doubt that your 
 misfortune and your peril have made you doubly dear." 
 
284 HANSFOED : 
 
 " Yet how brief must be my stay. The avenger is be- 
 hind me, and I must soon resume my lonely wandering." 
 
 "And will you again leave me?" asked Yirginia, in a 
 reproachful tone. 
 
 " Leave you, dearest, oh, how sweet would be my fate, 
 after all my cares and sufferings, if I could but die here. 
 But this must not be. Though I trust I know how to 
 meet death as a brave man, yet it is my duty, as a good 
 man, to leave no honourable means untried to save my life." 
 
 " But your danger cannot be so great, dearest," said 
 Virginia, tenderly. " Surely my father " 
 
 " Would feel it his duty," said Hansford, interrupting 
 her, " to deliver me up to justice ; and feeling it to be such, 
 he would have the moral firmness to discharge it. Poor 
 old gentleman ! like many of his party, his prejudice per- 
 verts his true and generous heart. My poor country must 
 suffer long before she can overcome the opposition of 
 bigoted loyalty. Forgive me for speaking thus of your 
 noble father, Yirginia but prejudices like these are the 
 thorns which spring up in his heart and choke the true 
 word of freedom, and render it unfruitful. Is it not so, 
 dearest ?" 
 
 " You mistake his generous nature," said Yirginia, 
 earnestly. " You mistake his love for me. You mistake 
 his sound judgment. You mistake his high sense of 
 honour. Think you that he sees no difference between 
 the man who, impelled by principle, asserts what he be- 
 lieves to be a right, and him, who for his own selfish ends 
 and personal advancement, would sacrifice his country. 
 Yes, my dear friend, you mistake my father. He will 
 gladly interpose with the Governor and restore you to 
 happiness, to freedom, and to " 
 
 She paused, unable to proceed for the sobs that choked 
 her utterance, and then gave vent to a flood of passionate 
 grief. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 285 
 
 " You would add, 'and to thee,' " said Hansford, finish- 
 ing the sentence. " God knows, my girl, that such a hope 
 would make me dare more peril than I have yet encoun- 
 tered. But, alas ! if it were even as you say, what weight 
 would his remonstrance have with that imperious old 
 tyrant, Berkeley ? It would be but the thistle-down 
 against the cannon ball in the scales of his justice." 
 
 " He dare not refuse my father's demands," said Vir- 
 ginia. " One who has been so devoted to his cause, who 
 has sacrificed so much for his king, and who has afforded 
 shelter and protection to the Governor himself in the hour 
 of his peril and need, is surely entitled to this poor favour 
 at his hands. He dare not refuse to grant it." 
 
 " Alas ! Yirginia, you little know the character of Sir 
 William Berkeley, when you say he dares not. But the 
 very qualities which you claim, and justly claim, for your 
 father, would prevent him from exerting that influence 
 with the Governor which your hopes whisper would be so 
 successful ' His noble nature ' would prompt him at any 
 sacrifice to yield personal feeling to a sense of public duty. 
 ' His love for you ' would prompt him to rescue you from 
 the rebel who dared aspire to your hand. 'His sound 
 judgment ' would dictate the maxim, that it were well for 
 one man to die for the people; and his 'high sense of 
 honour' would prevent him from interposing between a 
 condemned traitor and his deserved doom. Be assured, 
 Virginia, that thus would your father reason ; and with his 
 views of loyalty and justice, I could not blame him for the 
 conclusion to which he came." 
 
 " Then in God's name," cried Yirginia, in an agony of 
 desperation, for she saw the force of Hansford's views, " how 
 can you shun this threatening danger ? Whither can you 
 fly ? " 
 
 " My only hope," said Hansford, gloomily, " is to leave 
 the Colony and seek refuge in Maryland, though I fear that 
 
286 HANSFORD : 
 
 this is hopeless. If I fail in this, then I must lurk in some 
 hiding place -until instructions from England may arrive, 
 and check the vindictive Berkeley in his ruthless cruelty." 
 
 "And is there a hope of that I " said Virginia, quickly. 
 
 " There is a faint hope, and that slender thread is all 
 that hangs between me and a traitor's doom. But I rely 
 with some confidence upon the mild and humane policy 
 pursued by Charles toward the enemies of his father. At 
 any rate, it is all that is left me, and you know the proverb," 
 he added, with a sad smile, " ' A drowning man catches at 
 straws.' Any chance, however slight, appears larger when 
 seen through the gloom of approaching despair, just as any 
 object seems greater when seen through a mist." 
 
 " It is not, it shall not be slight," said the hopeful girl, 
 " we will lay hold upon it with firm and trusting hearts, and 
 it will cheer us in our weary way, and then " 
 
 But here the conversation was interrupted by the sound 
 of approaching footsteps, and the light, graceful form of 
 Mamalis stood before them. The quick ear of the Indian 
 girl had caught the first low notes of Hansford's serenade, 
 even while she slept, and listening attentively to the sound, 
 she had heard Virginia leave the room and go down stairs. 
 Alarmed at her prolonged absence, Mamalis could no 
 longer hesitate on the propriety of ascertaining its cause, 
 and hastily dressing herself, she ran down to the open door 
 and joined the lovers as we have stated. 
 
 " We are discovered," said Hansford, in a surprised but 
 steady voice. "Farewell, Virginia." And he was about 
 to rush from the place, when Virginia interposed. 
 
 " Fear nothing from her," she said. " Her trained ear 
 caught the sounds of our voices more quickly than could 
 the duller senses of the European. You are in no danger ; 
 and her opportune presence suggests a plan for your 
 escape." 
 
 " What is that ?" asked Hansford, anxiously. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 287 
 
 " First tell me," said Yirginia, " how long it will proba- 
 bly be before the "milder policy of Charles- will arrest the 
 Governor in his vengeance." 
 
 " It is impossible to guess with accuracy if, indeed, it 
 ever should come. But the king has heard for some time 
 of the suppression of the enterprise, and it can scarcely be 
 more than two weeks before we hear from him. But to 
 what does your question tend ?" 
 
 " Simply this," returned Yirginia. " The wigwam of 
 Mamalis is only about two miles from the hall, and in so 
 secluded a spot that it is entirely unknown to any of the 
 Governor's party. There we can supply your present 
 wants, and give you timely warning of any approaching 
 danger. The old wigwam is a good deal dilapidated, but 
 then it will at least afford you shelter from the weather." 
 
 " And from that ruder storm which threatens me," said 
 Hansford, gloomily. " You are right. I know the place 
 well, and trust it may be a safe retreat, at least for the 
 present. But, alas 1 how sad is my fate, to be skulking 
 from justice like a detected thief or murderer, afraid to show 
 my face to my fellow in the open day, and starting like a 
 frightened deer at every approaching sound. Oh, it is too 
 horrible !" 
 
 " Think not of it thus," said Yirginia, in an encouraging 
 voice. " Remember it only as the dull twilight that 
 divides the night from the morning. This painful suspense 
 will soon be over ; and then, safe and happy, we will smile 
 at the dangers we have passed." 
 
 " No, Yirginia," said Hansford, in the same gloomy 
 voice, "you are too hopeful. There is a whispering voice 
 within that tells me that this plan will not succeed, and that 
 we cannot avoid the dangers which threaten me. No," he 
 cried, throwing off the gloom which hung over him, while 
 his fine blue eye flashed with pride. " No ! The decree 
 has gone forth ! Every truth must succeed with blood. 
 
288- HANSFORD : 
 
 If the blood of the martyrs be the seed of the Church, it 
 may also enrich the soil where liberty must grow ; and far 
 rather would I that my blood should be shed in such a 
 cause, than that it should creep sluggishly in my veins 
 through a long and useless life, until it clotted and stagnated 
 in an ignoble grave." 
 
 " Oh, there spoke that fearful pride again," said Yirginia, 
 with a deep sigh ; " the pride that pursues its mad career, 
 unheeding prudence, unguided by judgment, until it is at 
 last checked by its own destruction. And would you not 
 sacrifice the glory that you speak of, for me ?" 
 
 " You have long since furnished me the answer to that 
 plea, my girl," he replied, pressing her tenderly to his 
 heart. " Do you remember, Lucasta, 
 
 ' I had not loved thee, dear, so much, 
 Loved I not honour more/ 
 
 Believe me, my Yirginia, it is an honourable and not a 
 glorious name I seek. Without the latter, life still would 
 be happy and blessed when adorned by your smiles. With- 
 out the former, your smile and your love would add bitter- 
 ness to the cup that dishonour would bid me quaff. And 
 now, Yirginia, farewell. The night air has chilled you, 
 dearest then go, and remember me in your dreams. One 
 fond kiss, to keep virgined upon my lips till we meet again. 
 Farewell, Mamalis be faithful to your kind mistress." 
 And then imprinting one long, last kiss upon the fair cheek 
 of the trusting Yirgiuia, he turned from the door, and was 
 soon lost from their sight in the dense forest. 
 
 Once more in her own little room, Yirginia, with a grate- 
 ful heart, fell upon her knees, and poured forth her thanks 
 to Him, who had thus far prospered her endeavours to 
 minister to the cares and sorrows of her lover. With a 
 calmer heart she sought repose, and wept herself to sleep 
 with almost happy tears. Hansford, in the mean time, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 289 
 
 pursued his quiet way through the forest, his pathway 
 sufficiently illumined by the pale moonlight, which came 
 trembling through the moaning trees. The thoughts of the 
 young rebel were fitfully gloomy or pleasant, as despon- 
 dency and hope alternated in his breast. In that lonely 
 walk he had an opportunity to reflect calmly and fully upon 
 his past life. The present was indeed clouded with danger, 
 and the future with uncertainty and gloom. Yet, in this 
 self-examination, he saw nothing to justify reproach or to 
 awaken regret. He scanned his motives, and he felt that 
 they were pure. He reviewed his acts, and he saw in them 
 but the struggles of a brave, free man in the maintenance 
 of the right. The enterprise in which he had engaged had 
 indeed failed, but its want of success did not affect the holi- 
 ness of the design. Even in its failure, he proudly hoped 
 that the seeds of truth had been sown in the popular mind, 
 which might hereafter germinate and be developed into 
 freedom. As these thoughts passed through his mind, a 
 dim dream of the future glories of his country flashed 
 across him. The bright heaven of the future seemed to 
 open before him, as before the eyes of the dying Stephen 
 but soon it closed again, and all was dark. 
 
 The wigwam which he entered, after a walk of about 
 half an hour, was desolate enough, but its very loneliness 
 made it a better safeguard against the vigilance of his pur- 
 suers. He closed the aperture which served for the door, 
 with the large mat used for the purpose ; then carefully 
 priming his pistols, which he kept constantly by him in case 
 of surprise, and wrapping his rough horseman's coat around 
 him, he flung himself upon a mat in the centre of the wig- 
 wam, and sank into a profound slumber. 
 
 25 
 
200 HANSFORD I 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 " He should be hereabouts. The doubling hare, 
 When flying from the swift pursuit of hounds, 
 Baying loud triumph, leaves her wonted path, 
 And seeks security within her nest." 
 
 The Captive. 
 
 ON the evening which followed the events narrated in 
 the last chapter, a party of half a dozen horsemen might be 
 seen riding leisurely along the road which led to Windsor 
 Hall. From their dress and bearing they might at once be 
 recognized as military men, and indeed it was a detach- 
 ment of the force sent by Sir William Berkeley in search 
 of such of the rebels as might be lurking in different sec- 
 tions of the country. At their head was Alfred Bernard, 
 his tall and graceful form well set off by the handsome 
 military dress of the period. Dignified by a captaincy of 
 dragoons, the young intriguer at last thought himself on 
 the high road to success, and his whole course was marked 
 by a zealous determination to deserve by his actions the 
 confidence reposed in him. For this his temper and his 
 cold, selfish nature eminently fitted him. The vindictive 
 Governor had no fear but that his vengeance would be 
 complete, so long as Alfred Bernard acted as his agent. 
 
 As the party approached the house, Colonel Temple, 
 whose attention was arrested by such an unusual appear- 
 ance in the then peaceful state of the country, came out to 
 meet them, and with his usual bland courtesy invited them 
 in, at the same time shaking Bernard warmly by the hand. 
 The rough English soldiers, obeying the instructions of 
 their host, conducted their horses to the stable, while the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 291 
 
 young captain followed his hospitable entertainer into the 
 hall. Around the blazing fire, which crackled and roared 
 in the broad hearth, the little family were gathered to hear 
 the news. 
 
 " Prythee, Captain Bernard, for I must not forget your 
 new title," said the colonel, "what is the cause of this de- 
 monstration ? No further trouble with the rebels ?" 
 
 " No, no," replied Bernard, " except to smoke the cow- 
 ardly fellows out of their holes. In the words of your old 
 bard, we have only scotched the snake, not killed it and 
 we are now seeking to bring the knaves to justice." 
 
 "And do you find them difficult to catch?" said the 
 Colonel. " Is the scotched snake an 'anguis in herba ?' " 
 
 " Aye, but they cannot escape us. These worshippers 
 of liberty, who would fain be martyrs to her cause, shall 
 not elude the vigilance of justice. I need not add, that 
 you are not the object of our search, Colonel." 
 
 " Scarcely, my lad," returned Temple, with a smile, "for 
 my mythology has taught me, that these kindred deities 
 are so nearly allied that the true votaries of liberty will 
 ever be pilgrims to the shrine of justice." 
 
 "And the pseudo votaries of freedom," continued Ber- 
 nard, "who would divide the sister goddesses, should be 
 offered up as a sacrifice to appease the neglected deity. " 
 
 "Well, maybe so," returned Temple; "but neither reli- 
 gion nor government should demand human sacrifices to a 
 great extent. A few of the prominent leaders might well 
 be cut off to strike terror into the hearts of the rest. Thus 
 the demands of justice would be satisfied, consistently with 
 clemency which mercy would dictate." 
 
 " My dear sir, a hecatomb would not satisfy Berkeley. 
 I am but his minister, and could not, if I would, arrest his 
 arm. Even now I come by his express directions to ascer- 
 tain whether any of the rebels may be secreted near your 
 residence. While he does not for a moment suspect your 
 
292 HANSFORD : 
 
 loyalty, yet one of the villains, and he among the foremost 
 in the rebellion, has been traced in this direction." 
 
 " Sir," cried Temple, colouring with honest indignation ; 
 " dare you suspect that I could harbour a rebel beneath my 
 roof 1 But remember, that I would as lief do that, abhor- 
 rent though it be to my principles, as to harbour a spy." 
 
 "My dear sir," said Bernard, softly, "you mistake me 
 most strangely, if you suppose that I could lodge such a 
 suspicion for a moment in my heart ; nor have I come as a 
 spy upon your privacy, but to seek your counsel. Sir 
 William Berkeley is so well convinced of your stern and 
 unflinching faith, that he enjoins me to apply to you early 
 for advice as to how I should proceed in my duty." 
 
 " Well, my dear boy," said Temple, relapsing into good 
 humour, for he was not proof against the tempting bait of 
 flattery, " you must pardon the haste of an old man, who 
 cannot bear any imputation upon his devotion to the cause 
 of his royal master. While I cannot aid you in your 
 search, my house is freely open to yourself and your party 
 for such time as you may think proper to use it." 
 
 " You have my thanks, my dear sir," said Bernard, " and 
 indeed you are entitled to the gratitude of the whole gov- 
 ernment. Sir William Berkeley bade me say that he could 
 never forget your kindness to him and his little band of 
 fugitives ; and Lady Frances often says that she scarcely 
 regrets the cares and anxiety attending her flight, since 
 they afforded her an opportunity of enjoying the society of 
 Mrs. Temple in her own home, where she so especially 
 shines." 
 
