CHAPTER IV
IN WHICH I SAY FAREWELL THRICE
In the middle of the month of November our business was pretty wellsettled, and the day of my departure ordained, which was to be upon theWednesday following, there being a friend of my father's about tojourney to Devizes on that day, with whom it was intended I should sofar travel. To be honest, it was with some feelings of concern that Iexpected this my first entrance into the world, where I was to meetwith a sort of folk I had no knowledge of: learned attorneys of theInns, Judges of the Queen's Bench (if we ever got so far); and thatgaunt figure of the Constable with the keys of the Tower at his girdleand a constant lamentation of prisoners in his ear. My duty at thebeginning was plain enough, my father having often rehearsed the sameto me; as that I should take lodging in Fetter Lane at the house of oneMalt, a hosier, who should use me honestly, he being a West-Countryman. Thereafter and as soon as my convenience would allow, I was tobetake myself to a certain goldsmith of repute, whose shop stood hardby the new Burse in Cornhill, and there receive gold in exchange forthe letters I bore, the which my father had gotten upon articles signedin Exeter. So provided, I was to put myself under the direction andcommand of Mr. Skene, who would employ me as his occasions required.
The last day of my home-keeping broke in fair weather, of which I wasglad, for I purposed to spend it in bidding farewell to my neighboursand the persons I especially loved about the estate.
And first I sought my old companion Simon, whom I found by the brook,in a place where there be otters, some ten or twelve furlongs up thevalley that descends into our combe from the westward, where the treesgrow very thickly and in summer there is a pleasant shade. Thither wehad often gone together in times past, and there I shrewdly guessed Ishould discover him.
I came upon him crouched beside the stream among the withered bracken,his cross-bow laid aside with which he had been fowling, and a greatdead pheasant cock in the grass at his feet. I hailed him twice beforehe heard me, when he rose at once and spreading his sheepskin mantlefor me (the air being very bitter) he told me he had thought I forgothim.
"I should not have gone without bidding thee farewell, Simon," Ireplied, for his reproach stung me the more that I had neglected him oflate, and knew not wherefore. "I have been deeply engaged about thisjourney to London, and the hours I have been idle my mind hath been tooanxious for chat. 'Tis an employment I mislike, Simon," I saidearnestly, "and one I do not see to the end of."
"When does his worship think it will be concluded?" asked Simon Powell.
"Oh, these things depend upon their law-terms," I said, willing to lethim perceive my knowledge in such affairs. "The Bench doth not trycauses unremittingly."
"Ay," he said, nodding, the while he regarded me with a strange look ofthe eyes, "but subject to the judges' convenience, I would have said.Will you return by Lady Day, think you?"
"Why, that is four months distant," I cried, for his question hadsomething startled me. "I shall surely be safe home in half that time."
But Simon shook his head. "Since I first heard of this errand," hesaid, "the thought of it hath never left me, sleeping nor waking, Mr.Denis. And as there be some things that every man may tell certainlythat they will happen, as the seasons to pass in due order, and the reddeer to come down to the pools in the evening, and the sun to set andrise; so there be other things, though not in the rule of nature, whicha man may yet discern that hath bent his will that way. So did thatknight who, in a dream, saw strange and way-worn men bringing tributeto Arthur from the Islands of Greece, which was not then, but wascertainly to be, and now in these days we shall see the same; ay,Arthur receiving tribute from all the nations and not Greece only, andeverywhere triumphing."
I sat suspended in amaze while he spoke thus, his dark eyes sparklingand his fingers straitly interlaced. It was a mood he had never beforerevealed, though he had often, as I have said, told me tales of his oldheroes and wizards, but not with this stress of fervour and (as itwere) prophetic sureness. Such power as he manifested in his wordssurely confounds distinctions of rank and erases the badge of servant.For there may be no mastery over them that can convince our souls, asthis Welsh lad convinced mine.
When he spoke again, it was with some shame in his voice, as though hehad betrayed his secret mind and feared my laughter; which had he knownit, he need by no means have done.
"My meaning is," he went on, "that I feel this adventure which you setabout will continue longer than you imagine, Mr. Denis, though I haveno proof thereof; at least, none I may put into words; and you may wellderide the notion. Notwithstanding, it sticks with me that you willnot return to the Combe Court until many a strange accident shall havebefallen, of which we be now ignorant."
"Why, however long it be, Simon," said I cheerily, for I wished tolighten our conversation somewhat, "you may rest well-assured of myremembrance of you, and that though I wander as far forth as to thosesame Islands of Greece you spake of, yet shall my affections draw mehome again."
He leapt to his feet at that, with an apparent gladness that warmed memarvellously, though 'twas but a frolic sentence I had made, and spokensmiling. So do we often probe into the future with a jest, and, as itwere, speak the fool's prologue to our own tragedy.
Our leaving-taking ended in laughter, then, as perhaps 'tis best, andSimon remaining to shoot fowl, I left him to bid farewell to old PeterSprot; who gave me good advice in the matter of stage-plays and thechoice of food, which I promised, so far as I was able, to observe.
