The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™

by Robert Reed

  the strife, which at length proceeded so far, that the three divisions,

  armed, met in the Place Vendome, each resolved to subdue by force

  the resistance of its adversaries . They assembled, their muskets were

  loaded, and even pointed at the breasts of their so called enemies .

  One word had been sufficient; and there the last of mankind would

  have burthened their souls with the crime of murder, and dipt their

  hands in each other’s blood . A sense of shame, a recollection that not

  only their cause, but the existence of the whole human race was at

  stake, entered the breast of the leader of the more numerous party .

  He was aware, that if the ranks were thinned, no other recruits could

  fill them up; that each man was as a priceless gem in a kingly crown,

  which if destroyed, the earth’s deep entrails could yield no paragon .

  He was a young man, and had been hurried on by presumption, and

  the notion of his high rank and superiority to all other pretenders;

  now he repented his work, he felt that all the blood about to be shed

  would be on his head; with sudden impulse therefore he spurred his

  horse between the bands, and, having fixed a white handkerchief on

  the point of his uplifted sword, thus demanded parley; the opposite

  leaders obeyed the signal . He spoke with warmth; he reminded them

  of the oath all the chiefs had taken to submit to the Lord Protector; he

  declared their present meeting to be an act of treason and mutiny; he

  allowed that he had been hurried away by passion, but that a cooler

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  moment had arrived; and he proposed that each party should send

  deputies to the Earl of Windsor, inviting his interference and offer-

  ing submission to his decision . His offer was accepted so far, that

  each leader consented to command a retreat, and moreover agreed,

  that after the approbation of their several parties had been consulted,

  they should meet that night on some neutral spot to ratify the truce .

  At the meeting of the chiefs, this plan was finally concluded upon.

  The leader of the fanatics indeed refused to admit the arbitration

  of Adrian; he sent ambassadors, rather than deputies, to assert his

  claim, not plead his cause .

  The truce was to continue until the first of February, when the

  bands were again to assemble on the Place Vendome; it was of the

  utmost consequence therefore that Adrian should arrive in Paris by

  that day, since an hair might turn the scale, and peace, scared away

  by intestine broils, might only return to watch by the silent dead . It

  was now the twenty-eighth of January; every vessel stationed near

  Dover had been beaten to pieces and destroyed by the furious storms

  I have commemorated . Our journey however would admit of no de-

  lay . That very night, Adrian, and I, and twelve others, either friends

  or attendants, put off from the English shore, in the boat that had

  brought over the deputies . We all took our turn at the oar; and the

  immediate occasion of our departure affording us abundant matter

  for conjecture and discourse, prevented the feeling that we left our

  native country, depopulate England, for the last time, to enter deeply

  into the minds of the greater part of our number . It was a serene

  starlight night, and the dark line of the English coast continued for

  some time visible at intervals, as we rose on the broad back of the

  waves . I exerted myself with my long oar to give swift impulse to

  our skiff; and, while the waters splashed with melancholy sound

  against its sides, I looked with sad affection on this last glimpse of

  sea-girt England, and strained my eyes not too soon to lose sight of

  the castellated cliff, which rose to protect the land of heroism and

  beauty from the inroads of ocean, that, turbulent as I had lately seen

  it, required such cyclopean walls for its repulsion . A solitary sea-

  gull winged its flight over our heads, to seek its nest in a cleft of the

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  precipice . Yes, thou shalt revisit the land of thy birth, I thought, as

  I looked invidiously on the airy voyager; but we shall, never more!

  Tomb of Idris, farewell! Grave, in which my heart lies sepultured,

  farewell for ever!

  We were twelve hours at sea, and the heavy swell obliged us to

  exert all our strength . At length, by mere dint of rowing, we reached

  the French coast . The stars faded, and the grey morning cast a dim

  veil over the silver horns of the waning moon—the sun rose broad

  and red from the sea, as we walked over the sands to Calais . Our

  first care was to procure horses, and although wearied by our night

  of watching and toil, some of our party immediately went in quest of

  these in the wide fields of the unenclosed and now barren plain round

  Calais . We divided ourselves, like seamen, into watches, and some

  reposed, while others prepared the morning’s repast . Our foragers

  returned at noon with only six horses—on these, Adrian and I, and

  four others, proceeded on our journey towards the great city, which

  its inhabitants had fondly named the capital of the civilized world .

  Our horses had become, through their long holiday, almost wild, and

  we crossed the plain round Calais with impetuous speed . From the

  height near Boulogne, I turned again to look on England; nature had

  cast a misty pall over her, her cliff was hidden—there was spread

  the watery barrier that divided us, never again to be crossed; she lay

  on the ocean plain,

  In the great pool a swan’s nest .

