CHAPTER IX. THE DELIBERATIONS OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL, WHILE LORD WARWICKMARCHES UPON LONDON.
It was a clear and bright day in the first week of October, 1470, whenthe various scouts employed by the mayor and council of London cameback to the Guild, at which that worshipful corporation wereassembled,--their steeds blown and jaded, themselves panting andbreathless,--to announce the rapid march of the Earl of Warwick. Thelord mayor of that year, Richard Lee, grocer and citizen, sat in thevenerable hall in a huge leather chair, over which a pall of velvet hadbeen thrown in haste, clad in his robes of state, and surrounded by hisaldermen and the magnates of the city. To the personal love which thegreater part of the body bore to the young and courteous king was addedthe terror which the corporation justly entertained of the Lancastrianfaction. They remembered the dreadful excesses which Margaret hadpermitted to her army in the year 1461,--what time, to use theexpression of the old historian, "the wealth of London looked pale;"and how grudgingly she had been restrained from condemning her revoltedmetropolis to the horrors of sack and pillage. And the bearing of thisaugust representation of the trade and power of London was not, at thefirst, unworthy of the high influence it had obtained. The agitationand disorder of the hour had introduced into the assembly several of themore active and accredited citizens not of right belonging to it; butthey sat, in silent discipline and order, on long benches beyond thetable crowded by the corporate officers. Foremost among these, andremarkable by the firmness and intelligence of his countenance, andthe earnest self-possession with which he listened to his seniors, wasNicholas Alwyn, summoned to the council from his great influence withthe apprentices and younger freemen of the city.
As the last scout announced his news and was gravely dismissed, the lordmayor rose; and being, perhaps, a better educated man than many ofthe haughtiest barons, and having more at stake than most of them,his manner and language had a dignity and earnestness which might havereflected honour on the higher court of parliament.
"Brethren and citizens," he said, with the decided brevity of one whofelt it no time for many words, "in two hours we shall hear the clarionsof Lord Warwick at our gates; in two hours we shall be summoned to giveentrance to an army assembled in the name of King Henry. I have done myduty,--I have manned the walls, I have marshalled what soldiers we cancommand, I have sent to the deputy-governor of the Tower--"
"And what answer gives he, my lord mayor?" interrupted Humfrey Heyford.
"None to depend upon. He answers that Edward IV., in abdicating thekingdom, has left him no power to resist; and that between force andforce, king and king, might makes right."
A deep breath, like a groan, went through the assembly.
Up rose Master John Stokton, the mercer. He rose, trembling from limb tolimb.
"Worshipful my lord mayor," said he, "it seems to me that our first dutyis to look to our own selves!"
Despite the gravity of the emergence, a laugh burst forth, and was atonce silenced at this frank avowal.
"Yes," continued the mercer, turning round, and striking the table withhis fist, in the action of a nervous man--"yes; for King Edward has setus the example. A stout and a dauntless champion, whose whole youth hasbeen war, King Edward has fled from the kingdom. King Edward takes careof himself,--it is our duty to do the same!"
Strange though it may seem, this homely selfishness went at once throughthe assembly like a flash of conviction. There was a burst of applause,and, as it ceased, the sullen explosion of a bombard (or cannon) fromthe city wall announced that the warder had caught the first glimpse ofthe approaching army.
Master Stokton started as if the shot had gone near to himself, anddropped at once into his seat, ejaculating, "The Lord have mercy uponus!" There was a pause of a moment, and then several of the corporationrose simultaneously. The mayor, preserving his dignity, fixed on thesheriff.
"Few words, my lord, and I have done," said Richard Gardyner--"there isno fighting without men. The troops at the Tower are not to be countedon. The populace are all with Lord Warwick, even though he brought thedevil at his back. If you hold out, look to rape and plunder beforesunset to-morrow. If ye yield, go forth in a body, and the earl is notthe man to suffer one Englishman to be injured in life or health whoonce trusts to his good faith. My say is said."
"Worshipful my lord," said a thin, cadaverous alderman, who rosenext, "this is a judgment of the Lord and His saints. The Lollards andheretics have been too much suffered to run at large, and the wrath ofHeaven is upon us."
An impatient murmuring attested the unwillingness of the larger partof the audience to listen further; but an approving buzz from the eldercitizens announced that the fanaticism was not without its favourers.Thus stimulated and encouraged, the orator continued; and concluded anharangue, interrupted more stormily than all that had preceded, by anexhortation to leave the city to its fate, and to march in a body tothe New Prison, draw forth five suspected Lollards, and burn them atSmithfield, in order to appease the Almighty and divert the tempest!
This subject of controversy once started might have delayed the audiencetill the ragged staves of the Warwickers drove them forth from theirhall, but for the sagacity and promptitude of the mayor.
"Brethren," he said, "it matters not to me whether the counsel suggestedbe good or bad, in the main; but this have I heard,--there is smallsafety in death-bed repentance. It is too late now to do, through fearof the devil, what we omitted to do through zeal for the Church. Thesole question is, 'Fight or make terms.' Ye say we lack men; verily,yes, while no leaders are found! Walworth, my predecessor, savedLondon from Wat Tyler. Men were wanting then till the mayor and hisfellow-citizens marched forth to Mile End. It may be the same now. Agreeto fight, and we'll try it. What say you, Nicholas Alwyn?--you know thetemper of our young men."
Thus called upon, Alwyn rose, and such was the good name he had alreadyacquired, that every murmur hushed into eager silence.
