"LI B HAHY 
 
 OF THE 
 U N I VERS ITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 823 
 M2823 
 v./
 

 
 THE 
 
 MAIDEN MONARCH 
 
 OR. 
 
 ISLAND QUEEN.
 
 LONDON : 
 Printed by J. Truscott, Blackfriars Road.
 
 THE 
 
 MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 OR. 
 
 ISLAND QUEEN 
 
 No scandal about Qceev Elizabeth, I hope !" 
 
 The Critic. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 R. HASTINGS, 13, CAREY STREET, LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 1840.
 
 8£3 
 
 v. a 
 
 THESE VOLUMES 
 
 ARE DEDICATED, 
 
 WITH GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION, 
 
 TO A 
 
 KIND AND GENEROUS BROTHER, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 

 
 THE 
 
 MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 OR, 
 
 ISLAND QUEEN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " The spacious west, 
 And all the teeming regions of the south, 
 Hold not a quarry to the curious flight 
 Of knowledge, half so tempting or so fair, 
 As man to man." 
 
 Akenside. 
 
 I am an old man full of years ; my hair is 
 grey, but, unlike our poet's hero, it is grey 
 with years, no untimely sorrow has silvered 
 it, for mine has been— with the exception 
 of one sad event — a tranquil and a happy 
 life. 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 I am unknown to the world, but the 
 world is not unknown to me ; I am alone, 
 but not lonely ; I have travelled and spent 
 most of my long life in another land. Some 
 may think that I should now retire quietly, 
 and not intrude myself at my advanced age 
 upon the public ; but I must beg leave to 
 differ from them, and request their attention, 
 for a short time, whilst I recount my own 
 adventures, and give the outlines of another 
 more interesting and more eventful life ; 
 whilst I attempt to sketch the character of 
 one, whose actions — and the result of whose 
 actions — I have been scrutinizing from my 
 youth. My readers must not expect a book 
 full of love-tales or romances; my intention 
 is to dwell chiefly upon the history of a 
 highly-intellectual virtuous being, the pro- 
 totype of human nature as it should be — a 
 history, which though I but slightly trace, 
 I am not willing to carry down with me in
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 3 
 
 silence to the grave, lest it should haunt 
 me there, and reproach me for having de- 
 frauded my countrymen of that gratification 
 which a biographical sketch of a fine cha- 
 racter never fails to produce, whether the 
 individuals whose portraits are thus taken, 
 and pourtrayed by pen and ink, rather than 
 on canvass, be men or women ; whether 
 holding a low or an exalted station in the 
 world, it matters not, it is alike interesting 
 to track their course as they pursue their 
 way through the many vicissitudes of life, 
 and as, in silent observation, we accom- 
 pany them, and perceive with dismay the 
 many snares which beset them, and the 
 apparently insurmountable difficulties they 
 have to encounter — with what hope, and 
 fear, and anxious expectation, do we follow, 
 until we have traced those who have thus 
 almost become identified with ourselves, to 
 some haven of security. 
 
 b 2 
 
 h
 
 4 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 Human nature is beautiful; and it is 
 because a book is the faithful delineation of 
 the mind as a picture is of the face, that we 
 love to pore over its pages, and there view 
 the lights and shadows which nature sheds 
 around it, but which are so veiled and dis- 
 guised in the present artificial state of 
 society, that in mixing with the world, we 
 but rarely see man in his true character; 
 that strange creature, man, who — though 
 exalted above all others in the creation — is 
 the only one, that, instead of being proud 
 to appear what he really is, is constantly 
 striving to appear what he is not. 
 
 Were this otherwise, were all the motives 
 by which our actions are governed, and all 
 the circumstances attendant on those motives 
 openly displayed, there is not a human being 
 whose heart and mind are so depraved and 
 degraded, but that we could feel some com- 
 miseration for him, and be willing to extend
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 5 
 
 our hand to assist him in his difficulties, 
 and to rescue him from his perils. There 
 are many with whom we have intercourse 
 whose emotions of pleasure and of pain are 
 so intense, that although their lives are not 
 very eventful, they would excite the most 
 lively interest in our bosoms, and whose 
 powers for action are such, that they might 
 become most useful to society, but who are 
 restrained by timidity or false shame from 
 exertion, and their better feelings through 
 life he hidden in the most secret recesses 
 of the heart, like treasures which are deeply 
 embedded in the earth, whilst nothing but a 
 rough and uninteresting exterior is presented 
 to our view. 
 
 But could this state of things be changed, 
 and could we institute in its stead a noble 
 independence of character, an universal con- 
 fidence between man and man — could all our 
 language be the language of the heart, how 
 
 b 3
 
 6 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 beautiful would life then be. With united 
 exertions and united sympathies, we should 
 form but one large family inhabiting the 
 earth, each holding his respective station in 
 life, yet having the welfare of the whole 
 community at heart. 
 
 What a noble, what a magnificent part 
 of the creation is man ; and yet, though 
 endowed with all the capabilities of yielding 
 the richest produce, how much more culti- 
 vation does he require than any thing beside 
 in nature. The toil of the husbandman, 
 when forcing the unfruitful soil to yield 
 him produce, is not to be compared with 
 the arduous and watchful care that is need- 
 ful in the culture of man. What a wilder- 
 ness does he become if left to his own 
 guidance — a trackless wilderness of thorns 
 and briars, with here and there, perchance, 
 a sweet wild flower striving to raise its 
 gentle head of innocence, but which is so
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. / 
 
 surrounded by and entangled with every 
 description of weeds, that it inhales their 
 pernicious perfume, and full soon droops and 
 dies. Yet needful as it is, we see even in 
 the highest civilized countries, this cultiva- 
 tion but partially attended to. Could we 
 ascend an eminence, and look down upon 
 the people of a country as we can upon its 
 soil, we should perceive now and then a 
 verdant spot, which told that it had been 
 nurtured with the tender anxiety and in- 
 dustry of a wise and watchful parent, but 
 all around would be wild, and bleak, and 
 desolate, whilst from the very exuberance 
 of the weeds and wild flowers, we should 
 have sufficient evidence that the soil was 
 not in fault, that it required only the hand 
 of culture and the skilful use of the pruning- 
 hook, to render it a fair and fertile land, 
 from east to west, and from north to south. 
 The truth would break in upon us, that the
 
 8 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 harvest might indeed be plentiful if the 
 labourers were not so few; and serious 
 reflection would convince us, that did the 
 lofty ones of a land — those whose power 
 is great, and whose responsibilities are 
 equally so — extend the hand to commence 
 the mighty work, their bright example would 
 not prove unavailing. But I will commence 
 my narrative without anticipating results.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN- 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Why o'er the globe thus swiftly do we range, 
 
 But to kill time, and sate the love of change." 
 
 T. 
 
 " And welcome to that vessel's wave-worn crew, 
 Yon star-like isle, amidst the boundless blue ; 
 And warm the greeting which its dwellers gave 
 To the far wanderers of the faithless wave, 
 Though mixed with awe and wonder; for that shore 
 The foot of stranger ne'er had trod before." 
 
 Malcolm's " Lost Isle." 
 
 I left this country in early youth, in 
 company with a friend who had a most 
 unbounded love for travelling. My time, 
 as well as an ample fortune, were at my 
 own disposal. I was anxious to while away 
 the three following years of my existence, 
 which appeared to stand between me and 
 happiness (in what way I will show in due
 
 10 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 time), and I readily met his wishes, and 
 consented to accompany him. 
 
 He was an orphan, the only son of 
 wealthy and illustrious parents, who died 
 whilst he was yet a child, leaving him of 
 an impetuous, restless disposition, which not 
 being judiciously controled, grew with his 
 growth, and became but too deeply rooted. 
 But as he advanced toward the school-boy 
 age, he displayed many noble and generous 
 qualities, which rendered him a favourite with 
 most of his companions. The most pro- 
 minent feature in his character was, indefa- 
 tigable perseverance, which, if he had had 
 worthy objects of pursuit, might have tended 
 to make him one of the greatest men of his 
 age, but this not being the case, he wasted 
 his energies upon whatever was presented 
 to him, in an agreeable point of view, alike 
 heedless of difficulties and consequences. 
 At the time of our leaving our native land
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 11 
 
 together, he appeared to travel more from 
 the mere love of the excitement, arising from 
 constant change of scene, than from any 
 desire of exploring other lands, or of scru- 
 tinizing the manners and customs of other 
 nations. 
 
 On we went from country to country, 
 like birds of passage, scarcely checking our 
 rapidity, as we passed on to observe whether 
 the land were fruitful or unfruitful, pic- 
 turesque or unpleasing to the eye. And 
 in this breathless haste it is probable we 
 traversed a more considerable portion of 
 the world, both by land and water, than 
 any other human beings, in the same space 
 of time. In less than two years from our 
 first setting out — not knowing in what other 
 direction to bend our course — we found our- 
 selves bound homewards, though by a cir- 
 cuitous route. 
 
 We had a long voyage in prospect.
 
 12 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 One morning shortly after we had set sail, as 
 we were standing at the stern of the vessel, 
 looking listlessly around, and computing the 
 probable time of reaching the shores of our 
 native land, we observed an island where we 
 thought we should like to land. We ex- 
 pressed this wish to the captain, who, 
 notwithstanding it took him some distance 
 out of his course, was very obliging, and 
 tacked about agreeably to our request. A 
 few hours 5 sail brought us close in-shore, 
 when the tall and stately cliffs, the castled 
 hill, the fine open port, and strongly-fortified 
 town, bespoke a land of no small note. 
 Our swift-sailing vessel rode gaily into the 
 harbour, and Clifford and I stepped buoy- 
 antly ashore. There were groups of people 
 ready to welcome us into their country, and 
 had we been water sprites, they could not 
 have crowded around us with more eager- 
 ness and curiosity, insomuch, that we found
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 13 
 
 it difficult to select a guide from their num- 
 bers to conduct us to an hotel. 
 
 We were greatly surprised to find the 
 language English, and likewise their manners 
 and customs ; and I felt so great a desire to 
 see more of the country, that I prevailed 
 upon Clifford to remain for a time, and to 
 let the vessel sail away without us. 
 
 After a short sojourn, we observed that 
 their forms of government bore strong re- 
 semblance to our own, and, indeed, the 
 similitude to our fair native isle was so 
 striking, that had we been greeted by 
 familiar faces, we should have believed 
 ourselves at home. I have motives for 
 concealing the name given to this rich 
 and flourishing island, and its latitude and 
 longitude. 
 
 I was well pleased to find Clifford dis- 
 posed to tarry awhile, and penetrate further 
 into the country, for I was very curious 
 
 VOL. I. C
 
 14 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 to know something of a people who bore 
 evident traces of British origin. I greatly 
 desired to introduce myself into some of 
 the families, and I begged my friend to 
 accompany me to the capital. Here I saw 
 all that travellers usually seek; I went to 
 their theatres, and every place of amusement 
 I could hear of, their museums and their 
 works of art ; but with this I was not 
 satisfied, I wanted to know the people. I 
 can scarcely tell why, it seemed a species 
 of infatuation, which their resemblance to 
 my countrymen was not sufficient to account 
 for. It would have been an easy thing 
 to make acquaintances, but I was some time 
 about it. My first wish was to meet with 
 an individual who possessed some consi- 
 derable share of natural good sense and 
 information, and who would be a pleasing 
 companion during my stay in this country ; 
 the result of my researches, I think, will tell
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 15 
 
 well for my discrimination of character, by 
 outward appearance. 
 
 It was for this purpose that I joined one 
 of their clubs of the first respectability. 
 
 I frequented it for several days before I 
 entered into conversation with any one, 
 beyond the usual topics of the day. I read 
 their newspapers, listened to much discussion 
 respecting their government, and heard fre- 
 quent allusions to their young queen, who 
 had, I found, but just succeeded her late 
 father, and ascended the throne at the early 
 age of eighteen. 
 
 This young creature seemed to excite so 
 much interest in the minds of all her sub- 
 jects, and so various were the conjectures 
 as to the event of her reign, that I became 
 impatient to see one whose future life and 
 conduct was the constant theme of conver- 
 sation. 
 
 One day, whilst looking over the paper, I 
 c 2
 
 16 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 met with some remarks on one of the prin- 
 cipal picture galleries, which had hitherto 
 escaped my notice. I put aside the paper, 
 and walked out, intending to go and look at 
 the paintings. I had arrived at the end of 
 the street in which the club-house was 
 situated, and just turned the corner, when 
 putting my hand into my pocket, I missed 
 my snuff-box, which being a valuable one, 
 and having been a kind of heir-loom in the 
 family for upwards of a century, I set some 
 store by it. I remembered having had it 
 in the club-room, and hastening back, soon 
 found myself in my old quarters, and began 
 my search, but it was fruitless, until a 
 gentleman on the opposite side of the room, 
 advancing towards me, asked me if it were 
 a snuff-box I was looking after ? On my 
 replying in the affirmative, and describing 
 the box, he produced it, saying, that he had 
 just taken possession of it, and intended
 
 OR, ISLAND QL'EEX. lj 
 
 leaving it with the host till inquired for. 
 This little matter set at rest, we entered 
 into conversation, and I inquired of him 
 whether he could tell me the direct way to 
 the gallery of paintings before alluded to. 
 
 '* With great pleasure," was his reply, 
 {i and if my company be not otherwise than 
 agreeable, I will be your escort. I have not 
 been there myself for some time, and I hear 
 there is a fine portrait of our young queen 
 lately added to it." 
 
 I was pleased with the suavity of his 
 manners, and his society was very acceptable 
 to me. We soon arrived at the place of 
 destination. The principal entrance brought 
 us into the grand room direct; and here, 
 immediately on entering, we had a full view 
 of the chief object of attraction. It was a 
 painting of a young female in royal robes, 
 by one of the first artists. The coup d'oeil 
 filled me with lively interest for the original, 
 
 c 3
 
 18 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 but it required an observant eye to perceive 
 half its beauties. Despite the long interval 
 of time that has elapsed, I still have that 
 lovely face before me. It was no romance 
 of feeling, no enthusiasm of youth that 
 wrought upon me, or the impression had not 
 been so lasting ; indeed, I had little of either 
 in my nature, nor was it so much the 
 beauty of the features that thus attracted 
 me, though these were cast in a fine mould. 
 It was the beaming intellect of those eyes, 
 the benignant smile, the conscious dignity, 
 mingled with every indication of benevolence 
 and gentleness, that filled me with venera- 
 tion. The very attitude, if I may be allowed 
 so to express myself, displayed an enlight- 
 ened mind. I was entranced. I could 
 find no words to address to my companion. 
 I stood lost in silent admiration. 
 
