CHAPTER XVI
Give way--give way--I must and will have justice. And tell me not of privilege and place; Where I am injured, there I'll sue redress. Look to it, every one who bars my access; I have a heart to feel the injury, A hand to night myself, and, by my honour, That hand shall grasp what grey-beard Law denies me. _The Chamberlain._
It was not long ere Nigel discovered Lord Dalgarno advancing towards himin the company of another young man of quality of the Prince's train;and as they directed their course towards the south-eastern corner ofthe Park, he concluded they were about to go to Lord Huntinglen's. Theystopped, however, and turned up another path leading to the north; andLord Glenvarloch conceived that this change of direction was owing totheir having seen him, and their desire to avoid him.
Nigel followed them without hesitation by a path which, winding arounda thicket of shrubs and trees, once more conducted him to the lessfrequented part of the Park. He observed which side of the thicketwas taken by Lord Dalgarno and his companion, and he himself, walkinghastily round the other verge, was thus enabled to meet them face toface.
"Good-morrow, my Lord Dalgarno," said Lord Glenvarloch, sternly.
"Ha! my friend Nigel," answered Lord Dalgarno, in his usual careless andindifferent tone, "my friend Nigel, with business on his brow?--but youmust wait till we meet at Beaujeu's at noon--Sir Ewes Haldimund and Iare at present engaged in the Prince's service."
"If you were engaged in the king's, my lord," said Lord Glenvarloch,"you must stand and answer me."
"Hey-day!" said Lord Dalgarno, with an air of great astonishment, "whatpassion is this? Why, Nigel, this is King Cambyses' vein!--You havefrequented the theatres too much lately--Away with this folly, man; go,dine upon soup and salad, drink succory-water to cool your blood, go tobed at sun-down, and defy those foul fiends, Wrath and Misconstruction."
"I have had misconstruction enough among you," said Glenvarloch, in thesame tone of determined displeasure, "and from you, my Lord Dalgarno, inparticular, and all under the mask of friendship."
"Here is a proper business!"--said Dalgarno, turning as if to appeal toSir Ewes Haldimund; "do you see this angry ruffler, Sir Ewes? A monthsince, he dared not have looked one of yonder sheep in the face, andnow he is a prince of roisterers, a plucker of pigeons, a controller ofplayers and poets--and in gratitude for my having shown him the wayto the eminent character which he holds upon town, he comes hither toquarrel with his best friend, if not his only one of decent station."
"I renounce such hollow friendship, my lord," said Lord Glenvarloch; "Idisclaim the character which, even to my very face, you labour to fixupon me, and ere we part I will call you to a reckoning for it."
"My lords both," interrupted Sir Ewes Haldimund, "let me remind you thatthe Royal Park is no place to quarrel in."
"I will make my quarrel good," said Nigel, who did not know, or inhis passion might not have recollected, the privileges of the place,"wherever I find my enemy."
"You shall find quarelling enough," replied Lord Dalgarno, calmly, "sosoon as you assign a sufficient cause for it. Sir Ewes Haldimund,who knows the Court, will warrant you that I am not backward on suchoccasions.--But of what is it that you now complain, after havingexperienced nothing save kindness from me and my family?"
"Of your family I complain not," replied Lord Glenvarloch; "they havedone for me all they could, more, far more, than I could have expected;but you, my lord, have suffered me, while you called me your friend, tobe traduced, where a word of your mouth would have placed my characterin its true colours--and hence the injurious message which I just nowreceived from the Prince of Wales. To permit the misrepresentation of afriend, my lord, is to share in the slander."
"You have been misinformed, my Lord Glenvarloch," said Sir EwesHaldimund; "I have myself often heard Lord Dalgarno defend yourcharacter, and regret that your exclusive attachment to the pleasures ofa London life prevented your paying your duty regularly to the King andPrince."
"While he himself," said Lord Glenvarloch, "dissuaded me from presentingmyself at Court."
