Book: Blackwood\'s Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXIX.

V >> Various >> Blackwood\'s Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXIX.




The Empecinado was passing under the house. A sudden thought struck
Gutierrez. Stamping with his foot, he broke two or three of the tiles on
which he was standing, and snatching up a large heavy fragment, he
leaned over the edge of the roof to get a full view of the Empecinado,
who was at that moment leaving the plaza and entering the Calle de la
Cruz. In five seconds more he would be out of sight. As it was, it was
only by leaning very far forward that Gutierrez could see him, walking
calmly along, and keeping at bay the angry but cowardly mob that yelped
at his heels, like a parcel of village curs pursuing a bloodhound, whose
look alone prevents their too near approach.

Throwing his left arm round a chimney, the old man swung himself
forward, and with all the force that he possessed, hurled the tile at
the object of his hate. The missile struck the Empecinado upon the
temple, and he fell, stunned and bleeding, to the ground.

"_Viva_!" screamed Gutierrez; but a cry of agony followed the shout of
exultation. The chimney by which the old man supported himself was loose
and crumbling, and totally unfit to bear his weight as he hung on by it,
and leaned forward to gloat over his vengeance. It tottered for a
moment, and then fell with a crash into the street. The height was not
great, but the pavement was sharp and uneven; the old man pitched upon
his head, and when lifted up was already a corpse.

When the mob saw the Empecinado fall, they threw themselves upon him
with as much ferocity as they had previously shown cowardice, and beat
and ill-treated him in every possible manner. Not satisfied with that,
they bound him hand and foot, and pushed him through a cellar window,
throwing after him stones, and every thing they could find lying about
the street. At last, wearied by their own brutality, they left him for
dead, and he remained in that state till nightfall, when the corregidor
and the ayuntamiento proceeded to inspect his body, in order to certify
his death, and have him buried. When he was brought out of the cellar,
however, they perceived he still breathed, and sent for a surgeon, and
also for a priest to administer the last sacraments. They then carried
him upon a ladder to the _posito_, or public granary, a strong building,
where they considered he would be in safety, and put him to bed, bathed
in blood and covered with wounds and bruises.

The corregidor, fearing that the news of the riot, and of the death of
the Empecinado, would reach Penafiel, and that the escort which had been
left there, and the many partizans that Diez had in that town, would
come over to Castrillo to avenge his death, persuaded one of the cures
or parish priests of the latter place, to go over to Penafiel in all
haste, and, counterfeiting great alarm, to spread the report that the
French had entered Castrillo, seized the Empecinado, and carried him off
to Aranda. This was accordingly done; and the Empecinado's escort being
made aware of the vicinity of the French and the risk they ran,
immediately mounted their horses and marched to join Mariano Fuentes,
accompanied by upwards of fifty young men, all partizans of the
Empecinado, and eager to revenge him. This matter being arranged, the
corregidor had the jewels that were buried in the cellar of Manuel Diez
dug up, and having taken possession of them, and installed Madame Barbot
with all due attention in one of the principal houses of the town, he
forwarded a report to General Cuesta of all that had occurred. The
general immediately sent an escort to conduct the lady and the treasure
to Ciudad Rodrigo, and ordered that as soon as the Empecinado was in a
state to be moved, he should also be sent under a strong guard to that
city.

Meanwhile, the Empecinado's vigorous constitution triumphed over the
injuries he had received, and he was getting so rapidly better, that for
his safer custody the corregidor thought it necessary to have him
heavily ironed. Deeming it impossible he should escape, and there being
no troops in the village, no sentry was placed over him, so that at
night his friends were able to hold discourse with him through the
grating of one of the windows of the posito. In this manner he contrived
to send a message to his brother Manuel, who, having also got into
trouble on account of Madame Barbot's detention, had been compelled to
take refuge in the mountains of Bilbuena, three leagues from Castrillo.
Manuel took advantage of a dark night to steal into the town in
disguise, and to speak with the Empecinado. He informed him that the
superior of the Bernardine Monastery, in the Sierra de Balbuena, had
been advised that it was the intention of the Empecinado's enemies to
deliver him over to the French, in order that they might shoot him. The
Empecinado replied, that he strongly suspected there was some such plot
in agitation, and desired his brother to seek out Mariano Fuentes, and
order him to march his band into the neighbourhood of Castrillo, and
that on their arrival he would send them word what to do.

