The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  presence, and my very native English was changed to a vile jargon,

  since every phrase I heard was coupled with his name and honour .

  I panted to relieve this painful heart-burning by some misdeed that

  should rouse him to a sense of my antipathy . It was the height of his

  offending, that he should occasion in me such intolerable sensations,

  and not deign himself to afford any demonstration that he was aware

  that I even lived to feel them .

  It soon became known that Adrian took great delight in his park

  and preserves . He never sported, but spent hours in watching the

  tribes of lovely and almost tame animals with which it was stocked,

  and ordered that greater care should be taken of them than ever .

  Here was an opening for my plans of offence, and I made use of

  it with all the brute impetuosity I derived from my active mode of

  life . I proposed the enterprize of poaching on his demesne to my

  few remaining comrades, who were the most determined and law-

  less of the crew; but they all shrunk from the peril; so I was left to

  achieve my revenge myself. At first my exploits were unperceived;

  I increased in daring; footsteps on the dewy grass, torn boughs,

  and marks of slaughter, at length betrayed me to the game-keepers .

  They kept better watch; I was taken, and sent to prison . I entered

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  its gloomy walls in a fit of triumphant extasy: “He feels me now,” I

  cried, “and shall, again and again!”—I passed but one day in con-

  finement; in the evening I was liberated, as I was told, by the order

  of the Earl himself . This news precipitated me from my self-raised

  pinnacle of honour . He despises me, I thought; but he shall learn

  that I despise him, and hold in equal contempt his punishments and

  his clemency . On the second night after my release, I was again

  taken by the gamekeepers—again imprisoned, and again released;

  and again, such was my pertinacity, did the fourth night find me in

  the forbidden park . The gamekeepers were more enraged than their

  lord by my obstinacy . They had received orders that if I were again

  taken, I should be brought to the Earl; and his lenity made them

  expect a conclusion which they considered ill befitting my crime.

  One of them, who had been from the first the leader among those

  who had seized me, resolved to satisfy his own resentment, before

  he made me over to the higher powers .

  The late setting of the moon, and the extreme caution I was

  obliged to use in this my third expedition, consumed so much time,

  that something like a qualm of fear came over me when I perceived

  dark night yield to twilight . I crept along by the fern, on my hands

  and knees, seeking the shadowy coverts of the underwood, while

  the birds awoke with unwelcome song above, and the fresh morn-

  ing wind, playing among the boughs, made me suspect a footfall

  at each turn . My heart beat quick as I approached the palings; my

  hand was on one of them, a leap would take me to the other side,

  when two keepers sprang from an ambush upon me: one knocked

  me down, and proceeded to inflict a severe horse-whipping. I started

  up—a knife was in my grasp; I made a plunge at his raised right

  arm, and inflicted a deep, wide wound in his hand. The rage and

  yells of the wounded man, the howling execrations of his comrade,

  which I answered with equal bitterness and fury, echoed through

  the dell; morning broke more and more, ill accordant in its celestial

  beauty with our brute and noisy contest . I and my enemy were still

  struggling, when the wounded man exclaimed, “The Earl!” I sprang

  out of the herculean hold of the keeper, panting from my exertions;

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  I cast furious glances on my persecutors, and placing myself with

  my back to a tree, resolved to defend myself to the last . My gar-

  ments were torn, and they, as well as my hands, were stained with

  the blood of the man I had wounded; one hand grasped the dead

  birds—my hard-earned prey, the other held the knife; my hair was

  matted; my face besmeared with the same guilty signs that bore wit-

  ness against me on the dripping instrument I clenched; my whole

  appearance was haggard and squalid . Tall and muscular as I was in

  form, I must have looked like, what indeed I was, the merest ruffian

  that ever trod the earth .

  The name of the Earl startled me, and caused all the indignant

  blood that warmed my heart to rush into my cheeks; I had never

  seen him before; I figured to myself a haughty, assuming youth, who

  would take me to task, if he deigned to speak to me, with all the

  arrogance of superiority . My reply was ready; a reproach I deemed

  calculated to sting his very heart . He came up the while; and his ap-

  pearance blew aside, with gentle western breath, my cloudy wrath:

  a tall, slim, fair boy, with a physiognomy expressive of the excess of

  sensibility and refinement stood before me; the morning sunbeams

  tinged with gold his silken hair, and spread light and glory over his

  beaming countenance . “How is this?” he cried . The men eagerly

  began their defence; he put them aside, saying, “Two of you at once

  on a mere lad— for shame!” He came up to me: “Verney,” he cried,

  “Lionel Verney, do we meet thus for the first time? We were born to

  be friends to each other; and though ill fortune has divided us, will

  you not acknowledge the hereditary bond of friendship which I trust

  will hereafter unite us?”