 At length he evinced, or at least so I 
 thought, that he was looking on with the
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 19 
 
 eye of a more careless observer, by saying, 
 " Well, do you think it pretty ?" 
 
 " No," I exclaimed, with some warmth, 
 u it is neither pretty, nor beautiful; it is 
 heavenly." 
 
 He smiled, and was well pleased with 
 my intense admiration of their popular 
 queen. 
 
 T inquired who had had the training of 
 this intelligent creature ; he replied, " An 
 excellent mother/' 
 
 We now walked on; there were many 
 fine paintings in different parts of the gal- 
 lery, but none could obliterate my first 
 impression. When we had taken a survey 
 of the whole, 1 begged my new companion 
 would return with me to my hotel, and on 
 our way I expressed a wish to see the original 
 of that painting on which my attention had 
 been so rivetted. He told me that the court 
 was not now resident in the metropolis, but
 
 20 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 that if I liked to take the trouble of going to 
 
 the palace at , a few miles from the city, 
 
 he would give me a letter of introduction 
 to an officer in the royal household, who 
 could procure me an opportunity of seeing 
 the queen. This offer I readily accepted, 
 and thanked him heartily. 
 
 We had now arrived at the hotel, where 
 we met my old travelling companion, Clifford, 
 just returned from a long ride, which it was 
 his daily custom to take, first in one direc- 
 tion, then in another, not liking my quiet 
 mode of life, as he called it. I introduced 
 my new friend, Lord WicklifFe, to him. 
 Clifford made a polite bow, but seemed 
 little disposed for conversation : this sur- 
 prised me, he was generally a good com- 
 panion, and fond of the society of strangers. 
 
 " You are not well," I observed to him. 
 
 " Yes, I am," was his reply, " but I tell 
 you what, Ravensbourne, I shall stay here
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 21 
 
 no longer ; a ship will be ready to sail in 
 three or four days, and I shall go" 
 
 " Well," I replied, « I shall be ready for 
 you, but in the mean time you must make 
 an excursion with me ; I want to have a peep 
 at the young queen before I sail. To-morrow 
 we must drive down to the neighbourhood 
 of the palace, and Lord Wickliffe will oblige 
 us with an introduction to one of the lords in 
 waiting, who can procure us a good view 
 of her majesty, when she comes out to take 
 her morning airing in the park/ 5 
 
 « With all my heart," said Clifford. 
 
 " And I will accompany you instead of 
 writing/' said Lord Wickcliffe. 
 
 We now entered into easy and familiar 
 chat. I asked Wickcliffe, in what state 
 society was, generally speaking. 
 
 " Literature and science/ 5 he replied, 
 " are making rapid strides amongst us, but, 
 as to morals, integrity, and good faith/' and
 
 22 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 here he shrugged his shoulders, " they are 
 at a very low ebb, I assure you." 
 
 The next morning found us on our way to 
 
 . The road was pleasant, and in some 
 
 parts picturesque and beautiful. We arrived 
 
 at about mid-day, and after taking some 
 
 refreshment, we repaired to the palace. The 
 officer of the household to whom WickclifFe 
 introduced us, was a gentlemanly man, and 
 paid us every attention in his power, but in 
 consequence of the queen and her court now 
 occupying the palace, he was unable to show 
 us the private apartments. To me this was 
 of little consequence ; for I was full of the 
 expectation of seeing her majesty, and 
 waited rather impatiently for her usual time 
 of taking her ride. 
 
 At length the preparations commenced ; 
 and, presently, to my great delight, I saw 
 a pony phaeton drive round to the grand 
 entrance.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 23 
 
 We now stationed ourselves as near or 
 perhaps nearer than etiquette would allow, 
 for Lord Harman, WickclifFe's friend, had 
 previously said the queen was very indulgent 
 to strangers, and never showed any displea- 
 sure at their natural curiosity. We waited 
 three quarters of an hour longer in eager 
 suspense, when we observed a page come 
 forward and speak a few words to the driver 
 of the ponies ; I now concluded that her 
 majesty would soon make her appearance, 
 but to my great mortification, we were shortly 
 told that the queen had sent word that she 
 should not ride to-day. I was much disap- 
 pointed ; however, we spent the day very 
 pleasantly, strolling about the park and the 
 pleasure grounds. Lord Harman entertained 
 us very sumptuously in the palace, with every 
 delicacy of the season, and excellent wines, 
 and the time passed away quickly. 
 
 It was the height of summer, the weather
 
 24 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 fine, the air salubrious, and filled with the 
 fragrance of sweet flowers ; we were in no 
 haste to quit the fairy land in which we 
 were, but loitered about the grounds long 
 after sun- set, and then had the gratification 
 of looking upon this enchanting scene in 
 its more subdued, yet, more sublime beauty, 
 when lighted by the gentle rays of a soft 
 summer's moon. 
 
 Moonlight scenes, and more particularly 
 moonlight scenes of youth, make a very 
 lasting impression on the memory, and cling 
 to it like the soft sweet tones of music, or of 
 verse. And even now, though half a century 
 hath rolled between, methinks I have the 
 remembrance of that night as vividly as 
 though it were but yesternight, with its bright 
 moon and lovely scenery, and the long train 
 of thoughts and feelings that then exercised 
 dominion over me. 
 
 When the evening was pretty far advanced,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 25 
 
 it so chanced that I wandered from my 
 friends, rapt in a reverie, in which the past, 
 the present, and the future, had their share. 
 Unheedful of the paths I took, and of the 
 distance I had strayed from my companions, 
 I know not how far I should have gone, 
 or when I should have awakened to the 
 realities of life, but for the long sonorous 
 sound sent from the palace clock, as it tolled 
 the hour of midnight. 
 
 This roused me, I began rapidly to retrace 
 my steps. In half an hour's time I again 
 found myself in the vicinity of the palace, 
 and looked about eagerly in every direction 
 for my friends, but could see nothing of 
 them. All was still — the palace itself was 
 closed, and bearing every appearance of its 
 inmates having retired to rest. I made my 
 way to the gates by which we had entered 
 in the morning, but these were fast locked ; 
 it was in vain I looked around me for some 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 26 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 one to help me in my dilemma, I could see 
 no one and hear no one, save the sentinels 
 without the gates,, as with heavy tread they 
 walked their nightly rounds. 
 
 I now thought that, as my only resource, 
 I must halloo to them, but on reflecting 
 for a moment, I imagined that perhaps this 
 step might not be a very prudent one, they 
 would in all probability regard me with sus- 
 picion, and give but little credence to my 
 tale; I sought a more shadowy spot, where 
 the moon's rays would not fall full upon 
 me, lest by any chance I should attract 
 observation, for I felt my situation extremely 
 awkward, being a stranger and alone. I 
 could not devise any plan to extricate myself 
 from my difficulty, but glad enough I should 
 have been to get out of the precincts of 
 royalty; however, I was resolved to make the 
 best of my situation, and pass the night as 
 comfortably as these untoward circumstances
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 27 
 
 would permit. I betook myself to an elegant 
 little pavilion immediately facing a fine terrace 
 walk, which was highly cultivated, and which 
 formed a kind of flowery balcony to the state 
 sleeping apartments of the palace, and here 
 I threw myself down on the velvet couch to 
 rest my limbs, which now began to be some- 
 what weary. 
 
 I had but just lain down when I heard a 
 slight noise like the opening of a door or 
 window. I sprung forward, and scarcely had 
 I gained the entrance, when I observed a 
 slight female figure elegantly attired, walk 
 out upon the terrace from one of the windows 
 which opened on to it. On first coming out 
 she glanced timidly around, as if anxious to 
 assure herself that all was perfect solitude. 
 
 d 2
 
 28 THE MAIDEN MONARCH : 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 " Lady, that in the prime of earliest youth, 
 Wisely hast shunned the broad way and the green ; 
 And with those few art eminently seen, 
 That labour up the hill of heavenly truth." 
 
 Milton. 
 
 " And the imperial vot'ress passed on 
 In maiden meditation, fancy free." 
 
 Shakespkare. 
 
 How deep and profound is the stillness of 
 night when the wind is lulled, and all crea- 
 tion is at rest, save where here and there 
 some solitary one of the human species flies 
 repose to indulge the workings of his pensive 
 or anxious mind, or where the sounds of 
 mirth and revelry disturb nature's almost 
 universal tranquillity ; and such was the soft 
 silence of this beautiful night, that I could
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 29 
 
 hear even the light footsteps of the sylph-like 
 figure before me. I could not see the features ; 
 a mantle, which appeared to have been 
 hastily thrown over the head and shoulders 
 almost entirely concealed the face, but the 
 light elastic step told me that she was very 
 young, whilst her graceful and majestic 
 movements almost led me to imagine that it 
 was the queen herself who was thus romanti- 
 cally presented to my view; but, again, I 
 thought that this was scarcely probable. I 
 could not believe that one so young, and 
 filling so high a station, would be thus medi- 
 tating at the still hour of midnight, and 
 without a single attendant or companion. 
 
 At first I was inclined to go forward and 
 show myself, that this interesting creature 
 might know that she was not alone. 
 
 I felt as though it were almost sacrilege 
 thus secretly to watch her, whilst she 
 evidently believed herself to be unobserved 
 
 d 3
 
 30 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 by any human eye. But again I fell back 
 and concealed myself, as though I were 
 guilty of crime and fearful of detection. 
 It was the fear lest I might greatly alarm 
 her, and place myself needlessly in a situa- 
 tion of great embarrassment that withheld 
 me; and the consciousness, that by thus 
 remaining concealed, I could not injure the 
 being before me one half so much as I 
 possibly might by alarming her with my 
 presence. 
 
 A large tree threw its dense shadow upon 
 the front of the Pavilion, so that I could, 
 though at so short a distance, stand perfectly 
 secure from observation, and look upon the 
 object who now engrossed the whole of my 
 attention. 
 
 I kept very silent. I believe I scarcely 
 breathed, whilst I watched her as she paced 
 to and fro, apparently rapt in meditation, 
 now gazing on the magnificent arch of the
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 31 
 
 heavens, and now on the lovely scenery 
 beneath her. 
 
 At length she stood perfectly still; her 
 face turned towards me, the mantle fell from 
 her, the bright moon shone full upon that 
 face and form, and displayed to me, in all 
 their intense loveliness, the self-same features 
 as those of the picture in the gallery, that 
 had so attracted my attention and excited 
 my curiosity. 
 
 It was with the utmost difficulty that I 
 restrained myself, and suppressed the ex- 
 clamation of enthusiastic delight that almost 
 burst from me, whilst this spiritual creature 
 stood, with her arms crossed upon her breast, 
 so absorbed in contemplation, that she was 
 totally unconscious, or at least unheedful, 
 of her mantle having fallen from her, and 
 that she was exposed to the night air. Thus 
 she stood, gazing intently on the bright 
 moon, until her thoughts and feelings, full
 
 32 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 to overflowing, she began to give vent to 
 them in language, and made me a sharer 
 and sympathizer in them. The tone of voice 
 was low, but every syllable was so clearly 
 articulated, that not one word escaped my 
 ear or ever escaped my memory. They sank 
 into my very soul — the impression made 
 was indelible — and I was ready to doubt 
 whether I were indeed listening to a mere 
 mortal, whilst she gave utterance to the 
 following words : — 
 
 u My people have placed a sceptre in 
 my hand, a crown upon my brow. Should 
 they not strengthen me to sway the one with 
 wisdom, and aid me in the care that the 
 brow which supports the other may be 
 undisguised as the fair face of heaven ; and 
 whilst neither bedecked by folly, clouded by 
 remorse, or disfigured by the demons of 
 ambition, or pride, or avarice, it may be ever 
 beaming with the bright and beautiful con-
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 33 
 
 sciousness of the daily discharge of the great 
 duties that devolve upon me. Then, indeed, 
 would my heart be cheered by the love 
 which my people displayed for me : now I 
 am only alive to a sense of degradation whilst 
 I feel they make me their puppet show. I 
 like not their adulation, it makes my heart 
 melancholy. I have shown no qualities for 
 which they should either love or admire me ; 
 they know me not ; they have had no oppor- 
 tunity of judging of my character, yet do 
 they worship me as though I were a super- 
 natural being, and I fear me, they will expect 
 me to act as such. They are not wise in 
 being thus lavish in bestowing their adoration 
 upon one who is but a child in years amongst 
 them ; they seem not to have taken into 
 consideration that they may thus fill up my 
 unformed mind with foolish vanity, and a 
 false estimate of myself. The exuberance 
 of their joy makes me sad, and as their shouts
 
 34 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 of applause assail my ears, the ungovernable 
 tear will glisten in my eye, and almost chase 
 away the smile that I would bestow upon 
 them, whilst the faint whisper is on my lips, 
 6 Lord, what am I that I should receive 
 this homage !' 
 
 " I like not even the ceremonies attendant 
 on my station. This is truly my sweetest 
 hour of recreation, when I lay aside all the 
 pomp and pageantry of earthly grandeur 
 which awaits me at all other times and 
 seasons, and come to hold converse with 
 my Creator, and to look upon his wonderful 
 works ! 
 
 " Almighty Father! this Thy splendid 
 palace is more congenial to me than mine 
 own gorgeous one ; here can I breathe freely, 
 here can I pour out my whole soul to Thee, 
 and here can I know and feel that Thou 
 nearest me. Look down, I beseech Thee, 
 upon Thy poor orphan child who hath no
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN, 35 
 
 arm but Thine to rest upon. Placed on the 
 summit of a fearful height, to none but Thee 
 can I look for help ; but Thou wilt support 
 me and lead me through the perilous path 
 that I must tread. Thou understandest, 
 Thou knowest that T am but one of Thy frail 
 children, and more in need of Thy tender 
 care and guidance than the meanest thing 
 Thou hast created. And why should not 
 man thus regard me ? why does he expect 
 me to be more than an erring child of 
 nature ? With Thee, my God, I here enter 
 into a covenant, and help Thou me to keep 
 it — That I will not be elated with the 
 incense of man's praise, — that I will not be 
 entangled by his snares, — that I will not 
 pamper his ambition or listen to his intrigues, 
 — that I will not oppress the poor whose 
 claims are great upon me, but will nourish 
 and protect them, that I may indeed deserve 
 the title of mother of my people, and obtain a
 
 36 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 blessing from Thee, which would be more 
 precious to me than a crown of gold. I 
 cannot fathom the depths of mam. I dare 
 not place implicit trust in him; but in the 
 still hour of night I will commune with Thee, 
 O Lord, and do Thou instil wisdom into 
 me. Make me Thy trusty servant, and a 
 useful monarch to the people over whom 
 Thou hast given me dominion." 
 
