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ORIGINAL MAKERS OF ARTISTIC WALL-PAPERS />«! frovn A-rSfnlc. 13" SPECIAL TERMS FOB ./.V.XL Sole Address: Note Trade Mark, no, Eigii Street (near Ranch ester Squared London. W". THE REVOLT OF MAN NOVELS BY SIR WALTER BESANT AND JAMES RICE Crown 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d. each; post 8vo., 3r. each; cloth limp, 2f. 6d. each. READY-MONEY MORTIBOY. MY LITTLE GIRL. WITH HARP AND CROWN. THIS SON OF VULCAN. THE GOLDEN BUTTERFLY. THE MONKS OF THELEMA. BY CELIA'S ARBOUR. THE CHAPLAIN OF THE FLEET THE SEAMY SIDE. THE CASE OF MR. LUCRAFT, &c. 'TWAS IN TRAFALGAR'S BAY, &c THE TEN YEARS' TENANT, &c. %• Also a LIBRARY EDITION of the above Twelve Volumes, set in new type, large crown 8vo., cloth extra, 6s. each ; and POPULAR EDITIONS of THE GOLDEN BUTTERFLY and ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS Ol MEN, medium 8vo. 6d. ; cloth, ir. each. NOVELS BY SIR WALTER BESANT. Crown 8vo. cloth, 31. 6d. each; post 8vo., as. each; cloth limp, as. 6d. each. ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN. Withi2 Illustrations by Barnard. 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A FOUNTAIN SEALED. With Frontispiece. Crown 8vo. cloth, 6r. FIFTY YEARS AGO. With 144 Plates and Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, sr. THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. With Portrait. Crown 8vo., 6s LONDON. With 125 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. cloth extra, 7r. 6d. WESTMINSTER. With 130 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. cloth, js. 6d. SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON. With Frontispiece. Crown 8vo. linen, 3f. 6d. GASPARD DE COLIGNY. With a Portrait. Crown 8vo. art linen, 3J. 6d. THE CHARM, and other Drawing-room Plays. By Walter Bbsant and Walter Pollock. With 50 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. cloth gilt, 6s. London: CHATTO & WINDUS, III St. Martin's Lane, W.C. THE Revolt of Man BY WALTER BESANT AUTHOR OF 1 ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN* ' THE MASTER CRAFTSMAN' ETC. A NEW EDITION LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1898 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON PREFACE It is now fourteen years since this book appeared anonymously. At first the story stood cold and shivering, disregarded by the world. Six weeks, however, after its production a highly appreciative review in one of the most important journals caused people to inquire after it. Since then it has gone through many editions: it has, in fact, remained alive for fourteen years. In these days, when the life of a book seldom extends beyond the first year, and some books which obtain a great run in that first year are practically dead in the second, it is gratifying to an author to find that a book, published in the autumn of 1882, has been continually in demand for fourteen years, and is now about to enter upon a new edition. I am also gratified to find that it will now form part of my collected novels, and that, with this object, it has passed into the hands of Messrs. Chatto and Windus. I say this, of course, without the least feeling as regards its former publishers, vi PREFACE. Messrs. Blackwood and Sons, who, I am sure, have done all along what could be done for it; but only because it is best for a writer that, if possible, all his books should be in the same hands. Every one who has written stories knows the unaccountable difference there is between the ease and delight of writing some and the difficulties and troubles which attend the writing of others. The ' Revolt of Man ' was written during a certain summer holiday; day by day chapter by chapter was read out, as it was finished, to two ladies. It is needless to say that their comments on the pro¬ gress of events were often most valuable. Above all I may now acknowledge their advice as to the conclusion of the story. At first it ended in a real battle. (Let the " Revolt of Man " be blood¬ less,' said my advisers. It is bloodless. The advice was excellent, and I followed it; and now, after fourteen years, I take this opportunity of thanking them. W. B. United University Club : December 1896. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I. IN PARK LANE, ...... 1 II. THE EARL OF CHESTER, ..... 33 III. THE CHANCELLOR, ...... 56 IV. THE GREAT DUCHESS, . . . . .77 V. IN THE SEASON, ...... 97 VI. WOMAN'S ENGLAND, . . . . . .121 VII. ON THE TRUMPINGTON ROAD, . . . .162 VIII. THE BISHOP, . . . . . . .186 IX. THE GREAT CONSPIRACY, . . . . .207 X. THE FIRST SPARK, ...... 222 XI. A MARRIAGE MARRED, ..... 250 XII. IN THE CAMP AT CHESTER TOWERS, . . .268 XIII. