boast of vice: but Captain Eden is above deceit, I will be answerable for his sincerity." “And I for his courage," added the prince; "he is ever forward in attack." "And backward in pursuit, giving quarter before it is asked, and leaving the means of flight to cowardly Roundheads," said Major Ritson. "In the heat of the fight no sword is keener; but the victory once achieved, no finical fine lady has a greater horror of shedding blood. Then he makes long speeches, as Pynı, Hampden, and Eliot used to do, concerning the rights of humanity, pity for our countrymen, and other parliamentary jargon. For my part, I value not such doubtful loyalty, but think I do his Majesty service when I put a rebel out of his way a Roundhead is no countryman of mine, and deserves not the name of Englishman." "I am sorry to hear this, having marked the young man for promotion. There is too much talk of sparing Englishmen, thus leaving roots from which fresh sturdy oaks spring up, requiring sharp axes and strong arms to cut them down. Let rebels meet the fate of rebels," continued Prince Rupert with a frown, his foreign birth and early participation in the German wars having given him little sympathy with Englishmen or English feelings. "So say I, but so says not Captain Eden, whose censure of your highness's treatment of the rebels at Cirencester might have brought him to a court martial, had not some thought more of friendship than loyalty," replied Major Ritson, half glancing towards Colonel Lunsford. "If it be as you say, let him take heed; the keenness of his sword shall be held no licence for the keenness of his tongue," observed the prince. "But in the present instance, I doubt not his zeal a spy or a sneaking messenger will hardly move his pity. Whose abode is this Lawrence Weston Lodge?” : "It is a summer seat of one of the aldermen or former mayors of Bristol, as I understand, who brooked not the odour of the city where he had scraped up his wealth, but must needs vie with ancient independent gentlemen, and build a handsome country house, with hall and tapestry, and all other things befitting." "No jesting, Ritson, on the mayor and aldermen of this good city, which is so soon, as we trust, to furnish his Majesty with supplies and shipping. Does this same alderman reside there? If so, he must have a bold heart to favour the rebels, seeing our troops so close." "As I have heard, the widow of the builder's son now holds it, please your highness." : "It matters little to our highness who holds it, but perhaps to Captain Eden much he may talk of gentleness and charity till the city widow make him her lord; no woers so thriving as those with a keen sword and a gentle courtesy." VOL. I. D "No fear of that, your highness; there is no officer in his Majesty's army less moved by woman's words, or woman's smiles. He has more than a Puritan's horror of vain discourses on love; and would wager his favourite horse,his only one, by the way,-on female faithlessness. Our court ladies say he has been jilted,” remarked Colonel Carey. "The secret of most wagering on woman's faithlessness,―eh, Carey?" asked the prince. "It seems from this that we could not have made a better choice; he will be discourteous to the widow to repay the jilting of her sex; and, doubtless, this messenger is but some cowardly runaway, whose very fears will betray him, though his capture will be of little worth." "I would not have your highness make so sure on either of these points. If Captain Eden is unmoved by woman's smiles, he is ever considerate for woman's weakness; and for aught we know, this runaway may be the crop-eared Prynne* himself, who, report says, has lately been at Bristol, and whose friend, Clement Walker, gave evidence against Yeomans and Boucher." * William Prynne was born of a good family at Swainswick, 1600, graduated at Oxford, and became a laborious student of the law at Lincoln's Inn. He was gloomy, unsocial, narrow-minded, and severe. He wrote violently and scurrilously against dancing, plays, love-locks, hairpowder, and fashions and diversions of all sorts; as well as against episcopacy, the new ceremonies introduced by Laud, and women actors; an article on which last being shown to the queen after her performance in a pastoral by Laud, though he knew that the work had been published before, she caused him to be tried by the Star Chamber, and he was condemned to stand in the pillory, lose his ears, pay a fine of 5000l. and be imprisoned for life. For tracts written in prison, a second similar sentence was inflicted, as well as on Burton and Bastwick, with the addition of branding, and being sent to Carnarvon Castle, with no books but the bible, prayer-book, and some episcopal works. The parliament afterwards declaring their sentences unjust and illegal, restoring them to their professions, and awarding them damages against the primate, and other judges of the Star Chamber; they made a triumphant entry into London, much to his Majesty's annoyance.-Clarendon-Aikin—Godwin- Grainger, &c. |