Chapter VII: Part 7

"Most illustrious sir,--Not to tire you with a long letter, I will refer you to my secretary, Juan de Soto, who will inform you of the state in which things are here, and by the grace of God they are better than could be expected, as every thing was, when I came, as bad as possible. To God be rendered thanks, in that he hath given me patience to suffer what it appeared impossible for any human creature to bear, before this blind people could be brought out of their passion, which kept their minds so hardened against their own peace and quiet. But since his Divine Majesty has permitted things to come to this pass, I trust that with time the whole machine will come round to its proper place. The moment any thing of consequence occurs I will let you know; and I entreat of you to inform me of the state of your health, of which I have heard nothing since I reached Luxemburg, which is now more than three months and a half. I know not how to account for this, as I do not hear that the passes are closed.... Some of the conditions of this peace are hard, most hard; but necessary to save religion and to ensure obedience. Time will do something, and already much has been done by the grace of God. At your service, DON JUAN."[37]

But now, when Don John fully expected to reap the benefit of peace, and to employ his Spanish veterans in the conquest of England, he saw all his hopes frustrated. The states of Flanders steadily refused to allow the Spanish troops to be embarked on board ally vessels in their harbours, lest they should be used against Zealand and Holland, but demanded, in a peremptory tone, that the troops should be instantly despatched by land, according to the treaty. Moreover, Philip resisted the pressing appeal of the Pope's nuncio to interfere in this matter. Thus was England saved from the horrors of an invasion,--curious that for once in their lives Elizabeth of England and Philip of Spain should have had similar interests at heart![38]

Don John's ambitious spirit still drove him to seek some means of acquiring an independent kingdom, either in the East, in England, France, or Spain. Much to Philip's disquiet, Don John now held constant communication with the Guises; emissaries went to, and came frequently from, Rome, without Don John ever acquainting his suspicious brother with his intrigues. Escovedo was exceedingly busy, and Perez was employed by Philip II. to worm out the secret, which he did by the most dishonourable artifices. He entered into a secret correspondence with Escovedo, and, after blaming Don John's secretary for writing to the Pope without Philip's knowledge, Perez assured Escovedo that their correspondence should be kept profoundly secret from the king. All this time the wily secretary of state showed all the letters and despatches to Philip, who frequently amended the drafts of the minutes with his own hand. Nay, to obviate suspicion, Perez occasionally put in some abuse of the monarch.[39] Don John, in moments of disappointment, wrote to Perez--For the sake of his life, of his honour, of his soul, he must quit Flanders--he would leave his post when people least expected it--although this crime might be punished with blood.[40] He talked of entering France "at the head of a band of adventurers, consisting of 6000 infantry and 2000 horse."[41] Moreover, Don John was frequently heard to say, "Escovedo and money--money and Escovedo." The latter became exceedingly bold, and said that, after conquering England, it would be easy to gain Spain: that with the ports of Santander and the Peña de Mogron, a footing might be gained in Castile. But what brought matters to a crisis was the demand made by Escovedo, who was now in Spain, to be instantly appointed governor of the Peña de Mogron. Philip, seeing in this demand confirmation strong of his worst suspicions, thought Escovedo too dangerous a person to be allowed to live, and Perez was ordered to despatch this intriguing emissary. Poison was administered in vain; at last Escovedo was stabbed in the streets of Madrid by one Insausti, on the 31st March 1577. But for the whole of this most curious chapter in the history of Antonio Perez, whose airs of authority had made him detested,--for a full comprehension of Don John's ambitious views,--of the part which Escovedo played in this drama,--of his murder by the command of Philip, and the manner in which the guilty accessary, Antonio Perez, was made the scape-goat of the whole transaction, and offered up as a sacrifice to the long-cherished hatred of Escovedo's family, and of his rival Mateo Vasquez--of the insurrection in Arragon, and other matters connected with this transaction,--we must refer our readers to Mons. Mignet's interesting work on Philip II. and Antonio Perez, where they will find the whole story handled with admirable precision by a master of his art.[42]

The murder of Escovedo must have opened Don John's eyes, and shown him that Philip would never allow him to acquire a separate and independent kingdom. Don John's ambitious spirit seems now to have preyed upon itself, and his constitution to have suffered from this internal struggle: he had frequent fits of melancholy, accompanied by attacks of low fever; and occasionally expressed an earnest desire to leave a career for which he daily felt an increasing dislike, and to be allowed to retire into some monastery. This feeling was much aggravated by the failure of the negotiation in the Netherlands, and by the prospect of a long and lingering war, in which none of those bold dashes and brilliant adventures, which formed so great an attraction to one of Don John's chivalrous and enthusiastic nature, were to be expected. At length, after several small successes, after a victory at Namur, Don John was seized with the putrid fever, of which he died on the 1st October 1578, in the 33d year of his age, and with him perished all his ambitious designs. On opening the body, Don John's heart was found much diseased, and his skin was as if it had been burnt; many attributed his death to poison. His last dying request was to be buried in the Escurial, near the bones of his father, the Emperor Charles V. We cannot better close this slight sketch of one so early snatched from a career of glory, than by quoting an interesting and detailed account of his last hours, written by his confessor, an eye-witness of his death.

"TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY.

"Your Majesty will have heard, by letters from the Prince of Parma and from Prince Octavio Farnese, the trouble which it hath pleased God to bring upon us by the death of Señor Don John of Austria: and to accomplish that which he hath so many times commanded me to do, during his life, as well as somewhat to relieve the grief which I know will seize upon your Majesty's royal heart, I will relate the prayer which Don John desired me to make to your Majesty in his name, and with all humility, for the repose of his soul, the which I believe, and do dare to affirm, is now in the enjoyment of that crown of glory which all who sacrifice their life for the law and the gospels in the service of their king, are wont to receive as their reward. And no one went through greater or indeed equal labours and troubles than did this most Christian and obedient gentleman.

"All the time, most powerful Sir, that his highness Don John was in the castle of Namur,--or, at any rate, most of the time,--he passed in making his peace with God, and in ordering his worldly affairs. He manifested unto me many times his strong wishes therein, entreating me to beseech God, by the merits and zeal of the invincible Emperor, his father and master, to employ his person in the defence of the Catholic faith, and to allow him to die before he should do, or suffer any thing to be done, which should offend God even in the smallest matter. He even said more: that he never could think of your Majesty, his father and master, without ardently desiring to assist in the defence and spread of the holy Catholic faith, and in enforcing obedience to your Majesty, who, he hath told me an infinite number of times, was his master, his father, his brother, and his whole wealth on this earth.

"Two days before the victory of Gemblours, Don John sent for me and told me that, although he did not then intend to engage the enemy, still, considering the many chances of war, he desired to make a general confession from the time when he could first remember to have had the use of his reason. This was the more easy for his highness, from the frequency with which he hath attended the holy offices of the church since he hath been in these parts: as rarely a month passed that he hath not communicated and confessed twice,--nay sometimes thrice. Thus on that night, after having made a clean breast, and disposing of his affairs as if he were truly about to render an account unto God at that moment,--as in fact he did in the spirit--his highness, with an appearance of deep feeling and great humility said, as he walked up and down the room, 'Reverend Father--in order that you may, once for all, know my last will and testament, and my wish in other matters besides those of which I have lately discoursed while I was at your feet, and that you may never put to me any other questions, for I have nothing further to say--I beg you will observe these three matters:--1st, My soul I commend unto God, and to my father.--2d, As to what regardeth my body, I well know how little it availeth where it lie until the day of judgment: but I wish you, in my name, to entreat his Majesty the king, my master,--looking to what the Emperor my father requested of his Majesty, as well as to the way in which I have served him,--to grant me this favour--that my bones may rest somewhere near those of my father. In this guise my services will be amply satisfied and recompensed.--3d, As to these old rags which I have here, I know not how to dispose of them; but as I am the Emperor's son, and the Emperor recommended me as such to his Majesty, and as I die in his Majesty's house, and in his service, let him, like a true father and master, dispose of my possessions--not only as if they belonged to his son, but to his servant and slave; and I would do the same were the whole world mine.'

"Don John entreated me most fervently to beg your Majesty, in consideration of this his expressed wish, to pardon him if at any time in Italy or elsewhere he hath used your Majesty's moneys more than was fitting. He said very many other things to the same effect, the which, although I remember me of them, I will not write, in order not to wring your royal heart any further; and thus in that same night he repented him of his sins with as much fervency as if the last hour of his life had actually come, desiring to have some opportunity to receive the most holy sacrament on the following morning: this, however, was not possible until two days after that most famous and miraculous victory. The Saturday before the day of Pentecost, while we were before Philippeville,--acting upon the leave which his highness had formerly given me, I did entreat him almost with reproaches not to place a life, so useful to the church and to his brethren, in such frequent and imminent danger, nor to take upon himself labours to which his bodily strength was unequal, whatever his wishes and courage were. His highness replied; 'Reverend father, this life and much besides I owe to God, and to the king my master, to whom, as I have oftentimes said and now repeat, I leave my bones and all I possess, should I die here in his territories.'

"On the first of August--for I pass over many details in order not to weary your Majesty; the night before his highness (who is in heaven) bestirred himself against the enemy before Malines, he made a general confession of his sins, placing himself in the hands of God, preparatory to receiving the most holy sacrament on the following day; confessing again afterwards, and saying that that was a good testament when a man commended his soul to God, his body to the company which he loved best, namely that of his father and master, and his property in the hands of him who knew better than he how to take the burden of it. And, in truth, his highness only used it in your Majesty's service.