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE, . . „ 304 XIV. THE A KM V OF AVENGERS, ..... 323 CONCLUS'ON, . . . . . o • 342 THE REVOLT OF MAN. CHAPTEE I. in park lane. Breakfast was laid for two in the smallest room—a jewel of a room—of perhaps the largest house in Park Lane. It was already half-past ten, but as yet there was only one occupant of the room, an elderly lady of striking appearance. Her face, a long oval face, was wrinkled and crow-footed in a thousand lines; her capacious forehead was contracted as if with thought; her white eyebrows were thick and firmly drawn ; her deep-set eyes were curiously keen and bright; her features were strongly marked,—it 2 THE REVOLT OF MAN. was a handsome face which could never, even in early girlhood, have been a pretty face; her abundant hair was of a rich creamy white, the kind of white which in age compensates its owner for the years of her youth when it was inclined to redness; her mouth was full, the lower lip slightly projecting, as is often found with those who speak much and in large rooms; her fingers were restless; her figure was with¬ ered by time. When she laid aside the paper she had been reading, and walked across the room to the open window, you might have noticed how frail and thin she seemed, yet how firmly Bhe walked and stood. This wrinkled face, this frail form, belonged to the foremost intellect of England : the lady was none other than Dorothy Ingleby, Professor of Ancient and Modern History in the Univer¬ sity of Cambridge. It would be difficult, without going into great detail, and telling many anecdotes, to account for her great reputation and the weight of her authority. She had written little; her lectures IN PARK LANE. 3 were certainly not popular with undergraduates, partly because undergraduates will never attend Professors' lectures, and partly because the University would not allow her to lecture at all on the history of the past, and the story of the present was certainly neither interesting nor enlivening. As girls at school, everybody had learned about the Great Transition, and the way in which the Transfer of Power, which marked the last and greatest step of civilisation, had been brought about: the gradual substitution of women for men in the great offices; the spread of the new religion; the abolition of the mon¬ archy ; the introduction of pure theocracy, in which the ideal Perfect Woman took the place of a personal sovereign; the wise measures by which man's rough and rude strength was dis¬ ciplined into obedience,—all these things were mere commonplaces of education. Even men, who learned little enough, were taught that in the old days strength was regarded more than mind, while the father actually ruled in the 4 the revolt of man. place which should have been occupied by the mother; these things belonged to constitutional history—nobody cared much about them; while, on the other hand, they would have liked to know—the more curious among them—what was the kind of world which existed before the development of culture gave the reins to the higher sex; and it was well known that the only person at all capable of presenting a faith¬ ful restoration of the old world was Professor Ingleby. Again, there was a mystery about her: al¬ though in holy orders, she had always refused to preach ; it was whispered that she was not ortho¬ dox. She had been twice called upon to sign the hundred and forty-four Articles, a request with which, on both occasions, she cheerfully complied, to the discomfiture of her enemies. Yet her silence in matters of religion provoked curiosity and surmise—a grave woman, a woman with all the learning of the University Library in her head, a woman who, alone among women, held her tongue, and who, when she did speak, spoke IN PAUK LANE. 5 slowly, and weighed her words, and seemed to have written out her conversation beforehand, so pointed and polished it was. In religion and politics, however, the Professor generally main¬ tained silence absolute. Now, if a woman is always silent on those subjects upon which other women talk oftenest and feel most deeply, it is not wonderful if she becomes suspected of heter¬ odoxy. It was known positively, and she had publicly declared, that she wished the introduc¬ tion—she once said, mysteriously, the return— of a more exact and scientific training than could be gained from the political, social, and moral economy which formed the sole studies of Cam¬ bridge. Now, the Heads of Houses, the other professors, the college lecturers, and the fellows, all held the orthodox doctrine that there is no other learning requisite or desirable than that con¬ tained in the aforesaid subjects. For these, they maintained, embrace all the branches of study which are concerned with the conduct of life. The Professor threw aside the ' Gazette.' 