-'
\
The Sailing of tK Mayflower and Speedwell from Southampton
SAXBY:
A TALE OF OLD AND NEW ENGLAND.
BY EMMA LESLIE,
AUTHOR OF " AYESHA," " MARGARETHE," " WALTER," ETC.
FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW YORK:
PHILLIPS & HUNT,
CINCINNATI :
WALDEN & STOWE.
1880.
Copyright, 1880, by
PHILLIPS & HUNT,
New York.
PREFACE.
TN this, the fourth volume of the second
series of Church History stories, a
more familiar period is brought before
our readers. The rise of the Puritans
was the necessary outcome of the at-
tempt to limit the growth and expansion
of the Reformation in the Church of
England. The desire for a purer and
more simple form of worship had taken
deep root in the heart of the people. It
was in the same soil that the Reforma-
tion commenced its beneficent work, and
it was here, and not among the rulers,
that it grew and flourished; and its at-
tendant handmaidens, learning and the
love of liberty, were cultivated to an ex-
tent that alarmed those who looked upon
2212619
6 PREFACE.
the vox populi as dangerous and sub-
versive of all vested interest both in
Church and State.
This led to a closer union of the two
threatened interests, which at last cul-
minated in the Church lending herself to
enforce the most tyrannical and oppress-
ive edicts of the sovereign, regardless
of religion, while the State, in return for
this, gave the Church almost unlimited
power over the person and property of
the subject. The oppression of all who
did not submit to the dictation of the
Church in things spiritual was a most
natural consequence, and while it drove
thousands of her best and noblest sons
and daughters into exile, it roused the
spirit of other brave, true souls to resist
the tyranny, for the time was passed
when men would tamely submit to be
led like sheep at the will of king or
PREFACE. 7
bishop ; and for five and twenty years
the slowly-gathered storm raged in Old
England, during which the New En-
gland was created, that it might be a
" refuge for the oppressed ;" " the shad-
ow of a great rock in a weary land."
It is this eventful five and twenty
years with which our story is occupied,
and which of necessity renders it some-
what fragmentary, especially toward the
close.
For that portion of it relating to New
England I am specially indebted to
Palfrey's " New England " and Foster's
" Life of Sir Harry Vane, the Younger,'*
one of the early governors of Massachu-
setts. For the rest, Clarendon, Lingard,
Foster, Carlyle, and several other au-
thors, have been laid under contribu-
tion.
We can never duly estimate the debt
8 PREFACE.
we owe to these grand old pilgrim fa-
thers, to whom liberty was dearer than
life ; but let us learn this lesson from
their lives, to be true, and brave, and
honest in following our convictions of
right, never turning to the right or left,
whether loss threaten us or the world
and its gifts tempt us ; so shall we be
true children of these noble fathers, and
worthily hand down the sacred gift of
religious liberty they have bequeathed
Chief Historical Persons.
HAMPDEN, CUSHMAN,
VANE, COTTON,
MILTON, CROMWELL.
CONTENTS.
I. UNEXPECTED GUESTS 13
II. A VISIT TO HAMPDEN 26
III. HARRY SAXBY 40
IV. BAD NEWS 54
V. WAS IT WITCHCRAFT ? 68
VI. IN LONDON 81
VII. A SOCIAL EVENING 94
VIII. GAMMER GROVE 107
IX. TRYING THE WITCH 121
X. THE PILGRIM FATHERS 136
XI. ANOTHER CITATION FROM THE BISHOP 149
XII. KING JAMES AND HIS PARLIAMENT 162
XIII. AT THE SIGN OF THE SPREAD EAGLE 176
XIV. A STRANGE MEETING 189
XV. DAME MEREDITH 204
XVI. HARRY VANE 217
XVII. BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS 230
XVIII. ROUNDHEAD AND ROYALIST 243
XIX. NEW BOSTON 256
XX. GOVERNOR VANE 269
XXI. PERPLEXITIES 283
XXII. CONCLUSION 300
Illustrations.
MM
THE SAILING OP THE MAYFLOWBR AND SPEEDWELL
FROM SOUTHAMPTON 2
TRYING THE WITCH 133
THE CHILDREN FIND A FRIEND 197
FATHER AND DAUGHTER 297
SAXBY:
A TALE OF 0LD AND NEW ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
UNEXPECTED GUESTS.
EVENING was drawing on apace as a par-
ty of travelers entered a little village
clustered at the foot of the chalky Chiltern
Hills in Buckinghamshire. They had evident-
ly ridden some miles by the jaded appearance
of their horses, and, as they paused near the
blacksmith's forge to make some inquiries, the
villagers from the neighboring ale-house im-
proved this opportunity to indulge their curi-
osity, and make various surmises as to the
business that could have brought them to this
out-of-the-way village; for Great Kimble did
not often see strangers from London.
" I know they come from London, and I
know for sure it is Master Hampden they have
come to see. Dame Saxby will be at her wit's
end for entertainment of such a party,"
14 SAXBY.
said the blacksmith, gazing after the horse-
men.
" Did you notice the handsome green satin
doublet one of them wore?" said his wife,
who had likewise come out to look after the
strangers.
" Leave a woman alone to see the finery,"
laughed a neighbor; "but talking of that green
satin doublet makes me think that he who
wore it comes farther than London. He comes
from beyond seas, and I should like to know
the business that brings him to Great Kimble."
Many others felt the same curiosity, if they
did not so openly express it, and in this they
were not far behind Dame Saxby herself, who
was in no small flutter of surprise and anxiety
at being so suddenly called upon to provide for
such a large party. Haifa dozen hungry horse-
men are a considerable addition to supper, and
to one who prided herself on the bountifulness
of her entertainments it was rather vexatious.
" What could have brought them down upon
us in this sudden manner is what I cannot
understand," muttered the dame, as she or-
dered her serving-maids to bring out all the
loaves in the pantry, and to put down a joint
of meat on the spit lest the cold chine of beef
should not be sufficient.
Unexpected Guests. 1 5
Her husband, knowing little and caring less
about his wife's vexation, was issuing orders
for the care of their horses, and expressing his
delight at seeing so many friends. Even the
stranger from " beyond seas " was made to feel
himself included in the hearty welcome ; and
when they were all seated in the keeping-
room, and Master Saxby at liberty to talk to
them, while the maids spread the supper on
the long oaken table, he gave expression to
what was puzzling so many brains just at that
moment.
" Now tell us something of the London
news. What has brought such a party of noble
gentlemen to Great Kimble ? "
" Well, Master Saxby, the latest talk among
some is the discovery recently made by Dr.
William Harvey, that the blood goes racing
round our body like as the brook we saw a
mile off tumbles down the side of your chalky
hills."
Master Saxby laughed. " So you have come
to tell me the wild fantasies of a madman,"
he said.
"Nay, but 'tis no madness, they say; but
sober truth, and will work such changes in the
curing of bodily ills as the world has never
seen."
1 6 SAXBY.
" So this Dr. Harvey has discovered the old
alchemist's secret at last, and will give us an
endless life," said their host.
" Few would thank him for that in these
times," remarked a sober-looking man, who
had not spoken before.
" Well, what do you think of it, Master
Shipton?"
" I know but little of the art of leechcraft
myself, but I have heard it said by some who
are skilled in these things that Dr. Harvey is
right, and our blood doth as surely move
through our veins as that the king's new Bible
is every-where printed and being sold."
Dame Saxby had come in now, and at once
exclaimed, " Our blood move ! dear heart, the
world is getting too wise. Peeping and pry-
ing into such things is presumption ; nothing
but tempting Providence, and I wonder the
king does not forbid it."
" Nay, but, good dame, are we not taught
that our bodies are the temple of God ? and
docs it not behoove us to learn all we can con-
cerning its mysteries, that this temple be not
defiled or made unfit for his habitation?"
44 Nay, if God had intended us to know these
things he would not have made them mys-
teries at all. We must beware of witchcraft in
Unexpected Guests. 17
these days, Master Shipton," concluded Dame
Saxby, decisively.
At this moment the host's three sons en-
tered the room. The eldest was a fine, hand-
some young fellow, about twenty; the young-
est, a lad of fourteen, but almost as tall as his
stalwart brother. They were plainly dressed
in homespun cloth ; for although Master Sax-
by was one of the wealthiest men in Bucking-
hamshire his sons helped on the home farm,
and never thought of despising such homely
work, although a longing to go abroad and see
something of the world had seized Harry, the
eldest.
As soon as the strangers had been intro-
duced the family took their seats at the supper-
table master and guests at one end, and the
maids and two serving-men below the salt at
the other. The bright pewter plates shone
like silver, and the home-made bread and rich
golden butter, to say nothing of the huge slices
of beef, were enough to tempt a more fastidi-
ous appetite than either of our travelers had.
For a few minutes after grace was said noth-
ing was heard but the clatter of knives and
forks.
When the meal was over Dame Saxby in-
vited her guests to go to the wainscotted parlor,
1 8 SAXBY.
for she had no notion of her serving-maids
wasting the time they might use at their spin-
ning-wheels, or having their heads turned by
" London news ; " so Master Saxby and his
eldest son went with their guests, while Roger
went to give a last look at the stables and
see that every thing was made secure for the
night.
" Now, Master Saxby, we will tell you the
cause of our errand," said one, as soon as they
were seated in the parlor. " I thought it not
well to speak of it before the wenches, for our
king is by no means inclined to give such help
as many hoped he would to this cause for
which our friend, Master Groebel, here has
journeyed from Bohemia."
"It is about the affairs of the emperor?"
said Master Saxby questioningly.
" It is the cause of freedom and religious
liberty," said the stranger warmly, and speak-
ing in very good English, although with a
foreign accent. " It is whether we will see
our beloved land, our dear Bohemia, and all
Germany too, for that matter, handed over as
the bond-slaves of Rome, or whether we will
cast off the fetters before they are riveted upon
us forever."
" Nay, but I thought the electors of Ger-
Unexpected Guests 19
many had formed an Evangelic Union among
themselves to prevent such a thing as this
happening," said Master Saxby.
" Yes, they have ; but they are not strong
enough to do this unaided, while so many
stand aloof from them. It is not their fault
that Calvinists and the followers of Zwingle are
as liable to persecution now from their popish
rulers as they were fifty years ago ; that none
but Lutherans are allowed the free exercise of
their religion. The Treaty of Nassau, which
raised them from an oppressed party to the
possession of equal rights with their neighbors,
but likewise prevented others from seceding
from the Romish faith unless they would risk
the loss of all their earthly possessions, has
been as great a trouble to the Lutherans as the
Calvinists ; but by taking the side of the Em-
peror Matthias in the late struggle we thought
we had secured liberty to all Protestants ; but
this dream has been rudely dispelled, and we
of Bohemia find ourselves in worse case than
ever, and the days of Huss and Jerome will
be as nothing to what will befall us in the
future."
" But I heard that the emperor was about
to resign the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hun-
gary to his nephew," said Master Saxby.
2o SAXBY.
" He has done this, and our case is so much
the worse ; for Ferdinand is a tyrant, and
trained by the Jesuits to the greatest intoler-
ance of any faith but his own. So we have
cast off our allegiance to him, and offered our
crown to the Elector Palatine, the husband of
the Princess Elizabeth."
" And you have come to England to ask aid
of King James ? " said Master Saxby.
" All Germany expects it, for is he not the
head of the Protestant interest in Europe, and
in the new Bible which he has lately caused
to be translated is he not called ' Defender of
the Faith ? ' " asked Master Groebel.
His host smiled and shook his head. " Did
not this same ' Defender of the Faith ' cause
to be published the ' Book of Sports ' only a
few months since? It may be that, coming
from beyond seas, you have not yet heard of
this ;" and, stepping across to a curiously
carved cabinet, Master Saxby took out the
royal proclamation, or " Declaration to En-
courage Recreations and Sports on the Lord's
Day." In this proclamation it was announced
to be the royal pleasure, " for his good peo-
ple's recreation, that after the end of the divine
service they should not be disturbed, letted,
or discharged from any lawful recreations,
Unexpected Guests. 21
such as dancing, either of men or women,
archery for men, leaping, vaulting, or any such
harmless recreations, nor having of May-poles,
Whitsun ales, or Morrice dances, or setting up
of May-poles, or other sports therewith used ;
so as the same may be done in due and con-
venient time without impediment or let of di-
vine service."
But Master Groebel was not so much
shocked at the reading of this royal procla-
mation as his host expected, for it was only
among those who were striving and struggling
for a purer service in England that the obliga-
tions of the Sabbath were at all regarded.
Among the Protestants of the Continental
countries Sunday, although set apart for di-
vine service, was not kept as a day holy to the
Lord, and so the stranger could not sympa-
thize in the feeling this royal proclamation
had excited in the minds of so many En-
glishmen.
" I am not one of the Precisians myself. I
go to church, and make the best of things as
they are," said Master Saxby; "but I hold
with the Puritans in this, that if the service in
church is to do us any good have any effect
upon our every-day life afterward then these
dances and May-poles and junketings are best
22 SAXBY.
left alone on the Lord's day ; otherwise we
had better change the name and call it the
devil's day, for he is most served in these
revels."
" Now that reminds me, Master Saxby, of
my mission," said another of the party. " I
have come to bear these good friends com-
pany, and seek the aid of all who love purity
of worship and those who have suffered for
it."
" What now ?" asked Master Saxby.
" Well, you have not forgotten that about
ten or twelve years since some of these Precis-
ians went from these parts to take ship for the
Low Countries, where, it was said, they would
have freedom of worship."
" Forget ! Shall I ever forget our godly
minister, Master Brown, who was summoned
before the Bishop and cast into prison because
he refused to wear popish finery, to admit
godfathers and godmothers at a child's bap-
tism, and preached the gospel so ably that
half the people in the place became so enam-
ored of the pure, simple service he introduced
as to become Puritans indeed, in heart and
life, as well as in their love of a pure service?"
" Well, it is from these same good neigh-
bors I have heard news of late," said the
Unexpected Guests. 23
guest. " They were farmers here, but there is
little of that they can do in Leyden."
" And they want to come back?" said Mas-
ter Saxby.
" What is the use of their coming back ?
They could not have liberty to serve God as
their conscience dictates even in their own
houses. They must go to the parish church
and take part in this half-popish service. No,
they would fain go to the new colony in
America. The Virginia company are favora-
ble to the plan, but as yet the king has not
granted them the needful license. Meanwhile
Master Cushman here, and Master Carver,
whom we left in London, are collecting funds
for the last of the journey, and
" Right gladly will I help," said Master
Saxby, " and to-morrow I will take you all to
my worthy neighbor, Master John Hampden,
who will likewise give you somewhat, I do not
doubt. So you, too, have come from beyond
seas, Master Cushman?"
" I have been some weeks in London about
this business," answered the guest.
"And how fares it with our countrymen in
those strange parts?" asked Master Saxby.
" Poorly enough. You, doubtless, heard of
the misfortune that befell them at Boston ;
24 SAXBY.
how information had been given to the king
and bishops of their intended escape, and how
when the men helping to ship their stores and
furniture were all on board an alarm was raised
that they were about to be seized by the king's
messenger. The shipmaster, for fear of troub-
le to himself, at once weighed anchor, and,
the tide serving, put off to sea, leaving nearly
all the women and children on shore."
" Ah, I did hear something of a party of
women being taken by the king's guard, and
they knew not what to do with them, for they
were homeless and destitute. But it was
months after our friends had left us here, and
so I had no thought of it being them."
" These were people from all parts of En-
gland, and many of them had died from grief
and want before their friends could take ship
and return in search of them. This was a
great blow to all of us," concluded Cushman.
" Well, well, it seems a pity they could not
stay here and wait for better times," said Mas-
ter Saxby, taking out his snuff-box, and hand-
ing it round, to the company. Snuff-taking
was one of the newest luxuries of the time.
Smoking was also coming into fashion, but
Master Saxby was not very likely to adopt
that. His snuff-box was often forgotten for
Unexpected Guests. 25
days, but he prided himself on not being be-
hind the times. To carry a snuff-box gave
him little inconvenience, and was always handy
to offer a friend.
There was no time for further conversation
now. Dame Saxby had appeared, and that
was the signal that bed-time had come ; so the
guests were shown to their rooms, and Master
Saxby afterward told his wife why they had
come, and of their intended visit to Master
John Hampden in the morning.
26 SAXBY.
CHAPTER II.
A VISIT TO HAMPDEN.
SOON after breakfast the next morning our
travelers again mounted their horses, and,
as Dame Saxby said she wanted to see her
friend, Dame Hampden, about some new
method of drying herbs, she also accompanied
the party, riding on a pillion behind her hus-
band. There was not much opportunity for
talking by the way, but the journey was not a
very long one, and they were still within sight
of the white chalky hills when they came
to the gates leading to Master Hampden's
house.
He was one of the largest land-owners in the
county, and his mansion bespoke the wealth
of which he was possessed. Unlike his neigh-
bor Saxby, who prided himself on his farming,
and loved to live in the midst of the old farm
buildings, Hampden resided in a handsome
mansion, originally built in the early Norman
style, but to which various additions had been
made by his ancestors. Hampden himself had
been improving it lately in the then prevailing
A Visit to Hampdcn. 27
style of architecture the castellated or Tudor
so that the friends knew at once, before
they entered the house, that its owner was
not only a man of property, but of taste and
refinement.
The interior of the mansion was even more
handsome than the exterior the spacious
parlor into which they were shown being
wainscoted with oak, like the floor, which was
polished to a degree that only those used
to walking on polished floors could find any
comfort in. The chairs, tables, and cabinets
were all richly carved ; but when John Hamp-
den himself walked in the strangers forgot
their surroundings. He was plainly dressed,
but the calm sweetness of his refined face at
once attracted attention.
His neighbor Saxby evidently looked up to
him as an oracle, young as he was, and Groe-
bel and Cushman saw at once that the success
of their mission in this neighborhood would
depend upon Master Hampden's opinion of it.
Master Saxby himself seemed anxious to know
what he thought about helping the German
Protestants in their struggle ; for about the
other matter there could be little doubt what
he would think or do.
" Master Groebel fears they will get little
28 SAXBY.
help from the king, and I have been thinking
myself it is a fearsome thing to rise in arms
against the rightful sovereign," said Saxby
doubtfully.
" It is, good neighbor, and naught could
justify it until all other means have been
tried," said Hampden.
" But look you, good sirs, your King James
has come to the throne by lawful succession ;
he has not been set over you by the will of
another. If your merry England had been
handed over to King James as our Bohemia
has been given to Ferdinand, would you hesi-
tate to elect another king if he proved a
tyrant ? "
" God grant we may never be so tried ! " said
Hampden. " As you say, sir, there is no par-
allel between the right of King James and
your Ferdinand, though it may be he hesitates
to help any people to throw off their allegiance
to their sovereign, for he has a large belief in
the divine right of all kings."
" Yes, yes, but he had better not carry that
too far," interrupted Master Saxby ; " England
will not be held as an estate to be farmed
solely for his benefit. He and the bishops
are carrying things with a very high hand
against these poor Puritans, who only ask to
A Visit to Hampden. 29
serve God according to their own con-
science."
" And that is every man's natural and di-
vine right," said Hampden. " I will gladly
help our countrymen to take ship to America,
and it may be I can help them to get the
king's consent. I will write to Sir Edwin
Sandys and Sir Robert Maunton, who both
have much influence with the king. I wish I
could help you as easily, Master Groebel.
You want men as well as money to help in
this war, and I do not doubt many will volun-
teer when they know the cause. I would go
myself, but I am a married man now, and I
know not how soon I may be called to serve
our merry England in another kind of warfare,
hardly less dangerous in these times than a
battle-field, if all be true we hear of."
Dame Saxby had come in to say a word to
her husband about this very business, and
heard what he said.
" God save us, Master Hampden, but the
young men will all be for going if they hear
you favor this German war."
" Nonsense, good dame, the young men are
not so easily led as all that; and many of them
might do worse than helping their neighbors
in this little brush for liberty, I trow."
30 SAXBY.
" 'Tis very well for you to talk, Master
Hampden you have no sons to be caught by
this notion; but my Harry has just gone crazy
over it."
"Our Harry!" exclaimed Master Saxby,
jumping up from his seat. " How know you
this?"
" He came to me this morning, asking that
I would speak to you upon this business, as
he had long wished to go abroad."
" Yes, yes, I know he has ; but but
Well, we must talk him out of this. He shall
go abroad shall go to Leyden with Master
Cushman, an he will."
" We can try him ; but I fear me it is the
war as much as the going to foreign parts that
makes him desire this ; for it was with difficul-
ty I could persuade him to wait until he had
heard Master Hampden's opinion before offer-
ing himself to Master Groebel."
" Well, my good friends, I need not tell you
how gladly I should welcome your son as a
volunteer in our cause; but I pledge you my
word to say nothing that can influence him in
this direction."
" Thank you ; but I fear our talk last night
has already done the mischief," said Master
Saxby rather ruefully.
A Visit. to Hampden. 31
" Well, I would not grieve overmuch about
it, neighbor Saxby ; it will be the making of the
young fellow to go abroad and see the world.
This will be but a brush, soon over, I doubt
not, and then he will come back and settle
down for life."
Many, like Master Hampden, thought the
same about this struggle in Germany it would
soon be over ; and if any one had ventured to
tell them that the war they were now com-
mencing would prove one of the longest and
fiercest conflicts the world had ever seen, they
would have been laughed at as much as Dr.
Harvey was for announcing that the blood of
our body is not stagnant.
Dame Saxby's entrance had broken up the
conversation going on between Hampden and
his friends ; but they accepted his invitation
to stay to dinner, and he took them into the
woods surrounding the house, where, through
an opening in the range of hills, they had one
of the loveliest views spread before them of
sunny meadows and leafy dells it is possible to
imagine.
Meanwhile Dame Saxby had gone to pour
out her grief over the possible loss of her son
to Dame Hampden.
The ladies had betaken themselves to a more
32 SAXBY.
plainly furnished room than the gentlemen oc-
cupied a cozy, comfortable room, with broad,
low, cushioned window-seats, as easy as a
modern couch. It was Dame Hampden's own
room, and here stood her work-basket and
spinnet one of her husband's numerous wed-
ding presents; for they had not long been
married, and the newly-wedded couple loved
this room, and often sat on the broad window-
seats, looking at the trimly-kept flower-beds,
and talking over their plans for the future.
The two ladies sat here now to discuss
housekeeping matters. Bustling Dame Saxby
was not much like her young neighbor, for
Dame Hampden was as gentle and refined as
her husband ; but she could esteem the sterling
qualities of the farmer's wife, her mother's old
friend, and was glad to learn the useful lessons
in housewifery which the notable housekeeper
was equally willing to teach.
When Dame Hampden heard that her visit-
ors would stay to dinner, she quietly went to
her larder and pantry to look over her stores ;
ordered another haunch to be put down on the
spit and another pie made ; gave out what was
necessary for this, and then went back to en-
tertain Dame Saxby, without a word about
the trouble it cost her a circumstance Dame
A Visit to Hampden. 33
Saxby could not help noticing, it was so unlike
her own mode of proceeding under similar cir-
cumstances ; but for which she thought she
had ample excuse.
" Ah, Bessie, you know little of the care and
trouble of housekeeping," she said, as the
young matron took her seat again ; " if ever
you should have boys to take up foolish no-
tions, as my Harry has done about this Ger-
man war, you will not find it easy to take
every thing so quietly as you do now."
" Perhaps not ; but I should know, if I had
children, I could not keep them with me al-
ways ; and I often think my goodman himself
may see it his duty to join in the fight that
will ensue when the king shall call another
Parliament."
" What mean you ? " asked Dame Saxby in
a fright. " Will they want my goodman too ?"
Dame Hampden could not help smiling at
her friend's consternation. " I know not who
may be wanted ; but should he be called to do
this service to his country, you would not sure-
ly hold him back, would you ?"
"Hold him back? I could not, I fear, if
Master Hampden urged him to go ; but I do
hope you will keep him from running into such
mischief. I have heard something of the dan-
34 SAXBY.
ger of Parliament men, and 'tis almost as bad
as going to the war : for, of course, the king
is angry when they tell him, as they do, that
he must not do this or that. I expect to hear
that every Parliament man is ruined with the
fines he has to pay, or else that he has put
them all into prison. I could not sleep at
night, or have one bit of peace through the
day, if my goodman went to Parliament ; and
I hope Master Hampden will never think of*it
either."
" But he does think of it, and we often
talk about it. He says these subsidies being
levied and customs imposed at the king's will
are undermining our English liberties."
" Well, I don't know. Of course, I grum-
bled, like every other goodwife, at the duty
being put upon currants, for they were dear
enough before ; but, then, I would rather pay
this than that my goodman should go to Par-
liament to be fined and imprisoned."
" We will hope the king will be more reason-
able, and then there will be less danger of
this," said Dame Hampden soothingly.
But Dame Saxby would not be coaxed into
acquiescence. " I don't see what they want to
go at all for," she said peevishly; "A few ex-
tra duties on different things, though they are
A Visit to Hampden. 35
vexing, can never make much difference to you
or us either, and so I don't see why Master
Hampden should trouble himself to go to Par-
liament about it. I hope he wont, either."
" He may not have the opportunity, although
it is thought by some the king will soon be
compelled to summon a Parliament. Master
Hampden thinks there ought to be a law com-
pelling this to be done ; for 'tis four or five
years now since the last Parliament was dis-
solved. My cousin, Master Oliver Cromwell,
who is studying at Lincoln's Inn, was here a
few days since, and he says the merchants of
London are growing tired of lending the king
money, and so a Parliament must be sum-
moned to obtain fresh supplies shortly."
" And you really think Master Hampden
will go to be a Parliament man ? Why should
he take all this trouble? Why can't he stop
here and look after his own affairs, and enjoy
his books, and this fine house, and all the
blessings God has given him?"
" Why, good dame, you surely would not
have him forget duty in enjoyment. I know
little of such matters myself, but he says, if
there is not some resistance made now to the
encroachments of the king upon the rights and
liberties of the people, they will soon be little
3
36 SAXBV.
better than his slaves, and the whole realm of
England but an estate to be farmed for the
benefit of the court. He has told me of our
poor neighbors, who were obliged to leave this
parish a few years ago and journey to the Low
Countries, that they might have liberty to wor-
ship God more simply and purely than the
king and bishops would allow them here. Can
you wonder that Master Hampden should long
to remedy these things if ever he be called to
help in the noble work ? "
" Then you will not try to hold him back ? "
said Dame Saxby.
" Nay ; how could I ? It would be selfish to
do other than help him bear this burden of
duty."
" You ! Good dame, you have surely lost
your senses this morning. They do not want
women in the Parliament, I trow ! "
" Nay, nay, but women must else help their
lords in other affairs an they are to go with a
quiet mind to the business of the State," said
the lady quickly; and a sudden rosy flush suf-
fused her delicate cheeks as she added, " Per-
haps you think these are presumptuous words
from one who knows little beyond the order-
ing of the house and the tending of poultry."
" Nay, I doubt not you could do any thing
A Visit to Hampden. 37
an you willed it, for you are quick at learning,
and and brave, too," said Dame Saxby, with
a quivering voice.
At this moment they saw Master Hampden
and his guests returning to the house, his young
but thoughtful face even more thoughtful and
grave as he listened to Master Groebel, who
walked by his side. As they entered the house
the clock struck twelve, and Dame Saxby
glanced down at her tight-laced bodice and
silver lace-trimmed skirt, for she knew the
summons to dinner would follow immediately.
John Hampden's dining-room, or " keeping-
room," was as far superior to her own as the
silver plates and dishes on the table were to
the Saxby well-scoured pewter ones ; but she
noted, with something of a grim satisfaction,
that the haunch of venison would have been
the better for another turn or two on the spit,
and her sharp eyes detected that one of the
pasties had been slightly burned, occurrences
that would have inevitably brought a storm of
angry reproaches upon her own serving-maids,
but were passed over by Dame Hampden with
a whispered word of caution that none of her
guests but Dame Saxby was ever aware of.
Neither did they see the defects in the dinner,
apparently, for they all ate a, hearty meal and
38 SAXBY.
did ample justice to the confections that fol-
lowed, with which even Dame Saxby herself
could find no fault.
Looking round at the handsomely furnished
room, the well-appointed table, and the cup-
board of plate that bespoke the wealth and
refinement of the loving couple that owned all
this, Dame Saxby could not but wonder again
that her young host should think of encount-
ering the perils and dangers of a parliamentary
life. John Hampden was at this time little
more than five and twenty, and seemed to be
one of the happiest of men one upon whom
fortune had showered some of her richest gifts
and why he could not be content to gather
these up and leave the rest of the world to
take care of itself was a puzzle Dame Saxby
could not understand. To mind one's own
business was half the fulfillment of the law,
at least according to Dame Saxby's creed, and
that gentle Dame Hampden should talk so
calmly of her goodman rushing into such dan-
ger was a marvel that swallowed up all other
thoughts.
At last a horrible suspicion began to creep
into her mind to account for this. There must
be a witch in the neighborhood, who, envious
of the wealth and happiness of the handsome
A Visit to Hampden. 39
young couple, had begun to weave her spells
around them both in order to work them most
direful sorrow and wrong. The thought of
these potent machinations and their too-prob-
able success almost made Dame Saxby speech-
less for a time, and she said but little after
dinner until she bade her hostess farewell ; and
then she bade " God bless " her with a fervency
that made Dame Hampden think she was in
full accord with what they had been talking
about, and that she would let her son go to
serve the Protestant cause in Germany without
further opposition.
40 SAXBY.
CHAPTER III.
HARRY SAXBY.
WITH thoughts of witchcraft still in her
mind, Dame Saxby rode on behind her
husband, silent and absorbed, trying to recall
all she had heard concerning several old women
In the neighborhood, until her reverie was dis-
turbed by the checking of the horse and her
husband exclaiming, " Why, there's Harry
coming to meet us ! "
" Harry ! " repeated Dame Saxby, looking
up the road, but failing to recognize her own
son in the handsomely dressed gentleman ap-
proaching them.
The doublet of coarse homespun had been
laid aside, and Master Harry Saxby, in doublet
of purple broadcloth, short velvet cloak, slashed
hose to match, and lace collar, looked every
inch a gentleman. He was walking leisurely
along the road, and lifted his hat, with its long
red feather, as he saw his mother gazing at
him.
" Whither away now, Master Harry, in all
that finery ? " said his father, reining in his
Harry Saxby. 41
ambling steed, while Dame Saxby could only
stare at him in blank amazement for a minute
or two.
Harry made some excuse about Roger be-
ing old enough to look after the men in his
father's absence.
" The callant is not to be trusted," said his
mother sharply, " and, besides, there is no Mor-
fice dancing or junketing to-day, and so "
" I have not cared so much for the junket-
ings of late that you need begrudge me this
holiday," said Harry in a tone of some defiance.
" But wherefore take the holiday to-day, my
boy ? " said his father, wondering what could
have happened to make his son forget all at
once the reverence due to his parents.
Dame Saxby herself was so astonished that
she could not say a word until her son, blush-
ing at his own temerity, said, " I am going to
talk to Master John Hampden about various
matters. You will not leave us until to-mor-
row ? " he said, turning quickly toward Master
Groebel, who stood at a little distance.
" Harry, Harry, don't go ; the Hampdens
are bewitched. I know they are," said Dame
Saxby in a fearful whisper.
Her husband turned round in his saddle and
looked at her. " How now, dame ? was the
42 SAXBY.
wine too strong for your weak woman's head,
or is it the sun and that warm hood ? "
" I have tasted wine before to-day, and as
for the hood, I have worn it these two years,
John Saxby, and know well what I am saying."
" But, my mother, you cannot surely mean
that Master Hampden is really bewitched is
he ill?"
" No, no ; as well as ever I saw him," said
the father. "This is but a fantasie, dame.
Has Dame Hampden been telling you any vil-
lage gossip ? "
" We never talk about village gossip," said
Dame Saxby loftily. " Help me down, Harry,
for it's true enough, what I tell you. The
Hampdens are bewitched, and I'll tell you all
about it as we walk home."
Harry Saxby looked disconcerted, but what
could he do but turn back with his mother,
whom he began to think was herself bewitched,
or something nearly akin to it, to propose
telling him " all about it " a concession to
his manhood never made before ?
But when her husband and his guests had
rode on, Dame Saxby hardly knew how to be-
gin her recital of what she had heard from
Dame Hampden, so as to enforce upon Harry
the duty of staying at home to look after the
Harry Saxby. 43
farm, as his father had always done ; and so she
hurried over what she had learned concerning
the probability of Master Hampden going to
Parliament, and impressed upon him the ne-
cessity of keeping out of the way of all be-
witched persons.
Harry Saxby was quite sensible of the dan-
ger of falling under such spells, for the belief
in witchcraft was very deep and very general ;
and though he had once tried to save a poor
old woman from being drowned, he was more
than half ashamed of it as a sort of weakness
that ought to be trampled down where witches
were concerned. But still, although fully alive
to the danger his mother feared fer their
friends, he was far more deeply impressed by
the fact that Master Hampden should think it
his duty to leave his home and family to serve
his country ; and he said promptly, " Then,
my mother, I am sure it is my duty to serve
the cause of God and true religion by going
with this Master Groebel."
" Go to the wars ? But these people are
nothing to us, Harry. Master Hampden
would serve his own countrymen, but not
these Germans."
" But they are Protestants, trying to save
themselves from the pope, and so we ought
44 SAXBY.
to help them I must help them," he added,
decisively.
" Nonsense, Harry. What can it matter to
you about these people ? Of course we should
be sorry if the pope got the better of them ;
but then he wont, I'm sure."
" But I am not so sure," said Harry. " And
I want to do my part to prevent it. Look you,
mother, I've never forgotten about the people
that went away from here years ago the Pre-
cisians or Puritans, as people call them. I was
only a little boy then, but I remember wishing
I could go and fight the king, or whoever it
was that turned the ministers out and would
not let them even have preaching in their own
houses ; I've wished it on and off ever since, I
think ; and when I've been practicing single
stick and archery I've thought if ever I had
the chance of fighting a real foe if ever such
times should come back to England as I heard
grandfather talk about, when they burned peo-
ple at the stake for not owning the pope well,
mother, I've often thought I should fight for
my rights first if they burned me afterward."
Dame Saxby looked up at her fine, hand-
some son, half in admiration, half in astonish-
ment at such a bold avowal ; but it would not
do to let him think she was any thing but dis-
Harry Saxby. 45
pleased. " Hush, hush, Harry, you must not
talk of fighting for your rights. The blessed
martyrs, who were ready to die rather than
deny the Lord Jesus Christ, never thought of
fighting for their rights as you call it."
" Perhaps not ; perhaps they hardly knew
whether they had any; but we are learning
that lesson in these days, and I mean to
teach the pope and emperor that an En-
glishman is ready to fight for his own or an-
other man's, especially when they are rights of
conscience."
" Harry, Harry, I believe you are bewitched
yourself," said Dame Saxby in a voice of pain,
for she began to see how useless it would be
to try and keep this her darling son in the old
nest any longer.
When they reached home they found their
three guests, Groebel, Cushman, and Shipton,
seated in the wainscoted parlor, while their
three attendants had gone to the orchard with
Roger.
" Mother, you have told my father of my de-
sire to go to the wars what said he ? " asked
the young man in a whisper as they paused for
a moment in the rustic porch.
" I hardly know now. But, my boy "
" Mother," interrupted the young man, " if
46 SAX BY.
I had died of the plague you would say God
had taken me. Now I just want you to give
me' to him, or lend me for a little while; for I
promise you I will come home again as soon
as the war is over; and Master Groebel hopes
that when once the Elector Palatine is firmly
seated on the throne of Bohemia the Protestant
cause will be so strong that there will be no
need of any further help from England."
" Yes, yes, but suppose the Elector should
fail; what then, my boy?"
Harry could only shake his head. " I don't
know what the Protestants would do then ; but
I don't suppose the cause would be hopeless.
God would never let Luther's work be swept
away from Germany. We owe these Protest-
ants a debt, mother. We received much
light and truth from them, and I think God
would have us pay it now by helping them in
their struggle to maintain this truth against all
the Catholic powers of Europe. The king
ought to do it his own daughter will be made
queen of Bohemia; but if he wont, then the
people must do what they can, and I will be
one of them."