  As he spoke, his earnest eyes, fixed on me, seemed to read my

  very soul: my heart, my savage revengeful heart, felt the influence of

  sweet benignity sink upon it; while his thrilling voice, like sweetest

  melody, awoke a mute echo within me, stirring to its depths the life-

  blood in my frame . I desired to reply, to acknowledge his goodness,

  accept his proffered friendship; but words, fitting words, were not

  afforded to the rough mountaineer; I would have held out my hand,

  but its guilty stain restrained me . Adrian took pity on my faltering

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  mien: “Come with me,” he said, “I have much to say to you; come

  home with me—you know who I am?”

  “Yes,” I exclaimed, “I do believe that I now know you, and that

  you will pardon my mistakes—my crime .”

  Adrian smiled gently; and after giving his orders to the game-

  keepers, he came up to me; putting his arm in mine, we walked

  together to the mansion .

  It was not his rank—after all that I have said, surely it will not

  be suspected that it was Adrian’s rank, that, from the first, subdued

  my heart of hearts, and laid my entire spirit prostrate before him .

  Nor was it I alone who felt thus intimately his perfections . His sen-

  sibility and courtesy fascinated every one . His vivacity, intelligence,

  and active spirit of benevolence, completed the conquest . Even at

  this early age, he was deep read and imbued with the spirit of high

  philosophy . This spirit gave a tone of irresistible persuasion to his

 
intercourse with others, so that he seemed like an inspired musician,

  who struck, with unerring skill, the “lyre of mind,” and produced

  thence divine harmony . In person, he hardly appeared of this world;

  his slight frame was overinformed by the soul that dwelt within;

  he was all mind; “Man but a rush against” his breast, and it would

  have conquered his strength; but the might of his smile would have

  tamed an hungry lion, or caused a legion of armed men to lay their

  weapons at his feet .

  I spent the day with him. At first he did not recur to the past, or in-

  deed to any personal occurrences . He wished probably to inspire me

  with confidence, and give me time to gather together my scattered

  thoughts . He talked of general subjects, and gave me ideas I had

  never before conceived . We sat in his library, and he spoke of the

  old Greek sages, and of the power which they had acquired over the

  minds of men, through the force of love and wisdom only . The room

  was decorated with the busts of many of them, and he described

  their characters to me . As he spoke, I felt subject to him; and all my

  boasted pride and strength were subdued by the honeyed accents

  of this blue-eyed boy . The trim and paled demesne of civilization,

  which I had before regarded from my wild jungle as inaccessible,

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  had its wicket opened by him; I stepped within, and felt, as I entered,

  that I trod my native soil .

  As evening came on, he reverted to the past . “I have a tale to

  relate,” he said, “and much explanation to give concerning the past;

  perhaps you can assist me to curtail it . Do you remember your fa-

  ther? I had never the happiness of seeing him, but his name is one

  of my earliest recollections: he stands written in my mind’s tablets

  as the type of all that was gallant, amiable, and fascinating in man .

  His wit was not more conspicuous than the overflowing goodness of

  his heart, which he poured in such full measure on his friends, as to

  leave, alas! small remnant for himself .”

  Encouraged by this encomium, I proceeded, in answer to his in-

  quiries, to relate what I remembered of my parent; and he gave an

  account of those circumstances which had brought about a neglect

  of my father’s testamentary letter . When, in after times, Adrian’s fa-

  ther, then king of England, felt his situation become more perilous,

  his line of conduct more embarrassed, again and again he wished

  for his early friend, who might stand a mound against the impetu-

  ous anger of his queen, a mediator between him and the parliament .

  From the time that he had quitted London, on the fatal night of his

  defeat at the gaming-table, the king had received no tidings concern-

  ing him; and when, after the lapse of years, he exerted himself to

  discover him, every trace was lost . With fonder regret than ever,

  he clung to his memory; and gave it in charge to his son, if ever he

  should meet this valued friend, in his name to bestow every succour,

  and to assure him that, to the last, his attachment survived separation

  and silence .

  A short time before Adrian’s visit to Cumberland, the heir of the

  nobleman to whom my father had confided his last appeal to his royal

  master, put this letter, its seal unbroken, into the young Earl’s hands .

  It had been found cast aside with a mass of papers of old date, and

  accident alone brought it to light . Adrian read it with deep interest;

  and found there that living spirit of genius and wit he had so often

  heard commemorated . He discovered the name of the spot whither

  my father had retreated, and where he died; he learnt the existence

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  of his orphan children; and during the short interval between his ar-

  rival at Ulswater and our meeting in the park, he had been occupied

  in making inquiries concerning us, and arranging a variety of plans

  for our benefit, preliminary to his introducing himself to our notice.