"Finally, the second day on which he sickened, he said that although the physicians declared his malady not to be dangerous, he did, nevertheless, feel himself exceeding ill and worn. But what gave him infinite pleasure was to see that he was so poor that nothing on earth could prevent him from speedily being with God, more especially having his Lord and father in heaven, and on earth your Majesty as his lord and brother. And he was most confident that, if his affairs were left in your Majesty's hands, they would have that end and success which was proper. This same day he did ask me many questions touching the virtue of martyrdom, desiring to have some share of its merits, giving signs of his having many times entreated God for martyrdom.

"The following day, the 25th September, he confessed like one chosen of God, telling me that he knew his days to be numbered, and that his only regret was the little he had done for the service of God and of your Majesty; but that he trusted in God and in the Virgin Mary, that they would take this death as for their glory, for that of the Catholic Church, and of your Majesty, and for God's service; and that he wished to make the world understand that, as during life he had not been devoted to the church, as had originally been his father's wish, in death he wished to be so, in as much as depended upon him. He besought his brother and master to remember him of his servants, to whom he owed much for being good and faithful to God, to himself, and to your Majesty: and very many of them were poor, having served him by land and by sea; many of them, moreover, had been taken away from their homes, and he had not a maravedi wherewith to pay them their salaries, which had been owing to them for some time. Your Majesty was also to remember his highness's mother, whom he regarded and loved as a mother, and a young brother, whom he knew to be such. He likewise mentioned other persons, whose names in due time I will make known unto your Majesty. His highness concluded by saying, 'since on earth I do not possess an acre I might call my own, is it not just, Reverend father, that I should desire some space in heaven?' His highness then desired that Otavio de Gonzagua should have the command, on account of the good will which he saw in him to your Majesty's affairs, as well as to his highness. His highness ended by saying that, if he were not deserving of having his bones placed beside those of his lord and father, he desired to be buried at the church of our Lady of Monserrat, whom all his life through he held in particular affection.

"On the morning of Friday, the 26th September, on my going to see him, Don John complained to me that the physicians had used force to compel him to drink a potion: this annoyed him much, as he thought it would interfere with his receiving the holy sacrament. On my telling Don John it was of no importance, he requested me to inquire of the physicians if he ran any risk should he put off communicating for another day, or if he left it even until the following Sunday, when he thought to gain the jubilee. The physicians told him that his illness was not so dangerous but what he might put off receiving the holy sacrament till then, or even later; and therefore, on Sunday, the 28th, he reconciled, himself with God, with such fervour, that it much pained me to see the pain in which he was, knowing that it would add to his malady. And while I was performing mass in his room, he requested to be allowed to touch the face of his God with an air of incredible devotion, saying 'Bring unto me, most Reverend father, the visage of my God;' and while he thus uttered words of such Christian import, he received the most holy sacrament. And on being asked if it were his pleasure to receive extreme unction, he requested it with much earnestness as a very precious gift and much to be desired.

"The mass over, Don John named the Prince of Parma as his successor, until your Majesty should be pleased to appoint some one else. Two hours afterwards delirium came on, and nothing that he said was clear save when he talked of God. The names of Jesus and of our Lady were mentioned; and when he was told to take or to do this in their name, he did it with much obedience and willingness.

"Don John passed Monday and Tuesday in great trouble and pain, and he wandered in his mind, which ran upon ordering intrenchments to be thrown up, or cavalry and ammunition to be sent here and there, saying alway, in answer to every question, that thus it concerned the service of your Majesty.

"This same Tuesday night, I inquired of him whether he wished to have the sacrament of extreme unction administered, and he answered as if he were suffering no pain whatever,--'Yea, father! Jesus! quick, Reverend father!' and he received it with an appearance of praying, although we could not distinguish what he said, as he did not speak clearly.

"Early in the morning of Wednesday, the 1st October, which was the day of his death, and about one hour and a half before his decease, I asked him if he wished to hear mass, and he made a sign with his head in the affirmative. When the _corpus_ was raised, they who were standing at his bed-side advised him of it; and although his eyes were shut, and we thought that his senses were wandering, his highness immediately clasped his hands together, and hastily tore off from his head some plasters and a cap, the better to adore with his heart that God and Saviour whom he could not see with his eyes. The rest of the time, until his decease, which took place at about one o'clock in the day, we passed in helping him to call upon the name of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary; and all who were present were filled with grief,--although, on the other hand, they were rejoiced to see such manifest tokens of the glory to which he was fast attaining: and thus he departed from our hands without a sigh, like a bird on its way to heaven.