Eight days elapsed, and the Empecinado was now completely cured of his
wounds, so that he was in much apprehension lest he should be sent off
to Ciudad Rodrio before the arrival of Fuentes. On the eighth night,
however, his brother came to the window, and informed him that the
partida was in the neighbourhood, and only waited his orders to march
upon Castrillo, rescue him, and revenge the treatment he had received.
This the Empecinado strongly enjoined them not to do, but desired his
brother to come to his prison door at two o'clock the next morning with
a led horse, and that he had the means to set himself at liberty. Manuel
Diez did as he was ordered, wondering, however, in what manner the
Empecinado intended to get out of the posito, which was a solidly
constructed edifice with a massive door and grated windows. But the next
night, when the guerilla heard the horses approaching his prison, he
seized the door by an iron bar that traversed it on the inner side, and,
exerting his prodigious strength, tore it off the hinges as though it
had been of pasteboard. His feet being fastened together by a chain, he
was compelled to sit sideways upon the saddle; but so elated was he to
find himself once more at liberty that he pushed his horse into a
gallop, and with his fetters clanking as he went, dashed through the
streets of Castrillo, to the astonishment and consternation of the
inhabitants, who knew not what devil's dance was going on in their
usually quiet town.

At Olmos, a village a quarter of a league from Castrillo, the fugitives
halted, and roused a smith, who knocked off the Empecinado's irons.
After a short rest at the house of an approved friend they remounted
their horses, and a little after daybreak reached the place where
Fuentes had taken up his bivouac. The Empecinado was received with great
rejoicing, and immediately resumed the command. He passed a review of
his band, and found it consisted of two hundred and twenty men, all well
mounted and armed.

Great was the alarm of the inhabitants of Castrillo when they found the
prison broken open and the prisoner gone; and their terror was increased
a hundred-fold, when a few hours later news was brought that the
Empecinado was marching towards the town at the head of a strong body of
cavalry. Some concealed themselves in cellars and suchlike
hiding-places, others left the town and fled to the neighbouring woods;
but the majority, despairing of escape by human means from the terrible
anger of the Empecinado, shut themselves up in their houses, closed the
doors and windows, and prayed to the Virgin for deliverance from the
impending evil. Never had there been seen in Castrillo such a counting
of rosaries and beating of breasts, such genuflexions, and mumbling of
aves and paters, as upon that morning.

At noon the Empecinado entered the town at the head of his band,
trumpets sounding, and the men firing their pistols and carbines into
the air, in sign of joy at having recovered their leader. Forming up the
partida in the market-place, the Empecinado sent for the corregidor and
other authorities, who presented themselves before him pale and
trembling, and fully believing they had not five minutes to live.

"Fear nothing!" said the Empecinado, observing their terror. "It is
certain I have met foul treatment at your hands; and it was the harder
to bear coming from my own countrymen and townsfolk. But you have been
misled, and will one day repent your conduct. I have forgotten your ill
usage, and only remember the poverty of my native town, and the misery
in which this war has plunged many of its inhabitants."

So saying, he delivered to the alcalde and the parish priests a hundred
ounces of gold for the relief of the poor and support of the hospital,
and ten more to be spent in a _novillada_, or bull-bait and festival for
the whole town. Cutting short their thanks and excuses, he left
Castrillo and marched to the village of Sacramenia, where he quartered
his men, and, accompanied by Mariano Fuentes, went to pay a visit to a
neighbouring monastery. The monks received him with open arms and a
hearty welcome, hailing him as the main prop of the cause of
independence in Old Castile. They sat down to dinner in the refectory;
and the conversation turning upon the state of the country, the
Empecinado expressed his unwillingness to carry on the war in that
province, on account of the little confidence he could place in the
inhabitants, so many of whom had become _afrancesados_; and as a proof
of this, he related all that had occurred to him at Castrillo. Upon
hearing this the abbot, who was a man distinguished for his talents and
patriotism, recommended Diez to lead his band to New Castile, where he
would not have to encounter the persecutions of those who, having known
him poor and insignificant, envied him his good fortune, and sought to
throw obstacles in his path. He offered to get him letters from the
general of the order of San Bernardo to the superiors of the various
monasteries, in order that he might receive such assistance and support
as they could give, and he might chance to require.