"I will cut this matter short," said Lord Dalgarno, with haughtycoldness. "You seem to have conceived, my lord, that you and I werePylades and Orestes--a second edition of Damon and Pythias--Theseus andPirithoiis at the least. You are mistaken, and have given the name offriendship to what, on my part, was mere good-nature and compassion fora raw and ignorant countryman, joined to the cumbersome charge which myfather gave me respecting you. Your character, my lord, is of no one'sdrawing, but of your own making. I introduced you where, as in all suchplaces, there was good and indifferent company to be met with--yourhabits, or taste, made you prefer the worse. Your holy horror at thesight of dice and cards degenerated into the cautious resolution to playonly at those times, and with such persons, as might ensure your risinga winner--no man can long do so, and continue to be held a gentleman.Such is the reputation you have made for yourself, and you have no rightto be angry that I do not contradict in society what yourself know to betrue. Let us pass on, my lord; and if you want further explanation, seeksome other time and fitter place."
"No time can be better than the present," said Lord Glenvarloch, whoseresentment was now excited to the uttermost by the cold-blooded andinsulting manner, in which Dalgarno vindicated himself,--"no placefitter than the place where we now stand. Those of my house have everavenged insult, at the moment, and on the spot, where it was offered,were it at the foot of the throne.--Lord Dalgarno, you are a villain!draw and defend yourself." At the same moment he unsheathed his rapier.
"Are you mad?" said Lord Dalgarno, stepping back; "we are in theprecincts of the Court."
"The better," answered Lord Glenvarloch; "I will cleanse them from acalumniator and a coward." He then pressed on Lord Dalgarno, and struckhim with the flat of the sword.
The fray had now attracted attention, and the cry went round, "Keepthe peace--keep the peace--swords drawn in the Park!--What, ho!guards!--keepers--yeomen--rangers!" and a number of people came rushingto the spot from all sides.
Lord Dalgarno, who had half drawn his sword on receiving the blow,returned it to his scabbard when he observed the crowd thicken, and,taking Sir Ewes Haldimund by the arm, walked hastily away, only sayingto Lord Glenvarloch as they left him, "You shall dearly abye thisinsult--we will meet again."
A decent-looking elderly man, who observed that Lord Glenvarlochremained on the spot, taking compassion on his youthful appearance,said to him, "Are you aware that this is a Star-Chamber business, younggentleman, and that it may cost you your right hand?--Shift for yourselfbefore the keepers or constables come up--Get into Whitefriars orsomewhere, for sanctuary and concealment, till you can make friends orquit the city."
The advice was not to be neglected. Lord Glenvarloch made hastilytowards the issue from the Park by Saint James's Palace, then SaintJames's Hospital. The hubbub increased behind him; and severalpeace-officers of the Royal Household came up to apprehend thedelinquent. Fortunately for Nigel, a popular edition of the cause of theaffray had gone abroad. It was said that one of the Duke of Buckingham'scompanions had insulted a stranger gentleman from the country, and thatthe stranger had cudgelled him soundly. A favourite, or the companionof a favourite, is always odious to John Bull, who has, besides, apartiality to those disputants who proceed, as lawyers term it, _parwye du fait_, and both prejudices were in Nigel's favour. The officers,therefore, who came to apprehend him, could learn from the spectators noparticulars of his appearance, or information concerning the road he hadtaken; so that, for the moment, he escaped being arrested.
What Lord Glenvarloch heard among the crowd as he passed along, wassufficient to satisfy him, that in his impatient passion he had placedhimself in a predicament of considerable danger. He was no strangerto the severe and arbitrary proceedings of the Court of Star-Chamber,especially in cases of breach of privilege, which made it the terrorof all men; and it was no farther back than the Queen's time that thepuni
shment of mutilation had been actually awarded and executed, forsome offence of the same kind which he had just committed. He had alsothe comfortable reflection, that, by his violent quarrel with LordDalgarno, he must now forfeit the friendship and good offices of thatnobleman's father and sister, almost the only persons of considerationin whom he could claim any interest; while all the evil reports whichhad been put in circulation concerning his character, were certain toweigh heavily against him, in a case where much must necessarily dependon the reputation of the accused. To a youthful imagination, the ideaof such a punishment as mutilation seems more ghastly than death itself;and every word which he overheard among the groups which he met, mingledwith, or overtook and passed, announced this as the penalty of hisoffence. He dreaded to increase his pace for fear of attractingsuspicion, and more than once saw the ranger's officers so near him,that his wrist tingled as if already under the blade of the dismemberingknife. At length he got out of the Park, and had a little more leisureto consider what he was next to do.
Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known by the cant nameof Alsatia, had at this time, and for nearly a century afterwards, theprivilege of a sanctuary, unless against the writ of the Lord ChiefJustice, or of the Lords of the Privy-Council. Indeed, as the placeabounded with desperadoes of every description,--bankrupt citizens,ruined gamesters, irreclaimable prodigals, desperate duellists, bravoes,homicides, and debauched profligates of every description, all leaguedtogether to maintain the immunities of their asylum,--it was bothdifficult and unsafe for the officers of the law to execute warrantsemanating even from the highest authority, amongst men whose safetywas inconsistent with warrants or authority of any kind. This LordGlenvarloch well knew; and odious as the place of refuge was, it seemedthe only one where, for a space at least, he might be concealed andsecure from the immediate grasp of the law, until he should have leisureto provide better for his safety, or to get this unpleasant matter insome shape accommodated.
Meanwhile, as Nigel walked hastily forward towards the place ofsanctuary, he bitterly blamed himself for suffering Lord Dalgarnoto lead him into the haunts of dissipation; and no less accused hisintemperate heat of passion, which now had driven him for refuge intothe purlieus of profane and avowed vice and debauchery.
"Dalgarno spoke but too truly in that," were his bitter reflections; "Ihave made myself an evil reputation by acting on his insidious counsels,and neglecting the wholesome admonitions which ought to have claimedimplicit obedience from me, and which recommended abstinence evenfrom the slightest approach of evil. But if I escape from the perilouslabyrinth in which folly and inexperience, as well as violent passions,have involved me, I will find some noble way of redeeming the lustre ofa name which was never sullied until I bore it."
As Lord Glenvarloch formed these prudent resolutions, he entered theTemple Walks, whence a gate at that time opened into Whitefriars, bywhich, as by the more private passage, he proposed to betake himself tothe sanctuary. As he approached the entrance to that den of infamy, fromwhich his mind recoiled even while in the act of taking shelter there,his pace slackened, while the steep and broken stairs reminded him ofthe _facilis_ descensus Averni, and rendered him doubtful whether itwere not better to brave the worst which could befall him in the publichaunts of honourable men, than to evade punishment by secluding himselfin those of avowed vice and profligacy.
As Nigel hesitated, a young gentleman of the Temple advanced towardshim, whom he had often seen, and sometimes conversed with, at theordinary, where he was a frequent and welcome guest, being a wildyoung gallant, indifferently well provided with money, who spent atthe theatres and other gay places of public resort, the time which hisfather supposed he was employing in the study of the law. But ReginaldLowestoffe, such was the young Templar's name, was of opinion thatlittle law was necessary to enable him to spend the revenues of thepaternal acres which were to devolve upon him at his father's demose,and therefore gave himself no trouble to acquire more of that sciencethan might be imbibed along with the learned air of the region in whichhe had his chambers. In other respects, he was one of the wits of theplace, read Ovid and Martial, aimed at quick repartee and pun, (oftenvery far fetched,) danced, fenced, played at tennis, and performedsundry tunes on the fiddle and French horn, to the great annoyance ofold Counsellor Barratter, who lived in the chambers immediately belowhim. Such was Reginald Lowes-toffe, shrewd, alert, and well-acquaintedwith the town through all its recesses, but in a sort of disrespectableway. This gallant, now approaching the Lord Glenvarloch, saluted him byname and title, and asked if his lordship designed for the Chevalier'sthis day, observing it was near noon, and the woodcock would be on theboard before they could reach the ordinary.
"I do not go there to-day," answered Lord Glenvarloch. "Which way, then,my lord?" said the young Templar, who was perhaps not undesirous toparade a part at least of the street in company with a lord, though buta Scottish one.
"I--I--" said Nigel, desiring to avail himself of this young man's localknowledge, yet unwilling and ashamed to acknowledge his intention totake refuge in so disreputable a quarter, or to describe the situationin which he stood--"I have some curiosity to see Whitefriars."
"What! your lordship is for a frolic into Alsatia?" saidLowestoffe-"-Have with you, my lord--you cannot have a better guide tothe infernal regions than myself. I promise you there are bona-robas tobe found there--good wine too, ay, and good fellows to drink it with,though somewhat suffering under the frowns of Fortune. But your lordshipwill pardon me--you are the last of our acquaintance to whom I wouldhave proposed such a voyage of discovery."