"This, most powerful sir, was the end of the life of this son and servant of your Majesty, as he was wont to call himself. And, as far as I can see, for thirty and three years he hath performed the wishes of the two fathers whom he had in this life--that is to say, of his lord and father the Emperor, and of your Majesty, seeing that his highness hath informed me that his Majesty the Emperor wished him to be in holy orders, and your Majesty desired him to be a soldier. But his highness, like an obedient son, died as poor as a friar, and in an humble barrack like a soldier; for I promise your Majesty that the room wherein he died was a sort of garret over a stable, that in this he might imitate the poverty of Christ; and without doubt, most Christian Sir, for four or five months before his death, he was constantly occupied in works of charity, piety, and humility. His whole pleasure consisted in visiting the sick--of which there were many in the camp,--and in accompanying the holy sacrament, giving these wretched men charity with his own hand, receiving with the utmost compassion the poorest and most wretched soldiers, until he could procure carts in which to convey them to the hospital; constantly urging me to see that in the hospitals nothing was wanting, and particularly ordering me to see that the sacraments were duly administered to the sick, that none should die without this great comfort. He appointed a separate hospital for those who had contagious disorders, and charged me to see that none of those should die unaneled. And since his Holiness gave him authority to name some one as vicar-general, to have full power in all matters ecclesiastical--whereof I understand his highness hath informed your Majesty by means of the Archbishop of Toledo--he determined to root out of the army all blasphemies, oaths, and evil doings, and in particular the sin of heresy, promising me that he would not favour any one, even if he were especially attached to his person; and he punished those who sinned in this manner in the army with such vigour, that, at the end of three months, the men, especially the Spaniards, were more like monks in a convent than like soldiers in a camp. And this most excellent prince acted in such a manner that, now when the soldiers see him dead, they cannot but believe that he had a spirit of prophecy touching his death. Nay, they do say that it does not appear to them as if his death were after the manner of men, but that he flew like an angel of heaven up to his God.

"Otavio Gonzagua performs, and has performed on his part whatsoever was ordered by the Señor Don John, taking advice in all matters of the Prince of Parma, and waiting like all of us to receive the commands of your Majesty, whose royal person may our Lord guard and prosper for many years to come, as is most necessary for the Church.

"From Namur, this 3d October 1578."[43]

Don John died in the fortress commanding the town of Namur; and on the 3d October, his body, placed on a bier, covered with cloth of gold, was conveyed by several gentlemen to the cathedral. Don John was dressed in full armour, the order of the Golden Fleece was placed round his neck, and on his head was a plain cramoisy cap, over which was a crown of cloth of gold, covered with jewels; his fingers likewise were loaded with rings. In this guise the body was carried forth, escorted by all the clergy of the place, by several monks and their bishops. All the assembled crowd shed tears, and made loud lamentation as the cavalcade passed. The bier was placed on a raised platform in the church, and, after the service had been performed, the corpse, was lowered into a vault near the high altar, where it remained until it was carried into Spain in the following year.

Don John's corpse was then cut into three pieces, and placed in three small chests lined with blue velvet, the better to enable it to pass secretly through France. On the 18th March 1579, the cavalcade left Namur, and, passing by Meziers and Paris, arrived at Nantes, where the whole party embarked, and reached Santander on the 6th May. On the 22d the funeral procession arrived at the monastery of Parreces, five leagues from Segovia, where it was met by Busto de Villegas, Bishop of Avila, by Juan Gomez, the Alcalde of the Court, accompanied by some alguazils, by twelve of the royal chaplains, and other people belonging to the court. The three portions of Don John's body were now joined together and placed in a coffin, covered with black velvet; on the outside was sewn a cross of cramoisy velvet, upon which were emblazoned golden nails. The coffin was made to open at the side, in case any desire might be expressed to see the dead body within. The cavalcade swelled as it approached the monastery of the Escurial, where it arrived on the evening of Sunday the 24th May 1579, accompanied by above four hundred men on horseback.

We will now follow an account given by Fray Juan de San Gerònimo, a monk of the Escurial, of what happened on the occasion. It seems the monks came out to meet the procession:--

"And because," says Fray Juan de San Gerònimo, "the Reverend Prior was absent at the general chapter, holden this year of 1579 at San Bartolemé el Real, the Vicar Fray Hernando de Torrecillas performed the offices in his stead, and went forth with the ministers in their full canonicals: all of the which halted at a table, over which was a dais of rich brocade, raised in the midst of the principal cloister, where the gentlemen bearing the pall placed the body. The choristers immediately began to chant the '_Subveniti Sancti Dei_;' whereupon they all returned in procession to the church; and these same gentlemen who bore the corpse on their shoulders placed it on the platform which had been raised for it, when the Reverend father vicar read the funeral oration in the presence of the whole convent; the bishop and the pall-bearers being ranged round the raised platform. When this was finished, the Reverend fathers went to the choir to sing a vigil, and the bishop, with his company, adjourned for a while to take rest. The following day, which was the 25th, high mass was sung, the bishop assisting the choristers in the choir. When mass was over, the monks went into the chapel where the corpse was, and sang the responses, accompanied by the organ, while the monks of San Lorenzo answered them in recitative without music."[44]

After this a formal ceremony was gone through. Philip's secretary, Gastelia, read a royal order from his Majesty, directing the friars of the convent of San Lorenzo to receive the body of his dear brother, the most illustrious Don John of Austria. Fray Juan de San Gerònimo thus concludes his account:--

"And after the reading of the said letter, the followers of Don John let down the corpse into the vault which had been prepared for it underneath the high altar, and placed it among the other corpses of the royal family. This was about eleven o'clock in the day. After this ceremony we all went to dinner."

