The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  ness assumed every day a new shape; every day some unexpected

  event seemed to close, while in fact it led onward, the train of ca-

  lamities which now befell her .

  The selected passion of the soul of Raymond was ambition .

  Readiness of talent, a capacity of entering into, and leading the dis-

  positions of men; earnest desire of distinction were the awakeners

  and nurses of his ambition . But other ingredients mingled with these,

  and prevented him from becoming the calculating, determined char-

  acter, which alone forms a successful hero . He was obstinate, but

  not firm; benevolent in his first movements; harsh and reckless when

  provoked . Above all, he was remorseless and unyielding in the pur-

  suit of any object of desire, however lawless . Love of pleasure, and

  the softer sensibilities of our nature, made a prominent part of his

  character, conquering the conqueror; holding him in at the moment

  of acquisition; sweeping away ambition’s web; making him forget

  the toil of weeks, for the sake of one moment’s indulgence of the

  new and actual object of his wishes . Obeying these impulses, he

  had become the husband of Perdita: egged on by them, he found

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  himself the lover of Evadne . He had now lost both . He had neither

  the ennobling self-gratulation, which constancy inspires, to console

  him, nor the voluptuous sense of abandonment to a forbidden, but

  intoxicating passion . His heart was exhausted by the recent events;

  his enjoyment of life was destroyed by the resentment of Perdita,

  and the flight of Evadne; and the inflexibility of the former, set the

  last seal upon the annihilation of his hopes . As long as their disunion

  remained a secret, he cherished an expectation of re-awakening past

  tenderness in her bosom; now that we were all made acquainted

  with these occurrences, and that Perdita, by declaring her resolves

  to others, in a manner pledged herself to their accomplishment, he

  gave up the idea of re-union as futile, and sought only, since he was

  unable to influence her to change, to reconcile himself to the present

  state of things . He made a vow against love and its train of struggles,

  disappointment and remorse, and sought in mere sensual enjoyment,

  a remedy for the injurious inroads of passion .

  Debasement of character is the certain follower of such pursuits .

  Yet this consequence would not have been immediately remarkable,

  if Raymond had continued to apply himself to the execution of his

  plans for the public benefit, and the fulfilling his duties as Protector.

  But, extreme in all things, given up to immediate impressions, he

  entered with ardour into this new pursuit of pleasure, and followed

  up the incongruous intimacies occasioned by it without reflection

  or foresight . The council-chamber was deserted; the crowds which

  attended on him as agents to his various projects were neglected .

  Festivity, and even libertinism, became the order of the day .

  Perdita beheld with affright the encreasing disorder . For a mo-

  ment she thought that she could stem the torrent, and that Raymond

  could be induced to hear reason from her .—Vain hope! The moment

  of her influence was passed. He listened with haughtiness, replied

  disdainfully; and, if in truth, she succeeded in awakening his con-

  science, the sole effect was that he sought an opiate for the pang in

  oblivious riot . With the energy natural to her, Perdita then endeav-

  oured to supply his place . Their still apparent union permitted her

  to do much; but no woman could, in the end, present a remedy to

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  the encreasing negligence of the Protector; who, as if seized with a

  paroxysm of insanity, trampled on all ceremony, all order, all duty,

  and gave himself up to license .

  Reports of these strange proceedings reached us, and we were

  undecided what method to adopt to restore our friend to himself

  and his country, when Perdita suddenly appeared among us . She

  detailed the progress of the mournful change, and entreated Adrian

  and myself to go up to London, and endeavour to remedy the en-

  creasing evil:—“Tell him,” she cried, “tell Lord Raymond, that my

  presence shall no longer annoy him . That he need not plunge into

  this destructive dissipation for the sake of disgusting me, and caus-

  ing me to fly. This purpose is now accomplished; he will never see

  me more . But let me, it is my last entreaty, let me in the praises of

  his countrymen and the prosperity of England, find the choice of my

  youth justified.”

  During our ride up to town, Adrian and I discussed and argued

  upon Raymond’s conduct, and his falling off from the hopes of per-

  manent excellence on his part, which he had before given us cause

  to entertain . My friend and I had both been educated in one school,

  or rather I was his pupil in the opinion, that steady adherence to

  principle was the only road to honour; a ceaseless observance of

  the laws of general utility, the only conscientious aim of human am-

  bition . But though we both entertained these ideas, we differed in

  their application . Resentment added also a sting to my censure; and

  I reprobated Raymond’s conduct in severe terms . Adrian was more

  benign, more considerate . He admitted that the principles that I laid

  down were the best; but he denied that they were the only ones .

  Quoting the text, there are many mansions in my father’s house, he

  insisted that the modes of becoming good or great, varied as much

  as the dispositions of men, of whom it might be said, as of the leaves

  of the forest, there were no two alike .