"For other things," he said, "I leave you to your conscience, master,as in the end, 'tis necessary. But this I say: that I have small loveof players, and such as, not content with the condition and qualitythey were born to, must needs pretend to principalities and lordships,which they sustain for a weary hour or so, and after return, like theswine of the Scripture, to their wallowing in the mire."
"I think there is no probability of my playing any prince's part,Peter," quoth I.
"Nor of seeing it played neither, I hope," he replied, "for though webe all sinners, yet we sinners that witness neither stage-plays norpageants, Mr. Denis, be hugely better than they that do; and mark me,sir, it shall so appear hereafter."
This I knew to be a thrust at Mr. Ptolemy and his puppet-show no lessthan at the public theatre in Finsbury Fields, which had then been setup about seven or eight years.
"Eat beef and mutton, Mr. Denis," he proceeded gravely, "and fish also.There is a good market for fish in London, though they that vend therebe something inclined to blasphemy; I know not wherefore; but strangedishes eschew, and particularly those of the French. For the Frenchnation is given up to Popery, dancing and the compounding ofunwholesome foods. Nay, this late commerce of our nobility with theeffeminate and godless Frenchmen hath gone far to the ruin of bothstomach and religion that should be simply fed, the one by such meatsas I have named, mutton (eaten with onions, Mr. Denis), beef, and incold weather, pork; the other by sound doctrine and preaching of theWord." He paused awhile, and I thought had concluded his admonition;when he seemed to recover something notable. "There be divers ways ofdressing a capon, Mr. Denis," said he, "of which the goodwife hath aparticular knowledge, as also of the sauces to be served therewith.These I will, by your leave, procure to be transcribed for your use,and so, God keep you."
I thanked him heartily for his good will, although I secretly admiredthe fashion in which he interlarded sound doctrine with strong meats.But every man out of the abundance of his heart speaketh, and I knewthat Peter dealt with me lovingly in meddling virtue with appetite inso singular a manner. Now, when I had parted from the honest steward,I considered with myself whom next I should salute, and determined thatit should be the maidservants and Ursula the cook; and to this endreturned toward the house, but unwillingly, for I have ever beenabashed in the presence of womenfolk, at least within doors, where aman is at a disadvantage but they at their ease. And so greatly didthis distaste and backwardness grow upon me that I hung abou
t the gateof the yard behind the house, fearing to venture forward, and as itwere into a den of mocking lions, until I should more perfectly haverehearsed my farewell speeches. It was then (as I always believe) thata door was opened unto me of that Providence which rules our motions,and a way of escape made plain; the which door was my old pedagogue,Mr. Jordan, whom I suddenly remembered (though I had scarce thoughtupon him these two years) and whom I had such a compelling inclinationto visit as sent the maids out of my head, and my heels out of the yardon the instant. When I bade good-bye to Ursula and the rest on themorrow, I was in the open air and mounted, so that I cared not a jotfor their laughter (which indeed soon led into tears; my own beingpretty near to my eyes too), but made them a great speech as full ofego as a schoolboy's first lesson in Latin.
Up the hill towards Mr. Jordan's house I climbed therefore to beg hisblessing upon me, and to thank him for all he had done for me in timespast. It was near dinner-time by this, and I conceived the kindness ofcooking the old scholar's meal for him as he lay in bed; for I doubtednot to find him so, as I had rarely found him otherwise than on hispallet with a great folio or two by way of counterpane, and a Plato's"Republick" to his pillow. There had been a little snow fallen in thenight which still clung upon the uplands, and when I had ascended tohis dwelling I found a drift about the door and the thatched eavesconsiderably laden upon the weather side of them with snow. But whatsurprised me mightily was certain vestiges before the threshold, andregularly iterated, as by a sentinel's marchings to and fro. Mybewilderment increased moreover, or rather gave place to alarm when Ichanced to observe beside the window of that I knew for his study (towit the room he slept in), a great halberd resting, and a militarysteel cap. Then did I painfully call to mind those former pursuits ofmy poor old preceptor when (as was reported) he had been a novice inthe old Abbey of Cleeve, and knowing the present ill estimation inwhich the Papists everywhere were held, I understood that Mr. Jordanhad not escaped the vigilance of the Commission, but was now underarrest, or at least that his liberty was so encroached on as made itmere confinement within his own house. Greatly distressed for thisopinion, I approached near to the little window, of which the shutter(there being no glass) hung on the jar, and timorously gazed within.The bed stood empty, and no one that I could see was in the chamber.This confirmed me in my suspicion, and at the same time emboldened meto demand admittance. Some hope that my witness (or rather the weightof our authority) would bestead him, moved me to this course, and Iknocked loudly on the door. Hardly had I done so, when I heard fromwithin a horrid clatter of arms upon the flags as of a man falling in ascuffle, and so without more ado I lifted the latch and sprang into thehouse. Mr. Jordan lay at full length along the floor.
"Who hath done this, Master?" I cried out in a sudden gust of wrath,for he was an old man and a reverend. He lifted himself painfully,regarding me as he did so with an inscrutable mildness which I took tobe of despair. His assailant was evidently fled in the meanwhile, orperhaps went to summon a posse comitatus for my tutor's apprehension.
