登陆注册
5246300000752

第752章 CHAPTER XVI(12)

The disputants appealed to medical authority; and the doors of the great surgeons and physicians were thronged, it was jocosely said, as if there had been a pestilence in Paris. The question was soon settled by a letter from James, which announced his defeat and his arrival at Brest.709At Rome the news from Ireland produced a sensation of a very different kind. There too the report of William's death was, during a short time, credited. At the French embassy all was joy and triumph: but the Ambassadors of the House of Austria were in despair; and the aspect of the Pontifical Court by no means indicated exultation.710 Melfort, in a transport of joy, sate down to write a letter of congratulation to Mary of Modena. That letter is still extant, and would alone suffice to explain why he was the favourite of James. Herod,--so William was designated, was gone. There must be a restoration; and that restoration ought to be followed by a terrible revenge and by the establishment of despotism. The power of the purse must be taken away from the Commons. Political offenders must be tried, not by juries, but by judges on whom the Crown could depend. The Habeas Corpus Act must be rescinded. The authors of the Revolution must be punished with merciless severity. "If," the cruel apostate wrote, "if the King is forced to pardon, let it be as few rogues as he can."711 After the lapse of some anxious hours, a messenger bearing later and more authentic intelligence alighted at the palace occupied by the representative of the Catholic King. In a moment all was changed. The enemies of France,--and all the population, except Frenchmen and British Jacobites, were her enemies, eagerly felicitated one another. All the clerks of the Spanish legation were too few to make transcripts of the despatches for the Cardinals and Bishops who were impatient to know the details of the victory. The first copy was sent to the Pope, and was doubtless welcome to him.712The good news from Ireland reached London at a moment when good news was needed. The English flag had been disgraced in the English seas. A foreign enemy threatened the coast. Traitors were at work within the realm. Mary had exerted herself beyond her strength. Her gentle nature was unequal to the cruel anxieties of her position; and she complained that she could scarcely snatch a moment from business to calm herself by prayer. Her distress rose to the highest point when she learned that the camps of her father and her husband were pitched near to each other, and that tidings of a battle might be hourly expected. She stole time for a visit to Kensington, and had three hours of quiet in the garden, then a rural solitude.713 But the recollection of days passed there with him whom she might never see again overpowered her. "The place," she wrote to him, "made me think how happy Iwas there when I had your dear company. But now I will say no more; for I shall hurt my own eyes, which I want now more than ever. Adieu. Think of me, and love me as much as I shall you, whom I love more than my life."714Early on the morning after these tender lines had been despatched, Whitehall was roused by the arrival of a post from Ireland. Nottingham was called out of bed. The Queen, who was just going to the chapel where she daily attended divine service, was informed that William had been wounded. She had wept much;but till that moment she had wept alone, and had constrained herself to show a cheerful countenance to her Court and Council.

But when Nottingham put her husband's letter into her hands, she burst into tears. She was still trembling with the violence of her emotions, and had scarcely finished a letter to William in which she poured out her love, her fears and her thankfulness, with the sweet natural eloquence of her sex, when another messenger arrived with the news that the English army had forced a passage across the Boyne, that the Irish were flying in confusion, and that the King was well. Yet she was visibly uneasy till Nottingham had assured her that James was safe. The grave Secretary, who seems to have really esteemed and loved her, afterwards described with much feeling that struggle of filial duty with conjugal affection. On the same day she wrote to adjure her husband to see that no harm befell her father. "I know," she said, "I need not beg you to let him be taken care of; for I am confident you will for your own sake; yet add that to all your kindness; and, for my sake, let people know you would have no hurt happen to his person."715 This solicitude, though amiable, was superfluous. Her father was perfectly competent to take care of himself. He had never, during the battle, run the smallest risk of hurt; and, while his daughter was shuddering at the dangers to which she fancied that he was exposed in Ireland, he was half way on his voyage to France.

It chanced that the glad tidings arrived at Whitehall on the day to which the Parliament stood prorogued. The Speaker and several members of the House of Commons who were in London met, according to form, at ten in the morning, and were summoned by Black Rod to the bar of the Peers. The Parliament was then again prorogued by commission. As soon as this ceremony had been performed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer put into the hands of the Clerk the despatch which had just arrived from Ireland, and the Clerk read it with a loud voice to the lords and gentlemen present.716 The good news spread rapidly from Westminster Hall to all the coffeehouses, and was received with transports of joy. For those Englishmen who wished to see an English army beaten and an English colony extirpated by the French and Irish were a minority even of the Jacobite party.

