both human and canine; while the baronet proceeded towards the Ostend gate, and took up his quarters at the Golden Eagle.

Here his first care was to equip himself and Jocelyn in a more becoming manner, preparatory to their appearance at the king's entertainment in the evening; a duty which the shortness of the time would not allow him to discharge to his entire satisfaction, although he was well aware that as his majesty, under his present eclipse, did not himself shine with his full splendour, he could not expect his satellites to appear with their accustomed lustre. Such a general exposure of poverty as he had witnessed in the morning, prepared him for lenten entertainment, and the meager mournful display of impoverished royalty striving to conjure up the ghost of its own departed magnificence. Though it had neither the pretensions nor the establishment of a palace, the house into which he was ushered, an ancient and roomy building, possessed a certain air of melancholy grandeur, which it derived from the Gothic style of its architecture and the dark carved cedar of the spacious staircase. In every alternate panel of the saloon, which was of the same wood, were inserted grim-looking portraits of the ancient counts and countesses of Flanders, both equally well armed with corslet, boddice, and busk, and all seeming to look down with an ominous scowl of surprise at the strangers who had intruded upon their solemn haunts. Here ended the gloomy part of the picture, for as to the present inmates of this sombre apartment, nothing could exceed their gayety of cheer, except the gallant bravery of their dress and decorations. All the better class of the exiled English, with the wives and daughters of such as had brought their families abroad, contributed to give brilliancy to the scene; and it would seem as if these loyal Cavaliers, however straitened in other respects, were determined to surround their monarch with the occasional royalty of a court, as some compensation for the undue forlornness of his establishment in every other respect. There were waving of plumes, rustling of silks, mingling of laughter and of happy voices, with the occasional sounds of merry music, sparkling of diamonds, wit, and beauty, and the enlivening charm thrown over the whole by the presence of a young, handsome, and accomplished monarch, who by the fascination of his manners could scarcely smile upon a female without exciting a flutter in her heart; while his known gallantry in the field, and the many misfortunes he had encountered, were calculated to awaken a feeling of chivalrous loyalty in every manly bosom. Attired in an elegant French dress, with George and garter, his fine figure appeared to the best advantage, while the spontaneous exhilaration of his spirits, which seemed to render mere existence a pleasure, diffused its sympathetic influence around him. He had a gallant compliment for some, a bon-mot for others, a bewitching smile for all. Such was the point of view in which his friends should always have contemplated him, for he was not more expressly formed, by figure and accomplishments, to grace a court, than he was utterly unfitted by his character for giving dignity to a throne.

After having jocosely introduced Sir John to some of his friends, as a pains-taking Cavalier, who was qualifying himself to become master of the horse, by acting the ostler in his own person, and the groom in his son's, he took Jocelyn by the hand, and declaring they were at a loss for an exqueen, to sit opposite to the ex-king, led him into the supper-room, and placed him at the bottom of the table; a joke which was presently explained to the company, and being of royal origin, was, of course, received with an egregious applause, though it entailed no small embarrassment upon poor Jocelyn; his health being drunk with due solemnity, and his royal title preserved during the whole entertainment. Though not sumptuous, the repast was plentiful and elegant: the hilarity was at its height, the champagne sparkled, the toasts were pledged, the joke went round, and

the ready laugh attested that it never failed to perform its office, when a clamour was heard in the ante-room, which, uniting with the angry voice of the servants, began to excite the attention of the guests. Presently an attendant entering the apartment, whispered a few words to Sir Stephen Fox, who immediately went out with him. After an interval the latter returned, spoke to Sir Edward Nicholas, and both were preparing to retire, when the king called after them, to inquire the meaning of all this mystery and mummery.

"All will be arranged in a few minutes," said Sir Stephen, bowing. "We will do our best to settle every thing, at least for the present," exclaimed Sir Edward.

"Ods fish! gentlemen, will you answer me?" cried the king, impatiently: "I asked a question."

Sir Edward whispered a few words in his ear, when the monarch exclaimed aloud, "Tilly vally, man! the mountain and the mouse! surely these matters are no secret to any of us. - Fair ladies and doughty Cavaliers," he continued, addressing the company with a smile, "be not alarmed. This is no camisado of the enemy, no privy conspiracy or rebellion, but a simple insurrection of certain burgesses, yclept shop-keepers, or duns; the meaning of which word, I believe, it will be perfectly unnecessary to explain to any of the present company."

The uproar was, in fact, occasioned by an irruption of creditors, who, having learned that his majesty was about to quit Bruges next day, as he had done other places, without the ceremony of a liquidation of debts, had stormed his residence, and vociferously insisted upon instant payment.

Sir Thomas Killigrew, who had withdrawn into the ante-room, now hurried back, proclaiming, with a look of great dismay, that the whole party were armed.

"Armed!" cried the king, instinctively laying his hand upon his sword. "Yes, my liege, not like the constables, and yet each with a long bill." Killigrew was one of those chartered jesters who are privileged to say any thing, and whose boldest jokes are sure to command a laugh, of which, upon the present occasion, the monarch set the first example. "It is no laughing matter," resumed Sir Thomas, shaking his head, and still preserving a terrified countenance, "for however they may be armed, your majesty cannot deny that the sturdy rogues know how to make a charge." This sally was as successful as the former, but even the roar with which it was received could not drown the voice of some individual clamourer outside, who insisted upon seeing the king.

