Imatges de pàgina
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rolling in thy chariot through that desolate gate where thou now sit'st like an outcast and a beggar. My curse be upon the cause of thy downcome." And he turned away, and walked out of sight.

From listening to the old men's discourse, I now turned to look upon the lady, with an increase of curiosity not unmixed with sorrow.

She

heeded no one; but in a low and almost inaudible tone sang, from time to time, snatches of old songs concerning the ancient glory of her lover's house; and the following verses, if they did not relate to her own story, certainly alluded to the young Lord Cheyne, whose return from abroad was expected that evening.

MY GALLANT ROLAND CHEYNE.

The sun upon a summer morn,
The dark cloud when it snows,

The woods all in their fragrant leaves,
The green grass as it grows,

Are fair to see-yet fairer far

Seems ocean's simmering brine,

Through which comes sailing thy good ship,
My gallant Roland Cheyne.

I saw the gloomy ocean laugh,
As suns laugh in April;

I saw thy canvas catch the breeze

With more of sigh than smile.

And, Oh! my heart leap'd like to burst

My silken laces nine,

As I lost sight of thy good ship,

My gallant Roland Cheyne.

All by the salt sea-wave I sat—

And as its snowy foam

Sang at my foot, I sigh'd, and said,

O when wilt thou come home?
Brown are the giddy dames of France;
And swarthy those of Spain;
Old England's maids are lily white—
Return, my Roland Cheyne.

As the lady concluded her song, the village mob, preceded by music, or rather by the discordant din of many ill-tuned instruments, approached the gate; and their rage at finding ic shut in the hour of festivity was expressed in the gross and graphic language of vulgar indignation. I have no hope of translating their exclamations into the language of decency or decorum, and I shall prefer copying the words of the more moderate. "Ah!" said one, "the miserly old lord has been here--he loves us all as the devil loves christening water-I wish he would take advantage of the torch-light and these tempting boughs, and hang himself, that the amusements of the day might be suitably completed. For these ten long years he has kept his hall in darkness, and all to hoard up the dirty window rate and the paltry taxes, and give his grandson

the company of bats and vermin when he comes to his inheritance. And what will he gain by it? Man curses him, and the devil won't thank bim: old cloven-foot will give him brimstone gratis. May the next jaildelivery of felons dance a minuet over his sordid grave, with their government bracelets on." "Whisht, Amos!" said one of his companions; "I have heard old Mause Robertson, who came from the north with his lady, say, that it was not the greed of gold which turned old Lord Roland into a hermit—but that there is a prophecy in his house which says he is to be the last of his name; and more than all-she told one, whose word 1 can trust in all matters not connected with drink, that the fate of the Cheynes had been revealed by a spirit or a vision or some other out-of-the-world, long-nosed sort of thing. And this is what has made

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him let' his beard and nails grow, lawn before the house. The roses, and his gardens go to waste, and his and flowering shrubs, and fruit-trees, house, and all it contains, to destruc- had run to waste, and encumbered tion. They say too that a spirit the paths in every direction-the haunts the house, I have myself vines, in unpruned luxuriance, found seen lights, and heard queer noises their way from the enclosure of the and I should not like to be one of hot-houses, and shot along the them who ventured into it in the hol- ground, or hung their branches from low hour of night, unless I had first the mouldering walls or the neighdrank a pint of good brandy. bouring trees. The house itself

