登陆注册
5150400000094

第94章

HOW EUSTACE LEIGH MET THE POPE'S LEGATE

"Misguided, rash, intruding fool, farewell!

Thou see'st to be too busy is some danger."Hamlet.

It is the spring of 1582-3.The gray March skies are curdling hard and high above black mountain peaks.The keen March wind is sweeping harsh and dry across a dreary sheet of bog, still red and yellow with the stains of winter frost.One brown knoll alone breaks the waste, and on it a few leafless wind-clipt oaks stretch their moss-grown arms, like giant hairy spiders, above a desolate pool which crisps and shivers in the biting breeze, while from beside its brink rises a mournful cry, and sweeps down, faint and fitful, amid the howling of the wind.

Along the brink of the bog, picking their road among crumbling rocks and green spongy springs, a company of English soldiers are pushing fast, clad cap-a-pie in helmet and quilted jerkin, with arquebus on shoulder, and pikes trailing behind them; stern steadfast men, who, two years since, were working the guns at Smerwick fort, and have since then seen many a bloody fray, and shall see more before they die.Two captains ride before them on shaggy ponies, the taller in armor, stained and rusted with many a storm and fray, the other in brilliant inlaid cuirass and helmet, gaudy sash and plume, and sword hilt glittering with gold, a quaint contrast enough to the meager garron which carries him and his finery.Beside them, secured by a cord which a pikeman has fastened to his own wrist, trots a bare-legged Irish kerne, whose only clothing is his ragged yellow mantle, and the unkempt "glib"of hair, through which his eyes peer out, right and left, in mingled fear and sullenness.He is the guide of the company, in their hunt after the rebel Baltinglas; and woe to him if he play them false.

"A pleasant country, truly, Captain Raleigh," says the dingy officer to the gay one."I wonder how, having once escaped from it to Whitehall, you have the courage to come back and spoil that gay suit with bog-water and mud.""A very pleasant country, my friend Amyas; what you say in jest, Isay in earnest."

"Hillo! Our tastes have changed places.I am sick of it already, as you foretold.Would Heaven that I could hear of some adventure Westward-ho! and find these big bones swinging in a hammock once more.Pray what has made you so suddenly in love with bog and rock, that you come back to tramp them with us? I thought you had spied out the nakedness of the land long ago.""Bog and rock? Nakedness of the land? What is needed here but prudence and skill, justice and law? This soil, see, is fat enough, if men were here to till it.These rocks--who knows what minerals they may hold? I hear of gold and jewels found already in divers parts; and Daniel, my brother Humphrey's German assayer, assures me that these rocks are of the very same kind as those which yield the silver in Peru.Tut, man! if her gracious majesty would but bestow on me some few square miles of this same wilderness, in seven years' time I would make it blossom like the rose, by God's good help.""Humph! I should be more inclined to stay here, then.""So you shall, and be my agent, if you will, to get in my mine-rents and my corn-rents, and my fishery-rents, eh? Could you keep accounts, old knight of the bear's-paw?""Well enough for such short reckonings as yours would be, on the profit side at least.No, no--I'd sooner carry lime all my days from Cauldy to Bideford, than pass another twelve-month in the land of Ire, among the children of wrath.There is a curse upon the face of the earth, I believe.""There is no curse upon it, save the old one of man's sin--'Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to thee.' But if you root up the thorns and thistles, Amyas, I know no fiend who can prevent your growing wheat instead; and if you till the ground like a man, you plough and barrow away nature's curse, and other fables of the schoolmen beside," added he, in that daring fashion which afterwards obtained for him (and never did good Christian less deserve it) the imputation of atheism.

"It is sword and bullet, I think, that are needed here, before plough and harrow, to clear away some of the curse.Until a few more of these Irish lords are gone where the Desmonds are, there is no peace for Ireland.""Humph! not so far wrong, I fear.And yet--Irish lords? These very traitors are better English blood than we who hunt them down.

When Yeo here slew the Desmond the other day, he no more let out a drop of Irish blood, than if he had slain the lord deputy himself.""His blood be on his own head," said Yeo, "He looked as wild a savage as the worst of them, more shame to him; and the ancient here had nigh cut off his arm before he told us who he was: and then, your worship, having a price upon his head, and like to bleed to death too--""Enough, enough, good fellow," said Raleigh."Thou hast done what was given thee to do.Strange, Amyas, is it not? Noble Normans sunk into savages--Hibernis ipsis hiberniores! Is there some uncivilizing venom in the air?""Some venom, at least, which makes English men traitors.But the Irish themselves are well enough, if their tyrants would let them be.See now, what more faithful liegeman has her majesty than the Inchiquin, who, they say, is Prince of Themond, and should be king of all Ireland, if every man had his right?""Don't talk of rights in the land of wrongs, man.But the Inchiquin knows well that the true Irish Esau has no worse enemy than his supplanter, the Norman Jacob.And yet, Amyas are even these men worse than we might be, if we had been bred up masters over the bodies and souls of men, in some remote land where law and order had never come? Look at this Desmond, brought up a savage among savages, a Papist among Papists, a despot among slaves; a thousand easy maidens deeming it honor to serve his pleasure, a thousand wild ruffians deeming it piety to fulfil his revenge: and let him that is without sin among us cast the first stone.""Ay," went on Raleigh to himself, as the conversation dropped.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 初恋之只有你