"I am obliged to you, Master Lowestoffe, for the good opinion you haveexpressed in the observation," said Lord Glenvarloch; "but my presentcircumstances may render even a residence of a day or two in thesanctuary a matter of necessity."
"Indeed!" said Lowestoffe, in a tone of great surprise; "I thought yourlordship had always taken care not to risk any considerable stake--I begpardon, but if the bones have proved perfidious, I know just so muchlaw as that a peer's person is sacred from arrest; and for mereimpecuniosity, my lord, better shift can be made elsewhere than inWhitefriars, where all are devouring each other for very poverty."
"My misfortune has no connexion with want of money," said Nigel.
"Why, then, I suppose," said Lowestoffe, "you have been tilting,my lord, and have pinked your man; in which case, and with apurse reasonably furnished, you may lie perdu in Whitefriars for atwelvemonth--Marry, but you must be entered and received as a member oftheir worshipful society, my lord, and a frank burgher of Alsatia--sofar you must condescend; there will be neither peace nor safety for youelse."
"My fault is not in a degree so deadly, Master Lowestoffe," answeredLord Glenvarloch, "as you seem to conjecture--I have stricken agentleman in the Park, that is all."
"By my hand, my lord, and you had better have struck your sword throughhim at Barns Elms," said the Templar. "Strike within the verge ofthe Court! You will find that a weighty dependence upon your hands,especially if your party be of rank and have favour."
"I will be plain with you, Master Lowestoffe," said Nigel, "since I havegone thus far. The person I struck was Lord Dalgarno, whom you have seenat Beaujeu's."
"A follower and favourite of the Duke of Buckingham!--It is a mostunhappy chance, my lord; but my heart was formed in England, and cannotbear to see a young nobleman borne down, as you are like to be. Weconverse here greatly too open for your circumstances. The Templarswould suffer no bailiff to execute a writ, and no gentleman to bearrested for a duel, within their precincts; but in such a matterbetween Lord Dalgarno and your lordship, there might be a party oneither side. You must away with me instantly to my poor chambershere, hard by, and undergo some little change of dress, ere you takesanctuary; for else you will have the whole rascal rout of the Friarsabout you, like crows upon a falcon that strays into their rookery. Wemust have you arrayed something more like the natives of Alsatia, orthere will be no life there for you."
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br /> While Lowestoffe spoke, he pulled Lord Glenvarloch along with him intohis chambers, where he had a handsome library, filled with all the poemsand play-books which were then in fashion. The Templar then dispatched aboy, who waited upon him, to procure a dish or two from the next cook'sshop; "and this," he said, "must be your lordship's dinner, with a glassof old sack, of which my grandmother (the heavens requite her!) sent mea dozen bottles, with charge to use the liquor only with clarified whey,when I felt my breast ache with over study. Marry, we will drink thegood lady's health in it, if it is your lordship's pleasure, and youshall see how we poor students eke out our mutton-commons in the hall."
The outward door of the chambers was barred so soon as the boy hadre-entered with the food; the boy was ordered to keep close watch, andadmit no one; and Lowestoffe, by example and precept, pressed his nobleguest to partake of his hospitality. His frank and forward manners,though much differing from the courtly ease of Lord Dalgarno, werecalculated to make a favourable impression; and Lord Glenvarloch, thoughhis experience of Dalgarno's perfidy had taught him to be cautious ofreposing faith in friendly professions, could not avoid testifying hisgratitude to the young Templar, who seemed so anxious for his safety andaccommodation.
"You may spare your gratitude any great sense of obligation, my lord,"said the Templar. "No doubt I am willing to be of use to any gentlemanthat has cause to sing _Fortune my foe_, and particularly proud to serveyour lordship's turn; but I have also an old grudge, to speak Heaven'struth, at your opposite, Lord Dalgarno."
"May I ask on what account, Master Lowestoffe?" said Lord Glenvarloch.