 The voice now ceased ; the queen resumed 
 her mantle, and after walking up and down 
 the terrace thoughtfully for a short time, 
 re-entered the palace by the same window 
 from which she had made her appearance. 
 
 Again was I left alone, and to my own 
 reflections. I remained for some time gazing 
 intently on the spot where the queen had 
 been standing, unwilling to believe that the 
 fair vision had passed away. 
 
 My curiosity and desire to see this exalted 
 being had been great; but now that I had
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 37 
 
 seen her, and had heard her communing with 
 her own heart, the interest which she had 
 created in my bosom was beyond all expres- 
 sion, and I felt that I could be content to live 
 a whole life of inaction, so that I could but 
 trace the progress of events under her con- 
 troul, and watch the result of so virtuous a 
 creature being placed at the head of so fine a 
 kingdom. And thus I mused, until wearied 
 with my own imaginations, I threw myself 
 down again upon the couch, and soon sank 
 into a sound slumber. When I awaked, the 
 sun was high in the heavens. On first 
 opening my eyes, it was with some diffi- 
 culty that I could call to mind where I 
 was. When I did so, I hastily arose, be- 
 thinking myself that it would not be very 
 judicious to be found lying here at my ease 
 by any stranger. The freshness of the 
 morning had brought me a very keen appe- 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 38 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 tite ; and, notwithstanding the beauty of 
 every surrounding object, nature would be 
 heard, and almost persuaded me that the 
 cheerful breakfast-room at the hotel, with 
 table amply spread, would be much more 
 fascinating than any thing I now looked 
 upon, and I gladly made my exit at the 
 postern, when it swung back on its heavy 
 hinges to admit some workmen. I walked 
 on quickly, till I reached the hotel where we 
 had taken up our quarters the previous day, 
 and where I now found Clifford snug in his 
 bed. He started from his sleep on my 
 entering the room, and rubbing his eyes, 
 " Ravensbourne — the devil," he exclaimed 
 — " what, you come back again — I made 
 sure that all that was mortal of you had 
 melted away in the moon-beams last night. 
 Now, by my forefathers, I should like to 
 know where you are come from, before I 
 hold society with you again."
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 39 
 
 " Come, come," said I, u a hungry man 
 cannot enter into long explanations ; get up 
 early for once in your life, and let us call for 
 breakfast, and then I will relate to you my 
 night's adventure : it is as good as a fairy 
 tale — but where is WicklifTe ?" 
 
 " Oh, sleeping soundly, I will give you 
 my word for it; he would not enter into 
 my natural conclusions as to what had be- 
 come of you, but fancied that he had seen 
 you pass out at the park gate with another 
 group, just before we came up to it. We 
 had been chasing and hallooing in every 
 direction after you for some time. On not 
 finding you when we arrived here, he set off 
 in search of you, thinking that you had lost 
 your way. After a fruitless search of more 
 than two hours, he returned, and was obliged 
 to content himself, and, like me, to go to 
 bed, and leave you to your fate." 
 
 e 2
 
 40 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 u I thank you for your mercy," I replied, 
 " but my fate was not a very hard one." 
 
 We were all three shortly seated at a 
 table, bountifully spread, and many a smile 
 went round at my romance of the night.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " things that love night, 
 
 Love not such nights as these ; the wrathful skies, 
 Gallow the very wanderers of the dark, 
 And make them keep their caves : since I was man, 
 Such sheets of fire, such bursts of horrid thunder, 
 Such groans of roaring wind and rain, I never 
 Remember to have heard." 
 
 Kixg Lear. 
 
 Having had a more gratifying view of the 
 queen than I could have hoped for, and 
 ClifTord evincing but little curiosity to see 
 her, we did not again intrude ourselves upon 
 Lord Harman. 
 
 The evening we quitted , Clifford was 
 
 on horseback, and Lord Wickliffe drove me 
 in his chaise, but we had not proceeded far 
 towards the metropolis, when the sky became 
 
 e 3
 
 42 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 overspread with those thick black clouds, 
 that in summer so frequently presage a 
 coming storm ; however, we did not regard 
 them, thinking that they might pass over, 
 or that should a storm ensue, probably, we 
 might reach our destination before it came 
 down with any force ; but heavy and heavier 
 clouds continued rising and piling themselves 
 one upon another over the whole expanse of 
 the heavens, threatening, as it were, that not 
 one spot of refuge should be left for the 
 poor wanderer to flee to, when they should 
 burst in all their terrific grandeur upon his 
 unhappy head. It became, indeed, a fearful 
 night, the moon was wholly obscured, not 
 even the faint glimmer of one twinkling star 
 was left to guide us on our way. 
 
 The country was thickly wooded, and so 
 intersected by different turns and windings 
 in the road, that it was next to impossible 
 either to proceed or to return, with any 
 degree of certainty.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 43 
 
 There was no alternative but to give the 
 reins to our horses and trust to their safe 
 conduct, we did so : the rain now began to 
 fall in large drops, thick and fast ; the 
 thunder rolled its long and hollow peals, 
 and our poor beasts stepped slowly and 
 cautiously along, as if conscious that trust 
 was reposed in them, which they knew not 
 how to fulfil. A vivid stream of lightning 
 for an instant illumined the road. 
 
 st By all that is good," exclaimed Wickliffe, 
 " we are wrong, I know not where we are, 
 but I am sure by the appearance of the 
 country, that we are come a long way out of 
 our right road. 
 
 Clifford now reined up his horse by our 
 side, and we began to debate in fitful sen- 
 tences, what course we had better adopt, but 
 it was impossible to hold much conversa- 
 tion, the wind and rain were driving full in 
 our faces, the nearness of the thunder, as
 
 44 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 with clap after clap it rattled with its heavy 
 and almost incessant crash over our heads, 
 and seemed to threaten our very annihilation, 
 made it difficult for us to hear one word that 
 we addressed to one another. Whilst the 
 streams of lightning flashing in our horses 
 eyes, and playing along the road, made them 
 start and plunge violently, and they required 
 all our attention to quiet and pacify them. 
 We, however, by exchanging a few words, 
 came to the determination that we would 
 go forwards, for, as Clifford observed, we 
 must, in all human probability, shortly come 
 to some dwelling that would afford us shelter 
 till the storm was over, when the inmates 
 would give us proper directions for retracing 
 our steps. 
 
 By the aid of the continued lightning, 
 we could now clearly see that the surrounding 
 country became much more open, and we 
 turned our anxious eyes in even 7 direction
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 45 
 
 in quest of some human habitation, but in 
 vain ; all around was dreary and desolate. 
 On we went till we became utterly hopeless ; 
 the night was now far advanced, and the 
 storm continued with unabated fury. We 
 resolved to turn our horses heads, and trust 
 to the lightning and to WicklifFe, to direct our 
 course towards some road that would bring 
 us nearer the metropolis, from which we 
 found we had long been retreating. We 
 turned off to the right, but scarcely had we 
 gained a quarter of a mile on this road, 
 when on passing a mound which rose above 
 the level of the road on our left hand, three 
 fellows sprung from behind it, who called 
 out to us to halt, and at the same instant 
 seized our horses' bridles. 
 
 " By Jupiter," exclaimed one of the 
 rogues (who had come to the side of the 
 chaise, and in no very civil terms requested 
 us to deliver our monev and watches).
 
 46 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 " these are not the friends we expected after 
 all," 
 
 (t Pshaw, Bill," vociferated the one at 
 the horse's head, " no delay ; all are our 
 friends who venture within a mile of our 
 dominions. 
 
 " Ah, to be sure," replied his comrade ; 
 " come, then, my bravos, tip up, and you 
 shall have your passage clear." 
 
 " I will not," replied Wickliffe. 
 
 " You will not," retorted the ruffian, as 
 he drew a pistol from his breast pocket, and 
 presented it close to WicklifTe's ear, " then 
 take the consequence." 
 
 " Hold, hold, villain !" I exclaimed, seizing 
 at the same time the hand that held the pistol 
 with so firm a grasp, that in vain the fellow 
 strove to liberate himself, " and is this/' I 
 said, " all the regard you show for human 
 life and the laws of the country." 
 
 " You be d — d," was his reply, " with
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 47 
 
 your smooth prating, who says I do not 
 regard human life? if I do not shoot you 
 I may be starved myself, and one life is 
 as good as another/' 
 
 I whispered to Wickliffe, " we are un- 
 armed, we must yield/' 
 
 " Never/' cried Wickliffe. 
 
 " Then here goes," said the fellow, as 
 he wrested his arm from my grasp, and again 
 placed the pistol close to my friend's head. 
 
 I now had no expectation, but that the 
 fellow's threat would be put into execution, 
 for the horse, starting at the lightning, gave 
 a desperate plunge, and levelled the man who 
 held him to the ground, who, springing to his 
 feet, again called out for no delay. The 
 storm, which had been somewhat appeased 
 for a few seconds, again commenced with 
 redoubled force; a peal of thunder more 
 appalling than any we had yet heard, seemed 
 for the moment to strike terror even into the
 
 48 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ', 
 
 villains who beset us, and made the man at 
 Wickliffe's side lower his pistol ; another 
 and another followed in quick succession, 
 and to our utter dismay, the electric fluid 
 struck our horse, and with one heavy groan 
 he fell to the earth. 
 
 There was now no time for consideration 
 — our situation was desperate — we could 
 expect no quarter from these hardened 
 wretches. WicklirTe I found would not yield 
 even to save his life, and I was resolved not 
 to desert him. I seized my opportunity 
 whilst the panic lasted, which the thunder 
 had occasioned, drew my penknife from my 
 waistcoat pocket, sprung upon the man who 
 had presented the pistol^ and clung so closely 
 round his neck, that he had no power to 
 help himself, but by endeavouring to throw 
 me off. This act of mine was a signal for 
 the onset ; the fellow who had held the 
 horse's head now came forward. The alter-
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 49 
 
 nate light and darkness favoured us at this 
 juncture. Wickliffe had instantly followed 
 my example, and jumped out of the chaise 
 to my assistance, and we were all three 
 struggling together. 
 
 " Help, Bob, help," cried the man who 
 was striving against us, " don't fire, but 
 strike one of them on the head with the 
 butt-end of your pistol.'' 
 
 " Stop till he can do it, my friend," cried 
 Wickliffe, who was a strong muscular man, 
 and who now fell upon this fresh assailant 
 with the most resolute determination to over- 
 power him. He succeeded in getting hold 
 of his pistol, and then fired as he thought 
 close to the fellow's face. It was totally dark 
 at that instant, and the wily man, expecting 
 the shot, lowered his head and escaped his 
 doom. Another shot was immediately heard 
 at a short distance. 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 50 THE MAIDEN MONARCH : 
 
 « 
 
 Good God," ejaculated WicklifFe, " that 
 is poor Clifford." 
 
 We were now desperataly engaged, and 
 the report of a pistol in the distance appeared 
 but to increase the fury of both parties. My 
 antagonist was a most powerful man ; but I 
 was struggling for life, and I did struggle 
 very hard to preserve it. I was determined, 
 if possible, to bring my enemy to the ground ; 
 I clung and coiled my legs round him like 
 a snake, and it was in vain he attempted 
 to shake me off. I tried to trip him up, 
 but he was so on his guard that I could not 
 succeed. At length, as if weary with this, 
 and with my weight, he threw himself down 
 and me with him. I had not once allowed 
 him to get his right arm at liberty, but now 
 I was so stunned by the fall, for my head 
 came with great violence against a stone, 
 that I could strive no longer. I gave myself
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN*. 51 
 
 up for lost, and cried out, (( come, do your 
 business quickly." 
 
 The fellow was upon me with his pistol 
 close in my ear. I was unable to offer further 
 resistance, but the villain was either stung 
 by some latent remorse, now that he had 
 me within his power, or he had a mind to 
 tamper with me, that I might taste death in 
 anticipation, and carry with me his horrible 
 imprecations. He felt so sure of his prey 
 that he left my hands at liberty, believing, I 
 suppose, that I had no weapons about me. 
 I availed myself of his incautious delay, 
 contrived to get my penknife open, and thrust 
 it without hesitation into his throat. 
 
 This stroke came so unexpectedly upon 
 him, that I imagine he was not aware that 
 he started, and moved the pistol somewhat 
 from its former position, for he instantly 
 pulled the trigger, but the shot flew off, 
 
 f 2 
 
 S L ' B *ARt
 
 52 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 doing me no further injury than by carrying 
 away a small portion of my hair with it. 
 
 I had fortunately for myself and my friend, 
 at this one stroke pierced him fatally, and 
 the poor wretch felt his life-blood ebbing 
 fast. All he said, was speaking to his com- 
 rade — " Bob, it is all over with me." 
 
 I now threw him off me, and in one 
 instant was at WicklihVs side. I felt my 
 energy return with my success, and cried out, 
 " WicklifFe, here I come to the rescue/' 
 
 I arrived most opportunely, for my poor 
 friend was so exhausted that he could 
 scarcely reply to me, and certainly could not 
 have held out much longer, even had the 
 ruffian only employed fair and open means 
 of gaining the victory ; but the base villain, 
 it seemed, had a cord in his pocket, with a 
 handy noose in it, kept for purposes best 
 known to himself, and this noose, after the 
 loss of his fire-arms, he had contrived to slip
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 53 
 
 over my friend's head, and was just in the act 
 of tightening it when I came up. But now, 
 after proving as they had that we were 
 tolerably tough combatants — one of his 
 companions dead, and himself disarmed, he 
 deemed it useless to struggle longer with 
 two of us ; so, giving the cord a sharp strong 
 twitch, he relinquished his hold, and took to 
 his heels with the speed of lightning. 
 
 I instantly loosened the cord from Wick- 
 lifTe's neck, and panting and exhausted as 
 we both were, we were well pleased to get 
 time to breathe more freely. 
 
 All our anxiety now fell upon the fate 
 of Clifford. Engaged as we had been, we 
 were obliged to leave him to fight it out with 
 the ruffian who had attacked him. We had 
 heard the pistol, as I before mentioned, but 
 had heard nothing since, and we could see 
 nothing of either man or horse. The storm 
 had been abating for the last ten minutes, as 
 
 f 3
 
 54 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 far as we could judge of time, and we were 
 glad to find the clouds breaking away over 
 our heads, and the grey light of the morning 
 just beginning to dawn. 
 