At which excellent occupation we cannot do better than leave them.

A NIGHT'S PERIL.

TWO days before I sailed from Mauritius, I was sitting at breakfast on one of the packages containing my traps. The walls were stripped of their pictures, the cherished whips and pipes were gone from the chimney-piece--the crockery which ministered to my occasions was borrowed. The Sarah transport floated in the harbour, and almost sent the tail of her pendant into my window.

There was no mistake about it,--I was on the move; and, of course, as I was bound to Old England, I ought to have been in ecstatics. But there is no such thing as "of course," in human affairs. Of them, the tide is subject to so many perturbations, that, like Mrs M'Stinger, there is no saying which way they may head at any moment. For myself, I have ever been somewhat of a cosmopolite, and felt it to be bad policy for a creature of condition so erratic as man, to circumvent too closely with particulars of locality his idea of home. It is a narrowing of our capabilities to anchor our hopes in some village or county, and to persuade ourselves that thence they cannot be started without shipwreck. If ever any of the sons of men were senseless of ambition, and the _auri sacra fames_--those circulating forces that draw men from the native hearth, and prevent the stagnation of societies--they would need a triple defence against Necessity to fortify such a position. When this "Daughter of Jove" descends in her might, and hurls them from their strongholds--when go from home they must, even then will men sometimes go resistingly, which is the same thing as to go painfully. A man who should cling to some particular post or pillar till torn thence by mechanical force, would probably be wounded in the struggle. And so is it that the mental lacerations which some emigrants exhibit as the work of cruel necessity, are but the effect of their own obstinate clinging to some spot or outward object from which the fiat of necessity has separated them. Such men are cruel to themselves, and must often move the pity of their fellow-wayfarers. Such men are to be seen nursing their sorrows, blinding their eyes, and denying the sympathies of their immortal and infinite spirits. _The World_ is man's habitation; and a good Providence has so adorned its every part, that no where can we be called to dwell where a wise man may not be happy and at home. The sacred asylum of home, is of no geographical nor material limitation. Its building is of love, and faith, and peace; and these foundations may be laid any where, for they dwell within the spirit of man, and are evoked by the voice of wisdom. Be wise, then, oh wanderer from the land of thy sires! Open thine arms to thy new brethren and sisters, and live no longer as though possessing no higher innate powers than an oyster or a cauliflower. Here, where you are, you have what may serve your present aptitude; for aught more you must wait till hereafter.

I by no means intend to infer that it required any high strain of philosophy to accommodate one's self to the circumstances of a few years' sojourn at Mauritius. One might, perhaps, assume it to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. The good merchants and planters exhibit hospitality in its very pink, and abundantly evoke for your benefit the resources of the island. Objections, on the score of climate, I look upon as unworthy of a prudent traveller; for to one who will be at the pains of a little concession to circumstances, all climates soon become the same. 'Tis but an extra cloak at St Petersburg, and an hour or two's siesta at Calcutta. The one really assailable point in the constitution of Mauritius, is, that it is a little out of the twopenny-post line,--but as I was not in love, this mattered little to me.

When I say that I was not in love, I must be understood as speaking irrespectively of Mauritius. Till I set foot on those bewitching shores I had deservedly enjoyed the character of a hard-hearted, impregnable bachelor. It would be tedious to sum up the names of my messmates, whom one after another I had seen fall victims to eyes that had vainly expended fascination on me. The girls always gave me up as a bad job within three weeks of our arriving at new quarters. But now my time was come--_dedi manus_--I had stretched my tether to the utmost; and soon after I had set foot on the island of Paul and Virginia I had ceased to be a freeman.

Now, put all these things together, and you will not be surprised to hear that I was not out of my wits with joy, at being ordered home.

Mine was one of those complicated cases of love that will occur sometimes; not _one_ flame, but many consumed me,--not _one_ image of female loveliness, but many such specimens, beset my reveries. I would turn out in the morning with the perfect conviction that Maria was the real girl after all, and so rest satisfied, till some person or thing, envious of my peace, would call up to my mind's eye, Lucie, or some other of the score of pretty names that rejoice Echo in that favoured spot. Thus did I shift my allegiance from one to another, and live in such uncertainty, that had Hymen's self decked for me the altar, I should have been so long in settling what name should thereon be inscribed, that he would infallibly have put his torch out in disgust.