"No one is a prophet in his own country," said the good father; "Mahomet
in his native town of Medina met with the same ill-treatment that you,
Martin Diez, have encountered in the place of your birth. Abandon, then,
a province which does not recognize your value, and go where your
reputation has already preceded you, to defend the holy cause of Spain
and of religion."

Struck by the justice of this reasoning, the Empecinado resolved to
change the scene of his operations, and the next morning marched his
squadron in the direction of New Castile.

* * * * *




THE TALE OF A TUB: AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER.

HOW JACK RAN MAD A SECOND TIME.


After Jack and Martin parted company, you may remember that Jack, who
had turned his face northward, got into high favour with the landlord of
the North Farm Estate, who, being mightily edified with his discourses
and sanctimonious demeanour, and not aware of his having been mad
before, or being, perchance, just as mad himself--took him in, made much
of him, gave him a cottage upon his manor to live in, and built him a
tabernacle in which he might hold forth when the spirit moved him. In
process of time, however, it happened that North Farm and the Albion
Estates came into the possession of one proprietor, Esquire Bull, in
whose house Martin had always been retained as domestic chaplain--at
least, ever since that desperate scuffle with Lord Peter and his crew,
when he tried to land some Spanish smugglers on the coast, for the
purpose of carrying off Martin, and establishing himself in Squire
Bull's house in his stead. Squire Bull, who was a man of his word, and
wished to leave all things on North Farm as he found them, Jack and his
tabernacle included, undertook at once to pay him a reasonable salary,
with the free use of his house and tabernacle to him and his heirs for
ever. But knowing that on a previous occasion, (which you may
recollect,[46]) Jack's melancholy had gone so far that he had hanged
himself, though he was cut down just before giving up the ghost, and by
dint of bloodletting and galvanism, had been revived; and also that,
notwithstanding his periodical fits and hallucinations, he could beat
even Peter himself, who had been his instructor, for cunning and
casuistry, he took care that, before Jack was allowed to take possession
under his new lease, every thing should be made square between them. So
he had the terms of their indenture all written out on parchment,
signed, sealed, and delivered before witnesses, and even got a private
Act of Parliament carried through, for the purpose of making every thing
between them more secure. And well it was for the Squire that he
bethought himself of his precaution in time, as you will afterwards
hear.

[46] John Bull, Part IV. ch. ii.

This union of the two entailed properties in the Bull family, brought
Jack and Martin a good deal more into one anothers' company than they
had formerly been; and 'twas clear, that Jack, who had now got somewhat
ashamed of his threadbare raiment, and tired of his spare oatmeal diet,
was mightily struck with the dignified air and comfortable look of
Martin, and grudged him the frequency with which he was invited to
Squire Bull's table. By degrees, he began to conform his own uncouth
manner to an imitation of his. He wore a better coat, which he no longer
rubbed against the wall to take the gloss from off it; he ceased to
interlard all his ordinary speech with texts of Scripture; his snuffle
abated audibly; he gave up his habit of extempore rhapsody, and lost, in
a great measure, his aversion to Christmas tarts and plum-pudding. After
a time, he might even be seen with a fishing-rod over his shoulder; then
he contrived sundry improvements in gun-locks and double-barrels, for
which he took out a patent, and in fact did not entirely escape the
suspicion of being a poacher. He held assemblies in his house, where at
times he allowed a little singing; nay, on one occasion, a son of
his--for he had now a large family--was found accompanying a psalm-tune
upon the (barrel) organ, and it was rumoured about the house, that Jack,
though he thought it prudent to disclaim this overture, had no great
objection to it. Be that as it may, it is certain, that instead of his
old peaked hat and band, Jack latterly took to wearing broad-brimmed
beavers, which he was seen trying to mould into a spout-like shape, much
resembling a shovel. And so far had the transformation gone, that the
Vicar of Fudley, meeting him one evening walking to an assembly arrayed
in a court coat, with this extraordinary hat upon his head, and a pair
of silver buckles in his shoes, pulled off his hat to him at a little
distance, mistaking him for a near relation of Martin, if not for Martin
himself.