While this passed, a crowd of the though of solid stone, had suffered peasants placed their shoulders to much from neglect and time-temthe gate, and gave it a rude push or pests had stripped the roof in many two, which made the rusty and de- places, and lightning had struck a cayed bolts quiver and creak. “ More kind of dome or observatory, which beef, my boys," cried one, “ and rose above the centre of the building, we'll upset the old rusty encum- and shattered it so that the stars brance-confound all houses, say I, shone visibly through the rents in that have iron at either doors or win- walls and roof. At many places the dows. Here, Jack, lay your seven- rain and the snow had found easy acteen-stone carcass against it-and, cess; while the want of fires, in a Tom, you're as good as one of Bra- climate so moist and inhospitable as mah's pump-levers give us a push." this, had combined with other casuAnd they planted themselves for a alties to ensure its ruin. concluding exertion, when the sound I found the front door unfastened; of the house having a spiritual te- and by the help of the moon, which nant fell among them like a mill- streamed unclouded through the stone. They made a full pause: hall windows, I proceeded from room one stood, and shook his head, and to room. It is true that the moon, said, “ It wont do, lads; the bolts though full, and in her summer are as tough as gibbet-irons.” An- beauty, yields but a dubious light other said, “ Curse the old buckle- for one scrupulous in the search and ment—let the young spendthrift open examination of curiosities—yet I it himself, we have been working could see that the apartments had for him all day—the ale was not so been once splendid, and that their strong that we should break our splendour was now eclipsed and in backs to open iron gates for him." ruin. The walls were covered with And a third swore, As for spirits, portraits of the days of Vandyke and that's all my eye-a man's more like his masters; and many of them, I to have his pocket picked than meet afterwards learned, were from the with a ghost. By the Jumping Ju- hands of the first names in art-but niper, I think I do see a light in yon they were rotting, and falling from little low window-the cat's eye, or their frames. The old tapestries, the devil's candle, as my old gran- representing feasting, and hunting, dame says no matter, it's all one to and tournaments, and love-meetings, Ben Bowen.” And he walked away and wrought by the hands of the from the gate, whistling to keep his ladies of the house of Cheyne, were courage up, and show his unconcern lying about the floors like leaves in - and with him the rest of the mul- November; and the books-many of titude marched, and left me alone. them the works of the worthies of

I felt an uncontrollable spirit of the Reformation, and printed by the curiosity come upon me-I had heard first Protestant printers-had dropt enough of the romantic story of the from the shelves. Their boards of Cheynes, to make me desire more; oak, with clasps of silver, were and I suddenly resolved to explore pierced by a thousand worms; and the ancient mansion which I saw be their margins, bearing notes and fore me at the end of the avenue, memorandums from the hands of shining ruinous and gray amid the princes and poets, were soiled and summer moonlight. I sought out a torn. An owl had roosted, and low part of the wall which enclosed brought forth its young among the the mansion and the gardens, and I treasures of controversial divinity. soon found myself standing on the In the state chamber the damasked

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hangings had dropt from the bridalbed; the bed, with its pillows of down, and its holland sheets and its fringings of gold, seemed as a dung-hill for swine to wallow in-wherever I went I found havoc and ruin.

I stood in the marriage chamber, and said in my own mind, "What is the waste which time brings, compared to the folly of man. To dice an inheritance away; to cast it to bruizers and bullies-to horse-race away all that wisdom, or prudence, or ostentation, has gathered-to throw gold into the pandar's hand and the harlot's lap-and to scatter treasure in purchasing freedom for the contemptible slaves of foreign shores-all these are but the dispensations of ripe thought, and judicious choice, compared to that of the house of Cheyne. To give to the wind and the rain, to the bats and the owls, the sacred treasures of learning and genius-the very images of the family-a family of poets and heroes-the books which reflected their minds and tastes, and the place where they meditated by night, and made mankind happy by day-nay, the very bridal chamber and the bridal bed, for which the most illiterate and savage always feel a reverence-all, all, must be surrendered up to ruin and desolation; and all, too, by the noble owner himself-a name once foremost among the witty and the brave-he has conspired against his own fame, and permitted an evil spirit to guide his understanding."

I am not certain that I spoke the concluding words audibly; but they were suddenly answered by a human figure, who, unobserved by me, had glided into the chamber through a secret door, and now stood full before me amid the silent moon-light. He wore a loose dark gown and girdle, was bare-headed and bare-footed; and his beard, thick and gray, descended upon his breast. "Who art thou," he said, "who comest to question a Cheyne in his own chamber? Am I answerable to thee for what is done and undone? I scorn thy scorn, and I hate thy pity. Away." "Lord Cheyne," I said, "I am a stranger here-but there is rejoicing in the village for the coming of Lord Roland; and emboldened by the general license which the hour of gladness gives, I have ventured to enter

this house. It was the dwelling of the wise and the noble, and commands my regard, though I have taken an unseasonable hour to express it." The old man-for he could not be much younger than ninety, laughed loud, and said, "Lord Cheyne? What is there of lord about me more than about the meanest spirit which swells the drunken shout in the village. I am Roland Cheyne; I have thrown lord away-it is unworthy to be borne by the noble and the brave -it has been squandered on knaves and sycophants-on kneelers at the throne-on the lickers of the palace dust-on those whose sisters are handsome, whose wives are fair, and whose daughters are beautiful. There's a leprosy in the name; and the gallant house of Cheyne has begun to sink since it was dishonoured by the title."