6 THE REVOLT OF MAN. which contained as full a statement as was per¬ mitted of last night's debate, with an angry gesture, and walked to the open window. " Another defeat! " she murmured. " Poor Constance! This time, I suppose, they must resign. These continual changes of Ministry bring contempt as well as disaster upon the country. Six months ago, all the Talents! Three months ago, all the Beauties! Now, all the First-classes! And what a mess—what a mess —they make between them ! Why do they not come to me and make me lecture on ancient history, and learn how affairs were conducted a hundred years ago, when man was in his own place, and" — here she laughed and looked around her with a certain suspicion — " and voman was in hers?" Then she turned her eyes out to the park below her. It was a most charming morning in June; the trees were at their freshest and their most beautiful; the flowers were at their bright¬ est, with great masses of rhododendron, purple lilac, and the golden rain of the laburnum. IN PARK LANE. 7 The Row was well filled: young men were there, riding bravely and gallantly with their sisters, their mothers, or their wives; girls and ladies were taking their morning canter before the official day began; and along the gravel- walks girls were hastening quickly to their offices or their lecture-rooms; older ladies sat in the shade, talking politics; idlers of both sexes were strolling and sitting, watching the horses or talking to each other. " Youth and hope !" murmured the Professor. " Every lad hopes for a young wife; every girl trusts that success will come to her while she is still young enough to be loved. Age looks on with her young husband at her side, and prides herself in having no illusions left. Poor crea¬ tures ! You destroyed love—love the consoler, love the leveller—when you, who were born to receive, undertook to give. Blind ! blind!" She turned from the window and began to examine the pictures hanging on the walls. These consisted entirely of small portraits copied from larger pictures. They were ar- 8 THE REVOLT OF MAN. ranged in chronological order, and were in fact family portraits. The older pictures were mostly the heads of men, taken in the fall of life, grey - bearded, with strong, steadfast eyes, and the look of authority. Among them were portraits of ladies, chiefly taken in the first fresh bloom of youth. "They knew," said the Professor, "how to paint a face in those days." Among the modern pictures a very remark¬ able change was apparent. The men were painted in early manhood, the women at a more mature age; the style was altered for the worse, a gaudy conventional mannerism prevailed; there was weakness in the drawing and a blind following in the colour: as for the details, they were in some cases neglected al¬ together, and in others elaborated so as to swamp and destroy the subject of the pic¬ ture. The faces of the men were remarkable for a self-conscious beauty of the lower type: there was little intellectual expression; the hair was always curly, and while some showed IN PARK LANE. 9 a bull-like repose of strength, others wore an expression of meek and gentle submissiveness. As for the women, they were represented with all the emblems of authority—tables, thrones, papers, deeds, and pens. " As if," said the Professor, " the peeresses' right divine to rule was in their hearts ! But, in these days, the painter's art is a rule of thumb." There was a small stand full of books, chiefly of a lighter kind, prettily bound and profusely gilt. Some were novels, with such titles as 'The Hero of the Cricket Field,' 'The Long Jump,''The Silver Backet,'and so on. Some were apparently poems, among them being Lady Longspin's ' Vision of the Perfect Knight,' with a frontispiece, showing the Last Lap of the Seven-Mile Bace; Julia Durdle's poems of the 'Young Man's Crown of Glory,' and Aunt Agatha's 'Songs for Girls at School or Col¬ lege.' There were others of a miscellaneous character, such as ' Guide to the Young Poli¬ tician,' being a series of letters to a peeress at 10 THE REVOLT OF MAN. Oxford; 'Meditations in the University Church ' Hymns for Men;' the ' Sacrifice of the Faithful Heart;' 'The Womanhood of Heaven; or, the Light and Hope of Men,' with many others whose title proclaimed the nature of their con¬ tents. The appearance of the books, however, did not seem to show that they were much read. " I should have thought," said the Professor, "that Constance would have turned all this rubbish out of her breakfast-room. After all, though, what could she put in its place here ?" As the clock struck eleven, the door opened, and the young lady