"Have I no Walworth to mace this brawler on the sconce ?" cried the monarch.

"Yes, my liege!" cried the impetuous Lord Ossory, starting up and grasping his sword. "Gentlemen, shall we suffer our sovereign to be beard ed in his own house by these audacious varlets?" He was rushing fiercely out of the room, when the Marquess of Ormond, laying his hand upon his son's arm and stopping him, exclaimed, "Forbear, rash boy! as the sword is the worst of arguments, so should it be the last, even with an equal: against an inferior it should never quit the scabbard. Leave me to deal with these mistaken people." In a few minutes after he had quitted the room, the hubbub was appeased as suddenly as it had sprung up, and the marquess bowing to the king as he returned, informed him that the offending parties had all retired.

"Did you charm them with the wand of Prospero, tnat you nave so soon allayed the storm?" inquired the king.

"I visited them as Jove did Danae," replied the peera few fair promises sent them away contented,"

"a little gold and

"Thanks, Marquess," cried the monarch-"I am ever your debtor, but the hour may come when I shall be able to repay you."

"That hour is past, my liege," said the marquess "for I am already repaid in the honour of my sovereign's thanks." He bowed as he spoke, and by way of changing the subject, and renewing the interrupted hilarity of the party, called upon Dick Fanshaw for a song. The experiment succeeded, the song was applauded, and the joyous party continued their merriment as if its flow had never been broken, until at a late hour the greater part of the company retired, leaving only a set of the king's most intimate associates, and a few handsome flaunting ladies, whose less-guarded language and attire gave reason to suspect that they were not in the habit of absenting themselves from the king's lighter hours of dalliance and of license.

All restraint was now banished; the conversation assumed a less decorous tone, while in justification of the old adage, that "familiarity breeds contempt," the king himself and his pecuniary difficulties became the subject of broad raillery, in which he was not unfrequently mentioned by his nicknames of Rowland or Rowley. Different small tables with dice and cards being now introduced, the whole party sat down to them, and heavy sums of gold were staked, won, and lost, by that very monarch who had just suffered Lord Ormond to defray a portion of his household debts, and by those identical courtiers who had in the morning pleaded utter poverty to their sovereign when he wanted to borrow a few pistoles. All this, however, seemed to excite neither surprise nor upbraiding in the parties themselves, men who had so long found it easier to laugh at a debt than to pay it, that they had not only learned to distrust one another, but to treat all tradespeople with contempt, as a set of impertinents, born to minister to their pleasures, without their being entitled in return to the commonest observances of justice, honour, or honesty. They appeared to think that the violence with which they had been expelled from their paternal castles, halls, and bowers, justified them in levying contributions even upon the inhabitants of a foreign country; and that they were entitled to snatch, as they could, those enjoyments of wealth and luxury to which they had been accustomed, without being in the smallest degree scrupulous as to the means of their attainment.

Considering himself as an interloper among this more select assemblage, Sir John arose to depart, when the king, again accosting them both by their mock titles, wished them good night, requesting that the visit might be repeated at twelve next day, as he had a commission which he wished to intrust to his future master of the horse. Though by no means squeamish or fastidious, the baronet could not help being a little staggered by the loose morality he had witnessed on the subject of meum and tuum; but as his loyalty would not allow him to admit all the censure, which Jocelyn's unsophisticated notions induced him to express while they were walking home, he turned the conversation, alluded to the lateness of the hour, and hurried off to bed the moment they reached the Golden Eagle.

Pursuant to the orders he had received, he presented himself on the following morning, at the royal residence in the burg, and after waiting a considerable time beyond the appointed hour, was ushered into his majesty's dressing-closet, in one corner of which, upon a rich arm-chair of brocade and tapestry, was lying a small spaniel with a litter of puppies, and a basin of milk-porridge, which they were unmercifully scattering over the wrought flowers of silk and gold whereon it was placed. On a table beside them was cast the diamond George and garter, with rings, trinkets, miniatures, and watches, intermingled with all the apparatus of the toilet, most of which was of embossed silver. Though the king called out from an inner apartment that he would attend his master of the horse in a few

minutes, his majesty still kept him waiting some time longer. At length making his appearance in an embroidered silk wrapper, the king proceeded at once to state, that he wished Sir John to carry a despatch of some consequence to his brother the Duke of York, then with the Spanish army in Flanders, who might probably intrust him with certain confidential communications in return, which it might not be safe to commit to writing. There was so much jealousy in his little court, the king observed, that if he selected one of his immediate friends for his mission, he should only offend the others, on which account he requested that the object of their present conference might be kept secret. Proceeding to state that it would be a good opportunity for giving Jocelyn a little insight into the manners of a camp, he concluded by requesting that Sir John would keep a correct account of his disbursements, which should be punctually repaid upon his return. Had this commission been intrusted to any of the parties whose jealousy he affected to apprehend, it is probable that they would have insisted upon their expenses before they started; and it is by no means impossible that the knowledge of this fact was the sole inducement that led to the selection of Sir John. Be this as it may, the baronet undertook the embassy with great cheerfulness, received his despatches and fresh passes, and, accompanied by Jocelyn, set out on his journey that same afternoon.