It seemed useless to argue with the young
man, his mind was so set upon this ; but Dame
Saxby resolved to try once more.
Harry Saxby. 47
" Harry, this place is dull for you after being
at college. I will speak to your father pres-
ently, and you shall go back to Cambridge.
You are strong now, and may not catch the
plague, even if it should breakout there again,
or at least you could come home as soon as it
made its appearance. I will not oppose your
going to college any longer, my boy," for
Dame Saxby had firmly set her face against
this since her darling had so nearly died of the
pestilence about a twelvemonth before. But
Cambridge was nearer than Germany, and
learning, even with the risk of catching the
plague, was not so dangerous as fighting ; so
she almost besought her son to return there.
But Harry shook his head. " I am more fit
for a soldier than a scholar, my mother," he
said ; " and this strong right arm can deal trusty
blows at the Papists and all who would trample
out the light of God's truth. Say you will give
me to God's service to fight in this war for
truth and liberty," pleaded Harry.
" Well, if I must, I must ; but are you sure
there is not some unholy spell upon you to
make you wish for this thing? "
"You fear that I too am bewitched. Be
easy, my mother ; these thoughts, as I tell
you, have long been working in my mind, and
48 SAXBY.
Master Groebel's words did but fan them into
a flame of burning desire."
Dame Saxby could not stay longer talking,
for her maids had already been left too long to
their own devices ; and, after taking off her hood
and changing her dress, she went through the
kitchen and pantry, dairy and cheese room,
scolding pretty freely all around.
The maids saw at once that something had
happened to disturb their mistress, and were
not long in guessing where the trouble lay.
" The young master is all for leaving home
again, I know," said Deb, the cook, who had
come to live at the farm first as nurse-girl
to carry Master Harry about when he was a
baby.
" Then Roger and Lawrence will get things
all their own way if he should go," said Sally,
the dairy-maid.
" I don't know. The master wont give
things up to them as he has done to Master
Harry lately, for the land will never be theirs ;
and why they should be so jealous of their
brother's having something to do with what
will one day be his own I cannot understand.
Master Roger is the worst, that is certain, and
leads Master Lawrence to tease and vex his
brother."
Harry Saxby. 49
" Can this be driving him away from home,
do you think? " said Sally in a whisper.
" What next will you get into your head,
Sally ? No, no, Larry is but a tiresome boy,
fond of mischief and fond of Roger, and since
he sees it pleases Roger for him to vex Master
Harry he often does it."
" Then you don't think they really dislike
him ? " said Sally.
" Dislike him ! why should they ? Isn't he
the kindest-hearted gentleman in Great Kim-
ble? No, no, Sally, it's just a little bit of jeal-
ousy that will wear off by and by, and I dare
say they will be as sorry as any body that he
is going away."
" Well, well, I am glad you think so. I've
sometimes thought if ever Master Roger had
the chance of doing his brother an ill turn he
would, and I'm older and have seen more of
the world than you, Deb."
" But you haven't seen so much of the Sax-
bies as I have. I've lived with them girl and
woman nigh upon twenty years, and though
the mistress is sharp, and master, too, for that
matter, sometimes, it isn't in the Saxby nature
to bear grudges; they are honest and upright,
and would not wrong either friend or foe."
" Yes, yes, I know all this, Deb, but still I
50 SAXBY.
cannot feel so sure about Master Roger, and
you'll remember my words one day, perhaps."
But Deb shook her head incredulously as
she turned to the preparation of supper. " I
know the Saxbies," she said in conclusion.
Meanwhile the conference in the parlor had
been joined by Harry, anxious to close the
matter now that his mother had been so far
won over.
It was not so difficult to persuade his father,
especially since the talk that he had had with
John Hampdenhad convinced him that England
ought to assist the struggling cause of Prot-
estantism on the Continent ; and so, before
supper was served, the matter was so far set-
tled that Harry and his father were to journey
to London the next day to make some further
inquiries among old friends, and make the
needful preparations if the result of their in-
quiries proved satisfactory.
Roger and Lawrence were greatly surprised
when they heard that their oldest brother was
about to leave home, and more so when they
knew where he was going ; but the discipline
of those days prevented them from expressing
more than ordinary astonishment in the pres-
ence of their parents.
When supper was over, however, and they
Harry Saxby. 51
were at liberty to wander about for an hour
by themselves, or join in any boyish game
that might please them, Roger drew his
brother aside to where they were out of hear-
ing, and then gave vent to his feelings of pas-
sionate jealousy.
"Isn't it a shame!" he exclaimed. "He
cares no more for the land than that cow, and
yet he is to go off to foreign parts beyond the
sea for as long as he pleases, while we work at
home to keep his property in order."
" But it isn't his yet, Roger," said the
younger brother ; " my father may, and will, I
hope, live a good many years yet, and the
land wont be Harry's until I say, what bird is
that just over the orchard ? "
" O, bother the birds ! I know this land
wont come to Harry while my father lives,
but then, who can tell how long that, may
be, and then what is to become of us ? I
wont stop here and work with Harry for my
master."
" I shouldn't think he'd want you," said
Larry. " I know what I mean to do by and
by. I shall go to London and learn to be a
lawyer, like Oliver Cromwell, and you shall
come with me. We shall always stick to-
gether, you know," he added warmly.
52 SAXBY.
' No fear of that, Larry ; but I can't be a
lawyer. I hate the sight of books. Give me
land before any thing else, and this is the land
I want, and will have, if I can get it," he con-
cluded in a determined tone.
" I do believe you care for it more than
Harry does, and it is a shame you can't have
it, but"
" Care for it," interrupted Roger impetu-
ously ; " he does not care one of the new cop-
per coins what becomes of the old place, or
else he would not go off on this fool's errand.
Going to fight for truth and right ? Was ever
such a thing heard of, and leave such a patri-
mony as this ! "
" Well, you need not be so angry about his
going off to the wars. You know if he should
get killed the land would be yours then. If I
came next, and it was mine, perhaps you would
want to send me off in my turn ; but there's
no fear of that, is there ? "
" No, Larry, I should never want you out
of the way," said Roger slowly, and laying his
hand on his younger brother's shoulder, " if
if this should be I'm not saying I wish it,
you know "
" Of course, nobody could do that," said
Larry quickly.
Harry Saxby. 53
" Of course not. But if it should happen,
then we would share the land between us,
share and share alike, you know."
" I don't know that I should want it," said
Larry, indifferently ; " at any rate, it isn't very
likely to be yours," he concluded, and, grow-
ing tired of the topic, he swung himself up
into a wide-spreading beech-tree standing near,
and left his brother to ponder over the ques-
tion that had been raised as to the probability
of his elder brother never returning to claim
the family inheritance.
54 SAXBY.
CHAPTER IV.
BAD NEWS.
HARRY SAXBY went to the wars with
many another brave young Englishman.
Altogether an army of about four thousand
was raised, but the king still withheld his
support, and was particularly friendly with
Spain, who, with the Emperor of Germany,
was the bitter enemy of the struggling Prot-
estants.
Master Saxby returned from his visit to
London in no very amiable mood, for, like the
rest of his countrymen, he was dissatisfied and
disappointed that the king should openly fa-
vor the Roman Catholic powers of Europe in-
stead of helping the struggling Protestant
cause; but, dissatisfied as he might feel, he
had received so many warnings and seen so
many examples of the cruelty of the Star-
chamber, that he dare not vent his feelings in
words, or say what he thought of the king and
his favorite, Sir George Villiers.
Safely shut in his own wainscoted parlor,
however, with only his wife to listen, he could
Bad News. 55
indulge in a little grumbling without fear of
arrest. He was securely seated before he be-
gan : " I know not what is coming to this En-
gland of ours when a man cannot open his
mouth to say what he thinks for fear of being
haled to the Fleet or the Gate-house. Things
are getting worse and worse, dame, and some
say the king meant to bring back papistry,
with himself for the pope."
" What nonsense are you talking ! the king
is a Protestant, or he would never have had
the Bible set forth in the manner he has," said
Dame Saxby quickly.
"Ah, dame, if you had been to London and
heard of the doings at court you would not
set so great store by the king's share in that
business. It is well known, too, that a mar-
riage is to take place between Prince Charles
and the King of Spain's daughter. The king
is all cock-a-hoop over it."
" Well, and why shouldn't he look out for a
good wife for the prince? I'm sure I wish
there had been some maiden here we -could
have asked to be wife to Harry, and then he
wouldn't have gone off to the wars ;" and
Dame Saxby heaved a deep sigh as she
spoke.
" Harry will choose a wife for himself, I
56 SAXBY.
doubt not, in good time. But about this
Spanish marriage people are nodding and
whispering together, though few dare to speak
out what they think."
" Well, what do you think about it ? " said
his wife.
" That England's honor is sold to please the
Spaniards. This is the bribe held out to keep
the king from helping his son-in-law and the
Protestants of Germany. People are mutter-
ing and grumbling in such a way that the king
must hear of it soon in spite of the terror of
the Star-chamber and Sir George Villiers, who
favors this Spanish match."
" People had better mind their own busi-
ness," said the dame sharply.
" It is the people's business, dame ; for if
Prince Charles marries a Catholic we shall
have a Papist for a queen by and by, and all
the laws that have been passed to keep them
from having any power here again will be set
aside, and the whole kingdom be gradually
brought back to the power of the pope."
" Well, now, you have not told me all about
Harry. I have been thinking more about him
than any thing else lately," said Dame Saxby
with a sigh.
" Of course, and the lad was often thinking
Bad News. 57
of j^u. 'Tell my mother this,' and ' I forgot
to tell mother that,' I heard half a dozen
times a day, and, I dare say, I shall think of
all these messages by degrees, but the din and
the bustle of London and the wonderful things
so constantly to be seen there have put every
thing else out of my head."
" Every thing but the court gossip," said
Dame Saxby in a complaining tone.
' Nay, nay, but people cannot help talking
about the wanton doings of the court when it
touches them so nearly. It is but lately that
another duty has been laid upon currants."
" Ano.her duty ! " exclaimed the dame.
" Aye., five shillings on the hundred weight
more, and no abatement of the last. The
housewives of London are grumbling as well
as the merchants, but how it can be altered is
a puzzle to the wisest among them."
" But surely the king could alter it ! ex-
claimed Dame Saxby angrily.
"The king! what can he do? He is more
pressed for money than we are. Knighthood
and every honor and every office is bought.
Often those who have paid a good round sum
for an office under the Crown cannot get their
salaries, and can only support themselves by
bribes and stealings. It is whispered that the
$8 SAXBY.
Lord Bacon, one of the noblest and most
learned philosophers the world has ever seen,
is not above taking a bribe, although he will
not suffer it to divert the course of justice.
Then there are the king's favorites to be pro-
vided for the Buckinghams and Somersets ;
and so, although they are never seen in it
Openly, they have much of the profit from dif-
ferent monopolies. I tried to get some silver
lace to broider your petticoat, but, owing to
this same monopoly by which Buckingham
and his brother are greatly enriched, the price
is three times what it was when I last went to
London ; and, what is worse, the thread is of
brass instead of silver."
" But you could have gone to some other
merchant," said Dame Saxby rather tartly ;
for this was the secret cause of her ill-humor.
Never before had her good man gone on a
journey to London without bringing her a
supply of silver lace for trimming her petti-
coat and bodice.
" True, I might have gone to another mer-
chant ; but how much should I be the better
for that, seeing they must all buy of the same
maker, and this maker sells but brass instead
of silver?"
" Dear heart, what is the world coming to
Bad News. 59
when honest folks cannot buy a bit of silver
lace ! " said Dame Saxby. This touched her
more nearly even than the increased duty on
currants, for she took no small pride in the
trimming of her petticoats and bodices, as
well as her husband's best cloak and doublet.
It was Dame Saxby's one weak point, and to
be deprived of her accustomed present of
finery from London caused her almost as much
vexation as the departure of her eldest son.
" And where shall I get the lace, since it can-
not be bought in London?" said the dame,
thinking sadly of her frayed, tarnished trim-
mings, and how much they needed replacing.
" Silver lace is not to be had, dame, and
the rubbish they sell now injures the fingers
of those who make it ; therefore I hold that
none should wear it."
" But what am I to do ? " she demanded
sharply. " My cloth petticoat is now in such
ill condition that "
" There is plenty of cioth to be had, dame ;
make a new one of fine broad-cloth an ye
will."
" But no trimmings? It will be little better
than Deb's or Sally's, fine as it may be. I
wonder what Dame Hampden will say to this?
What other duties are there besides ? "
60 SAXBY.
" Six and eightpence has been levied on
every pound of tobacco, over and above the
other duty; and this by proclamation only,
without warrant of Parliament, which is mak-
ing men wag their tongues in spite of the Star-
chamber and the King's Bench."
" Well, if things are to be like this, it needs
somebody to speak up and tell the king what
injustice is done. They would not dare to
trim his doublets with this rubbish they call
silver lace, and, doubtless, he knows nothing
of how his loyal subjects are made to suffer in
this matter. I will go and see young Dame
Hampden to-morrow," concluded the angry
lady as she left the room to look after her
maids.
The visit to Dame Hampden was not product-
ive of much comfort to Dame Saxby. That
lady had heard of the new monopoly upon the
manufacture of gold and silver thread, and she
and her husband had been talking the matter
over in all its bearings, and they had come to
the conclusion not to wear any of this new
silver lace, both on account of its inferior
quality and the injury it inflicted upon those
engaged in its manufacture, and also because
of the illegal way in which the duty upon it
was imposed.
Bad News. 61
" Dear heart! and your mother and I, when
we were girls together, never thought of how
much silver lace we spoiled. Well, I must try
cleaning and mending once more ; but 'tis
very hard, and I hope this monopoly will soon
be put down. Master Hampden must see to
this matter, if he is to go to Parliament and
you think he will?"
" Yes, dear dame, we often talk of it. He
is sure it is his duty, and I feel the same about
it. You must come and see me very often
when he goes to London, unless I should go
with him. My mother is very glad to know
we are such near neighbors and such good
friends," said the young matron.
" Yes, yes, to be sure ; but have you been
about the village here about Hampden?
Are there any old women here?" for Dame
Saxby was thinking of the witchcraft that
must have been practiced upon her young
friend to make her willing to forego her hus-
band's society so soon after their marriage.
Young Dame Hampden looked at her friend,
wondering what she could be thinking of.
" Old women ! " she repeated. " There are
about a dozen who come to the buttery for
their daily dole of bread and meat and
ale."
62 SAX BY.
"And and have you ever offended any of
these, Bessie?" asked her friend anxiously.
" What can you mean, good dame ? " said
the lady, now growing vaguely apprehensive ;
" what is it you fear? "
" Witchcraft ! " whispered Dame Saxby.
The lady started and turned pale at the
dreadful word. " What has happened ? What
have you heard ? " she asked.
" Nothing, my dear, but what you have told
me. But I fear you have offended some of
these old women, and they are determined to
work you some great trouble."
" But what could they do, poor helpless old
creatures? They are entirely dependent upon
my husband's bounty, and why should they
seek to hurt him ? How could they do it ? "
" By sending him to Parliament. I would
not go within a dozen miles of that Parliament
house an I were Master Hampden ; for my
good man tells me things be grown to such a
pitch in London now that a man dare not
open his mouth to complain of the greatest
injustice for fear of being haled before the
Star Chamber. He saw one man taken for
no greater offense than saying his father had
been ruined through the unjust judgment of
the council ; and when h( :ried to escape, the
Bad News. 63
tipstaffs with their long hooked poles caught
him and dragged him along like a beast to the
shambles. He saw another who, to hide the
cruelty practiced upon him, must, forsooth, al-
ways wear a mask, for his nose had been laid
open and but ill joined together, and his cheeks
branded, and this for some religious tract he
had written about the right of every man to
liberty of conscience. Now, if Mr. Hampden
should ever take up these notions, and speak
of them, think what would happen ! "
"Well, dear dame, I have thought of it, and
the danger he will incur ; but it is these very
things that make it an Englishman's duty
to try and get the laws enforced or amended,
and even remind the king that he is called to
govern the people for their good, not oppress
them for his own benefit and the enrichment
of his favorites."
"Ah, if some one could only tell the king
just how things are going on ! But a little
while ago it was my Lord of Somerset who
kept every one from the king, and now it is
said the Duke of Buckingham is doing the
same thing; and so I fear me it will only bring
trouble to both of ye, an Master Hampden
goes to Parliament," said Dame Saxby with
a sigh.
64 SAXBY.
"And you think it is witchcraft that has
made him wish to go to Parliament?" said
young Dame Hampden, feeling much relieved
now that she knew the extent of her friend's
fears for them.
" What can it be but witchcraft ? These
troubles can never touch you, Bessie."
" We cannot tell that, and even if it were
not wrong to think only of those things that
touch ourselves we ought to see to these things
being amended, for my goodman holds that if
such things were not done in matters of this
life, religion would not be so straitly directed
and oppressed by the bishops as it now is.
We have just heard ill news from our parson,
which is the sorer trouble to Master Hampden,
seeing he can do little to help the poor man."
"Why, what has happened now? another
citation from the bishop?" asked Dame Saxby.
" Yes, it is even so. Some meddling body
must have carried the news that the king's
' Book of Sports ' has not been read in the
church lately, but a godly and helpful sermon
preached, wherein the duty of setting apart
one day for God's service is enforced. Now,
just as the winter is beginning, poor Master
Drayton is summoned to appear in London,
and we fear will be cast into prison there for
Bad News. 65
his faithfulness ; for he will not deny the charge
brought against him, or promise to incite the
people to foolish and often harmful mirth on
the Lord's day."
" Dear heart ! what is coming to our poor
country? What will Master Drayton do?"
" What can he do but obey the bishop's
call, and defend himself from the word of
God?"
" I would not an I were he ; I would not
trust myself in the hands of any bishop, but
would fly to the Low Countries, and join this
expedition that is going to America. Master
Cushman has great hopes that they may go
next summer, for many helped him in raising
the money needful."
" Master Hampden did suggest something
of this, but our parson pleaded that he was
getting to be an old man, and ill-fitted to en-
counter the dangers and hardships that will
meet those who go out to form this new col-
ony, and he fears to be a burden upon those
who will have erfbugh ado to shift for them-
selves."
" Well, well, there is something in that.
But can Master Hampden do nothing for this
godly minister? The bishop will, without
doubt, dispossess him of this living; and I
66 SAXBY.
know somewhat of this good man myself
enough to make me anxious, Bessie."
"Yes, yes, we have seen you and Mastei
Saxby at church more than once, good dame,
and could not wonder that you left your own
parish church, where, I hear, there have been
many things to be seen in bowings and wear-
ing fine cassocks, but little to be heard be-
yond the reading of the lessons and the king's
' Book of Sports.' "
"Ah, you have seen us here at Hampden,
Bessie ; we hoped no one had noticed our
coming."
" We fear others have seen you as well as
ourselves," said young Dame Hampden, " and
my goodman was burning to give you a word
of warning."
"What mean you, my sweet Bess?" ex-
claimed Dame Saxby, now growing alarmed for
her own safety; for in those days heavy pun-
ishment often fell upon those who wandered
from their own parish church to another.
" Well, a notice has been sent from the
bishop warning all persons against the practice
of absenting themselves from their own parish
church; and so, as the eyes of those in author-
ity are evidently turned toward our doings just
now, it is best to be circumspect."
Bad News. 67
" Yes, yes ; I will take care not to offend in
this way again, although it is hard to listen
to the mouthings and mumblings which are all
we get in our parish. Roger often laughs at
our parson's ignorance and assumption of au-
thority, and I often fear he is growing out of
conceit of all religion through this very thing ;
but what can I do to mend matters?" and
Dame Saxby sighed as she drew on her hood
and prepared to take her departure. Her
trouble about the silver lace was forgotten
now in this fresh anxiety, and she hastened
home to tell her husband all she had heard
from young Dame Hampden.
5
68 SAXBY.
CHAPTER V.
WAS IT WITCHCRAFT?
MASTER SAXBY did not appear to be
much surprised at what his wife told
him concerning the citation of Master Drayton.
" I've been expecting it," he said calmly.
" Expecting it ! and yet you went to hear
him preach in another parish church !"
"Yes, and I shall go again an he preaches
again, for what right has the king or bishop
to command what I shall hear or believe? It
is enough, I trow, that I cannot say what I
think of the ill doings and injustice of the
court and king without being robbed of my
liberty to serve God according to my own
conscience."
Dame Saxby looked at her husband, scarce-
ly knowing what to think, for the calm deter-
mination of his tone astonished her ; but still
she said, " Nay, but we must be cautious, and
go to our own church again."
" To listen to the reading of the ' Book of
Sports,' and see the popish mummings of our
parson? A nice tale has come to my ears
Was it Witchcraft ? 69
concerning the doings of our Roger last Sun-
day; and when I spoke to him about it he
said he was but obeying the king's command,
and following the teaching of the parson and
the king's ' Book of Sports ; ' and the lad was
right."
" Nay, nay, but the ' Book of Sports ' doth
not enjoin drunkenness and brawling," said
the dame quickly.
" Nay, but it sends the witless knaves into
the midst of temptation, encouraging them in
the drinking of ale more than is needful, and
wrestling, and fencing, and dancing all which
often lead to brawling and worse. Had you
heard of these ill doings, Moll ? "
" Yes, I heard the wenches whispering among
themselves, and I made Deb tell me ; and
then, by way of excusing the lad, she said, ' It
was all because Harry had gone away.' "
" 'Tis but a sorry way of showing his love
for his brother. So Deb and the wenches were
at the reveling?" said Master Saxby.
" Well, Deb said people began to whisper
we were all Puritans and Precisians, and so I
thought it better to let them go than bring
that reproach upon ourselves."
" Puritans and Precisians, forsooth ! My
neighbors shall have liberty to call me that an
70 SAXBY.
they will, but I shall claim the liberty of or-
dering my family after a decent fashion, and
not be bound a bond-slave to the king's ' Book
of Sports.' "
" But but you forget we have been to an-
other parish church very often of late ; twice
on the Sunday, too," said Dame Saxby timid-
ly. " It is against the law, I hear, that Master
Drayton has preached on Sunday afternoons."
" Yes, yes, against the law, to be sure it is,"
said her husband impatiently; "but would
you think about the law an a child were starv-
ing at your gates, and ye had bread to give
him?"
" Nay, nay ; no one can say I ever turned a
beggar hungry from my gate," said Dame Sax-
by ; "I am free from that reproach."
"And Master Drayton would fain be the
same the only difference is, you have care for
men's bodies and he for their souls, which are
starving for lack of food."
" But what has that to do with preaching
on Sunday afternoons ? "
" Every thing, dame. Men were hungering
for the bread of life, or they would not walk
miles from other parishes to get it ; and, see-
ing this, good Master Drayton provided them
two meals instead of one. I wonder who the
Was it Witchcraft? 71
meddling body can be that has gone to the
bishop with this tale about him."
It seemed that there must be some busy-
bodies and mischief-makers among their own
neighbors ; for a little later, Deb, the cook,
told her mistress that the blacksmith's wife had
been talking to her about the strangers who
had come to visit them a week or two before,
and who had decoyed Master Harry to foreign
parts, and how the village were all saying the
Saxbies had turned Puritans, and forsaken their
own parish church and the Sunday revels on
the green.
" Nay, but, Deb, we never joined in these
revels, or suffered the boys or serving-men to
do so, until Roger took to going this summer."
"And little enough I care for the revels,
where the boldest-faced minx is set above de-
cent serving-wenches ; but when they say you
and my master are Puritans, and will not suffer
us to join in their revels, it was time, I thought,
to let them see we were no Puritans, although
we did not go to their church ales and cakes."
Dame Saxby hardly knew what to say to
this. Personally, she felt glad that Deb had
adopted such an effectual means of warding
off the charge of Puritanism being brought
against them, and especially since it had be-
72 SAXBY.
come known that they had been going of late
to another parish church; but whether her
husband would allow a continued attendance
at these festivities she did not know, but she
was resolved to do what she could to persuade
him to let Deb and the rest of the serving-
maids and men do as they liked in the matter.
They could shelter themselves under the plea
of being too old to join in such frolics, and
Roger and Larry must be warned to be more
circumspect in futuie.
But Master Saxby was by no means inclined
to yield to his wife in this. The thing was
wrong, he said. He was convinced that to
attend divine service in the morning and
spend the rest of the day in the ale-house, or
dancing and wrestling on the green, was little
better than a mockery, and he would have
nothing to do with it. On his wife venturing
to say that they would be accused of being
Puritans, he told her boldly that he had long
been a Puritan, and was no longer ashamed
of the name. Poor Dame Saxby was horror-
stricken to hear her husband speak out so
boldly, for she knew he would be likely to
avow it just as openly among the neighbors as
to herself, and she foresaw what trouble and
loss this would bring upon them. They might
Was it Witchcraft f 73
even have to give up their rich farm lands
be forced to sell them at a ruinous loss and
emigrate to Flanders or America and she
shuddered at the thought of such a calamity
overtaking them, and the next minute burst
into tears.
" How now, dame, what ails you?" asked
her husband, in some alarm ; for Dame Saxby
did not often shed tears.
" Can you ask me," she sobbed, " when you
talk of bringing us all to ruin ? If you only
cared "
" Hush, hush, Moll, and let us talk this
matter over to ourselves. I ought to have
done it before, but I've been a coward even
with you ; but, God helping me, I mean to be
braver in future. I had a talk with Harry be-
fore he went away, God bless the lad ! and he
helped me to see things clearer as to what was
my duty in this matter. You'll see it too, I
trust, dame, and help me to do it."
" No one can ever say I haven't done my
duty," replied Dame Saxby quickly.
" That's true, dame, quite true ; you've been
a good wife, a good mother, and a good mis-
tress. No one can say you haven't done your
duty to me and the boys ; but I haven't done
mine, Moll."
74 SAXBY.
" I should like to hear any body say that,
and I would soon tell them what I thought
about them," interrupted Dame Saxby.
" But I say it of myself, Moll. I have been a
coward, ashamed to confess my Lord among
men. I have not dared to own it even to you,
but I tell you now, and I don't care who hears
me say it, I am as much a Puritan as those
who went away from here a few years ago, and
I will go no more to the church in this parish
to join in their half-Popish service. I tell you,
Moll, the king is only half a Protestant ; he
has too strong a liking for his Popish mother's
religion, and means to bring it back to us if he
can by degrees at first. Men's minds must
be Romanized gradually through this half-
Popish service. By and by a few more cere-
monies will be added. After kneeling to take
the sacrament the next step will be to adore
the bread, as in the mass, and the table will
be changed to an altar, and the communion
called a sacrifice again. I talked with one or
two in London, and this is the fear of many ;
and the only hope for England is in these Pu-
ritans she has been driving to other shores and
other homes."
" Dear heart ! what will happen next ? "
sighed poor Dame Saxby ; " we shall be fined
Was it Witchcraft ? 75
twelve pence for every Sunday we do not go
to church, and you will be summoned before
the bishop and made to promise that you will
go to your own parish parson ; so that it will
be better to go at once, without any trouble or
setting our neighbors talking about us."
" Now, now, dame, this is not helping me,"
said her husband a little reproachfully.
" You want me to help you ruin yourself and
the lads. What will Harry say, think you,
when he hears the Saxby land has all been
sold ? It is enough to make your father turn
in his grave to think of it."
" But the Saxby land shall not be sold. It's
been in the family for generations, and shall
not go out of it in my time."
" You cannot help it if you turn Puritan ;
great grandfather's curse will surely fall upon
you, and the name of Saxby will cease to be
known."
Master Saxby started as his wife brought this
terrible curse to his memory. " What shall I
do ? What can I do ? " he almost groaned.
" I cannot live this lie any longer. The time
has come when Master Hampden and I and
one or two others must take a decided course
one way or the other. We cannot abandon
Master Drayton, who has been as an angel of
76 SAXBY.
God to many of us ; and to protect him will at
once bring upon us the notice of the bishop.
Perhaps we may all be summoned before the
Court of High Commission. There, you see,
dame, I have thought of what may happen
what will very likely follow the course I mean
to pursue."
" And you are yet so obstinate, John Saxby,
that you will ruin your whole family and bring
down upon your head the curse that is sure to
follow upon the loss of the Saxby land ? "
demanded his wife in mingled anger and as-
tonishment.
"God help me! what am I to do, dame ?
I never saw it to be my duty before as I do
now, but, seeing it as I do, I must do it. Yes,
I must ! " he concluded.
" You will be summoned before the king at
Westminster, and fined and imprisoned. The
house and land will be sold to pay the fine,
and we shall be turned out with the family
curse for our portion, to beg our bread or
starve," said Dame Saxby.
" Hush, hush, dame; things shall not come
to that pass. I will go to-morrow and talk
with Master John Hampden. He knows a
little of the law, or he can find out from his
cousin, Master Oliver Cromwell, what I can do
Was it Witchcraft f 77
to save the land. He is in London now,
studying under some great lawyer, so that he
may be the better landlord, as he has already
lost his father. There, there, dame, no more
tears. I will take care that Harry shall have
the land, if the king and bishops have me for
the rest of my days."
" It will be poor comfort to me to stay here
and know you are in prison," sobbed his wife.
" It will keep my heart warm, though, to
know the old homestead is sheltering you.
But it is not so bad as that yet, dame, and,
God helping us, it may not come to that."
" I believe you are bewitched as well as
Master Hampden ; and who can fight against
witch spells ? I mean to go out to-morrow
and make inquiries as to whether any stranger
has been seen lurking about here of late. It
was only last week the brindled cow died,
and Roger says several others seem ailing.
What is all that but signs of witchcraft being
abroad ? "
" O, but the cows are better now, Moll. The
warm mash Hodge gave them this morning
has done them good. I will go now and see
that another is got ready for to-night, and to-
morrow morning I will ride over to Hampden."
Dame Saxby turned away puzzled, angry,
78 SAXBY.
and very anxious. What could she do to avert
the evil that seemed likely to overwhelm them
with ruin ? Her eldest, her darling, had been
taken away, she was certain, by the baleful
influence of witchcraft, and now her husband
seemed doomed, while she and her sons might
be reduced to beggary and shame. Her hus-
band might talk of God helping him to do his
duty, but if they had not always done their
duty she would like to know who had ! They
had gone to church regularly, either in their
own parish or at Hampden, paid all dues and
tithes, and helped the poor ; and what more
could be expected of them she did not know.
This was the substance of Dame Saxby's self-
communing, as she stood at the window look-
ing out upon the stubble fields and the fast-
falling leaves of the great beech-tree.
But idle self-communing was not long in-
dulged by Dame Saxby. She must go and
look after her maids, who, according to her
belief, were sure to be idling if her eye was
not upon them ; and if her husband was bent
upon wasting his money in fines she must try
and make it up a little by stricter economy in
the household. Her thoughts thus set going
upon her usual household duties, eagerly on
the lookout for points where she might save a
Was it Witchcraft? 79
few pence to help pay the weekly fines for not
going to their own parish church, she spied in
one corner a heap of dark-looking cloth, and,
shaking it out, found it was a green baize
table-cover, that Harry had had at Cam-
bridge, but which had since been used to
cover a small table in Roger's room. It was
almost an unheard-of luxury ; but Dame Sax-
by thought to please her son by giving him
this memento of Harry's Cambridge life when
he went away, and therefore to see it thrown
here, as if of no value, vexed her not a little.
But as she shook it out she saw that it was
stained with spots of oil, as though a lamp
had been shaken or upset over it ; and, vexed
beyond expression at such waste, she went
with it at once to Deb, who, being the oldest
of her " wenches," was usually favored with
most of her confidences and most of her scold-
ings. As a matter of course Deb was scolded
for the damaged table-cover, and when her
angry mistress had said all she could think of
concerning the idleness, carelessness, and ex-
travagance of serving-wenches, Deb quietly
told her all she knew about the matter. Mis-
tress and maid knew each other thoroughly,
and if there was a quiet tone of calm disdain
underlying the respectful words used by the
8o SAXBY.
cook, Dame Saxby took no notice of it. She
had relieved her feelings by scolding Deb, and
now she was ready to hear any thing that
could be said in explanation of what had hap-
pened. But she was scarcely prepared to hear
what Deb had to tell that Roger had never
liked the table-cover being in his room, and
had told Deb to take it away or he should
throw it away. The oil had been spilt by ac-
cident, she believed. Roger told her he had
upset the lamp after he came home from the
wake on Sunday, but she did not know that
the table-cover had been spoiled, or that it
had been brought down stairs.
" But it is spoiled ; I can never use it for a
table-cover again. Such shameful, willful waste.
What am I to do with it?" demanded the an-
gry lady, holding it out again to look at it.
" It would make a good warm pair of winter
stockings for Roger," said Deb.
" So it would. I never thought of that,
Deb. The master has brought some cloth
from London, and I thought to cut a pair of
stockings from that, but Roger's shall be cut
from this instead. It would serve him right
to cut them with the grease spots in ; but \ve
need not do that. Still, Master Roger shall
remember despising his brother's things."
In London. 8 1
CHAPTER VI.
IN LONDON.
THE result of Master Saxby's conference
with his neighbor, Master John Hamp-
den, made him decide to pay another visit to
London ; but his object in going there he kept
a secret even from his wife at present, to her
great annoyance and indignation.
Dame Saxby, however, had a secret of her
own, which she was very anxious her husband
should not discover just yet at least. By and
by she might want his assistance to bring the
witch-wife to justice ; but at present she had
little more than her own prejudice and a little
village gossip to convict the poor old woman,
who, up to the present time, had always borne
a good character among her neighbors. But
there certainly had been some mysterious pro-
ceedings of late. A tall stranger, shrouded in
a long cloak, and wearing a slouched hat, had
been seen to leave her cottage after night-fall
more than once lately. The blacksmith's wife
declared she had seen the shape of a tail under
the cloak, and another thought there was a
82 SAXBY.
faint smell of sulphur in the lane after he had
passed ; but, worse than all these surmises,
there remained the actual fact that there was
a great deal of sickness among the cattle just
now, which, according to the belief of those
times, could only be accounted for by witch-
craft. So Dame Saxby's vague hints that she
knew there was a witch somewhere in the
neighborhood found only too ready credence
among the gossips of the place, and there were
plenty ready to watch old Gammer Grove, and
bring the mistress news of all they might dis-
cover.
Dame Saxby went home well satisfied with
the result of her inquiries, and only anxious
lest her husband should spoil the whole plot
by some premature step which would warn the
old woman that she was watched. She took
care to be home before her husband could be
back from Hampden, lest he should inquire
where she had been. But she need not have
hurried herself. Master Saxby did not get
back until supper-time, and then he was so
grave and preoccupied that he did not notice
even the absence of Roger, who had gone out
early in the afternoon, and had not yet re-
turned.
When Larry heard that his father was going
In London. 83
to London he begged that he might go with
him, but Master Saxby declared he must go
alone ; his errand was important, and he
should have no time to take him to see the
sights and amusements of the place. So the
long-talked-of visit must be deferred until the
spring.
When Dame Saxby found that this import-
ant errand was to be kept a secret even from
her she grumbled a little ; but then told her
husband he need not be at so much pains to
keep this a secret when all the village would
know within a week that he had gone on busi-
ness concerning Master Drayton's appearing
before the bishop.
Her husband did not contradict this asser-
tion, and Dame Saxby went on : "I suppose
you and John Hampden have decided to
stand by Master Drayton and defy the bishop,
and the king himself if need be."
"Well, we had a long talk about the good
man, and we both hold that it is our duty to
help him. Master Hampden says if he had
children to instruct he would take him into
his house as chaplain, but, that not being so,
he is willing to devote a certain'sum to his
maintenance as a lecturer ; by which means
Hampden will profit by his godly teaching
84 SAXBY.
still, and he hopes that some others in the
neighboring villages will also contribute some-
thing as well."
" Of course you promised to do so, in spite
of the risk and the fines you will have to pay,"
said Dame Saxby crossly.
" I could not do less, Moll, seeing what a
debt I owe to Master Drayton."
" Well, I hope doing this will satisfy you,
then, and that you will go to your own church
without any more trouble coming upon us."
Master Saxby shook his head ; but his wife,
thinking she had found the clew of this obsti-
nacy, and would soon be able to deprive the
witch of her power over him, let the matter
drop, convinced that things would soon work
round into their usual state again when Gam-
mer Grove was got rid of.