"O, my lord," replied the Templar, "it was for a hap that chanced afteryou left the ordinary, one evening about three weeks since--at least Ithink you were not by, as your lordship always left us before deep playbegan--I mean no offence, but such was your lordship's custom--whenthere were words between Lord Dalgarno and me concerning a certain gameat gleek, and a certain mournival of aces held by his lordship, whichwent for eight--tib, which went for fifteen--twenty-three in all. Now Iheld king and queen, being three--a natural towser, making fifteen--andtiddy, nineteen. We vied the ruff, and revied, as your lordship maysuppose, till the stake was equal to half my yearly exhibition, fifty asfair yellow canary birds as e'er chirped in the bottom of a green silkpurse. Well, my lord, I gained the cards, and lo you! it pleases hislordship to say that we played without tiddy; and as the rest stoodby and backed him, and especially the sharking Frenchman, why, I wasobliged to lose more than I shall gain all the season.--So judge if Ihave not a crow to pluck with his lordship. Was it ever heard there wasa game at gleek at the ordinary before, without counting tiddy?--marryquep upon his lordship!--Every man who comes there with his purse in hishand, is as free to make new laws as he, I hope, since touch pot touchpenny makes every man equal."
As Master Lowestoffe ran over this jargon of the gaming-table, LordGlenvarloch was both ashamed and mortified, and felt a severe pang ofaristocratic pride, when he concluded in the sweeping clause that thedice, like the grave, levelled those distinguishing points of society,to which Nigel's early prejudices clung perhaps but too fondly. It wasimpossible, however, to object any thing to the learned reasoning ofthe young Templar, and therefore Nigel was contented to turn theconversation, by making some inquiries respecting the present state ofWhite-friars. There also his host was at home.
"You know, my lord," said Master Lowestoffe, "that we Templars are apower and a dominion within ourselves, and I am proud to say that I holdsome rank in our republic--was treasurer to the Lord of Misrule lastyear, and am at this present moment in nomination for that dignitymyself. In such circumstances, we are under the necessity of maintainingan amicable intercourse with our neighbours of Alsatia, even as theChristian States find themselves often, in mere policy, obliged to makealliance with the Grand Turk, or the Barbary States."
"I should have imagined you gentlemen of the Temple more independent ofyour neighbours," said Lord Glenvarloch.
"You do us something too much honour, my lord," said the Templar; "theAlsatians and we have some common enemies, and we have, under the rose,some common friends. We are in the use of blocking all bailiffs out ofour bounds, and we are powerfully aided by our neighbours, who toleratenot a rag belonging to them within theirs. Moreover the Alsatianshave--I beg you to understand me--the power of protecting or distressingour friends, male or female, who may be obliged to seek sanctuary withintheir bounds. In short, the two communities serve each other, though theleague is between states of unequal quality, and I may myself say, thatI have treated of sundry weighty affairs, and have been a negotiatorwell approved on both sides.--But hark--hark--what is that?"
The sound by which Master Lowestoffe was interrupted, was that of adistant horn, winded loud and keenly, and followed by a faint and remotehuzza.
"There is something doing," said Lowestoffe, "in the Whitefriars at thismoment. That is the signal when their privileges are invaded by tipstaffor bailiff; and at the blast of the horn they all swarm out to therescue, as bees when their hive is disturbed.--Jump, Jim," hesaid, calling out to the attendant, "and see what they are doing inAlsatia.--That bastard of a boy," he continued, as the lad, accustomedto the precipitate haste of his master, tumbled rather than ran out ofthe apartment, and so down stairs, "is worth gold in this quarter--heserves six masters--four of them in distinct Numbers, and you wouldthink him present like a fairy at the mere wish of him that for the timemost needs his attendance. No scout in Oxford, no gip in Cambridge, evermatched him in speed and intelligence. He knows the step of a dun fromthat of a client, when it reaches the very bottom of the staircase; cantell the trip of a pretty wench from the step of a bencher, when atthe upper end of the court; and is, take him all in all--But I see yourlordship is anxious--May I press another cup of my kind grandmother'scordial, or will you allow me to show you my wardrobe, and act as yourvalet or groom of the chamber?"
Lord Glenvarloch hesitated not to acknowledge that he was painfullysensible of his present situation, and anxious to do what must needs bedone for his extrication.
The good-natured and thoughtless young Templar readily acquiesced,and led the way into his little bedroom, where, from bandboxes,portmanteaus, mail-trunks, not forgetting an old walnut-tree wardrobe,he began to select the articles which he thought best suited effectuallyto disguise his guest in venturing into the lawless and turbulentsociety of Alsatia.