So tempered I sat breakfasting. With the confusion of softer feeling, which I have tried to describe, was mingled a little indignation at a letter which I had just received from my old friend Jack Hardy. He did me to wit, that he had heard of my goings on, and congratulated me on being ordered off, before I was regularly nabbed. In case of the worst,--and this was the part for which I could have thrashed him,--in case of the nabbing aforesaid having actually taken place, he suggested, that I need be under no alarm, since now I had an obvious opportunity of going home to "consult my friends." Considering how often I had myself used this weary old joke, I remember it did seem to me a little odd, that I should so wince at it then. "Nabbed," thought I, "I only wish that Jack, or any body else, would tell me by whom." And then I began to think, how like my state was to that of a hypochondriac, who, assailed by fifty symptoms at once, knows not which to regard, and so misses the cause of all the evil. Authorities agree in stating, that a man can be in love with but one person at one time; so in spite of appearances, I was obliged to conclude that some one particular young lady was the motive power of the distraction I exhibited.

But little mattered it who, or how many, the girls might be; I was going to leave them all. Soon Mauritius and its happy company would have to exist for me dreamily, and as an image of the past, the vivid lights of its actuality pushed into obscurity by some harsher present. Soon the popular ----th, would be gone, and be succeeded by some other no less popular regiment--and then, thought I, how long will the girls be before their grief finds consolation from among the new arrivals? Will any inconsolable one remember us? Will any remember me? A buzz of the island patois broke in upon my meditations, just as I was beginning to make out the image of one fair friend, who seemed to stand forth in favourable relief from among the multitude. It was very annoying to be forced from hope just nascent in distinguishable form; but the ideal must ever, experimentally, give way to the real.

I approached the window, where a Babel of tongues was raging, "_Gaitli donc, gaitli! li grand mossieu, su li petit cheval_."[45]

The cause of the commotion was apparent, in the person of my friend Hamilton, who, at the precise moment of my reaching the window, had managed to make his way through the crowd, and was dismounting. I might have guessed, before seeing him, who was the comer, for he never stirred out, in his then fashion, without causing a disturbance of the popular quiet. He was a tremendous big fellow, who had a fancy for riding the smallest poney, that would keep his legs well bent up from trailing on the ground. This sight, for some reason or other, particularly tickled the fancy of the local vagabonds; and they habitually made point of affording him a guard of honour on his excursions.

On this occasion the noise waxed louder than usual, and soon let me see that something more than common was in the wind. As soon as I could make out the personal appearance of the steed, I saw that his garniture was out of the ordinary equestrian fashion. About his saddle was slung a collection of parcels, and over his neck depended two uncovered, and uncommonly good-looking bottles. Besides this, Hamilton had in his hands a basket, and was evidently made up in all respects for a start or a cruise some whither.

"Whither away my man?" said I as he entered, mustering up the most facetious look I could, to hide the possible traces of melancholy on my physiognomy; for I knew him of old as a desperate roaster.

"Where you are coming with me, Jack," replied Hamilton, "so get your traps together in a quarter less no time."

"But, my good fellow, I cannot; you know I sail the day after to-morrow, and have lots to do. Besides, to tell you the truth, I am a little, just a little out of sorts."

"Melancholy, and so forth," said my friend, "but let me tell you that's exactly the reason why I've come to fetch you. Here, read this _billet-doux_, and then give me your answer."

He threw me a pretty, little, three-cornered, rose-coloured, scented note, whose superscription set my heart palpitating. It was the calligraphy of Virginie G----, and addressed itself, comprehensively, "To all whom it might concern."

In pretty mock heroics, it set forth the commands of certain undersigned fair inhabitants of the colony, to all and sundry the officers of Her Majesty's ----th regiment, to repair to a spot, some little distance on the other side of the harbour, there to hold _fête champêtre_, by way of parting festivity. I looked over the names of the fair despots, and saw that among them were most of those who had especially made happy the last few years of my experience. Virginie G---- herself was certainly the one on whom I thought the most frequently in connexion with the two days that alone remained to me.

"My dear fellow," said I, when I had spelt over the list of names, "here is enough to tempt one; but let us be discreet as we grow old. What can come of my going, but fresh regrets? Can I forget that in two days I am off, bag and baggage, and that some new fellow will succeed to all my tender interests here, just as naturally as he will to my quarters." Hamilton had lit a cigar, and smoked on thus far in silence, though I felt that he was watching me.

"I have not done my business yet," said he, "nor shall I without a little bit of treachery. Virginie wrote that letter."

"There's no treachery in telling that, for I knew it at once."