同类推荐
  • 华严经入法界品十八问答

    华严经入法界品十八问答

    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。
  • 重阳注五篇灵文

    重阳注五篇灵文

    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。
  • 绛云楼俊遇

    绛云楼俊遇

    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。
  • 仁王般若经疏

    仁王般若经疏

    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。
  • 庚溪诗话

    庚溪诗话

    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。
热门推荐
  • 朝鲜禅教考

    朝鲜禅教考

    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。
  • 盛唐第一驸马爷

    盛唐第一驸马爷

    贞观十七年,李世民已经把大唐调教的差不多了。年初的时候搞了一个凌烟阁,让阎立本在里面画了二十四个人。十五岁的高阳公主也要被许配人家了,李承乾看似安稳的待在东宫里,其实已经磨刀霍霍。武媚娘还老实的做着才人。一切看起来都顺顺利利的。余鹅只想赚点小钱养活自己,猥琐发育。不想却影响力了历史进程,让资本快速积累,武器改良,政治改革,攻突厥,降吐蕃,灭高句丽……好吧,开工没有回头箭,撸起袖子就是干……
  • 冷血绝世美人

    冷血绝世美人

    女孩精致貌美的脸蛋上没有一丝笑意,美眸中全是冷意,这是一个无情无义、六亲不认的女孩,所有人都被她的外表所吸引,很多人都不知道她是个冷酷无情之人,她能扮演很好的角色,开心的、活泼的、顽皮的、可爱的,可她骨子里都是傲气,冷血在她的身上发挥的淋漓尽致。这个女孩身上会发生怎样的传奇故事呢?
  • 生死河

    生死河

    1995年,年轻的高中语文老师申明莫名其妙的成为杀人嫌犯。不久,他被杀死在学校附近的“魔女区”,杀人凶手与动机如同谜雾……多年以后,当年命案的相关人——谷秋莎、谷长龙、申援朝、路中岳、贺年、马力和欧阳小枝等,纷纷陷入不幸的命运!惶恐的人们传言,申明阴魂不散,开始绝望的复仇!而种种迹象显示,出生于1995年底的神秘少年司望,带着复仇的使命来到人世!难道,转世重生真有此事?纤弱的少年,如何玩转阴险狡诈的成人世界?究竟,谁是申明最爱的人,谁毁掉了他的一生?杀死他的恶鬼究竟是谁?为什么?司望就是申明吗?他会成为新的基督山伯爵吗?
  • 相教与平行

    相教与平行

    两个平行的生活轨迹绘出了两个不同的人,却偏偏是最适合对方的人。。。
  • 冥帝爆宠妖娆宫主

    冥帝爆宠妖娆宫主

    第一次见面,小女孩便趁着小男孩练功时偷偷亲了他一口,小男孩差点走火入魔,于是恼羞成怒的一掌拍过去……第二次见面,小女孩只能在高台之下仰望着上方的小男孩,内心有一丢丢的失落……等长大后,曾经的女孩已经成了美丽妖娆的候选宫主,在外历练时,与长大的男孩结识,可是她却没有认出来,男孩想尽办法靠近她,她却以为男孩喜欢的是她的好朋友,简直是可忍孰不可忍……
  • 窗下的树皮小屋

    窗下的树皮小屋

    本书是国家一级作家冰波先生的经典作品集,全书从“真”“善”“美”三个角度选取冰波先生具有代表性的作品。其中《窗下的树皮小屋》获儿童文学园丁奖,《蓝鲸的眼睛》获陈伯吹儿童文学奖,《蛤蟆的明信片》获冰心儿童文学新作奖,《长颈鹿拉拉》获全国优秀图书奖;《好天气与坏天气》《大象的耳朵》入选小学语文二年级教材。一个个取材于现实生活的故事,经过奇妙的想象,幻化成美丽的童话,让小朋友们在愉快的阅读中获得“真”“善”“美”的人生体验。
  • 太上洞玄灵宝智慧罪根上品大戒经

    太上洞玄灵宝智慧罪根上品大戒经

    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。
  • 营养早餐,美味晚餐

    营养早餐,美味晚餐

    阳光明媚的早晨,提前一会儿起床,给家人做好营养美味的饭菜,一家人一起吃完早餐,上学的上学,上班的上班,美好的一天就有了一个美好的开始。忙碌了一天,晚上回到家中,一家人高高兴兴吃着可口的饭菜,聊聊高兴的事情,给这一天画个完美的句号。本书为你介绍了诸多黄金早餐和温馨晚餐的多种做法,让您和您的家人享受完美人生。
  • 初寒之下蔷薇开

    初寒之下蔷薇开

    何为江湖?爱、恨、情、仇?她乃江湖人人厌恶的妖女,却爱着正派侠士。他身为她的手下,唯命是从,全心全意只想护她一世周全。