CHAPTER X.

"But see, his face is black and full of blood,
His eye balls farther out than when he lived,
Staring full ghastly like a strangled man.
It cannot be but he was murder'd here"

SHAKSPEARE.

THE formidable fortress of Dunkirk, then in possession of the Spaniards, was at this time hotly besieged by the joint forces of England and France, under the command of Turenne, who had run his trenches up to the counterscarp, and so far encroached upon the wall by mines, that he hoped in a few days to be able to make an assault upon the town. Don John of Austria, the generalissimo of the Spanish army, whereof a portion was commanded by the Duke of York, anxious to prevent the fall of this important place, which was to be put into the hands of the English if it surrendered, and would give the already too powerful Protector the key of Flanders, and the command of the French frontier, determined to march with his whole army for the purpose of raising the siege. In execution of this purpose he was encamped at Furnes, waiting to be joined by some garrison troops, when Sir John arrived with his despatches for the Duke of York, and immediately pointed out to Jocelyn the striking difference between the encampment and aspect of a regular army, and the Tartar tents of the Cavaliers which they had so lately visited. Here were numerous outposts, sentinels, and videttes, who stopped them to demand their pass at different stations: the camp was placed so as to be covered by a wood on one side, and a canal upon the other: the troops were disposed in two parallel lines, the cavalry upon each wing, the foot in the centre, with a body of reserve behind them, and the baggage and artillery in the rear of the whole.

On gaining the duke's quarters, they were informed he was gone to visit the commander-in-chief, to whose tent they were escorted by an officer. It was much larger and handsomer than the others, being canopied at top, and surmounted by the black spread eagle, which figure was embroidered also upon the sides, while the front was adorned with the Spanish arms and

facings of black fringe. Upon entering and sending in his credentials, he was immediately joined by the duke, who received him with great courtesy; and, introducing his brother of Gloucester to Jocelyn, with a hope that they might be future companions in arms, requested Sir John to excuse his attendance for half an hour, as he was engaged in a consultation of the last moment with his highness of Austria. Not completely closing the curtain of the inner tent, as he retired, Sir John was rendered an unintentional spectator of the conference, although he could only catch an occasional word or two of the conversation, which was carried on in an earnest whisper. The parties consisted of the duke, Don John, and two elderly officers, apparently of high rank, all equipped in half armour, with three Jesuits in the habit of their order, and a diminutive deformed figure in black, whose goggle eyes were staring intently at a large horoscope of the twelve houses outspread before him, around which were scattered celestial globes, planispheres, tables of the stars, and other apparatus, whose purposes Sir John could not immediately decipher.

From time to time, the humpbacked personage, who seemed to be the principal operator, referred to his tables and made calculations, whose results his companions endeavoured to anticipate, by watching the expression of his countenance, as they riveted their eyes upon it. The three Jesuits standing together, each with one hand folded in his cloak, while the other held his chin, seemed to have a slight curl of incredulity at the corner of the mouth, which scarcely consorted with the deep attention of the closely knit brows. There was a character of awe as well as of profound attention in the young and handsome faces of the duke and his brother commander; while the two seniors, who sat with their chins resting upon the basket-hilt of their long swords, gazed on the thwart and dwarfish calculator with a grim earnestness. Modern commanders-in-chief, who have adopted the opinion of the Marquess de la Ferté, "que le bon Dieu est toujours du coté des gros bataillons," will smile with derision at being told that this was a council of war, the little hunchback being a celebrated astrologer, who by the assistance of his hocus-pocus implements was endeavouring to compel the stars to divulge what would be the best day for attacking the enemy before Dunkirk with the most reasonable, or rather, sidereal prospects of success! To this crooked conjuror, thus superseding the commander-in-chief, was intrusted the decision of an important military operation, his sentence being as implicitly received, as if he had been at the head of an army for one half of his life, and upon the most confidential and intimate footing with the stars during the remainder.

Upon the breaking up of this egregious military council, the Duke of York rejoined Sir John, holding the despatches in his hand, which he had not yet opened. He now did so, and smiling as he finished their perusal, exclaimed, "It was hardly worth while to send so far."

*

Sir John signified his understanding, that he was to be honoured with some verbal communications, but the duke declared that in a matter of his own private individual concern, such as that to which the king had alluded, he must decline admitting a confidant, however he might respect the individual. "As to the little casket," continued the duke, smiling, "which was perhaps the main object of your embassy, I hold it at your disposal, whenever you return; but as we have decided on immediately attacking the enemy before Dunkirk, you may as well follow the camp, and in two or three days, I trust you will be enabled to convey such intelligence to the king, as will ensure you a welcome reception at Bruges." To this arrangement Sir John consented, and on the following morning the army broke up at an early hour from Furnes, and marched towards

* Probably his private marriage with Miss Hyde, then in agitation.