whom the Professor spoke of as Constance appeared. She was a girl of twenty, singularly beauti¬ ful ; her face was one of those very rare faces which seem as if nature, after working steadily in one mould for a good many generations, has at last succeeded in perfecting her idea. Most of our faces, somehow, look as if the mould had not quite reached the conception of the sculptor. Unfortunately, while such faces as that of IN PARK LANE. 11 Constance, Countess of Carlyon, are rare, they are seldom reproduced in children. Nature, in fact, smashes her mould when it is quite perfect, and begins again upon another. The hair was of that best and rarest brown, in which there is a touch of gold when the sun shone upon it. Her eyes were of a dark, deep blue; her face was a beautiful and delicate oval; her chin was pointed; her cheek perhaps a little too pale, and rather thin ; and there was a broad edging of black under her eyes, which spoke of fatigue, anxiety, or disappointment. But she smiled when she saw her guest. " Good morning, Professor," she said, kissing the wrinkled cheek. "It was good indeed of you to come. I only heard you were in town last night." " You are well this morning, Constance ?" asked the Professor. " Oh yes ! " replied the girl, wearily. " I am well enough. Let us have breakfast. I have been at work since eight with my secretary. You know that we resign to-day." 12 THE REVOLT OF MAN. "I gathered so much/' said the Professor, " from the rag they call the ' Official Gazette.' They do not report fully, of course, but it is clear that you had an exciting debate, and that you were defeated." The Countess sighed. Then she reddened and clenched her hands. "I cannot bear to think of it," she cried. "We had a disgraceful night. I shall never forget it—or forgive it. It was not a debate at all; it was the exchange of unrestrained insults, rude personalities, humiliating recrimi¬ nation." "Take some breakfast first, my dear," said the Professor, "and then you shall tell me as much as you please." Most of the breakfast was eaten by the Professor herself. Long before she had fin¬ ished, Constance sprang from the table and began to pace the room in uncontrollable agitation. " It is hard—oh I it is very hard—to preserve even common dignity, when such attacks are IN PARK LANE. 13 made. One noble peeress taunted me with my youth. It is two years since I came of age—I am twenty,—but never mind that. Another threw in my teeth my—my—my cousin Ches¬ ter "—she blushed violently; " to think that the British House of Peeresses should have fallen so low! Another charged me with trying to be thought the loveliest woman in London ; can we even listen to such things without shame 1 And the Duchess de la Vieille Koche "—here she laughed bitterly—" actually had the auda¬ city to attack my Political Economy—mine; and I was Senior in the Tripos ! When they were tired of abusing me, they began upon each other. No reporters were present. The Chan¬ cellor, poor lady ! tried in vain to maintain order; the scene—with the whole House, as it seemed, screeching, crying, demanding to be heard, throwing accusations, innuendoes, insinu¬ ations, at each other—made one inclined to ask if this was really the House of Peeresses, the Parliament of Great Britain, the place where one would expect to find the noblest repre- 14 THE REVOLT OP MAN. sentatives in the whole world of culture and of gentlehood." Constance paused, exhausted but not satisfied. She had a good deal more to say; but for the moment she stood by the window, with flashing eyes and trembling lips. " The last mixed Parliament," said the Pro¬ fessor, thoughtfully—"that in which the few men who were members seceded in a body—pre¬ sented similar characteristics. The abuse of the liberty of speech led to the abolition of the Lower House. Absit omen!" " Thank heaven," replied the Countess, " that it was abolished! Since then we have had— at least we have generally had—decorum and dignity of debate." " Until last night, dear Constance, and a few similar last nights. Take care." "They cannot abolish us," said Constance, " because they would have nothing to fall back upon." The Professor coughed drily, and took an¬ other piece of toast. IN PARK LANE. 15 The Countess threw herself into a chair. " At least," she said, " we have changed mol> government for divine right." "Ye—yes." The Professor leaned back in her chair. "James II., in the old time, said much the same thing; yet they abolished him. To be sure, in his days, divine right went through the male line." " Men said so," said the Countess, " to serve their selfish ends. How can any line be con- tinued except through the mother % Absurd !" Then there was silence for a little, the Pro¬ fessor calmly eating an egg, and the Home Secretary playing with her tea-spoon. " We hardly expected success," she continued, after a while; "it was only in the desperate condition of the Party that the Cabinet gave way to my proposal. Yet I did hope that the nature of the Bill would have awakened the sym¬ pathy of a House which has brothers, fathers, nephews, and male relations of all kinds, and does not consist entirely of orphaned only daughters." 