Master Saxby set out on his journey alone,
but was glad to join a party of travelers for
safety's sake before they reached London ; for
the neighborhood of Hounslow and Hamp-
stead was infested with robbers, and it was only
by traveling in large parties, and all well armed,
that the traveler could hope to reach his des-
tination in safety.
By the time the city was reached his horse
was well-nigh worn out with his two days'
In London. 85
journey and the speed to which he had been
urged the last few miles. Never had the low-
ine of his own cattle been more welcome to Mas-
o
ter Saxby's ears than the cries of the city ap-
prentices as they plied their masters' trade.
" What do you lack ? What do you lack ?
Buy a watch or a horologe ? " cried one.
" What do you lack ? A silken girdle or a
velvet cloak, a satin doublet or woven hose ?
Walk in, my masters, walk in and choose the
best in London town," shouted a pushing
mercer's lad, hustling the passengers and plac-
ing himself right in Master Saxby's way.
" Nay, nay, my good lad, I want not silken
hose or satin doublet, but a decent hostelry
where I can refresh myself and my tired
horse." Master Saxby had alighted, and was
leading the poor jaded animal, which had
fallen lame. This consideration of the country
farmer seemed to touch the London appren-
tice, and, darting into the crowd after a fair-
haired school-boy about ten or eleven years
old, who had just passed, he called, " Johnny,
John Milton, here, take this stranger to the
' Mermaid ! ' Tis a decent hostelry, sir, in
Broad-street, and right opposite Master Mil-
ton's, the scrivener," said the apprentice, turn-
ing to Master Saxby.
86 SAXBY.
" Is your father the scrivener, my little lad ?"
asked Master Saxby, as the gentle-looking,
fair-haired boy placed himself at his side.
" Yes, sir ; we live at the sign of the ' Spread
Eagle,' in Broad-street, and the ' Mermaid,'
where, my father says, Master Will Shak-
speare and Ben Jonson and other poets used
to meet a year or two ago, is a little farther
down, not quite opposite, as Tom Simmons
said."
" Is Tom Simmons your friend, my lad ? "
" N-no, not such a friend as Gill, my school-
master's son. Gill can write poetry."
" And would you like to write poetry ? "
asked Master Saxby, looking down into the
fair, refined face of the little boy.
" Yes, sir ; it is almost as good as music,
I think, and my father writes music, you
know."
" Does he ? But I thought you said he
was a scrivener at least that lad did."
" Yes, he is. But you must not always be-
lieve what Tom Simmons says. He told a lie
once, and said he had been with me to Allhal-
lows Church to hear godly Master Gataker, but
he told me he would not come to hear that
Puritan, and went to Holborn Fields to gather
May boughs."
In London. 87
" Is the minister at Allhallows a Puritan, my
little lad ?"
" Yes, sir, I think so. My father says he
preaches godly sermons, although he will not
have us follow the king's ' Book of Sports.' "
" Then is your father a Puritan too ? " asked
Master Saxby rather eagerly.
" I suppose so. Master Stocke, the parson
of Allhallows, and Master Gataker, of Rother-
hithe, often come to see my father, and Tom
Simmons says they are both Puritans."
" Ah, ah ! then I think I shall come home
with you, my lad, and ask your father to do
some scrivener's work for me," said Master
Saxby with something of a sigh of relief, for
he had been wondering who he could get to
execute the work he wanted done. This se-
cret of his was a weighty one, and it would
not do to intrust it to any body ; but if this
Master Milton was a godly man and a Puri-
tan he would be able to understand the need
there was for this work being done promptly
and thoroughly.
They had turned out of the bustle and din
of Cheapside now into the more quiet Broad-
street, and a few minutes brought them to the
scrivener's door. The boy darted in at once
and Master Saxby soon followed to where a
88 SAXBY.
grave, elderly man sat writing at a desk, with
two or three apprentices close by.
Master John Milton laid down his pen and
pushed the parchment on one side to listen
to his little son's tale of the stranger he had
brought home with him ; but when Master
Saxby came forward himself the child left them
and went into the room at the back of the
shop to tell his mother and sister of his ad-
venture.
Master Saxby was certainly prepossessed by
the grave sweetness of the old scrivener's face ;
but still he needed to be cautious, and so,
merely saying he had some weighty work to
be executed, if Master Milton thought he could
use dispatch, and promising to call again when
the scrivener was less busy, he asked a few
questions about the " Mermaid " as a hostelry,
and what sort of a parson they had in this par-
ish, which led Master Milton to invite the
stranger to call upon him that evening, when
the shop was closed, as he expected the min-
ister and his worthy friend, Master Gataker,
to call upon him.
This Master Saxby readily promised to do,
for it would give him time to follow his friend
Hampden's advice, and he would walk up -to
Gray's Inn as soon as he had his dinner, and
* In London. 89
find out Oliver Cromwell, to consult him about
the best scrivener to be employed upon his
business. Perhaps he might know this Master
Milton, or could find out whether he was a man
to be trusted in this delicate affair. Having
settled this matter in his own mind he felt at
liberty to rest and refresh himself when he had
seen that his horse was well cared for.
Dinner over, Master Saxby set out on his
walk to Gray's Inn, near Holborn fields ; but
catching sight of Master Milton's face as he
passed his shop, he almost decided to intrust
the business to him, whether Oliver Cromwell
knew him or not, so anxious did he feel to
make his acquaintance and see more of the
child, who reminded him so much of his own
dear Harry. After all, Oliver was little more
than a lad himself, and would, perhaps, have
few opportunities of knowing what these scrive-
ners were, although a good deal of their work
would, doubtless, pass throngh his hands in
the course of his law studies.
He had little trouble in finding the young
student, and had soon told him the business
that brought him to London, and also his
meeting with little John Milton, on his way
home from St. Paul's school.
But young Cromwell knew nothing of Mas-
90 SAXBY.
ter Milton, although he knew a certain city
knight, Sir James Bouchier, who probably did
know him, and, with the greatest alacrity, he
proposed taking his cousin's friend with him at
once to consult the wealthy furrier upon the
matter in hand. Master Saxby demurred at
giving so much trouble, but young Cromwell
declared he thought little of the trouble, and
as he was engaged to sup with the knight's
family it would be of little consequence that
he went an hour earlier.
Arrived at the wealthy city merchant's
house, it was easy to see that Master Oliver
was welcome, whatever the business might be
that brought him, especially to Mistress Eliza-
beth, the eldest of the merchant's daughters ;
and Master Saxby noted it as a piece of gos-
sip to be taken home to his wife.
As young Cromwell had surmised, Sir James
did know something of Master Milton ; had
heard him spoken of as the most trusty scrive-
ner in London, and one to whom he would
himself confide any business of weight and se-
crecy without hesitation.
But he would not hear of his visitor return-
ing to the " Mermaid " until he had supped,
although Master Saxby declared he was not
fit to sit down with ladies, as he had not
/;/ London. 91
brought a change of dress with him. But the
merchant laughed off these scruples, and kept
him talking so long about crops and cattle,
and the prospects of the country, that it was
five o'clock and supper- time before he was
aware of it.
Those were not the days when culinary
matters were left to a servant entirely, and
the merchant's daughters prided themselves
on being able to set a well-cooked meal on
their father's table ; and doubtless Mistress
Elizabeth had taken extra pains with the
salads to-day in anticipation of the visit of
Oliver Cromwell. There were boar's head
and venison pasties, boiled salmon from the
Thames, and calves' foot pies ; but the most
intricate and delicate dishes to prepare were
the vegetables, or salads, as they were then
called. A dish of boiled mashed carrots, to
which was added cinnamon, sugar, ginger, a
handful of currants, vinegar, and butter, was
considered very rich, while one of marigold
leaves," with similar additions, was considered
very choice.
Master Saxby was inclined to turn up his
nose at this fine cooking ; but it was evident
that young Cromwell was ready to be pleased
with any thing that Mistress Elizabeth had
92 SAXBY.
done, and praised the housewifely care be-
stowed on the preparation of these dishes.
When supper was over, and the table cleared
away, the young people prepared to amuse
themselves with singing, and Master Saxby
had a little further talk with Sir James Bou-
chier, during which it came out that he was
as stanch a Puritan as the Cromwells, and
would not suffer young Oliver to visit them
as he did if he were not assured that he was
a steady, God-fearing young man, earnestly
striving to fit himself for the responsible duties
devolving upon him as an elder son, who must,
to a certain extent, take upon himself the du-
ties of his father toward his sisters and mother,
and the neighborhood in which he lived.
" He has told me it was no easy matter for
him to give up the quiet pursuit of learning
at Cambridge, when his father died, to come
up here and learn something of the practice
of the law ; but he saw that if ever he was to
make a wise and just landlord, and as he
probably will be some day a justice- of the
peace to his neighbors, he must know some-
thing of this matter. So he has resolutely set
himself to do his duty, regardless of what his
wishes may be ; and may God bless and honor
him for it ! " said the knight warmly.
In London. 93
"Ah, ah, to do one's duty is not always the
easiest thing in the world," said Master Sax-
by, with something of a sigh.
" Nay, nay ; and our young men often think
that they have little to do but enjoy them-
selves running off to practice archery at the
Butts, by Southwark or in Moorfields, think-
ing little of their master's business, and less
about the duty they owe to them."
This was said for the benefit of two 'pren-
tice lads, who were standing near, waiting to
speak to their master before he left the shop
again.
It was quite dark by this time, and so Sir
James, turning to these two, bade them get a
link and light Master Saxby through the city
to Broad-street, and having seen him safe to
the " Spread Eagle," to return without delay
and help count the skins that had just been
delivered.
94 SAXBY.
CHAPTER VII.
A SOCIAL EVENING.
MASTER SAXBY was not sorry to reach
his destination in Broad-street, and very
thankful to the lads who had conducted him
in safety through the dark, narrow, ill-kept
streets ; for there was not only the danger of
falling in some of the numerous ruts and holes
with which these abounded, but robberies with
violence were of frequent occurrence after
night-fall, even in the very heart of the city,
and in spite of the watch that patrolled its
streets for the protection of wayfarers. The
fact was, the cunning thieves knew the time
when the watchmen might be expected in a
certain quarter, and even if the cries of their
victim brought the welcome, " Ho, ho," from
the watch, or brought a few citizens from their
houses, the darkness made their capture al-
most impossible, if they were at all dexterous;
and so it came to pass that few, beyond those
whom dire necessity compelled, ever went out
after nightfall, unless it was to visit a neigh-
bor a few steps from their own door, and they
A Social Evening. 95
could go and return while the watch were
close by to protect them. The two 'prentice
lads who had conducted him through the
streets carried each a stout stick, and assured
him several times there was no danger; for
if any one attacked them, they would soon
raise the cry of " Clubs, clubs! " which would
bring forth from the houses all the free " 'pren-
tices" of London, and Master Saxby knew
enough of " 'prentice " customs to know that
the boast was by no means a vain one ; but
still he was thankful to reach Master Milton's
door without such an adventure.
The two ministers, Master Stocke and Mas-
ter Gataker, had already arrived, the children
had gone to bed, and placid Dame Milton sat
sewing some cloth hose for her little John.
She was some years younger than her hus-
band, whom she looked up to with a reverence
that made itself apparent even to Master Sax-
by, while the old scrivener evidently regarded
her as a companion to be most tenderly cher-
ished and loved.
Room was made for the stranger-guests at
once in the pleasant family circle, and news
from the country, especially as regarded Puri-
tanism, was eagerly asked for, and the troubles
of poor Master Drayton were at once told, and
96 SAXBY.
almost before he was aware of it he had told
his present errand to London.
He was afraid the share he was about to
take in the protecting and helping Master
Drayton would lead to ruinous fines being im-
posed upon him, which would eventually lead
to the loss of his patrimony, which he was
most anxious his son should inherit intact.
So, by the advice of his neighbor, Master
John Hampden, he had come to London to
get the necessary deeds executed, giving this
to his eldest son at once, and constituting
himself, and, in case of his death or inability to
fulfill the duties, his second son Roger, trus-
tees until Harry should return and claim the
gift. In case of Harry's death he wished it to
be provided that the estate should go to his
children, or, in case of his dying childless, to
revert to Roger or Lawrence. The secret fear
concerning his great-grandfather's curse falling
upon his children he kept to himself; but still
it was a powerful factor in actuating him to
take all these precautions against the land
passing away from the Saxby family.
"Then it is still dangerous to profess a pure
doctrine, or to strive for purity of worship,"
said Master Stocke, the minister of Allhallows.
The London ministers were at this time less
A Social Evening. 97
open to persecution than many of their breth-
ren, for the Bishop of London and the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury had a strong leaning
toward Puritanism themselves, and so were
not likely to search for it very rigorously, as
many other bishops did. In addition to this,
and a more powerful reason, the citizens were
almost entirely Puritan in their principles, and
they were too useful in granting subsidies and
benevolences to the needy monarch to be of-
fended with impunity in the matter of their
religious convictions.
" We are in less evil case than our brethren
of the country," said Master Gataker ; " for,
though we cannot hope for much in the way
of preferment to high places in the Church,
many things imposed upon our brethren are
not forced upon us."
" But you are compelled to read the king's
' Book of Sports/ exhorting the people to
break the Sabbath," said Master Saxby.
" The king commanded us so to do, but
when the king's command is contrary to the
teaching of God's word, think you any godly
minister would hesitate whom he should obey ?
'Tis but few pulpits in London where the
' Book of Sports ' is read," concluded Master
Gataker.
98 SAXBY.
" Ah, but in our parish they preach the doc-
trine that it is a man's duty to obey the king
above all things ; that his right to rule is di-
vine, and even in matters of conscience it is
treason to disobey him."
The old Puritan divine shook his head
gravely. " The sin of treason is as the sin of
witchcraft, and no man dare counsel that any
should commit that. But, then, although
kings be the ministers appointed by God to
rule over us, I hold not that our King James
is but another pope to order the things per-
taining to the Church according to his will.
An he rule us according to God's law we are
bound to obey him, as saith St. Paul, ' Fear
God, honor the king.' "
"Ah, ah, but in this time-serving age too
many of our parsons forget St. Paul, or re-
verse the order of his command. It has
grown fashionable, specially in our parts, to
preach much about obeying the king, but
little about the fear of God," said Master
Saxby.
" Yes, yes, we have heard of it, and of the
tribulation of many of our brethren, who have
dared to declare the whole counsel of God in
this matter, and we know not what to do, or
what this thing will grow to by and by. We
A Social Evening. 99
who love the doctrine of Calvin, and would
fain see our Church more like that of Geneva
in its freedom from Romish practices we
would rather also see the king more favorable
to his Scottish subjects in their love of Pres-
byterianism than so anxious to force bishops
and a prayer-book upon them."
" Nay, but the king has taken the greatest
care to uphold the doctrine of Calvin by the
deputies sent to take part in the disputation
with Arminius at Dort," said Master Milton,
quickly.
" Yes, yes, he will oppose Arminius to his
face, and force the Dutch to a persecution of
him if he can ; and yet it is feared by many
that his dislike of Presbyterianism, which gives
men higher thoughts of civil liberty, arises
from his overweening love of kingly authority,
which may yet lead him covertly to favor Ar-
minianism as a spiritual power to uphold his
kingly right in all things."
But Master Milton did not hold this rather
gloomy view of the old Puritan divine. Things
were bad enough, he knew, but he hoped the
next change might be for the better. The
power of the House of Commons was cer-
tainly on the increase. The spread of learn-
ing all over the country had raised the intelli-
7
ioo SAXBY.
gence of the people, and the king could not
control the election of members, as once had
been the custom.
" King James hardly understood this when
he told the Parliament a few years ago ' that
as it was blasphemy to question what the Al-
mighty could do by his power, so it was sedi-
tion to inquire what a king could do by virtue
of his prerogative.' "
" Ah, ah, that was a bold speech, and made
many tremble, I trow," remarked Master
Saxby.
" Doubtless many trembled ; but not our
brave Commons ; for not long afterward they
boldly told the king that ' new laws could not
be instituted, nor imperfect laws reformed, nor
inconvenient laws abrogated by any other
power than that of the high court of Parlia-
ment ; ' that is, by the agreement of the Com-
mons, the accord of the Lords, and the assent
of the king," said Master Milton, triumph-
antly.
" Yes, yes, the struggle has begun, but
when and how will it end ? " said Master Gat-
aker, with something of a sigh.
" The king has certainly put an end to this
struggle for the present by ruling without a
Parliament, and I have heard that their boast-
A Social Evening. 101
ed power could not save one Master Pym
from imprisonment for vaunting words spoken
in this same Parliament," remarked Master
Saxby.
" That is true enough," assented Master
Milton ; " but there are already whispers
abroad that the king will be compelled to call
another Parliament ere long, and men are pre-
paring themselves for the struggle, for many
things need reforming in the State as well as
in the Church."
" An the king will let us worship God ac-
cording to our own conscience, would it not
be better to leave other things alone and not
meddle with the king's prerogative ? " ques-
tioned gentle Dame Milton.
But her husband shook his head, and Mas-
ter Stocke remarked, " The Reformation has
taught men to think for themselves, to inquire
into the use and value of many things our fa-
thers reverenced without understanding them.
The uselessness and evil of many of these led
them to overthrow the religious tyranny by
which they had been governed for centuries,
and now the secular power must reform at the
bidding of this same principle, or it will share
the fate of the Church that governed England
before the Reformation."
io2 SAXBY.
" They are bold words, my brother," said
the elder divine, warningly.
" It were better for Christians to let the
world alone, I trow," said Dame Milton.
" Nay, nay, dame ; that might be an our
blessed Saviour had never said, ' Ye are the
salt of the earth,' " said her husband, tenderly,
patting the smooth white hand that had been
laid upon his shoulder as if to stay him in this
dangerous work they were discussing.
" Ah, dame, 'tis a pity the world cannot be
reformed without all this struggling and fight-
ing," remarked Master Saxby with a sigh, as
he thought of his son and the struggle going
on in the Protestant States of Germany.
" I have so often thought of Master Pym
being shut up in the Gate-house when the Par-
liament was over, and of Dame Pym and her
bitter disappointment and anxiety when he
did not reach home as she expected, and all
this suffering for a few brave words that did
but anger the king "
" Nay, nay, dame ; Master Pym did but
speak the thoughts of many in England to-
day, and 'tis but fair to warn the king that we
will not wear the yoke he would fain impose
upon us."
" But 'tis all about worldly matters the Par-
A Social Evening. 103
liament concerns itself," objected the lady ;
" if it were a matter of conscience, such as
you have suffered for, John, I would not say
one word against it."
John Milton had come of a noble, wealthy,
Catholic family, and his friends had cast him
off on his embracing the Protestant faith. It
was to this his wife referred.
" Nay, but dame, State matters and Church
matters the right to worship God after our
own hearts' desire are so interwoven now
that we cannot separate them. Spiritual and
civil liberty are bound up together, and both
must be won or lost in this struggle," said
Master Stocke.
" I cannot bear to think of it," said the lady
with a shiver of apprehension. It was but
yesterday I heard of another man being seized
for speaking against the Court of Star-cham-
ber, and none, can tell who may be the next
even for speaking against these shameful new
monopolies."
" That is true enough, dame. But think
you honest folk ought quietly to give up their
money to enrich such creatures as this Sir
Giles Mompesson and the court gallant Buck-
ingham, without a lawful protest being made
against this most unlawful exaction ? "
104 SAX BY.
" But who would dare to make the pro-
test ? " asked Dame Milton.
" None would have the right to do it but
Parliament, and they will doubtless tell the
king that this thing may not be repeated ex-
cept by their consent."
" And then some more good, brave men will
be thrust into prison, and their wives and lit-
tle children be plunged into sorrow and mourn-
ing. Nay, nay, I would rather pay ten times
as much for my currants, and never more wear
silver lace than that this should happen."
" Ah, dame, I can feel for you there," said
Master Gataker ; " but, I fear me, if the same
spirit was in our Parliament men we should
have to leave out in our readings those pre-
cious words of David : ' The earth is the Lord's,
and the fullness thereof,' for it would be full
of violence and extortion, and the devil would
soon have it all his own way. -Nay, nay, the
world belongs to God still, and we wont give
it up to the devil, hard as he may try for it."
" But think of the sorrow and the suffering !
Only last week I saw a man in the pillory for
writing something that had given offense to
the king and council."
" Ah, true, dame ; and there was a cross
reared once on a green hill-top, and one suf-
A Social Evening. 105
fered there more cruel pangs than those of the
pillory ; and all because he so loved the world
that he would not let the devil keep the prize
he thought he had cheated God of. He never
taught us that God's work of saving the world
could be easily or cheaply done, and so we
must not be surprised at the struggling and
fighting, or shrink from bearing our part in it,
if God call us to endure it. Now, friends, let
us pray. This is the true source of strength
and courage and all might;" and Master Gat-
aker prayed with a fervor that carried all hearts
with him, and made even timid Dame Milton
forget her fears for the present.
Then the Bible was brought out, and Master
Gataker turned its leaves over to the account
of Gideon, and his heroic deeds on behalf of
an oppressed people; and read it aloud in such
tones of thrilling power that every heart was
stirred and strengthened, and almost longed
for some call of duty bidding them emulate
the noble deeds of the heroic old Hebrew.
Whatever we may think, and whatever critics
may say, about this portion of God's word, it
is incontestible that our Puritan forefathers
the heroes of their own and of every age
drew inspiration, strength, and courage by
drawing deeply and largely from this well of
106 SAXBY.
salvation. Many a weak heart, wearied with
the long, long struggle of right against might,
came back to this old story of Gideon, and
read, with ever-rising courage and hope, the
glorious triumphant song of Deborah and Ba-
rak. Even their very weakness was turned
into a source of strength, and was gloried in
and triumphed over, as making them the chos-
en instruments of God to confound the wise
and mighty of the world. We read the same
soul-stirring words now, and our hearts break
into a song, but little do we know of their
sweetness and strength as compared with those
held perhaps within prison walls for essaying
to do some noble deed, or uttering some true
brave words, yet comforting themselves with
the thought that the battle was no uncertain
one, since God was on their side ; and though
they might be shut up and never permitted to
lift a hand again in the fight, others would
grasp the standard and press on to victory.
Some such thoughts as these rested in the
hearts of all our friends as they separated for
the night. They could hear the watch ap-
proaching, and under their escort Master Sax-
by would return to the " Mermaid," and the
ministers would go together to the home of
Master Stocke, close to All-hallows Church,
Gammer Grove. 107
CHAPTER VIII.
GAMMER GROVE.
MASTER SAXBY'S stay in London was
not a long one, but while the necessary
deeds were being prepared he contrived to see
little John Milton very often, and most of his
evenings were spent in the quiet family circle
listening to the music of which Master Milton
was so fond, or talking to gentle Dame Milton
as she sat sewing. But the week in London
soon came to an end, and with a promise to
call and see the scrivener whenever he should
visit the great city again, Master Saxby once
more turned his steps homewards. He went
a mile or two out of his way to call upon John
Hampden and leave the deeds for him to look
over, and there he was met with a tale of fresh
troubles having fallen upon Master Drayton.
" Some meddlesome body in Great Kimble
has accused poor old Gammer Grove of being a
witch, because they saw Master Drayton leave
her cottage after dark. It was not deemed
safe that the ministers who have met together
with him for the study of God's Word should
io8 SAX BY.
go to his house just now, since the place is
doubtless watched by the bishop's spies, and
so Gammer Grove's cottage was chosen as the
place of meeting Master Drayton knowing
her to be a godly, steadfast woman, not likely
to betray them. Little did he think it could
bring trouble upon her, seeing she was held
in such high esteem by the neighbors. But a
day or two ago, when she went through the
village, a few of the idle lads set up the cry
after her, ' a witch ! a witch ! ' and yesterday,
when she went to inquire after the blacksmith's
sick child, the door was slammed in her face,
and she was accused of making the little fellow
ill, as well as causing all the sickness among
the cattle in the neighborhood. Then another
angry woman asked her who the tall stranger
was, with horns and hoofs, who came to visit
her so often; which at once convinced the
poor old woman what was the cause of the ac-
cusation. She begged Master Drayton not to
come again to her cottage, and she hoped the
affair would blow over ; but he is anxious to
go at once and declare the whole business, and
I hardly know what to advise in the matter."
" Leave it to me, Master Hampden, and tell
Master Drayton not to stir in the business,
and I'll protect poor old Gammer Grove, never
Gammer Grove. 109
fear," said Master Saxby, quickly. "The wit-
less knaves must surely be mad to accuse that
poor old woman of being a witch. Why, she
was always ready to lend a helping hand to
any one in trouble, and when there was so
much sickness in the village two years ago,
Gammer Grove was nurse to every poor body
in turn."
" Well, well, if you can make them see rea-
son, neighbor Saxby, I shall be glad if Master
Drayton can be spared making any stir in the
matter, as it might bring trouble to two or
three other ministers in these parts; but re-
member the poor old woman must be protect-
ed at all costs," said Master Hampden.
" Never fear, never fear but I will protect
her," said the farmer, rising as he spoke.
The deeds had been handed to Master
Hampden, and a few words said about the
worthy scrivener who had drawn them up ; and
had there been time more would have been
said about the meeting with the two Puritan
divines at Master Milton's house, but Master
Saxby was anxious to reach home now, with
as little delay as possible. He, therefore, urged
his horse to a brisk canter as soon as he left
Master Hampden's door. At first he thought
he would stop at the blacksmith's shed, and
SAXBY.
inquire what the village news was, and whether
any thing had happened during his absence, as
he frequently did when he had been a few
days from home, but second thoughts made
him decide to go straight home and get the
news there. His dame would be sure to have
heard all the village gossip, and ready enough
to tell him every thing that had happened,
which the blacksmith might not be very for-
ward to do if he had joined in this foolish out-
cry against poor old Gammer Grove.
So he did not draw rein until he reached
the porch before his own door, where his wife
appeared the next minute to meet and wel-
come him home.
As soon as the first greetings were over and
Hodge had been called to take his horse to the
stable, Master Saxby said quickly, " What is
all this about Gammer Grove, Moll ? "
" Gammer Grove ? " repeated the dame,
bustling off to prepare a meal for her hungry
husband. " Here, Deb, bring that cold chine,
and Sally come and set the table ready for
supper," she called, as she hurried to the dairy
to get some fresh butter.
Master Saxby saw it would be little use
questioning his wife until supper was on the
table, at least, but Roger and Larry coming in
Gammer Grove. 1 1 r
at that moment, he at once began questioning
them. Lawrence did not answer his father's
question at all, but left his elder brother to do
this, while he went and stood at the window.
Roger hesitated, and seemed confused when
his father said, " My lad, I want you tell me
all you know about this foolish business of
Gammer Grove being a witch."
" But I don't know that it is so foolish, fa-
ther," said Roger, plucking up a little courage
at last. " There's a witch about somewhere,
that's certain, and more than one person in
these parts is bewitched, to say nothing of the
cattle that's dying all round. Our Cowslip's
dead."
"Cowslip?" repeated the farmer; "how
came you to let that happen ? I wouldn't
have spared fifty pounds to save that cow."
" We did all we could, father. Hodge sat
up all the night before last to see that the
witch did not come nigh the barn, and he used
all sorts of things to break the spells, but it
was all of no use ; there's no fighting against
witch spells ; and they say Gammer Grove is
a bad one, for all she is so demure."
" Gammer Grove a witch ! Why you will
say your own mother is one next, you witless
knave," said Master Saxby, half angrily. .
1 1 2 SAXBY.
" But there's Cowslip, and she's not the only
cow that's died about here lately," objected
Roger.
" Poor Cowslip ! I wish I had been home
before she died. But still, I'll never believe
Gammer Grove had any thing to do with her
sickness or death. There must be some dis-
ease among the cattle just now. A kind-
hearted old woman like the gammer, who has
nursed every child in the village and been
ready to do any body a good turn, would never
kill my cows."
" Not until the devil got hold of her," said
Roger a sentiment he devoutly believed in
himself.
But Master Saxby shook his head. " I
doubt whether the devil comes so readily un-
less he is invited, and we know Gammer Grove
too well to think that of her. Besides, Roger,
I know the gammer has had nothing to do with
this business," concluded Master Saxby in a
decided tone.
" Well, father, I might have said the same
about the gammer once, but it's no use going
against the whole village when they've seen
the Evil One leaving her cottage more than
once ay, and smelt him too," concluded
Roger.
Gammer Grove. \ \ 3
" What will the witless knaves say next ? "
exclaimed Master Saxby.
" It 's true enough, I can tell you, father."
" That they said it ? Well, perhaps so ; but
what will you say, Roger, when I tell you that
I know who it was left Gammer Grove's cot-
tage, and that he was an honest gentleman who
little thought to get the poor old woman into
trouble through it ? "
But Roger was still unconvinced. All the
village said she was a witch, and how could his
father know any thing about it, since he had
been in London ever since the discovery had
been made ? At this moment Dame Saxby
came in, and her husband at once turned to
question her.
" Don't ask me what I think about the de-
ceitful, wicked old woman, to kill my favorite
cow because she saw I was finding out her
wickedness and how she was bewitching every
body and making every thing miserable for
us."
" Come, come, dame, I shall think you are
bewitched if you talk like this of poor old
Gammer Grove," said her husband.
" Well, perhaps I am. At all events some
folks not far from me are ! " snapped the dame.
" Perhaps we are all bewitched together,"
1 14 SAXBY.
said Roger, in a grumbling tone, glancing
down at the stockings that had been made for
him out of his brother's table cover. Every
private grievance that any body had against
another was being set down to the spells Gam-
mer Grove had woven against them ; and as
Harry, in his kindly good nature, had often
spoken a pleasant word, or helped the old
woman home with a load of sticks, Roger had
taken up the notion that it was through the
spells of witchcraft he was such a favorite with
his mother and every body who knew him, and
that she had worked against him to a like de-
gree. What but this ill feeling against him
could have made his mother cut his stockings
out of the damaged table-cover that had been
Harry's ? Not that there was any fault spe-
cially to be found with the stockings ; they
were as good as perhaps rather better than
those he usually wore, and Larry had a pair
like them, but then Larry's had been cut from
cloth specially provided, and not from his
brother's left-off things ; and here lay the sting
to Roger. Of course he dared not give vent
to these feelings aloud, but he nursed them in
his own heart, and they grew in bitterness, day
by day, increasing the dislike, almost hatred,
he felt against his absent brother, and often
Gammer Grove. 1 1 5
making him morose and gloomy even toward
Larry.
Master Saxby knew not what to do when
he heard his wife declare her belief in the
charge brought against poor old Gammer Grove.
He was both surprised and disappointed too,
for he had secretly relied upon receiving both
help and advice from his shrewd wife in this
delicate affair ; and to find himself thus sud-
denly thrown upon his resources was a puzzle
he knew not how to solve.
He had no appetite for supper now, and
even the savory pie that had been specially
prepared for his home-coming was pushed
aside almost untasted, to Dame Saxby's great
vexation, who began to fear now that her hus-
band was going to be ill, since he could not
eat savory pie.
In vain the poor man protested that he was
only tired from his long journey, and a little
put out by this business of Gammer Grove's.
His wife would not believe in the one, and de-
clared that the old woman was not worth
troubling about, and the sooner she was out of
the way the better.
Master Saxby did not attach much impor-
tance to these last words, and soon after the
table was cleared away he went to bed to try
n6 SAXBY.
and think out some plan of action for the next
day, for something must be done at once to
stop the general outcry against the poor old
woman, or there was no telling how it might
end.
Meanwhile Dame Saxby and Roger were
talking over the same matter down-stairs, and
if the farmer could only have heard the con-
ference he would probably have got up that
very night and sought further aid on the poor
old woman's behalf.
" What do you think now, my son, about
your father and this witch-wife ? " said Dame
Saxby, when she and Roger were left to
themselves.
Roger shrugged his shoulders. " I don't
know what to think. My father says he knows
who it is that has been to her cottage of late."
" Of course he says so ; of course the old
witch has made her tale good told him it was
some Puritan parson, I dare say ; for, now I
come to think of it, she used to be reckoned
a Puritan when there was such a rout among
them, ten or twelve years ago ; and though I
never heard any of them accused of witchcraft,
depend upon it they don't mind seeking its
aid to get the help and countenance of a rich
man like your father. It 's through her witch
Gammer Grove. 117
spells that she has made him so ready to lose
every thing for the sake of declaring himself a
Puritan."
Dame Saxby had talked herself out of breath
in her anger, and now paused. " But how are
we to stop the mischief now, mother ? " said
Roger. " I cannot bear to see my father ruin
himself, as he will do, I am sure ; for only to-
day, when I met Parson Crane, he stopped
and asked me if it was true that my father had
determined to protect that treasonable Puritan
in the next parish."
"What did you tell him, Roger?" asked
Dame Saxby. " It will not do to offend Mas-
ter Crane now, you know," she added.
" I said I knew little of my father's affairs,
but that I always meant to abide by my own
parish church, and never run after sectaries,
whoever they might be."
" That's right, Roger ; and we must all be
careful to be seen in our places at church, too.
To-morrow you shall carry Master Crane a
couple of fowls and a score of eggs. If he
cannot preach a sermon he has the ear of the
bishop, I'm told, and may make things lighter
for your father, if the worst comes to the
worst. And, now, about this witch ; she must
be got rid of somehow. I wish she would go
n8 SAXBY.
right away from the place, and never come
back."
" What would be the good of that, if she
left her spells upon my father and and the
rest of us ? " asked Roger, significantly. " No,
mother, we must try her in the usual way,
and the sooner the better. Some of them
were talking about it yesterday; the pond is
pretty full now, and "
" But I should not like her to be drowned,
Roger. She saved poor Harry's life when he
was struck with the plague, and I was worn
out with nursing him ; for no one else would
come nigh the house."
" Well, mother, every body has got some
such tale about the old woman, and yet you
were the first to get up this cry against her.
What is it you do want ? "
Truth to tell, the fact of having saved his
brother's life, and so prevented him from in-
heriting the rich Saxby lands, did not tell
much in the old woman's favor with Roger,
and he rather angrily repeated, " Now, mother,
tell us what it is you do want."
" Well, Roger, I shouldn't like to think the
poor old woman was drowned, and through
me, too ; but if you could threaten her with
it, and drive her away from the village, so that
Gammer Grove. 119
she'd be afraid ever to show her head in these
parts again, things would soon come right of
themselves, I know."
" Well, mother, we '11 try your plan if we
can, though I don't see much difference my-
self in drowning the old witch outright and
driving her away to die of starvation ; for
what is she to do anywhere else but beg or
starve ? She can't take her cottage and gar-
den with her, and she is past work now, you
know."
" No, I don't know any thing about it, nor
you either, Roger. She may have friends to
go to for what you can tell ; at all events you
ought to drive her away, if you can, before
she does any more mischief."
" Very well, mother, I '11 talk to some of
them in the village to-morrow, and hear what
they say. The blacksmith is ready for any
thing since his little lad fell sick, and Hodge
is the same since poor Cowslip died."
" Very well, then, tell them to give the old
woman a good fright. I '11 say nothing against
that, but give them a horn of strong ale to
do it. But, mind, your father must know
nothing of this, or he will interfere, and he
would rather have you all stood in the stocks,
though you are his own son, Roger, than that
i2o SAXBY.
any thing happen to this old woman, I do
believe."
" Never fear, mother, we will keep it close
from him. I don't need to be told that I am
nothing to my father," he added bitterly, as
he left the room and went up to bed.
Trying the Witch. 121
CHAPTER IX.
TRYING THE WITCH.
MASTER SAXBY walked down to the
village the next day as soon as the
ordinary business of the farm had been dis-
patched and the state of the cattle more care-
fully noted. They all seemed healthy enough
now, and Master Saxby hoped he should not
hear of any sickness among his neighbors'
stock, for he had set himself the task of rea-
soning the people out of their foolish fears
about Gammer Grove being a witch.