 "Indeed, we thank them both most cordially, "said Mrs. 
 Temple. " It was a real pleasure to us to have them, I 
 am suro ; and though we hardly had time to make them as 
 comfortable as they might have been, yet a poor feast, sea- 
 soned with a warm welcome, is fit for a king." 
 
 " I trust," said Bernard, "th^t Miss Virginia unites with 
 
A TALE OE BACON'S REBELLION. 293 
 
 you iu the interest which you profess in the cause of loyalty. 
 May I hope, that should it ever be our fortune again to 
 be thrown like stranded wrecks upon your hospitality, her 
 welcome will not be wanting to our happiness." 
 
 "It will always give me pleasure," said Virginia, " to 
 welcome the guests of my parents, and to add, as far as I 
 can, to their comfort, whoever they may be more particu- 
 larly when those guests are among my own special friends." 
 
 " Of which number I am proud to consider myself, 
 though unworthy of such an honour," said Bernard. " But 
 excuse me for a few moments, ladies, I have somewhat to 
 say to my sergeant before dinner. I will return anon as 
 soon as possible ; but you know, Colonel, duty should ever 
 be first served, and afterwards pleasure may be indulged. 
 Duty is the prim old wife, who must be duly attended to, 
 and then Pleasure, the fair young damsel, may claim her 
 share of our devotion. Aye, Colonel ?" 
 
 " Nay, if you enter the marriage state with such ideas of 
 its duties as that," returned the Colonel, smiling, "I rather 
 think you will have a troublesome career before you. But 
 your maxim is true, though clothed in an allegory a little 
 too licentious. So, away with you, my boy, and return as 
 soon as you can, for I have much to ask you." 
 
 Released from the restraints imposed by the presence of 
 the Colonel and the ladies, Bernard rubbed his hands and 
 chuckled inwardly as he went in search of his sergeant. 
 
 "I am pretty sure we are on the right scent, "Holliday," 
 he said, addressing a tall, strapping old soldier of about six 
 feet in height. " This prejudiced old steed seemed disposed 
 to kick before he was spurred and, indeed, if he knew 
 nothing himself, there is a pretty little hind here, who I'll 
 warrant is riot so ignorant of the hiding-place of her young 
 hart." 
 
 " But I tell you what, Cap'n, it's devilish hard to worm 
 a secret out of these women kind. They'll tell any body 
 25* 
 
294 HANSFORD: 
 
 
 
 else's secret, fast enough, but d n me if it don't seem as how 
 they only do that to give more room to keep their own." 
 
 " Well, we must try at any rate. It is not for you to 
 oppose with your impertinent objections what I may choose 
 order. I hope you are soldier enough to have learned that 
 it is only your duty to obey." 
 
 " Oh ! yes, Cap'n. I've learned that lesson long ago 
 and what's more, I learned it on horseback, but, faith, it 
 was one of those wooden steeds that made me do all the 
 travelling. Why, Lord bless me, to obey ! It's one of 
 my ten commandments. I've got it written in stripes 
 that's legible on my shoulders now. ' Obey your officers 
 in all things that your days may be long and your back 
 unskinned.' " 
 
 "Well, stop your intolerable nonsense," said Bernard, 
 "and hear what I would say. We stay here to-night. 
 There is an Indian girl who lives here, a kind of upper 
 servant. You must manage to see her and talk with her. 
 But mind, nothing of our object, or your tongue shall be 
 blistered for it. Tell her that I wish to see her, beneath 
 the old oak tree to night, at ten o'clock. If she refuses, 
 tell her to 'remember Berkenhead.' These words will act 
 as a charm upon her. Remember Hush, here comes the 
 Colonel." 
 
 It will be remembered by the reader that the magic of 
 these two words, which were to have such an influence upon 
 the young Mamalis, was due to the shrewd suspicion of 
 Alfred Bernard, insinuated at the time, that she was the 
 assassin of the ill-fated Berkenhead. By holding this simple 
 rod, in terrorem, over the poor girl, Bernard now saw that 
 he might wield immense power over her, and if the secret 
 of Hansford's hiding-place had been confided to her, he 
 might easily extort it either by arousing her vengeance once 
 more, or in default of that by a menace of exposure and 
 punishment for the murder. But first he determined to see 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 295 
 
 Virginia, and make his peace with her ; and under the 
 plausible guise of sympathy in her distress and pity for 
 Hansford, to excite in her an interest in his behalf, even 
 while he was plotting the ruin of her lover. 
 
 With his usual pliancy of manner, and control over his 
 feelings, he engaged in conversation with Colonel Temple, 
 humouring the well-known prejudices of the old gentleman, 
 and by a little dexterous flattery winning over the unsus- 
 picious old lady to his favor. Even Virginia, though her 
 heart misgave her from the first that the arrival of Bernard 
 boded no good to her lover, was deceived by his plausible 
 manners and attracted by his brilliant conversation. So 
 the tempter, with the graceful crest, and beautiful colours 
 of the subtle serpent beguiled Eve far more effectually, 
 than if in his own shape he had attempted to convince her 
 by the most specious sophisms. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 " Was ever woman in this humour wooed ?" 
 
 Richard III. 
 
 DINNER being over, the gentlemen remained according 
 to the good old custom, to converse over their wine, while 
 Virginia retired to the quiet little parlour, and with some 
 favourite old author tried to beguile her thoughts from the 
 bitter fears which she felt for the safety of Hansford. But it 
 was all in vain. Her eyes often wandered from her book, and 
 fixed upon the blazing, hickory fire, she was lost in a painful 
 reverie. As she weighed in her mind the many chances in 
 favour of, and against his escape, she turned in her trouble 
 
296 HANSFOBD: 
 
 to Him, who alone could rescue her, and with the tears 
 streaming down her pale cheeks, she murmured in bitter 
 accents, " Oh, Lord ! in Thee have I trusted, let me never 
 be confounded." Even while she spoke, she was surprised 
 to hear immediately behind her, the well-known voice of 
 Alfred Bernard, for so entirely lost had she been in medi- 
 tation that she had not heard his step as he entered the 
 room. 
 
 " Miss Temple, and in tears 1" he said, with well assumed 
 surprise. " What can have moved you thus, Virginia ?" 
 
 "Alas ! Mr. Bernard, you who have known my history 
 and my troubles for the last few bitter months, cannot be 
 ignorant that I have much cause for sadness. But," she 
 added, with a faint attempt to smile, " had I known of your 
 presence, I would not have sought to entertain you with 
 my sorrows." 
 
 " The troubles that you speak of are passed, Miss Tem- 
 ple," said Bernard, affecting to misunderstand her, " and as 
 the Colony begins to smile again in the beams of returning 
 peace, you, fair Yifginia, should also smile in sympathy 
 with your namesake." 
 
 " Mr. Bernard, you must jest. You at least should have 
 known, ere this, that my individual sorrows trre not so 
 dependent upon the political condition of the Colony. You 
 at least should have known, sir, that the very peace you 
 boast of may be the knell of hopes more dear to a woman's 
 heart than even the glory and welfare of her country." 
 
 "Miss Temple," returned Bernard, with a grave voice, 
 " since you are determined to treat seriously what I have 
 said, I will change my tone. Though you choose to doubt 
 my sincerity, I must express the deep sympathy which I 
 feel in your sorrows, even though I know that these sorrows 
 are induced by your apprehensions for the fate of a rival. " 
 
 " And that sympathy, sir, is illustrated by your present 
 actions," said Virginia, bitterly. " You would be at the 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 29t 
 
 same time the Judean robber and the good Samaritan, and 
 while inflicting a deadly wound upon your victim, and strip- 
 ping him of cherished hopes, you would administer the oil 
 and wine of your mocking sympathy." 
 
 " I might choose to misunderstand your unkind allusions, 
 Miss Temple," replied Bernard, "but there is no need of 
 concealment between us. You have rightly judged the 
 object of my mission, but in this I act as the officer of 
 government, not as the ungenerous rival of Major Hansford." 
 
 " So does the public executioner," replied Virginia, "but 
 I am not aware that in its civil and military departments 
 as well as in the navy, our government impresses men into 
 her service against their will." 
 
 " You seem determined to misunderstand me, Virginia," 
 said Alfred, with some warmth ; " but you shall learn that 
 I am not capable of the want of generosity which you 
 attribute to me. Know then, that it was from a desire to 
 serve you personally through your friend, that I urged the 
 governor to let me come in pursuit of Major Hansford. 
 Suppose, instead, he should fall in the hands of Beverley. 
 Cruel and relentless as that officer has already shown him- 
 self to be, his prisoner would suffer every indignity and per- 
 secution, even before he was delivered to the tender mercies 
 of Sir William Berkeley while in me, as his captor, you 
 may rest assured that for your sake, he would meet with 
 kindness and indulgence, and even my warm mediation with 
 the governor in his behalf." 
 
 " Oh, then," cried Virginia, trusting words so softly and 
 plausibly spoken, "if you are indeed impelled by a motive 
 so generous and disinterested, it is still in your power to 
 save him. Your influence with the Governor is known, 
 and one word from your lips might control the fate of a 
 brave man, and restore happiness and peace to a broken- 
 hearted girl. Oh! would not this amply compensate even 
 for the neglect of duty ? Would it not be far nobler to 
 
298 HANSFORD: 
 
 secure the happiness of two grateful hearts, than to shed 
 the blood of a brave and generous man, and to wade 
 through that red stream to success and fame ? Believe 
 me, Mr. Bernard, when you come to die, the recollection 
 of such an act will be sweeter to your soul than all the 
 honour and glory which an admiring posterity could heap 
 above your cold, insensate ashes. If I am any thing to 
 you; if my happiness would be an object of interest to 
 your heart; and if my love, my life-long love, would be 
 worthy of your acceptance, they are yours. Forgive the 
 boldness, the freedom with which I have spoken. It may 
 be unbecoming in a young girl, but let it be another proof 
 of the depth, the sincerity of my feelings, when I can forget 
 a maiden's delicacy in the earnestness of my plea. " 
 
 It was impossible not to be moved with the earnest and 
 touching manner of the weeping girl, as with clasped hands 
 and streaming eyes, she almost knelt to Bernard in the 
 fervent earnestness of her feelings. Machiavellian as he 
 was, and accustomed to disguise his heart, the young man 
 was for a moment almost dissuaded from his design. 
 Taking Yirginia gently by the hand, he begged her to be 
 calm. But the feeling of generosity which for a moment 
 gleamed on his heart, like a brief sunbeam on a stormy 
 day, gave way to the wonted selfishness with which that 
 heart was clouded. 
 
 " And can you still cling with such tenacity to a man 
 who has proven himself so unworthy of you," he said ; " to 
 one who has long since sacrificed you to his own fanatical 
 purposes. Even should he escape the fate which awaits 
 him, he can never be yours. Your own independence of 
 feeling, your father's prejudices, every thing conspires to 
 prevent a union so unnatural. Hansford may live, but he 
 can never live to be your husband. " 
 
 " Who empowered you to prohibit thus boldly the bans 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 299 
 
 between us, and to dissolve our plighted troth ?" said Yir- 
 ginia, with indignation. 
 
 " You again mistake me," replied Bernard. " God for- 
 bid that I should thus intrude upon what surely concerns 
 me not. I only expressed, my dear friend, what you know 
 full well, that whatever be the fate of Major Hansford, you 
 can never marry him. Why, then, this strange interest in 
 his fate ?" 
 
 " And can you think thus of woman's love ? Can you 
 suppose that her heart is so selfish that, because her own 
 cherished hopes are blasted, she can so soon forget and 
 coldly desert one who has first awakened those sweet 
 hopes, and who is now in peril ? Believe me, Mr. Ber- 
 nard, dear as I hold that object to my soul, sad and weary 
 as life would be without one who had made it so happy, I 
 would freely, aye, almost cheerfully yield his love, and be 
 banished for ever from his presence, if I could but save his 
 life." 
 
 " You are a noble girl," said Alfred, with admiration ; 
 "and teach me a lesson that too few have learned, that 
 love is never selfish. But, yet, I cannot relinquish the 
 sweet reward which you have promised for my efforts in 
 behalf of Hansford. Then tell me once more, dear girl, if 
 I arrest the hand of justice which now threatens his life ; 
 if he be once more restored to liberty and security, would 
 you reward his deliverer ^ith your love ?" 
 
 " Oh, yes !" cried the trusting girl, mistaking his mean- 
 ing ; "and more, I would pledge his lasting gratitude and 
 affection to his generous preserver." 
 
 "Nay," said Bernard, rather coldly, "that would not 
 add much inducement to me. But you," Virginia," he 
 added, passionately, " would you be mine would the 
 bright dream of my life be indeed realized, and might I 
 enshrine you in my faithful heart, as a sacred idol, to 
 whom in hourly adoration I might bow ?" 
 
300 HANSFORD : 
 
 " How mean you, sir," exclaimed Virginia, with surprise. 
 " I fear you have misunderstood my words. My love, my 
 gratitude, my friendship, I promised, but not my heart. " 
 
 " Then, indeed, am I strangely at fault," said Bernard, 
 with a sneering laugh. " The love you would "bestow, 
 would be such as you would feel towards the humblest 
 boor, who had done you a service ; and your gratitude but 
 the natural return which any human being would make to 
 the dog who saves his life. Nay, mistress mine, not so 
 platonic, if you please. Think you that, for so cold a 
 feeling as friendship and gratitude, I would rescue this 
 skulking bound from the lash of his master, which he so 
 richly deserves, or from the juster doom of the craven cur, 
 the rope and gallows. No, Virginia Temple, there is no 
 longer any need of mincing matters between us. It is a 
 simple question of bargain and sale. You have said that 
 you would renounce the love of Hansford to save his 
 life. Very well, one step more and all is accomplished. 
 The boon I ask, as the reward of my services, is your 
 heart, or at least your hand. Yield but this, and I will 
 arrest the malice of that doting old knight, who, with his 
 fantastic tricks, has made the angels laugh instead of weep. 
 Deny me, and by my troth, Thomas Hansford meets a 
 traitor's doom." 
 
 So complete was the revulsion of feeling from the almost 
 certainty of success, to the despair and indignation induced 
 by so base a proposition, that it was some moments before 
 Virginia Temple could speak. Bernard mistaking the 
 cause of her silence, deemed that she was hesitating as to 
 her course, and pursuing his supposed advantage, he added, 
 tenderly, " Cheer, up Virginia ; cheer up, my bride. I 
 read in those silent tears your answer. I know the strug- 
 gle is hard, and I love you the more that it is so. It is an 
 earnest of your future constancy. In a short time the trial 
 will be over, and we will learn to forget our sorrows in our 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 301 
 
 love. He who is so unworthy of you will have sought in 
 some distant land solace for your loss, which will be easily 
 attained by his pliant nature. A traitor to his country, 
 will not long inourn the loss of his bride " 
 
 " 'Tis thou who art the traitor, dissembling hypocrite," 
 cried Virginia, vehemently. " Think you that my silence 
 arose from a moment's consideration of your base proposi- 
 tion ? I was stunned at beholding such a monster in the 
 human form. But I defy you yet. The governor shall 
 learn how the fawning favourite of his palace, tears the 
 hand that feeds him and those who can protect me from 
 your power, shall chastise your insolence. Instead of the 
 love and gratitude I promised, there, take my lasting hate 
 and scorn." 
 
 And the young girl proudly rising erect as she spoke, 
 her eyes flashing, but tearless, her bosom heaving with in- 
 dignation, her nostrils dilated, and her hand extended in 
 bitter contempt towards the astonished Bernard, shouted, 
 "Father, father !" until the hall rung with the sound. 
 