There was no great harm you will think in all these whims, and for my
own part, I believe that Jack was never so honest a fellow as he was
during this time, when he was profiting by Martin's example. He kept his
own place, ruling his family in a quiet and orderly way, without
disturbing the peace of his neighbours: and seemed to have forgotten his
old tricks of setting people by the ears, and picking quarrels with
constables and justices of the peace. Howbeit, those who knew him
longest and best, always said that this was too good to last: that with
him these intervals of sobriety and moderation were always the prelude
to a violent access of his peculiar malady, and that by-and-bye he would
break out again, and that there would be the devil to pay, and no pitch
hot.

It so happened that Squire Bull had a good many small village schools on
his Estate of North Farm, to which the former proprietors had always
been in the custom of appointing the ushers themselves; and much to
Jack's annoyance, when Squire Bull succeeded, the latter had taken care
in his bargain with him, to keep the right of appointment to these in
his own hand. But, at the same time, he told Jack fairly, that as he had
no wish to dabble in Latin, Greek, or school learning himself, he left
him at full liberty to say whether those whom he appointed were fit for
the situation or not--so that if they turned out to be ignoramuses,
deboshed fellows, or drunken dogs, Jack had only to say so on good
grounds, and they were forthwith sent adrift. Matters went on for a time
very smoothly on this footing. Nay, it was even said that Jack was
inclined to carry his complaisance rather far, and after a time seldom
troubled himself much about the usher's qualifications, provided his
credentials were all right. He might ask the young fellow, who presented
John's commission, perhaps, what was the first letter of the Greek
alphabet? what was Latin for beef and greens? or where Moses was when
the candle was blown out?--but if the candidate answered these questions
correctly, and if there were no scandal or _fama clamosa_ against him,
as Jack in his peculiar jargon expressed it, he generally shook hands
with him at once, put the key of the schoolhouse in his hand, and told
him civilly to walk up-stairs.

The truth was, however, that in this respect Jack had little reason to
complain; for though the Squire, in the outset, may not have been very
particular as to his choice, and it was said once or twice gave an
ushership to an old exciseman, on account of his skill in mensuration of
fluids, he had latterly become very particular, and would not hear of
settling any body as schoolmaster on North Farm, who did not come to him
with an excellent character, certified by two or three respectable
householders at least. But, strangely enough, it was observed that just
in proportion as the Squire became more considerate, Jack became more
arrogant, pestilent, and troublesome. Now-a-days he was always
discovering some objection to the Squire's appointments: one usher, it
seemed, spoke too low, another too loud, one used an ear-trumpet,
another a pair of grass-green spectacles; one had no sufficient gifts
for flogging; another flogged either too high or too low--(for Jack was
like the deserter, there was no pleasing him as to the mode of
conducting the operation;) and, finally, another was rejected because he
was unacquainted with the vernacular of Ossian--to the great injury and
damage, as was alleged, of two Highland chairmen, who at an advanced
period of life were completing their education in the school in
question. At first Squire Bull, honest gentleman, had given in to these
strange humours on the part of Jack, believing that this new-born zeal
on his part was in the main conscientious, though he could not help
thinking it at times sufficiently whimsical and preposterous. He had
even gone so far, occasionally, as to send Jack a list of those to whom
he proposed giving the usherships, accompanied with a polite note, in
some such terms as these, "Squire Bull presents his respects, and begs
his good friend Jack will read over the enclosed list, and take the
trouble of choosing for himself;" a request with which Jack was always
ready to comply. And, further, as Jack had always a great hankering
after little-goes and penny subscriptions of every kind, and was
eternally trumpeting forth some new nostrum or _scheme_ of this kind, as
he used to call it, the Squire had been prevailed upon to purchase from
him a good many tickets for these schemes from time to time, for which
he always paid in hard cash, though I have never heard that any of them
turned up prizes, except it may have been to Jack himself.