The first place he stopped at in his walk
through the village was the blacksmith's forge,
to tell him of a little job he wanted done, to
ask after the sick child, and so lead on to the
foolish outcry against Gammer Grove ; for
Master Saxby knew that Dobbs was some-
thing of a leader among the village gossips,
and his forge was the general rendezvous after
the ale-house. But Master Saxby had scarcely
asked the question about the child before the
blacksmith began pouring out his complaints
about Gammer Grove and the mischief she
122 SAXBY.
was doing; and how he hoped a stop would
soon be put to her wickedness, for his little
lad was no better, although every known rem-
edy against witch-spells had been tried, and
he was then wearing three charms, each of
which his wife had been assured was infallible
in curing sickness.
The farmer sighed as he listened to the
swarthy blacksmith's tale of distress, but still
he ventured to say, as the man concluded :
" Well, Dobbs, I don't doubt but the child is
very ill, but still I cannot see why you charge
poor old Gammer Grove with causing this
sickness. I am sure she would rather help
than injure you."
" Ah, ah, sir, that was when things went
pretty much her own way ; but we all know
she's a Puritan and dead set against Church
ales, wakes, and all Sunday frolicking. Since
Parson Crane come among us, and taught so
much of the king's ' Sport Book,' the old
v/oman has never set her foot inside the church,
telling folks the service was half Papist, and
she would none of it."
" Well, Dobbs, I myself have heard you say
there never was so much rioting and drunken-
ness as since the Sunday revels began."
"Yes, sir, I have, and I'll say it again; and
Trying the Witch. 123
not only Sunday, but Monday, too, and half
the week the witless knaves are drinking ale
and lamb's wool instead of doing their work ;
but still it is not for me to set myself above
my betters, and say it is all through the junk-
etings on Sunday."
" Well, I will say it, and I have told Master
Crane the same thing, and that he ought to
teach us that the whole day should be kept
holy."
" Well, sir, I suppose the king and bishops
know best about that, and we are bound to
believe them and do as we are taught least-
ways that is Parson Crane's opinion, and it
suits a good many of us, you see."
" I have no doubt it does ; but don't you
think a man ought to ponder over these ques-
tions, and decide for himself, instead of be-
lieving every thing he is told to believe?"
" Well, sir, hammering is more in my way
than thinking. I never was much at that.
When Parson Hammond was here, of course
I was bound to believe what he said go to
church twice on Sundays and keep out of the
ale-house, if I possibly could ; but now Parson
Crane says I may go, and the king will not
iave me hindered. Why should I stay away,
since his majesty has taken so much trouble
1 24 SAXBY.
that his loyal subjects shall not be hindered
in taking their pleasure ? It is only for us
who are loyal," added the man, with a touch
of pride in his tone, " for Papists and Puritans
are forbidden the privilege of these Sunday
sports."
" Well, well, it is useless for me to raise my
voice against them, I see ; but now I ask you,
Dobbs, as an honest man, to do what you can
to stop this foolish outcry about Gammer
Grove being a witch. You know it isn't true."
" No, sir, I don't ; and I can't promise to do
more than this that she sha'n't be interfered
with for another week, if you'll send her out
of the parish right away out of Buckingham-
shire, so that she '11 never come back."
" But, Dobbs, how can I do that ? Would
you have her driven away to die of starva-
tion ? For it would be nothing less ! " ex-
claimed Master Saxby in astonishment.
The feeling Dobbs manifested against the
poor old woman was so much stronger than
he expected that he hardly knew what to do.
But still he did not despair of being able to
modify the opinion of the villagers so that
they would, at least, leave her alone, though
doubtless she would be shunned and looked
upon with suspicion for some time to come.
Trying the Witch. 125
So from the blacksmith's forge he went on to
the ale-house, and called for a mug of lamb's
wool to be brought to him in the porch, where
two or three old cronies of the village were
talking over the much-vexed question of
Prince Charles' marriage with a princess of
Spain.
" What would our good Queen Elizabeth
have said to this Popish match, bringing our
blackest foe into the kingdom ? " said one old
farmer, with a groan.
" Ah, ah, neighbor, you may well say that.
When I was in London I went to see Smith-
field, where so many martyr fires were lighted,
and mainly 'through another Spanish match,
if all is true that our fathers have told us,"
said Master Saxby, joining the group of gos-
sips.
He was eagerly welcomed, and the latest
news he had brought from London, and the
opinions he had heard there about this dis-
tasteful marriage of their future king, were
warmly discussed. It was with some difficulty
he could introduce the subject he had so much
at heart just now poor old Gammer Grove,
and the charge brought against her. Then
he found that these old folks had not troub-
led themselves much about her.
126 SAXBY.
" She may have made a bargain with the
devil, as the youngsters are saying, but it need
not trouble us that I see," said one jovial old
man.
" Not if she leaves our cattle alone, and
don't use her witch spells against any of us ;
but neighbor Saxby, I have heard, has lost
one of the finest cows in the country side
through the old woman's arts, and so
" Nay, nay, I never said she killed poor
Cowslip," interposed Master Saxby ; " I don't
believe the old woman would do any one an
ill turn," he added.
" Well, that may be, and it may not," said
one ; " but you can't deny that she's always
been strange and unsociable like, unless it was
at a time of sickness, and then I've thought,
may be that being her own evil work, she
wanted to come in and see it, to say nothing
of its screening her from all suspicion."
" Prithee, now you come to talk of it in
that way, nothing is more likely," said a third
burly farmer, " and though nothing in the
way of polygamy or infanticide could be
proved against the sectaries who used to meet
in her barn, before they were driven out of
the parish, depend upon it there was much
evil done among them, and old Gammer
Trying tlie Witch. 127
Grove has been practicing their arts again of
late."
" Nay, nay, good neighbors, be just even in
your anger against the poor old gammer. No
one could ever say these sectaries or Brown-
ists were other than sober and industrious
folk, and you know that, as justice of the
peace, I went more than once to see what was
done at their meetings, of which I had re-
ceived complaint ; but I never saw or heard
aught but what would profit any Christian
man to follow. Praying and reading God's
word, with some simple exhortation to live as
became the children of God, was all that took
place in Gammer Grove's old barn."
" Ah, ah, Master Saxby, these Brownists, or
Independents, as they loved to call them-
selves, were too cunning to practice any evil
deeds with a justice of the peace present; but,
depend upon it, there was some truth in the
tales that were talked about them, or else
why did they not go to church ? for Parson
Hammond was as much a Puritan as them-
selves."
"Well, neighbor, I never had any complaint
about these sectaries except in the matter of
their not going to church, and their holding
meetings in Gammer Grove's old barn ; but as
128 SAXBY.
that has been pulled down long since, and these
Puritans gone beyond the seas, I don't think
we can charge the gammer with their doings.
So I hope we shall all be fair and just in our
dealings with her as becomes Englishmen."
"Ah, ah, we'll be fair enough with her,-
neighbor Saxby," said one or two, as Master
Saxby turned away. He had another visit to
pay after leaving the ale-house porch, and he
hoped if he could win over those whom he
would see next, Gammer Grove might be
freed from any further molestation. It was a
small farm at the further end of the village,
and the three grown-up sons who did all the
work of the place were the most successful at
the running, wrestling, and vaulting matches
for miles around. This gave them no incon-
siderable influence among their compeers of
the village.
But Master Saxby's hopes on this score were
dashed to the ground as soon as he reached
the farm-house door.
" Here is Squire Saxby himself. Now, Job,
go and fetch the two chickens ! " exclaimed
the farmer's wife before a word of greeting
could be exchanged.
"How now, dame, what is the matter?"
asked Master Saxby, stepping into the clay-
Trying the Witch. 129
floored keeping-room, whither she led the
way.
" Two of my best fowls, Master Saxby, have
been killed in the night, and no mortal hand
has touched them, for not a feather has been
ruffled ; they've just dropped dead from the
perch like stones."
" I am very sorry," began Master Saxby.
" Sorry ! " interrupted the dame, seizing the
chickens as her youngest son brought them
in. " Look here, don't that look like witch's
work?" she said, turning them over in her
hand ; " fine, plump young things, as brisk as
any of them when I fed them last night, and
stone dead in the hen-house this morning."
" They must have been taken with the
cramp or the pip," ventured her visitor.
" The cramp ! " scornfully exclaimed the an-
gry dame. " I shall begin to think the village
is right, and that you are under the old witch's
spells. But, squire," she said, suddenly chang-
ing her tone, " this can't go on. It must n't
be said we are harboring a witch here in Great
Kimble, that has always been loyal to Church
and king, although there have been sectaries
and Puritans among us."
"Well, dame, but I think"
" Squire Saxby, it wont do to think now ;
130 SAXBY.
you must do something to get rid of that old
witch, Gammer Grove. We all knew she was
a sectary and a Brownist long ago, and no
doubt they are all in league with the Evil
One ; but now we can prove it against her,
and she must leave Great Kimble."
" But but if we drive the poor old woman
away from here, where is she to go ? " asked
Master Saxby.
" O, never fear but the devil will take care
of his own. But go from here she must,"
concluded the farmer's wife.
" Very well, dame, bring your complaint be-
fore me, in proper form, next Tuesday, and I
will see what the law says about it," answered
her visitor ; for he knew it would be useless to
attempt arguing with an angry woman, and he
bade her good-morning, and turned his steps
homeward.
He had promised to pay Master Hampden
a visit on Sunday, for the proscribed minister
was to be there with a few other friends, and
a private service was to be held among them-
selves in the library, and so if it was necessary
he could talk over this affair of Gammer Grove
with them afterward ; for he feared she would
be obliged to leave the village, for a time at
least, until this affair had blown over.
Trying the Witch. 131
So, thinking over this compromise, and won-
dering whether she would be willing to sell
him her cottage and little bit of land, which
adjoined his own, he took his way to Hamp-
den on Sunday morning, meeting on his way
several people going to church who had not
been there lately. He exchanged a friendly
smile and greeting with most of them, but
quite failed to detect how curiously some of
them looked at him as they passed. The fact
was, this walk to Hampden to-day, after the
stir there had been made about people going
to their own parish church, was taken as a
convincing proof of his being bewitched, and
some few, remembering his leaning to and pro-
tection of the sectaries years before, went so
far as to say that the squire was in league with
the witch, and would never do any thing to
rid them of her presence.
In happy ignorance of all these surmises
Master Saxby spent a pleasant and profitable
Sunday with Master Hampden, and before he
left a plan was discussed for saving Gammer
Grove, and the villagers too, if she would only
consent to adopt it, and Master Saxby was re-
turning home feeling that that trouble at least
was at an end.
But as he reached the village green, which
9
132 SAXBY.
he had to pass on his way, he saw a crowd"
gathered round the horse-pond at one corner.
There was a momentary lull in the excitement
that seemed to prevail as he first turned out
of the lane, but the next minute hoarse voices
were calling, " Duck her again, Hodge ! Give
the old witch another taste ! " Then followed
a splash and brutal shouts of laughter, in the
midst of which Master Saxby pushed his way
in among them to see what was going on.
" Here 's another Puritan ! another Puritan ! "
shouted two or three half-drunken voices, and
Roger Saxby himself, too tipsy and stupid to
recognize his father, called out, " Pitch him in
after the old witch. We've done for Gammer
Grove, and we'll serve all Puritans alike."
" Go home, sir, this moment ! Is this what
you learn from the king's ' Sport Book ?'" and
Master Saxby spoke in such a tone of com-
mand that the drunken, silly crowd fell back,
and Roger recovered himself sufficiently to
slink away and stagger homeward.
To rescue Gammer Grove, and send one of
the crowd for help from the ale-house, was the
work of a very few minutes; but it was too
late to be of any use. The poor old woman
was dead before she was taken out of the
water, and Master Saxby could with difficulty
rying the Witch.
Trying the Witch. 135
get any one to carry her away from the edge
of the pond to the solitude of her own cot-
tage ; for no one cared to touch her now she
was dead, although they had been ready enough
to drag her from her home an hour before.
Before they began to disperse Master Saxby
informed them that a coroner's inquest would
be held on the poor old woman, and some of
them would probably be charged with murder,
a threat sufficient to sober one or two among
them, who forthwith began protesting they
had only done as Dame Saxby bade them
there was no other way of getting rid of the
old witch. Master Saxby did not pay much
heed to these protestations now, but he went
home feeling sad enough for the share Roger
had taken in this cruel business.
136 SAX BY.
CHAPTER X.
THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
inquiry into the death of Gammer
-1- Grove was not very satisfactory in its re-
sult. The belief in witchcraft was so general
in those days, and public opinion in Great
Kimble had been so deeply aroused against
the poor old woman, that her murder was held
to be almost justifiable, although the coroner
warned the accused that they ought to have
given notice to the justice of the peace, and
proceeded against the deceased in due form.
There was also another difficulty in the way
of justice being done. Half a dozen of the
ringleaders in the crowd had been arrested,
but every body was so tipsy before the out-
rage had even been thought of that no one
could say who had proposed it, or who had
actually caused her death. They were half
ashamed of the cowardly deed now, and cer-
tainly, but for the Church ales they had been
drinking it would never have been perpetrated.
But though little satisfaction was given for
poor old Gammer Grove, a great deal of ill-
The Pilgrim Fathers. 137
feeling was roused against her friend, Master
Saxby, for taking up her case so warmly ; and
whispers were rife about his being under witch-
spells, and more than half a Brownist, and in
league with the witch. Dame Saxby, too,
found her position any thing but an enviable
one, for her neighbors looked upon her with
sly suspicion, as having roused the persecu-
tion against Gammer Grove, and then turned
against them for having carried out her wishes
only too well in getting rid of the old woman ;
for Dame Saxby, when she heard of the death,
was most vehement in denouncing its cruelty,
reproaching Roger for his share in it as strong-
ly as her husband reproached her for having
first set the rumor afloat that the old woman
was a witch.
And so the winter of 1619 passed slowly
away, bringing but one letter from Harry, just
after he reached Prague. News traveled slow-
ly and uncertainly in those days, and it was
not until the middle of February, 1620, that
news reached Great Kimble of the crowning of
the king's son-in-law as king of Bohemia and
head of the Protestant cause in Germany, and
with it came news of his utter defeat at the
battle of Prague, and that the Palatinate, as
well as Bohemia, was wrested from his grasp.
138 SAXBY.
The news ran th'rough England like an elec-
tric shock, and showed how deeply rooted was
Protestantism in the heart of the nation ; for
the murmurs of discontent against the king's
policy ran so high that, in deference to this,
James was obliged to promise to summon an-
other Parliament, and Master John Hampden
was chosen to share the danger of those who
were determined to compel the king to do
something to help the Protestant cause on the
continent.
There was a stir and bustle in many an
English household that spring, for hundreds
of gentlemen were following Harry Saxby's
noble example, and, without waiting for the
king's tardy movements, were going at their
own expense to join in the struggle for relig-
ious liberty.
In this universal unrest Master Saxby felt
that he could not stay at Great Kimble. Anx-
iety to know the fate of his dearly-loved son
made him long to be in London, where he
might meet some one who had seen him or
fought by his side ; and so, when the affairs of
the farm were set in order so that they might be
left to Roger's management for a few months,
Master Saxby, with his wife and younger son,
removed to London and took lodgings in a
The Pilgrim Fathers. 139
pleasant house overlooking the Thames and
within easy reach of Master Milton's, whom he
often visited of an evening when the scriv-
ener's work was over.
Among the Puritan friends meeting at Mas-
ter Milton's he heard that a vessel was to sail
from London in July, carrying some emigrants
who were to join their friends from the Low-
lands at Southampton. Shortly afterward Mas-
ter Saxby went to look over the " Mayflower,"
as the little vessel was called. Various places
had been suggested to the travelers as their fu-
ture home ; the Prince of Orange wishing them
to join the Dutch settlement of Amsterdam
merchants, on the River Hudson. But ar-
rangements had now been entered into with
the Virginia Company for their settlement at
a place sufficiently remote from those planta-
tions, that the religious difference between the
settlers should not be a cause of quarrel, and
yet that they should still be under the British
crown ; as one of those who had been in the
Lowlands, and was about to sail with the little
company of emigrants, said to Master Saxby.
" It is grievous to us to live from under the
protection of the State of England, for we are
likely to lose our language and our very name
of English. In Holland, too, we could do but
140 SAXBY.
little good, for we could never persuade them
to reform the Sabbath, while our children
could never be educated as we ourselves had
been ; and so, if God be pleased to discover
some place unto us in America, we may show
our countrymen, no less burdened than our-
selves, where they may live, and, being free
from antichristian bondage, may keep their
names and nation, and not only be a means to
enlarge the dominions of the English State,
.but the Church of Christ also."
"Ah, ah, and many, I doubt not, will follow
your brave example," exclaimed Master Saxby.
" I would that I could go with you," he added
the next minute, with something of a sigh as
lie thought of Harry righting in the German
war, and Roger, who had of late been such a
source of anxiety to him.
A letter had come from Harry lately, telling
of his escape after the battle of Prague, but no
word of his probable return ; and Roger, he
feared, cared less for the Sabbath than ever,
unless it was as a day of rioting and drunken-
ness. It was well that Master Saxby had the
affairs of these emigrants to interest himself
in, and that many of them were poor almost
ruined through the fines that had been imposed
upon them making them all the more Mas-
The Pilgrim Fathers. 141
ter Saxby's friends ; many a gift which he
thought might be useful to them on the voy-
age, or when they reached the strange, deso-
late shores of America, was added to their
slender store through Master Saxby's kindness.
He would go with them to Southampton,
too, and see his old friend, Robert Cushman,
and his family, who were coming from Holland
in the " Speedwell," as the two vessels were
to sail to America in company. It was near
the end of July, 1620, that the " Mayflower "
sailed from London with its party of emi-
grants and a few friends who wished to see the
whole party depart from Southampton. The
" Speedwell " had not reached its destina-
tion when the London party got there, but
in a day or two she arrived safely from her
voyage across the sea. Then it was found that
there were about one hundred and twenty to
sail in the two vessels. Robert Cushman was
of the number, and right glad he was to see
Master Saxby and two or three other friends
who had come to bid them a last farewell.
" You will not cast in your lot with us ? "
said Cushman, grasping his friend's hand, as
they stood on the shore watching the sunlit
waves as they danced and rippled round the
prow of the little vessel.
142 SAXBY.
" Not now, not now, friend ; but I may come
by and by. If it were not for the Saxby lands
I know not whether I would not join your
company or go to the German war and fight
beside my son. You have brought me no
tidings of him," added Master Saxby ; for,
somehow, he had thought that coming from
beyond the sea, these friends must have heard
of Harry, and he had indulged the hope that,
coming to Southampton, he should surely see
some one who had seen him lately.
But Master Cushman shook his head. " God
grant we may make another England beyond
the sea, where there shall be no more religious
wars," he said, and then he added more brisk-
ly, " But, my friend, why should your land be
as a fetter binding you to bondage ? Many
among us had lands and goodly houses and
honorable names, but we have forsaken all for
that Christian liberty that is denied to us
here."
" Ah, ah, but you know not all concerning
our Saxby lands," replied his friend ; for, some-
how, his superstitious fears concerning the
threatened curse had increased since the death
of poor old Gammer Grove, though why he
should connect the one with the other it was
hard to say.
The Pilgrim Fathers. 143
It was arranged that a parting service should
be held just before the vessels finally sailed,
and at that meeting a letter, or, rather, an ad-
dress, should be read that had been given to
some of them just before leaving Leyden by
their minister, Mr. Robinson, already known
as the " Father of the Independents," although
he did not follow entirely the doctrine of
Brown, whose name was properly given to the
sect.
Master Saxby hardly knew what to do about
going to this meeting, for his leaning toward
" sectaries," who were looked upon askance
even by the Puritans of the Church, had already
got him into such ill odor among his friends at
home that he had resolved to keep more aloof
from them in future. But his friendship for
Cushman and one or two others of the party
overcame his timidity at last, and right glad
he was afterward ; for, as he told Master Mil-
ton and his friends when he returned to Lon-
don, he would not have missed hearing Rob-
inson's address for any thing, sectary though
he might be.
When the little company of pilgrims and
their few friends were gathered together and
prayer had been offered, one of the eldest of
them a tall, noble-looking man stood up and
144 SAXBY.
read, amid breathless silence, the words of the
minister who, like themselves, had shared per-
secution and tasted of every danger and hard-
ship that beset them while presiding over their
little Church in Holland.
" Brethren, we are now quickly to part from
one another, and whether I may ever live to
see your faces on earth any more the God of
heaven only knows. But whether the Lord
has appointed that or no, I charge you before
God and his blessed angels that you follow me
no further than you have seen me follow the
Lord Jesus Christ.
" If God reveal any thing to you by any
other instrument of his, be as ready to receive
it as ever you were to receive any truth by my
ministry ; for I am verily persuaded the Lord
has more truth yet to break forth out of his
holy word.
" For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail
the condition of the Reformed Churches who
are come to a period in religion, and will go at
present no further than the instruments of their
reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn
to go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever
part of his will our God has revealed to Cal-
vrh, they will rather die than embrace it ; and
the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they
The Pilgrim Fathers. 145
were left by that great man of God, who yet
saw not all things.
" This is a misery much to be lamented, for
though they were burning and shining lights
in their times, yet they penetrated not into the
whole counsel of God, but were they now liv-
ing would be as willing to embrace further light
as that which they first received. I beseech
you remember it as an article of your Church
covenant that you be ready to receive what-
ever truth shall be made known to you from
the written word of God.
" But I must here withal exhort you to take
heed what ye receive as truth ; examine it,
consider it, and compare it with other Script-
ures of truth before you receive it ; for it is
not possible the Christian world should come
so lately out of such thick antichristian dark-
ness and that perfection of knowledge should
break forth at once."
At the conclusion of this address a chapter
from God's word was read and a suitable
prayer offered, but Master Saxby was thinking
little of either. The wonderful address of this
sectary, who had been driven out of England,
had so impressed him that he could give little
thought to any thing else. The broad, Chris-
tian liberality that was shown in exhorting his
146 SAXBY.
flock to receive the truth from any one who
could teach them, so different from any thing
he had ever heard before, made him almost
forget where he was until there was a little
stir in the congregation, and then, as they rose
to separate, he looked round upon the little
party of pilgrims, whose souls had been fed
and nourished on such strong meat as this
minister Robinson could doubtless give them,
and truly they looked no unworthy disciples.
Brave, resolute, noble-looking men they were,
and women too, worthy to be the fathers and
mothers of a new, free, brave race. These
were no puling, miserable, discontented sect,
but the very flower of Englishmen, with all
the grand old English virtues, aided by noble
birth and gentle breeding in many cases, and
strengthened and braced by enduring persecu-
tion and poverty for the sake of that liberty
they held more dear than life.
The 5th of August saw the two vessels sail
from bright Southampton bay amid the prayers
of the little company gathered on the shore to
see the last of the white sails as a fair wind
carried them down the Channel.*
Then Master Saxby turned his steps toward
London once more, to tell his friend Milton,
* See Frontispiece.
Tlie Pilgrim Fathers. 147
and Master Gataker, and other Puritan friends,
who could only half believe in the Christianity
of these sectaries, of the wonderful address of
this Independent minister which he had heard
at Southampton. But good men were slow
to believe in the goodness of any thing out-
side the Church in those days, even though
they might differ from it in many points, both
as to doctrine and ritual ; still, the sin of schism
was to them so awful that they were willing to
endure any thing rather than be guilty of what
they held these Independents to have commit-
ted. So Master Gataker could only shake his
head and deplore that so many good men
should leave the Church of England instead of
staying within her pale and striving for a fur-
ther reform in her liturgy and services.
" I have heard it was what many said about
Luther ; and even his first thoughts were not
that he would leave the corrupt Romish
Church, but reform it," said Master Saxby.
" Ah, but it was too corrupt," said Master
Milton, " and would not be reformed."
" Well, well, I say not that our Church is
as the Church of Rome, but will she cast aside
what still savors too much of Papistry to please
our Protestant stomachs ?" said Master Saxby.
" I hope so. I hope to see the day when
148 SAXBY.
every vestige of the old Popish service shall
be cast away."
" Many fear that day will never dawn, and
in despair of this have separated themselves
from us, as Luther did from his Church," said
Master Saxby, whose leaning to sectaries was
decidedly stronger than ever since his visit to
Southampton.
The ground of this argument was gone over
by these friends, but they failed to convince
each other, although they still remained"
friends ; for no one could help liking kindly
Master Saxby, whether they agreed with his
opinions or not.
Another Citation from the BisJiop. 149
CHAPTER XI.
ANOTHER CITATION FROM THE BISHOP.
MASTER SAXBY spent a good deal of
his time in Paul's Walk or Duke
Humphrey's Walk as the principal aisle in
St. Paul's Cathedral was called. It was the
most frequented promenade in the city, both
for idlers and men of business. Here lawyers
would meet their clients, fashionable people
their friends, to exchange the news of the day ;
and the pillars of the sacred pile served as ad-
vertisement sheets, in the absence of newspa-
pers, for servants wanting places and masters
wanting servants.
Here every scrap of news concerning the
struggle now going on in Germany was at once
circulated ; but little satisfaction, however,
could Master Saxby glean from any thing he
heard, and the hope of seeing Harry again
shortly grew less day by day, although he
contrived to send more than one letter to him
urging him to come home and take the man-
agement of the farm into his own hands.
At last he grew tired of the inaction and
10
150 SAXBY.
weary waiting for news that never came news
of Harry himself for beyond a few hastily-
penned lines saying he had escaped after the
battle of Prague, no word had come to cheer
the anxious father and mother. So one day,
about a month after his return from South-
ampton, when he had spent nearly the whole
day in wandering up and down Paul's Walk
and among the booksellers' shops in St. Paul's
Church-yard, he returned home, and his first
words almost made Dame Saxby jump for joy.
" Moll, we must go back to Great Kimble ;
we must go back in time for harvest," he said
with a deep yawn.
" Yes, to be sure ; I don't know what Roger
will do without us in the busy season," said
Dame Saxby, who was heartily tired of these
pent-up London lodgings, and she bustled
about to get her husband's supper with re-
newed vigor at the thought of so soon going
back to their own bright country home.
" But, father, we cannot go yet not for a
fortnight at least for you promised Master
Oliver Cromwell and Mistress Bourchier you
would go to their wedding," said Larry, who
was by no means tired of London yet.
" True, my lad, I had forgotten that. When
is the wedding to be, dame ? " he asked.
Another Citation from the Bishop. 151
" The twentieth of this month. We might
stay and see the young couple married and
begin our journey the same day."
" Master Cromwell will journey to Hunting-
don with Mistress Elizabeth as soon as the
wedding is over," said Larry.
" Ah, ah, you have heard all the news, I
trow," said his father.
" Yes, I know that Master Cromwell has got
six sisters, and those who are not married are
to live with him and his wife and mother,"
said Larry.
So it was settled that they should go to St.
Giles' Church, Cripplegate, in the early morn-
ing, and then, without waiting for the wed-
ding-feast, begin their journey back to Buck-
inghamshire at once ; for now that he had
once decided to go home again, Master Saxby
was impatient to get there. He was not satis-
fied with the last account he had heard of
Roger, and he was anxious to see his friend,
Master Hampden, again; for the much-talked-
of Parliament had not assembled yet, although
people were grumbling more loudly than ever
about the oppressive monopolies and taxes,
the Spanish match of Prince Charles, and the
backwardness of the king in helping the Ger-
man Protestant cause.
152 SAXBY.
But if Master Saxby was glad to be among
his own fields and farm-buildings, his wife was
ten times more glad to get back to her dairy
and poultry, and take up the scolding of her
serving maids again ; and Larry, though he
had enjoyed visiting the various sights of Lon-
don in company with his new friend, young
John Milton, and his father, still even he
seemed glad to get back to his brother and all
the household pets. Dame Saxby hoped that
during their long stay in London Gammer
Grove had been forgotten by their neighbors,
and that she should never hear the old wom-
an's name again.
The affairs of the farm had not prospered
under Roger's management, and for the first
few weeks Master Saxby 's time was fully taken
up with setting things right, as far as that
could be done. But when the busy season
was over he went at once to see his friend
Master John Hampden, and hear whether any
further steps had been taken to call a Parlia-
ment together.
Dame Saxby had already paid young Dame
Hampden a visit, for a baby had come to
brighten their stately home while the Saxbies
were in London, and Dame Saxby had chafed
sorely when she heard the news that she was
Another Citation from the Bishop. 153
not at hand to give her advice and help at the
time.
Now she thought Master Hampden would
surely be content to let the king's affairs alone,
and not run into such danger as Master Pym
had incurred at the close of the last Parlia-
ment, and she told the young matron the
whole story of his imprisonment, as she had
heard it from Dame Milton.
But, to her surprise, the young mother,
though she stooped to kiss her baby with a
look of more tender love in her eyes, said
quite calmly, " John and I have talked it all
over, dame, and I have promised never to
hold him back from what he sees to be his
duty by any weak fears of mine."
" Weak fears," repeated Dame Saxby ; " but,
my dear Bessie, you ought to keep your hus-
band out of such danger for your child's sake,
if not for your own."
" Nay, but, dame, do not think I am forget-
ful of my little Bessie, if I keep not my hus-
band back from what he deems it his duty to
do," said the young mother, with a quiver in
her voice, and Dame Saxby saw that it was
not so easy after all for her to send her hus-
band on such a dangerous errand as attending
Parliament threatened to be.
1 54 SAXBY.
But before this much-talked-of Parliament
assembled Master Saxby was startled by a
visit from Robert Cushman, whom he had seen
sail from Southampton in the " Mayflower."
It was a tale of disaster the brave man had to
tell, and filled the friends with anxious fears
and forebodings for the safety of the pilgrims
who had set forth once more in search of a
new home.
The " Mayflower " and " Speedwell," carry-
ing the pilgrims from Leyden, had kept to-
gether ; but before proceeding far on their
journey it was found necessary for the " Speed-
well " to put back for repairs, and they ran the
vessels into Dartmouth. After being detained
here some days they put to sea again, some-
what disheartened at the delay, but still hop-
ing to reach their destination before winter set
in. They ran about a hundred leagues, losing
sight of the white cliffs of their dear native land,
when the " Speedwell " sprang another leak,
and they were again compelled to put back.
This time they came into Plymouth, where,
upon examination, the " Speedwell " was found
to be unseaworthy, and the captain refused to
venture upon the voyage again.
By these delays a month was lost precious
time that the pilgrims could ill afford to lose,
Another Citation from the Bishop. 155
now that winter was approaching, and they
knew nothing of the climate of the " New En-
gland " they were to colonize. But these
were not the men to be turned from their
purpose by difficulties or disappointments,
and so many as the " Mayflower " could with
safety convey resolved to go ; and only eight-
een out of the hundred and twenty were left
behind. The rest sailed from Plymouth the
fourth of September, leaving their friends in
no small anxiety for their safety and the ulti-
mate success of the venture.
Robert Cushman had lingered at Plymouth
for some time to hear if any further disaster
befell the pilgrims, or any homeward-bound
ship had brought news of the little vessel; but
nothing had been heard of them since the day
they sailed, and they must be content to wait
until tidings reached them from the far-off
unknown land to which they had gone.
Months or even a year might elapse before
news could reach them, for the " Mayflower "
was not to return at once ; and unless the
Virginia Company should hear of these new
settlers from those who were out there, the
prospect of which was very remote, for it had
been purposely arranged, on account of the
religious differences known to exist between
1 56 SAXBY.
them, that the two colonies should be entirely
separated, and one placed at some distance
from the other.
It seemed that this winter was to be full
of surprises, for preparations had hardly com-
menced for securing fit members for the com-
ing Parliament, which was at length to meet
in March, 1621, when a letter reached Master
Saxby from Harry, telling his father of his
marriage ; and, as though this in itself was not
sufficient surprise, he had married a French
lady, who, with her family, had been driven
from her ancestral home in the south of
France by the cruel persecution still being
carried on against the Huguenots, as the
French Protestants were called. Harry took
care to explain that his wife was a Protestant,
and a most devoted Christian, as well as a
gentle, amiable, tender wife, who had already
done much to alleviate the hardship of his
soldier life. His mother forgot or overlooked
all this, and the bare fact that he had married
a stranger and a French woman made her for-
get even her love for him for the time, and
she declared she would never own him never
see him again and the Saxby lands should
never be given to the children of this French-
woman. All this, and a great deal more, did
Another Citation from the Bishop. 157
Dame Saxby say in her passion, and Roger
took care to keep his mother's anger from
abating by words dropped now and then
about the land passing into the hands of for-
eigners by and by. He hoped by this means
to induce his father to alter the disposition of
the property ; for although it had come down
from the father to the eldest son for genera-
tions, it was not strictly entailed, and Master
Saxby could cut off his elder son and leave it
to Roger if he pleased. From this time Roger
made up his mind that this should be done,
and he set himself to please his father as stu-
diously as he could. Now that there was little
fear of the land ever becoming the property of
his elder brother he developed an aptitude in
the care and management of it quite unknown
before, and Master Saxby could but feel
pleased and gratified, more especially as
Roger went less frequently to the Sunday
revels at the ale-house than he formerly did.
It comforted him a little for the disappoint-
ment he felt about Harry for this marriage
had disappointed him, and crossed more than
one fondly-cherished plan which he and his
wife had talked over for his benefit. They
had arranged between themselves that when
Harry came home the visit they had promised
158 SAXBY.
to pay young Oliver Cromwell at Huntingdon
should be paid, and they would take Harry
with them that he might see the sisters of
Cromwell ; and then, what more natural than
that he should choose one of them for a wife ?
his father and mother had argued. So they
had laid their plans for this marriage, and the
installment of the young couple in the old
homestead, while another farm should be
bought for Roger, and they would take Larry
and remove to London, or go to this new col-
ony in America, where they would not be
harassed with vexatious fines for non-attend-
ance at church, or be looked upon with sus-
picion and distrust if they sympathized with
sectaries.
Dame Saxby could hardly be said to sym-
pathize much with her husband in these latter
aspirations. She did not see why he should
not conform to the law and go to his own
parish church, whatever the doctrine might be
that was preached ; but as he would not do
this, and she dreaded the fines and impover-
ishment that must follow his refusal even more
than he did, she was willing to do any thing
to escape them, so as to leave the property
intact for their children. She began to blame
herself now for not having tried to conciliate
Another Citation from the Bishop. 159
poor old Gammer Grove, and so have induced
her to remove the witch spells in which it
seemed her husband was still bound ; for, not
content with offending their own parson, he
openly avowed his sympathy with Master
Drayton, who had been ejected from the next
parish for his Puritan teaching, and helped to
support him as a traveling lecturer, but he
actually permitted him to lecture in one of
his own barns occasionally, and welcomed all
who liked to come and hear him.
Of course this could not go on long without
attracting the notice of those in power, and
before the winter was over Master Saxby was
summoned to appear before the bishop. The
weather was very cold, and the roads almost
impassable with snow, when the summons ar-
rived, and Master Saxby found it impossible
to reach the place which had been appointed
by the bishop by the day named in the sum-
mons.
For this delay he was kept in prison for a
month at his own charge, and, not being pro-
vided with means for this unexpected delay,
and unwilling to vex his wife by what he knew
she looked upon as being caused by his own
folly, he would not send home for any more
money, and so suffered much from the cold,
160 SAX BY.
as well as from the damp, unwholesome prison
where he was lodged.
But, so far from yielding on the point for
which he was imprisoned for he had been
asked if he was prepared to yield obedience
to the bishop in future before he was con-
demned to this punishment, and had refused
so far from yielding now, he was more de-
termined than ever not to wound his own con-
science by a weak compliance to ordinances
he despised, and to a spiritual tyranny growing
more like that of Rome every day.
He obtained the use of a Bible in his prison, -
and would sit for hours poring over the stories
of the old Hebrew worthies, " Who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous-
ness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to
flight the armies of the aliens." And Master
Saxby found the promises made good ; " for
out of weakness " was he " made strong," and
he could look forward with confident hope to
the day when old England, as well as the New
England a handful of brave men were going
to found, would be freed from the spiritual
bondage in which she was now held, and all
Another Citation from the Bishop. 161
her sons be permitted to worship God accord-
ing to the dictates of their own conscience.