 Our clothes, hands, and faces plastered 
 with mud, and the wet streaming from us, 
 we went in search of Clifford's body, for we 
 had no hope of ever again seeing him alive. 
 We knew that he attempted to put his horse 
 into a gallop when we were first attacked, 
 and had gone some distance forward. In this 
 state we proceeded a considerable way, but 
 we could observe no trace of him, excepting 
 in one spot, where, by the feet-marks, there 
 appeared to have been a scuffle. We could 
 get no further clue to him by the horse's foot- 
 steps, for we had now reached a barren heath, 
 which was covered with short tufts of grass 
 that were proof against any impression of 
 this kind, and reluctant and desponding as 
 we were, we found ourselves compelled to
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 55 
 
 give up the search as fruitless. We tried 
 to cheer ourselves by encouraging the faint 
 hope that he had put spurs to his horse, and 
 had eluded the villain and his shot, and 
 might now be in a place of safety. But, then, 
 the thought occurred, why did not the fellow 
 return to the assistance of his comrades whom 
 he had left with us ? 
 
 The sequel of my tale must account for 
 this.
 
 56 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 If from the raging lion ye escape, 
 
 Take heed ye seek not shelter in his den." 
 
 Smyths. 
 
 We now descried a miserable looking hovel 
 about a hundred paces to the right of us. 
 Such as it was, we gladly made up to it 
 to dry our clothes, and to obtain, if we could, 
 some information that might help us to the 
 nearest town — fools that we were, not taking 
 time to consider whether this might not prove 
 the den of the wretches whom we had but 
 just escaped. We came up to it, tapped at 
 the door, for we saw the glimmer of a light 
 through the crevice in the shutter, when a
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 57 
 
 shrill voice from within, cried out, " Lift the 
 latch, ye fiendish whelps." 
 
 This unceremonious response somewhat 
 startled us, but confident it could only be the 
 voice of an old woman, and concluding from 
 the way in which she addressed us, that she 
 was alone, we would not retreat, for we now 
 bethought ourselves that it might be as safe 
 to take refuge in the lion's den, if indeed such 
 it should prove, as to expose ourselves again 
 in this lone place, unarmed and exhausted as 
 we were, whilst he probably having returned 
 and supplied himself with fresh ammunition, 
 might already be lying in ambush for us. 
 
 Accordingly, we obeyed the directions, 
 raised the latch and entered ; but the inside 
 of this lone dwelling was almost as dreary 
 and uninviting as the scenery without. The 
 glimmering light of a rush-candle, flickered 
 by the wind which entered from all points 
 of the compass, and which threatened every
 
 58 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 instant to extinguish it, threw a dim light 
 around, and presented to our view, three or 
 four almost bottomless chairs, and a deal 
 table ; upon the latter were placed some bread 
 and cheese, and a clasp knife. 
 
 A decrepit old woman sat before the dying 
 embers of a wood fire, with her nose almost 
 upon her knees, and her feet resting upon a 
 broken fender. She did not move on our 
 entering, but when we came nearer to her, 
 she muttered between her teeth, "Well, is 
 your night's work done. 5 ' 
 
 " Not quite, my good woman,' 5 I replied. 
 
 She rose quickly from her seat, replaced 
 the old round spectacles which had slipped 
 from their proper place, and were just 
 hanging on the tip of her nose, and then 
 leered up at us from under an old black thing 
 that had once owned the appellation of bonnet, 
 but which now had more nearly approxi- 
 mated to the shape of the head it covered,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 59 
 
 and which doubtless had been its inmate 
 for half a century. After a keen and imper- 
 tinent scrutiny of our features, she said, 
 " And what's your pleasure, gentlemen, will 
 you be pleased to take a seat ? " and she 
 shuffled across the room to get a chair. " I 
 am but a poor old creature to entertain you, 
 but my brave boys will soon be in, and they 
 will give you better cheer/' 
 
 We thanked her for her seeming hospi- 
 tality, told her we had been overtaken by 
 the storm, and had missed our way, and 
 that we came to beg her to put us in the 
 right road. Shrewdly suspecting what quar- 
 ters we had got into, we were upon our 
 guard, and said nothing of our late en- 
 counter. 
 
 " But how is it your sons are out at 
 this unseasonable hour ? 5 ' said I. 
 
 " Lor bless your heart, sir, we are very 
 poor folks, and the poor boys must be out
 
 60 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 after their game by night or by day, and in 
 this part of the country, the best of the 
 game is out at nights." Wickliffe, looked 
 significantly at me, then knit his brows as 
 if thinking what was best to be done. 
 
 If we ventured out again unarmed, we 
 were in danger of re-encountering the villain 
 whom we had escaped, and perhaps also the 
 one who had been engaged with Clifford, 
 yet, to remain here, was madness, for we 
 knew not in what numbers they might come 
 in upon us. 
 
 I determined to lose no time, but begged 
 the old woman to give us a little water and a 
 cloth to wash with. She was well pleased 
 to wait upon us, and to detain us as her 
 guests, and doubtless blessed our seeming 
 simplicity. Touching my coat with her hag- 
 gard hand, she exclaimed, in as motherly a 
 tone as her harsh cracked voice could 
 assume —
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN*. 61 
 
 " Why, dear hearts, gentlemen, you are 
 wet to the skin — you will catch your death, 
 and you be not pleased to condescend to put 
 on my boys' clothing, whilst I whiff up these 
 embers and dry your own.' 5 She could 
 have proposed nothing better ; we gladly 
 accepted her offer, and she bestirred herself 
 briskly, whilst a grim smile played over her 
 wrinkled face (if I may libel human nature 
 by so terming the withered visage before 
 me), for she was now confident that she had 
 gained her end, and should hold us in safe 
 keeping until her sons' return. 
 
 She replied glibly and willingly to all 
 my close questions about the neighbouring 
 country, and the distance to the next town. 
 She clearly described which road led to it ; 
 but I heard her mutter to herself, whilst 
 searching for some part of the dress we were 
 to put on — "You'll not very easily find 
 your way there." We behaved with the 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 62 THE MAIDEN MONARCH J 
 
 utmost civility to our hostess, who brought 
 forward some very good clothes for us. We 
 apologized for turning her out whilst we 
 changed our garments; but her haggard form 
 was no sooner without the threshold, than 
 we drew the bolt upon her, slipped into our 
 dry clothes with all imaginable speed, then 
 took a close survey of the apartment until 
 our eyes rested upon the objects of their 
 search, as they lay half concealed behind a 
 broken shutter in one corner of the room, 
 and which appeared to have been partially 
 removed for the convenience of those who 
 might need to avail themselves hastily of the 
 stores it was intended to conceal. 
 
 Not a word — not an instant escaped us — 
 we simultaneously crossed the room towards 
 the shutter, — equipped ourselves with a 
 brace of pistols, unbarred the door, and 
 setting the old woman at defiance, who 
 leered at us with astonishment, wished
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 63 
 
 her good morrow, and walked briskly away. 
 We strode along the road which she had 
 described to us, as rapidly as we could, for 
 though now well armed, we had no relish 
 for more bloodshed ; and many a qualm 
 came over me, at the recollection that I 
 had that night taken the life of a fellow 
 creature. I do not mean to say that I 
 repented of my conduct, being conscious 
 that I was justified in it, for the preservation 
 of my own life ; but even now I shudder at 
 the remembrance of the deed. 
 
 We met with no further interruption, and 
 owed this good fortune, as we afterwards 
 learned, to the half hour that we had spent 
 at the hut, with the accommodating old lady, 
 its tenant. 
 
 Our adversary, when he quitted us so 
 abruptly, had fled home, furnished himself 
 with more weapons, and gone again in 
 pursuit of us, on the very road which we 
 
 G 2
 
 64 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 had now taken, but was then too soon for 
 us, and turned off in another direction, 
 concluding that we could not have pro- 
 ceeded far. 
 
 We soon reached the summit of a gently- 
 rising hill, and had the gratification to see 
 before us, at the distance of not more than a 
 mile, the spire of a church, and chimnies 
 peeping out amidst surrounding trees. 
 
 We arrived at the inn, roused the host, 
 took a cup of coffee, and then sought that 
 repose of which weary nature stood so much 
 in need.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 65 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 You never saw, your eyes did never look 
 
 On the bright form of her whom once I loved : — 
 
 Her silver voice was heard upon the earth, 
 
 A sound unknown to youj — " 
 
 The Excursion - . 
 
 T am about to begin another chapter, but I 
 find that I must pause a little to consider 
 the right method of being somewhat concise 
 in tale-telling. I must remember that it is 
 not a series of volumes that I intend to 
 burden my readers with, and that, as I said 
 before, it is not my own history that I wish 
 to offer them; although I find that I must 
 enter upon this more fully than I at first 
 proposed, in order that the events of my 
 
 g 3
 
 66 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 narrative may be clearly understood. I must 
 trust to their kindness to overlook my fault, 
 if I now and then become egotistical or 
 loquacious ; and beg them to bear in mind, 
 that I am an old man, and that, notwith- 
 standing, I may tell many a good story by 
 my own fireside, I am not accustomed to 
 writing. I would have them picture me to 
 their imaginations, in my easy chair, a snug 
 little table on one side, and a cheerful fire 
 on the other, and quite alone ; but with pen, 
 ink, and paper, with which I may talk to all 
 the world, and relate past events that have 
 come under my observation, and which I 
 hope may prove amusing, and perchance, 
 instructive. An old man's reminiscences 
 are very pleasing to himself, and possibly 
 when I have conjured up the past, and 
 clothed it with language, I may enjoy the 
 perusal of it more than any of my readers ; 
 but be this as it may, I will proceed, for I 
 have much to relate.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 67 
 
 Weary as we were after our night's 
 exertions, a few hours rest sufficed, and even 
 that was broken and rendered unfreshing by 
 the dreams that attended it. We arose, 
 took our breakfast, and then made the best 
 of our way to the metropolis, for here we 
 could learn nothing of Clifford; we made 
 every inquiry, described his person, his 
 dress, and his horse, but no such individual 
 had been observed. Still we allowed our- 
 selves to hope that he had escaped death, and 
 that has he had a good horse, we might find 
 him already arrived when we should reach 
 our own hotel ; but that we might lose no 
 chance of gaining tidings of him, we stopped 
 and made inquiries at every village we 
 passed through. At length we arrived in 
 town, and as we turned the corner of the 
 street where stood the house that had been 
 my home for nearly three months, my heart 
 beat high with hope and expectation of
 
 68 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 again meeting my friend. I leapt from the 
 chaise, and in another instant was in our 
 sitting room, but no one was there — every- 
 thing wore the chilling aspect of order — no 
 books or paper upon the table, nor did a 
 single chair stand awry, to tell me that it 
 had lately been vacated. I pulled the bell ; 
 but the only answers I could obtain from 
 the waiter to my inquiries, were, " No, sir. 
 No, sir." 
 
 Wickliffe and I now went immediately 
 to the office where such reports were 
 made, and gave information of all that had 
 transpired the previous night. We described 
 to them the situation of the hut, the stature 
 of the man as nearly as we could, and the 
 figure, dress, and manners of the old woman. 
 Officers were instantly dispatched to the 
 place, and in various other directions, in 
 search of Clifford. They reached the hut 
 but just in time to prevent the escape of the
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 69 
 
 old woman and her son, who had risked the 
 chance of being taken, whilst the latter dug 
 a hole, in which to conceal the body of the 
 man that had fallen, and the former put 
 together a few things which they wished to 
 take with them. As the officers entered 
 their den of crime, they were just in the 
 act of quitting it; the man disguised as a 
 farmer's labourer in a dirty smock frock, the 
 woman in a red cloak, and with a basket on her 
 arm full of tapes, and pins, and needles, for 
 sale. But where was Clifford ? where, too, was 
 the fellow who had assaulted him ? Nothing 
 could be learned ; no information respecting 
 them could be obtained from these crea- 
 tures ; they appeared perfectly ignorant, and 
 the old woman seemed anxious to know 
 what had become of her other son, for as 
 such she owned him. 
 
 Three weeks passed away in fruitless 
 inquiries and unanswered advertisements.
 
 70 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 I was sadly distressed at the loss of my 
 friend; to lose him, too, in this extraordinary 
 way. I felt that I had rather he had died 
 in my arms, that however agonizing it might 
 have been to me at the time, I would rather 
 have witnessed his death, than have endured 
 this uncertainty as to his fate. It depressed 
 my spirits ; it hung about me like a heavy 
 weight, or like a nightmare that I could not 
 shake from me. I no sooner closed my 
 eyes for sleep, than the mangled corpse of 
 Clifford was presented to my view, with all 
 the aggravated horrors which our sleeping 
 thoughts so ingeniously conjure up. 
 
 Lassitude of body, and melancholy of 
 mind, followed this excessive excitement. I 
 had loved Clifford as a brother ; we had been 
 friends from boyhood; with all my school- 
 boy recollections he was intimately connected : 
 and although I now and then observed traits 
 in his disposition which did not exactly meet
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 71 
 
 my views, with regard to right and wrong, 
 our friendship had been uninterrupted, with 
 the exception of the following circumstance, 
 that threatened for a time to set us at 
 variance, and which I will now relate, as it is 
 necessary to the elucidation of subsequent 
 events. 
 
 We were both in the habit of visiting 
 frequently a gentleman of the name of Ailing- 
 ford, whose family consisted of his wife, 
 three sons, and one daughter, whose name 
 was Edith — a name that, even now, I can 
 scarcely write with a steady hand. At the 
 time of which I am speaking, she was just 
 closing her eighteenth year — a gentle, unaf- 
 fected, affectionate girl — with form and 
 features so exquisitely delicate, that she 
 looked almost too fair and fragile a being 
 to be of earthly mould. Her ingenuous 
 countenance spoke the language of her heart; 
 and her soft sweet voice fell like music on
 
 72 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the ear. She was the idol of her family : not 
 one of whom ever looked upon her face, but 
 tenderness and love were beaming in their 
 eyes. With such sentiments, too, it appeared 
 that she had inspired my friend, Clifford ; 
 and he, young, ardent, handsome, and affluent, 
 doubted not that he had, by his assiduous 
 attentions, excited feelings in her breast 
 somewhat warmer than those of friendship. 
 Full of this hope and confidence, he joined 
 her one day as she was strolling thoughtfully 
 down a long avenue of trees, that led from 
 the house into an adjacent park, with a 
 letter half open in her hand, but which she 
 hastily closed on his appearance. 
 
 He offered her his arm, and, without 
 hesitation, poured forth the ardour of his 
 soul ; and as if the idea of a negative to his 
 proposals had never entered his imagination, 
 without waiting her reply, or observing the 
 effect his avowal had had upon her, he
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 73 
 
 attempted to clasp her to his bosom, when 
 his eye fell upon my superscription, which 
 she now no longer endeavoured to conceal 
 from him, but with all her native ingenuous- 
 ness, at once owned a prior engagement 
 with me. 
 