  The mode in which he spoke of my father was gratifying to my

  vanity; the veil which he delicately cast over his benevolence, in

  alledging a duteous fulfilment of the king’s latest will, was soothing

  to my pride . Other feelings, less ambiguous, were called into play

  by his conciliating manner and the generous warmth of his expres-

  sions, respect rarely before experienced, admiration, and love—he

  had touched my rocky heart with his magic power, and the stream

  of affection gushed forth, imperishable and pure . In the evening

  we parted; he pressed my hand: “We shall meet again; come to me

  tomorrow .” I clasped that kind hand; I tried to answer; a fervent

  “God bless you!” was all my ignorance could frame of speech, and

  I darted away, oppressed by my new emotions .

  I could not rest . I sought the hills; a west wind swept them, and

  the stars glittered above . I ran on, careless of outward objects, but

  trying to master the struggling spirit within me by means of bodily

  fatigue . “This,” I thought, “is power! Not to be strong of limb, hard

  of heart, ferocious, and daring; but kind compassionate and soft .”—

  Stopping short, I clasped my hands, and with the fervour of a new

  proselyte, cried, “Doubt me not, Adrian, I also will become wise and

  good!” and then quite overcome, I wept aloud .

  As this gust of passion passed from me, I felt more composed .

  I lay on the ground, and giving the reins to my thoughts, repassed

  in my mind my former life; and began, fold by fold, to unwind the

  many errors of my heart, and to discover how brutish, savage, and

  worthless I had hitherto been . I could not however at that time feel

  remorse, for methought I was born anew; my soul threw off the bur-

  then of past sin, to commence a new career in innocence and love .

  Nothing harsh or rough remained to jar with the soft feelings which

  the transactions of the day had inspired; I was as a child lisping its

  devotions after its mother, and my plastic soul was remoulded by a

  master hand, which I neither desired nor was able to resist .

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  This was the first commencement of my friendship with Adrian,

  and I must commemorate this day as the most fortunate of my life . I

  now began to be human . I was admitted within that sacred boundary

  which divides the intellectual and moral nature of man from that

  which characterizes animals . My best feelings were called into play

  to give fitting responses to the generosity, wisdom, and amenity of

  my new friend. He, with a noble goodness all his own, took infinite

  delight in bestowing to prodigality the treasures of his mind and for-

  tune on the long-neglected son of his father’s friend, the offspring of

  that gifted being whose excellencies and talents he had heard com-

  memorated from infancy .

  After his abdication the late king had retreated from the sphere of

  politics, yet his domestic circle afforded him small content . The ex-

  queen had none of the virtues of domestic life, and those of courage

  and daring which she
possessed were rendered null by the secession

  of her husband: she despised him, and did not care to conceal her

  sentiments . The king had, in compliance with her exactions, cast

  off his old friends, but he had acquired no new ones under her guid-

  ance . In this dearth of sympathy, he had recourse to his almost infant

  son; and the early development of talent and sensibility rendered

  Adrian no unfitting depository of his father’s confidence. He was

  never weary of listening to the latter’s often repeated accounts of old

  times, in which my father had played a distinguished part; his keen

  remarks were repeated to the boy, and remembered by him; his wit,

  his fascinations, his very faults were hallowed by the regret of affec-

  tion; his loss was sincerely deplored . Even the queen’s dislike of the

  favourite was ineffectual to deprive him of his son’s admiration: it

  was bitter, sarcastic, contemptuous—but as she bestowed her heavy

  censure alike on his virtues as his errors, on his devoted friendship

  and his ill-bestowed loves, on his disinterestedness and his prodi-

  gality, on his pre-possessing grace of manner, and the facility with

  which he yielded to temptation, her double shot proved too heavy,

  and fell short of the mark . Nor did her angry dislike prevent Adrian

  from imaging my father, as he had said, the type of all that was gal-

  lant, amiable, and fascinating in man . It was not strange therefore,

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  that when he heard of the existence of the offspring of this celebrated

  person, he should have formed the plan of bestowing on them all the

  advantages his rank made him rich to afford . When he found me a

  vagabond shepherd of the hills, a poacher, an unlettered savage, still

  his kindness did not fail . In addition to the opinion he entertained

  that his father was to a degree culpable of neglect towards us, and

  that he was bound to every possible reparation, he was pleased to

  say that under all my ruggedness there glimmered forth an elevation

  of spirit, which could be distinguished from mere animal courage,

  and that I inherited a similarity of countenance to my father, which

  gave proof that all his virtues and talents had not died with him .

  Whatever those might be which descended to me, my noble young

  friend resolved should not be lost for want of culture .

  Acting upon this plan in our subsequent intercourse, he led me to