"I will undertake your enlargement," said I, and indeed felt myselfstrong enough to dispose of a whole sergeant's guard unaided.
"I am beholden to you, young master," replied Mr. Jordan, "and now thatI look more closely, I take you to be that degenerate young DenisCleeve, to whom Syntax and Accidence were wont to be as felloes in thewheel of Ixion, and Prosody a very stone of Sisyphus. Art thou not he,my son?"
"I am Denis Cleeve," I answered impatiently, "but I think my lack ofLatin concerns us not now, when we are in danger of the law."
"Ah! thou hast come into some scrape," he said, sitting up on thestones, and gathering up his knees. "Such as thou art, was theTelamonian Ajax, whom Homer represents as brave enough, though inlearning but a fool. Why, what hast thou done, little Ajax, that thouhast wantonly forfeited the protection of the laws? But be brief inthe telling, since I sit here in some discomfort, having entangled agreat sword in my legs and fallen something heavily, which in a man ofmy years and weight is as if Troy herself fell; a catastrophelamentable even to the gods."
At this I could not contain my laughter, partly for the mistake intowhich he had been led that I feared a danger which was in truth hisown, and partly for the accident of the sword which had tripped him upthus headlong; but more than either for the tragi-comick simile he hadused in comparing himself in his downfall with the ancient city of Troy.
"To return to my first question," I said as soon as I had settled mycountenance. "Who hath set upon you? and whither has he fled?"
"None hath set upon me, young sir," he replied sadly, "and ergo, weneed search for no fugitive. I had armed myself, and the harnessencumbering me (as indeed I have had little occasion for its use theseforty years), I fell, in the manner you saw. And had not nature foldedme in certain kindly wrappages of flesh above the common, my frame hadbeen all broken and disjointed by this lapsus, which even now hath leftme monstrous sore."
I lifted him to his feet, though with some difficulty, for it was truethat nature had dealt liberally with him in the matter of flesh; andhaving set him in a chair, I asked him how it was he came thusaccoutred, since it was not (as he affirmed) to withstand anymolestation.
"Why, 'tis in order to molest others, numskull!" he cried, making as ifto pass upon me with his recovered weapon. "And for withstanding, 'tisto withstand the Queen's enemies, and affront them that pretendannoyance to her Grace's peace. I am the scholar in arms, boy! theclerk to be feared. I am Sapientia Furens, and wisdom in the camp.Furthermore I am, though a poor professor of the Catholick Faith, yetone that detests the malignity of such as would establish that faithagain by force of arms. It is by way of protest therefore, and in thevigour of loyalty, that I buckle on this, alas! too narrow panoply; andwhen I should be setting towards my grave, go forth upon my firstcampaign."
"You are taking service in the Queen's army, Mr. Jordan?" I stammered,for the prospect of it was hardly to be credited.
"If she will receive it, yea," he returned, with a melancholydetermination. "And if she reject me as that I am too far declinedfrom juvenility, I will crave at the least a pair of drums, havingserved some apprenticeship to parchment, Denis, so that I coulddoubtless sound a tuck upon occasion."
Beneath his apparent levity I could discern the hardness of hispurpose, and honoured him extremely, knowing the rigour which attendethservice in the field and the conversation (offensive to a scholar) ofthe gross and ignorant soldiery. While I thus pondered his resolution,he proceeded quietly in his work of scouring certain antique pieces andnotched blades that he told me had been his father's; and when theyresponded to his liking he would lunge and parry with them according tosome theoretick rule he had, the which I suspected to have been drawnfrom the precepts of a Gothick sergeant, at the Sack of Rome. Hispallid broad countenance was reddened by this exercise, and analertness so grew upon his former unwieldy motions that I admired himfor the recovery of the better part of youth, although he must at thattime have passed his three score years and ten. And ever and anon ashe scoured or smote, he would utter some tag of Latin apposite to theoccasion (at least I suppose so) and seemed to gather a secret comfortfrom the allusion. I have never encountered with a man so littlemoulded to the age he lived in, nor so independent of its customaryusages. His words were, as I have said, generally spoken in the deadlanguages, while his features were rather formed upon the model ofthose divines that flourished half a century since, and are now butseldom met with in any. I have seen a picture of the Archbishop andLord Chancellor, Warham, which greatly resembled Mr. Jordan, andespecially in the heavy eyelids and the lines of sadness about themouth. On ordinary occasion my old tutor wore moreover a close-fittingcap of black velvet such as Master Warham wore also, cut square overthe ears and set low upon the brow.
I have drawn his character somewhat tediously perhaps, but it isbecause he has become in my imagination a sort of symbol and giganticfigure that stands between my old life and my new. Wh
en I look backupon my boyhood there is Mr. Jordan a-sprawl on his bed amid a host ofbooks, and when the prospect of my early manhood opens it is halfobliterated by his genial bulk.
I learned to my satisfaction that he purposed to depart on the morrowfor London, where also he hoped to pass muster into some company of theQueen's troops. His delight, I think, was equal to my own, when I toldhim that I was bound thither likewise, and we accordingly parted untildaybreak with mutual encouragements and good will.
Idonia: A Romance of Old London Page 4