 Clifford quitted her abruptly ; sought me, 
 and in a state of excitement, almost amounting 
 to delirium, accused me of having blighted 
 all his prospects of happiness — of being the 
 destroyer of his peace ; and loaded me with 
 the most opprobrious epithets for concealing 
 from him my attachment to Edith. I bore 
 with him patiently, until he became a little 
 cooler. I then explained to him, that it was 
 only on condition of my observing strict 
 silence on the subject, that her father would 
 give me the least encouragement to hope ; 
 that, at the termination of three years, should 
 we both continue to feel the same degree of 
 affection for each other, he would accede to 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 74 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 my proposals ; during which time, he ex- 
 pressed the wish, that I should see as much 
 of the world as possible, and that Edith 
 should be left to exercise her own judgment 
 freely, and to draw her own comparisons 
 between me and other admirers. 
 
 With this explanation, Clifford owned 
 himself fully satisfied ; expressed his convic- 
 tion that I had not, by my secrecy, violated 
 the bonds of our long-standing friendship ; 
 offered me his hand, and begged that I would 
 think no more of the harsh expressions which 
 he had made use of. From this time, this 
 unfortunate occurrence was never alluded to 
 in our intercourse with one another ; nor had 
 we had, up to the fatal night of our rencontre 
 with the highwaymen, any other disputes, 
 save on trivial subjects, and these almost 
 ended ere they had begun. But from the 
 time of our leaving our native land, there 
 had been a gloom upon his brow that was
 
 OR, ISLAXD QUEEN. *J5 
 
 not natural to it; a moroseness, occasionally, 
 that I could not account for ; and that insa- 
 tiate desire for constant change of scene, that 
 spoke a spirit but ill at ease. These reflec- 
 tions tended to make me the more unhappy 
 at his mysterious disappearance. I brooded 
 on the probability that he had not, perhaps, 
 struggled so hard to preserve his life as he 
 might have done, had his heart been more 
 buoyant with hope for the future ; and, 
 notwithstanding my three years' probation 
 had expired within but just sufficient time 
 for me to return home, and claim the hand 
 of Edith, I resolved to devote one year to 
 investigate the certainty of his death, and to 
 hold myself in readiness to appear as the 
 prosecutor of his murderer. I wrote to Sir 
 Henry Allingford and Edith by the same 
 vessel, begging that the former would now 
 sanction my engagement with his daughter ; 
 and requesting the latter to ask her own 
 
 h 2
 
 76 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 kind heart whether she would have me act 
 otherwise than as I had determined to do ; 
 assuring her at the same time, how earnestly 
 I desired to step on board the vessel that 
 was to bear my letters to the shores of Eng- 
 land, and insure to myself the prize that I 
 trusted awaited me on my arrival at Allingford 
 House.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 77 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " And this place my forefathers made for man ! 
 This is the process of our love and wisdom, 
 To each poor brother who offends against us — 
 Most innocent perhaps— and what if guilty ? 
 Is this the only cure ? Merciful God ! 
 Each pore and natural outlet shrivelled up 
 By ignorance and parching poverty, 
 His energies roll back upon his heart 
 And stagnate and corrupt, till, chang'd to poison, 
 They break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot ! 
 Then we call in our pampered mountebanks : 
 
 And this is their best cure '. 
 
 so he lies 
 
 Circled with evil, till his very soul 
 Unmoulds its essence, hopelessly deformed 
 By sights of evermore deformity ' ' ' 
 
 S. T. Coleridge. 
 
 As the people of this country had no direct 
 intercourse with England, my letters, I was 
 informed, would be carried to a distant port, 
 and thence despatched by another vessel for 
 their destination, which would make a delay 
 
 h 3
 
 78 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 of some months. I was uneasy and impa- 
 tient at this, but such was my implicit 
 confidence in Edith, and so imperative did 
 I consider the duty I owed my friend, that 
 I set the seal upon my firm resolves and 
 upon my future fortunes ; and saw the 
 vessel weigh anchor, unfurl her sails before 
 the wind, which soon filled them, and 
 watched her as she glided away upon the 
 waters, and until she became a tiny speck 
 upon their surface. Then, when I knew the 
 impossibility of following in her track, and 
 overtaking her, all my sense of duty relaxed, 
 and I turned away, vexed and dissatisfied 
 with myself, for having omitted this oppor- 
 tunity of returning to those friends who I 
 knew expected me with so much anxiety ; 
 with no other reason for so doing, than the 
 almost hopeless chance of recovering the 
 one I had lately lost ; but this mood did not 
 last, I had not reached my hotel, before my
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. J$ 
 
 mind had gained its equilibrium, and I was 
 tranquil, if not happy, in the consciousness 
 that I was treading in the straight and nar- 
 row path of duty, and had resisted the 
 crooked, but tempting one, of inclination. 
 
 I now resolved to traverse a great part 
 of the country in search of intelligence 
 respecting Clifford, and to leave no stratagem 
 untried by which I might gain some clue to 
 his fate. I went home, for my hotel I now 
 called by this familiar appellation, took my 
 dinner, and then sauntered forth for an 
 evening stroll. It so chanced, that in making 
 my way towards the suburbs of the town (in 
 order that I might loiter on and reflect upon, 
 and arrange my journey of discovery, better 
 than I could in the crowded streets), that I 
 passed the prison-house which contained the 
 culprits who were guilty of capital offences. 
 This building, with its heavy and almost blank 
 walls, occupied a considerable length of
 
 80 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 ground in frontage, and in this particular it 
 differed from our construction of jails, having 
 small deep cells for all principal offenders, 
 looking into the main street, if we may use 
 the term looking into, when speaking of the 
 small closely-grated apertures which were 
 but just large enough to admit a few of the 
 sun's rays to glimmer partially upon one 
 spot or other of the dreary hole within, 
 according to the time of day, and to his 
 station in the heavens. And so (methought 
 as I passed on, and now and then caught a 
 glimpse through these apertures, of the one 
 soft bright yellow spot, he traced upon the 
 walls of these dreary cells, until he sunk 
 almost level with the horizon), there is no 
 crevice but through which thou wilt, if pos- 
 sible, shed some of thy cheering influence. 
 Thy last rays dwell benignly even on the 
 most abject, and on those whose lives are 
 stained by the blackest guilt — upon those
 
 OR, ISLAND QL'EEX. SI 
 
 from whom man turns away as from things 
 too loathsome to look upon, or which must 
 be crushed like worms beneath his feet, lest 
 they should contaminate him, did he venture 
 to put forth his hand to guide them back to 
 the path of virtue. 
 
 Whilst I was thus soliloquising, a middle- 
 aged communicative-looking man passed me. 
 I accosted him, said that I was a stranger, 
 and asked him how it was that these poor 
 delinquents were thus exposed to public 
 curiosity, and tantalized by the cheerful 
 voices of those who were enjoying that 
 freedom which they must never again hope 
 to obtain. 
 
 u Oh," he said, " this is quite correct, sir 
 — quite in keeping with all moral good, it is of 
 essential service to the country, it is wonder- 
 ful the good effected on the passers-by, it is 
 a warning voice to them, bidding them not 
 to do any thing that will bring down upon
 
 82 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 their own heads, the dreadful consequences 
 that crime has brought upon these unhappy 
 creatures. But for this terrible monitor 
 always displayed before the people, we 
 should be overrun with criminals, the colo- 
 nies would be overstocked, and the gallows 
 never at rest. It is a fine thing, I assure 
 you, in the management of a populous king- 
 dom, to terrify the people into obedience and 
 good conduct; and as to regarding the crimi- 
 nals themselves, it matters little how the 
 feelings of such depraved creatures are out- 
 raged." 
 
 I made no reply ; a simple observation 
 or two followed, and I wished my companion 
 good evening. Just at this juncture, two ill- 
 looking fellows passed me, raised themselves 
 on tiptoe, and looked inquisitively into one 
 of the cells. 
 
 " Poor wretch," one exclaimed, just as I 
 again came up to them.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. S3 
 
 I loitered, thinking that I would hear 
 their opinion of this place, and its "regu- 
 lations. 
 
 " Aye/' rejoined the other, " but what's 
 the odds, Bill, he '11 soon be out of his 
 trouble, and perhaps we are nor half way 
 through ours ; a short life and a merry one 
 for me, and when it comes to the close — 
 no time for qualms — no growing old and 
 sickening on mawkish repentance — no time 
 to feel shame-faced before our betters — it is 
 but a sudden jerk, and all is over; and we 
 are called brave fellows by our comrades if 
 we do but screw up our courage at the last 
 pinch." 
 
 " Well, Dick, I 'm of your mind, too," 
 returned the other, M so let 's plunge into the 
 thickest of the mud at once/' and saying 
 this, they quickened their pace. 
 
 There were few people walking, and I 
 suppose they had not observed me, or they
 
 84 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 had not talked so audibly; but be this as it 
 may, I could but ponder on their words, and 
 on the opinions of the gentleman with whom 
 1 had just held converse, respecting the 
 warning this place proved to those who 
 most needed it. 
 
 I now met Lord Wickliffe, who had 
 promised to join me this evening, and we 
 agreed, that as soon as the trial was over, we 
 would set out together in quest of Clifford 
 and the ruffian, though of the former we 
 could now hope to discover nothing more 
 than his inanimate body. 
 
 The trial of the old woman and her 
 son, was to take place on the following 
 Tuesday. We devoted this interval of time 
 to traversing every street in the metro- 
 polis ; going into most of the public houses, 
 and talking to as many as we could of 
 those who passed in and out. We con- 
 tinued advertising and offering large rewards
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 85 
 
 for any information, but none could we 
 obtain, not even the most remote, of either 
 man or horse, save from the unsatisfactory 
 tale of an old countryman, a wagoner, who 
 was in the habit of driving his own team, 
 and whom we met in one of the public 
 houses, and to whom I began to talk. 
 
 " Why, sir," said he, in answer to my 
 descriptions and inquiries, " I did once buy 
 a bay horse myself somewhat oddly upon 
 the road." 
 
 K How long since, my friend ? " I inquired. 
 " Why, may be about the time you 
 mention, sir, but I don't know," was his 
 reply. 
 
 " And what was the horse like ?" I asked 
 eagerly. 
 
 " Why, and please you, sir, it was much 
 like other horses, no way particular, sir, 
 that I can remember, but a pretty creature, 
 too." 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 86 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 " And whom did you buy it of?" said 
 Wickliffe. 
 
 " Why, I bought it of a lad, sir, who 
 said that a gentleman had asked him to hold 
 the horse for him, saying he should be back 
 in less than ten minutes, and then ran off in 
 a terrible hurry, but never came back to 
 this day. The lad's father kept the horse 
 for a few days, but they could not afford to 
 keep it any longer, so they sold it to me/' 
 
 "Can I see the horse, my friend?" I 
 inquired. 
 
 " Why, no, sir," returned my bright 
 acquaintance, " I sold it to another gentleman 
 a week ago, who said that he was going a 
 long way off, and wanted just such a 
 creature, and he paid me forty pound for 
 him." 
 
 I then asked, " Whether he thought the 
 boy, who had the horse left with him, could 
 describe the gentleman ? "
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 87 
 
 ..' 
 
 Why, no, sir/ 5 said he, " for I asked 
 the lad myself what sort of a gentleman it 
 was, and he told me that he scarcely saw 
 him, for he was off in the crack of a whip." 
 
 I walked away disappointed as usual. 
 I could not believe that Clifford would thus 
 dispose of his horse, nor was it likely the 
 robber would part with it for nothing. 
 
 i 2
 
 88 THE MAIDEN MONARCH I 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Fair queen, I see 
 
 Thy heart is stout, thy thoughts courageous be." 
 
 Fairfax's Tasso. 
 
 " We know the arduous strife, the eternal laws 
 To which the triumph of all good is given, 
 High sacrifice, and labour without pause, 
 Even to the death." Wordsworth. 
 
 The fate of my friend, I found, was the 
 subject of conversation and conjecture from 
 the palace to the cottage; and I must now 
 allude to one of some moment in the former, 
 the heads of which were soon rumoured 
 abroad (and the chief part of which I was some 
 time subsequently favoured in having repeated 
 to me). It drew my attention again towards 
 the object who had so lately engrossed my
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 89 
 
 thoughts, but the existence of whom I had 
 almost forgotten during this turmoil of mind 
 and body. 
 
 As the queen, attended by an aged 
 minister, paced to and fro uj:>on the terrace 
 before -mentioned, on which I had first seen 
 her, she thus addressed him : — 
 
 " My lord, to you I think I may speak 
 with that undisguised freedom which is more 
 the privilege of the subject than the monarch. 
 I would consult you as a child would consult 
 a parent, and I believe my confidence is not 
 misplaced. But, alas ! there are so many 
 aspirants for court favour; I am so surrounded 
 by ambitious, servile flatterers, that amidst 
 the gay circles which do me homage, in vain 
 do I look for one, except yourself, my lord, 
 whom I can regard as a true friend and faithful 
 adviser. I survey their countenances — I 
 weigh their words of adulation — I endeavour 
 
 i 3
 
 90 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 to penetrate into the inmost depths of their 
 hearts — but, what do I trace there ? 
 
 M Stamped in large and legible characters, 
 I read, ' should fortune forsake thee, we 
 would follow close behind her ; should thy 
 star of magnitude grow dim, we must seek 
 the effulgence of another and a brighter 
 light that shall succeed it. Our own ambi- 
 tious views are the objects that we keep 
 within our sight, in the pursuit of which we 
 will trample upon our own consciences, thy 
 fair fame, and the weal of our country/ To 
 such as these, I must not look to support 
 and guide me through my perilous path, and 
 responsible station in life. But in you, my 
 lord, I believe, I feel, there is no intrigue, 
 and that you will conscientiously assist me in 
 my important duties." 
 
 " Most devotedly, madam," was the reply 
 of the venerable old noble to whom the 
 queen had addressed herself, and whose
 
 OR, ISLAND Ql'EEX. 91 
 
 kindly smile, mingled with tenderness and 
 astonishment, fell upon the fine features of 
 his youthful sovereign. ee But may I ask 
 your majesty what it is that now disturbs 
 your over-anxious mind." 
 
 " Call it not over-anxious, my lord," 
 resumed the queen, '• I often fear me, that 
 it is becoming very apathetic, and sinking 
 into a state of indifference that never should 
 have existence with me." 
 
 " And never can, I will answer for it, most 
 noble lady," returned the minister. 
 