    初恋之只有你

    第一次跌倒是不小心,她可以这样安慰自己,这不是自己的错,是这地面不平的缘故。可是第二次在同一个地方跌倒,这就说不过去了,她想了想,实在不是自己的错,敌军太狡猾,而且身边的人竟然叛变了。子在手,万事都有,不是应该说的是她吗?到最后怎么是他?
  • 恋爱中的小浪花

    恋爱中的小浪花

    小浪站在海边,凝望着奔腾的浪花,那是吕云翔和李亮站在海的中央,她不知道要飞向谁的怀抱,掀起浪花你的手,她只能有一次,也仅能有一次选择。
  • 王牌校草的天才宝贝

    王牌校草的天才宝贝

    这家伙简直就是妖孽下凡,FB学院的半个神,为何总对她纠缠不已,那邪魅半眯的深眸,那英俊帅挺的鼻子,还有那因为有着四分之一混血的妖孽外表。反抗无效,那高达的身躯渐渐压迫而来,富有磁性的声音就在米小夏的耳边响起:“告诉你,你是我的女人,休想逃!”
  • 黑萌神医

    黑萌神医

    强吻?壁咚?一言不合拐上榻!说好的禁欲男神呢!“王爷,求放过!”——意外穿越,21世纪圣手神医,成了废物丑八怪?滚蛋!她可是带着神秘空间来的!左手炼丹,右手炼药,修复容貌,惊艳天下!从此,脚踢渣男,狂揍白莲,神挡弑神,魔挡弑魔,谁敢惹她,直接送上天!——书友群:424827957,敲门砖:叶倾歌。必须要有敲门砖哦!【宠文+爽文!】
  • 我来听你的演唱会

    我来听你的演唱会

    陈识是个善良的男孩儿。在我失恋的时候他把我捡回家,后来我们在被窝里滚到天亮,他用身体把我团住,我眯着眼睛装睡。我们爱了一阵子,后来在火车上分手,他扔了车票下车,我一个人从广州哭到了北京。再见面,他搂着新的姑娘,我连多看一眼都觉得恶心。20岁那年,我最大的愿望是和陈识在一起。20岁那年,陈识最大的愿望是在工体开演唱会。
  • 庄周气诀解

    庄周气诀解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 豪门阔少妻管严

    豪门阔少妻管严

    波云诡谲的大宅院受过新式教育的女学生看似风流实则满腹心思的豪门阔少青梅竹马的留洋初恋温文尔雅的世家公子单纯善良的千金小姐妙手遮天的解语花看似平静的江北实则却是每个人都藏着揣测之意周旋在情感与文场的几个人在是非对错面前又该如何抉择
  • 和南怀瑾一起读《庄子》

    和南怀瑾一起读《庄子》

    庄子继承并发展了老子的哲学思想,是先秦庄子学派的创始人,主张“天人合一”和“清静无为”,喜欢用妙趣横生的寓言故事阐释自己的观点,文字如行云流水,行所欲行,思想如汪洋大海,容纳百川。南怀瑾先生用通俗易懂的语言,博采众家,融会贯通,将《庄子》一书中晦涩难懂的知识娓娓道来,帮助读者更好地领悟庄子思想的精髓,在喧嚣的尘世中找回自己,并以积极乐观的态度创造和谐美满的人生。
  • 那年彼岸花未开

    那年彼岸花未开

    染遍了山丘的红花永远盛开在那一日的炎夏不论多少轮回花,还是会再次绽放的吧
  • 重生萌妃:邪王宠妻无度

    重生萌妃:邪王宠妻无度

    异世重生,堂堂特工第一人沦为被抛弃在荒郊的王府的落难郡主,白莲花来欺,绿茶婊来犯,连丫鬟也能来跟前花样作死了。绿茶蛇蝎心肠装柔弱——剥了你的美人皮,看你怎么装。通兽言、会医术、签血契收天狼,驭白虎唤群蛇,胆敢来犯,来一只打一只,来两只打一双。她机智腹黑,睚眦必报,却在某个千年狐狸面前失了防备,轻易就落入了他精心编织的名为“宠爱”的大网里。他超然度外,对一切都不放在心上,但是却在某只小狐狸跟前摘下疏离的面具。传言,浮生公子乃是明月天涯榜第一人,实际深不可测,拒人于千里之外。某只小丫头一脸嫌弃地推推靠在自己身上睡的欢实的某男,“来来来!说这话的人你过来!我保准不打死你!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】