 Happily for Alfred Bernard, Colonel Temple and his 
 wife had left the house for a few moments, on a visit to old 
 Giles 1 cabin, the old man having been laid up with a vio- 
 lent attack of the rheumatics. The wily intriguer was for 
 once caught in his own springe. He had overacted his 
 part, and had grossly mistaken the character of the brave 
 young girl, whom he had so basely insulted. He felt that 
 if he lost a moment, the house would be alarmed, and his 
 miserable hypocrisy exposed. Rushing to Virginia, he 
 whispered, in an agitated voice, which he failed to control 
 with his usual self-command, 
 
 "For. God's sake, be silent. I acknowledge I have done 
 wrong ; but I will explain. Remember Hansford's life is 
 in your hands. Come, now, deap Virginia, sit you down, 
 I will save him." 
 
 The proud expression of scorn died away from the curled 
 26 
 
302 HANSFORD : 
 
 lips of the girl, and interest in her lover's fate again took 
 entire possession of her heart. She paused and listened. 
 The wily Jesuit had again conquered, and He who rules 
 the universe with such mysterious justice, had permitted 
 evil once more to triumph over innocence. 
 
 " Yes," repeated Bernard, regaining his composure with 
 his success ; " I will save him. I mistook your character, 
 Miss Temple. 1 had thought you the simple-hearted girl, 
 who for the sake of her lover's life would sell her heart to 
 his preserver. I now recognize in you the high-spirited 
 woman, who, conscious of right, would meet her own des- 
 pair in its defence. Alas ! in thus losing you for ever, I 
 have just found you possessed of qualities which make you 
 doubly worthy to be won. But I resign you to him whom 
 you have chosen, and in my admiration for the woman, I 
 have almost lost my hatred for the man. For your sake, 
 Miss Temple, Major Hansford shall not want my warm 
 interposition with the Governor in his . behalf. Let my 
 reward be your esteem or your contempt, it is still my 
 duty thus to atone for the wound which I have unfortu- 
 nately inflicted on your feelings. You will excuse and 
 respect my wish to end this painful interview." 
 
 And so he left the room, and Virginia once more alone, 
 gave vent to her emotions so long suppressed, in a flood 
 of bitter tears. 
 
 " Well, Holliday," said Bernard, as he met that worthy 
 in the hall, " I hope you have been more fortunate with the 
 red heifer than I with the white hind what says Mamalis ?' 
 
 " The fact is, Cap'n, that same heifer is about as trouble- 
 some a three year old as I ever had the breaking on. She 
 seemed bent on hooking me." 
 
 " Did you not make use of the talisman I told you of?" 
 asked Bernard. 
 
 " Well, I don't know what you call a tell-us-man," said 
 Holliday, " but I told her that you said she must remember 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 303 
 
 B.ickiuliead, and I'll warrant it was tell-us-woman soon 
 enough. Bless me, if she didn't most turn white, for all 
 her red skin, and she got the trimbles so that I began to 
 think she was going to have the high-strikes and so says 
 she at last ; says she, in kind of choking voice like, ' Well, 
 tell him I will meet him under the oak tree, as he wishes.'" 
 
 " Yery well," said Bernard, "we will succeed yet, and 
 then your hundred pounds are made my share is yours 
 already if you be but faithful to me I am convinced he 
 has been here," he continued, musing, and half unconscious 
 of Holliday's presence. " The hopeful interest that Yir- 
 ginia feels, her knowledge of the fact that he still lives and 
 is at large, and the apprehensions which mingle with her 
 hopes, all convince me that I'm on the right track. Well, 
 I'll spoil a pretty love affair yet, before it approaches its 
 consummation. Fine girl, too, and a pity to victimize her. 
 Bless me, how majestic she looked ; with what a queen-like 
 scorn she treated me, the cold, insensate intriguer, as they 
 call me. I begin to love her almost as much as I love her 
 land but, beware, Alfred Bernard, love might betray you. 
 My game is a bold and desperate one, but the stake for 
 which I play repays the risk. By God, I'll have her yet; 
 she shall learn to bow her proud head, and to love me too 
 and then the fair fields of Windsor Hall will not be less 
 fertile for the price which I pay for them in a rival's blood 
 and such a rival. He scorned and defied me when the 
 overtures of peace were extended to him ; let him look to 
 it, that in rejecting the olive, he has not planted the cypress 
 in its stead. Thus revenge is united with policy in the 
 attainment of my object, and What are you staring at, 
 you gaping idiot?" he cried, seeing the big, pewter 
 coloured eyes of Holliday fixed upon him in mute aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 " Why, Cap'n, damme if I don't believe you are talking 
 in your sleep with your eyes open." 
 
304 HANSFOBD 1 
 
 " And what did you hear me say, knave ?" 
 
 " Oh, nothing that will ever go the farther for my hearing 
 it. It's all one to me whether you're working for your 
 country or yourself in this matter, so long as my pretty 
 pounds are none the less heavy and safe." 
 
 " I'm working for both, you fool," returned Bernard. 
 " Did you ever know a general or a patriot who did not 
 seek to serve himself as well as his country ?" 
 
 " Well, no," retorted the soldier, "for what the world 
 calls honour, and what the rough soldier calls money, is at 
 last only different kinds of coin of the same metal." 
 
 " Well, hush your impudence," said Bernard, " and mind, 
 not a word of what you have heard, or you shall feel my 
 power as well as others. In the meantime, here is a golden 
 key to lock your lips," and he handed the fellow a sovereign, 
 which he greedily accepted. 
 
 " Thank you, Cap'n," said Holliday, touching his hat 
 and pocketing the money ; " you need not be afraid of me, 
 for I've seen tricks in my time worth two of that. And 
 for the matter of taking this yellow boy, which might look 
 to some like hush-money, the only difference between the 
 patriot and me is, that he gets paid for opening his mouth, 
 and I for keeping mine shut." 
 
 " You are a saucy knave," said Bernard, reassured by 
 the fellow's manner; "and I'll warrant you never served 
 under old Noll's Puritan standard. But away with you, 
 and remember to be in place at ten o'clock to-night, and 
 come to me at this signal," and he gave a shrill whistle, 
 which Holliday promised to understand and obey. 
 
 And so they separated, Bernard to while away the tedious 
 hours, by conversing with the old Colonel, and by endea- 
 vouring to reinstate himself in the good opinion of Vir- 
 ginia, while Holliday repaired to the kitchen, where, in 
 company with his comrades and the white servants of the 
 hall, he emptied about a half gallon of brown October ale. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 305 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 " He sat her on a milk-white steed, 
 
 Arid himself upon a grey ; 
 He never turned his face again, 
 But he bore her quite away." 
 
 The Knight of the Burning Pestle. 
 
 " Ohj woe is me for Gerrard ! I hare brought 
 Confusion on the noblest gentleman 
 That ever truly loved." 
 
 The Triumph of Love. 
 
 THE night, though only starry, was scarce less lovely for 
 the absence of the moon. So bright indeed was the milky 
 way, the white girdle, with which the night adorns her 
 azure robe, that you might almost imagine the moon had 
 not disappeared, but only melted and diffused itself in the 
 milder radiance of that fair circlet. 
 
 As was always the custom in the country, the.family had 
 retired at an early hour, and Bernard quietly left the 
 house to fulfil his engagement with Mamalis. They stood, 
 he and the Indian girl, beneath the shade of the old oak, 
 so often mentioned in the preceding pages. With his 
 handsome Spanish cloak of dark velvet plush, thrown grace- 
 fully over his shoulders, his hat looped up and fastened in 
 front with a gold button, after the manner of the times, 
 Alfred Bernard stood with folded arms, irresolute as to 
 how he should commence a conversation so important, and 
 requiring such delicate address. Mamalis stood before him, 
 with that air of nameless but matchless grace so peculiar 
 to those, who unconstrained by the arts and affectations of 
 society, assume the attitude of ease and beauty which nature 
 26* 
 
306 HANSFORD : 
 
 can alone suggest. She watched him with a look of eager- 
 ness, anxious on her part for the silence to be broken, that 
 she might learn the meaning and the object of this strange 
 interview. 
 
 Alfred Bernard was too skilful an intriguer to broach 
 abruptly the subject which, most absorbed his thoughts, and 
 which had made him seek this interview, and when at last 
 he spoke, Mamalis was at a loss to guess what there was in 
 the commonplaces which he used, that could be of interest 
 to him. But the wily hypocrite led her on step by step, 
 until gradually and almost unconsciously to herself he had 
 fully developed his wishes. 
 
 " You live here altogether, now, do you not ?" he asked, 
 kindly. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Are they kind to you ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, they are kind to all." 
 
 " And you are happy ?" 
 
 " Yes, as happy as those can be who are left alone on 
 earth." 
 
 " What ! are there none of your family now living ?" 
 
 " No, no !" she replied, bitterly ; "the blood of Powha- 
 tan now runs in this narrow channel," and she held out her 
 graceful arms, as she spoke, with an expressive gesture. 
 
 "Alas! I pity you," said Bernard, sighing. "We are 
 alike in this for my blood is reduced to as narrow a chan- 
 nel as your own. But your family was very numerous ?" 
 
 " Yes, numerous as those stars and bright and beautiful 
 as they. " 
 
 " Judging from the only Pleiad that remains," thought 
 Bernard, "you may well say so and can you," he added, 
 aloud, "forgive those who have thus injured you ?" 
 
 " Forgive, oh yes, or how shall I be forgiven ! Look 
 at those stars ! They shine the glory of the night. They 
 vanish before the sun of the morning. So faded my people 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 30f 
 
 before the arms of the white man and yet I can freely 
 forgive them all 1" 
 
 " What, even those who have quenched those stars 1" 
 said Bernard, with a sinister meaning in his tone. 
 
 "You mistake," replied Mamalis, touchingly. " They 
 are not quenched. The stars we see to-night, though un- 
 seen on the morrow, are still in heaven." 
 
 "Nay, Mamalis," said Bernard, "the creed of your 
 fathers taught not thus. I thought the Indian maxim was 
 that blood alone could wipe out the stain of blood." 
 
 " I love the Christian lesson better," said Mamalis, softly. 
 " And you, Mr. Bernard, should not try to shake my new 
 born faith. ' Love your enemies bless them that curse 
 you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute 
 you that you may be the children of your Father which is 
 in heaven.' The orphan girl on earth would love to be the 
 child of her father in heaven. " 
 
 The sweet simplicity with which the poor girl thus 
 referred to the precepts and promises of her new religion, 
 derived more touching beauty from the broken English 
 with which she expressed them. An attempt to describe her 
 manner and accent would be futile, and would detract from 
 the simple dignity and sweetness with which she uttered 
 the words. We leave the reader from his own imagination 
 to fill up the picture which we can only draw in outline. 
 Bernard saw and felt the power of religion in the heart of 
 this poor savage, and he hesitated what course he should 
 pursue. He knew that her strongest feeling in life had 
 been her affection for her brother. That had been the 
 chord which earliest vibrated in her heart, and which as 
 her heart expanded only increased in tension that added 
 greater sweetness to its tone. It was on this broken string, 
 so rudely snapped asunder, that he resolved to play 
 hoping thus to strike some harsh and discordant notes in 
 her gentle heart. 
 
308 HANSFORD: 
 
 " You had a brother, Mamalis," he said, abruptly ; " the 
 voice of your brother's blood calls to you from the ground." 
 
 " My brother 1" shrieked the girl, startled by the sudden- 
 ness of the allusion. 
 
 " Aye, your murdered brother," said Bernard, marking 
 with pleasure the effect he had produced, " and it is in your 
 power to avenge his death. Dare you do it ?" 
 
 " Oh, my brother, my poor lost brother," she sobbed, 
 the stoical indifference of the savage, pressed out by the 
 crushed heart of the sister, " if by this hand thy death 
 could be avenged." 
 
 "By your hand he can be avenged," said Bernard, seeing 
 her pause. "It has not yet been done. That stupid 
 knave, in a moment of vanity, claimed for himself the praise 
 of having murdered a chieftain, but the brave Manteo fell 
 by more noble hands than his." 
 
 "In God's name, who do you mean ?" asked Mamalis. 
 
 " I can only tell you that it is now in your power to 
 surrender his murderer to justice, and to his deserved fate." 
 
 Mamalis was silent. She guessed that it was Hans- 
 ford to whom Bernard had thus vaguely alluded. The 
 struggle seemed to be a desperate one. There in the clear 
 starlight, with none to help, save Him, in whom she had 
 learned to trust, she wrestled with the tempter. But that' 
 dark scene of her life, which still threw its shadow on her 
 redeemed heart, again rose up before her memory. The 
 lesson was a blessed one. How often thus does the recol- 
 lection of a former sin guard the soul from error in the 
 future. Surely, in this, too, God has made the wrath of 
 man to praise him. With the aid thus given from on high, 
 the trusting soul of Mamalis triumphed over temptation. 
 
 "I know not why you tempt me thus, Mr. Bernard," she 
 said, more calmly, " nor why you have brought me here to- 
 night. But this I know, that I have learned that ven- 
 geance belongs to God. It were a crime for morta man, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 309 
 
 frail at best, to usurp the right of God. My brother is 
 already fearfully avenged." 
 
 Twice beaten in his attempt to besiege the strong heart 
 of the poor Indian, by stratagem, the wily Bernard deter- 
 mined to pursue a more determined course, and to take the 
 resisting citadel by a coup d'etat. He argued, and argued 
 rightly, that a sudden charge would surprise her into 
 betraying a knowledge of Hansford's movements. No 
 sooner, therefore, had the last words fallen from her lips, 
 than he seized her roughly by the arm, and exclaimed, 
 
 " So you, then, with all your religious cant, are the mur- 
 deress of Thomas Hausford 1" 
 
 " The murderess ! Of Hansford ! Is he then dead," 
 cried the girl, bewildered by the sudden charge, " How did 
 they find him ?" 
 
 "Find him !" cried Bernard, triumphantly, "It is easy 
 finding what we hide ourselves. We have proven that you 
 alone are aware of his hiding place, and you alone, there- 
 fore, are responsible for his safety. It was for this confes- 
 sion that I brought you here to-night." 
 
 " So help me Heaven," said the trembling girl, terrified 
 by the web thus woven around her, "If he be dead, I am 
 innocent of his death." 
 
 " The assassin of Berkenhead may well be the murderess 
 of Hansford," said Bernard. " It is easier to deny than to 
 prove. Come, my mistress, tell me when you saw him." 
 
 "Oh, but this morning, safe and well," said Mamalis. 
 " Indeed, my hand is guiltless of his blood." 
 
 "Prove it, then, if you can," returned Bernard. "You 
 must know our English law presumes him guilty, who is 
 last with the murdered person, unless he can prove his in- 
 nocence. Show me Hansford alive, and you are safe. If 
 I do not see him by sunrise, you go with me to answer for 
 his death, and to learn that your accursed race is not the 
 only people who demand blood for blood." 
 
310 HANSFORD: 
 
 Overawed by his threats, and his stern manner, so dif- 
 ferent from the mild and respectful tone in which he had 
 hitherto addressed her, Mamalis sank upon the ground in 
 an agony of alarm. Bernard disregarded her meek and 
 silent appeal for mercy, and sternly menaced her when she 
 attempted to scream for assistance. 
 
 " Hush your savage shrieking, you bitch, or you'll wake 
 the house ; and then, by God, I'll choke you before your 
 time. I tell you, if the man is alive, you need fear no 
 danger ; and if he be dead, you have only saved the sheriff 
 a piece of dirty work, or may be have given him another 
 victim." 
 
 " For God's sake, do me no harm," cried Mamalis, 
 imploringly. " I am innocent indeed I am. Think you 
 that I would hurt a hair of the head of that man whom 
 Virginia Temple loves ?" 
 
 This last remark was by no means calculated to make her 
 peace with Bernard ; but his only reply was by the shrill 
 whistle which had been agreed upon as a signal between 
 Holliday and himself. True to his promise, and obedient 
 to the command of his superior, the soldier made his 
 appearance on the scene of action with a promptitude that 
 could only be explained by the fact that he had concealed 
 himself behind a corner of the house, and had heard every 
 word of the conversation. Too much excited to be sus- 
 picious, Bernard did not remark on his punctuality, but 
 said, in a low voice : 
 
 " Go wake Thompson, saddle the horses, and let's be off. 
 We have work before us. Go !" And Holliday, with 
 habitual obedience, retired to execute the order. 
 