Jack, as we have said, grew bolder as the Squire became more complying,
thinking that, in the matter of these appointments, as he had once got
his hand in, it would be his own fault if he could not contrive to
wriggle in his whole body. It so happened, too, that just about the very
time that one of John's usherships became vacant, one of those
atrabilious and hypochondriac fits came over Jack, with which, as we
have said, he was periodically afflicted, and which, though they
certainly unsettled his brain a little, only served, as in the case of
other lunatics, to render him, during the paroxysm, more cunning,
inventive, and mischievous. After moving about in a moping way for a day
or two--mumbling in corners, and pretending to fall on his knees, in his
old fashion, in the midst of the street, he suddenly got up, flung his
broad-brimmed beaver into the kennel, trampled his wig in the dirt, so
as to expose his large ears as of old, ran home, pulled his rusty black
doublet out of the chest where it had lain for years, squeezing it on as
he best could--for he had got somewhat corpulent in the mean time--and
thus transfigured, he set out to consult the village attorney, with whom
it was observed he remained closeted for several hours, turning over
Burns' Justice, and perusing an office-copy of his indenture with the
Squire--a planetary conjunction from which those who were astrologically
given boded no good.

What passed between these worthies on this occasion--whether the
attorney really persuaded Jack that, if he set about it, he would
undertake to find him a flaw in his contract with Squire Bull, which
would enable him to take the matter of the usherships into his own hand,
and to do as he pleased; or whether Jack--as he seemed afterwards to
admit in private--believed nothing of what the attorney told him, but
was resolved to take advantage of the Squire's good-nature, and to run
all risks as to the result, 'tis hard to say. Certain it was, however,
that Jack posted down at once from the attorney's chamber to the village
school, which happened to be then vacant, and gathering the elder boys
about him, he told them he had reason to believe the Squire was about to
send them another usher, very different from the last, who was a mortal
enemy to marbles, pitch-and-toss, chuck-farthing, ginger-bread, and half
holydays; with a corresponding liking to long tasks and short commons;
that the use of the cane would be regularly taught, along with that of
the globes, accompanied with cuts and other practical demonstrations;
that the only chance of escaping this visitation was to take a bold
line, and show face to the usher at once, since otherwise the chance
was, that at no distant period they might be obliged to do the very
reverse.

Jack further reasoned the matter with the boys learnedly, somewhat in
this fashion--"That as no one could have so strong an interest in the
matter, so no one could be so good a judge of the qualifications of the
schoolmaster as the schoolboy; that the close and intimate relation
between these parties was of the nature of a mutual contract, in the
formation of which both had an equal right to be consulted; so that,
without mutual consent, or, as it were, a harmonious call by the boys,
there could be no valid ushership, but a mere usurpation of the power of
the tawse, and unwarrantable administration of the birchen twig; that,
further, this latter power involved a fundamental feature, in which they
could not but feel they had all a deep interest--and which, he might
say, lay at the bottom of the whole question; that he himself perfectly
remembered that, in former days, the schoolboys had always exercised
this privilege, which he held to be equally salutary and constitutional;
and that he would, at his leisure, show them a private memorandum-book
of his own, in which, though he had hitherto said nothing about it, he
had found an entry to that effect made some thirty years before. In
short, he told them, if they did not wish to be rode over rough-shod,
they must stand up boldly for themselves, and try to get all the schools
in the neighbourhood to join them, if necessary, in a regular
barring-out, or general procession, in which they were to appear with
flags and banners, bearing such inscriptions as the following: "_Pro
aris et focis_"--"Liberty is like the air we breathe," &c. &c., and,
lastly, in large gilt capitals--"_No usher to be intruded into any
school contrary to the will of the scholars in schoolroom assembled_."
And, in short, that this process was to be repeated until they succeeded
in getting quit of Squire Bull's usher, and getting an usher who would
flog them with all the forbearance and reserve with which Sancho
chastised his own flesh while engaged in the process of disenchanting
Dulcinea del Toboso. At the same time, with that cunning which was
natural to him, Jack took care to let the scholars know that _his_ name
was not to be mentioned in the transaction; and that, if they were asked
any questions, they must be prepared to say, nay, to swear, for that
matter, that they objected to John's usher from no personal dislike to
the man himself, and without having received fee or reward, in the shape
of apples, lollypops, gingerbread, barley-sugar, or sweetmeats
whatever--or sixpences, groats, pence, halfpence, or other current coin
of the realm.

Copyright (c) 2007. knowncrafts.net. All rights reserved.