"But there is treachery in telling that she laid her commands on me to show the document to you: more especially, as I believe she would blush extravagantly, if she thought you knew it."

Now let me say, that though I had for Virginie that kind of sentiment that made me feel ill at ease under the inquisitorial eye of my friend, I had never felt sure that she cared for me _accordingly_. Some girls are so excessively tender, that they can spare more love to a canary bird, than others can afford to a declared suitor. Virginie was of this affectionate sort; so, though she had been tender to me, I lacked assurance that this tenderness contained in it any thing of distinction.

I will confess, then, that it touched me rather, to hear that she had actually vouchsafed me a particular remembrance.

"Jack," said my friend, "you must come. I'll be candid, and tell you at once that I've read you like a book. You're in love with one of those girls, and don't exactly know which it is. Well and good--that has been many a good fellow's lot before you. However, here's a chance for you to try to learn your own mind."

"Alas! and much good that would do me!"

"Good--of course it will. You will have them all together, and there's nothing like comparison for helping on a judgment. Besides, if you do nothing else, you will at least have a pleasant day, and leave a good impression."

I cannot say that I felt particularly disposed to join a mirthful party. But at least I should see once more assembled in their glory the kind creatures on whom I depended for pleasant recollections. I should be able to see whether any of them appeared sorry to leave us, who had borne them company in so many a deed of mirth. And as at all events I should escape a fair portion of the twice twenty-four hours' moping that otherwise must be endured, I determined to go, though at the risk of sharpening the regrets of parting.

There was also another reason why I was the readier to go; and as thereby hangs the adventure of this present inditing, I may as well explain at once. This was the last day on which I could write myself owner of my pretty little Mudian boat, the Wave. I had sold her off with my nag and the usual encumbrances, and the next day she was to be the property of a new master. Any one who knows the island within the last few years will remember the Wave, that used to beat every thing in her waters. The only thing that at all came up to her was the launch of the old Bucephalus. This was the fancy boat of the first lieutenant, who after many experiments had hit upon the lug as the becoming rig. With the wind well on the quarter, the old launch would beat me, and close hauled I would beat her; but which after all was the better boat was a question we could never settle. However, it was for no want of trying. As surely as it blew at all fresh, so surely would the little Wave be seen cruising about among the shipping, and passing under the stern of the Bucephalus; and so surely also would the launchers be piped away on board the big craft. Many was the prophecy uttered that the little barkey would be my coffin, and so once she certainly would have been, had we not had water ballast aboard, when she capsized in a heavy squall, to which I would not shorten sail.

I liked mightily the idea of a farewell cruise in my poor little boat, in such pleasant company. Objections touching her unprovisioned state were met at once by Hamilton, who had laid in abundance, and was carrying about him some of the odd trifles forgotten in the first instance. He had fully bargained to go in my boat, and as my companion. Boating was no usual fancy of his; but somehow he had a great idea of my nautical skill, and a high opinion of the craft herself, that made him sometimes willing to enlist as my companion. He was a very good fellow, but, I am bound to say, more useful and agreeable on shore than at sea. He would sit down in the little hatch and smoke his pipe rationally enough when all was smooth. But directly we felt the wind, and began to lie over the least bit in the world, you might see him eyeing the dingy's skulls, or any stray bit of plank as a stand by in case of capsize. Once I saw him pull his jacket off for a swim ashore when well out of soundings. Put all this together, and you will understand my friend to have been of a temperament nervous as touching the water. However, he was a very good fellow; more particularly one to whom I least feared to communicate any little romantic episode that might turn up. A good deal in this way I had already told him; and, far from laughing at me, he had seriously set himself to help me at my need.

We settled then that we should go together to take this last day's sail out of the Wave, and to make the most of the ladies' society, before the act of severing should take place. It would be difficult to say what were the hopes that seemed to peep out at me from the prospect of our arrangement; but plainly enough I did encourage the hope of some good that was to come of it. Perhaps I was brightened up by the change for the better that my lively and somewhat whimsical friend had introduced into my morning society. Certainly he was much wittier, and more amusing than my own thoughts, which had been my only companionship before. At any rate, having once agreed to the convention, I set about the preparation of myself and my traps with a good will. The day was lovely, and by happy accident not too hot. A light breeze was springing up which would carry us nicely out of the harbour. The only difficulty in the way of a start was touching the due manning of my craft, as Pierre and his little son Antoine, who had composed my former crew, had been paid off the day before, and were shipped aboard another craft by this time. Right sorry, too, they had been at the change, for both skipper and craft had been exactly to their taste. I was not up to navigating the boat entirely by myself, and had no great opinion of the value of my friend Hamilton as a watch-mate. However, he volunteered with such hearty good will, and the weather promised to afford so little room for seamanship, that I thought he might do at the pinch. It was the first time we had ever been out alone, for, frequently as we had been together, he had been constant to his character as a passenger.