16 THE REVOLT OF MAN. " That is bitter, Constance," sighed the Pro¬ fessor. " I hope you did not begin by saying so." "No, I did not. I explained that we were about to ask for a Commission into the general condition of the men of this country. I set forth, in mild and conciliating language, a few of my facts. You know them all; I learned them from you. I showed that the whole of the educational endowments of this country have been seized upon for the advantage of women. I suggested that a small proportion might be diverted for the assistance of men. Married men with property, I showed, have no protection from the prodigality of their wives. I pointed out that the law of evidence, as regards violence towards wives, presses heavily on the man. I showed that single men's wages are barely sufficient to purchase necessary clothing. I complained of the long hours during which men have to toil in solitude or in silence, of the many cases in which they have to do housework and attend to the babies, as well as do their long day's work. And I IN PARK LANE. 17 ventured to hint at the onerous nature of the Married Mothers' Tax—that five per cent on all men's earnings." "My dear Constance," interrupted the Pro¬ fessor, " was it judicious to show your whole hand at once % Surely step by step would have been safer." " Perhaps. I ventured next to call the serious attention of the House to the grave discontent among the younger women of the middle classes, who, by reason of the crowded state of the pro¬ fessions, are unable to think of marriage, as a rule, before forty, and often have to wait later. This was received with cold disapprobation: the House is always touchy on the subject of marriage. But when I went on to hint that there was danger to the State in the reluctance with which the young men entered the mar¬ ried state under these conditions, there was such a clamour that I sat down." The Professor nodded. " Just what one would have expected. Talk the conventional commonplace, and the House 13 THE REVOLT OF MAN. will listen; tell tlie truth, and the House will rise with one consent and shriek you down. Poor child! what did you expect ?" " A dozen rose together. Lady Cloistertown caught the Chancellor's eye. I suppose you know her extraordinary command of common¬ places. She asked whether the House was pre¬ pared to place man on an equality with woman; she supposed we should like to see him sitting with ourselves, voting with the rudeness of his intellect, even speaking with the bluntness of the masculine manner. And then she burst into a scream. ' Irreligion,' she cried, ' was ram¬ pant ; was this a moment for bringing forward such a motion ? Not only women, but even men, had begun to doubt the Perfect Woman; the rule of the higher intellect was threatened; the new civilisation was tottering; we might even expect an attempt to bring about a return of the reign of brute force ' Heavens ! and that was only a beginning. Then followed the weary platitudes that we know so well. Can no one place truth before us in words of freshness?" IN PAJEtK LANE. 19 " If you insist upon every kind of truth being naked," said the Professor, " you ought not to grumble if her limbs sometimes look unlovely." " Then let us for a while agree to accept truth in silence." " I would we could 1" echoed the elder lady. " I know the weariness of the commonplace. When we are every year invaded by gentlemen at Commemoration, I have to go through the same dreary performance. The phrases about the higher intellect; the sex which is created to carry on the thought, while the other executes the work of this world; the likeness and yet unlikeness between us due to that beautiful arrangement of nature; the extraordinary suc¬ cess we are making of our power; the loveliness of the new religion, revealed bit by bit, to one woman after another, until we were able to reach unto the conception, the vision, the realisation of the Perfect Woman " " Professor," interrupted Constance, laying her hand on her friend's shoulder, " do not talk so. Strengthen my faith ; do not destroy what 20 THE REVOLT OF MAN. is left of religion by a sneer. Alas ! everything seems falling away; nothing satisfies; there is no support anywhere, nor any hope. I sup¬ pose I am not