 " And now," said Bernard, in an encouraging tone, to 
 Mamalis, " you must go with me. But you have nothing 
 to fear, if Hansford be alive. If, however, my suspicions 
 be true, and he has been murdered by your hand, I will still 
 be your friend, if you be but faithful." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 311 
 
 The horses were quickly brought, and Bernard, half lead- 
 ing, half carrying the poor, weeping, trembling maiden, 
 mounted his own powerful charger, and placed her behind 
 him. The order of march was soon given, and the heavy 
 sound of the horses' feet was heard upon the hard, crisp, 
 frozen ground. Mamalis, seeing her fate inevitable, what- 
 ever it might be, awaited it patiently and without a mur- 
 mur. Never suspecting the true motive of Bernard, and 
 fully believing that he was bona fide engaged in searching 
 for the perpetrators of some foul deed, she readily con- 
 sented, for her own defence, to conduct the party to the 
 hiding place of the hapless Hansford. Surprised and 
 shocked beyond measure at the intelligence of his fate, she 
 almost forgot her own situation in her concern for him, and 
 was happy in aiding to bring to justice those who, as she 
 feared, had murdered him. She was surprised, indeed, that 
 she had heard nothing of the circumstance from Virginia, 
 as she would surely have done, had Bernard mentioned it to 
 the family. But in her ignorance of the rules of civilized 
 life, she attributed this to the forms of procedure, to the 
 necessity for secrecy to anything rather than the true 
 cause. Nor could she help hoping that there might be still 
 some mistake, and that Hansford would be found alive and 
 well, thus establishing her own innocence, and ending the 
 pursuit. 
 
 Arrived nearly at the wigwam, she mentioned the fact to 
 Bernard, who in a low voice commanded a halt, and dis- 
 mounting with his men, he directed Mamalis to guide them 
 the remaining distance on foot. Leaving Thompson iu 
 charge of the horses, until he might be called to their 
 assistance, Bernard and Holliday silently followed the 
 unsuspecting Indian girl along the narrow path. A short 
 distance ahead, they could discern the faint smoke, as 
 it curled through the opening at the top of the wigwam 
 and floated towards the sky. This indication rendered it 
 
312 HANSFORD: 
 
 probable that the object of their search was still watching, 
 and thus warned them to greater caution in their approach. 
 Bernard's heart beat thick and loud, and his cheek blanched 
 with excitement, as he thus drew near the lurking place of 
 his enemy. He shook Holliday by the arm with impatient 
 anger, as the heavy-footed soldier jarred the silence by the 
 crackling of fallen leaves and branches. And now they are 
 almost there, and Mamalis, whose excitement was also 
 intense, still in advance, saw through a crevice in the door 
 the kneeling form of the noble insurgent, as he bowed him- 
 self by that lonely fire, and committed his weary soul to 
 God. 
 
 " He is here ! he lives !" she shouted. " I knew that he 
 was safe !" and the startled forest rang with the echoes of 
 her voice. 
 
 " The murder is out," cried Bernard, as followed by 
 Holliday, he rushed forward to the door, which had been 
 thrown open by their guide ; but ere he gained his entrance, 
 the sharp report of a pistol was heard, and the beautiful, 
 the trusting Mamalis fell prostrate on the floor, a bleeding 
 martyr to her constancy and faith. Hansford, roused by 
 the sudden sound of her voice, had seized the pistol which, 
 sleeping and waking, was by his side, and hearing the voice 
 of Bernard, he had fired. Had the ball taken effect upon 
 either of the men, he might yet have been saved, for in an 
 encounter with a single man he would have proved a for- 
 midable adversary. But inscrutable are His ways, whose 
 thoughts are not as our thoughts, and all that the puzzled 
 soul can do, is humbly to rely on the hope that 
 
 " God is his own interpreter, 
 And he will make it plain." 
 
 And she, the last of her dispersed and ruined lineage, is 
 gone. In the lone forest, where the wintry blast swept 
 unobstructed, the giant trees moaned sadly and fitfully over 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 313 
 
 their bleeding child : and the bright stars, that saw the 
 heavy deed, wept from their place in heaven, and bathed 
 her lovely form in night's pure dews. She did not long 
 remain unburied in that forest, for when Virginia heard the 
 story of her faith and loyalty from the rude lips of Holli- 
 day, the pure form of the Indian girl, still fresh and free 
 from the polluting touch of the destroyer, was borne to her 
 own home, and followed with due rites and fervent grief to 
 the quiet tomb. In after days, when her sad heart loved to 
 dwell upon these early scenes, Yirginia placed above the 
 Bacred ashes of her friend a simple marble tablet, long since 
 itself a ruin ; and there, engraven with the record of her 
 faith, her loyalty and her love, was the sweet assurance, 
 that in her almost latest words, the trusting Indian girl had 
 indeed become one of " the children of her Father which is 
 in Heaven." 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 " Let some of the guard be ready there. 
 
 For me ? 
 Must I go like a traitor thither ?" 
 
 Henry VIII. 
 
 THE reader need not be told that Hansford, surprised 
 and unarmed, for his remaining pistol was not at hand, 
 and his sword had been laid aside for the night, was no 
 match for the two powerful men who now rushed upon 
 him. To pinion his arms closely behind him, was the work 
 of a moment, and further resistance was impossible. See- 
 ing that all hope of successful defence was gone, Hansford 
 maintained in his bearing the resolute fortitude and firm- 
 27 
 
314 HANSFORD: 
 
 ness which can support a brave man in misfortune, when 
 active courage is no longer of avail. 
 
 " I suppose, I need not ask Mr. Bernard," he said, " by 
 what authority he acts and yet I would be glad to learn 
 for what offence I am arrested. " 
 
 " The memory of your former acts should teach you," 
 returned Bernard, coarsely, " that your offence is reckoned 
 among the best commentators of the law as high treason." 
 
 "A grievous crime, truly," replied Hansford, "but one 
 of which I am happily innocent, unless, indeed, a skirmish 
 with the hostile Indians should be reckoned as such, or Sir 
 William Berkeley should be presumptuous enough to claim 
 to be a king ; in which latter case, he himself would be the 
 traitor." 
 
 " He is at least the deputy of the king," said Bernard, 
 haughtily, " and in his person the majesty of the king has 
 been assailed." 
 
 "Unfortunately, for your reasoning," replied Hansford, 
 " the term for which Berkeley was appointed governor has 
 expired some years since." 
 
 " That miserable subterfuge will scarcely avail, since you 
 tacitly acknowledged his authority by acting under his com- 
 mission. But I have no time to be discussing with you on 
 the nature of your offence, of which, at least, I am not the 
 judge. I will only add, that conscious innocence is not 
 found skulking in dark forests, and obscure hiding places. 
 Call Thompson, with the horses, Holliday. It is time we 
 were off." 
 
 " One word, before we leave," said Hansford, sadly. 
 " My pistol ball took effect, I know ; who is its victim ?" 
 
 "A poor Indian girl, who conducted us to your fast- 
 ness," said Bernard. " I had forgotten her myself, till 
 now. Look, Holliday, does she still live ?" 
 
 "Dead as a herring, your honour," said the man, as he 
 bent over the body, with deep feeling, for, though accus- 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 315 
 
 tomed to the flow of blood, he had taken a lively interest 
 in the poor girl, from what he had seen and overheard. 
 " And by God, Cap'n, begging your honour's pardon, a 
 brave girl she was, too, although she was an Injin." 
 
 "Poor Mamalis," said Hansford, tenderly, "you have 
 met with an early and a sad fate. I little thought that she 
 would betray me." 
 
 "Nay, wrong not the dead," interposed Bernard, "I 
 assure you, she knew nothing of the object of our coming. 
 But all's fair in war, Major, and a little intrigue was neces- 
 sary to track you to this obscure hold." 
 
 " Well, farewell, poor luckless maiden ! And so I've 
 killed my friend," said Hansford, sorrowfully. " Alas 1 
 Mr. Bernard, my arm has been felt in battle, and has sent 
 death to many a foe. But, God forgive me ! this is the 
 first blood I have ever spilt, except in battle, and this, too, 
 flows from a woman." 
 
 " Think not of it thus," said Bernard, whose hard nature 
 could not but be touched by this display of unselfish grief 
 on the part of his prisoner. " It was but an accident, and 
 should not rest heavily on your soul. Stay, Holliday, I 
 would not have the poor girl rot here, either. Suppose 
 you take the body to Windsor Hall, where it will be treated 
 with due respect. Thompson and myself can, meantime, 
 attend the prisoner." 
 
 " Look ye, Cap'n," said Holliday, with the superstition 
 peculiar to vulgar minds ; " 'taint that I'm afeard exactly 
 neither, but its a mighty dissolute feeling being alone in a 
 dark night with a corp. I'd rather kill fifty men, than to 
 stay by myself five minutes, with the smallest of the fifty 
 after he was killed. " 
 
 " Well, then, you foolish fellow, go to the hall to-night 
 and inform them of her death, and excuse me to Colonel 
 Temple for my abrupt departure, and meet me with the 
 rest of the men at Tindal's Point as soon as possible. I 
 
316 HANSFORD: 
 
 will bide there for you. But first help me to take the poor 
 girl's body into the wigwam. I suppose she will rest 
 quietly enough here till morning. Major Hansford," he 
 added, courteously, "our horses are ready I perceive. 
 You can take Holliday's there. He can provide himself 
 with another at the hall. Shall we ride, sir ?" 
 
 With a sad heart the captive-bound Hansford mounted 
 with difficulty the horse prepared for him, which was led 
 by Thompson, while Bernard rode by his side, and with 
 more of courtesy than could be expected from him, en- 
 deavoured to beguile the way with conversation with his 
 prisoner. 
 
 Meanwhile Holliday, whistling for company, and ever 
 and anon looking behind him warily, to see whether the 
 disembodied Mamalis was following him, bent his steps 
 towards the hall, to communicate to the unsuspecting Vir- 
 ginia the heavy tidings of her lover's capture. The rough 
 soldier, although his nature had been blunted by long 
 service and familiarity with scenes of distress, was not 
 without some feelings, and showed even in his rude, uncul- 
 tivated manners, the sympathy and tenderness which was 
 wanting in the more polished but harder heart of Alfred 
 Bernard. 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 317 
 
 CHAPTER XLIY. 
 
 " Go to Lord Angelo, 
 
 And let him learn to know, when maidens sue, 
 Men give like gods ; but when they weep and kneel, 
 All their petitions are as freely theirs, 
 As they themselves would owe them." 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 IT were impossible to describe the silent agony of Vir- 
 ginia Temple, when she learned from Holliday, on the 
 following morning, the capture of Hansford. She felt 
 that it was the wreck of all her hopes, and that the last 
 thread which still hung between her and despair was 
 snapped. But even in that dark hour, her strength of 
 mind, and her firmness of purpose forsook her not. There 
 was still a duty for her to perform in endeavouring to pro- 
 cure his pardon, and she entertained, with the trusting 
 confidence of her young heart, the strong hope that Berke- 
 ley would grant her request. On this sacred errand she 
 determined to go at once. Although she did not dream 
 of the full extent of Bernard's hypocrisy, yet all his efforts 
 had been unavailing to restore full confidence in his sin- 
 cerity. She dared not trust a matter of such importance 
 to another, especially when she had reason to suspect that 
 that other was far from being friendly in his feelings to- 
 wards her lover. Once determined on her course, she lost 
 no time in informing her parents of her resolution ; and so, 
 when they were all seated around the breakfast-table, she 
 said quietly, but firmly 
 
 " I am going to Accomac to-day, father." 
 
 " To where !" cried her mother ; " why surely, child, you 
 must be out of your senses." 
 
 " No, dearest mother, my calmness is not an indication 
 27* 
 
318 HANSFORD: 
 
 of insanity. If I should neglect this sacred duty, you 
 might then indeed tremble for my reason." 
 
 " What in the world are you thinking of, Jeanie 1" said 
 her father, in his turn surprised at this sudden resolution ; 
 " what duties can call you to Accomac ?" 
 
 " I go to save life," replied Virginia. " Can you wonder, 
 my father, that when I see all that I hold dearest in life 
 just trembling on the verge of destruction, I should desire 
 to do all in my power to save it." 
 
 " You are right, my child," replied her father, tenderly; 
 " if it were possible for you to accomplish any good. But 
 what can you do to rescue Hansford from the hand of 
 justice ?" 
 
 " Of justice !" said Virginia, " and can you unite with 
 those, my dear father, who profane the name of justice by 
 applying it to the relentless cruelty with which blind ven- 
 geance pursues its victims ?" 
 
 " Ah, Jeanie !" said her father, smiling, as he pressed 
 her hand tenderly ; " you should remember, in language of 
 the quaint old satirist, Butler, 
 
 ' No thief e'er felt the halter draw, 
 With good opinion of the law;' 
 
 and although I would not apply the bitter couplet to my 
 little Jeanie in its full force, yet she must own that her 
 interest in its present application, prevents her from being 
 a very competent judge of its propriety and justice. " 
 
 " But surely, dear father, you cannot think that these 
 violent measures against the unhappy parties to the late 
 rebellion, are either just or politic ?" 
 
 " I grant, my child, that to my own mind, a far more 
 humane policy might be pursued consistent with the ends 
 of justice. To inspire terror in a subject is not the surest 
 means to secure his allegiance or his love for government. 
 I am sure, if you were afraid of your old father, and always 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 319 
 
 in dread of his wrath and authority, you would not love 
 him as you do, Jeanie and government is at last nothing 
 but a larger family. " 
 
 "Well, then," returned the artless ghJ, "why should I 
 not go to Sir William Berkeley, and represent to him the 
 harshness of his course, and the propriety of tempering his 
 revenge with mercy ?" 
 
 " First, my daughter, because I have only expressed my 
 private opinion, which would have but little weight with 
 the Governor, or any one else but you and mother, there. 
 Remember that we are neither the framers nor the adminis- 
 trators of the law. And then you would make but a poor 
 mediator, my darling, if you were to attempt to dissuade 
 the Governor from his policy, by charging him with cruelty 
 and injustice. Think no more of this wild idea, my dear 
 child. It can do no good, arid reflects more credit on your 
 warm, generous heart, than on your understanding or ex- 
 perience. " 
 
 " Hinder me not, my father," said Yirginia, earnestly, 
 her blue eyes filling with tears. " I can but fail, and if you 
 would save me from the bitterness of self-reproach here- 
 after, let me go. Oh, think how it would add bitterness to 
 the cup of grief, if, when closing the eyes of a dead friend, 
 we should think that we had left some remedy untried which 
 might have saved his life ! If I fail, it will at least be some 
 consolation, even in despair, that I did all that I could to 
 avert his fate ; and if I succeed oh I how transporting 
 the thought that the life of one I love had been spared 
 through my interposition. Then hinder me not, father, 
 mother if you would not destroy your daughter's peace 
 forever, oh, let me go 1" 
 
 The solemn earnestness with which the poor girl thus 
 urged her parents to grant her request, deeply affected them 
 both ; and the old lady, forgetting in her love for her 
 
320 HANSFORD : 
 
 daughter the indelicacy and impropriety of her plan, vol- 
 unteered her very efficient advocacy of Virginia's cause. 
 
 " Indeed, Colonel Temple," she said, " you should not 
 oppose Yirginia in this matter. You will have enough to 
 reproach yourself for, if .by your means you should prevent 
 her from doing what she thinks best. And, indeed, I like 
 to see a young girl show so much spirit and interest in her 
 lover's fate. It is seldom you see such things now-a-days, 
 though it used to be common enough in England. Now, 
 just put it to yourself. " 
 
 The Colonel accordingly did "put it to himself," and, 
 charmed with his daughter's affection and heroism, con- 
 cluded himself to accompany her to Accomac, and exert 
 his own influence with the Governor in procuring the par- 
 don of the unhappy Hansford. 
 