  We arrived in London at about eleven at night . We conjectured,

  notwithstanding what we had heard, that we should find Raymond

  in St . Stephen’s: thither we sped . The chamber was full—but there

  was no Protector; and there was an austere discontent manifest on

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  the countenances of the leaders, and a whispering and busy tattle

  among the underlings, not less ominous . We hastened to the palace

  of the Protectorate . We found Raymond in his dining room with six

  others: the bottle was being pushed about merrily, and had made

  considerable inroads on the understanding of one or two . He who

  sat near Raymond was telling a story, which convulsed the rest with

  laughter .

  Raymond sat among them, though while he entered into the spirit

  of the hour, his natural dignity never forsook him . He was gay, play-

  ful, fascinating—but never did he overstep the modesty of nature, or

  the respect due to himself, in his wildest sallies . Yet I own, that con-

  sidering the task which Raymond had taken on himself as Protector

  of England, and the cares to which it became him to attend, I was

  exceedingly provoked to observe the worthless fellows on whom his

  time was wasted, and the jovial if not drunken spirit which seemed

  on the point of robbing him of his better self . I stood watching the

  scene, while Adrian flitted like a shadow in among them,
and, by a

  word and look of sobriety, endeavoured to restore order in the as-

  sembly . Raymond expressed himself delighted to see him, declaring

  that he should make one in the festivity of the night .

  This action of Adrian provoked me . I was indignant that he

  should sit at the same table with the companions of Raymond—men

  of abandoned characters, or rather without any, the refuse of high-

  bred luxury, the disgrace of their country . “Let me entreat Adrian,”

  I cried, “not to comply: rather join with me in endeavouring to

  withdraw Lord Raymond from this scene, and restore him to other

  society .”

  “My good fellow,” said Raymond, “this is neither the time nor

  place for the delivery of a moral lecture: take my word for it that

  my amusements and society are not so bad as you imagine . We are

  neither hypocrites or fools —for the rest, ‘Dost thou think because

  thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?’”

  I turned angrily away: “Verney,” said Adrian, “you are very cyni-

  cal: sit down; or if you will not, perhaps, as you are not a frequent

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  visitor, Lord Raymond will humour you, and accompany us, as we

  had previously agreed upon, to parliament .”

  Raymond looked keenly at him; he could read benignity only

  in his gentle lineaments; he turned to me, observing with scorn my

  moody and stern demeanour . “Come,” said Adrian, “I have prom-

  ised for you, enable me to keep my engagement . Come with us .”—

  Raymond made an uneasy movement, and laconically replied—“I

  won’t!”

  The party in the mean time had broken up . They looked at the

  pictures, strolled into the other apartments, talked of billiards, and

  one by one vanished . Raymond strode angrily up and down the

  room . I stood ready to receive and reply to his reproaches . Adrian

  leaned against the wall. “This is infinitely ridiculous,” he cried, “if

  you were school-boys, you could not conduct yourselves more un-

  reasonably .”

  “You do not understand,” said Raymond . “This is only part of a

  system:—a scheme of tyranny to which I will never submit . Because

  I am Protector of England, am I to be the only slave in its empire?

  My privacy invaded, my actions censured, my friends insulted? But

  I will get rid of the whole together .—Be you witnesses,” and he

  took the star, insignia of office, from his breast, and threw it on the

  table. “I renounce my office, I abdicate my power—assume it who

  will!”—-

  “Let him assume it,” exclaimed Adrian, “who can pronounce

  himself, or whom the world will pronounce to be your superior .

  There does not exist the man in England with adequate presumption .

  Know yourself, Raymond, and your indignation will cease; your

  complacency return . A few months ago, whenever we prayed for the

  prosperity of our country, or our own, we at the same time prayed

  for the life and welfare of the Protector, as indissolubly linked to

  it. Your hours were devoted to our benefit, your ambition was to

  obtain our commendation. You decorated our towns with edifices,

  you bestowed on us useful establishments, you gifted the soil with

  abundant fertility . The powerful and unjust cowered at the steps of

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  your judgment-seat, and the poor and oppressed arose like morn-

  awakened flowers under the sunshine of your protection.

  “Can you wonder that we are all aghast and mourn, when this

  appears changed? But, come, this splenetic fit is already passed;

  resume your functions; your partizans will hail you; your enemies

  be silenced; our love, honour, and duty will again be manifested

  towards you . Master yourself, Raymond, and the world is subject

  to you .”