"Now Hamilton," said I, "you must work your passage. You must stand by to clap on a rope, or run to the tiller."

"Ay, ay," said he, "never fear; I'll not shirk my work. I've had a wet jacket before I saw your craft. Did I never tell you about my cruise on the Cam?"

"Never, Tom."

"Then you do not know half my nautical experiences. Let me ask you how often you have been capsized in one day?"

"Never but once, I am happy to say, and that was when Pierre held on too long at the sheet, against that old launch of the Bucephalus."

"I've been before this twice fairly foundered, and once hard and fast ashore in one day. I was on a visit to Bob S----'s brother at Magdalen, and among the amusements of the season was boating: most unseasonable work it was just then, for the weather was bitter cold. We started, a lot of us, intending to navigate the river as far as Ely. None of us happened to know any thing about nauticals, so we blindly submitted ourselves to the guidance of a fresh-man who wore a remarkably hard-a-weather pilot-coat, and waddled in walking like a man unused to terra firma. He took the command as naturally as possible; never dreaming of so far doubting our judgments as to mistrust his own ability. We had hardly got well away, when a squall laid us right over, and fairly swamped the boat. This we regarded as an accident that might overtake the most skilful; and I verily believe that we even the more highly esteemed our Palinurus on account of the coolness which, we must all do him the justice to say, he exhibited. But when, soon after, he ran us regularly under water, we began to be suspicious, and hints flew about that he had undertaken more than he was up to. On this Mr Tarpaulin, with all imaginable complacency, asked us what the row was about, and whether we thought that any of us would have done better, if this had been the first time in our lives that we had exercised naval command. After this confession, we were no more surprised at accidents. We regarded it as rather an easy let off that the concern was driven hopelessly hard ashore, in a stiff clayey soil, that allowed no idea of getting her off that night. All this may sound very little to a regular old salt, like yourself; but add to this little sketch the idea of a driving sleet, and a seven or eight miles' walk to Ely at midnight, without shoes, which the greedy loam sucked from off our feet, and the _ensemble_ of hardship is enough to satisfy a landsman like myself. Since that time I have been little given to boating, and, as you know, never go out except with you."

"Well I'll try never to play you such a trick as did your tarpaulin friend. But the sea is a ticklish element, and the sky is a treacherous monitor."

"They never, either of them, promised better than they do to-day, so let us be off, or Virginie will start in search of pleasure with a cloud on her pretty face."

We bundled up our traps and started accordingly. The distance between my quarter and the little mole where the Wave lay rocking in the gentle undulations was soon passed over. I felt the influence of feelings far more serious than I wished to have perceived, and Hamilton evidently respected them. Like a good fellow, he pulled away at his cigar and said nothing. His little animal, under the guardianship of one of the ragged _gamins_, had preceded us to the waterside, and was there waiting our arrival, in order to the due discharge of its burden.

Poor little Wave! she was not accustomed to be lying in harbour when her sister craft were under weigh. One might have fancied that, with a sentiment of desolation, she allowed her burgee to droop listlessly, flapping it against her mast, as a bird makes sorrowful action with her wings. It did seem too bad to sell her;--and again I went over in my mind the bargain I had driven, and the price I had taken for her. After all, the conclusion was unavoidable, that I could not take her with me,--and, besides, I was going where could not use her.

All the rest of the fellows had started, and already were hidden from us, as we then stood, round the rocky point. There was no one to hail for a dingy, and we were beholden to a dusky gentleman in a country boat for a passage alongside. We had a job to get the anchor up; for it had so happened that when last we came in all the buoys were occupied, and as I had little idea of wanting to use her again, I had let go her anchor. When we were fairly under weigh, I began to look a little into our capabilities. She had been sold "all standing," so that the general complexion of her gear was much what it had been under my catering. But there were already some symptoms of a change of masters. The sail locker was empty; and I remembered that her old suit had been exempted from the general bill of sale, and made over as a legacy to old Pierre. He had walked off with them; and thus we were left with no second suit of sails in case of accident. Those on deck were all she had to show. However, this deficiency was far from causing me any alarm; nothing in the way of sea accident seemed less probable than that we should carry away any of her rags that day. We were going, merely for easy locomotion, amidst a fry of small craft, some of whom would be sure to lend us whatever by any accident we might want. My present mate, moreover, had a special objection to "carrying on." There was a convention between us, by virtue of which it was understood that whenever he came with me, we were to slope along on an even keel. His apprehension of disaster comprehended nothing but fear of a capsize from carrying too much sail. I think he would have preferred going unprovided as we were, to leaving it in my power to make sail in case of accidents. All he realised was, that without sail a craft would not "turn the turtle;" and as to her fetching port, he had in this particular a blind confidence in the skill of his skipper for the time being.