 " Now that's as it should be," said the old lady, gratified 
 at this renewed assurance of her ascendency over her hus- 
 band. " And now, Virginia, cheer up. All will be right, 
 my dear, for your father has great influence with the Gov- 
 ernor and, indeed, well he might have, for he has received 
 kindness enough at our hands in times past. I should like 
 to see him refuse your father a favour. And I will write a 
 note to Lady Frances myself, for all the world knows that 
 she is governor and all with her husband." 
 
 " Ladies generally are," said the Colonel, with a smile, 
 which however could not disguise the sincerity with which 
 he uttered the sentiment. 
 
 " Oh, no, not at all," retorted, the old lady, bridling up. 
 " You are always throwing up your obedience to me, and 
 yet, after all said and done, you have your own way pretty 
 much, too. But you are not decent to go anywhere. Do, 
 pray, Colonel Temple, pay more respect to society, and fix 
 yourself up a little. Put on your blue coat and your black 
 stock, and dress your hair, and shave, and look genteel for 
 once in your life. " Then, seeing by the patient shrug of 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 321 
 
 her good old husband that she had wounded his feelings, 
 she patted him tenderly on the shoulder, and added, " You 
 know I always love to see you nice and spruce, and when 
 you do attend to your dress, and fix up, I know of none of 
 them that are equal to you. Do you, Virginia ?" 
 
 Before the good Colonel had fully complied with all the 
 toilet requisitions of his wife, the carriage was ready to 
 take the travellers to Tindal's Point, where there was luckily 
 a small sloop, just under weigh for Accomac. And Vir- 
 ginia, painfully alternating between hope and fear, but sus- 
 tained by a consciousness of duty, was borne away across 
 the broad Chesapeake, on her pious pilgrimage, to move 
 by her tears and prayers the vindictive heart of the stern 
 old Governor. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 " Why, there's an end then ! I have judged deliberately, and the 
 result is death." The Gamester. 
 
 SITUATED, as nearly as might be, in the centre of each 
 of the counties of Virginia, was a small settlement, which, 
 although it aspired to the dignity of a town, could scarcely 
 deserve the name. For the most part, these little country 
 towns, as they were called, were composed of about four 
 houses, to wit : The court house, dedicated to justice, where 
 sat, monthly, the magistrates of the county, possessed of an 
 unlimited jurisdiction in all cases cognizable in law or 
 chancery, not touching life or murder, and having the care 
 of orphans' persons and estates ; the jail, wherein prisoners 
 
 IT 
 
322 HANSFOKD : 
 
 committed for any felony were confined, until they could be 
 brought before the general court, which had the sole crimi- 
 nal jurisdiction in the colony; the tavern, a long, low 
 wooden building, generally thronged with loafers and gos- 
 sips, and reeking with the fumes of tobacco smoke, apple- 
 brandy and rye-whiskey; and, finally, the store, which 
 shared, with the tavern, the patronage of the loafers, and 
 which could be easily recognized by the roughly painted 
 board sign, containing a catalogue of the goods within, 
 arranged in alphabetical order, without reference to any 
 other classification. Thus the substantial farmer, in search 
 of a pound of candy for his little white headed barbarians, 
 whom he had left at play, must needs pass his finger over 
 "cards, chains, calico, cowhides, and candy;" or, if he had 
 come to " town" to purchase a bushel of meal for family 
 use, his eye was greeted with the list of M's, containing 
 meal, mustard, mousetraps, and molasses. 
 
 It was to the little court house town of the county of Ac- 
 comae, that Sir William Berkeley had retired after the 
 burning of Jamestown ; and here he remained, since the 
 suppression of the rebellion, like a cruel old spider, in the 
 centre of his web, awaiting, with grim satisfaction, the 
 capture of such of the unwary fugitives as might fall into 
 his power. 
 
 "Well, gentlemen, the court martial is set," said Sir 
 William Berkeley, as he gazed upon the gloomy faces of 
 the military men around him, in the old court house of 
 Accomac. In that little assembly, might be seen the tall 
 and manly form of Colonel Philip Ludwell, who had been 
 honoured, by the especial confidence of Berkeley, as he was, 
 afterwards, by the constant and tender love of the widowed 
 Lady Frances. There, too, was the stern, hard counten- 
 ance of Major Robert Beverley, whose unbending loyalty 
 had shut his eyes to true merit in an opponent. The names 
 of the remaining members of the court, have, unfortunately, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 323 
 
 not found a place in the history of the rebellion. Alfred 
 Bernard, on whom the governor had showered, with a 
 lavish hand, the favours which it was in his power to be- 
 stow, had been promoted to the office of Major, in the 
 room of Thomas Hansford, outlawed, and was, therefore, 
 entitled to a seat at the council which was to try the life 
 of his rival. But as his evidence was of an important cha- 
 racter, and as he had been concerned directly in the arrest 
 of the prisoner, he preferred to act in the capacity of a 
 witness, rather than as a judge. 
 
 " Let the prisoner be brought before the court," said 
 Berkeley ; and in a few moments, Hansford, with his hands 
 manacled, was led, between a file of soldiers, to the seat 
 prepared for him. His short confinement had made but 
 little change in his appearance. His face, indeed, was 
 paler than usual, and his eye was brighter, for the exciting 
 and solemn scene through which he was about to pass. 
 But prejudged, though he was, his firmness never forsook 
 him, and he met with a calm, but respectful gaze, the many 
 eyes which were bent upon him. Conspicuous among the 
 rebels, and popular and beloved in the colony, his trial had 
 attracted a crowd of spectators ; some impelled by vulgar 
 curiosity, some by their loyal desire to witness the trial of 
 a rebel to his king, but not a few by sympathy for his early 
 and already well known fate." 
 
 As might well be expected, there was but little difficutly 
 in establishing his participation in the late rebellion. 
 There were many of the witnesses, who had seen him in in- 
 timate association with Bacon, and several who recognized 
 him as among the most active in the trenches at James- 
 town. To crown all, the irresistible evidence was intro- 
 duced by Bernard, that the prisoner had actually brought 
 a threatening message to the governor, while at Windsor 
 Hall, which had induced the first flight to Accomac. It 
 was useless to resist the force of such accumulated testi- 
 
324 HANSFORD: 
 
 inony, and Hansford saw that his fate was settled. It were 
 folly to contend before such a tribunal, that his acts did not 
 constitute rebellion, or that the court before whom he was 
 arraigned was unconstitutional. The devoted victim of 
 their vengeance, therefore, awaited in silence the conclusion 
 of this solemn farce, which they had dignified by the name 
 of a trial. 
 
 The evidence concluded, Sir William Berkeley, as Lord 
 President of the Court, collected the suffrages of its mem- 
 bers. It might easily be anticipated by their gloomy coun- 
 tenances, what was the solemn import of their judgment. 
 Thomas Ludwell, the secretary of the council, acted as 
 the clerk, and in a voice betraying much emotion, read the 
 fatal decision. The sympathizing bystanders, who in awful 
 silence awaited the result, drew a long breath as though 
 relieved from their fearful suspense, even by having heard 
 the worst. And Hansford was to die ! He heard with 
 much emotion the sentence which doomed him to a traitor's 
 death the next day at noon ; and those who were near, 
 heard him sob, " My poor, poor mother !" But almost 
 instantly, with a violent effort he controlled his feelings, 
 and asked permission to speak. 
 
 " Surely," said the Governor, "provided your language 
 be respectful to the Court, and that you say nothing re- 
 flecting on his majesty's government at home or in the 
 Colony of Virginia." 
 
 " These are hard conditions," said Hansford, rising from 
 his seat, " as with such limitations, I can scarcely hope to 
 justify my conduct. But I accept your courtesy, even with 
 these conditions. A dying man has at last but little to say, 
 and but little disposition to mingle again in the affairs of 
 a world which he must so soon leave. In the short, the 
 strangely short time allotted to me, I have higher and 
 holier concerns to interest me. Ere this hour to-morrow, 
 I will have passed from the scenes of earth to appear before 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 325 
 
 a higher tribunal than yours, and to answer for the forgotten 
 sins of my past life. But I thank my God, that while that 
 awful tribunal is higher, it is also juster and more merciful 
 than yours. Even in this sad moment, however, I cannot 
 forget the country for which I have lived, and for which I 
 must so soon die. I see by your countenances that I am 
 already transcending your narrow limits. But it cannot be 
 treason to pray for her, and as my life has been devoted to 
 her service, so will my prayers for her welfare ascend with 
 my petitions for forgiveness. 
 
 " I would say a word as to the offence with which I have 
 been charged, and the evidence on which I have been con- 
 victed. That evidence amounts to the fact that I was in 
 arms, by the authority of the Governor, against the common 
 enemies of my country. Is this treason ? That I was the 
 bearer of a threatening message to the Governor from Gene- 
 ral Bacon, which caused the first flight into Accomac. And 
 here I would say," and he fixed his eyes full on Alfred Ber- 
 nard, as he spoke, who endeavoured to conceal his feelings 
 by a smile of scorn, " that the evidence on this point has 
 been cruelly, shariiefully garbled and perverted. It was 
 never stated that, white as the minister of another, I bore 
 the message referred to, I urged the Governor to consider 
 and retract the proclamation which he had made, and offered 
 my own mediation to restore peace and quiet to the Colony. 
 Had my advice been taken the beams of peace would have 
 once more burst upon Virginia, the scenes which are con- 
 stantly enacted here, and which will continue to be enacted, 
 would never have disgraced the sacred name of justice ; and 
 the name of Sir William Berkeley would not be handed 
 down to the execrations of posterity as a dishonoured 
 knight, and a brutal, bloody butcher." 
 
 " Silence !" cried the incensed old Governor, in tones of 
 thunder, " or by the wounds of God, I'll shorten the brief 
 
326 HANSFORD: 
 
 space which now interposes between you and eternity. Is 
 this redeeming your promise of respect?" 
 
 " I beg pardon," said Hansford, undaunted by the 
 menace. " Excuse me, if I cannot speak patiently of cruelty 
 and oppression. But let this pass. That perfidious wretch 
 who would rise above my ruins, never breathed a word of 
 this, when on the evangelist of Almighty God he was 
 sworn to speak the truth. But if such evidence be suffi- 
 cient to convict me of treason now, why was it not sufficient 
 then ? Why, with the same facts before you, did you, Sir 
 William Berkeley, discharge the traitor in arms, and now 
 seek his death when disarmed and impotent ? One other 
 link remains in the chain, this feeble chain of evidence. I 
 aided in the siege of Jamestown, and once more drove the 
 Governor and his fond adherents from their capital, to their 
 refuge in the Accomac. I cannot, I will not deny it. But 
 neither can this be treason, unless, indeed, Sir William 
 Berkeley possesses in his own person the sacred majesty of 
 Virginia. For when he abdicated the government by his first 
 flight from the soil of Virginia, the sovereign people of the 
 Colony, assembled in solemn convention, declared his office 
 vacant. In that convention, you, my judges, well know, 
 for you found it to your cost, were present a majority of 
 the governor's council, the whole army, and almost the 
 entire chivalry and talent of the colony. In their name 
 writs were issued for an assembly, which met under their 
 authority, and the commission of governor was placed in 
 the hands of Nathaniel Bacon. " 
 
 "By an unauthorized mob," said Berkeley, unable to 
 restrain his impatience. 
 
 "By an organized convention of sovereign people," re- 
 turned Hansford, proudly. " You, Sir William Berkeley, 
 deftmed it not an unauthorized mob, when confiding in your 
 justice, and won by your soft promises, a similar conven- 
 tion, composed of cavaliers and rich landholders, confided 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 327 
 
 to your hands, in 1659, the high trust whicn you now 
 hold. If suclf a proceeding were unauthorized then, were 
 you not guilty in accepting the commission ? If authorized, 
 were not the same people competent to bestow the trust 
 upon another, whom they deemed more worthy to hold it ? 
 If this be so, the insurgents, as you have chosen to call 
 them, were not in arms against the government at the siege 
 of Jamestown. And thus the last strand in the coil of evi- 
 dence, with which you have involved me, is broken, as withs 
 are severed at the touch of fire. But light as is the testi- 
 mony against me, it is sufficient to turn the beam of justice, 
 when the sword of Brennus is cast into the scale. 
 
 " One word more and I am done ; for I see you are impa- 
 tient for the sacrifice. I had thought that I would have 
 been tried by a jury of my peers. Such I deemed my right 
 as a British subject. But condemned by the extraordinary 
 and unwarranted proceedings of this Star Chamber" 
 
 " Silence !" cried Berkeley, again waxing wroth at such 
 an imputation. 
 
 "I beg pardon once more," continued Hansford, "I 
 thought the favourite institution of Charles the First would 
 not have met with so little favour from such loyal cavaliers. 
 But I demand in the name of Freedom, in the name of 
 England, in the name of God and Justice, when was Magna 
 Charta or the Petition of Right abolished on the soil of 
 Virginia ? Is the Governor of Virginia so little of a 
 lawyer that he remembers not the language of the stout 
 Barons of Runnymede, unadorned in style, but pregnant with 
 freedom. ' No freeman may be taken or imprisoned, or be 
 disseised of his freehold or liberties, or his free-customs, or 
 be outlawed or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, but by 
 the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.' 
 Excuse me, gentlemen, for repeating to such sage judges so 
 old and hackneyed a fragment of the law. But until to-day, 
 I had been taught to hold those words as sacred, and as 
 
328 HANSFORD: 
 
 indeed containing the charter of the liberties of an English- 
 man. Alas ! it will no longer be hackneyed nor quoted by 
 the slaves of England, except when they mourn with bitter 
 but hopeless tears, for the higher and purer freedom of their 
 ruder fathers. Why am I thus arraigned before a court- 
 martial in time of peace ? Am I found in arms ? Am I even 
 an officer or a soldier ? The commission which I once held 
 has been torn from me, and given, as his thirty pieces, to 
 yon dissembling Judas, for the price of my betrayal. But 
 I am done. Your tyranny and oppression cannot last for 
 ever. The compressed spring will at last recoil with power 
 proportionate to the force by which it has been restrained 
 and freed posterity will avenge on a future tyrant my cruel 
 and unnatural murder." 
 
 Hansford sat down, and Sir William Berkeley, flushed 
 with indignation, replied, 
 
 " I had hoped that the near approach of death, if not a 
 higher motive, would have saved us from such treasonable 
 sentiments. But, sir, the insolence of your manner has 
 checked any sympathy which I might have entertained for 
 your early fate. I, therefore, have only to pronounce the 
 judgment of the court ; that you be taken to the place 
 whence you came, and there safely kept until to-morrow 
 noon, when you will be taken, with a rope about your neck, 
 to the common gallows, and there hung by the neck until 
 you are dead. And may the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy 
 on your soul !" 
 
 "Amen!" was murmured, in sad whispers, by the hun- 
 dreds of pale spectators who crowded around the unhappy 
 prisoner. 
 
 " How is this !" cried Hansford, once more rising to his 
 feet, with strong emotion. " Gentlemen, you are soldiers, 
 as such I may claim you as brethren, as such you should 
 be brave and generous men. On that generosity, in this 
 hour of peril, I throw myself, and ask as a last indulgence, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 329 
 
 as a dying favour, that I may die the death of a soldier, 
 and not of a felon." 
 
 "You have lived a traitor's, not a soldier's life," said 
 Berkeley, in an insulting tone. " A soldier's life is devoted 
 to his king and country ; your's to a rebel and to treason. 
 You shall die the death of a traitor." 
 