 •'*' But to the subject, my lord, to which 
 I was about to allude," rejoined the queen. 
 " I am very young to wield the sceptre of 
 my forefathers, and what is more, my lord, 
 to propose a different course of conduct to 
 myself, to that which was pursued by them. 
 I cannot remain content to be the tov of the 
 people — a bauble for them to gaze upon — a 
 mere automaton, with a pen placed in my
 
 92 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 hand to sign away the lives of some of my 
 subjects, the property of others, and the 
 happiness of thousands, perhaps, without 
 reading, or at least, without understanding 
 the full import of the many- worded parch- 
 ments to which I place my name. My lord, 
 I would not be a despot over my people ; 
 but I should wish to have a voice, and a 
 more influential voice, than I hitherto have 
 been permitted to exercise in the legislation 
 of those affairs that concern the nearest and 
 dearest interests of the kingdom at large. 
 Is it not admissible, my lord, for the queen 
 to look with her own eyes upon the real 
 state of her country, to hear the complaints 
 of her people with her own ears, and to 
 exercise, in some degree, her own judgment, 
 instead of trusting implicitly to the eyes, ears, 
 and understandings of others ? Is it not 
 admissible to propose alterations in some of 
 our laws, and to submit new ones in some
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 93 
 
 instances for consideration, or am I com- 
 pelled, tamely and tacitly, to support such as 
 I conscientiously disapprove? 5 ' With energy 
 and excitement in her tone and gesture, the 
 queen proceeded : — 
 
 " My lord, I would take a survey 
 through the mansions of the nobles of our 
 countrv, down to the meanest and most 
 impoverished of our peasantry ; from them, 
 to our houses of charity ; and thence, to the 
 interior of the dismal walls which contain 
 our criminals; and after looking upon the 
 use and abuse of all things, I would wish to 
 spend the whole of my existence in council 
 with the wise and good men of my country, 
 on the best means to be adopted for 
 eradicating vice, and all that is pernicious. 
 
 " It would be my highest ambition, my 
 lord, to merit the love of my subjects ; to 
 resign to my successor a fruitful, flourishing
 
 94 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 kingdom, and a happy, virtuous, and intel- 
 lectual people/ 5 
 
 u My dear lady," returned Lord Newton, 
 " I can fully appreciate the motives which 
 actuate you in the self- devoted line of 
 conduct you propose to yourself; but I fear, 
 those who have not been favoured, as I 
 have, with your majesty's confidence, would 
 regard them in a different light. Some would 
 be disposed to ridicule, some to look upon 
 your conduct as the result of an over-active 
 imagination or youthful romance, that will 
 die away as your age matures. A most 
 decided opposition you would have to 
 encounter from those whose interest it is to 
 support the laws and regulations of the 
 country as they at present exist ; and in all 
 probability, even the very classes of society 
 who might be the most benefitted by your 
 majesty's interference, would look on you
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 95 
 
 with suspicion, lest in the end you should 
 love your own will and power so well as to 
 assume the reins of tyranny over them in 
 those matters in which they would not see 
 meet to yield to your desires. 
 
 " History informs us, and my own long 
 life and long experience in the government 
 of my country convinces me, that to attempt 
 to turn the stream that has flowed in the 
 same channel for many years, is an arduous 
 and even dangerous undertaking — unnum- 
 bered, unthought of, difficulties arise, and 
 but too frequently prove insurmountable* 
 I should tremble for you, my beloved 
 lady." 
 
 " Rather say, my lord," resumed the 
 queen, " that you will aid me in my 
 undertakings, that you will be by my side, 
 and support me at all times, save when your 
 conscience disapproves of my conduct. I will
 
 96 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 then arm myself with fortitude to overcome 
 every kind of opposition. 
 
 " It is no heated imagination, my lord, 
 that has thus wrought upon me, but a cool 
 and deliberate determination to see many 
 evils of my country removed, or to resign 
 that crown of my ancestors, which my 
 subjects have so lately placed upon my 
 brow." 
 
 " May heaven forefend ! " rejoined the 
 veteran minister, as he took the hand of 
 the queen, and kissed it with emotion. 
 " Repress this excessive ardour, my dear 
 lady, our country indeed stands much in 
 need of advocates for true and genuine 
 reformation, yet one individual can do 
 but little, even in your exalted station ; 
 and you will find it, I fear, impossible to 
 select ministers who will enter into your 
 views, and aid you in the fulfilment of 
 them. Let me entreat you, therefore, for
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 97 
 
 your own safety, to be more moderate in the 
 anticipation of the good you can achieve for 
 your kingdom; many such monarchs in 
 regular succession might effect that which 
 you so ardently desire." 
 
 But as the noble lord now observed her 
 brow, though not compressed, yet settled into 
 that firm tone of decision, which no human 
 reasoning has the power to dissipate, whilst 
 intense anxiety seemed to play about the other 
 features, as if attempting to make sport for a 
 while with the more resolute powers above, he 
 added, " But if, after the most deliberate 
 consideration, you resolve to launch upon the 
 perilous tide of public exertion and public 
 approbation, and venture forth with little else 
 but your own exertions to rely upon for safe 
 conduct over its restless billows, depend 
 upon me, lady, as the old and faithful 
 servant of your family, and the most devoted 
 to yourself, to do all that age and experience 
 
 VOL. I. k
 
 98 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 may do to pilot you in safety, so long as my 
 own time-worn bark may live to stem the 
 current. My prayers shall be, that it may 
 hold out until your good works have so 
 made their way into the hearts of your 
 people, that the greater part of my country- 
 men would esteem it a high privilege to lend 
 their aid, when my infirmities shall have 
 rendered me wholly unable to perform my 
 willing task." 
 
 " Thanks, my warmest thanks to you, my 
 noble friend/' rejoined the queen, whilst a 
 bright tear glistened in her eye, and for an 
 instant bedimmed its lustre. (i I ask no 
 more ; this is all I wished to give weight to 
 my arguments in the ears of my people ; the 
 approbation of a man of your years and 
 unblemished reputation will be no unworthy 
 guarantee for the words and actions of a 
 young girl. We may have many enemies to 
 encounter — many, through envy, may point
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 99 
 
 the finger of scorn and ridicule at you, my 
 lord, for being the frequent companion and 
 chief confidant of a child-like sovereign — 
 many, before they open their eyes to the 
 truth, may weigh you in their own balance, and 
 persist in their conclusions, that you have 
 your own wily purposes at heart — yet still 
 we will pursue our course of undeviating 
 rectitude ; and, whether our endeavours be 
 successful or unsuccessful, our reward will 
 be the proud consciousness of a noble 
 attempt to make our country all that the 
 philanthropist could desire. And in order 
 to commence our career, my lord, will you 
 see, without delay, that the motto on our 
 royal crest be erased, and that justice 
 and mercy be substituted for it.' , 
 
 As she ceased speaking, her aged com- 
 panion turned and gazed with delight upon 
 the enthusiastic, the intelligent features of 
 his sovereign ; when, recollecting himself, he 
 
 k 2
 
 100 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 said, " Pardon me, my liege, for this 
 apparent freedom, I was wholly absorbed 
 by such feelings as a tender parent expe- 
 riences towards a virtuous child." 
 
 " And let it suffice, my lord/' replied the 
 queen, <e that we regard each other as though 
 this bond of kindred did really exist between 
 us ; you shall be my guide and adviser, and 
 I — no — I dare not say I will be your 
 obedient child. I have this day given you 
 ample proof of my powers of resistance to 
 your opinions." 
 
 Either party now paced silently up and 
 down upon the terrace, apparently too deeply 
 engrossed by their own meditations, to admit 
 the power of speech to communicate them 
 one to the other. 
 
 Our deepest thoughts and feelings are 
 frequently so closely locked within our own 
 breasts, that they will not, cannot, vent 
 themselves in language. We find words
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 101 
 
 altogether insufficient to pourtray them in 
 all their intensity to others. 
 
 Whether this were now the case with this 
 noble lady and her minister, I do not 
 pretend to say ; but they continued to walk 
 in perfect silence, till at length, as if a new 
 light had broken in upon her, the queen 
 commenced : — 
 
 " There are very singular circumstances, 
 my lord, attending the accounts we have of 
 that last act of robbery and murder in our 
 dominions ; it is strange, that with vigilant 
 officers of police, neither the gentleman, his 
 horse, or assailant, can be traced or 
 heard of/ 5 
 
 " The account altogether is a mvsterious 
 one. I cannot comprehend it," returned Lord 
 Newton, u it is a subject that engrosses every 
 body's attention. 
 
 "And well it may," resumed the queen, 
 k 3
 
 102 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 " for had the gentleman escaped, he had long 
 ere this found his way back to his friends ; 
 and had the man who attacked him taken 
 his life, and put him out of the way, surely 
 he would have hastened back to his com- 
 rades : but from all that we can learn, the 
 prisoners are as ignorant of the fate of both 
 as we are. The poor miserable old mother, 
 however depraved, must be in a pitiable 
 state of mind ; one son fallen, another pos- 
 sibly she may never hear of again, and a 
 third enclosed within the prison cells with 
 herself, for capital crime. My lord, I have 
 passed the walls of those dreadful jails, and 
 when I ponder on the torture of mind the 
 poor creatures within must be enduring, my 
 very heart sickens, and I say to myself, ' do 
 not I hold the keys of those dens of misery, 
 and dare I not turn them and bestow liberty 
 on the unhappy sufferers which they contain ; 
 but this, justice forbids.' "
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 103 
 
 " I highly disapprove of many of our penal 
 laws, my lord, and consider them far more 
 productive of evil than of good. Those who 
 enacted them appear to have sought only 
 the means of terrifying the people into 
 obedience, and of putting down crime by 
 main force. It has scarcely entered the 
 mind of man, or at least of those men who 
 are most influential in the administration of 
 the laws of a kingdom, to adopt every pos- 
 sible means to convince his erring fellow- 
 creatures of the impolicy, as well as the 
 criminality, of their conduct; to place them 
 as much as possible out of the reach of 
 temptation, and then, after allowing reason- 
 able time for the early and better feelings of 
 their nature towards both God and man to 
 revive and to exercise dominion over them; 
 to extend the gentle hand of kindness and 
 charity, to guide them back to the path of
 
 104 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 virtue. My lord, the treatment which our 
 offenders receive at our hands is not calcu- 
 lated to do this ; nor are those dark humid 
 cells in which they are incarcerated, and in 
 which they can be sensible of nothing that is 
 good or pleasant, either in heaven or on 
 earth, fitting places to soften their morose 
 feelings towards their fellow men, or to call 
 forth feelings of adoration, or thankfulness, 
 towards their Creator. Would, my lord, that 
 the people would permit me to propose a 
 change in these things, and watch the result 
 with me." 
 
 The queen's words flowed from her as if 
 she were inspired with her subject ; and her 
 companion was ready to believe that she 
 was so, whilst she pursued it with that 
 energy almost unnatural to her sex and age ; 
 but how long the conversation continued, 
 or what the tenor of it was after this, I
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 105 
 
 never heard. The heat of the sun falling 
 full upon the terrace, the minister offered his 
 arm to his fair mistress, and they re-entered 
 the palace.
 
 106 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a 
 drunken sleep ; careless, reckless, and fearless of what's past, pre- 
 sent, or to come ; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal." 
 
 *' A creature unprepar'd, unmeet for death ; 
 And to transport him in the mind he is, 
 Were damnable." 
 
 Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. 
 
 u — he whose deeds our bosoms wring, 
 Abhorrent at whose name we start, 
 Was once that helpless smiling thing 
 A mother pillows on her hearts" 
 
 Malcolm. 
 
 The morning of the 17th of July, 17 — , 
 was ushered in, at least in that part of the 
 country where I then resided, with all the 
 brilliancy attendant on a summer's sun-rise, 
 in a fine, clear, but not sultry climate. 
 
 I had taken lodgings in a house plea- 
 santly situated in the suburbs of the metro-
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 107 
 
 polis ; and when I awaked from my night's 
 rest, the rich light of the rising sun was 
 streaming into my room. I arose and 
 dressed myself. I always loved early rising. 
 I took my hat and sauntered forth to enjoy 
 the fresh pure morning air. The melody of 
 the birds as they performed their cheerful 
 matins, or chaunted their merry notes to 
 their chirping mates; the blithe whistle of 
 the labourer as he strolled carelessly along 
 to the spot where he was to commence his 
 daily toil; the lowing of the kine awaiting 
 the milking maid ; the freshness of the foliage 
 around me ; the sweet smell of flowers ; the 
 sparkling drops of dew on every blade of 
 grass, all spoke of beauty, and happiness, 
 and delight, and seemed to revel in the love- 
 liness — the enchantment which surrounded 
 the whole face of nature. Alas! that man 
 should throw dark shadows around, when 
 all else on earth and in heaven is so bright
 
 108 THE MAIDEN MONARCH J 
 
 and lovely ; wherever he pitches his tent, 
 there are invariably some dark melancholy 
 spots which cast a shade on every surround- 
 ing object : and so it was with me on that 
 fair morning. Every thing I looked upon was 
 bright and gay ; but had any looked on me, 
 they had found me pensive, anxious, and 
 even gloomy. I had passed a disturbed 
 night, my sleeping thoughts had been wafted 
 to my friends in England^ and an impression 
 of dreary and dismal foreboding was the 
 predominant feeling when I awoke ; and what 
 had I now to dispel these painful presages ? 
 nothing but the yet more gloomy anticipa- 
 tion of passing the greater part of the day 
 in a court of justice, as the prosecutor of 
 two of the most depraved and pitiable of my 
 fellow- creatures. 
 
 The time sped on rapidly as usual, and 
 there I shortly found myself. Just below me, 
 to the right, were the prisoners — the one
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 109 
 
 with stern, heavy, unyielding brow, and fero- 
 cious expression of face — the other shrunken, 
 squalid, emaciated form, even more wasted 
 than when I before beheld her, from her 
 incarceration in the loathsome place from 
 which she had just been dragged, supporting 
 her tottering frame on the muscular being 
 by her side, whom she had brought into the 
 world, pure, innocent, and lovely as the babe 
 of the virtuous and the wealthy, that is so 
 carefully tended. But, alas ! what had she 
 and the world made of him, that he should 
 now stand thus before us, degraded in the 
 eyes of all mankind ; wearing more the aspect 
 of a beast of prey than one of our species ; 
 and with a countenance expressive of setting 
 God and man at defiance. 
 