But the struggle for this freedom must come
first. He saw that more clearly than ever, and
he, too, must do his small part in maintaining
it. Nothing would be gained, but a step lost
in the onward march, if he yielded now ; and
so, looking on to the victory that must come
by and by, he grew brave and strong in spite
of his meager fare and close imprisonment,
and the bishop found that his spirit had by
no means been broken by this taste of the
rigors of the law. He was certainly disap-
pointed, but, hoping that a few words of warn-
ing as to what he might expect for a second
offense might be more effective than continued
punishment, he imposed a moderate fine, and
when this was paid Master Saxby returned
home, but not to attend his parish church,
or to turn his back on his friend, Master Dray-
ton, but to give more earnest heed in conduct-
ing his household after a godly fashion.
162 SAXBY.
CHAPTER XII.
KING JAMES AND HIS PARLIAMENT.
SPRING came round once more, and in
March Master John Hampden went to
take his seat in Parliament, and his friend,
Master Saxby, journeyed to London with him
to hear all the news about the German war,
and make inquiries about the pilgrims who
had gone to America, and the prospects of the
new colony established there.
The men chosen by the country as their
representatives might have convinced the king
that they were in earnest, and were not likely
to submit even to his kingly authority in the
matter of these unlawful monopolies, and the
secret favor he was showing to the Papists by
his unwillingness to help the struggling Prot-
estants of Germany.
But he thought to intimidate them at their
first sitting, and therefore told them they were
no more than his council to give him advice ;
and as to their anxiety about the Palatinate
and his daughter, who, with her children, had
been turned out of house and home almost
King James and his Parliament. 163
destitute, while her husband was feebly main-
taining the unequal struggle for the Protestant
cause, he was quite as anxious as they were,
and if he could not get the Palatinate re-
stored by fair means his crown, his treasure,
and his blood should be given to restore them.
He then commanded the Parliament not to
waste their time in hunting after grievances,
but to use all dispatch in voting him the
money to commence the war.
Believing the king's protestations, the Com-
mons at once voted him two subsidies, but the
king took no step toward beginning the prom-
ised war; and seeing this, the Commons began
their inquiries about the illegal monopolies on
currants, silver lace, and the licenses granted
to hostelries which were in the hands of Sir
Giles Mompesson and Mitchell, two creatures
of the Duke of Buckingham.
But the king was by no means disposed to
have his favorite's arrangements interfered with
in this way. The country was his estate, and
existed for his pleasure, and if he permitted
Parliament to meet and advise with him upon
its management occasionally, they must be
taught that they could not, and should not,
interfere with his prerogative. This was King
James' view of the situation, and he cut short
164 SAXBY.
their inquiries into grievances, and prorogued
Parliament until the following November, to
give him time to commence the promised war.
So Master John Hampden journeyed back
into Buckinghamshire, by no means averse to
meeting his dear wife and baby daughter again,
but more grave, more anxious, than ever he
had been before. He had held many conver-
sations with Master John Pym, who had al-
ready been in prison for his bold speaking in
Parliament, and it seemed to him now that the
struggle between the king and country was
but beginning, instead of being nearly over,
as he had sometimes hoped it was. Which
would conquer in the end he did not know, for
on the one side was the deep, calm, but ever-
growing desire for more freedom, balanced by
a reverence for kingly authority, and a deep
sense of the duty of obedience to all lawful
authority up to a certain point. On the other
hand there was the obstinate determination to
stretch the limits of kingly prerogative beyond
what had ever been assumed by any sovereign
before. James aimed at nothing less than
being a despotic ruler, while the people were
every day growing less likely to submit to it.
This hasty dissolution of Parliament, so soon
as he could grasp the money voted, was sow-
King James and his Parliament. 165
ing the seed that might yield a bitter harvest
by and by, either to the king or his son, al-
though Hampden hoped, from what he had
heard of Prince Charles, that he would make a
better king than his father, if only this match
with Spain could be broken off.
Master Saxby was returning home again for
the summer, at least, and as they journeyed
along the roads he and Master Hampden dis-
cussed these public affairs, and whether it
would be better to seek a home in the new
country at once, or stay and do what they
could to save their dear native land from fall-
ing under the tyranny of priestcraft again, of
which there seemed such imminent danger.
Master Saxby 's own opinion was, that it
was decidedly his neighbor's duty to stay,
more especially since he could raise his voice
in Parliament, and make one of the band of
brave patriots who had determined to be the
mouth-piece of thousands of their oppressed
countrymen. But for himself he was not so
sure what was the right course to be pursued.
He had been threatened with a second and
heavier fine in case of his non-compliance with
existing laws, and his return to Great Kimble
now might bring upon him a summons from
the bishop and a second term of imprison-
11
166 SAXBY.
mcnt, as well as a fine of some hundreds or
even thousands of pounds ; for this court of
High Commission, like that of the Star-cham-
ber, rarely allowed a victim to escape until it
had ruined him ; and ruin meant worse than
poverty to his children, for it would bring upon
them the unknown power of their ancestor's
curse.
Little wonder was it, therefore, that Master
Saxby was going back to his home in fear and
trembling, or that he longed for the rest and
security of some place where he might worship
God in peace and quietness, though he should
have to work hard and endure many priva-
tions, for the wandering life he would have to
lead now, banished from his home, if he would
save it for his children, was already growing
irksome almost intolerable. True, there was
one way by which he could save himself and
live in peace and security, but the price de-
manded was too high Master Saxby could
not violate his conscience, even for the sake of
peace and rest and security.
Of course his coming home brought as much
pain as pleasure to his wife and sons, for
he still absented himself from church, and
went to hear Master Drayton whenever he
preached in the market-places of the neighbor-
King James and his Parliament. 167
ing towns, which soon set the village talking
again, and made Dame Saxby glance fearfully
and furtively down the road half a dozen times
a 'day in expectation of seeing the bishop's
messenger riding up with another summons,
as he came that sorry day last winter. This
anxious watchfulness on the part of his wife
could not escape Master Saxby long, and it
fretted and worried him more than the fear
of summons itself did.
" If only Harry would come home, dame,
we would go away and leave the lads with the
land, and you and I would find a home for
ourselves in this new colony of America, where
we should no longer be harassed with fear of
bishops' messengers and fines, but might end
our days in peace and rest."
" I never shall know peace and rest again,"
said Dame Saxby, bursting into tears ; " and
as to Harry coming home, what would be the
use of his coming now with a fine madam of a
French wife ? She would ruin every thing in a
twelvemonth. What would she know about a
dairy and our way of managing poultry? and,
after all, why should we depend so much upon
Harry? there is Roger."
Master Saxby looked at his wife in blank
amazement ; for never before would she hear
168 SAXBY.
of Roger being put upon an equality with
their eldest son. This had been his intention
when the boys were young, to divide the land
between them ; but Dame Saxby had instantly
and vehemently opposed it. Harry had been
her darling always, and her partiality had often
been unduly manifest, which, doubtless, had
caused much of the jealousy felt by Roger
against his brother a jealousy which, although
Master Saxby had regarded it as a mere boyish
feeling, had often caused him some anxiety,
and first suggested to him the idea of dividing
the land.
His wife's opposition, however, had pre-
vailed. She generally did contrive to have
her own way in most things, and Harry had
been brought up as the heir to the family
estates, while Roger's future was to himself at
least somewhat uncertain, although his father
had always promised that he should be amply
provided for. Now that Harry had so deeply
offended his mother, it suddenly flashed across
his father's mind that his original plan about
dividing the land might be carried out now,
and he ventured to hint as much to his wife.
She did not notice this part of his sugges-
tion at first, but said sharply, "You must de-
stroy that deed giving the land to Harry be-
King James and Jiis Parliament. 169
fore your death. Let Roger have it. The lad
is steadier now and skillful in managing the
stock, and with a good wife to look after the
dairy, he might "
" Nay, nay, dame, the lads shall divide it
between them. 1 always wished it so, you
know, and I will ride over to Master Hampden
to-morrow and get the deed back. It is hard-
ly just to Harry, perhaps, since he was brought
up to expect all the land ; but he was ever
kind and generous, and will not grudge his
brother his due share. This done, I will go to
London again ; the ' Mayflower ' is expected
to return shortly, and the shipmaster will be
able to tell us all the news about our friends
who have gone to America, and whether the
' Mayflower ' will take out a second party this
year."
" Nay, but you will not think of going to
this New England just yet. Wait awhile until
Parliament meets again, and it may be that
Master Hampden and some of the other Puri-
tan members may persuade the king to alter
the laws that press upon them so heavily."
But her husband shook his head rather
mournfully. " Nay, nay, Moll, we must not
expect this just yet. Many grievances must be
considered, many wrongs set right before this
1 70 SAXBY.
can be reached, and, I fear, each concession
will be wrung from the king only after much
struggling, and it may be much suffering for
those who have made the country's cause their
own."
" Dear heart ! then, if it is to cause so much
trouble, would it not be better to yield at
once, and go to church in a decent fashion,
and listen to the king's ' Book of Sports ' and
all other things he may command."
" Nay, nay, Moll, did you never hear of the
Smithfield fires in Queen Mary's days ? They
do not burn us now, but there is still some
work to do which the martyrs begun. They
died to free our land from the pope at Rome,
and we must struggle to free ourselves from
the popes of the High Commission at West-
minster. TJiey did not talk of yielding because
the warfare might be long and difficult. They
died true to God and what they held to be his
sacred truth, and we must live and struggle
for our right to hold the same."
But Dame Saxby could not sympathize
much in her husband's noble aspirations. Her
one aim was to make life easy and comfort-
able, and serve God after the same fashion if
she could ; so she contrived to turn the con-
versation now by some question about the
King James and his Parliament. 171
harvest and the storing of the winter cheese,
and then, when he spoke of journeying to
London again as soon as the harvest was over,
she persuaded him to promise that he would
not think any thing more about going to
America just yet ; that he would wait and see
how the next Parliament prospered. He could
stay with Master Hampden and learn all par-
ticulars of this, and visit his friends the Mil-
tons, and then, in the spring, they would pay
their promised visit to Huntingdon, and take
Roger with them that he might choose one of
Master Oliver Cromwell's sisters for a wife.
Only, before he returned to London, he must
get back the deed he had lodged with Master
Hampden, and destroy it.
" Nay, nay, dame, I cannot promise to de-
stroy it. I will keep it for the present ; but
the land shall be divided between the lads an
you will," said her husband, and with this
concession Dame Saxby was obliged to be
content.
The next day the parchment making over
the Saxby lands by deed of gift to Harry was
brought home and put away, and then prep-
arations were commenced for Master Saxby's
speedy return to London ; for although the
Parliament did not meet until November, and
i/2 SAXBY.
Master Hampden would not go up until he
was obliged, Dame Saxby's restless fear, though
she never spoke of it, was all too apparent to
her husband, for him to enjoy any peace or
rest. So, as soon as the principal part. of the
harvest was gathered in, he rode away once
more, thankful to escape from his home with-
out a visit from the bishop's messenger, but
feeling sadly like a man banished and doomed
to wander a stranger among strangers for the
rest of his life.
The whole summer had passed, and the
king's promise and the purpose for which he
had received the two subsidies were still unful-
filled. No army had been sent to help the
struggling Protestants of Germany, and all En-
gland was filled with the bitterest discontent ;
for it was pretty generally known now that it
was for fear of offending Spain, that mighty
mistress of Europe, and spoiling his son's
chance of marrying the Infanta, that James
had broken his promise to his subjects, and
well-nigh broken many a father and mother's
heart ; for many had given up their sons, as the
Saxbies had, hoping their king would soon
bring the struggle to a close. But now the
war had already dragged through three years,
and many a brave young Englishman of noble
King James and his Parliament. \ 73
birth, as well as some of her poorer sons, had
left their bones to whiten on those German
battle-fields. And it was to please Spain this
had to be endured. Spain ! their deadly foe,
through whose king the persecution under
Mary had been mainly instigated ; who had
since sent against them the mighty Armada
with the avowed purpose of dethroning their
Protestant queen and handing the kingdom
over to the power of the pope. Was it won-
derful that the heart of England beat with
the bitterest indignation against this Spanish
match ? or that one of the first actions of the
re-assembled Parliament should be to protest
against it ? They drew up a remonstrance,
showing the danger in which the Protestant
religion now stood from the growth and en-
couragement given to Popery, both at home
and abroad ; for, at the request of the Spanish
embassador, many of the laws made against
Papists were allowed to fall into disuse. They
also begged the king to break off this Spanish
match and marry his son to a Protestant prin-
cess, and take up the sword at once for the
recovery of the Palatinate, which would re-
store something of the Protestant balance in
Europe.
But prayers and remonstrances alike proved
r 74 SAXBY.
unavailing. The king indignantly forbade
their meddling with his government or his
son's marriage, and tells them he is at liberty
to punish any man's misdemeanor in Parlia-
ment during its sitting as well as after, which
he warns them he will not spare.
They at once drew up another remonstrance,
insisting upon the laws of the country being
observed and freedom of debate in Parliament.
In his answer the king denied them what they
call their ancient and undoubted right and in-
heritance.
They entered a protestation in their journal
in maintenance of their claim, but the king
tore it out and once more dissolved Parliament.
But in the intervals of this warfare the Com-
mons had contrived to do one or two good
things, which, doubtless, tended to increase
the king's wrath against them. They de-
stroyed several monopolies created by royal
prerogative, and Sir Giles Mompesson and
Edward Villiers, brother of the reigning favor-
ite, fled beyond seas, and were doomed to life-
long banishment. An attempt was also made
to break the power of the Star-chamber, and
check corruption and bribery among judges
and among State officials ; and the lord chan-
cellorthe great Lord Bacon was brought
King James and his Parliament. 175
to trial before the House of Lords, and con-
demned to pay a ruinous fine.
But if the Parliament thus scored a few vic-
tories, their feeling of triumph was but short-
lived, for no sooner were the Houses dissolved
than all the leaders were arrested and thrown
into prison. Sir Edward Coke, Sir Robert
Phillips, Pym, Selden, and Mallory were com-
mitted to the Gate-house. The Earls of Ox-
ford and Southampton were sent to the Tower,
while others were banished to Ireland. Little
wonder was it that Hampden and several oth-
ers who narrowly escaped a similar fate should
return home depressed and dismayed at these
high-handed acts of semi-despotism. What
would be the end of such a struggle as this ?
176 SAXBY.
CHAPTER XIII.
AT THE SIGN OF THE SPREAD EAGLE.
SIX years have passed since the close of our
last chapter six years of alternate hope
and bitterest disappointment for England, and
for Master Saxby, as well as for thousands of
others. King James had been called to render
an account of his stewardship in 1625, and the
nation hoped that the young King Charles
would rule them wisely and well, in spite of
his having taken a Roman Catholic princess
for a wife ; for although the Spanish match,
which had so long been a nightmare to the
whole nation, was at last broken off by the
favorite, Buckingham, arrangements were at
once made for his marriage with Henrietta
Maria, of France, a most bigoted Roman
Catholic. But still, although her influence
over her husband was, doubtless, very great,
Queen Mary as she was called cannot be
charged with having brought all the evils upon
the nation under which they groaned, or even
as much as she was charged with in those
days ; though, doubtless, her extravagance and
At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 1 77
bigotry helped to aggravate the numerous
evils.
This year, 1628, had well-nigh broken the
nation's heart and its faith in the king's plight-
ed word. England would never again be what
it had been, and hundreds of the best and
bravest of her sons were betaking themselves
to the shores whither the little " Mayflower,"
had gone eight years before. Difficulties be-
fore which less resolute men would have given
up in despair had been well-nigh conquered
now, and the brave, unselfish Pilgrim Fathers
had seen the desire of their hearts accom-
plished and a New England founded " where
they could show their countrymen, by their
example, where they might live and comfort-
ably subsist, and, being free from antichristian
bondage, might keep their names and nation
and be a means to enlarge the dominion of the
English State and the Church of Christ also."
Their " countrymen " had shown their appre-
ciation of their effort by going out to the new
colony in increasing numbers each year, until,
at the time of which we are writing, the num-
bers had reached over a thousand a year ; and
these were not from the poorer classes, but
mainly from the most educated, thoughtful,
and refined portion of society. The very
i/8 SAXBY.
flower of the English State and nation were
thus forsaking the mother country for con-
science' sake, and to enjoy that civil and relig-
ious liberty that yearly grew less and less pos-
sible at home.
Master Saxby and his wife were now in Lon-
don, waiting for the sailing of a vessel that was
to take them to New Plymouth, on the other
side of the Atlantic ; for the good man had
been so harassed with fines and imprisonment
during the last two years that Dame Saxby
had at last urged their going before they
should be utterly ruined ; for, in addition to
fines, subsidies were constantly being raised
without the sanction of Parliament, and mo-
nopolieswere imposed upon almost everyarticle
of daily use, besides forced loans, which those
who would not pay were imprisoned for refusing,
and those who could not were forced to serve in
in the army or navy, leaving their families to
starve. The kinghad threatened the Parliament,
which met in March, with " new counsels " be-
cause they had dared to force from him his as-
sent to the " Petition of Right," which was to
secure for every subject personal liberty unless
he had offended against the law of the land.
The " new counsels " appeared in the shape of
a naked despotism. Every thing short of the
At tJic Si ii of the Spread Eagle. 179
absolute surrender of the subject to the mus-
kets of the soldiery was resorted to, and had
the king any military force on which he could
rely, he would at once have thrown off the
mask and governed without any regard to par-
liamentary privileges. But his army was new-
levied, ill-paid, and worse disciplined, and no-
wise superior to the militia, who were much
more numerous and were under the influence
of the country gentlemen, who, instead of being
subservient to the king and the commands
which he issued through the pulpits of the
country, dared to refuse to lend their money
unjustly, though arrest and imprisonment fol-
lowed. Every patriot had known something
of this experience by this time, and it was well
that gentle Dame Hampden and her husband
had counted the cost of his going to Parlia-
ment, or he would long ago have given up what
must have often seemed a vain struggle, and
settled down to the easy life which his wealth
and position entitled him to enjoy.
How often had he come home weary, jaded,
almost despairing, to be cheered by the brave,
gentle wife and his family of growing boys
and girls ! Had he wanted an excuse to aban-
don his post and leave his bleeding country
to the mercy of the oppressor, he might have
i So SAXBY.
found it in the demands his growing family
had upon his time and care, but neither he
nor his friend, John Pym, ever thought of giv-
ing up the struggle. It might be a forlorn
hope they were leading, for all the remon-
strances, petitions, and protestations were pow-
erless to move the king to redress the wrongs
of the country, and while the court grew more
extravagant and corrupt every day, a more
grinding taxation was imposed to maintain it.
Who could blame those who, like Master Sax-
by, fled from the country to save themselves
from utter ruin? Master Hampden did not,
although he refused to cast in his lot with
them just yet. By and by, perhaps, if things
grew utterly hopeless, he and his friends, Lord
Say, and Lord Brook, and his cousin, Oliver
Cromwell, would go to America. Lord Say
and Lord Brook were already so far anticipat-
ing that time as to negotiate for the purchase
of some land and the building of some houses,
which were to form the nucleus of a town, to
be called after them Saybrook. But not yet
would they abandon their posts.
Master Saxby urged that things could not
be worse than they were, for the king had
broken his pledged word, and copies of this
famous " Petition of Right " were printed by
At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 181
the king's order containing his first assent,
which had been refused by Parliament as too
indefinite, and omitting altogether his second,
which, had been wrung from him with so much
trouble, and which alone made it binding.
Then again, since Parliament had been pro-
rogued, fresh monopolies had been imposed,
and several friends on the patriots' side had
been won over to the king's party. News had
just reached them of the parting of Pym and
his dearest friend in Parliament, Sir Thomas
Wentworth. Pym was neither to be bribed
or frightened into forsaking his party; but it
well-nigh broke his heart, and he knew the
defection of such an able leader as Wentworth
would be a heavy blow to their party. The
news of that parting at Greenwich, and Pym's
words of warning to his friend," You are going
to be undone, and remember that, though you
are going to leave us, I will never leave you
while your head is upon your shoulders ! "
These and all the attendant circumstances of
that parting were whispered and treasured in
men's minds ; some wondering whether Pym,
too, would turn traitor and betray his friends.
But, though this year brought such bitter
trials and cruel defections among the ranks .of
the patriots, it brought them also a little hope
12
1 82 SAXBY.
and encouragement in the election of Oliver
Cromwell for Huntingdon. None but Hamp-
den, perhaps, knew the value this plain coun-
try farmer was likely to prove to their party.
Some deemed him scarcely worth notice in his
country-cut, clumsily-made clothes, his collar
tumbled and none too clean ; but they knew
and valued the opinion of John Hampden, the
finished scholar and perfect gentleman ; and
when he told them there was more in his un-
polished cousin than they dreamed of, they
took his word, and Cromwell was admitted to
the special coteries and councils that were
held at Pym's house, in Gray's Inn Lane, and
Sir Robert Cotton's library, in Westminster.
These were the favorite meeting-places of the
patriots, and the latter was of untold value
to them, for Sir Robert possessed one of the
most valuable libraries in the kingdom, and
here they could study points of law touching
constitutional right and kingly prerogative
such as few other books would afford. All
the remonstrances and petitions in this dire
struggle were but for the re-establishment
of constitutional right, and the patriots were
most careful to abide by the law in all that
they did.
But it is time now that we turn to some
At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 183
of our old friends gathered at the sign of the
Spread Eagle, in Broad -street, for Master
Saxby was staying here as the friend of the
scrivener, John Milton, as being the only way
he was likely to escape fresh trouble. An arbi-
trary command had been issued by the king
ordering all gentlemen having homes in the
country to live there and leave London. To
compel obedience, tavern keepers were for-
bidden to sell cooked meat, and no hostelry
might supply more than one meal to a trav-
eler.
So, instead of going to Shakspeare's " Mer-
maid," as he usually did, Master Saxby was
accommodated at his friend's opposite ; for
young John was at Cambridge now, studying
with a view to enter the Church by and by.
The scrivener was very proud of his son, who
already gave promise of being not only a
learned, but a rarely gifted man, for he had
already gained for himself some notice among
his father's friends by the poetry he had writ-
ten. One hymn, which, with a few slight
alterations, now finds its way into many a
modern hymn book, had been written about
five years before, when he was a lad of fif-
teen ; and now as the friends gathered in the
pleasant keeping-room over the shop, Master
1 84 SAXBY.
Stocke proposed that they should have a little
music first, and sing Master John's hymn.
The fond father and mother were nothing
loth, and the old scrivener seated himself at
the organ, and they all joined in singing
" John's Hymn : "
" Let us with a gladsome mind
Praise the Lord, for he is kind,
For his mercies aye endure,
Ever faithful, ever sure."
When the hymn was sung the friends natu-
rally fell to talking of the writer and his future
prospects, and then of the Church and the
growth of Arminianism and Popery, which the
new Bishop of London, Laud, was doing so
much to promote. Church and State were
working together now to put down all free-
dom of thought and action, and the Puritans
of London knew that they had little favor to
expect from their new Bishop, whose sole aim
was to bring the Church into strict conformity
with his ideal of what the ritual and doctrine
of a Church should be. He was sincere and
devout, but narrow-minded and bigoted ; spoke
of the Reformation as a deformation, and at
once set about bringing back some of the
Romish practices that had been swept away.
Master Stocke, the minister of Allhallows,
At t/te Sign of the Spread Eagle. 185
had received notice to rail off the chancel of
the church, and place a table altarwise within
the rails, around which communicants were to
kneel when they partook of the sacrament, in-
stead of standing or sitting round the long
movable table, as had hitherto been the cus-
tom among Puritan congregations. Master
Milton and his gentle wife looked amazed and
shocked. " So soon ! " uttered the scrivener.
"What do you propose to do, Master Stocke?"
" Nothing. I cannot wound my own con-
science, and the conscience of my people, by
setting up Popery and the worship of the
mass in their midst ; and what is it less than
that?"
" Ah, ah, we in country parishes have long
groaned under this bondage," said Master
Saxby.
" Will you not appeal to the Archbishop ?
It is well known that godly Master Abbot has
no favor to Arminianism ; and these high-
Church notions of Bishop Laud, who would
fain have made himself Pope when he was but
Dean of Gloucester, cannot be borne here in
London."
" I might appeal, but 'tis well known that
the archbishop is in no favor at court now, for
his leaning to Puritanism ; and his age and in-
1 86 SAXBY.
firmities will be an excuse for investing our
* c>
new bishop with the power of the primate be-
fore he shall succeed to that office," said Mas-
ter Stocke, with a deep-drawn sigh.
" Then Parliament must appeal when it shall
meet again, in October," said Master Milton.
"The Parliament is determined to proceed
in its impeachment of Buckingham, as the
primary cause of all our troubles, and also of
our helping those who sought to crush our
Protestant brethren of France in their last
stronghold of Rochelle."
" Nay, nay, but we did not crush them, and
we are now about to help them. The duke
has even now gone to their relief; he left
London this morning, to sail with the fleet
which lies at Portsmouth waiting his arrival."
" The duke has gone to gratify his personal
revenge against the French Cardinal Richelieu,
and the most effectual blow can be struck at
him by helping the Huguenots in their last
struggle for religious liberty," said Master
Stocke.
" Ah, ah, when the great duke was friendly
with the court of France we were compelled
to send our fleet against these poor Rochellers,
and but for the one Protestant heart that beat
in every sailor's bosom, England would have
At the Sign of the Spread Eagle. 187
earned for herself the undying infamy of hav-
ing crushed these noble Huguenots. But,
thank God, we were saved from this shame
and disaster by the mutiny of our brave sailors,
who, to a man, declared they would not fight
against their Protestant brethren."
" Ah, Master Saxby, you may well say we
were saved from that shame, but what have
we done to help the struggling Protestants of
Europe," said Master Stocke, as he pulled from
his pocket a printed sheet. " The Corantes,"
it was called, and was the first English news-
paper published. It gave the latest intelli-
gence about the German war, and this was all
it dared to do ; for home politics and the do-
ings of court and Parliament dare not be men-
tioned. Already several brave men had been
imprisoned for daring to question the doings
of the queen and court, and the decisions of
the court of Star-chamber. But news of the
German war was gladly welcomed ; for, apart
from the national interest in the struggle, so
many had friends and relatives fighting in the
cause of freedom that, like Master Saxby now,
they forgot all else for the time in their eager-
ness to read Butter's " Corantes."
" We may hear of Harry now, before we go,
dame," whispered Master Saxby to his wife,
1 88 SAXBY.
as the minister prepared to read aloud some
of the latest items of news. This awful war,
which had already raged for eight years, and
was destined to last for twenty-two years long-
er, had desolated some of the fairest provinces
of Germany, and famine and sickness had fol-
lowed in its train ; so that this sheet of foreign
news was but the recapitulation of skirmishes,
battles, sieges, retreats and victories, sickness
and death. Regiments engaged, and the names
of some who had died or distinguished them-
selves, were often mentioned, and once Master
Saxby had the joy of seeing Harry's name
mentioned in terms of the highest commenda-
tion for some deed of heroism, by which a party
of women and children refugees from some
neighboring town were saved from death, by
his prompt and brave activity.
But there was no mention of Harry, or his
regiment either, to-day, and when a little time
had been given to the discussion of what had
been read, Master Stocke opened the great
Bible that had been placed before him, and
read a portion of God's word, so dear to every
Puritan heart and lover of freedom the old
heroic days of the children of Israel, when
they were ruled by judges, who were first their
deliverers.
A Strange Meeting. 189
CHAPTER XIV.
A STRANGE MEETING.
PORTSMOUTH was full of visitors when
our friend, Master Saxby, reached there ;
for the fleet had not yet sailed, but lay in the
offing, waiting the embarkation of the Duke
of Buckingham, who was to lead them to the
relief of the struggling French Protestants
besieged in Rochelle. But that embarkation
was never to take place. While Master Saxby
was inquiring for lodgings at a quiet hostelry
in the outskirts of the town, a traveler came
in bringing news that the duke had been
murdered.
" Murdered!" exclaimed half a dozen voices.
" Ay, stabbed to the heart ; but they have
taken the wretch, who scarcely tried to escape,"
said the informant.
" He is one of these Puritans, doubtless, who
thinks he has done a good deed, and is willing
to be a martyr."
" Nay, nay, friend, these are not Puritan
ways, to stab even an enemy," said Master
Saxby, warmly.
1 90 SAXBY.
" But you cannot deny that the Puritans in
Parliament meant to impeach the duke of
treason, and I know not what," said the man,
in a swaggering tone.
"The duke would, doubtless, have been
called to account for many things which he
has caused to be done against the laws of this
realm, but he would have been judged accord-
ing to law, which the Puritans are struggling
to uphold," replied Master Saxby.
" Ah, well, the Parliament is saved a troub-
lesome piece of work, and the fellow might
have killed many a better man," said another,
carelessly.
This last opinion seemed to express the
feelings of most of those present, although
several went out at once to ascertain if the re-
port of this murder was true, and gather fur-
ther particulars about it.
While they had been talking another party
of travelers had come in a young gentleman,
evidently just returned from foreign travel,
two or three servants, and two children. The
gentleman wanted accommodation for the serv-
ants, children, and luggage that had been left
on the ship. He himself was anxious to jour-
ney to London at once, but the children re-
quired rest before they journeyed farther, and
A Strange Meeting. 191
the servants would bring them on by easy
stages a day or two later. While the gentle-
man was arranging with the landlord, Dame
Saxby tried to enter into conversation with
the children, but she found they could not
speak a word of English.
This evidently surprised and disappointed
the elderly lady, and she said to her husband,
" They certainly look like English children in
spite of their outlandish clothes, and the little
girl is just like what our Harry used to be."
Master Saxby glanced carelessly at the chil-
dren, but something in the little girl's face
in the expression of her eyes, reminded him so
forcibly of what his eldest son had been, as a
child, that he, too, stooped down and spoke to
her. But the child only shook her head and
turned to her brother for protection against
these strangers.; and he, sheltering his little
sister, turned such a look of angry defiance
upon them, that Master Saxby gave up the
attempt to become friendly with them. A
little later he asked the landlord who his guests
were, and was told that the gentleman was
Master Harry Vane, who was returning from
Geneva, where he had been studying for a year.
From the servants he learned that their
master's family were about the court ; his fa-
i g2 SAXBY.
ther, Sir Harry Vane, being comptroller of the
king's household. So Master Saxby had little
doubt but that the gentleman had hurried
away in consequence of the duke's death, about
which there was no doubt now.
If Master Saxby could only have known
that it was himself the gentleman was anxious
to see ; that his journey to London was but a
stage on his way to Great Kimble to arrange
for the arrival of the children at their paternal
home ! Ah, if Dame Saxby could only have
known that the little girl, who had so strange-
ly interested her, was her dear son's mother-
less child, how it would have altered all their
plans for the future.
But they knew nothing of all this, and so
went on board the little vessel next day that
was to carry them to the New World, leaving
Portsmouth in greater excitement than ever,
and the two children eagerly watching the busy
crowds in the streets, and condescending to
nod a farewell in response to Dame Saxby as
she cast a last lingering look at the dear little
face framed in the quaint cap of the period,
and pressed against the diamond panes of the
casement over the gate-way of the hostelry.
An hour or two after the departure of Master
Saxby and his wife a servant entered the room
A Strange Meeting. 193
where the two children were still standing at the
window. " Master Rupert, the horses will be
ready at six to-morrow morning, and we may
continue our journey an you will ; but my
master bade that you should not be hurried,
and so if you would rest here longer we can
tarry until Thursday."
The man spoke in German, and the boy an-
swered him in the same language, with the air
of one used to control his own actions and or-
der others. " We will journey forward," he
said shortly, and then turned to his sister again.
He could scarcely have been more than six,
but looked eight or ten years old, and the
grave protective air with which he drew his
sister toward him was very touching. She
laid her little head on his shoulder and looked
at him with her sweet blue eyes, and said, in
a half whisper, " I wonder what it will all be
like, Rupert, this new home? Shall we be
strangers there like we are here?"
The boy shook his head gravely. " I don't
know what it will be like, but it cant be home,
you know ; no place can be that any more
here, now dear mamma has gone to the bright
home above the sky."
" But father said our English grandmother
would be kind, and we should live in a nice
194 SAXBY.
home where we should never be afraid of rude
soldiers coming, or have to move away for fear
of the town being burned, as we had to do
when mamma was ill."
Rupert sighed such an old sigh for a child !
" I am afraid war is a very bad thing for peo-
ple," he said.
" But father is a soldier, and mamma told us
he was the best man that ever lived," exclaimed
his sister.
" Yes, yes, that's true enough, and I want
to be a man to go and help my father in the
battles ; for I've heard him say it is a noble
thing to fight and struggle for the right ; but
still I can't help thinking that war is bad, for
it killed our dear mamma, you know. She
would not have died if we had not been
obliged to move in such a hurry, just when
she was so ill."
" We won't talk about war, then, if it is bad,
for I don't like bad things. What do you
think grandmother's house will be like, Ru-
pert?"
" Father said it was a farm-house, with fields
all round it, and a herb garden, and cows and
chickens. You will like the chickens, Winny."
" Will they be like our own dear little Ger-
man hens, with feathers all over them ? "
A Strange Meeting. 195
Rupert laughed. " Of course they will. I
suppose English chickens do have feathers all
over them," he said, turning to the servant,
who came in at that moment.
" O yes, sir, they are pretty much alike
every-where," he said.
" Then you will feel quite at home with the
chickens, Winny," said her brother ; and then
they began to conjecture what the house would
be like, and the English uncles Roger and
Lawrence, and the grandfather and grand-
mother, who were to be as parents to them un-
til the war should be over, and their father
could come and claim them again. Little did
they think they had already seen their English
relatives about whom they had talked so much
lately.
Master Vane was almost a stranger to them,
and his servants too. They only knew him as
a friend of their father's, who had offered to
bring them to England and place them in the
care of friends ; and in the disturbed state of
the country Harry Saxby had thankfully ac-
cepted the offer, sending letters and every
thing necessary by the hand of Master Vane,
and never doubting but that his children would
be as eagerly welcomed in his old home as he
himself would have been.
196 SAXBY.
It had been arranged between the servants
and their master that they should go direct to
his father's house upon their arrival in London,
and there wait his return from Buckingham-
shire, if he was not there to meet them. But,
in the present excited state of London, it was
no easy matter to reach the Strand, where the
mansion of Sir Harry Vane was situated, and
the crowds of strange-looking people fright-
ened the children so much that when at last
they reached their destination the sight of a
kind, gentle, womanly face quite overcame
them. The lady happened to be passing
through the great hall, and, thinking she must
be the grandmother who was to be so kind to
them, little Winny threw herself into her arms
and burst into tears ; while Rupert, quite for-
getting himself and feeling that their haven
of rest was reached at last, hid his face in the
elegant skirt of her dress and murmured, " O,
mamma ! mamma ! "
The lady looked down at the children and
then across at the servants strangers to her,
but wearing the badge of the Vanes.
" Prithee, now, tell me who are these chil-
dren ? " she said, tenderly soothing little
Winny, and laying her hand on Rupert's head.
The servant advanced a step or two and ex-
The Children Find a Friend.
A Strange Meeting. 199
plained that they had been committed to his
master's charge by an English officer serving
in the German war, and he had gone to Buck-
inghamshire to prepare their relatives for their
arrival.
" Poor little strangers ! And so you mis-
took me for your mamma, my boy ? " she said,
patting Rupert's head.
The servant explained that they did not un-
derstand English, as Rupert looked up won-
deringly in her face.
" Can they speak French ? " she said, and,
without waiting for the servant's answer, she
asked if they were tired in that language,
which was in such general use among the la-
dies of the court now that most of them could
speak it quite fluently.
It was his mother's tongue, and the sound
of the dear, familiar words again overcame him
more even than his fright at the strange crowds
in the streets, and he answered with quivering
lips, adding that his mother had been a noble
French lady.
" Come, then, with me to my own room, and
you shall tell me all about your mother," she
said ; and she led the children away, talking to
them in French, and leaving the servant to
dispose of the luggage and find his master.
13
200 SAXBY.
But Master Harry Vane had not returned
from his journey to Buckinghamshire, and his
father was so occupied by his duties at court,
and Lady Vane in as close attendance upon
the queen, that little notice would have been
taken of the children if it had not been for
Dame Meredith, a widowed cousin of Lady
Vane, who usually made her residence with
the Vanes when she came to court.