"My lord mayor," he said, "there is a proverb in my country which says,'Fish swim best that's bred in the sea;' which means, I take it, thatmen do best what they are trained for! Lord Warwick and his men aretrained for fighting. Few of the fish about London Bridge are bred inthat sea. Cry, 'London to the rescue!'--put on hauberk and helm, andyou will have crowns enough to crack around you. What follows?--MasterStokton hath said it: pillage and rape for the city, gibbet and cord formayor and aldermen. Do I say this, loving the House of Lancaster? No; asHeaven shall judge me, I think that the policy King Edward hath chosen,and which costs him his crown to-day, ought to make the House of Yorkdear to burgess and trader. He hath sought to break up the iron rule ofthe great barons,--and never peace to England till that be done. He hasfailed; but for a day. He has yielded for a time; so must we. 'There's atime to squint, and a time to look even.' I advise that we march outto the earl, that we make honourable terms for the city, that we takeadvantage of one faction to gain what we have not gained with theother; that we fight for our profit, not with swords, where we shallbe worsted, but in council and parliament, by speech and petition.New power is ever gentle and douce. What matters to us York orLancaster?--all we want is good laws. Get the best we can fromLancaster, and when King Edward returns, as return he will, let him bidhigher than Henry for our love. Worshipful my lords and brethren, whilebarons and knaves go to loggerheads, honest men get their own. Timegrows under us like grass. York and Lancaster may pull down eachother,--and what is left? Why, three things that thrive in allweather,--London, industry; and the people! We have fallen on a roughtime. Well, what says the proverb? 'Boil stones in butter, and you maysup the broth.' I have done."
This characteristic harangue, which was fortunate enough to accord withthe selfishness of each one, and yet give the manly excuse of soundsense and wise policy to all, was the more decisive in its effect,inasmuch as the young Alwyn, from his own determined courage, and hisavowed distaste to the Lancaster faction, had been expected to favourwarlike counsels. The mayor himself, who was faithfully and personallyattached to
Edward, with a deep sigh gave way to the feeling of theassembly. And the resolution being once come to, Henry Lee was the firstto give it whatever advantage could be derived from prompt and speedyaction.
"Go we forth at once," said he,--"go, as becomes us, in our robes ofstate, and with the insignia of the city. Never be it said that theguardians of the city of London could neither defend with spirit, normake terms with honour. We give entrance to Lord Warwick. Well, then, itmust be our own free act. Come! Officers of our court, advance."
"Stay a bit, stay a bit," whispered Stokton, digging sharp claws intoAlwyn's arm; "let them go first,--a word with you, cunning Nick,--aword."
Master Stokton, despite the tremor of his nerves, was a man of suchwealth and substance, that Alwyn might well take the request, thusfamiliarly made, as a compliment not to be received discourteously;moreover, he had his own reasons for hanging back from a processionwhich his rank in the city did not require him to join.
While, therefore, the mayor and the other dignitaries left the hall withas much state and order as if not going to meet an invading army, but tojoin a holiday festival, Nicholas and Stokton lingered behind.
"Master Alwyn," said Stokton, then, with a sly wink of his eye, "youhave this day done yourself great credit; you will rise, I have my eyeon you! I have a daughter, I have a daughter! Aha! a lad like you maycome to great things!"
"I am much bounden to you, Master Stokton," returned Alwyn, somewhatabstractedly; "but what's your will?"
"My will!--hum, I say, Nicholas, what's your advice? Quite right not togo to blows. Odds costards! that mayor is a very tiger! But don't youthink it would be wiser not to join this procession? Edward IV., an'he ever come back, has a long memory. He deals at my ware, too,--agood customer at a mercer's; and, Lord! how much money he owes thecity!--hum!--I would not seem ungrateful."
"But if you go not out with the rest, there be other mercers who willhave King Henry's countenance and favour; and it is easy to see that anew court will make vast consumption in mercery."
Master Stokton looked puzzled.
"That were a hugeous pity, good Nicholas; and, certes, there is WatSmith, in Eastgate, who would cheat that good King Henry, poor man!which were a shame to the city; but, on the other hand, the Yorkistsmostly pay on the nail (except King Edward, God save him!), and theLancastrians are as poor as mice. Moreover, King Henry is a meek man,and does not avenge; King Edward, a hot and a stern man, and may call ittreason to go with the Red Rose! I wish I knew how to decide! I have adaughter, an only daughter,--a buxom lass, and well dowered. I would Ihad a sharp son-in-law to advise me!"
"Master Stokton, in one word, then, he never goes far wrong who can runwith the hare and hunt with the hounds. Good-day to you, I have businesselsewhere."
So saying, Nicholas rather hastily shook off the mercer's quiveringfingers, and hastened out of the hall.
"Verily," murmured the disconsolate Stokton, "run with the hare,quotha!--that is, go with King Edward; but hunt with the hounds,--thatis, go with King Henry. Odds costards; it's not so easily done by aplain man not bred in the North. I'd best go--home, and do nothing!"
With that, musing and bewildered, the poor man sneaked out, and was soonlost amidst the murmuring, gathering, and swaying crowds, many amongstwhich were as much perplexed as himself.
In the mean while, with his cloak muffled carefully round his face, andwith a long, stealthy, gliding stride, Alwyn made his way throughthe streets, gained the river, entered a boat in waiting for him, andarrived at last at the palace of the Tower.