 The trial was long and tedious. Ques- 
 tioning and cross-questioning, and every 
 method that could be devised was made use 
 of to throw the criminals off their guard, and 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 110 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 to elicit from them some confessions that 
 would throw light on the fate of Clifford and 
 of the ruffian that was missing, but to no 
 purpose. It was evident that they were in 
 total ignorance concerning them. At length, 
 after many painful and wearisome hours^ the 
 judge proceeded to pronounce sentence. 
 Still the man stood undaunted, looking 
 sternly upon the judge, though a livid and 
 ghastly hue had overspread his features, 
 which contrasted with the small, dark, 
 piercing eyes, and the bushy hair that half 
 covered his face, rendered his appearance 
 quite unearthly ; whilst the unfortunate wo- 
 man, who, for some time previous had 
 appeared ready to sink from exhaustion and 
 despair, now determined to strain every 
 nerve in this one last effort to wear at least 
 the semblance of courage and fortitude, drew 
 herself up from the half-doubled position in 
 which she had been resting against or rather,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. Ill 
 
 hanging upon her son for support, with one 
 of his heavily - manacled hands clenched 
 tightly within her own, and raised just above 
 her chest, she stood perfectly erect ; but ere 
 the judge had uttered one fearful sentence, 
 her over-exerted frame had sunk apparently 
 lifeless to the ground. 
 
 The hitherto obdurate man now permitted 
 a tear to trickle down that morose face as he 
 stood gazing upon the senseless form of her 
 who had given him existence. His fetters 
 rendered him unable to raise her ; but I was 
 near enough to him to hear him mutter 
 between his teeth — " Mayst thou never 
 again awake to consciousness." The usual 
 restoratives were had recourse to — her tem- 
 ples and the palms of her hands were chafed 
 — and in a few minutes the poor creature 
 showed signs of returning life. 
 
 The judge was again just about to proceed, 
 when a special messenger forced his way 
 
 l 2
 
 112 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 through the crowded court, and handed a 
 paper to the judge, bearing the royal signa- 
 ture, and containing imperative orders for 
 remanding the prisoners. Notice was given 
 out to the court. The old woman, who 
 appeared to be just recovering her senses, 
 and awaking as it were from a dream to the 
 realities around her, ejaculated, iC And may 
 God bless her majesty !" The prisoners 
 were conducted back to the cells from which 
 they had been brought, and the court dis- 
 persed.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 113 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " I beseech you, 
 Wrest once the law to your authority : 
 To do a great right, do a little -wrong." 
 
 Merchant of Venice, 
 
 The following morning I had occasion to go 
 early into the city, and in passing through 
 the village in w 7 hich I resided, saw the cus- 
 tomary gossips of the public-house, with 
 many others added to their numbers, collected 
 earlier than was their custom, around the 
 merry burly-faced host, who had a newspaper 
 in his hand. One and all of them w T ere 
 holding earnest consultation ; but I passed 
 on rapidly, for I w r as anxious to see my 
 friend, WicklifFe, before he went out, and it 
 
 l 3
 
 114 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 was drawing very near his usual time. I 
 shortly arrived in town ; and there I observed, 
 wherever there chanced to be a little more 
 space than was actually required for the foot- 
 passengers, groups of gentlemen, evidently on 
 their way to business, who had stopped to 
 investigate some subject of importance. At 
 the doors of the coffee-houses also, were two 
 or three standing in earnest conversation ; 
 and every here and there, some half dozen 
 or more of the poorer class with open 
 mouths were drinking down with avidity all 
 they heard ; whilst their orators, pitching 
 their tones somewhat higher than their more 
 respectable neighbours, gave me opportu- 
 nity of hearing, as I passed on, frequent 
 allusions to her majesty. Before I returned 
 home in the evening, it was universally 
 known that the queen had interfered to 
 suspend the sentence on the prisoners, and 
 had taken them under her own immediate 
 care.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 115 
 
 So extraordinary — so unprecedented a step 
 on the part of the queen, was well calculated to 
 strike the people with astonishment. We 
 might reasonably expect that there would be 
 numberless conjectures as to her motives, 
 and the course of conduct she intended 
 pursuing with regard to the prisoners. 
 
 The insatiate thirst of the people for the 
 blood of a man who had obtained his liveli- 
 hood by rapine and murder (a thirst they 
 were never well pleased to have quenched in 
 any other way than by having blood for 
 blood), was greatly repressed by their ex- 
 treme curiosity to observe how their youthful 
 sovereign would act in this instance. It was 
 the first public act by which she had brought 
 herself before their notice ; the first desire 
 she had evinced of deviating from the 
 established customs and laws of the count ry, 
 to which her predecessors had rigidly adhered, 
 without troubling themselves to consider
 
 116 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 whether they approved the laws they sup- 
 ported, or that the happiness of millions 
 rested upon the sanction they gave. They 
 became eager and impatient, beyond expres- 
 sion, to know what gratification she could 
 derive from taking creatures so base, so 
 hardened in crime, under her notice. The 
 desire was novel — and, unlike most royal 
 gratifications, for these had always hitherto 
 been very expensive to the country, the con- 
 tributing to which had ofttimes constrained 
 many a tender parent to refuse his child even 
 the common necessaries of life — but some 
 weeks elapsed before their legitimate curiosity 
 was satisfied. In the mean time, Lord 
 Wickliffe and myself made a circuit of the 
 country; loitering about, more particularly, 
 in the neighbourhood of the place where we 
 were stopped by the robbers. Here we staid 
 three weeks, walking each day in a different 
 direction, and examining almost every inch
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 11/ 
 
 of ground we trod upon ; but in no spot 
 upon that barren heath, or through any of 
 the retired lanes, was there the slightest trace 
 of the earth having been lately removed. 
 
 The day on which we fixed to return to 
 town we had to pass the hut, and had the 
 curiosity to go in and see whether its late 
 inhabitants had left any thing worthy of 
 notice, but we might have spared ourselves 
 this trouble ; their attentive neighbours, we 
 found, had taken charge of every item for 
 them. There was not so much as a loose stone 
 or a bit of stick ; even the very walls had 
 been chipped, and the fragments carried 
 away as a relic, to be treasured in memory 
 of the place and event. As rumour told 
 the tale in the neighbourhood, we had 
 all three been murdered, and our horses 
 killed. 
 
 We had started early in the morning, 
 and having a long day before us, determined
 
 118 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 to cross the country in the direction of the 
 palace, and so into the high road. On 
 ascending an eminence, from which we had 
 an indistinct view of the park and grounds, 
 we thought we observed in one retired spot 
 many workmen busily employed, and appa- 
 rently walling in a small portion of ground. 
 On arriving at the palace, we stopped, and 
 requested to speak to Lord Harman. The 
 queen being now in town, he showed us 
 over the palace, which was very magnificent, 
 but our curiosity had been excited by the 
 out-door-work we had seen going on, and 
 after a hasty survey of the palace, we 
 inquired of Lord Harman what the work- 
 men were engaged about in the grounds. 
 
 He replied, u That it was some whim of 
 the queen's, which at present he could 
 scarcely comprehend." He then walked 
 with us towards the spot, where we found 
 as many hands at work as could possibly
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 119 
 
 be employed on the given space ; some raising 
 a wall as we had before imagined, enclosing a 
 small portion of ground within, whilst others 
 were laying the plan for a cottage. They 
 had received orders to complete the whole 
 with all possible expedition. 
 
 The raising of this little structure had 
 caused a great excitement ; everybody in the 
 neighbourhood had his surmises, but no one 
 knew for what purpose it was intended. In 
 a short time it was wholly completed, of 
 which Lord Harman sent us word, stating, 
 that if we thought it worth while to drive 
 down the following day, he would show it to 
 us, but after that he could not insure our 
 being able to view it. We did so, and con- 
 sidered ourselves well repaid for our trouble, 
 not that there was any thing particular in 
 the place itself, but the circumstances with 
 which it was afterwards connected rendered 
 it an object of great interest.
 
 120 THE MAIDEN MONARCH J 
 
 The outer walls were not raised much above 
 the usual height of our garden fruit walls. 
 Within their enclosure rose the little stuc- 
 coed cottage in all its peaceful simplicity, 
 with its low- thatched roof, supported by 
 small pillars. The interior was fitted up 
 with neatness, and the common requisites 
 for comfort ; but these were coarse, and 
 wearing every appearance of being intended 
 for the use of those who had no means of 
 procuring any of the luxuries or superfluities 
 of life. The remaining part of the enclosure 
 was left in a rough state, for the hand of 
 the gardener to arrange. 
 
 But we must now leave this humble 
 scene in all its tranquillity, and follow the 
 queen as she passed unknown through the 
 streets of her capital in a plain carriage, 
 attended only by her aged minister, and one 
 or two others of her suite; and, as usual, 
 supporting most of the topics of their con-
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 121 
 
 versation in her own peculiarly energetic 
 way, which originated more from the firm- 
 ness and devotedness of her purpose to 
 achieve all the good in her power for her 
 subjects, than from the possession of superior 
 talent. 
 
 u My lords," she said, addressing her 
 companions, after a short pause of silence, 
 which had followed some less important 
 observations, ft you think that I am enter- 
 ing upon a task that will prove too arduous 
 for me, and which I may full soon repent 
 having undertaken. But I can only say to 
 you, my lords, as I would say to all the 
 world, l w T ait the result in this one instance, 
 and should I not prove successful, I will 
 then consent to be guided by those who are 
 more skilled in the wiliness of human nature ; 
 but I must now act upon the belief, that, 
 according to our present laws and customs, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 122 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 we are fostering the demon-like spirit of 
 opposition and outrage, and crushing beauti- 
 ful nature, and trampling it under our feet ; 
 whilst it might, like a young child, be 
 trained by gentleness to repentance and 
 subjection. 
 
 " In the event of my succeeding agreeably 
 to my most sanguine hopes, I shall have to 
 solicit, nay, I may say, command your 
 acquiescence and assistance in undertakings 
 far more extensive, for the advancement of 
 my country, in the true spirit of christian 
 improvement." 
 
 The last words died away upon her lips, 
 just as the carriage stopped at the entrance 
 of the jail, mentioned in a previous chapter. 
 
 The queen wore her coronet and some of 
 her royal robes, but over them was thrown a 
 loose mantle and hood, which so entirely 
 enveloped her person, that no one on her 
 alighting could perceive who she was. This
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 123 
 
 mantle she threw aside after she had entered 
 into the apartment or hall, into which it 
 was thought fit she should be ushered. 
 
 She desired the prisoners who are chiefly 
 connected with our narrative to be brought 
 before her. For the sake of perspicuity, 
 they shall henceforward be known by their 
 own proper names of Susan and William 
 Bertrand. 
 
 Lord Wickliffe and myself, too, had been 
 summoned on this occasion into her majesty's 
 presence, and were requested to stand before 
 her towards her left hand, whilst the prisoners 
 stood at an equal distance to the right. For 
 a few seconds, there was a perfect and 
 a solemn silence. 
 
 The queen's attention was rivetted upon 
 the emaciated forms before her. At first 
 looking upon them, a shudder of horror 
 seemed to pass over her whole frame ; she 
 trembled, and the colour fled from her 
 
 M 2
 
 124 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 cheeks and lips, but quickly re-assuring 
 herself, she regarded them with a counte- 
 nance full of commiseration and excessive 
 anxiety ; and rousing herself from her own 
 meditations, she addressed herself to Wickliffe 
 and to me : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, I consider it due to you, 
 as the principal sufferers, by the conduct of 
 the culprits before us, that I should ask of 
 you, since I am about to act in opposition 
 to the established laws of the country, 
 whether you would wish to offer an objection 
 to my disposing of them in any way that I 
 may deem expedient?" 
 
 We simultaneously made a profound 
 bow, and dropping each of us on one knee, 
 acknowledged our allegiance to her majesty's 
 pleasure. 
 
 She then turned towards the prisoners, 
 and inquired, " If they were willing to abide 
 by her single judgment ?" to which the man
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 125 
 
 deigned no reply. A close observer might 
 have perceived a malicious grin play about 
 his features, which, as it drew the lips in, 
 displayed the double row of teeth, which 
 showed an almost dazzling whiteness as they 
 gleamed through the thick black hair which 
 surrounded the muuth ; but the old woman, 
 advancing a pace or two, threw herself 
 prostrate at the feet of the queen, and 
 entreated her to spare her son — to visit all 
 the punishment their crimes merited upon 
 herself — acknowledging, at the same time, 
 that she had schooled that son to vice, and 
 had trained the noble spirit of the boy until 
 she had completed her purpose of trans- 
 forming it to the daring outrage of the 
 robber. 
 
 A seemingly reluctant acquiescence with 
 the queen's pleasure was at length elicited 
 from the man ; and, heavily ironed as he 
 was, and without knowing their destination, 
 
 M 3
 
 126 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 they were placed in a vehicle and conveyed 
 from the jail. The queen and her attendants, 
 too, quitted the sombre building, and with a 
 relay of four horses, were soon on their way 
 
 to the palace at , where they arrived in 
 
 the after part of the day. The queen was 
 much exhausted by the morning's excitement ; 
 her attendants entreated her to exert herself 
 no further, but she resolutely persisted in 
 not taking rest, until the task which she had 
 prescribed herself was completed. On the 
 arrival of Susan Bertrand and her son, whom 
 my readers must ere this have concluded 
 were travelling on the same road, the queen 
 preceded them on their way to the cottage, 
 and when they entered, she was seated 
 beneath its humble roof, with Lord Newton 
 and another nobleman by her side, and two 
 of her body guards behind her. As soon as 
 the prisoners were placed before her, she 
 commanded a man, who was purposely in
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 127 
 
 attendance, to strike the fetters from Ber- 
 trand ; but again that foreboding, ferocious 
 expression, spread itself over his whole 
 countenance, and struck terror into the man 
 who stood before him, and who hastily 
 retreated without attempting to obey the 
 commands of the queen. And well he might 
 retreat, for Bertrand wore all the appearance 
 of a wild beast ready to pounce upon his 
 prey. 
 
 The bystanders begged the queen to 
 retire, even Lord Newton joined his en- 
 treaties ; they feared for the safety of her 
 majesty, and most earnestly did they urge 
 her to desist from her purpose; but she 
 continued fearless, and endeavoured to 
 assure them that he would not attempt to 
 harm her. She again called the man forward, 
 and upon pain of her displeasure if he the 
 second time withdrew, peremptorily ordered 
 him now to strike off the fetters.
 
 128 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 Once more the robber stood with free 
 and unshackled limbs. The attendants 
 surrounded the queen more closely. They 
 feared, lest the fiend- like man should rusli 
 upon her, rather than peacefully await the 
 doom prepared for him ; but they soon found 
 there was no cause to fear. They observed 
 a slight, yet very perceptible change come 
 over the manners and features of this 
 ferocious being, as though a glow of gratitude 
 had touched his long-hardened heart; but 
 be this as it may, he stood in silence, and 
 offered not to turn either to the right hand 
 or to left, whilst on his brow there was a 
 look of astonishment and inquiry. 
 