To this wealthy, childless widow the moth-
erless children became a well-spring of delight,
and they became almost as strongly attached
to her. There was a tender motherliness about
her that constantly reminded the children of
their own mother, while the stately court man-
ners, the elegance of her dress, and even the
soft, faded beauty of her face, were a perfect
fascination to Rupert. He soon began to un-
derstand, even before she explained it, that
this could not be the English grandmother
who took care of the chickens and made cheese
and butter ; for this lady had a maid to dress
her and another to wait upon her, and seemed
to do nothing for herself except kneel and
pray in the little oratory that opened out of
her private sitting-room.
Rupert and Winifred had been taken there
the second day after their arrival, as soon as
A Strange Meeting, 201
the lady knew that they had been taught to
pray. It was a very beautiful little room, Ru-
pert thought, with its purple velvet-cushioned
chairs, and the tiny altar with the silver can-
dlesticks, and the handsomely-bound prayer
book lying between ; but when the lady led
them forward, and told them to kneel and
thank God for bringing them safely to En-
gland and to friends, Rupert drew back quick-
ly, and would have pulled his sister away, too,
but Winny had fallen on her knees, and cov-
ered her face with her little hands, as she used
to do at her mother's knee.
" And why did not you kneel, Rupert ? "
asked the lady a little sternly when they
stepped into the outer room again.
" My father has taught me never to pray to
any image," said the boy. " We are Protest-
ants, and I mean to fight against the Pope and
every body that worships him by and by."
" But I do not worship the Pope, dear child.
The little crucifix above the prayer book in
there is but to assist me in my devotions; and
surely we are right in using all the helps we
can get to worship God ' in the beauty of
holiness.' "
" I have looked into some of the Popish
Churches in Germany, and they looked very
202 SAXBY.
beautiful, and the priests were dressed in
robes of white and red, and there were lights
and glittering gold; but my father did not say
the people went there to worship God ' in the
beauty of holiness/ but said these beautiful
things did but hide God and make people for-
get him ; and Master Vane told us the same as
we were journeying to England."
" Master Vane has strange notions about
many things," said the lady. " Not that I
think him wrong in this, or your father either.
You have only made a mistake in thinking my
little oratory like the grand Popish churches.
I am not a Papist, as Harry well knows, but
love the Church of England, and long to see
it restored to something like what our new
godly Bishop Laud believes it will be."
It puzzled Rupert a little to account for the
difference in the mode of worship adopted by
the Church of England at home and abroad.
During his father's visits at home, when his
regiment had been in the neighborhood of
where they lived, he had been accustomed to
go with him to what was known as " the En-
glish Church," but there had been no ivory and
gold crucifix, or fringed velvet-covered altar
there ; a few plain deal seats, a reading-desk,
and a movable table, where his father and a
A Strange Meeting. 203
few others took their seats at one part of the
service. This was Rupert's recollection of
that English Church, and being an observant,
thoughtful child, he was not likely to forget it
or to fail to contrast it with Dame Meredith's
oratory, where she spent many an hour of the
day, leaving them to amuse themselves in the
garden, watching the boats pass to and fro on
the Thames, or to be amused by one of her
maids, but to no other servant than her own
attendants were the children now allowed to
speak.
204 SAXBY.
CHAPTER XV.
DAME MEREDITH.
THE movements of Master Harry Vane
were of small moment to his father just
now. He had seen him immediately upon his
arrival in London, and knew, therefore, that
he was safe ; but the bustle incident upon the
murder of the Duke of Buckingham, who had
always been the reigning favorite of King
Charles, as well as his father, absorbed Sir
Harry's attention just now.
He may have heard of the arrival of the
two children, but this addition to his large
household was nothing to him, and so nearly a
fortnight passed before Master Harry Vane's
return, but no one commented upon it except
his own personal attendants, and they won-
dered where their master could be. His aunt,
who loved her nephew as much perhaps more
than his own mother did begin to grow anx-
ious for his return, although at the same time
she dreaded it as the signal for her separation
from the children who had so strangely wound
themselves round her widowed heart. The day
Dame Meredith. 205
came at last, however, when Master Harry's
footstep was heard along the corridor leading
to his aunt's suite of apartments, and he met
the stately lady with the same affectionate
deference that he had felt for her as long as
he could remember.
" You look troubled, Harry," said his aunt
as soon as he was seated.
" I am troubled, dear aunt, for these chil-
dren's relatives will have nought to do with
them."
" I am glad, very glad," said Dame Mere-
dith, quickly, " for now I can keep them all to
myself, and that is what I have been longing
to do ever since they have been in the house."
A smile passed over the grave face of the
young man as his aunt said this. " I know
not whether this may be," he said, " but I will
write to Master Saxby, and tell him how ill \
have sped on my errand to his home."
" His father and mother refused to take the
sweet children ? " asked the lady.
" Nay, nay ; his father and mother have
gone to America. I stayed some days with a
neighbor who knew them well, Master John
Hampden, a most courteous and honorable
gentleman, who told me much about these
Saxbys, and this Roger, who is in possession
206 SAXBY.
of the old farm a churlish and evil man, I
trow he must be."
" Hampden, did you say this gentleman's
name was?" asked Dame Meredith.
" Yes, aunt. Do you know aught of him ? "
" I think I have heard his name, as well as
that of Pym, as a most bitter malcontent, and
so I hope, Harry, you will have no more to do
with him. I will take good care of the chil-
dren, and do you return to Oxford without
further trouble concerning them."
But the lad he was scarcely more than a
lad, hardly seventeen although the gentle
gravity of his face made him look much older,
shook his head as he said, " I want to talk to
you, aunt, about this same Oxford business;
you understand me better than any one else,
I think."
" I trust this holiday trip to Geneva has not
put you out of conceit of your own university,
Harry," said the lady.
" Nay, nay, aunt, you know I never had any
liking for the society I met with there, and
you, yourself, said my father did but send me
that I might forget the serious thoughts I
have had of late, and deny the Lord who hath
redeemed me from the sin and the evil of the
world."
Dame Meredith. 207
" Well, well, Harry, your father does not
understand these matters, but he wishes you
well, and fears such seriousness will stand in
your way at court."
" I shall never be a courtier," said Harry
decidedly, "for I cannot take the oath of alle-
giance and supremacy even to matriculate,
and"
" Harry, Harry, anger not your father by
such whimsies; nay, it is worse, 'tis next to
treason to refuse allegiance to your king," said
the lady, excitedly.
" I was afraid it would grieve you, aunt, to
hear what I had to say; 'but you understood
all my doubts and fears and hopes and "
" Yes, yes, your desire to live a pure and
godly life I understand well enough, and I
have told your father and mother that they
ought to thank God that you have given up
the follies of the world, and run not to the
excess of riot so many do in these days ; but
this, Harry I cannot understand this whim-
sey," and the lady shook her head sadly.
Harry Vane looked scarcely less distressed,
for he loved his aunt very dearly, and it was
mainly through her influence and example that
he had been led to decide for God thus early ;
but while Dame Meredith had been living with
208 SAXBY.
her prayer book and oratory, and giving her-
self up to the teaching and guidance of Bishop
Laud, her nephew had been watching another
pattern of the " beauty of holiness " differing
altogether from the bishop's ideal concerning
rites and ceremonies and ritual. His friend
and school-fellow, Arthur Hazelrig, had intro-
duced him to Puritan friends, and now this
short stay with Hampden and Pym had con-
firmed him in his liking for the plain, simple,
unadorned service of the Puritans, while the
lives and bearing of the men he had met with
among these new friends, contrasting so strong-
ly with the self-seeking displayed by almost
all he had ever met before, could not but im-
press the deeply-observant mind of young
Vane.
But trouble would come of it he knew. His
father was fully aware of his rare ability, and
was anxious that he should push his fortunes
at court as soon as possible, and he had been
sent to Oxford to learn a few fashionable vices,
that he might hold his own among the witty
young court gallants. But a residence of a few
months as gentleman commoner had been
enough for Harry, and his trip to the conti-
nent had only made him more anxious to spend
a year at Geneva instead of Oxford. He wanted
Dame Meredith. 209
his aunt to undertake the difficult business of
\vinning his father's consent to this plan.
" But I don't like it myself, Harry," said the
lady, after he had spent some time explaining
and persuading her to see things as he did.
" All these Puritans talk about is the making
of our beloved Church after the pattern of
that at Geneva, and your friendship for these
malcontents will not fail to anger your father,
especially if he should hear of your visit to
this Hampden. I believe he was one of those
imprisoned for refusing the king's loan, and
only lately released."
" Yes, he was one of those brave men,"
quietly answered Harry.
. " Brave you call it ! I should say disloyal,"
retorted his aunt.
" Now, aunt, don't you be angry with me.
You have always been my good friend, and I
trust to you to smooth the way with my fa-
ther. I wish you could see and know this
Master Hampden and his friend Pym," he
suddenly added.
" Why should you wish it ? Is not one mal-
content enough in a loyal family ? "
" You would not call them malcontents if
you could only see and know them. I did
wish you could kneel with me when all the
2io SAXBY.
family gathered together in the keeping-room
for prayers and reading God's word. It seemed
like the patriarchal times over again, when the
father was the king and priest, and brought
all his family and servants to receive God's
blessing. The lives of these men are in accord
with their prayers ; and so far from being
law-breakers, they do but seek to uphold the
law against those who would trample it under
foot."
" Harry, Harry, I believe you are more than
half a Puritan yourself," said the lady in
dismay.
" Dear aunt, you would be the same if you
had seen what I have," said Harry, without
denying the imputation. She looked at him
in his handsome slashed doublet and long,
curling hair, and thought what heights of fame
and honor he might reach if only he were more
pliant, more yielding and worldly ; but she
knew him well enough to feel assured that if
once he ranged himself on the side of the
" country party," as it was called, wealth,
honor, fame, ease all that could tempt a man
in this life would be spurned at the dic-
tates of conscience ; and she set herself at
once to the task of undoing the mischief she
feared had already gone too far. This visit to
Dame Meredith. 2 1 1
Hampden about the young Saxbys had brought
down the wavering balance on the wrong side,
and she must rectify it if she possibly could.
So she appealed to the lad's loyalty and per-
sonal liking for the king, and his love for mother
and father and brothers and sisters, whose in-
terests would all be injured, she said, if he
ranged himself among the enemies of the
king and court. But, although he was deeply
touched, young Vane could not be brought to
yield. " It is as much a matter of conscience
and of right as serving God. Nay, nay, it is
serving God in another way," he added.
" But what have these men to complain of? "
demanded Dame Meredith. " We have plen-
tiful harvests, our commerce is large and flour-
ishing, and if taxes are somewhat high, the
people can afford to pay them, for they never
were so well off before as they are now. What
have they to complain of, Harry?" she re-
peated.
" Why, this, aunt, that they are slowly but
surely being robbed of their liberty ; that the
king assumes more and more power to himself
as the right of his prerogative, and the whole
realm is treated as though it were an estate
to be farmed for his benefit ; and last, but not
least, that the Reformation in England has
SAXBY.
been arrested before it has accomplished all
that it has done for the Church of Geneva in
purifying it from Roman mummeries."
" But, my dear, our learned and holy Bish-
op Laud says that much that was done by
these Reformers in the days of King Harry
was a deformation, and he would fain bring
back"
" The Roman ritual," interrupted Harry.
" I heard of the rejoicing at Rome, and how
the Pope was preparing to welcome us as a
Roman Catholic nation once more."
" My dear, the Pope is mistaken, but it is
not very wonderful, for Queen 'Mary here made
the same mistake, while others felt equally
afraid of what the bishop was teaching ; but
men's minds are set at rest now, for it is only
in a few outward observances that he would
alter our Church services to make them accord
with that ' beauty of holiness ' he is so anxious
to bring back to our beloved Church. Ah, if
the good bishop could only have his way in
every thing ! " sighed the lady.
" He and the king would divide the power
between them. He would uphold the king in
all his unconstitutional attempts to rob the
people of their civil liberty, while the king
would aid him to create himself another pope
Dame Meredith. 2 1 3
in spiritual matters. A whisper of this has al-
ready gone abroad ; that he will take Buck-
ingham's place as the king's adviser ; but they
must be careful, for such men as Hampden
and Pym and Sir John Eliot are not to be
trifled with, and liberty is dearer than wealth
or fame to any true Englishman."
Further conversation, however, was stopped
by a little cough from Rupert Saxby, which
was the first intimation they had received of
the children being in the room. Harry Vane
held out his hand and beckoned the boy for-
ward. " How would you like to stay here,
Rupert, with this lady ? " he asked.
The boy looked at him, and then at Dame
Meredith. " I should like to go to my gran-
dam, I think. Winny wants to see the cows
and hens," he said.
" Winny shall see cows and hens and have
a little white lamb to play with when we go
to Raby Castle," said the lady, coaxingly, and
drawing Winny close to her.
f "Will it be my very own?" whispered the
little girl, raising her sweet mouth to be kissed.
" Yes, darling, your very own. You will stay
with me always, wont you?" almost begged
the lady.
For answer, Winny threw her arms round
214 SAXBY.
the lady's neck, whispering, " Yes, I will stay,
if Rupert may stay with me."
" And what says Master Rupert ? " asked
Harry Vane, looking into the boy's grave, ear-
nest eyes.
" My father said I was to go to my grand-
dame," said the boy, dubiously.
"Yes, my lad, he did; and I would have
taken you ere now, as I promised your father,
but these good friends of yours have gone to
America. I saw a noble gentleman, their
neighbor and friend, who told me all about it.
Master Hampden knew your father too, and I
have promised to take you to see him one day ;
but, for the present, it must content you to
abide here with your sister. This dear lady,
my aunt, will take good care of you both.
Will it content you to stay?"
" Would my father wish it, sir?" asked Ru-
pert, thinking of Dame Meredith's oratory,
which he persisted in esteeming a popish
chapel.
" Yes, my boy, I am sure your father will be
glad to hear you have found a good home
and kind friends in England, for he cannot
take care of you himself in Germany, while
he is fighting with the brave King Gustavus
Adolphus."
Dame Meredith. 215
" And may I learn to be a soldier while I
am here?" asked Rupert.
" I hope you will learn many things besides
the duty of a soldier, my boy; my aunt will see
to all these things for you," added Harry Vane.
" But I must learn to be a soldier to help
my father in the battles ; for he is fighting for
the truth of God and liberty of conscience, as
well as for the elector against the Pope and
emperor," said Rupert, quickly.
" Well, my boy, if this long war lasts so long,
I hope you will be a brave true soldier, like
your father; but, you know, that since the
brave King Gustavus has come to their help
they have gained so many victories that we
are hoping this dreadful war will soon be over,
and then your father and many other English
gentlemen will return home."
" If it will content you better you shall learn
the use of sword and single-stick and all mar-
tial exercises," said Dame Meredith ; " and at
our castle of Raby you will meet with many
old men who have been soldiers, like your
father, and they will teach you many things
of that icind an you want to learn."
" And you shall see my pretty white lamb,
Rupert," added his sister, from her cozy seat
on Dame Meredith's lap.
14
216 SAXBY.
So the matter was settled, and so far rati-
fied by the children themselves. A week or
two later Harry sent a letter by special mes-
senger to Captain Saxby, telling him of his
parents' departure for the new colony of Amer-
ica, and the adoption of the children by his
aunt, until he could return and claim them;
adding, however, that he had at last gained his
father's permission to spend a year at Geneva,
and would bring the children with him when
he journeyed thither if he wished it ; at the
same time advising that they should be left
with their kind friend, as they were very happy
and well content to stay.
Harry Vane. 217
CHAPTER XVI.
HARRY VANE.
CAPTAIN SAXBY heard of the depart-
^ ' ure of his parents for the new colony in
America before Master Harry Vane's letter
reached him. Master Saxby had written a
day or two before he left England, and the
letter had followed the march of the conquer-
ing army of Gustavus Adolphus, but at rather
a slow rate ; so that it was only a short time
before Harry Vane's messenger reached him
that his father's letter came to hand.
Of course, he could not have his children
with him, and so he wisely decided to let them
remain with their new-found friends. Before,
therefore, Harry Vane departed for Geneva
Rupert and Winny went with Dame Meredith
to Raby Castle, in Durham. But they did not
remain there long, for Dame Meredith fancied
it did not suit little Winny to live in the bleak
North, so they removed to London again, and
then to the lady's own house, at Hadlow, in
Kent, where the Vanes also had a country-
seat, and where the children usually resided.
2 1 8 SAXBY.
They were living here when Harry returned
from Geneva the following year, bringing news
of their father and the German war, but little
hope of its speedy close as yet. The day that
he arrived Winny was in sad trouble. She had
been helping Dame Meredith in washing and
clear starching that lady's laces and ruffles, and
now her little fingers were smarting and tingling
from the soap. Dame Meredith was trying to
soothe her, and allay the pain of her inflamed fin-
gers, when her nephew Harry was announced.
" Why, how now, my little wench," said the
young man, stooping to the little girl as she
sat in his aunt's lap.
Dame Meredith seemed upon the point of
crying, too, as she held up the little inflamed
fingers for him to look at.
" Did you ever see any thing so dreadful,
Harry? And it is all through that new soap
that we are obliged to use."
" New soap," repeated Harry Vane in some
bewilderment.
" Yes, my dear, have you not heard what an
ado all the washerwomen are making about it?
Last week the Lord Mayor and governor of
the Tower had two grand washing-days at
Guildhall, one day with the old soap and the
next with the new."
Harry Vane. 219
Harry looked at his aunt for a minute, as if
to assure himself that he heard aright, or that
it was his same sensible aunt speaking to him,
and then burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
" It is nothing to laugh about, Harry this
monopoly upon the soap" she said, "for we
cannot buy any other now ; and just look at
this poor little wench's fingers," and Winny,
finding so much pity was forthcoming on her
behalf, burst into a fresh flood of tears.
" Hush, hush, my little wench, that nice
cooling balsam will make your fingers well,"
said Harry Vane, offering to take the child on
his knee. But she clung the closer to Dame
Meredith, who kissed and fondled her and
promised her some conserve if she would be
quiet.
" Where is brother Rupert ? " asked Harry,
thinking this might turn the child's thoughts
into another channel.
" Gone," sobbed Winny ; "and it's all through
this nasty new soap."
" Why, has it washed him away," asked
Harry Vane, laughing still.
" No ; I have been obliged to send him out
of the room because he spoke disloyally of the
king," said Dame Meredith.
"And he is a naughty king to make us
220 SAXBY.
use bad soap ; Rupert said he was," persisted
Winny.
" Hush, hush, little one. There, go to Dor
othy, and she will find you a large apple," and
Dame Meredith sent the little girl out of the
room.
" I feel almost as angry as the children,
Harry, about this soap business," she said as
she sat down again. " It is nothing but lime
and tallow, scalding the fingers and destroying
the linen, and yet a proclamation has been sent
out forbidding any to make complaint against
it, or to use any other, for fear of injury to the
monopoly."
"And the lord mayor's washing days what
came of them ? " laughed Harry.
" Of course they backed up the new soap
as the best, and there is a monopoly upon
almost every thing now since the last Parlia-
ment was dissolved soap, and salt, and starch,
and coals, buttons, and hats, and combs, and
twenty other things besides," said Dame Mere-
dith, indignantly."
"And they are likely to -last, for I hear the
king has determined to govern without a Par-
liament in future," said Harry, " and several
of the patriots are in prison Sir John Eliot
in the Tower."
Harry Vane. 221
" How can you call these men patriots,
Harry?" she demanded angrily; for this new
soap, having skinned her darling's fingers,
touched her very keenly; but she was not
ready to admit that the king or his council
was in fault. " If it were not for these men
Eliot, and Pym, and Hampden, and their
friends the king would not be driven to
granting these monopolies ; but since they
refuse to lend him their money, or grant him
supplies and subsidies, what can he do but
make it by selling monopolies on every thing
we use ? and then you call these men pa-
triots ! "
" Now, aunt, you are not just to blame
Hampden and the country party for these
wretched extortions. It is these very things,
and the king's illegal use of the royal prerog-
ative, that have provoked their opposition to
him. If he will but deal truly, and rule his
realm lawfully, he will have no more loyal
subjects than Pym and Hampden, and those
who follow their lead ; for they are conscien-
tious, God-fearing men, who will do the right
without fear or favor."
" Dear heart, Harry, I am afraid your jour-
ney to Geneva has been of little use in ridding
you of these strange notions," sighed his aunt.
222 SAXBY.
" Nay, but I have learned many things at
Geneva of which I had little knowledge be-
fore, and I would that our bishops would
frame our Church after that of Geneva."
" That can never be," said the lady. " Our
good Bishop of London, who will, doubtless,
soon be Archbishop of Canterbury, is framing
our Church on a different model from the
schismatic Church of Geneva. He would fain
see it a perfect Church, and all men made
conformable to it perfect in the ' beauty of
holiness/ " added Dame Meredith ; but which
really meant beauty of ritual, according to
Laud's ideas of what that ritual should be.
" It is a vain dream, dear aunt, this making
all men conformable to one Church, even if it
could be a perfect one," said Harry Vane
quietly.
His aunt looked her astonishment. " You
would make all men conform to the Church
of Geneva," she said quietly.
" Nay, aunt, I am not sure that I should
wish to try, and if I did I am sure I should
not succeed," said Harry.
" But but when a perfect Church has been
discovered men ought to conform to it," said
Dame Meredith.
" If they could believe it was a perfect
Harry Vane. 223
Church, doubtless they would, dear aunt. I
have been thinking much of this matter of
late, and I believe every man has the right to
follow the divine voice within him the voice
of conscience in this matter. All men will
not, cannot, think alike. God has not in-
tended that they should. He has not made
two leaves of the forest trees, even on the
same tree, exactly alike, or two blades of
grass, or ears of corn ; and there is the same
diversity in men's minds, I trow."
Harry had thought his aunt must have lost
her wits when she told him about the Lord
Mayor's washing days, but his astonishment
was as nothing to the profound dismay Dame
Meredith felt at her nephew's last words.
Such a thing as religious toleration for any
but their own particular Church, was some-
thing unheard of. Each claimed this as his
right, but denied it to all who differed from
him in this seventeenth century, and the bold,
brave words Harry Vane had spoken and
which he was not slow to act upon when the
time came looked, to his aunt, like heartless-
ness or laxity that was most dangerous.
" Well, well," she said at last, " did you learn
this new notion at Geneva, Harry?" I thought
they wanted all men to worship after their pat-
224 SAXBY.
tern. Those stubborn Scotch are not of this
mind, for they would fain make all men Pres-
byterians."
" It is the fault of this age, I trow, dear
aunt, and an error many good men fall into.
Doubtless these Puritan Brownists, or Inde-
pendents, as they now call themselves men
who have suffered the loss of all things for
conscience' sake, and left home and friends
here for unknown hardships in the new colony
in America would fain make all men Inde-
pendents if they could ; but I trust they will
learn true liberty in the land to which they
have gone. Aunt, I should like to go out to
this new colony in America," added the young
man.
Had he said he should like to turn Moham-
medan, and go and live with the Grand Turk,
at Constantinople, it would scarcely have
surprised his aunt after what she had already
heard. She was deeply grieved, too. Harry
was her favorite among all her nephews and
nieces, and she had indulged such high hopes
concerning him, especially since he had evinced
such decided piety ; for in her mind's eye she
saw him brave, witty, prosperous, a bright par-
ticular star in the court of King Charles, but
moving in it with unsullied purity of mind and
Harry Vane. 225
manner, drawing all men to him, and to God,
by the force of his bright example. A pleas-
ant dream this had been to the lady; but she
feared it would never be a reality now, unless
Sir Harry could prevail upon his son to give
up some of these strange notions.
There was a silence between them after
Harry had expressed his wish to go to New
England, and then his aunt said, "You will
excuse me, Harry, now; it is the hour I spend
in my oratory. Come to me again by and by."
Harry knew that it was to pray for him, and
what she feared was his sad declension, that
she spent so long a time in the little chapel ;
for he did not go home when his aunt left
him, but went in search of Rupert Saxby.
The whole household seemed in a ferment
to-day over this soap business, for Dame
Meredith's maid had her fingers tied up, and
there were sounds of scolding and grumbling
from the laundry as he passed on his way to
the garden, where he had been told the chil-
dren were walking. He found them^ sitting
together in a retired arbor, Rupert trying to
coax Winny to play, while the little girl was
still fretting and complaining about her sore
fingers, which Dorothy had tied up in some
linen rags. Harry sat down on the seat, and
226 SAXBY.
took Winny on his knee, condoling with her
about her sore fingers, which at once loosened
Rupert's tongue about the soap. Dorothy, as
well as Dame Meredith, had scolded him for
speaking so angrily against the king and those
who had bought the monopoly and made such
bad soap ; but he gave vent to his feelings
afresh now, using no very measured language,
either, to express his anger.
Harry Vane was astonished to hear him,
and feared that his aunt must, by her over-
indulgence, be spoiling the children. Those
were the days when children were not merely
supposed to be seen and not heard, but when
it was an accomplished fact. That it was not
so with the little Saxbys showed a great want
of moral training, thought Harry Vane, and
it vexed and troubled him exceedingly.
Rupert was a boy of fine promise, thought-
ful beyond his years, generous and loving, and
wisely trained. These good qualities might,
by the blessing of God, be made a blessing to
others so ran Harry Vane's thoughts, as he
talked and listened to the children, inwardly
wondering what he ought to do what it was
his duty to do under these circumstances. He
had no love for stirring up strife and oppo-
sition, and he feared he should do this only
Harry Vane. 227
too well on his own account, without offend-
ing and paining his aunt by removing the chil-
dren from her care. Then again, where could
he take them, for the slender pittance Captain
Saxby could afford to pay for them, if called
upon to do so, would not be sufficient.
At length he decided to pay another visit
to Master Hampden, and take Rupert with
him, and perhaps this old friend of the Sax-
bys could suggest some plan might even
offer to take Rupert for a time. Rupert was
his chief anxiety. A little spoiling would not
matter so much in Winny's case, he thought,
and so he decided to talk to his aunt about
this at once.
Leaving the children to their play, he saun-
tered back to the house, but still had to wait
some time for his aunt, who had not yet left
her oratory, her maid informed him. As soon
as she came in Harry noticed the calm, peace-
ful expression of her placid face, that had
looked so ruffled and troubled when she left
him, and the thought instantly crossed his
mind, " how can I say hard things about this
ritual, and times, and ceremonies, when I see
what a help it is to one devout soul ? " Ah,
Dame Meredith, when she blamed her nephew
for the broad, liberal, Christlike spirit which
228 SAXDY.
she in her Tearfulness looked upon as laxity, if
not actual license, little thought how much
her example had to do with planting and fos-
tering it.
" Now, my dear, you will tell me about your
travels," she said, taking a stiff, high-backed,
but handsomely-embroidered, chair, and invit-
ing her nephew to one close to it.
"Well, aunt, I want to talk to you about
another journey I am anxious to take at once,
before my father returns from his mission to
Sweden. You remember before I went away
last year I told you that I promised one of
Captain Saxby's friends that he should see
these children."
" Who is this friend ? " asked the lady
quickly. " He will not want to take the chil-
dren from me, I hope," she added.
" I only wish to take Rupert with me now.
I told you Master Hampden was an old friend
of the family, and I had promised the boy
should pay him a long visit."
Dame Meredith's face grew troubled. " I
wish you would not go to this man. Take
the boy anywhere else you like, Harry- I can
trust you fully but why should you take him
to this Master Hampden, who is one of the
bitterest of these malcontents ? "
Harry Vane. 229
" He is his father's friend, dear aunt," said
Harry in a soothing tone.
" But why not let the children remain with
me until their father comes home?"
" Because dear aunt, I do not wish to pain
you, but there are many reasons why it would
be best for Rupert to pay this visit to Master
Hampden now," said the young man.
" Then you are determined to take him, I
suppose ? "
" His father would wish it, I am sure, and,
therefore, I feel bound to carry out his
wishes."
" But you will not take my little darling,
Winny," said the lady almost imploringly.
" No, I will leave Winny with you, and,
doubtless, Rupert will return in a few months,
or even weeks."
" One thing more, Harry you will spend
Sunday with me ? " said Dame Meredith.
" Yes, aunt, if you wish it, certainly," said
Harry, glad to please his aunt in something ;
and so it was settled that he and Rupert
should start on their journey to Buckingham-
shire the following Monday.
230 SAXBY.
CHAPTER XVII.
BITTER DISAPPOINTMENTS.
IF Dame Meredith and Harry Vane could
only have known what painful memories
this Sunday at Hadlow Church was destined
to give rise to, each would have been most
careful to avoid it, but Dame Meredith had
persuaded herself that there was, at least,
some small good in her nephew's lax notions
about men's conformity to the Church ; for if
he held that they might worship God after
any pattern, he would not be so violent in his
opposition to the changes gradually being in-
troduced by Bishop Laud, and surely he would
see that the new mode of administering the
Lord's Supper was more reverent more in
accordance with the beauty of holiness.
Harry had not been into the parish church
since these changes had been made, and he
stared in amazement as he walked up the aisle
to the railed-off family pew of the Vanes, and
saw that a table had been set up at the end of
the chancel, furnished like an altar, and sep-
Bitter Disappointments. 231
arated from the rest of the church by a raised
step, and railings around it.
He had no opportunity of questioning his
aunt or any one else until the communion serv-
ice commenced, and then, instead of the long,
movable table being placed in the center of
the church, around which the communicants
stood to partake of the Lord's Supper, he saw,
to his profound astonishment, that they kneeled
around the railings that guarded the altar-like
table.
" Another step and we shall have the mass
itself set up in our midst," he said half aloud,
as he watched his aunt take her place among
the kneeling communicants. Harry had fully
intended partaking in this sacred feast, but he
could not, would not kneel. To him and to
hundreds of others this posture savored too
much of idolatry; it was too much like the
adoration of the host, and in the recoil from
popery and the dread fear of its return which
possessed so many just now, they would not
yield an inch by which the enemy might gain
an advantage.
Dame Meredith looked sorely pained when
she saw that her nephew did not go forward
with the rest, and as soon as the service was
over and they had reached the church-yard,
15
232 SAXBY.
she exclaimed, " O, Harry, Harry, I am sorely
grieved ! Why did you not kneel with me to-
day at the blessed sacrament ? "
" I, too, was grieved and sorely disappoint-
ed," said the young man with a deep-drawn
sigh, " for it seems to me that this Church
of England is growing more Romish every
day."
" Nay, nay, it is not Romish, but reverent
and becoming to kneel when we partake of
the blessed sacrament of the body and blood
of Christ," said Dame Meredith, quickly.
" I cannot kneel I cannot worship this
bread and wine, as though it were the body
and blood of Christ himself," said Harry.
" But but, you told me a day or two since
you believed God would accept the worship
of a sincere and devout soul, whatever the
form of worship might be," objected his
aunt.
" And I do believe it, provided the worship
be rendered according to a man's conscience,"
said Harry ; " but I should sorely wound my
conscience to kneel for this service where I
have always stood ; and, God helping me, I
never will," he added solemnly.
" O, Harry, Harry ! it will sorely grieve your
father and the king. You cannot think that
Bitter Disappointments. 233
so many devout and godly men as follow this
way would do wrong."
" I judge no man but myself," said Harry,
" and I can believe in the truth and devotion
of many pious souls who conform to this fash-
ion, but I cannot do it."
Dame Meredith sighed as she looked at her
impracticable nephew, and thought of the
trouble in store for them all. She went home
and spent an hour or two in her oratory, pray-
ing for the high-souled, but, as she thought,
wrong-headed young man, who must, by mere
force of character, be such a power in the
world for good or evil ; and as Dame Mere-
dith looked upon those who opposed the king
and all-powerful bishop as very evil, she was
the more earnest that her nephew should be
saved from such wiles. She decided to see
the bishop, too, and talk to him about Harry.
Surely a few words from him would bring the
wanderer back to the fold ; and so as soon as
Harry and Rupert, with the attendant serv-
ants, had started on their journey to Bucking-
hamshire, Dame Meredith gave orders to her
servants to prepare for a visit to London,
where she resolved to see Bishop Laud and
meet Harry on his return.
Rupert was very sorry to leave his sister, but
234 SAXBY.
the novelty of the journey and the anticipa-
tion of seeing his father's old friends and old
home reconciled him to the separation, while
Winny was soothed with a present of comfits
and confections now, and a promise of visiting
the little prince and seeing his wonderful
French toys when they should reach London.
Harry Vane kept little Rupert as near to
him as he could during the journey, often seat-
ing him in front of himself as he rode, al-
though a pony had been provided for the child,
and he had already learned to ride very well.
He took care that he should be so seated and
he rode his horse at a leisurely pace as they
drew near the old Saxby homestead.
" There, my boy, that is your father's home,
and will be yours some day, I doubt not," said
Harry Vane as they drew near the gate.
" That ! " exclaimed Rupert, in some sur-
prise, for the old house was falling into decay,
and Master Vane noticed how neglected and
dilapidated every thing was looking now. Paths
were weed-grown and untidy, gates were fall-
ing off their hinges, hedges were broken down
and showed ugly gaps, and an air of miserable
desolation reigned over the whole place.
" It was not like this when I saw it last year,
Rupert. I wonder whether your uncle has
Bitter Disappointments. 235
died and there is no one left to take care of the
old place now," and he urged on his horse
again toward Hampden, leaving the gossips of
Great Kimble in a flutter of astonishment and
conjecture as to who the grand visitors could
be.
Very different was the aspect of Master John
Hampden's residence. The broad avenue,
sheltered by lofty, overarching trees, had been
clean swept of the falling leaves, and every
thing gave token of the wealthy, careful coun-
try gentleman, who was proud of his home and
its surroundings.
The announcement of his visitor's name
soon brought Master Hampden to the door to
welcome him, and Rupert was taken at once
to gentle Dame Hampden, to be introduced
to her numerous family of boys and girls, some
of whom were older and some younger than
Rupert. Orders were issued for servants and
horses to be made comfortable, and refresh-
ments were at once brought in for Harry Vane.
This meal dispatched, he began to question
his host about the change that had taken
place in the Saxby homestead during the last
year.
" Yes, every thing is going to rack and ruin
under Roger's management," said Master
236 SAX BY.
Hampden, " and, what is worse, he seems to
be going the same road himself."
" There are two brothers living there, I think
you said ? " remarked Harry Vane.
" Yes, Lawrence, the youngest of the three,
was left behind at his own request when his
mother and father went to America ; for these
two boys were very fond of each other, and
were to manage the farm between them until
Captain Saxby came home, when the key of
an old cabinet was to be given to him the
key, by the way, is in my possession and he
would see, by an examination of its contents,
what his father's wishes were about the estate.
Roger has never felt satisfied about this, it
seems, but he and Lawrence were always good
friends until you came last year about the
children. They had a serious quarrel after
you left the first real quarrel they have ever
had. Since then they have been frequent
enough, until at last Lawrence has decided to
go to his parents in America. He came to
consult me about it only last week, and I think
it is the best thing he can do, unless he is to
go to ruin like his brother."
" This new colony in America seems the only
hope for many of us," said Harry Vane.
" Young Saxby may tell his friends that I shall
Bitter Disappointments. 237
probably take their grandson out with me by
and by."
" You go to this half-civilized place, Master
Vane ! You that have been reared in the lux-
ury and splendor of a court ! " exclaimed
Hampden.
" Luxury and splendor are not freedom. I
cannot even worship God according to my own
conscience, Hampden. Do you know a cler-
gyman who would let me take the sacrament
standing now?"
Master Hampden shook his head. "We
had a brave, true, God-fearing man here a few
years ago, in whose defense Master Saxby suf-
fered a good many losses and a good many
vexations, but he has been imprisoned by
Bishop Laud's order, and there is as little hope
of his release as of our friend Sir John Eliot's,"
" Your brave leader is in prison again ? "
said Harry Vane, questioningly.
" Yes, most illegally committed to the Tower
by the Council and Star-chamber two days after
the dissolution of Parliament."
" What was his offense ? " asked Harry Vane.
" The old and oft-told tale, denying the
king's right to levy taxes without the consent
of Parliament. The matter immediately in
dispute was that of tonnage and poundage,
238 SAXBY.
levied immediately after the last Parliament
was prorogued, and in direct defiance of the
Bill of Rights. You have heard of this famous
bill, Master Vane, and the trouble it cost us
to gain the king's assent thereto."
" I would that I had never heard of it, or
the king's share in that most dishonorable
business," said Harry Vane.