 " Well, then, I have done," said Hansford, with a sigh, 
 " and must look to Him alone for mercy, who can make 
 the felon's gallows as bright a pathway to happiness, as the 
 field of glory. " 
 
 Many a cheek flushed with indignation at the refusal of 
 the governor to grant this last petition of a brave man. A 
 murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the crowd, and even 
 some sturdy loyalists were heard to mutter, "shame." The 
 other members of the court were seen to confer together, 
 and to remonstrate with the governor. 
 
 " 'Fore God, no," said Berkeley, in a whisper to his ad- 
 visers. " Think of the precedent it will establish. Traitor 
 he has lived, and as far as my voice can go, traitor he shall 
 die. I suppose the sheep-killing hound, and the egg-suck- 
 ing cur, will next whine out their request to be shot instead 
 of hung. " 
 
 So great was the influence of Berkeley, over the minds 
 of the court, that, after a feeble remonstrance, the petition 
 of the prisoner was rejected. Old Beverley alone, was 
 heard to mutter in the ear of Philip Ludwell, that it was a 
 shame to deny a brave man a soldier's death, and doom 
 him to a dog's fate. 
 
 " And for all this," he added, " its a damned hard lot, 
 and blast me, but I think Hansford to be worth in bravery 
 and virtue, fifty of that painted popinjay, Bernard, whose 
 cruelty is as much beyond his years as his childish vanity 
 is beneath them." 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, I trust, you are now satisfied," said 
 Berkeley. " Sheriff, remove your prisoner, and," looking 
 
330 HANSFORD: 
 
 angrily around at the malecontents, " if necessary, summon 
 an additional force to assist you." 
 
 The officer, however, deemed no such precaution neces- 
 sary, and the hapless Hansford was conducted back to his 
 cell under the same guard that brought him thence ; there 
 to await the execution on the morrow of the fearful sentence 
 to which he had been condemned. 
 
 CHAPTER XLYI. 
 
 Isabella. " Yet show some pity, 
 
 Angela. I show it most of all when I show justice." 
 
 Measure for Measure. 
 
 THAT evening Sir William Berkeley was sitting in the 
 private room at the tavern, which had been fitted up for 
 his reception. He had strictly commanded his servants to 
 deny admittance to any one who might wish to see him. 
 The old man was tired of counsellors, advisers, and peti- 
 tioners, who harassed him in their attempt to curb his 
 impatient ire, and he was determined to act entirely for 
 himself. He had thus been sitting for more than an hour, 
 looking moodily into the fire, without even the officious 
 Lady Frances to interfere with his reflections, when a ser- 
 vant in livery entered the room. 
 
 " If your Honour please," said the obsequious servitor, 
 " there is a lady at the door who says she must see you on 
 urgent business. I told her that you could not be seen, 
 but she at last gave me this note, which she begged me to 
 hand you." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 331 
 
 Berkeley impatiently tore open the note and read as 
 follows : 
 
 " By his friendship for my father, and his former kind- 
 ness to me, I ask for a brief interview with Sir William 
 Berkeley. " VIRGINIA TEMPLE. " 
 
 " Fore God !" said the Governor, angrily, " they beset me 
 with an importunity which makes me wretched. What the 
 devil can the girl want 1 Some favour for Bernard, I sup- 
 pose. Well, any thing for a moment's respite from these 
 troublesome rebels. Show her up, Dabney." 
 
 In another moment the door again opened, and Virginia 
 Temple, pale and trembling, fell upon her knees before the 
 Governor, and raised her soft, blue eyes to his face so im- 
 ploringly, that the heart of the old man was moved to pity. 
 
 "Rise, my daughter," he said, tenderly; "tell me your 
 cause of grief. It surely cannot be so deep as to bring 
 you thus upon your knees to an old friend. Rise then, and 
 tell me." 
 
 " Oh, thank you," she said, with a trembling voice, " I 
 knew that you were kind, and would listen to my prayer." 
 
 " Well, Virginia," said the Governor, in the same mild 
 tone, " let me hear your request ? You know, we old ser- 
 vants of the king have not much time to spare at best, and 
 these are busy times. Is your father well, and your good 
 mother ? Can I serve them in any thing ?" 
 
 " Thy are both well and happy, nor do they need your 
 aid," said Virginia; "but I, sir, oh! how can I speak. I 
 have come from Windsor Hall to ask that you will be just 
 and merciful. There is, sir, a brave man here in chains, 
 who is doomed to die to die to-morrow. Oh, Hansford, 
 Hansford !" and unable longer to control her emotion, the 
 poor, broken-hearted girl burst into an agony of tears. 
 
 Berkeley's brow clouded in an instant. 
 
332 HANSFORD : 
 
 " And is it for that unhappy man, my poor girl, that you 
 have come alone to sue ?" 
 
 " I did not come alone," replied Yirginia; " my father 
 is with me, and will himself unite in my request." 
 
 " I will be most happy to see my old friend again, but I 
 would that he came on some less hopeless errand. Major 
 Hansford must die. The laws alike of his God and his 
 country, which he has trampled regardless under foot, re- 
 quire the sacrifice of his blood." 
 
 " But, for the interposition of mercy," urged the poor 
 girl, " the laws of God require the death of all and the 
 laws of his country have vested in you the right to arrest 
 their rigour at your will. Oh, how much sweeter to be 
 merciful than sternly just I" 
 
 " Nay, my poor girl," said Sir William, "you speak of 
 what you cannot understand, and your own griefs have 
 blinded your mind. Justice, Yirginia, is mercy; for by 
 punishing the offender it prevents the repetition of the 
 offence-. The % vengeance of the law thus becomes the safe- 
 guard of society, and the sword of justice becomes the 
 sceptre of righteousness." 
 
 " I cannot reason with you," returned Yirginia. " You 
 are a statesman, and I am but a poor, weak girl, ignorant 
 of the ways of the world." 
 
 "And therefore you have come to advocate this suit 
 instead of your father," said Berkeley, smiling. " I see 
 through your little plot already. Come, tell me now, am I 
 not right in my conjecture ? Why have you come to urge 
 the cause of Hansford, instead of your father ?" 
 
 "Because, "said Yirginia, "with charming simplicity, "we 
 both thought, that as Sir William Berkeley had already 
 decided upon the fate of this unhappy man, it would be 
 easier to reach his heart, than to affect the mature decision 
 of his judgment." 
 
 " You argued rightly, my dear girl," said Berkeley, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 333 
 
 touched by her frankness and simplicity, as well as by her 
 tears. " But it is the hard fate of those in power to deny 
 themselves often the luxury of mercy, while they tread 
 onward in the rough but straight path of justice. It is 
 ours to follow the stern maxim of our old friend Shak- 
 speare : 
 
 ' Mercy but murders, pardoning those who kill.' " 
 
 "But it doe's seem to me," said the resolute girl, losing 
 all the native diffidence of her character in the interest she 
 felt in her cause "it does seem to me that even stern 
 policy would sometimes dictate mercy. May not a judicious 
 clemency often secure the love of the misguided citizen, 
 while harsh justice would estrange him still farther from 
 loyalty ?" 
 
 " There, you are trenching upon your father's part, my 
 child," said the Governor. "You must not go beyond 
 your own cue, you know for believe me that your plea for 
 mercy would avail far more with me than your reasons, how- 
 ever cogent. This rebellion proceeded too far to justify 
 any clemency toward those who promoted it." 
 
 "But it is now suppressed," said Virginia, resolutely ; 
 " and is it not the sweetest attribute of power, to help the 
 fallen ? Oh, remember," she added, carried away com- 
 pletely by her subject, 
 
 " ' Less pleasure take brave minds in battles won, 
 Than in restoring such as are undone ; 
 Tigers have courage, and the rugged bear, 
 But man alone can, when he conquers, spare.' " 
 
 " I did not expect to hear your father's daughter defend 
 her cause by such lines as these. Do you know where they 
 are found ?" 
 
 " They are Waller's, I believe," said Virginia, blushing 
 at this involuntary display of learning ; " but it is their 
 truth, and not their author, which suggested them to me." 
 
334 HANSFOBD : 
 
 " Your memory is correct," said Berkeley, with a smile, 
 " but they are found in his panegyric on the Protector. A 
 eulogy upon a traitor is bad authority with an old cavalier 
 like me." 
 
 " If, then, you need authority which you cannot question," 
 the girl replied, earnestly, "do you think that the royal 
 cause lost strength by the mild policy of Charles the 
 Second ? That is authority that even you dare not ques- 
 tion." 
 
 "Well, and what if I should say," replied Berkeley, 
 " that this very leniency was one of the causes that 
 encouraged the recent rebellion ? But go, my child ; I 
 would rejoice if I could please you, but Hansford's fate is 
 settled. I pity you, but I cannot forgive him." And with 
 a courteous inclination of his head, he signified his desire 
 that their interview should end. 
 
 " Nay," shrieked Virginia, in desperation, " I will not let 
 you go, except you bless me," and throwing herself again 
 upon her knees, .she implored his mercy. Berkeley, who, 
 with all his sternness, was not an unfeeling man, was deeply 
 moved. What the result might have been can never be 
 known, for at that moment a voice was heard from the street 
 exclaiming, " Drummond is taken !" In an instant the 
 whole appearance of the Governor changed. His cheek 
 flushed and his eye sparkled, as with hasty strides he left 
 the room and descended the stairs. No more the fine 
 specimen of a cavalier gentleman, his manner became at 
 once harsh and irritable. 
 
 " Well, Mr. Drummond," he cried, as he saw the proud 
 rebel led manacled to the door. " 'Fore God, and I am 
 more delighted to see you than any man in the colony. 
 You shall hang in half an hour." 
 
 " And if he do," shrieked the wild voice of a woman 
 from the crowd, " think you that with your puny hand you 
 can arrest the current of liberty in this colony ? And when 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 335 
 
 you appear before the dread bar of God, the spirits of these 
 martyred patriots will rise up to condemn you, and fiends 
 shall snatch at your blood-stained soul, perfidious tyrant ! 
 And I will be among them, for such a morsel of vengeance 
 would sweeten hell. Ha ! ha ! ha !" 
 
 With that wild, maniac laugh, Sarah Drummond disap- 
 peared from the crowd of astounded spectators. 
 
 History informs us that the deadly threat of Berkeley 
 was carried into effect immediately. But it was not until 
 two days afterwards that William Drummond met a traitor's 
 doom upon the common gallows. 
 
 Yirginia Temple, thus abruptly left, and deprived of all 
 hope, fell senseless on the floor of the room. The hope 
 which had all along sustained her brave young heart, had 
 now vanished forever, and kindly nature relieved the agony 
 of her despair by unconsciousness. And there she lay, pale 
 and beautiful, upon that floor, while the noisy clamour 
 without was hailing the capture of another victim, whose 
 fate was to bring sorrow and despair to another broken 
 heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XLYII. 
 
 " His nature is so far from doing harm, 
 That he suspects none ; on whose foolish honesty 
 My practices ride easy." 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 WHEN Yirginia aroused again to consciousness, her eyes 
 met the features of Alfred Bernard, as he knelt over her 
 form. Not yet realizing her situation, she gazed wildly 
 about her, and in a hoarse, husky whisper, which fell hor- 
 ridly on the ear, she said, " Where is my father ?" 
 
336 HANSFOED : 
 
 "At home, Virginia," replied Bernard, softly, chafing 
 her white temples the while " And you are here in Acco- 
 mac. Look up, Virginia, and see that you are not without 
 a friend even here." 
 
 " Oh, now, yes, now I know it all," she shrieked, spring- 
 ing up with a wild bound, and rushing like a maniac to- 
 ward the door. " They have killed him ! I have slept 
 here, instead of begging his life. I have murdered him ! 
 Ha! you, sir, are you -the jailer? I should know your 
 face." 
 
 "Nay, do not speak thus, Virginia," said Bernard, hold- 
 ing her gently in his arms, " Hansford is yet alive. Be 
 calm." 
 
 "Hansford! I thought he was dead I" said the poor 
 girl, her mind still wandering. " Did not Mamalis no 
 she is dead all are dead ha ? where am I ? Sure this 
 is not Windsor Hall. Nay, what am I talking about. 
 Let me see ;" and she pressed her hand to her forehead, 
 and smoothed back her fair hair, as she strove to collect 
 her thoughts. " Ah ! now T know," she said at length, 
 more calmly, " I beg your pardon, Mr. Bernard, I have 
 acted very foolishly, I fear. But you will forgive a poor 
 distracted girl." 
 
 " I promised you my influence with the governor," said 
 Bernard, " and I do not yet despair of effecting my object. 
 And so becalm." 
 
 "Despair!" said Virginia, bitterly, "as well might you 
 expect to turn a river from the sea, as to turn the relentless 
 heart of that bigoted old tyrant from blood. And yet, I 
 thank you, Mr. Bernard, and beg that you will leave no 
 means untried to preserve my poor doomed Hansford. 
 You see I am quite calm now, and should you fail in your 
 efforts to procure a pardon, may I ask one last melancholy 
 favour at your hands I I would see him once more before 
 we part, forever." And to prove how little she knew her 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 337 
 
 own heart, the poor girl burst into a renewed agony of 
 grief. 
 
 " Calm your feelings, then, dear Virginia," said Bernard, 
 " and you shall see him. But by giving way thus, you 
 would unman him." 
 
 "You remind me of my duty, my friend," said Virginia, 
 controlling herself, with a strong effort, " and I will not 
 again forget it in my selfish grief. Shall we go now ?" 
 
 "Remain here, but a few moments, patiently," he re- 
 plied, " and I will seek the governor, and urge him to re- 
 lent. If I fail, I will return to you." 
 
 Leaving the young girl once more to her own sad reflec- 
 tions, Alfred Bernard left the room. 
 
 "Virtue has its own reward," he muttered, as he walked 
 slowly along. " I wonder how many would be virtuous if 
 it were not so! Self is at last the mainspring of action, 
 and when it produces good, we call it virtue ; when it ac- 
 complishes evil, we call it vice ; wherein, then, am I worse 
 than my fellow man ? Here am I, now, giving this poor 
 girl a interview with her rebel lover, and extracting some 
 happiness for them, even from their misery. And yet I 
 am not a whit the worse off. iN"ay, I am benefited, for 
 gratitude is a sure prompter of love : and when Hansford 
 is out of the way, who so fit to supply the niche, left vacant 
 in her heart, as Alfred Bernard, who soothed their mutual 
 grief. Thus virtue is often a valuable handmaid to suc- 
 cess, and may be used for our purposes, when we want her 
 assistance, and afterwards be whistled to the winds as a 
 pestilent jade. Machiavelli in politics, Loyola in religion, 
 Rochefoucault in society, ye are the mighty three, who, 
 seeing the human heart in all its nakedness, have dared to 
 tear the mask from its deformed and hideous features." 
 
 " What in the world are you muttering about, Alfred ?'' 
 said Governor Berkeley, as they met in the porch, as Ber- 
 nard had finished this diabolical soliloquy. 
 
338 HANSFORD : 
 
 " Oh nothing," replied the young intriguer. " But I 
 came to seek your excellency." 
 
 " And I to seek for you, my sage young counsellor ; I 
 have to advise with you upon a subject which lies heavy on 
 my heart, Alfred." 
 
 " You need only command my counsel and it is yours," 
 said Bernard, " but I fear that I can be of little assistance 
 in your reflections." * 
 
 " Yes you can, my boy," returned Berkeley, " I know 
 not whether you will esteem it a compliment or not, Alfred, 
 but yours is an old head on young shoulders, and the heart, 
 which in the season of youth often flits away from the sober 
 path of judgment, seems with you to follow steadily in the 
 wake of reason. " 
 
 " If you mean that I am ever ready to sacrifice my own 
 selfish impulses to my duty, I do esteem it as a compliment, 
 though I fear not altogether deserved." 
 
 " Well, then," said the Governor, " this poor boy, Hans- 
 ford, who is to suffer death to-morrow, I have had a strange 
 interview concerning him since I last saw you." 
 