  Ruined the nest, alas! the swans of Albion had passed away for

  ever—an uninhabited rock in the wide Pacific, which had remained

  since the creation uninhabited, unnamed, unmarked, would be of as

  much account in the world’s future history, as desert England .

  Our journey was impeded by a thousand obstacles . As our horses

  grew tired, we had to seek for others; and hours were wasted, while

  we exhausted our artifices to allure some of these enfranchised

  slaves of man to resume the yoke; or as we went from stable to

  stable through the towns, hoping to find some who had not forgotten

  the shelter of their native stalls . Our ill success in procuring them,

  obliged us continually to leave some one of our companions behind;

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  and on the first of February, Adrian and I entered Paris, wholly un-

  accompanied . The serene morning had dawned when we arrived at

  Saint Denis, and the sun was high, when the clamour of voices, and

  the clash, as we feared, of weapons, guided us to where our country-

  men had assembled on the Place Vendome . We passed a knot of

  Frenchmen, who were talking earnestly of the madness of the insu-

  lar invaders, and then coming by a sudden turn upon the Place, we

  saw the sun glitter on drawn swords and fixed bayonets, while yells

  and clamours rent the air . It was a scene of unaccustomed confu-

  sion in these days of depopulation . Roused by fancied wrongs, and

  insulting scoffs, the opposite parties had rushed to attack each other;

  while the elect
, drawn up apart, seemed to wait an opportunity to fall

  with better advantage on their foes, when they should have mutually

  weakened each other . A merciful power interposed, and no blood

  was shed; for, while the insane mob were in the very act of attack,

  the females, wives, mothers and daughters, rushed between; they

  seized the bridles; they embraced the knees of the horsemen, and

  hung on the necks, or enweaponed arms of their enraged relatives;

  the shrill female scream was mingled with the manly shout, and

  formed the wild clamour that welcomed us on our arrival .

  Our voices could not be heard in the tumult; Adrian however was

  eminent for the white charger he rode; spurring him, he dashed into

  the midst of the throng: he was recognized, and a loud cry raised for

  England and the Protector . The late adversaries, warmed to affection

  at the sight of him, joined in heedless confusion, and surrounded

  him; the women kissed his hands, and the edges of his garments;

  nay, his horse received tribute of their embraces; some wept their

  welcome; he appeared an angel of peace descended among them; and

  the only danger was, that his mortal nature would be demonstrated,

  by his suffocation from the kindness of his friends . His voice was at

  length heard, and obeyed; the crowd fell back; the chiefs alone ral-

  lied round him . I had seen Lord Raymond ride through his lines; his

  look of victory, and majestic mien obtained the respect and obedi-

  ence of all: such was not the appearance or influence of Adrian. His

  slight figure, his fervent look, his gesture, more of deprecation than

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  rule, were proofs that love, unmingled with fear, gave him domin-

  ion over the hearts of a multitude, who knew that he never flinched

  from danger, nor was actuated by other motives than care for the

  general welfare . No distinction was now visible between the two

  parties, late ready to shed each other’s blood, for, though neither

  would submit to the other, they both yielded ready obedience to the

  Earl of Windsor .

  One party however remained, cut off from the rest, which did

  not sympathize in the joy exhibited on Adrian’s arrival, or imbibe

  the spirit of peace, which fell like dew upon the softened hearts of

  their countrymen . At the head of this assembly was a ponderous,

  dark-looking man, whose malign eye surveyed with gloating delight

  the stern looks of his followers . They had hitherto been inactive, but

  now, perceiving themselves to be forgotten in the universal jubilee,

  they advanced with threatening gestures: our friends had, as it were

  in wanton contention, attacked each other; they wanted but to be told

  that their cause was one, for it to become so: their mutual anger had

  been a fire of straw, compared to the slow-burning hatred they both

  entertained for these seceders, who seized a portion of the world to

  come, there to entrench and incastellate themselves, and to issue

  with fearful sally, and appalling denunciations, on the mere com-

  mon children of the earth. The first advance of the little army of the

  elect reawakened their rage; they grasped their arms, and waited but

  their leader’s signal to commence the attack, when the clear tones

  of Adrian’s voice were heard, commanding them to fall back; with

  confused murmur and hurried retreat, as the wave ebbs clamorously

  from the sands it lately covered, our friends obeyed . Adrian rode

  singly into the space between the opposing bands; he approached

  the hostile leader, as requesting him to imitate his example, but

  his look was not obeyed, and the chief advanced, followed by his

  whole troop . There were many women among them, who seemed

  more eager and resolute than their male companions . They pressed

  round their leader, as if to shield him, while they loudly bestowed on

  him every sacred denomination and epithet of worship . Adrian met

  them half way; they halted: “What,” he said, “do you seek? Do you

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  require any thing of us that we refuse to give, and that you are forced

  to acquire by arms and warfare?”