" Well, well, we will not discuss that now,"
said Hampden, with delicate courtesy for his
visitor's feelings, to whom the king was a per-
sonal friend as well as a sovereign. " The Bill
of Rights, as you well know, was to make
clear, once for all, that the State had not abso-
lute power over the lives and property of the
subject, as had of late been assumed ; but, in de-
fiance of this, tonnage and poundage was imme-
diately levied, and three worthy citizens of
London had their goods seized, the judges re-
fusing them protection because they declined
to pay this illegal impost. When Parliament
met, Sir John Eliot brought forward a remon-
strance against this, but the speaker would
have left the chair when it was to be read had
not Denzil Hollis held him down while Sir
John Eliot read his remonstrance against the
king's illegal action."
" And it was for this he called you a nest of
Bitter Disappointments. 239
' vipers,' I suppose," said Harry Vane, who
had heard of the king's angry dissolution of
this Parliament, and his declared intention to
rule the kingdom without a Parliament in
future.
" Master Vane, we have been no vipers, but
true men and the king's most loyal subjects ;
but if such noble gentlemen as Sir John Eliot
are to be imprisoned for speeches in Parlia-
ment, the time may come when the king will
find us vipers indeed. We are Englishmen,
patient and law-abiding, demanding only to
be ruled according to law ; but if this be refused
us and all our rights denied, a day will comne
when remonstrances and protests will be laid
aside and sterner weapons taken into use. I
tell you this, Master Vane, that you may give
a word of warning in time to those whom it
may concern I tell you I fear such a day will
come, unless the king will take other counsel-
ors than Sir Thomas Wentworth, the traitor
of our cause, and Laud, the Arminian bishop,
who would fain become Pope of the Church
of England."
" I fear words of mine will have but little
weight with the king or his party. But, can
nothing be done for Sir John Eliot?"
" I fear not, although his health is suffering
240 SAXBY.
from the closeness of his confinement. He
has used every lawful means to gain his lib-
erty, but the king demands that he shall peti-
tion, declaring he is sorry he has offended."
"And he will not do this?" said Harry Vane
with flashing eyes.
" Do it ! Would it not be conceding to the
king the right for which we have been con-
tending so long? the right of the subject to
his liberty and property, unless he has offend-
ed against the law. This Sir John Eliot has
not done ; and as for being sorry for what he
said, he would do it again the next time he
stood in Parliament ; for what would freedom
be worth to a man like Sir John, if he dare not
raise his voice on behalf of the oppressed ? "
Harry Vane shook his head sadly. " What
is coming to our poor England when true,
honest men are shut up in the Tower or ban-
ished to Ireland, and traitors like Wentworth
rewarded for their treachery ? Master Hamp-
den, we must all go to this New England the
men of the Mayflower have discovered for us."
But Hampden shook his head. " Not yet,"
he said ; " not while there is a chance of sav-
ing dear old England."
" But, can we save her?"
" We will spend our lives in the effort. Pym
Bitter Disappointments. 241
and Sir John Eliot, my cousin Oliver Crom-
well, Masten and Selden, Lord Say, and Lord
Brooke, we have all sworn to think of our
country's welfare before our own, and we will
die rather than see her the down-trodden vic-
tim of any oppression."
"And I will join you," said young Harry-
Vane, speaking slowly but firmly.
Hampden looked at the noble, boyish face,
and shook his head. " You will ever be our
friend among the court party, I doubt not;
but to join us to rank yourself openly on our
side, you know not what this will cost you.
You have been reared in the midst of the
court ; all your friends are of it, and to leave
these to give up all your hopes for the future
you must consider it well, young sir, before
you decide so weighty a question."
" But I am one with you in conscience and
religion, aye, and in politics, too. Think you
that, after seeing the Church of Geneva in all
its purity and simplicity, I could join this
half-Romanized Church that Laud has given
us ? I tell you I will never kneel to take the
sacrament ; and if no man will give it me
standing, I'll wait until your day comes, or I
go to this New England and take it with my
Puritan brethren there."
242 SAXBY.
" Well, well, for the matter of that, I blame
you not," said Hampden ; " but in this ques-
tion of politics be not hasty ; be our friend
with the king an you can, but for the rest
wait."
" How long?" asked Harry Vane. "If 1^
come to you and Pym in five years' time,
and say, ' Here I am, another man for En-
gland ; I have never wavered since I made my
choice ' "
" Then we will receive you gladly," inter-
rupted Hampden.
Roundhead and Royalist. 243
CHAPTER XVIII.
ROUNDHEAD AND ROYALIST.
DAME MEREDITH sat in the wide oriel
window of the Vane Mansion, in the
Strand, watching the swans as they sailed
gracefully up and down the river, and the
boats and gaily-decorated barges, with their
company of fine ladies and gentlemen on their
way to and from Whitehall. The sun shone
through the little lozenge -shaped panes of
glass, making quaint patterns on the polished
dark oak floor. At the lady's feet sat a little
fair-haired girl, about ten years old, with wide-
open, serious-looking eyes.
" Madam, will my brother Rupert grow
up a very bad man an he goes with Master
Harry Vane to this New England ? " she said
seriously, after a long silence.
The lady turned her face to gaze at the child
for a minute, and the tears were in her eyes as
she said : " I would give all I possess to save
Master Vane from the presumption, and folly,
and spiritual pride that has driven him to turn
his back upon his friends, and forsake his king
244 SAXBY.
and the Church in which he learned to serve
God ; but for all this Harry Vane is not a bad
man, and he will strive to teach our Rupert
all that he thinks right and true and good."
" Then there are two sorts of goodness,
madam ? " said little Winny.
Dame Meredith seemed puzzled to answer
the child's question. " There should not be,
little Winny," she said at last; "but the times
are out of joint, and many set little store by
loyalty to the divine right of the king, or obe-
dience to holy Church. But why do I talk to
you of these things which you cannot under-
stand ? Run to Dorothy and tell her to give
you some comfits and take you to walk in the
garden. I expect Master Vane will be here in
a few minutes."
" But but, madam, I may see Rupert be-
fore he goes across the great sea ? " said Win-
ny, doubtfully.
" Yes, to be sure, child, you shall see your
brother. He is coming here to-morrow."
" Then I will talk to him of this evil way
he is in," said Winny with the gravity of Dame
Meredith herself; for, having so little com-
panionship with children of her own age, the
little girl had grown up with the manners
and speech of her elders, and thought more
Roundhead and Royalist. 245
than most children of her age over what she
heard.
The child had only just left the room when
Harry Vane was announced, and the next
minute stood in his aunt's presence. The four
or five years that had elapsed since his return
from Geneva had altered much of the boyish
expression, but not the noble truthfulness of
his face.
"How now, my sweet aunt?" said Harry,
doffing his plumed hat and throwing aside his
scented love-locks as he stooped to kiss his
aunt's hand.
" How now, Cousin Harry? I looked to see
thee as a veritable roundhead knave by this
time," said his aunt playfully, laying her hand
on his curls, and evidently pleased to see that
he still followed some custom of the court,
whatever his private opinion might be.
" Nay, God is not served by the cut of a
man's doublet or the shearing of his hair,"
said Harry with a smile, drawing a narrow,
highbacked chair close to his aunt's.
o
" Well, now, wherefore is this new whimsy
of thine, about which thy father is fretting
and fuming? I thought thou and he were
close friends since this business at Sweden
had occupied you both."
246 SAXBY.
" In matters of business which touch neither
king nor Church my father and I will ever be
good friends," said Harry; "but since the king
will rule this realm without law "
"And wherefore should not the king rule it
as he will ? Is it not his right ? " interrupted
Dame Meredith, sharply.
" An he would rule according to law no one
would gainsay it," replied Harry, and then
added : " but you and I are not going to quar-
rel, sweet aunt. I love thee too well to go
forth on my perilous adventure leaving thee
in anger. I came to talk to thee of these
children."
" Thou dost not want to take my sweet bud
of promise, Winny, away from me ? " inter-
rupted the lady quickly.
" Nay, dear aunt ; what could I do with a
little wench on my adventure ? But the boy
is anxious to go to his friends, and they have
sent letters to Master Hampden begging he
will send them both by the hand of some trusty
friend. I will take Rupert, and persuade them
to let the little wench abide with thee until
her father shall return from the wars, when
thou wilt, of course, be willing to give her
up."
" Have I not always said I would yield the
Roundhead and Royalist. 247
little wench to her own father? And now,
Harry, a word about yourself; wherefore
dost thou continue in this stout rebellion
against the king and the true Church ? Why
dost thou not obey her, and submit to her
authority ? "
" What ! give my conscience to a priest !
Nay, nay, aunt, I hold that every man is him-
self a priest in this matter, and may not dele-
gate the office to another without loss to his
own soul."
" I had thought our godly Archbishop Laud
would have brought thee to a better mind,"
said Dame Meredith with a sigh. " How is it
thou dost arrogate to thyself a wisdom greater
than thy father or mother? Dost thou not
think it comes of the presumption of youth
and an overweening contempt of authority,
which is also another youthful fault, but still
not incurable ?"
But her nephew shook his head. " Sweet
aunt, I thought you knew me better by this
time," he said. " To please you and my father
I had a long discussion with Laud, but he did
not move me an inch from the truth I had
learned."
" Harry, Harry, what are you saying ? The
archbishop move you from the truth! Nay,
16
248 SAXBY.
nay, he would lead you to the truth, vain boy,"
said Dame Meredith.
" I -doubt not Master Laud's sincerity, or
that he hath a grip of some fragment of truth,
albeit it is well-nigh hidden from the multitude
by the ceremonies and mummeries which the
Church hath of late imposed. But truth is
many-sided, and we speak that we do know
and testify that we have seen, and wherefore
should I give this up at the bidding of king or
archbishop, for Charles himself hath caught me
more than once on this hap ? "
" I would that he had made thee give up thy
headstrong ways, that cause such sore grief to
thy friends," said Dame Meredith.
" Nay, sweet aunt, if you have failed, how
think you others can succeed ? But now let
us talk of other things. I would that I had
seen the brave Sir John Eliot before he died,
for he had many friends, I trow, in the New
England to which I am going."
" He died a prisoner in the Tower," said
Dame Meredith.
" Sir John died a martyr for his country,
the victim of the king's tyranny," said young
Vane.
" I would every evil-minded roundhead was
now in the Tower. I would almost send you
Roundhead and Royalist. 249
there an it would cure you of this pestilent
heresy," she added ; and truly the good dame
would have sent her dearly-loved nephew any
where out of the way of these new opinions
that were so slowly but surely alienating men's
minds from the king, and preparing them for
that final struggle when they would fight with
other weapons than those of protests, and re-
monstrances, and stern parliamentary phrases,
which was all that had ever been thought of
as yet by the king-loving, law-abiding people,
or their leaders either.
And now the talk of Dame Meredith and
Harry Vane was about the voyage across the
Atlantic, the retinue of servants and retainers
he would take with him, and the need for pro-
viding other and more substantial garments
than satin and velvet doublets and silver-lace-
trimmed cloaks. To his aunt's horror, Harry
was bent upon providing himself with several
substantial suits of homely frieze and one or
two jerkins of buff leather, such as peasants
wore, but which would be very unfitting for the
court-bred Harry Vane, his aunt argued. But
Harry was as determined about the frieze
doublets as he was about his religious opinions,
only he promised to go on board the vessel in
a dress becoming Sir Harry Vane's son ; and
250 SAXBY.
this was the utmost he would concede to his
aunt's whimsy.
The next day Rupert arrived from Hamp-
den, where most of his time had been spent
since he first went there with Harry Vane.
He had grown a fine, handsome lad, grave
perhaps beyond his years, but then he had
been brought up in a Puritan household, and
they were hardly the times for much merry-
making when any day might see father or
friends carried off to prison, and such ruinous
fines imposed that the whole family might be
reduced to ruin. Such things were only too
common under the tyranny of the Star-cham-
ber, and so it was little wonder that those who
lived in constant danger of falling into its
power under one pretext or the other should
take a serious view of life, or that children
should catch the tone of this from their par-
ents almost insensibly.
But Rupert had been brought up among
young people near his own age, and his little
sister's solemn lectures on the evil of following
Master Vane's foolish ways greatly surprised
him.
" I have seen but little of Master Vane, and
shall see less, I trow, when I reach Saxby, on
the other side the great sea New Saxby my
Roundhead and Royalist. 251
grandfather calls it ; and he would fain give
up the old Saxby here in Great Kimble, for it
has done my Uncle Roger much mischief,
Master Hampden says."
" But you must not hold by all this Master
Hampden tells you. He is an evil-minded
roundhead, and would fain take all power from
the king and put our godly bishops into
prison," said Winny.
Rupert looked at her in astonishment, and
then burst into a merry peal of laughter at
Winny's grave face. " So Mistress Dorothy
has been teaching you high things, little sis-
ter," he said, catching her in his arms and kiss-
ing her.
But Winny struggled to free herself, looking
very angry. " You shall not love me an you
will not love the king and the good arch-
bishop," she said.
" Nay, nay, have I ever said aught to offend
the king or the archbishop ? " said Rupert, in
the same tone of amused surprise ; for although
the elder children among the Hampdens may
have known something of these things re-
membered their father's imprisonment and
their mother's grief and anxiety at that time
the younger ones, with whom Rupert had
had his lessons, had heard but little of the dif-
252 SAXBY.
ferences of opinion that rent the nation and
families, and often men's own hearts, as in
the case of Harry Vane ; for it was no light
thing to forsake home and friends and every
prospect of advancement, even the opportunity
of doing his party good, as some whispered,
for liberty of conscience. His sister's words
were, therefore, the more strange to Rupert ;
but though he put them aside laughingly he
did not forget them, and resolved to ask his
friend, Master Vane, all about them, when
they were on board the ship. At present they
had enough to do, each in his own separate
ways, Rupert rambling about the garden and
watching the swans on the river, or sometimes
going on water excursions as far as Greenwich
in the stately family barge, while Master Vane
was busy bidding his friends farewell and mak-
ing his final preparations for departure. They
did not see a great deal of him at home ; most
of his time was spent in Gray's Inn Lane, at
the house of his dear friend, Master Pym,
where he met more congenial friends than
those at home or at the palace of Whitehall.
So, except his own family, few of his former
associates saw any thing of Harry Vane during
his last days in England.
To please his aunt and family Harry went
Roundhead and Royalist. 253
to the vessel in state befitting his father's po-
sition. His rich dress and long, scented love-
locks, however were a great offense to his fel-
low-passengers, most of whom were Puritans,
not only in heart but in the cut of their gar-
ments and the fashion they wore their hair,
and they felt greatly scandalized at their fel-
low-passenger's laxity in these particulars.
When they heard who he was they regarded
him as a spy sent out by the government to
report upon the state of the new colony. Be-
fore the end of the voyage, however, they had
another complaint to bring against this strange
young gentleman, not on the score of laxity,
for, in the words of an old chronicler we read,
" But he that they thought at first sight to
have too little of Christ for their company did
soon after appear to have too much for them."
What a wonderful voyage that was for
young Rupert Saxby ! Harry Vane, whom
his fellow-passengers turned from in coldness
and suspicion, found the little lad a most
pleasant companion, eager to learn all he
could tell him of the strange and wonderful
sights passing around him, anxious, too, to un-
derstand his little sister's strange words about
the king and the bishops.
The boy's mind was opening and ripening.
254 SAXBY.
but Harry Vane wondered how far it would
be well for him to know of the strife that
was continually growing in Church and State,
and had already created the New England to
which they were sailing, and which they would
probably find very different from the dear
home-country they were leaving far behind.
At length he decided to tell the lad some-
thing of the great struggle that was now con-
vulsing not only England but the whole Con-
tinent of Europe ; for the German war was still
raging, and Rupert's father was fighting with
sword and battle-ax for freedom and liberty of
conscience, as Pym and Hampden had fought
by protests and remonstrances many a like
battle in the English Parliament ; still the
struggle was going on the war of right
against might in which all who loved the
truth must engage, if they would win the truth
for themselves.
Many an hour did they sit on the deck of
the little vessel, wrapped closely in their warm
frieze coats, for it was cold weather now, talk-
ing of the grand battle that was going on in
the world the battle that Luther had begun
and Calvin carried on as far as he was able,
but which the powers of darkness seemed to
have determined should be carried no farther.
Roundhead and Royalist. 255
Henceforth men's minds were to be bound in
the fetters of the past ; there was to be no
more growth. God himself was to stand aside
and make no further revelations to man, and
men, for their part, were to shrink from the
thought that God had not yet given them all
he had to give, or, at the peril of losing their
souls, were to receive any further manifesta-
tions of truth from him.
Not in the very words I have written- did
Harry Vane talk to the lad, thrown upon him
for companionship ; but they contain the gist
and kernel of many conversations, and embod-
ied the broad living principle that ruled Vane's
own life and belief, and which he now tried to
make Rupert Saxby understand. He did un-
derstand it as far as his mind was able to re-
ceive it, and, what was of infinitely more value,
he believed in his teacher, for he saw, day by
day and hour by hour, that he exemplified his
teaching in his own Christ-like life, so large in
its charity for others, so strict and blameless in
the regulation of his own ; and, although no
word was said of the sacrifices he had made
for conscience* sake, Rupert Saxby knew that
these were many, and he wondered how the
world could be wicked with two such men in it
as Master Hampden and Master Harry Vane.
256 SAXBY.
CHAPTER XIX.
NEW BOSTON.
HOW eagerly our travelers looked out for
the shores of New England our readers
can well imagine. The colony had grown
rapidly, for there were now sixteen towns in
all clustered round Boston, which was one of
the earliest formed, and named in loving re-
membrance of the English port from which
they had embarked for Holland.
Rupert Saxby was eager to know what this
New England was like ; but Master Vane could
only shake his head and tell the boy he would
probably find many things different from what
they were in the old country, while at the
same time he tried .to prepare his own mind
for some disappointment some shock, perhaps,
to all his preconceived notions of what this
new country would be like.
At length the little timber-built fort, with its
two or three mounted guns, commanding the
harbor, rose upon their view, and no sooner
was it known that a ship from England was in
the offing than the colonists crowded the shoiv.s,
New Boston. 257
eager to welcome the strangers, many hoping
to find friends among them.
Harry Vane was glad he had donned a
homely frieze cloak and doublet, for satin and
velvet would look sadly out of place among
these soberly dressed people, although it was
evident many of them wore their holiday dress
in honor of the arrival of friends.
And then the town ! Why, it seemed as
though the wilderness and civilization had
met in a death-struggle ; but it was hard to
say which would conquer yet. Little, strongly
built log-huts, set down in the midst of gar-
dens and fields, that looked as though they
were now only half reclaimed from the forest,
were the best mansions that Boston could
boast ; and into one of these Harry was taken,
for he bore letters of introduction to friends of
Pym and Hampden learned and accomplished
gentlemen, who had left estates and mansions
in England for liberty of conscience.
His host was not at home, but at work in
some distant fields, his wife said ; but she re-
ceived Harry Vane with all the grace and
courtesy of a high-born English lady, that
seemed only the more striking from the hum-
ble surroundings. Her visitor could hardly
speak for a minute or two, so striking was the
258 SAXBY.
contrast the rough, unplaned logs that formed
the cottage walls, the low door-way, the wide
kitchen fire-place opposite the rough home-
made settles, with one or two handsome oak
chests that occupied the place of honor just
under the book-shelves close to the window.
Rupert Saxby looked round too, and felt
something like boyish disgust at the rude,
homely surroundings. This was evidently
kitchen, dining-room, library, and visitors'
parlor all in one, and he had for the last few
years enjoyed the abundance and refinement
of Master Hampden's luxurious home, and
felt the contrast to be painful indeed.
Presently the master of the house came in,
hastened in his return by the messenger sent
for him. He was a tall, stately, grave-looking
man, with a broad, massive brow, that con-
trasted almost as strongly with his soiled
hands and earth-stained clothes as his wife's
stately courtesy did with the log-cabin in
which they lived.
Master Vane was welcomed to the colony
and all the host's house would afford before the
letter was read informing him who his visitor
was, and how highly Master Pym esteemed
him ; but when he had read this his face
beamed with delight, and he hastened to lay
New Boston. 259
aside the leather jerkin he wore, and put on
more suitable attire, although it was only of
homely frieze, such as had shocked Dame
Meredith's refined sense of what was becom-
ing for her nephew. .
While their host was changing his dress in
a little lean-to, that formed their only dressing-
room, and their hostess was busy in preparing
them a meal, Harry Vane told Rupert that his
friend was one of the most learned men of the
age, and had been offered the chair of the Pro-
fessor of Rhetoric at Cambridge to induce him
to stay there. They looked at the books in
the hanging shelves books in several lan-
guages, learned treatises, which none but the
most cultivated minds could understand and
appreciate. Rupert had seen companion vol-
umes in Master Hampden's library at home ;
but here was ever any thing so incongruous
as this log-cabin and this little library on its
walls ?
Suddenly Master Vane turned to the lad
and said : " God is going to make a great and
mighty nation here, I trow, and he has set
worthy men to be the fathers and founders of
it. Look you, lad ; these are no sickly book-
worms who must die inside their college walls,
but men made in God's own image, who can
260 SAXBY.
work with their hands as well .as their brains,
and are not afraid or ashamed to do it."
In a short time the table had been spread
for the meal, and now came another contrast.
Silver drinking-cups, exquisitely chased and
beautified, stood beside wooden platters, and
the finest table linen covered the rough table.
But if the lady of the house was her own cook,
as well as chamber-maid and dairy-maid, no
fault could be found with the sweet wholesome
bread and delicate golden butter and honey,
or the tasty little dishes that had been got
ready almost by magic, and cooked in the
room where they were eaten.
Such a merry meal as that was ! the host
asking after old friends in England, and telling
who had joined them in the New England,
and the hostess waiting upon them with the
gentle grace of Dame Hampden herself, in
spite of her homely surroundings.
" And so this little lad is another Saxby,
come out to help his grandparents with the
new Saxby they are making here," said their
host.
"Is my grandfather's place called Saxby?"
Rupert ventured to ask.
" Yes, my lad, it is ; and a goodly place it is,
or will be; and if thy other uncle and thy father
New Boston. 261
could but come over here, the old man's heart
would be at rest. He clung steadfastly to the
old Saxby, the home of his forefathers, but
God has led him to a goodly heritage here, and
he hath but one desire now, to be rid of the
old place, lest it rob him of his children."
The meal was over, and the host proposed
that they should call upon their minister, Mas-
ter John Cotton. He was formerly rector of
St. Botolph's, Boston, for nearly twenty years,
but the growth of despotism in the Church
under Laud, and its subservience to the State,
had at last compelled him to resign his living
and seek a refuge among his Puritan friends
in the new Boston they had founded. As
they passed the little wattled church, less pre-
tentious than many a gentleman's barn in the
old country, Harry Vane and his friend stopped
to look at it.
" Master Cotton must surely feel the differ-
ence between this and his old church," said
Harry Vane ; " for the church of Boston is more
like a cathedral than any other in England."
" Yes, yes, 'tis a grand building, Master
Vane, and I am not of those who would de-
spise such, for I hold that God should have
of our best ; but still Master Cotton has in this
little wattled church what he had not at last
262 SAXBY.
in yonder stone temple liberty to teach the
whole doctrine of God ; and that is dearer to
such a man than splendid churches and costly
living. But here comes worthy Master Cotton
himself, and I can see my boys and girls just
beyond him, too."
The young folks passed the minister, but not
unrecognized. Each bowed in lowly reverence
before this honored servant of God ; the boys
doffing their caps and the girls dropping a
courtsey as they wished him good day. They
stopped before their father, paying him the
same deference, and glancing shyly at the
stranger as they passed. They were just re-
turning from school, and their father bade
them hasten home, as their mother wanted
John to fetch her water from the well and
Molly to scour the platters.
" Our young ones must all be useful here,"
he remarked to Harry Vane.
" And God's blessing will always be with
them while they are," said the minister, who
overheard the remark. " And who have we
here?" he said, extending his hand to Harry
Vane. " Another friend from the dear home-
land, I trow."
" This is Master Vane, whose father is of
the king's household," said his host.
New Boston. 263
" Ah, a court gallant ; and what may bring
such fine birds among us?" said the old min-
ister, a little doubtfully.
" Nay, nay, good Master Cotton, I am no
court gallant, and have grievously offended
my father and the king thereby," said Harry
Vane, while his host hastened to say how
warmly he had been commended by Master
Pym, in his letter of introduction. " I was even
now bringing to you the letter and my visitor,"
he added, as they paused at the minister's
garden gate.
" Come in, come in," said Master Cotton,
leading the way into a little log-cabin, no more
pretentious-looking than the rest. Next to
the governor, Master Cotton considered him-
self the chief protector of the little colony,
and he was by no means disposed to have fine
court gallants, fresh from the frivolous life of
Whitehall, going about among his flock, lead-
ing the young ones astray, and teaching them
all sorts of idle vanities, if not worse ; and so,
after inviting his visitors to be seated, he sat
down himself and prepared to examine Harry
Vane, both by question and the study of his
face.
Few young men could have passed such an
ordeal without losing their temper, but Harry
17
264 SAXBY.
Vane understood the old man's motive, and
was quite willing that he should assure him-
self at once that he was not a wolf in sheep's
clothing, which he evidently feared.
When it was over, Master Cotton rose and
grasped the hand of Vane, saying, " Welcome
to our colony, and may your stay among us be
for many years, an the Lord will."
" It must be seen first whether I can be of
service to you, " said Vane.
" Well, well, there is little doubt of the serv-
ice, I trow ; for we are glad of any who can
help us with hands or brains. And now, hav-
ing told me so much about yourself and your
life, it is meet I should tell you how I came to
be in this place, after serving the Lord twenty
years in the dear old Boston of the home-
land."
" Nay, sir, I doubt not it was for conscience'
sake," said Harry.
" But conscience and reason should go to-
gether, young man ; and think not because a
few good men have come here they are all
fools or all bad that stay behind. But I had
been watching the course of the Church of
England for more than twenty years, and dur-
ing all that time she was growing more and
more corrupt. The Reformation had been
New Boston. 265
cut short before its work was done. It went
on, see you, in the hearts and minds of the
people, but stopped short in the Church. It
was not perceived at first, but in proportion
to what she at last felt to be the growing dis-
taste in which her corruptions were held by
the people did she seek support from the
crown by making her sacred functions sub-
servient to its arbitrary purposes. There is
no country, except Rome itself, where an alli-
ance with the State has led churchmen into
such shameless servility as England ; until,
at last, my Lord of Canterbury, knowing the
king wants to raise an illegal loan, does but
send letters throughout the kingdom, and
forthwith eveiy pulpit is used to teach the
doctrine that if the king's right to do this is
denied or questioned it is at the peril of his
soul who shall dare to do it ; and I, John Cot-
ton, as a true Englishman and honest man,
could but refuse to preach this."
" I would to God that many others would
do likewise. But 'tis well that we have not
the keeping of other men's consciences, and
that we are bidden to 'judge not,'" added
Harry Vane.
He had taken Master Cotton's heart by
storm as well as his host's, and it was with
266 SAXBY.
some difficulty that he could get away from
Boston until other visits had been paid ; but
he was anxious to take Rupert Saxby to his
grandparents with as little delay as possible,
and so preparations for the thirty miles' jour-
ney to Ipswich was commenced at once.
Thirty miles' journey through forest clear-
ings, in a bullock wagon, was not a rapid mode
of traveling, and so Rupert did not reach
Saxby until he had been nearly a week in the
colony, and somewhat used to the strange
condition of things he saw around him. The
strangeness had worn off a little, and he was
better able to appreciate the substantial com-
fort of his grandfather's log-house, although it
did lack many of the comforts and luxuries to
which he had been accustomed at Hampden.
He was received with almost rapturous de-
light by Dame Saxby as well as her husband,
and even his likeness to his French mother
was forgiven and forgotten when he said, " I
am so glad you have called this nice new place
Saxby."
"He is the same, the very same, boy that
we spoke to at Southampton," said Dame Sax-
by, looking him over critically.
" I do not remember you, madam," said
Rupert.
New Boston. 267
" Perhaps not, and I did not know that I
should remember you ; for it was the little
wench I noticed most. Where is she ? Where
is your sister ? " suddenly asked the dame.
" She is in England, madam," said Rupert ;
and then Harry Vane hastened to explain how
fond his aunt had grown of the little girl, and
how unwilling to part with her to any but her
own father, and how impossible it was for him
to bring her without a maid-servant.
" Dear heart ! if I had only known, I would
have come myself to fetch the little wench,"
said her grandmother, almost crying with dis-
appointment ; for she had made up her mind
that the children would come together when
they did come.
It was needless to ask if the old couple were
happy in their wilderness home. Master Saxby
looked ten years younger than he did when he
left England, although he had been working
harder than ever he did in his life before. But,
as he explained to Harry Vane, his heart was
at rest now. He was never in fear of being
driven from his home or harassed by fines and
imprisonment if he ventured to cross its thresh-
old. They had long walks and talks together,
Harry Vane learning much of the polity and
self-government of the colony ; how the gov-
268 SAXBY.
ernor was assisted by a council of assessors ;
how all paid a tax in money or the produce of
their farms for the making of roads and such
other public works as were necessary for the
general comfort and safety of all ; how the
lands were bought of the Indians and fairly
paid for, and how anxious the colonists were
to keep up their friendly relations with all the
tribes of the country, if possible.
Saxby was at the outermost fringe of civili-
zation, reclaimed from the primeval forest, and
so they often saw some of the red-skins, but
they had had little trouble with them beyond
a few fights at first, and Master Saxby was
now warmly interested in a question that had
lately been mooted among them by Master
Eliot, the minister of Roxbury, who thought
it was the duty of Christian people to try and
convert the heathen. This doctrine was too
new and strange to win general acceptance ;
some good souls looking upon the project as
nothing less than presumption. But Harry
Vane did not look upon it in this light, and
entered so warmly into the scheme that Mas-
ter Saxby declared he would go back with
him to Roxbury and introduce him to Master
John Eliot.
Governor Vane. 269
CHAPTER XX.
GOVERNOR VANE.
A WEEK or two was spent at Saxby and
visiting the neighboring town of Ips-
wich, during which time Master Vane made
many friends for himself, and gained a few for
Master Eliot's project for teaching the Indians
the truths of the gospel as well as the arts of
civilization. He obtained promises of mate-
rial help, too, for this first apostle to the In-
dians ; for Harry Vane had the rare gift of in-
spiring others with enthusiasm a gift which
brought him many friends, but often as many
foes. At present, however, he had none but
friends among the colonists, who were as much
charmed by Harry Vane's pleasant manner as
by the fact of his having so resolutely turned
his back upon the world, and chosen that
" better part " which led him to cast in his lot
with these few despised Puritans, when he
might be enjoying every court favor. Dame
Saxby was sorry to part with her guest, but
he promised to visit them again, and, what
was even better, send them a parcel of books,
270 SAXBY.
and copies of Butler's first newspaper, which
would tell them all about the German war.
Master Saxby could bring these back with him
from Boston when his work as an assessor was
over. The laws of that period were rather
Draco-like, and offenses singled out with a mi-
nuteness that must have given magistrates
some work to do even in such a small and well-
ordered community. Witchcraft, perjury, and
blasphemy were made capital offenses, and
children were also punished with death for
cursing or striking their parents. All who
were detected either in lying, drunkenness, or
dancing were to be publicly whipped. Doubt-
less these severe punishments had a deterrent
effect upon a few when they first came to the
colony young men who came with parents
and friends but the moral atmosphere of the
whole community was far more effective than
any laws that could be enacted, however se-
vere. Harry Vane paid a visit to Master Eliot
at Roxbury, and then took up his residence
at Boston.
When he had been here little more than a
year the colonists showed their estimation of
him by choosing him for go*vernor at the an-
nual election. This was in the year 1636, when
Harry Vane was little more than twenty-four
Governor Vane. 271
years of age. The rejoicings in which the
people indulged upon that occasion called for
some tact and management on the part of the
new governor, such as one rarely sees in so
young a man. There were fifteen large ves-
sels in port, which fired a salute to the new
governor ; and this calling the attention of the
inhabitants to their presence, a deputation
waited upon Vane, stating that such a large
force of foreign vessels was in itself a disagree-
able circumstance in the condition of a feeble
settlement. Vane saw the justice of it at once,
and even more than had been represented, for
there was no doubt that the influence of the
habits of the men of these ships could not be
other than injurious to the morals and social
condition of the inhabitants of the town. But
how to alter this without giving* offense to the
captains of the vessels, and thus injuring the
commerce of the growing little colony, was a
matter not so easily settled.
At length the new governor invited all the
captains of the vessels to dine with him, and
after dinner laid the difficulty before them,
when it was discussed in the most friendly
manner on both sides. The adjustment of it
which Master Vane proposed was readily
agreed to, which was that all inward bound
272 SAXBY.
vessels should anchor below the fort, and wait
for the governor's pass before coming up to the
town, and, last but not least, that the crews
should never be allowed on shore after sunset.
A little later there was another and even
more delicate matter to settle between the
colonists and some captains about hoisting the
English flag, where Vane's tact saved them
not only from offending the touchy seamen,
but, what was of far more importance just
now, from giving any shadow of offense to the
home government. What difficulties this tact
of the young governor saved the struggling
colony they, doubtless, never knew, though
they did know later what private friends had,
doubtless, informed Vane of at the time that
the home government was growing jealous of
the rising colony ; and this same year the whole
of it was sold in Westminster Hall over the
heads of the inhabitants, and in direct viola-
tion of the patent granted by James to the
original settlers who went over in the " May-
flower." It is true no action was taken upon
this sale, but had the colonists given the slight-
est offense, doubtless advantage would have
been taken of this, and Vane, who knew the
tempers of both parties, foresaw it.
About the same time another difficult ques-
Governor Vane. 273
tion came to the front, which the aristocratic
young governor doubtless had no inconsider-
able share in deciding, though it was against
his own class in society. Lord Say and Lord
Brooke had always been good friends to the
colonists, helping them most materially, and
at this time they sent to propose coming to
the colony to settle, with a few other gentle-
men. But the proposal was burdened with
conditions. The new-comers were to form an
upper and distinct class ; their heirs and suc-
cessors were always to be gentlemen. Then
the colony was to be governed by two houses
of legislature ; the first to consist of this hered-
itary peerage, answering to the English House
of Lords, and from among these alone the
governor was to be chosen ; the lower house
to consist of freeholders, as representatives
of the whole people. Doubtless the coming
of such noblemen would bring many present
advantages to the colonists, but these men
had not forsaken all things for any temporal
advantage, however great, and they felt, as
doubtless their young governor foresaw, that
they would be bartering their dear-bought lib-
erty for a very questionable gain, and a court-
eous but decided refusal was sent to the two
noblemen.
274 ,SAXBY.
A few months after his election as governor
letters arrived from England pressing him to
return at once, and he was disposed to do so,
on account of a religious controversy that had
arisen, and which threatened to separate dear-
est friends in its fierceness.
The keen intellectual life of Boston, even
when she could only boast of log-cabins and
turf-thatched churches, made her society pecul-
iarly liable to this form of discussion ; and the
arrival of an accomplished English lady, Mrs.
Anne Hutchinson, set the whole colony to-
gether by the ears, and soon brought upon
herself and young Governor Vane the charge
of heresy. As godly Master Cotton, however,
was himself among the heretics, we may be
sure the heresy was not of a very strong type,
and consisted for the most part in Harry Vane's
old claim of liberty of conscience for all. Our
Puritan forefathers did not understand liberty
after the Vane type. They claimed that men
should have liberty to think as they did, but
they must go no further ; and doubtless it was
very annoying to Master Wilson and other
learned divines to have their long sermons
pulled to pieces and criticised by a clever
woman like Dame Hutchinson, in the presence
of half the matrons of the city.
Governor Vane. 275
It was the custom for the members of the
Church to meet each week to talk over and
impress upon their minds the discourses of
the previous Sunday; and Dame Hutchin-
son, following out this custom, soon instituted
similar meetings for women. So attractive
and interesting were these prayer-meetings
that nearly all the ladies in the place attended
them.