 " Aye, with Miss Temple," returned Bernard. " She told 
 me she had seen you, and that you were as impregnable to 
 assault as the rock of Gibraltar. " 
 
 "I thought so too, where treason was concerned," said 
 Berkeley. " But some how, the leaven of the poor girl's 
 tears is working strangely in my heart ; and after I had left 
 her, who should I meet but her old father. " 
 
 " Is Colonel Temple here ?" asked Bernard, surprised. 
 
 " Aye is he, and urged Hansford's claims to pardon with 
 such force, that I had to fly from temptation. Nay he 
 even put his plea for mercy upon the ground of his own 
 former kindness to me." 
 
 " The good old gentleman seems determined to be paid 
 for that hospitality," said Bernard, with a sneer. " Well 1" 
 
 " Well, altogether I am almost determined to interpose 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 339 
 
 my reprieve, until the wishes of his majesty are known," 
 said Berkeley, with some hesitation. 
 
 Bernard was silent, for some moments, and the Governor 
 continued. 
 
 " What do you say to this course Alfred ?" 
 
 " Simply, that if you are determined, I have nothing to 
 say." 
 
 "Nay, but I am not determined, my young friend." 
 
 " Then I must ask you what are the grounds of your 
 hesitation, before I can express an opinion ?" said Bernard. 
 
 "Well, first," said the Governor, "because it will be a 
 personal favour to Colonel Temple, and will dry the tears 
 in those blue eyes of his pretty daughter. His kindness to 
 me in this unhappy rebellion would be but poorly requited, 
 if I refused the first and only favour that he has ever asked 
 of me." 
 
 "Then hereafter," returned Bernard, quietly, "it would 
 be good policy in a rebellion, for half the rebels to remain 
 at home and entertain the Governor at their houses. They 
 would thus secure the pardon of the rest. " 
 
 "Well, you young Solomon," said Berkeley, laughing, 
 " I believe you are right there. It would be a dangerous 
 precedent. But then, a reprieve is not a pardon, and while 
 I might thus oblige my friends, the king could hereafter 
 see the cause of justice vindicated." 
 
 " And you would shift your own responsibility upon the 
 king," replied Bernard " H-as not Charles Stuart enough 
 to trouble him, with his rebellious subjects at home, with- 
 out having to supervise every petty felony or treason that 
 occurs in his distant colonies ? This provision of our 
 charter, denying to the Governor the power of absolute 
 pardon, but granting him power to reprieve, was only 
 made, that in doubtful cases, the minister might rely upon 
 the wisdom of majesty. It was never intended to shift all 
 the trouble and vexation of a colonial executive upon the 
 
340 HANSFORD : 
 
 overloaded hands of the king. If you have any doubt of 
 Haiisford's guilt, I would be the last to turn your heart 
 from clemency, by a word of my mouth. If he be guilty, 
 I only ask whether Sir William Berkeley is the man to 
 shrink from responsibility, and to fasten upon his royal 
 master the odium, if odium there be, attending the execu- 
 tion of the sentence against a rebel." 
 
 " Zounds, no, Bernard, you know I am not. But then 
 there are a plenty of rebels to sate the vengeance of the 
 law, besides this poor young fellow. Does justice demand 
 that all should perish ?" 
 
 "My kind patron," said Bernard, "to whom I owe all 
 that I have and am, do not further urge me to oppose feel- 
 ings so honorable to your heart. Exercise your clemency 
 towards this unhappy young man, in whose fate I feel as 
 deep an interest as yourself. If harm should flow from 
 your mercy, who can censure you for acting from motives 
 so generous and humane. If by your mildness you should 
 encourage rebellion again, posterity will pardon the weak- 
 ness of the Governor in the benevolence of the man." 
 
 " Stay," said Berkeley, his pride wounded by this impu- 
 tation, " you know, Alfred, that if I thought that clemency 
 towards this young rebel would encourage rebellion in the 
 future, I would rather lose my life than spare his. But 
 speak out, and tell me candidly why you think the execu- 
 tion of this sentence necessary to satisfy justice." 
 
 " You force me to an ungrateful duty," replied the young 
 hypocrite, " for it is far more grateful to the heart of a 
 benevolent man to be the advocate of mercy, than the stern 
 champion of justice. But since you ask my reasons, it is 
 my duty to obey you. First, then, this young man, from 
 his talent, his bravery, and his high-flown notions about 
 liberty, is far more dangerous than any of the insurgents 
 who have survived Nathaniel Bacon. Then, he has shown 
 that so far from repenting of his treason, he is ready to 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 341 
 
 justify it, as witness his speech, wherein he predicted the 
 triumph of revolution in Virginia, and denounced the ten- 
 geance of future generations upon tyranny and oppression. 
 Nay, he even went farther, and characterized as brutal 
 bloody butchers the avengers of the broken laws of their 
 country." 
 
 " I remember," said Berkeley, turning pale at the recol- 
 lection. 
 
 " But there is another cogent reason why he should suffer 
 the penalty which he has so richly incurred. If your object 
 be to secure the returning loyalty and affection of the people, 
 you should not incense them by unjust discrimination in 
 favour of a particular rebel. The friends of Drummond, 
 of Lawrence, of Cheeseman, of Wilford, of Bland, of Car- 
 ver, will all say, and say with justice, that you spared the 
 principal leader in the rebellion, the personal friend and 
 adviser of Bacon, while their own kinsmen were doomed to 
 the scaffold. Nor will those ghosts walk unavenged." 
 
 " I see, I see," cried Berkeley, grasping Bernard warmly 
 by the hand. " You have saved me, Alfred, from a weak- 
 ness which I must ever afterwards have deplored, and at 
 the expense of your own feelings, my boy." 
 
 " Yes, my dear patron," replied Bernard, with a sigh, 
 " you may well say at the expense of my own feelings. For 
 I too, have just witnessed a scene which would have moved 
 a heart of stone ; and it was at the request of that poor, 
 weeping, broken-hearted girl, to save whom from distress, 
 I would willingly lay down my life it was at her request 
 that I came to beg at your hands the poor privilege of a 
 last interview with her lover. Even Justice, stern as are 
 her decrees, cannot deny this boon to Mercy. " 
 
 " You have a generous heart, my dear boy," said the 
 Governor, with the tears starting from his eyes. " There 
 are not many men who would thus take delight in minister- 
 ing consolation to the heart of a successful rival. You 
 29* 
 
342 HANSFORD : 
 
 have my full and free permission. Go, my son, and through 
 life may your heart be ever thus awake to such generous 
 impulses, yet sustained and controlled by your unwavering 
 devotion to duty and justice." 
 
 CHAPTER XLYIII. 
 
 " My life, my health, my liberty, my all ! 
 How shall I welcome thee to this sad place 
 How speak to thee the words of joy and transport? 
 How run into thy arms, withheld by fetters, 
 Or take thee into mine, while I'm thus manacled 
 And pinioned like a thief or murderer ?" 
 
 The Mourniiig Bride. 
 
 How different from the soliloquy of the dark and 
 treacherous Bernard, seeking in the sophistry and casu- 
 istry of philosophy to justify his selfishness, were the 
 thoughts of his noble victim 1 Too brave to fear death, 
 yet too truly great not to feel in all its solemnity the grave 
 importance of the hour ; with a soul formed for the enjoy- 
 ment of this world, yet fully prepared to encounter the 
 awful mysteries of another, the heart of Thomas Hansford 
 beat calmly and healthfully, unappalled by the certainty 
 that on the morrow it would beat no more. He was 
 seated on a rude cot, in the room which was prepared for 
 his brief confinement, reading his Bible. The proud man, 
 who relying on his own strength had braved many dangers, 
 and whose cheek had never blanched from fear of an earthly 
 adversary, was not ashamed in this, his hour of great need, 
 to seek consolation and support from Him who alone could 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 343 
 
 conduct him through the dark valley of the shadow of 
 death. 
 
 The passage which he read was one of the sublime strains 
 of the rapt Isaiah, and never had the promise seemed 
 sweeter and dearer to hi& soul than new, when he could 
 so fully appropriate it to himself. 
 
 " Fear not for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee 
 by my name ; thou art mine. 
 
 " When thou passest through the waters I will be with 
 thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; 
 when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt ; 
 neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 
 
 " For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy one of Israel, 
 thy Saviour." 
 
 As he read and believed the blessed assurance contained 
 in the sacred promise, he learned to feel that death was 
 indeed but the threshold to a purer world. So absorbed 
 was he in the contemplation of this sublime theme, that he 
 did not hear the door open, and it was some time before 
 he looked up and saw Alfred Bernard and Virginia Tem- 
 ple, who had quietly entered the room. 
 
 Virginia's resolution entirely gave way, and violently 
 trembling from head to foot, her hands and brow as white 
 and cold as marble, she well nigh sank under the sickening 
 effect of her agony. For all this she did not weep. There 
 are wounds which never indicate their existence by outward 
 bleeding, and such are esteemed most dangerous. 'Tis thus 
 with the spirit-wounds which despair inflicts upon its vic- 
 tim. Nature yields not to the soul the sad relief of tears, 
 but falling in bitter drops they petrify and crush the sad 
 heart, which they fail to relieve. 
 
 Hansford, too, was much moved, but with a greater con- 
 trol of his feelings he said, " And so, you have come to 
 take a last farewell, Virginia. This is very, very kind. " 
 
 "I regret," said Alfred Bernard, "that the only condi- 
 
344 HANSFOED : 
 
 tion on which I gained admittance for Miss Temple was, 
 that I should remain during the interview. Major Hans- 
 ford will see the necessity of such a precaution, and will, I 
 am sure, pardon an intrusion as painful to me as to him- 
 self." 
 
 The reader, who has been permitted to see the secret 
 workings of that black heart, which was always veiled 
 from the world, need not be told that no such precaution 
 was proposed by the Governor. Bernard's object was 
 more selfish ; it was to prevent his victim from prejudicing 
 the mind of Yirginia towards him, by informing her of the 
 prominent part that he had taken in Hansford's trial and 
 conviction. 
 
 " Oh, certainly, sir," replied Hansford, gratefully, " and 
 I thank you, Mr. Bernard, for thus affording me an oppor- 
 tunity of taking a last farewell of the strongest tie which 
 yet binds me to earth. I had thought till now," he added, 
 with emotion, " that I was fully prepared to meet my fate. 
 Well, Yirginia, the play is almost over, and the last dread 
 scene, tragic though it be, cannot last long." 
 
 "Oh, God!" cried the trembling girl, "help me help 
 me to bear this heavy blow." 
 
 " Nay, speak not thus, my own Yirginia," he said. 
 " Remember that my lot is but the common destiny of man- 
 kind, only hastened a few hours. The leaves, that the chill 
 autumn breath has strewn upon the earth, will be supplied 
 by others in the spring, which in their turn will sport for a 
 season in the summer wind, and fade and die with another 
 year. Thus one generation passes away, and another 
 comes, like them to live, like them to die and be forgotten. 
 We need not fear death, if we have discharged our duty." 
 
 With such words of cold philosophy did Hansford strive 
 to console the sad heart of Yirginia. 
 
 " 'Tistrue, the death I die," he added with a shudder, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 345 
 
 ''is what men call disgraceful but the heart need feel no 
 fear which is sheltered by the Rock of Ages." 
 
 " And yours is sheltered there, I know," she said. " The 
 change for you, though sudden and awful, must be happy ; 
 but for me ! for me ! oh, God, my heart will break 1" 
 
 " Virginia, Virginia," said Hansford, tenderly, as he 
 tried with his poor manacled hands to support her almost 
 fainting form, "control yourself. Oh, do not add to my 
 sorrows by seeing you suffer thus. You have still many 
 duties to perform to soothe the declining years of your 
 old parents to cheer with your warm heart the many 
 friends who love you and, may I add," he continued, with 
 a faltering voice, " that my poor, poor mother will need 
 your consolation. She will soon be without a protector on 
 earth, and this sad news, I fear, will well nigh break her 
 heart. To you, and to the kind hands of her merciful 
 Father in heaven, I commit the charge of my widowed 
 mother. Oh, will you not grant the last request of your 
 own Hansford ?" 
 
 And Virginia promised, and well and faithfully did she 
 redeem that promise. That widowed mother gained a 
 daughter in the loss of her noble boy, and died blessing the 
 pure-hearted girl, whose soothing affection had sweetened 
 her bitter sorrows, and smoothed her pathway to the quiet 
 grave. 
 
 "And now, Mr. Bernard," said Hansford, "it is useless 
 to prolong this sad interview. We have been enemies. 
 Forgive me if I have ever done you wrong the prayers 
 of a dying man are for your happiness. Farewell, Virginia, 
 remember me to your kind old father and mother ; and look 
 you," he added, with a sigh, "give this lock of my hair to 
 my poor mother, and tell her that her orphan boy, who 
 died blessing her, requested that she would place it in her 
 old Bible, where I know she will often see it, and remember 
 me when I am gone forever. Once more, Virginia, fare 
 
346 HANSFORD: 
 
 well ! Remember, dearest, that this brief life is but a seg- 
 ment of the great circle of existence. The larger segment 
 is beyond the grave. Then live on bravely, as I know you 
 will virtuously, and we will meet in Heaven." 
 
 Without a word, for she dared not speak, Yirginia 
 received his last kiss upon her pale, cold forehead, and 
 cherished it there as a seal of love, sacred as the sign of the 
 Redeemer's cross, traced on the infant brow at the baptis- 
 mal font. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 " Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched 
 
 With a woeful agony, 
 "Which forced me to begin my tale, 
 
 And then it left me free. 
 Since then, at an uncertain hour, 
 
 That agony returns, 
 And till this ghastly tale is told 
 My heart within me burns." 
 
 Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 
 
 THE sun shone brightly the next morning, as it rose 
 above the forest of tall pines which surrounded the little 
 village of Accomac ; and as its rays stained the long 
 icicles on the evergreen branches of the trees, they looked 
 like the pendant jewels of amber which hung from the 
 ears of the fierce, untutored chieftains of the forest. The 
 air was clear and frosty, and the broad heaven, that hung 
 like a blue curtain above the busy world, seemed even 
 purer and more beautiful than ever. There, calm and 
 eternal, it spread in its unclouded glory, above waters, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 347 
 
 woods, wilds, as if unmindful of the sorrows and the cares 
 of earth. So hovers the wide providence of the eternal 
 God over his creation, unmoved in its sublime depths by 
 the joys and woes which agitate the mind of man, yet 
 shining over him still, in its clear beauty, and beckoning 
 him upwards ! 
 
 But on none did the sun shine with more brightness, or 
 the sky smile with more bitter mockery, on that morning, 
 than on the dark forms of Arthur Hutchinson and his 
 young pupil, Alfred Bernard, as they sat together in the 
 embrasure of the window which lightened the little room of 
 the grave old preacher. A terrible revelation was that 
 morning to be made, involving the fate of the young Jesuit, 
 and meting out a dread retribution for the crime that he had 
 committed. Arthur Hutchinson had reserved for this day 
 the narrative of the birth and history of Alfred Bernard. 
 It had been a story which he long had desired to know, but 
 to all his urgent inquiries the old preacher had given au 
 evasive reply. But now there was no longer need for mys- 
 tery. The design of that long silence had been fully 
 accomplished, and thus the stern misanthrope began his 
 narrative : 
 
 11 It matters little, Alfred Bernard, to speak of my own 
 origin and parentage. Suffice it to say, that though not 
 noble, by the accepted rules of heraldry, my parents were 
 noble in that higher sense, in which all may aspire to true 
 nobility, a patent not granted for bloody feats in arms, nor 
 by an erring man, but granted to true honesty and virtue 
 from the court of heaven. I was not rich, and yet, by self- 
 denial on the part of my parents, and by strict economy on 
 my own part, I succeeded in entering Baliol College, Ox- 
 ford, where I pursued my studies with diligence and suc- 
 cess. This success was more essential, because I could 
 look only to my own resources in my struggle with the 
 world. But, more than this, I had already learned to 
 
348 HANSFORD: 
 
 think and care for another than myself ; for I had yielded 
 my young heart to one, who requited my affection with her 
 own. I have long denied myself the luxury of looking 
 back upon the bright image of that fair creature, so fair, 
 and yet so fatal. But for your sake, and for mine own, I 
 will draw aside the veil, which has fallen upon those early 
 scenes, and look at them again. 
 