We stood for some moments silent, looking upon one another. At last Í ventured to say, "If you, despise the title which was given to the Cheynes for their bravery and devotion to their country, why should you allow the images of your race, and their books, and all that they so worthily loved, to go to waste and decay?" He stept a step or two away, and then turned and said, "If I tell you that a much more noble monu ment goes to dust and worms unpitied and unregarded, you will tell me it is the lot of man to die, and that he can never rise to glory if he goes not to the darksome grave. If I say, that, extinguishing the fires of my house, dismissing an idle train of obsequious servants, and living myself, by the labour of my own hand, as a man ought to live who scorns to be fed by a slave, I have enabled my wealth to flow back again to the poor and the needy, from whom it is wrung by our nobles and our gentry-what will your answer be? Will you not tell me of the right the strong intellect has to rule over the weak-of the blessings which luxury diffuses over many ranks of men and that the figured goblet, out of which a lord drains, the pleasant poison of the grape, has brought money and fame to the hand that fashioned it. All this, and much more, you will be ready to tell me: to all which I answer, that God never made the one half of

mankind with bridles in their lips, and saddles on their backs-and the other half, booted and spurred, to ride them. Society is like a bottle of medicine, and requires to be shaken up well; but the rich and the titled compare it to a net, of which they are the corks, to keep it afloat; while the base and the sordid are the lead weights which keep it at the bottom."

"I know full well," I answered, "that the noble and the far-descended degenerate into the mean and the contemptible, and that the low and the bumble rise, by the force of genius or cunning, to rank and influence. I see the descendants of the greatest names in England seeking parish allowance, and the children of our ancient princes begging their bread. In the wheel of fortune there are black spokes as well as white; and as it runs round we must take our chance which of them is uppermost. To-day I see a new lord issuing out like a new butterfly from a nest of brokers and moneylenders, stock-jobbers and loan-contractors, and all that swarm of rep tiles which infest a wealthy and a luxurious nation; and to-morrow I see a wise and a benevolent being-a man of genius and liberality, succeeded in his titles by a creature in whom God's image is debased-the companion of squanderers and drunkards-who inflicts disgrace on all who share his blood-and who carries infamy among our sons, and eternal infamy among our daughters. And yet how shall it be otherwise? so it has ever been-bloodshed, violence, and wrong, by the brutal hand, ruled the earth for a timeand now the base and the worthless sit in high places, and work the like wickedness under the pretence of law."

"Aye!" said Lord Cheyne, "I see you have a fair notion of the world, and of the worth and the wisdom which rule it. The honest and the frank-hearted refuse to stoop to carry the filthy burthen of obeisance and servility through the Political Slough of Despond; and the base in heart, and the mean in spirit, defraud the noble-minded of their inheritance. See how fortune has shared her gold, and showered her honours. The great and illustrious men, whose names

are yet the light of day to a period of thick darkness, lived unheeded and unrewarded-the dew of good fortune fell not on the muse's fleece

the shower descended upon those who had slain their thousands and their tens of thousands. Look round the earth, and see how titles-how the nick-names of lords and dukes, abound and multiply-every seven years give a seven-fold accession to these sounding appellations-yet true worthy men, those who labour for their country's welfare, are scarcer than ever. Virtue is on every tongue, yet in no one's heart-and external decorum, and the outward graces of prudence, are taught with scientific minuteness and care. Our ancestors heeded not the theory-they contented themselves with the practice. Delicacy, and devotion, and modesty, are words the meaning of which you may learn in the dictionary-they are the watch-words of procuresses, adulteresses, and demireps. London' is a city of Bible Associations and kept mistresses-of boxing lords, coach-driving earls and dukes, who wander among men's daughters, like the fiend of old, seeking whom they may devour. The way of thriving is quaintly described by a judicious divine:

A beauteous sister, or convenient wife, Are prizes in the lottery of life." "All this,” I said, “is truth itself; yet I can barely accept the sins and follies of the land, as a reason for the destruction which has been allowed to come upon your inheritance. Nothing of less force than a voice from heaven would have influenced me-unworthy as I am to be named among the Cheynes-in permitting hall and bower to sink to dust, while I stood and mocked the follies and vices of men among the mouldering walls." His face darkened-but not with anger; and he suddenly snatched my hand, while his own trembled like an aspen leafhe led me towards a window, which he opened; and, stepping out on a balcony of stone, stood silent for some seconds looking upon the sky like one who acknowledged the influence of the stars, and could interpret their meaning. He spoke in a low and almost inaudible tone.

"You have said that a voice from heaven alone would have command

ed you to let hall and bower sinkWhat would you have done had the divine purpose been revealed to you in a vision? I know you will talk of distempered fancy, and feverish dreams, and strong feelings, and a thousand other cobweb fancies with which man seeks to cover his own fears, and screen himself from the belief of such supernatural horror. Common fame may have told you truly, that our family had an ancient warning of the duration of their greatness and their name; but you cannot have heard of the vision which was revealed to me, and which for the space of many minutes was as visible before me as these trees are now amid the moon-light.

"It is now ten years from this very night-my grandson, my own favourite Roland-the last of many sons, had departed for a foreign land: the crowds of the vain and the beautiful who came to bid him farewell had all gone away-I stood on this very spot, and hearkened to the sound of their homeward wheels-it might be about twelve o'clock, and the moon and all the stars were in the sky, and I could see to a far distance. Suddenly I heard as if a thousand people shouted their welcomes, and I saw a thick stream of torches moving rapidly along. The iron gates at the head of the avenuethere you may see them half-hid among the boughs of the grovewere opened as if a thousand men had flung them against the walls, and down towards my house a chariot and six horses came at full gallop; and the torch-bearers-I could see their faces, and many of them I knew-seemed rather to move in the air than run along the ground. The light filled all the lawn. I wondered what it might mean. I heard my servants in the rooms laughing, and making merry below. I saw the keeper of the gate-a bold and watchful veteran, whose bosom bore the mark of a deep wound received in my defence-seated at his post and all seemed unconscious of the presence of any strange visitor. I looked upon the chariot and the horses-it was shining with gold and silver-the horses were shod in the same metal-and even as I looked, it changed suddenly into a mourning

hearse-the horses became as black as night, the torch-bearers inverted their torches; and, instead of shouts of joy, raised a deep and melancholy cry. The plumes which surmounted the hearse were shaken as with a strong wind, and four dark figures took out the body of a youth, and bore it up these very steps, towards my door.

Stay, I command you,” I said, 'I must know on whose errand you come. The shroud dropped aside, and I beheld the face of my grandson-mine own beloved Roland

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pale as death, with the last gasp on his lip-the four bearers looked up to me and smiled. I remember nothing farther till the morning, when, stiff with cold, and my face cut by the fall, I awakened in the arms of my servants, who had borne me into this chamber. Three years my Ro-land was to remain abroad-my fears extended them to six, to seven, and to eight-evil advisers beset the youth-he murmured-he remonstrated-he upbraided-he scorned me; and need I add, he forgot himself-my name was loaded with reproach-he resolved to return; and when I revealed his destiny, he answered me with mockery, and said I wished to defraud him of his inherit- * ance. He is now coming, and the vision will be fulfilled."

He had hardly ceased speaking, when a female form-even the lady whom I had heard singing at the gate, came out of the thickest part of the grove; and with a slow and a disordered step approached the entrance of the house. She seated herself on a stone, where lately a statue had stood; and throwing her long locks half over her face, sat so motionless and pale that she seemed the work of a statuary rather than of heaven. Old Lord Roland looked upon her earnestly for some time, and then muttered to himself, "Aye! the betrayed comes first, and then comes the betrayer-it needed no seer's tale and no midnight vision to tell of the fall of my house. Broken vows-innocence deceived, and virtue and beauty cast from their proud station, and trampled under foot-these were the visible and gross omens which told of the downfal of the Cheynes. Fair and unhappy lady, I would go and comfort thee if

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