The clergy of the colony were startled at
first, and then grew jealous of the free inquiry
that was encouraged at these meetings, and
of the influence the new-comer was gaining
over the minds of their flocks. She, with a lack
of wisdom and Christian charity, retaliated
by criticising the previous Sunday's sermon,
or circulating imputations against their learn-
ing and the soundness of the doctrine they
preached.
This was not to be borne. She herself was
a heretic, and must be handed over for punish-
ment due to heresy. At this point Governor
Vane interfered to protect Dame Hutchinson
from her enemies, and the controversy grew
more fierce and bitter from that time. The
truth seems to be that both Harry Vane and
Dame Hutchinson were a little ahead of the
age in which they lived ; and what we should
276 SAXBY.
call a large-hearted Christian charity was by
our stricter forefathers branded as laxity in
doctrine and perilous heresy.
This, at last, drove Master Vane from the
land of his adoption, and he returned to En-
gland in the autumn of 1637.
But if New England was in a state of fer-
ment over a religious difficulty, old England
was no less disturbed by the famous trial that
had just taken place between Master Hamp-
den and the king over the famous ship-money
business. This was the king's last mode of
increasing the revenue ; but, ostensibly for the
purpose of maintaining a fleet, it was at first
imposed on sea-ports only, but soon extended
to inland towns, and, as one of the famous
lawyers of the day characterized it, was, in
fact, " a spring and magazine that should have
no bottom, and for an everlasting supply on
all occasions."
People grumbled, but had paid this tax, il-
legal as it was deemed to be ; but Master
Hampden refused, and tested the case as a
point of law. The decision had been against
him through the servility of time-serving
judges, but there had been so great difference
in their various judgments that the whole trial
was a severe blow to the State.
Governor Vane. 2/7
But if there was little political freedom,
there was less for those who dared to differ
in religious matters. A pitiable scene had
been enacted this summer in front of West-
minster Hall, by order of the Star-chamber.
A doctor, minister, and lawyer, three learned
men and worthy citizens, had been publicly
whipped, their noses slit, their ears cut off,
and, thus maimed, had been branded in the
cheek, and imprisoned for life. The minister's
offense was writing a book entitled "Zion's
Plea against Prelacy," and the other two had
given voice to the popular discontent against
the illegal acts of the king and corruptions of
the court.
So if Master Vane found it difficult to live
peaceably in New England, he was not likely
to find life a bed of roses in his old home ;
for Laud had carried things with a high hand
since he had been Archbishop of Canterbury,
and the king under his persuasion had at-
tempted to force episcopacy upon his Scottish
subjects.
When Harry Vane reached his father's house
in the Strand, the first result of this attempt
was being warmly discussed in many an En-
glish household, and nowhere with greater
warmth or greater pity than between Dame
278 SAXBY.
Meredith and her adopted daughter, Winifred
Saxby. How they pitied those foolish, igno-
rant Scotch people, who could see no beauty
in priestly vestments and ecclesiastical orna-
ments, and even resisted the introduction of a
prayer-book, preferring their own bald service
to any thing the English Church could give
them in exchange ! But who shall picture the
horror and indignation of Winifred when the
news reached her of what had taken place
in Edinburgh that July Sunday, when Jenny
Geddes had thrown her stool at the bishop's
head? It had been the signal for hisses and
groans, and cries of " A pope ! a pope ! Down
with the priest of Baal ! " and what had been
begun as a most impressive and awe-inspiring
service ended in a riot and a general flight of
the clergy.
" Is not the sin of this Scotch woman un-
pardonable?" asked Winifred, with a little
shiver. She was sitting at the window, looking
through the tiny lozenge-shaped eye-holes of
glass at the river, with its burden of boats and
barges, and one of these was being moored to
their own private steps at the bottom of the
garden.
" Somebody is coming here, madam," she
remarked.
Governor Vane. 279
"I have told Dorothy I do not wish to be
disturbed to-day," said Dame Meredith.
She had only reached London the day be-
fore, and news of this Scotch business had not
penetrated to the quiet of Hadlow, and so this
and various other items almost as painful and
disturbing had met her all at once in Lon-
don. Poor Dame Meredith, who thought the
Church of England perfect, or at least grow-
ing every day more perfect under Archbishop
Laud's direction, had had high hopes for this
Scotch episcopacy movement ; and how peo-
ple could willfully resist what was intended for
their good she was at a loss to understand.
" If people would only be quiet, and let the
king and archbishop have their own way, how
much better it would be for them !" she said,
following out her own thoughts rather than
answering Winny's question.
" How is it, madam, that people dare to
disobey God's anointed?" asked the girl.
" Because they do not understand, or will
not believe, that all that is done is for their
good. If they could once believe this, I feel
sure they would not resist as they do, and
But here the talk was interrupted by the
entrance of Dorothy, who, with a lurking
smile, but all-becoming gravity, announced,
18
280 SAXUY.
" The Governor of Massachusetts." If she
had announced a Sachem of the Pequot In-
dians, Dame Meredith could not have looked
more astonished than she did as she said, " I
do not receive strangers to-day, and this for-
eigner must want my Cousin Vane."
" So you decline to receive me, aunt ? " said
Harry Vane, laughing, as he slipped from be-
hind the old waiting woman.
"Harry, Harry! what! at your school-boy
tricks still ? I wonder how often you have
played that joke upon us ? " said Dame Mere-
dith, in a tremor of delight, and yet turning
pale at this sudden apparition of her beloved
nephew.
In a moment Harry saw that his aunt was
changed. The two or three years that seemed
as nothing to him, now he was back in the old
room, had aged her wonderfully. Perhaps it
was the first time it had ever come upon him
that she was growing old, but it came with
marvelous distinctness now, and the next
thought was about Winifred, and what would
become of her in case of her guardian's death.
He put them from him now, but they had
found a lodgment in his mind, and his talk
this first day took some color from the hidden
thought ; for he suddenly remembered how
Governor Vane. 281
anti-Puritan this girl's education had of neces-
sity been, and how painful her lot might be
when she joined her own friends, whose opin-
ions differed so widely from those in which she
had been reared.
" The Governor of Massachusetts!" repeated
Dame Meredith. " Methinks you might have
chosen a more honorable title, and one that
smacks less of rebellion against his majesty,"
said the lady.
" Dorothy made a slight mistake. I said
the late Governor of Massachusetts. Did you
not hear of the honor the good folks yonder
had conferred upon me ? "
" Honor ! " repeated the lady with a very
questionable sniff. " We heard some such
idle gossip, but thought it well to forget it
again, and I mean to forget that and every
other disagreeable thing now you have come
home to us. You have seen your father,
Harry ? "
" Yes, and he is pleased to say he is glad to
have me back," replied the young man.
" Did he tell you the news ? " asked his
aunt.
" I have heard too much news. That about
Prynne and Bostwick is shameful."
" Yes, yes, I think the Star-chamber is a
282 SAXBY.
little too hard sometimes," admitted Dame
Meredith, " but it was not that I meant, but
this Scotch business that is so sorely troubling
the king and archbishop just now;" and Dame
Meredith told the story of the throwing of
Jenny Geddes' stool, and the riot that fol-
lowed.
Almost unconsciously Winny was drawn into
taking part in the discussion that followed, and
Harry Vane questioned and talked to her,
growing each moment more painfully con-
vinced of the depth and earnestness of her
religious opinions, and how, like his aunt, to
her mind the questioning the right of king or
bishop to do any thing they pleased was like
doubting God himself.
Perplexities. 283
CHAPTER XXI.
PERPLEXITIES.
SUMMER sunshine was again flooding the
pleasant gardens of Dame Meredith's
mansion at Hadlow, which she rarely left now.
The change which Harry Vane had noticed
some years before had now become apparent
to every body the visits to London had
grown more infrequent, and, unwilling as
Dame Meredith was to admit it, her growing
infirmities compelled her to keep almost en-
tirely to her own room.
The younger Vanes often came to visit her
and bring her the news of what was going on
in the world ; for the old lady took as keen an
interest in what was going forward as ever she
did ; but lately Winny had taken upon her-
self to sift this news, begging the young Vanes
to keep back any thing that would cause her
dear old friend the least disquiet.
These were disquieting times, and the self-
imposed censorship often made Winny look
grave and anxious beyond her years. She was
eighteen now a tall, stately, dignified girl, as
284 SAXBY.
she was compelled to be, having taken the
direction of Dame Meredith's household upon
her young shoulders, and behaving in all
things as a daughter to the friend who had
sheltered her in her helplessness. Not that
she felt herself forsaken by her own kindred ;
sometimes she almost wished she had been,
for she knew all too well now the wide dif-
ference that existed between them ; but how a
noble, brave-hearted soldier, like her father,
who had left his country and spent the best
years of his life fighting for King Charles'
sister, could at the same time sympathize with
such men as Pym and Hampden, was a puzzle
Winny could not understand. Clearly he must
be mistaken. In the far-off Germany he could
not understand the battle that was being
waged against the king by these obstinate,
misguided men ; and surely their last act the
impious daring they had been guilty of in ar-
resting and imprisoning Archbishop Laud
would convince him how utterly unworthy
they were of his regard,.
This imprisonment of the archbishop was a
dread weight upon poor Winny. Hitherto
she had carefully guarded the secret from
Dame Meredith, for she feared to tell her lest
the blow should lay her utterly prostrate.
Perplexities. 285
She knew the horror that had seized her when
she heard of the awful crime the Parliament
had committed in laying its ruthless hands
upon the sacred person of the archbishop.
What they would not dare to do now Winny
was at a loss to know perhaps imprison the
king himself, if ever they had the power ; and
there was no telling what might happen, since
they had come to open warfare. Strange to
say, this open warfare between the king and
his Parliament affected Winny far less than
the imprisonment of the archbishop. Several
battles had been fought during the last nine
months, Prince Rupert, the king's nephew,
leading the royalist army, and often fighting
against old friends, who had learned all the
tactics of war in fighting for his father and
mother and the Palatinate, which represented
the Protestant cause of Europe. But battles
even between Englishmen, and fought on En-
glish ground, were nothing in Winny 's mind
as compared with the assault made on God's
Church in the person of the archbishop. So
when young Mistress Vane came and whis-
pered, "Another battle has been fought," Win-
ny said, " Will it make them release the arch-
bishop, think you ?"
" Nay, nay, I fear not, for our enemies are
286 SAXBY.
stubborn. But who, think you, has been
killed in this battle ? 'Tvvas fought at Chal-
grove field, not far from Saxby, my brother
tells us."
For a moment Winny shook her head, and
then, with a touch of anxiety in her tone, she
said,
"Not Master Hampden, I hope!"
Her companion looked at her in surprise.
" Why should you feel sorry for the death
of that rebel ? " she said. " You are almost
as bad as Harry, and I never saw him so
moved as when the messenger blurted out the
news, forgetting he was almost a rebel him-
self."
The younger Vanes rarely admitted so much
as this as to their brother's opinions, for he
was a great puzzle to them, as he was to many
others.
" But why should you be sorry, Winny ? "
asked her companion again.
" Because my father will be so sorry and
disappointed. He is coming home, you know,
in a few weeks, and in his last letter he said
half the joy of his home-coming would be in
seeing his old friend, Master John Hampden."
"Your father is coming back. Will he join
this rebel army, think you ? "
Perplexities. 287
" My father join the rebels, who have seized
the archbishop ! " exclaimed Winny with some-
thing like scorn.
" You forget he is a soldier, and may "
" Hush, hush ! " interrupted Winny, hold-
"ng up her hands as if to ward off a threatened
>low.
"There, hush, dear; I did not mean to hurt
you. I know what you are feeling; for we
all feel the same about our poor misguided
brother. Is he not doing all he can to help
Oliver Cromwell and Lord Fairfax, if he is not
actually fighting himself, and and worse even
than that, Winny? I do not mind telling you,
because you, too, have friends among these
crop-eared roundheads, and can feel for us.
Harry's journey to Scotland, by and by, is to
make a solemn league and covenant, as they
call it, with the Scotch to help each other in
the reformation of religion and the extirpa-
tion of popery and prelacy; so that there is
'.ittle hope of seeing the archbishop released
yet, I fear."
The mention of the archbishop brought
back to Winny's mind the fear that had been
uppermost for some days, lest Dame Meredith
should hear this suddenly and without prep-
aration.
288 SAXBY.
" Would it not be better, think you, to tell
her, since there is so little hope of his re-
lease ? " said Winny. " We have kept this
secret so long ; but the tale your father told
her, about the archbishop's living in strict
retirement, she is beginning to doubt, I fear,
for she has questioned me several times of
late."
" Poor Winny ! how can I tell you what we
have all begun to fear at home ? You know
the archbishop's trial is to take place soon."
"Yes, yes; how dare they presume to judge
one whom God alone has the right to bring to
judgment?" exclaimed Winny.
" But they have determined to do it, and
they will not My father fears the trial will
go against Laud," young Mistress Vane hast-
ened to add.
"And if it should, what then? what could
they do ? " asked Winny.
"What they did to Lord Stafford a little
while ago," said her friend scarcely above her
breath.
Winny started away in horror-stricken fright.
" They would never do that," she said. " They
would never stain their hands with his sacred
blood."
" There is no telling what they may do ; for
Perplexities. 289
you see the hedge of sacred ordinance, that
to us would be his strongest safeguard, has no
existence for them. He is no more than an
ordinary man to these roundheads, you must
remember."
" But even if it be so, what can they accuse
him of worthy of death ? He has led a pure
life, and"
" No one has a word to say against his per-
sonal character, but he is to be charged with
trying to subvert liberty and religion, and
practicing cruelty and oppression through the
courts of Star-chamber and High-commis-
sion."
Winny shook her head. " He will not be
the first martyr," she said ; " but, still, I
hope his life may be spared, that when these
troubles are over he may proceed with his
work for the Church. How sorely it would
grieve him could he know how his work has
already been undone how the churches have
been stripped and the altars removed ! "
" Yes, indeed ; it is a mercy for dear aunt
that she cannot go to church now, to see how
bare it is once more," said young Mistress
Vane.
" But, do you know, she has begun to talk
of going again, now that the warm weather
SAXBY.
has come ? She says it is all very well to
spend the hours we are at church in her ora-
tory, but it is not like worshiping God in the
great congregation, and she cannot let such
small ailments as hers interfere with what is
a positive duty."
" Poor, dear aunt ! I wish we could spare
her this pain, Winny ; but if she has set her
mind upon this, she must be told the truth
about the archbishop."
" And I have to tell her that my father is
coming home at last, and that I know she has
always dreaded ; for we cannot tell what he
may wish me to do."
" O Winny, you will never leave her?" said
her companion quickly.
" I hope not, dear I will not if I can help
it ; but I know it has always been my father's
wish that when he came home I should go
with him wherever he might decide to live,
and it is most likely that he will want to go
to this New England."
" Where they are all crop-eared roundheads
and drawling Precisians ! O, my poor Winny,
what a dreadful fate ! "
" Do not laugh at me," said Winny, almost
ready to cry. " Every thing seems in such a
dreadful tangle for every body. How can we
Perplexities. 291
know what to do, or even what to pray for?
If things were only a little different if there
were no good men on the wrong side ; but
there is Master Vane, and I feel sure, from all
I have heard, Master Hampden was as good,
and "
"Yes, my father says there is less possibility
than ever of a reconciliation between the king
and Parliament now John Hampden has gone.
He had always hoped that Hampden and
Lord Falkland might have made peace be-
tween them ; for, although he cannot agree
with Harry, he says he chose for his friends
the best men in the country."
" Yes, that is where it is so hard, that so
many good men are on the wrong side, and
forced to do such evil deeds."
The two young ladies had wandered round
the garden and back to the house, and as
they reached the door old Dorothy came to
tell them Dr. Andrew Fuller had just arrived.
He had been spending some time with the
king at Oxford, where the rival Parliament
was sitting and the court had taken up its
abode.
He was a tall, stately man, but his blue
eyes seemed to brim over with mirthfulness ;
yet he was as pious, and ruled his life with as
292 SAXBY.
much strictness, as any Puritan, although he
was a stanch royalist and a great friend of
Dame Meredith, whom he had come some miles
out of his way to visit. He, understanding and
appreciating the piety and earnestness of such
men as Harry Vane, and Pym, and Hampden,
had tried to make peace between the con-
tending parties a few weeks .before ; but the
rebels, though they listened to his sermon
courteously enough as he told the young
ladies would have made him a rebel, too, if
they could, so he had left London to try what
he could do among the cavaliers at Oxford.
But his sermons were less appreciated by the
rollicking soldiers and court gallants than by
their enemies ; still he had great hopes of
Lord Falkland being able to do something,
if the king would only restrain such men as
Prince Rupert from going too far.
" It is such a pity that all good men do not
range themselves on the side of the king ! "
said Winny, when she had given orders for
refreshments to be brought into the cedar par-
lor, and heard from old Dorothy that Dame
Meredith was taking her midday nap.
" Aye, my wenches, it is a sore puzzle to me
sometimes; but I trow God can see through
the mists and tangles of this life, and, though
Perplexities. 293
the storm may be fierce, the ark of his Church
will outride the roughest billows."
"You think the Church is safe, although the
archbishop is in prison ? " said Winny, who,
like many another timid soul, just now thought
the safety of the Church was bound up in
Archbishop Laud.
" Yes, yes, God is not going to forsake his
Church, although it may be for our sins we
shall be sorely tried ; and lest we trust too
much in ordinances, some of these may be
removed, that we may cleave the closer to
God himself."
" I wish I could believe this always," sighed
Winny.
" It is not thy faith, but God's faithfulness,
you must rely upon," said Dr. Fuller; and at*
this moment Dorothy came to say that her
mistress was awake, and would be glad to see
her visitor when he had rested and refreshed
himself.
His frugal meal was soon made, for he was
one of the most abstemious of men ; but be-
fore he went to Dame Meredith Winny con-
trived to explain to him the difficulty she was
in through the little deceit that had been
practiced upon her aunt concerning the arch-
bishop's imprisonment.
294 SAXBY.
The good man shook his head disapprov-
ingly. " Crooked ways are sure to land us in
difficulties," he said ; but he undertook to
break the painful news to his old friend, and
also hint at some of the changes that had al-
ready been effected in the Church and ritual
how it had been robbed of what Dame Mere-
dith called " the beauty of holiness," for the
more simple form of worship that had pre-
vailed years before.
It was arranged that Dr. Fuller should spend
a few days at Hadlow, for which Winny was
most thankful afterward, for the very day of
his arrival she was summoned to see a tall
bronzed stranger, who refused to give his name
at first, asking only for Mistress Winifred Sax-
by, whom she supposed must be another mes-
senger from her father another veteran from
the German war, come to fight in the rebel
army.
He did not make himself known for some
time, hoping that some recollection lingered
in Winny's mind of her father; but he forgot
the lapse of time, and almost failed himself
to recognize in the stately young lady, who
seemed so perfectly at ease in this luxurious
home, the little, curly-haired darling, who had
met him with gleeful shouts of joy whenever
Perplexities. 295
the exigencies of the war allowed him to re-
turn for a few days to his home.
But at last he made himself known, and
Winny was locked in the arms of the father
she had so often tried to picture to herself.
The reality did not disappoint her. She looked
up through the mist of tears that had gathered
in her eyes with a glow of pride at the bronzed,
worn face that had faced so many battles, and
carried almost a charmed life through the dan-
gers and vicissitudes of this long German war.
It was a brave, noble face, telling of calm self-
surrender and self-conquest, that stamped it as
the brow of a victor, whose word none would
gainsay or doubt. Winny was content with
her father, and in this their first meeting her
heart went out to him, and she felt willing at
once that he should decide as to her future.
It was with this thought in her mind that
she said, " You will not ask me to leave Dame
Meredith yet, father? she is ill; she cannot
live many years, and it will break her heart to
lose me just now when so many sad things are
happening."
" My dear, you owe her the duty of a
daughter, and how could I grudge your loving
service to one who has been as a mother in-
deed to you ! "
19
296 SAXBY.
" Then, you will not ask me to go with you
to New England yet."
"To New England, my wench? I am not
going to New England at least, not yet.
Rupert is coming over here I expect him in
a few weeks for old England needs the help
of all her sons just now."
For a moment Winny forgot the difference
in their opinions, and stood with clasped hands
and radiant face. " I am so glad," she said ;
" so glad you have come to help the king before
the rebels have gained any decisive victory."
" My dear, the king has no more loyal sub-
jects in this realm than those brave gentlemen
whom you call rebels. I am come to serve
under Colonel Cromwell, who needs a better
army than tapsters and 'prentice lads."
Winny's hands dropped at her side, and she
fell back a pace or two, as though she had been
struck a deadly blow. "O, my father," she
gasped, " I thought if you only came to En-
gland, and heard about the archbishop being
in prison, and all about the quarrel, you would
surely help the king and try to save our English
Church from those who would destroy it."
" I do know all about the quarrel, Winny.
It began before you were born, before I left
England, and has been slowly growing through
Father and Daughter.
Perplexities. 299
all these years. The people have been robbed
of their rights and liberty, even their liberty
to serve God according to their own conscience.
It was this that drove your grandsire, and
thousands like him, away from their father-
land, and now, at last, the yoke has grown too
heavy to be longer borne. We must break it
or die. Good-night, Winny ; I will come again
to-morrow and see Dame Meredith."
300 SAXBY.
CHAPTER XXII.
CONCLUSION.
IT would be hard to describe poor Winny's
feelings after her father left her. Somehow
she had allowed herself to hope that when he
came home he would see at once how mistaken
he had been, and withdraw the sympathy he
had hitherto felt for these Puritans, who want-
ed the world turned upside down for their
convenience. Now these half-formed hopes
were all rudely shattered, for it was plain that
her father had come home on purpose to serve
in the rebel army, and it might be that he
would get killed without a moment granted
for repentance, or time to understand the aw-
ful mistake he had been under.
This was a terrible thought to Winny. She
had often prayed for Jenny Geddes, that God
would pardon her for throwing her stool at the
bishop that summer Sunday morning, almost
fearing the sin might be unpardonable ; but
how much greater was her father's, in raising
his hand against the king's sacred majesty in
open rebellion ! She and Dame Meredith had
Conclusion. 301
talked over the news concerning Hampden,
and, hearing a rumor that though mortally
wounded he was not dead, they had prayed
that God would grant him the gift of repent-
ance in those last days of his life, that his sun
might not go down in utter darkness. Now
the same prayer would be offered for her
father, but it afforded poor comfort to Winny
just now.
The news of Master Saxby's return was
broken to Dame Meredith the next day, but,
at the same time, Winny assured her that he
had no wish to take her away at present.
" He will not have to wait long for you, my
Winny," said the old lady, stroking the girl's
shining hair, as she knelt at her feet, and look-
ing down into the sad young face.
There was no sadness in the old lady's ; she
looked brighter than ever this morning, but,
somehow, it was a brightness that made Win-
ny vaguely uneasy, for it was utterly unlike
what she feared would follow upon the news
of the archbishop's imprisonment, and she
looked at the faded old face very lovingly and
tenderly as she whispered, " No one shall ever
take me from you."
" Bless you, sweetheart, for all your love,
and you must tell your father I am very thank-
302 SAXBY.
ful to him for leaving you with me a little
longer. I 'm wearing away, Winny. This
world is too much for me. I cannot under-
stand it, as I thought I could. So many good
men are on the wrong side, and so many un-
worthy ones where all should be true and
brave. Master Fuller has been telling me
something of his life at Oxford, and how he
was as glad to leave the cavalier camp as he
had been to escape from London. I would
that the king had such men about him as my
nephew, Harry Vane, and some others of the
Parliament men ; then there would be more
hope of peace for this distracted realm. We
must pray for peace, my Winny," concluded
the old lady, for at this moment Dr. Fuller
came in to read the prayers and lessons for
the day, which Dame Meredith never omitted
reading for herself or having read to her.
No questions had been asked Winny about
her father and the part he was likely to take
in the national quarrel, and she hoped that
when he came no mention would be made of
this painful topic. It may be that Winny was
needlessly anxious about this now, for in truth
Dame Meredith had greatly changed within
the last few days. The things of earth were
shrinking away from her as she approached
Conclusion. 303
nearer the heavenly city ; and she could even
think calmly of the archbishop's imprisonment,
and believe, with Dr. Fuller, that God was
well able to take care of his Church and of his
servant too.
But if Winny thought less of the old man
shut out from the world in the Tower, it was
because other anxieties pressed upon her to
counterbalance it. The doings of the rival
armies wore another aspect after her father
had left her, and every day she walked down
to the high-road to watch for the king's post
riding through the village, in the hope of hear-
ing some news of what was going forward at a
distance, for here, in lovely Kent, they were
far away from the scene of strife.
She often watched and waited in vain, but
not always ; for her patience was sometimes
rewarded by hearing sundry scraps of news,
which the post was always liberal in bestowing
when he reined in his horse at the village
ale-house ; and Winny, from the safe shelter
of the huge oak where she stationed herself,
could hear and see all that passed without her-
self being seen. Sometimes letters were left
for the Vanes or Dame Meredith, and some-
times for herself, for her father divined some-
thing of her anxiety on his behalf, and wrote
304 SAX BY.
as often as he could safely get a letter con-
veyed to her.
From the scraps of news thus gathered
Winny learned that the royalists were every-
where victorious in the west of England ; but,
instead of being able to rejoice, as she felt she
ought to do, this good tidings only increased
her anxiety, until a word came from her father
assuring her he was alive and well. Then
Winny would breathe more freely for a time,
and go about with a less anxious face, until
the rumor of another battle reached her ; and
as she had no means of knowing where her fa-
ther might be, she, of course, imagined him
as being in every battle.
If he had only been fighting on the royalist
side every thing would be so different, as she
was often whispering to herself ; but now her
heart was so cruelly divided between her love
and loyalty and every principle in which she
had been reared, that she could not rejoice
and thank God for the conquests of the king,
for it might be that this very conquest would
throw a dark shadow over all her life.
It was not merely her father's death that
Winny lived in such dread of. He would be
exposed to the same danger if he had been in
the king's army, but Winny would have known
Conclusion. 305
nothing of the terrible apprehension she now
lived in if he had been fighting on the side of
king and holy Church. Nay, if he had been
slain under such circumstances she would rath-
er have gloried in him as a martyr of the good
cause who had willingly laid down his life in
the service of the king.
At last came tidings of the battle of New-
buiy, where the all-victorious army of the king
received its first check, and lost its prince of
men " the glory of the royalist party " Lord
Falkland.
Strange to say, the news of his death affected
Dame Meredith more strongly than the im-
prisonment of the archbishop had done. "Ah
me, sweetheart," she sighed ; " peace is fur-
ther off than ever from this distracted land,
now that good man and brave soldier has been
taken. Doubtless he was glad of his discharge,
for Prince Rupert and the lawless doings of
his soldiers were a sore trouble to him ; but I
am thinking of the king and this poor bleeding
land no longer ' merry England,' but torn,
distracted England, with no hope of healing,
now Hampden and Falkland have gone. My
poor Winny ! your lot is cast in evil times, and
I may not see the end of these troubles ; but,
my dear, trust steadily in God."
3o6 SAXBY.
Happily for herself, Dame Meredith was
spared the agony of knowing that not only the
archbishop but the king was at length impris-
oned and condemned to die by those who had
taken the helm of affairs at this perilous junc-
ture. It was a very different ending she and
Winny had hoped and prayed for, when they
pleaded that God would strengthen and build
up his Church in righteousness and the beauty
of holiness. We know now that these earnest,
devout prayers were answered, although it
seemed to those who prayed that it was bitter-
est defeat ; for to them the " beauty of holi-
ness " meant what Laud had interpreted it to
mean a mere sensuous worship of splendid
ritual, which was gradually choking all true
spiritual worship and strangling the life of the
Church. God would save her from this even
by sore judgment and bitter humiliation, for
so it is God often answers the prayers of his
servants.
After the defeat of the royalists at Newbury
there were a few months of comparative peace,
but neither side were idle, for while Harry
Vane and the Parliament were negotiating for
assistance from the Presbyterians of Scotland,
the king was busy arranging for help from the
Roman Catholics of Ireland, to renew the
Conclusion. 307
struggle at the first favorable opportunity ;
and during this lull of hostilities Dame Mere-
dith passed away to the land of everlasting
peace.
Poor Winny was overwhelmed with grief at
the loss of her friend, who had been a mother
to her for so many years. It was small conso-
lation to her, either, that she was possessed of
an ample fortune, and that a home had been
secured for her in the Vane household until
her father could claim her.
And so for six months Winny could do lit-
tle but watch and wait the chances of war,
during which time another sore blow fell upon
her ; for the long-deferred trial against the
archbishop was commenced in March, and as
it went on it became more certain than ever
that he would end his days upon the scaffold.
Sorely Winny missed gentle Dame Meredith
now. The young Vanes were as hot and pas-
sionate in their denunciations of the Parlia-
ment, and all who sympathized with them, as
Winny had once been, while she well, she
could not understand herself, only she wished
she could run to Dame Meredith and hear, as
she so often had in her last days, tender, piti-
ful words, and even excuses made for what had
before seemed inexcusable to both of them.
3o8 SAXBY.
Now her father was one of those whom she
had looked upon as enemies, she longed to
hear such soothing words again, even though
she might herself combat them ; but these
hard, bitter words of her young companions
fell upon her like blows, sometimes causing
her the double anguish of doubting her own
loyalty, because they pained her so much.
And Winny's was not the only heart in which
this fierce battle and bitter pain was added to
more physical distress. Of this she knew noth-
ing as yet, but she was not long to remain in
ignorance of the other side of the gloomy
picture.
Early in July came news of a battle fought
at Marston Moor, in Yorkshire, and shortly
afterward the king's post brought a letter to
Winny, written by her brother Rupert, beg-
ging her to come at once to their father, who
had been sorely wounded fighting with Colonel
Cromwell's Ironsides. A messenger was wait-
ing in London to bring her to them without
delay, the letter said, and Winny was not long
in making her preparations to set out.
In sunny, smiling Kent the fields were wav-
ing with corn and the orchards glowed with
their harvest of fruit, and London looked as
rich and prosperous and busy as ever. But
Conclusion. 309
when London was left behind, and they were
on the great northern road, they came upon
tracts of wilderness and pitiless devastation
that made Winny shudder. Wrecks of barns
and farm-houses that had once been pleasant
homesteads, but now were only heaps of black-
ened ruins ; and what pained her almost as
much was to hear that this was the work of
Prince Rupert, who would often swoop down
upon the inhabitants of a peaceful district with
a band of his royalist soldiers, and drive off
the cattle and all that could be carried away,
and then, if the owners resisted or protested,
they were hung to their own door-posts as Pu-
ritan traitors, and the house fired.
In this way hundreds of homes in England
had been desolated, and the people's heart
roused to a hatred against their king such as
they had never known before, and which proph-
esied ill for the success of the royal cause.
What Winny felt about all this she kept
close in her own heart, but she was thankful
when the journey was over and she was no
longer forced to see such cruel sights and hear
that all the vaunted chivalry of the cavaliers
were as so many idle tales.
She found her father in a less dangerous
condition than she feared, although his wounds
3:0 SAXBY.
were very severe, and he had suffered a good
deal from pain and loss of blood. Rupert met
her with a half apology for fetching her, for
their quarters were poor and there was little
accommodation for a lady ; but Winny quickly
assured him that her greatest wish was to be
at her father's side now Dame Meredith was
dead, and she soon proved that she was no
dainty fine lady unable to do any thing out of
the luxurious home to which she had been
accustomed.
Captain Saxby had been carried to a desert-
ed cottage not far from the scene of the fight,
and although Rubert and the doctor had done
all they could for the comfort of the wounded
man, every thing looked cheerless and deso-
late in the extreme.
But in a few hours Winny had altered the look
of things in her father's chamber. A few odds
and ends of rough furniture that lay strewed
about the garden were brought in by her broth-
er Rupert, and, cleaned and furbished by Win-
ny, soon gave a more home-like look to the
place, and the wounded soldier seemed to find
a relief from the pain of his wounds and the
monotony of his imprisonment in watching the
graceful figure of his daughter, who was con-
tinually busying herself over these small details,
Conclusion. 311
that would never have entered a man's head
to contrive.
But when the excitement of her coming was
over, and all that could be .devised to make
the cottage more comfortable had been done,
Winny discovered that her father was going
back to the same state of listless brooding he
had indulged before she came, and she re-
solved to ask her brother, who was still with
them, if he knew of any cause for this. The
brother and sister, so long parted, had got
used to each other again by this time, and all
the old love seemed to have revived, in spite
of the difference of opinion existing between
them a difference that was a bitter pain to
both, and yet which helped to convince each
how much might be said for the opposite
side.
" Something on his mind," repeated Rupert
when his sister told him about her suspicions.
" Yes, it is something about Uncle Roger, I
feel sure," said Winny ; " for I heard him say,
' Roger, Roger,' several tfmes in his sleep this
morning.
" Hush, hush ; yes, it is that, I am afraid,"
admitted Rupert. " Uncle Roger was fight-
ing in the royalist army, and he and our father
met on the battle-field and recognized each
312 SAXBY.
other. It was not the first time they met
since father had returned to England ; but
they had parted in anger because he refused
to admit father's claim to a share of Saxby,
and to secure it entirely for himself he took
up the royalist cause. They never met again
until this battle of Marston Moor, and Uncle
Roger has been killed. We did not mean to
let father know it just now, but some one
spoke of it incautiously, and he overheard
what was said. But do you know, Winny, we
shall have to move from here soon ? " added
Rupert.
" But can father be moved ? " said Winny,
anxiously.
" The doctor says he will never get better
here, and advises his being taken to his native
place, Great Kimble. Will you talk to him
about it, and try to find out what he thinks of
the plan ? "
To every body's surprise the invalid caught
eagerly at the suggestion, and arrangements
were at once made to have him conveyed in a
litter, and by easy stages, to the village among
the chalk hills where he had played as a boy,
and which he had left five and twenty years
before to fight for freedom and religious lib-
erty.
Conclusion, 313
Rupert hoped that the dear familiar scenes
surrounding their ancestral home might soon
do all that the doctor thought they would.
But, alas, the destroyer had reached Saxby be-
fore them, and nothing remained of the old
house but a charred heap of blackened ruins,
while over fields and orchards desolation and
destruction reigned complete.
" It is enough," said the invalid when he
caught sight of the ruin ; " take me away as
far as you can. I have looked my last at dear
old Saxby, that has cost me my brother's life
and my father's banishment. Take me to my
father now, children. Thank God, his old
eyes will never see this mournful sight ! Take
me to New Saxby, Rupert, about which you
have told me so much. I would fain see my
father once more before I die."
From this time his one wish was to see his
father, and so, as soon as he was sufficiently
recovered from his wounds to be able to travel,
the three set out on their voyage to the New
England that was henceforth to be their home ;
and here Winny learned to understand that
the Church of God might include many who
did not worship him after a pattern set by
kings and bishops, while many a Puritan
learned to think m.ore k.indly of those who
20
314 SAXBY.
differed from themselves by a visit to the gen-
tle royalist maiden living at New Saxby ; for
Winny never gave up her love of king and
country, and no one ever thought of asking
her to do so.
The success of Oliver Cromwell and the
establishment of the Commonwealth in En-
gland carried the Reformation a step further ;
but this was followed by a retrograde move-
ment when Charles II. came to the throne
from which his father had been hurled ; his
accession sent many to the New England that
was now growing to be a might and power in
the world the home of liberty, the refuge of
brave, true souls, who loved liberty more than
ease or life itself.
The efforts and prayers of the Pilgrim Fa-
thers who had first set foot on the western
wilds had been wonderfully answered. They
had said, " If it please God to discover some
place unto us, even though in America, where,
free from antichristian bondage, we may retain
our names and nationality, and not only be-
come a means of enlarging the dominions of
the English State, but the Church of Christ
also, in that place we will joyfully establish
ourselves ; and our persecuted countrymen
-shall see how in the distant wilderness men
Conclusion. 3 1 5
may comfortably subsist, and keep their con-
sciences unsullied ; " and in little more than
thirty years, under their vigorous leadership, a
New England had arisen ; and we trust and
pray that the mighty empire born of the Pu-
ritans' efforts and prayers will ever be true to
her noble lineage, and faithfully keep the price-
less trust committed to her by the grand old
men of the " Mayflower.
THE END.
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