 " Mary Howard was just eighteen years of age, when she 
 plighted her troth to me ; and surely never has Heaven 
 placed a purer spirit in a more lovely form. Trusting and 
 affectionate, her warm heart must needs fasten upon some- 
 thing it might love ; and because we had been reared to- 
 gether, and she was ignorant of the larger world around her, 
 her love was fixed on me. I will not go back to those 
 bright, joyous days of innocence and happiness. They are 
 gone forever, Alfred Bernard, and I have lived, and now 
 live for another object, than to indulge in the recollection 
 of joy and love. The saddest day of my whole life, except 
 one, and that has darkened all the rest, was when I first 
 left her side to go to college. But still we looked onward 
 with high hope, and many were the castles in the air, or 
 rather the vine clad cottages, which we reared in fancy, for 
 our future home. Hope, Alfred Bernard, though long 
 deferred, it may sicken the heart, yet hope, however faint, 
 is better than despair. 
 
 " Well ! I went to college, and my love for Mary spurred 
 me on in my career, and honours came easily, but were only 
 prized because she would be proud of them. But though 
 I was a hard student, I was not without my friends, for I 
 had a trusting heart then. Among these, yes, chief among 
 these, was Edward Hansford." 
 
 Bernard started at the mention of that name. He felt 
 that some dark mystery was about to be unravelled, which 
 would establish his connection with the unhappy rebel. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 349 
 
 Yet he was lost in conjecture as to the character of the 
 revelation. 
 
 " I have never in my long experience," continued Hutch- 
 inson, smiling sadly, as he observed the effect produced, 
 "known any man who possessed, in so high a degree, the 
 qualities which make men beloved and honoured. Brave, 
 generous, and chivalrous ; brilliant in genius, classical in 
 attainment, profound in intellect. His person was a fit 
 palace for such a mind and such a heart. Yes, I can think 
 of him now as he was, when I first knew him, before crime 
 of the deepest dye had darkened his soul. I loved him as 
 I never had loved a man before, as I never can love a man 
 again. I might forgive the past, I could never trust 
 again. 
 
 " Edward returned my love, I believe, with his whole 
 heart. Our studies were the same, our feelings and opin- 
 ions were congenial, and, in short, in the language of our 
 great bard, we grew ' like a double cherry, only seeming 
 parted.' I made him my confidant, and he used to laugh, 
 in his good humoured way, at my enthusiastic description 
 of Mary. He threatened to fall in love with her, himself, 
 and to win her heart from me, and I dared him to do so, if 
 he could ; and even, in my joyous triumph, invited him 
 home with me in vacation, that he might see the lovely 
 conquest I had made. Well, home we went together, and 
 his welcome was all that I or he could wish. Mary, my 
 sweet, confiding Mary, was so kind and gentle, that I loved 
 her only the more, because she loved my friend so much. 
 I never dreamed of jealousy, Alfred Bernard, or I might 
 have seen beforehand the wiles of the insidious tempter. 
 How often have I looked with transport on their graceful 
 forms, as they 'stood to watch the golden sunset, from that 
 sweet old porch, over which the roses clambered so 
 thickly. 
 
 " But why do I thus delay. The story is at last a brief 
 30 
 
350 HANSFORT) ! 
 
 one. It wanted but two days of our return to Oxford, and 
 we were all spending the the day together at old farmer 
 Howard's. Mary seemed strangely sad that evening, and 
 whenever I spoke to her, her eyes filled with tears, and she 
 trembled violently. Fool that I was, I attributed her 
 tears and her agitation to her regret at parting from her 
 lover. Little did I suspect the terrible storm which 
 awaited me. Well, we parted, as lovers part, with sighs 
 and tears, but with me, and alas 1 with me alone in hope. 
 Edward himself looked moody and low-spirited, and I re- 
 collect that to cheer him up, I rallied him on being in love 
 with Mary. Never will I forget his look, now that the 
 riddle is solved, as he replied, fixing his clear, intense blue 
 eyes upon me, 'Arthur, the wisest philosophy is, not to 
 trust your all in one venture. He who embarks his hopes 
 and happiness in the heart of one woman, may make ship- 
 wreck of them all.' 
 
 " ' And so you, Mr. Philosopher,' I replied, gaily, ' would 
 live and die an old bachelor. Now, for mine own part, 
 with little Mary's love, I promise you that my bacca- 
 laureate degree at Oxford will be the only one to which I 
 will aspire.' 
 
 " He smiled, but said nothing, and we parted for the 
 night. 
 
 " Early the next morning, even before the sun had risen, 
 I went to his room to wake him for on that day we were 
 to have a last hunt. We had been laying up a stock of 
 health, by such manly exercises for the coming session. 
 Intimate as I was with him, I did not hesitate to enter his 
 room without announcing myself. To my surprise he was 
 not there, and the bed had evidently not been occupied. 
 As I was about to leave the room, in some alarm, my eye 
 rested upon a letter, which was lying on the table, and 
 addressed to me. With a trembling hand I tore it open, 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 351 
 
 and oh, my God ! it told me all the faithlessness of my 
 Mary, the villainy of my friend. " 
 
 " The pefidious wretch," cried Bernard, with indignation. 
 
 "Beware, Alfred Bernard," said the clergyman; "you 
 know not what you say. My tale is not yet done. I re- 
 member every word of that brief letter now although more 
 than thirty years have since passed over me. It ran thus : 
 
 " * Forgive me, Arthur ; I meant not to have wronged 
 you when I came, but in an unhappy moment temptation 
 met me, and I yielded. My perfidy cannot be long con- 
 cealed. Heaven has ordained that the fruit of our mutual 
 guilt shall appear as the witness of my baseness and of 
 Mary's shame. Forgive me, but above all, forgive her, 
 Arthur.' 
 
 " This was all. No name was even signed to the death- 
 warrant of all my hopes. At that moment a cold chill 
 came over my heart, which has never left it since. That 
 letter was the Medusa which turned it into stone. I did 
 not rave I did not weep. Believe me, Alfred Bernard, I 
 was as calm at that moment as I am now. But the calm- 
 ness was more terrible than open wrath. It was the sure 
 indication of deep-rooted, deliberate revenge. I wrote a 
 letter to my father, explaining every thing, and then sad- 
 dling my horse, I turned his head towards old Howard's 
 cottage, and rode like the lightning. 
 
 " The old man was sitting in his shirt sleeves, in the 
 porch. He saw me approach, and in his loud, hearty voice, 
 which fell like fiendish mockery upon my ear, he cried out, 
 ' Hallo, Arthur, my boy, come to say good-bye to your 
 sweetheart again, hey ! Well, that's right. You couldn't 
 part like loveyers before the stranger and the old folks. 
 Shall I call my little Molly down ?' " 
 
 " ' Old man,' I said, in a hollow, sepulchral voice, 'you 
 have no daughter' and throwing myself from my horse, 1 
 rushed into the house. 
 
352 HANSFORD : 
 
 " I will not attempt to describe the scene which followed. 
 How the old man rushed to her room, and the truth flashed 
 upon his mind that she had fled with her guilty lover. How 
 he threw himself upon the bed of his lost and ruined 
 daughter, and a stranger before to tears, now wept aloud. 
 And how he prayed with the fervor of one who prays for 
 the salvation of a soul, that God would strike with the 
 lightning of his wrath the destroyer of his peace, the be- 
 trayer of his daughter's virtue. Had Edward Hansford 
 witnessed that scene, he had been punished enough even for 
 his guilt. 
 
 " Well, he deserted the trusting girl, and she returned to 
 her now darkened home ; but, alas, how changed I When 
 her child was born, the innocent offspring of her guilt, in 
 the care attending its nurture, the violent grief of the 
 mother gave way to a calm and settled melancholy. All 
 saw that the iron had entered her soul. Her old father 
 died, blessing and forgiving her, and with touching regard 
 for his memory, she refused to desecrate his pure name, by 
 permitting the child of shame to bear it. She called it 
 after a distant relation, who never heard of the dishonour 
 thus attached to his name. A heart so pure as was the 
 heart of Mary Howard, could not long bear up beneath 
 this load of shame. She lingered about five years after the 
 birth of her boy, and on her dying bed confided the child 
 to me. There in that sacred hour, I vowed to rear and 
 protect the little innocent, and by God's permission I have 
 kept that vow. " 
 
 " Oh, tell me, tell me," said Bernard, wildly, "am I that 
 child of guilt and shame. " 
 
 "Alas! Alfred, my son, you are," said the preacher, 
 " but oh, you know not all the terrible vengeance which a 
 mysterious heaven will this day visit on the children of your 
 father." 
 
A TALE OF BACON'S REBELLION. 353 
 
 As the awful truth gradually dawne<jl upon him, Bernard 
 cried with deep emotion. 
 
 " And Edward Hansford ! tell me what became of him ?" 
 
 " With the most diligent search I could hear nothing of 
 him for years. At length I learned that he had come to 
 Virginia, married a young lady of some fortune and family, 
 and had at last been killed in a skirmish with the Indians, 
 leaving an only son, an infant in arms, the only remaining 
 comfort of his widowed mother." 
 
 " And that son," cried Bernard, the perspiration burst- 
 ing from his brow in the agony of the moment. 
 
 " Is Thomas Hansford, who, I fear, this day meets his 
 fate by a brother's and a rival's hand." 
 
 " I demand your proof," almost shrieked the agitated 
 fratricide. 
 
 " The name first excited my suspicion," returned Hutch- 
 inson, " and made me warn you from crossing his path, 
 when I saw you the night of the ball at Jamestown. But 
 confirmation was not wanting, for when this morning I 
 visited his cell to administer the last consolations of reli- 
 gion to him, I saw him gazing upon the features in minia- 
 ture of that very Edward, who was the author of Mary 
 Howard's wrongs." 
 
 With a wild spring, Alfred Bernard bounded through 
 the door, and as he rushed into the street, he heard the 
 melancholy voice of the preacher, as he cried, " Too late, 
 too late." 
 
 Regardless of that cry, the miserable fratricide rushed 
 madly along the path which led to the place of execution, 
 where the Governor and his staff in accordance with the 
 custom of the times had assembled to witness the death of 
 a traitor. The slow procession with the rude sledge on 
 which the condemned man was dragged, was still seen in 
 the distance, and the deep hollow sound of the muffled 
 drum, told him too plainly that the brief space of time 
 30* 
 
354 HANSFORD : 
 
 which remained, was drawing rapidly to a close. On, on, 
 he sped, pushing aside the surprised populace who were 
 themselves hastening to the gallows, to indulge the morbid 
 passion to see the death and sufferings of a fellow man. 
 The road seemed lengthening as he went, but urged for- 
 ward by desperation, regardless of fatigue, he still ran 
 swiftly toward the spot. He came to an amrle of the road, 
 where for a moment he lost sight of the gloomy spectacle, 
 and in that moment he suffered the pangs of unutterable 
 woe. Still the muffled drum, in its solemn tones assured 
 him that there was yet a chance. But as he strained his 
 eyes once more towards the fatal spot, the sound of merry 
 music and the wild shouts of the populace fell like horrid 
 mockery on his ear, for it announced that all was over. 
 
 " To late, too late," he shrieked, in horror, as he fell 
 prostrate and lifeless on the ground. 
 
 And above that dense crowd, unheeding the wild shout 
 of gratified vengeance that went up to heaven in that fear- 
 ful moment, the soul of the generous and patriotic Hans- 
 ford soared gladly on high with the spirits of the just, in 
 the full enjoyment of perfect freedom. 
 
 READER my tale is done ! The spirits I have raised 
 abandon me, and as their shadows pass slowly and silently 
 away, the scenes that we have recounted seem like the fading 
 phantoms of a dream. 
 
 Yet has custom made it a duty to give some brief ac- 
 count of those who have played their parts in this our little 
 drama. In the present case, the intelligent reader, familiar 
 with the history of Virginia, will require our services but 
 little. 
 
A TALE OP BACON'S REBELLION. 355 
 
 History has relieved us of the duty of describing how 
 bravely Thomas Hansford met his early fate, and how by 
 his purity of life, and his calmness in death, he illustrated 
 the noble sentiment of Corneile, that the crime and not 
 the gallows constitutes the shame. 
 
 History has told how William Berkeley, worn out by 
 care and age, yielded his high functions to a milder sway, 
 and returned to England to receive the reward of his 
 rigour in his master's smile ; and how that Charles Stuart, 
 who with all his faults was not a cruel man, repulsed the 
 stern old loyalist with a frown, and made his few remain- 
 ing days dark and bitter. 
 
 History has recorded the tender love of Berkeley for his 
 wife, who long mourned his death, and at length dried her 
 widowed tears on the warm and generous bosom of Philip 
 Ludwell. 
 
 And lastly, history has recorded how the masculine 
 nature of Sarah Drummond, broken down with affliction 
 and with poverty, knelt at the throne of her king to receive 
 from his justice the broad lands of her husband, which had 
 been confiscated by the uncompromising vengeance of Sir 
 William Berkeley. 
 
 Arthur Hutchinson, the victim of the treachery of his 
 early friends, returned to England, and deprived of the 
 sympathy of all, and of the companionship of Bernard, 
 whose society had become essential to his happiness, pined 
 away in obscurity, and died of a broken heart. 
 
 Alfred Bernard, the treacherous friend, the heartless 
 lover, the remorseful fratricide, could no longer raise his 
 eyes to the betrothed mistress of his brother. He returned, 
 with his patron, Sir William Berkeley, to his native land ; 
 and in the retirement of the old man's desolate home, he 
 led a few years of deep remorse. Upon the death of his 
 patron, his active spirit became impatient of the seclusion 
 in which he had been buried, and true to his religion, if to 
 
356 HANSFORD I 
 
 naught else, he engaged in one of the popish plots, so com- 
 mon in the reign of Charles the Second, and at last met a 
 rebel's fate. 
 
 Colonel and Mrs. Temple, lived long and happily in each 
 other's love ; administering to the comfort of their bereaved 
 child, and mutually sustaining each other, as they descended 
 the hill of life, until they "slept peacefully together at its 
 foot." The events of the Rebellion, having been conse- 
 crated by being consigned to the glorious past, furnished a 
 constant theme to the old lady and late in life she was 
 heard to say, that you could never meet now-a-days, such 
 loyalty as then prevailed, nor among the rising generation 
 of powdered fops, and flippant damsels, could you find such 
 faithful hearts as Hansford's and Virginia's. 
 
 And Virginia Temple, the gentle and trusting Virginia, 
 was not entirely unhappy. The first agony of despair sub- 
 sided into a gentle melancholy. Content in the perform- 
 ance of the quiet duties allotted to her, she could look back 
 with calmness and even with a melancholy pleasure to the 
 bright dream of her earlier days. She learned to kiss the 
 rod which had smitten her, and which blossomed with 
 blessings and purified by affliction, her gentle nature be- 
 came ripened for the sweet reunion with her Hansford, to 
 which she looked forward with patient hope. The human 
 heart, like the waters of Bethesda, needs often to be trou- 
 bled to yield its true qualities of health and sweetness. 
 Thus was it with Virginia, and in a peaceful resignation 
 to her Father's will, she lived and passed away, moving 
 through the world, like the wind of the sweet South, 
 receiving and bestowing blessings. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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