  “All this would be very good sense, if addressed to another,” re-

  plied Raymond, moodily, “con the lesson yourself, and you, the first

  peer of the land, may become its sovereign . You the good, the wise,

  the just, may rule all hearts . But I perceive, too soon for my own

  happiness, too late for England’s good, that I undertook a task to

  which I am unequal . I cannot rule myself . My passions are my mas-

  ters; my smallest impulse my tyrant . Do you think that I renounced

  the Protectorate (and I have renounced it) in a fit of spleen? By the

  God that lives, I swear never to take up that bauble again; never

  again to burthen myself with the weight of care and misery, of which

  that is the visible sign .

  “Once I desired to be a king . It was in the hey-day of youth,

  in the pride of boyish folly . I knew myself when I renounced it . I

  renounced it to gain —no matter what—for that also I have lost . For

  many months I have submitted to this mock majesty—this solemn

  jest . I am its dupe no longer . I will be free .

  “I have lost that which adorned and dignified my life; that which

  linked me to other men . Again I am a solitary man; and I will be-

  come again, as in my early years, a wanderer, a soldier of fortune .

  My friends, for Verney, I feel that you are my friend, do not endeav-

  our to shake my resolve . Perdita, wedded to an imagination, careless

  of what is behind the veil, whose charactery is in truth faulty and

  vile, Perdita has renounced me . With her it was pretty enough to

  play a sovereign’s part; and, as in the recesses of your beloved forest

  we acted masques, and imagined ourselves Arcadian shepherds, to

  please the fancy of the moment—so was I content, more for Per-

  dita’s sake than my own, to take on me the character of one of the

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  great ones of the earth; to lead her behind the scenes of grandeur, to

  vary her life with a short act of magnificence and power. This was

  to be the colour; love and confidence the substance of our existence.

  But we must live, and not act our lives; pursuing the shadow, I lost

  the reality—now I renounce both .

  “Adrian, I am about to return to Greece, to become again a sol-

  dier, perhaps a conqueror . Will you accompany me? You will behold

  new scenes; see a new people; witness the mighty struggle there

  going forward between civilization and barbarism; behold, and

  perhaps direct the efforts of a young and vigorous population, for

  liberty and order . Come with me . I have expected you . I waited for

  this moment; all is prepared;—will you accompany me?”

  “I will,” replied Adrian . “Immediately?”

  “Tomorrow if you will .”

  “Reflect!” I cried.

  “Wherefore?” asked Raymond—“My dear fellow, I have done

  nothing else than reflect on this step the live-long summer; and be

  assured that Adrian has condensed an age of reflection into this little

  moment. Do not talk of reflection; from this moment I abjure it; this

  is my only happy moment during a long interval of time . I must go,

  Lionel—the Gods will it; and I must . Do not endeavour to deprive

  me of my companion, the out-cast’s friend .

  “One word more
concerning unkind, unjust Perdita . For a time,

  I thought that, by watching a complying moment, fostering the still

  warm ashes, I might relume in her the flame of love. It is more cold

  within her, than a fire left by gypsies in winter-time, the spent em-

  bers crowned by a pyramid of snow . Then, in endeavouring to do

  violence to my own disposition, I made all worse than before . Still I

  think, that time, and even absence, may restore her to me . Remem-

  ber, that I love her still, that my dearest hope is that she will again be

  mine . I know, though she does not, how false the veil is which she

  has spread over the reality—do not endeavour to rend this deceptive

  covering, but by degrees withdraw it . Present her with a mirror, in

  which she may know herself; and, when she is an adept in that nec-

  essary but difficult science, she will wonder at her present mistake,

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  and hasten to restore to me, what is by right mine, her forgiveness,

  her kind thoughts, her love .”

  CHAPTER X.

  After these events, it was long before we were able to attain

  any degree of composure . A moral tempest had wrecked our richly

  freighted vessel, and we, remnants of the diminished crew, were

  aghast at the losses and changes which we had undergone . Idris pas-

  sionately loved her brother, and could ill brook an absence whose

  duration was uncertain; his society was dear and necessary to me—I

  had followed up my chosen literary occupations with delight under

  his tutorship and assistance; his mild philosophy, unerring reason,

  and enthusiastic friendship were the best ingredient, the exalted

  spirit of our circle; even the children bitterly regretted the loss of

  their kind playfellow . Deeper grief oppressed Perdita . In spite of

  resentment, by day and night she figured to herself the toils and dan-

  gers of the wanderers. Raymond absent, struggling with difficulties,

  lost to the power and rank of the Protectorate, exposed to the perils

  of war, became an object of anxious interest; not that she felt any

  inclination to recall him, if recall must imply a return to their former

  union . Such return she felt to be impossible; and while she believed

  it to be thus, and with anguish regretted that so it should be, she con-

  tinued angry and impatient with him, who occasioned her misery .

  These perplexities and regrets caused her to bathe her pillow with