  His questions were answered by a general cry, in which the words

  election, sin, and red right arm of God, could alone be heard .

  Adrian looked expressly at their leader, saying, “Can you not

  silence your followers? Mine, you perceive, obey me .”

  The fellow answered by a scowl; and then, perhaps fearful that

  his people should become auditors of the debate he expected to en-

  sue, he commanded them to fall back, and advanced by himself .

  “What, I again ask,” said Adrian, “do you require of us?”

  “Repentance,” replied the man, whose sinister brow gathered

  clouds as he spoke . “Obedience to the will of the Most High, made

  manifest to these his Elected People . Do we not all die through your

  sins, O generation of unbelief, and have we not a right to demand of

  you repentance and obedience?”

  “And if we refuse them, what then?” his opponent inquired

  mildly .

  “Beware,” cried the man, “God hears you, and will smite your

  stony heart in his wrath; his poisoned arrows fly, his dogs of death

  are unleashed! We will not perish unrevenged—and mighty will our

  avenger be, when he descends in visible majesty, and scatters de-

  struction among you .”

  “My good fellow,” said Adrian, with quiet scorn, “I wish that

  you were ignorant only, and I think it would be no difficult task to

  prove to you, that you speak of what you do not understand . On the

  present occasion however, it is enough for me to know that you seek

  nothing of us; and, heaven is our witness, we seek nothing of you .

  I should be sorry to embitter by strife the few days that we any of

  us may have here to live; when there,” he pointed downwards, “we

  shall not be able to contend, while here we need not . Go home, or

  stay; pray to your God in your own mode; your friends may do the

  like . My orisons consist in peace and good will, in resignation and

  hope . Farewell!”

  He bowed slightly to the angry disputant who was about to reply;

  and, turning his horse down Rue Saint Honore, called on his friends

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  to follow him . He rode slowly, to give time to all to join him at the

  Barrier, and then issued his orders that those who yielded obedi-

  ence to him, should rendezvous at Versailles . In the meantime he

  remained within the walls of Paris, until he had secured the safe

  retreat of all . In about a fortnight the remainder of the emigrants

  arrived from England, and they all repaired to Versailles; apartments

  were prepared for the family of the Protector in the Grand Trianon,

  and there, after the excitement of these events, we reposed amidst

  the luxuries of the departed Bourbons .

  CHAPTER V.

  After the repose of a few days, we held a council, to decide on

  our future movements. Our first plan had been to quit our wintry

  native latitude, and seek for our diminished numbers the luxuries

&nb
sp; and delights of a southern climate. We had not fixed on any precise

  spot as the termination of our wanderings; but a vague picture of

  perpetual spring, fragrant groves, and sparkling streams, floated in

  our imagination to entice us on . A variety of causes had detained us

  in England, and we had now arrived at the middle of February; if we

  pursued our original project, we should find ourselves in a worse sit-

  uation than before, having exchanged our temperate climate for the

  intolerable heats of a summer in Egypt or Persia . We were therefore

  obliged to modify our plan, as the season continued to be inclement;

  and it was determined that we should await the arrival of spring in

  our present abode, and so order our future movements as to pass the

  hot months in the icy vallies of Switzerland, deferring our southern

  progress until the ensuing autumn, if such a season was ever again

  to be beheld by us .

  The castle and town of Versailles afforded our numbers ample

  accommodation, and foraging parties took it by turns to supply our

  wants . There was a strange and appalling motley in the situation

  of these the last of the race. At first I likened it to a colony, which

  borne over the far seas, struck root for the first time in a new coun-

  try . But where was the bustle and industry characteristic of such an

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  assemblage; the rudely constructed dwelling, which was to suffice

  till a more commodious mansion could be built; the marking out

  of fields; the attempt at cultivation; the eager curiosity to discover

  unknown animals and herbs; the excursions for the sake of explor-

  ing the country? Our habitations were palaces our food was ready

  stored in granaries—there was no need of labour, no inquisitiveness,

  no restless desire to get on . If we had been assured that we should

  secure the lives of our present numbers, there would have been more

  vivacity and hope in our councils . We should have discussed as to

  the period when the existing produce for man’s sustenance would no

  longer suffice for us, and what mode of life we should then adopt. We

  should have considered more carefully our future plans, and debated

  concerning the spot where we should in future dwell . But summer

  and the plague were near, and we dared not look forward . Every