strong enough for my work; at least I have failed. The whole country is crying out with discontent. The Lancashire women cannot sell their husbands' work. I hear that they are taking to drink. Wife-beating has broken out again in the Potteries. It is reported that secret associations are again beginning to be formed among the men ; and then there are these county magistrates with their unjust sen¬ tences. A man at Leicester has been sentenced to penal servitude for twenty years because his wife says he swore at her and threatened her. I wrote for information; the magistrate says she thought an example was needed. And, in¬ nocent or guilty, the husband is not allowed to cross-examine his wife. Then look at the recent case at Cambridge." " Yes," said the Professor; " that is bad indeed." " The husband—a man of hitherto blameless IN PARK LANE. 21 character,—young, well-born, handsome, good at his trade, and with some pretensions to the higher culture—sentenced to penal servitude for life for striking his wife, one of the senior fellows of Trinity 1" The Professor's eyes flashed. " As you are going out of office to-day, my Lady Home Secretary, and can do no more justice for a while, I will tell you the truth of that case. The wife was tired of her husband. It was a most unhappy match. She wanted to marry another man, so she trumped up the charge; that is the disgraceful truth. No fish¬ wife of Billingsgate could have lied more impu¬ dently. He, in accordance with our, no doubt most just and well-intentioned, laws, becomes a convict for the rest of his days; she marries again. Everybody knows the truth, but no¬ body ventures to state it. She banged her own arm black and blue herself with the poker, and showed it in open court as the effects of his violence. As for her husband, I visited him in prison. He was calm and collected. He says 22 THE REVOLT OF MAN. that he is glad there are no children to lament his disgrace, that prison life is preferable to living any longer with such a woman, and that, on the whole, death is better than life when an innocent man can be so treated in a civilised country." " Poor man 1" groaned Constance. " Stay; I have a few hours yet of power. His name ?" she sprang to her desk. "John Phillips—no; Phillips is the wife's name. I forgot that the sentence itself carries divorce with it. His bachelor name was Coryton." Constance wrote rapidly. "John Coryton. He shall be released. A free pardon from the Home Secretary cannot be appealed against. He is free." She sprang from the table and rang the bell. Her private secretary appeared. " This despatch to be forwarded at once," she said. " Not a moment's delay." " Constance !" The Professor seized her hand. "You will have the thanks of every IN PARK LANE. 23 woman who knows the truth. All those who do not will curse the weakness of the Home Secretary." "I care not," she said. "I have done one just action in my short term of office. I—who looked to do so many good and just actions !" "It is difficult, more difficult than one ever suspects, for a Minister to do good. Alas ! my dear, John Coryton's case is only one of many." "I know," replied Constance, sighing. "Yet what can I do I Our greatest enemies are— ourselves. Oh, Professor ! when I think of the men working at their looms from morning until night, cooking the dinners and looking after the children, while the women sit about the village pump or in their clubs, to talk unmeaning poli¬ tics Tell me, logician, why our theories are all so logical and our practice is so bad %" "Everything," said the Professor, "in our system is rigorously logical and just. If it could not be proved scientifically—if it were not absolutely certain—the system could never 24 THE REVOLT OF MAN. be accepted by the exact intellect of cultivated women. Have not Oxford and Cambridge pro¬ claimed this from a hundred pulpits and in a thousand text-books ? My dear Lady Carlyon, you yourself proved it when you took your degree in the most brilliant essay ever written." The Countess winced. " Must we, then," she asked, " cease to be¬ lieve in logic ?" "Nay," replied Professor Ingleby; "I said not that. But every conclusion depends upon the minor premiss. That, dear Countess, in the case of our system, appears to me a little un¬ certain." " But where is the uncertainty ? Surely you will allow me, my dear Professor,"—Constance smiled,—" although I am only a graduate of two years' standing, to know enough logic to examine a syllogism ?" "Surely, Constance. My dear, I do not pre¬ sume to doubt your reasoning powers. It was only an expression of perplexity. We are so right, and things go so wrong." IN PARK LANE. 25 Both ladies were silent for a few moments, and Constance sighed.