 The queen motioned her attendants to 
 stand aside, and addressing Bertrand, she 
 said : — 
 
 (i Prisoner, now that your fetters are cast 
 off, you must be fully aware that we have 
 not brought you hither to make sport with
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 129 
 
 you, nor, although our nature recoils at the 
 recollection of your crimes, is it our purpose 
 to dwell upon their enormity. You are old 
 enough — you have lived long enough in a 
 christian land, to know the extent of your 
 crimes against your fellow- creatures, and the 
 laws of a just God ; and to Him we must 
 leave it to soften your heart, over which we 
 have no controul. But in opposition 
 to the laws of our land, and taking the 
 responsibility into our own hands of thus 
 giving offence to the people by our leniency, 
 we grant you and your aged mother your 
 lives, and entreat you to make good use of 
 them. Your actions have been inhuman, 
 but we will not crush you as we would a 
 demon, in whom there is no trace of the 
 Creator remaining, nor will we read a solemn 
 and an awful sentence to you, and then 
 hasten you into another world, but we will 
 treat you as a man and a fellow-creature,
 
 130 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 whose better nature, however it may have 
 been perverted, is not entirely subdued ; 
 and we will trust, that the still whispers of 
 that better nature in the deep silence of 
 night, and in the cheering and genial 
 light of the day, may be attended to by you, 
 and that it may again hold dominion over 
 you as in your earliest days of childhood. 
 You shall not be consigned to darkness, 
 idleness, and consequent wretchedness ; nor 
 shall you be banished your native land, and 
 doomed to drag out a miserable existence of 
 hard labour and ignominious chains, from 
 which you could not redeem yourself by 
 any exertion of your own. 
 
 " We wish not that you should regard 
 your fellow-creatures as tyrants, with whom 
 you must wage eternal warfare. Confinement 
 and remorse are the sole punishments you 
 are doomed to endure. This cottage is to be 
 appropriated to your use — the ground is for
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 131 
 
 you to employ your time upon — and no 
 plant you wish to cultivate shall be refused. 
 
 " It shall rest with yourself whether this 
 is your prison-house to the end of your days. 
 But you have our royal word, that tyranny 
 shall not hold the keys, when gentleness, 
 industry, and submission on your part, shall 
 prove to us that you are fit to mingle again in 
 society. Let us recommend to you, to exer- 
 cise filial duty to that miserable old woman, 
 and to help her to make peace with her 
 Creator ; for her path to the grave can be but 
 a short and a dreary one." 
 
 The queen arose to depart, without waiting 
 any reply from either of the prisoners. She 
 considered it best to leave them at once to 
 their own reflections. 
 
 The woman, who was wholly unable to 
 support herself, had been allowed to crawl 
 into one corner of the apartment, where she 
 sat apparently stupified with astonishment.
 
 132 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 The man was left standing as he had been 
 during the last few minutes; and, indeed, 
 almost from the moment that his irons were 
 taken off, perfectly passive. He had neither 
 displayed, whilst the queen addressed him, 
 any inclination to ridicule or opposition, nor 
 had he evinced any thing like gratification. 
 There he stood, statue-like, his arms folded 
 across his chest, his eyes cast down, and his 
 chin resting upon his breast The queen 
 would not have him disturbed. She had 
 wished to excite him to reflection, and thus 
 far she appeared to have succeeded.
 
 OR, ISLAXD QUEEX. 133 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 " What though the fool may laugh, the worldling sneer, 
 And bad men hate, and weak and timid fear ; 
 What though the selfish, prejudiced, and proud, 
 Exalt their voice in senseless clamour loud ; 
 Pursue thy noble course — be not dismayed, 
 Truth, wisdom, goodness, are thy powerful aid, 
 And must and will prevail." Smythe. 
 
 The fall of the year was now fast approaching; 
 the fields were bare ; the harvest was all 
 gathered in ; the leaves were falling from 
 the trees ; the notes of the birds were less 
 blithe and joyous ; and the rains became 
 heavy and frequent. 
 
 The queen had caused an observatory to 
 be erected, from which she could, unnoticed, 
 herself overlook the cottage- garden ; and to 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 134 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 this observatory she frequently retired to 
 notice the conduct of the prisoners. 
 
 The woman was seldom to be seen — this 
 her majesty did not heed ; it was the actions 
 of the man that she was desirous to scru- 
 tinize. With the most intense anxiety did 
 she await the first signal of his having 
 recourse to some employment in his little 
 garden. She anticipated that this would be 
 the first token of his stubborn feelings 
 yielding to the influences of nature. But 
 vainly did she seek this sequestered place ; 
 and melancholy, and almost hopeless, at 
 length became those tedious watchings. No 
 change could she perceive. There stood, 
 untouched, under their little place of shelter, 
 all the garden tools which her care had 
 supplied ; and by the use of which she had 
 hoped to work so much good, not to that 
 plot of ground alone, nor to that individual 
 alone, but to all her country — to thousands 
 of her subjects.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 135 
 
 And how was he, who was thus anxiously 
 looked down upon, by one who might have 
 been regarded as his guardian angel, be- 
 guiling the enemy — time ? 
 
 Alas ! there he was, all through the 
 changeful autumn and the gloomy winter, 
 prowling round and round the little space 
 allotted him, like an irritated wild beast of 
 the forest, when confined within a narrow 
 den, indignant at his capture, but hopeless of 
 escape. He knew full well it were useless to 
 attempt this, the outer walls being guarded 
 and doubly guarded . 
 
 Care was taken to supply the prisoners 
 daily with necessary food. The man was 
 told, that when he had any reasonable request 
 to make, it was to be written on a slip of 
 paper, and placed in the basket in which their 
 provision was conveyed to them. 
 
 In this unprecedented mariner of attempt- 
 ing to reform one of the most depraved of 
 
 n 2
 
 136 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 his species, did this gifted, this illustrious 
 creature — herself a perfect child of nature — 
 commence her career of active exertion in 
 behalf of mankind ; and more especially that 
 portion of mankind which had hitherto been 
 almost wholly neglected. That class of the 
 people, whose rights had been trampled upon ; 
 whose destitution and helplessness frequently 
 rendered them the objects of contempt and 
 degradation, rather than of kindly and judi- 
 cious assistance. 
 
 Notwithstanding, many a hungry man, 
 woman, and child, whose privations — whose 
 misery made them reckless of the means 
 they employed to stifle their sorrows, or to 
 satisfy the cravings of nature — were taken 
 under the notice of well-meaning religious 
 persons, and fed with frequent and whole- 
 some texts of Scripture; many a squalid 
 wretch, through whose tattered fragments 
 the bleak winter winds whistled, and pierced
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 137 
 
 him to the very soul; whose severe trials 
 and sufferings, had rendered him weary of 
 life ; inveterate against his fellow- creatures, 
 whom he saw revelling in the superfluities 
 of life, and doubtful of the beneficence of 
 his Creator, when he sought temporary alle- 
 viation, by having recourse to spirituous 
 liquors, in order to lull his pains for a time, 
 had well-worded pamphlets, filled with excel- 
 lent advice, placed in his hands. Yet she 
 was fully aware that no care was taken to 
 educate his children in such a way, as that 
 they should have conviction within them- 
 selves, of the folly of having recourse to 
 crime and intemperance, to remedy their 
 evils. Nor were other resources held out 
 to him to aid and comfort him in his dreary 
 pilgrimage through life. 
 
 The miseries of this innumerable class of 
 the people, had not hitherto been considered 
 of so much import as to require and engross 
 
 n 3
 
 138 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the chief portion of the legislator's time, care, 
 and attention. It was more important to 
 the statesman to assert, to protect, to secure 
 the rights and privileges of the wealthy of 
 the land, whether aristocratical, commercial, 
 or agricultural. 
 
 But to return to the events immediately 
 connected with our narrative, I must state 
 how the interference of the queen in the 
 case of the prisoners, was received by her 
 subjects. I had very soon opportunity of 
 judging how it was regarded by some of the 
 higher circles of society. 
 
 Time hung rather heavily on my hands, 
 having no particular object in view. I 
 could do nothing more than I had done, to 
 accelerate the discovery of my friend Clifford, 
 and was obliged to content myself to remain 
 quietly awaiting any accidental light that 
 might be thrown upon his fate ; but I cannot 
 boast that I was very tranquil. Having no
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 139 
 
 particular motive for exertion, and being 
 hopeless that my longer absence from home 
 would prove in any way beneficial to Clifford, 
 I became restless and impatient to return. 
 
 One day, when I was more than usually 
 allowing this mood to irritate and vex me, 
 Lord Wickliffe entered my room, and re- 
 quested me to join a few friends at dinner 
 on the following day. I gladly accepted the 
 invitation. I had little enough to do to 
 beguile my time; and where is there a 
 heavier curse upon man, than that produced 
 by inaction, and inadequate means for amuse- 
 ment and industry ? 
 
 I was introduced at Lord WicklifiVs 
 table to what is generally understood by the 
 term, good society, to many of the nobles 
 of the land, and their ladies. The beauty, 
 and wit, and splendour of the latter, were 
 well mingled with the less brilliant, but more 
 profound attractions of the gentlemen around
 
 140 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the festive board, which groaned under the 
 weight of the profuse bounty of the host. 
 Now, too, I was for the first time introduced 
 to the near relatives of Lord Wickliffe, with 
 whom I was much pleased ; they were not 
 common-place people; they could not be 
 classed with the worldly-minded nondescripts 
 who make the majority, even amidst the 
 higher circles. They, perhaps, were not 
 fashionable on this very account. Their 
 dress was simple ; their manners unaffected ; 
 and I soon discovered that their tastes were 
 more elevated ; their ideas more original ; 
 and that their conversation had much more 
 meaning, and truth, and good feeling in it, 
 than that of their more dazzling acquaint- 
 ance. This family consisted of a mother 
 (whose late severe illness had hitherto pre- 
 vented Lord Wickliffe from introducing me) 
 and three daughters. Lord Wickliffe was 
 an only son ; his elder brother having died in
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 141 
 
 infancy. The father, the late Lord YVick- 
 lirTe, who had been a courtier and a minister 
 under the former reign, had fallen a victim 
 to the resentment of party- spirit ; a man of 
 upright and virtuous principles, who should 
 have been in the court and cabinet of the 
 present monarch ; but against whom in his 
 time, opposition ran so high as to compel 
 the over-exertion of his faculties to endea- 
 vour to stand against it, and to support such 
 measures as he deemed most expedient for 
 his country ; body and mind were over- 
 wrought by the continual round of anxiety 
 and fatigue, and his life was the sacrifice. 
 
 The daughters were beautiful, and their 
 understandings had been highly cultivated. 
 I had the pleasure of sitting next to one 
 of them at dinner. 
 
 The conversation around the table was 
 gay and diversified ; but as soon as the 
 dinner was removed, and before the ladies
 
 142 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 quitted the room, it had worked its way 
 round to that all-engrossing subject — politics. 
 " And what think you of our young mis- 
 tress turning game-keeper," said Lord A . 
 
 " With such game, she may soon stock 
 her preserves to her heart's content/' re- 
 turned, Lord M , " and she need labour 
 
 under no apprehension from poachers, or 
 encroachers; few of us will be inclined to 
 trespass, or to decoy any of her majesty's 
 fancy birds." 
 
 u My Lord Newton is ever at her majesty's 
 right hand," said Colonel B . 
 
 " Aye, forsooth," rejoined Sir W. B , 
 
 " the old fox knows how to avail himself of 
 the weak side of a woman." 
 
 " But to be serious/' said Lord H , 
 
 " this is most extraordinary conduct on the 
 part of the queen — it is a most unparalleled 
 piece of folly and absurdity, thus to take 
 from the very dregs of society one of the
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 143 
 
 basest of his kind — to take him, too, into the 
 very precincts of the palace, and to degrade 
 herself by permitting him to stand in her 
 presence." 
 
 " Pardon me, my lord," rejoined Lord 
 Wickliffe, (i but, I rather think, her majesty 
 would not consider herself degraded by 
 admitting the very lowest of mankind into her 
 presence. Instead of looking upon him as 
 a wretch to be spurned, base as he is, she 
 regards him as a fellow- creature, whose soul 
 is of as much value as her own, and who, 
 the lower he has sunk in the scale of 
 humanity, the stronger are his claims upon 
 her to lend a helping hand to turn the 
 balance for him ; and who shall say, that 
 this is not better than to hurl him headlong 
 to destruction." 
 
 "It might be all very well," returned Lord 
 
 H , " if this man were the only prisoner 
 
 in the country ; then I should say, let her
 
 144 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 majesty indulge her whim, and reap the 
 fruitless harvest ; but as things at present 
 exist, it is bad — bad every way — it is offering 
 positive encouragement to others. Many a 
 man will be likely enough to try the ex- 
 periment of committing crime, in the hope 
 that the same good fortune will attend him." 
 
 il And are not our daily lists of criminals 
 sufficiently swollen already ? Of what a 
 lesson, too, are the people thus deprived — 
 think what an awful lesson a public execution 
 is, and why should they be robbed of this ? 
 Who can tell how many may be deterred 
 from the perpetration of crime by such a 
 spectacle?" observed Lord L . 
 
 " I cannot agree with you, my noble 
 lord," rejoined Lady Wickliffe, whose age 
 warranted her giving her opinion, and whose 
 observation was a signal for the rest of the 
 ladies to follow her example in opposing the 
 noble lord, with the exception of one old
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 145 
 
 dowager, who sat facing me, and who said in 
 a shrill tone, u I don't know ; I don't know, 
 I am sure ; an execution is certainly a fine 
 thing for the poor — it terrifies them." 
 
 " Indeed!" said Lord Wickliffe, " I think 
 your ladyship would have a different 
 opinion if you had ever witnessed such a 
 spectacle, and observed the countenances of 
 the bystanders ; it has made the blood curdle 
 in my veins, when I have seen men, women, 
 and children, racing, shouting, and scrambling 
 for a good place, in order to have a full view 
 of the sufferer (as if 'twere a rareshow), 
 with faces expressive of nothing but curiosity, 
 to see how the poor wretch screws up his 
 courage at the last moment. Were I king 
 to-morrow, the people should never look 
 again upon a culprit writhing in the 
 agonies of death — a scene which destroys 
 the very feelings it is intended to inspire — 
 which, the oftener it is looked upon, the 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 146 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 more callous and indifferent become the 
 hearts of the spectators ; whilst their ideal 
 horrors are almost wholly obliterated. And 
 should this be?" he continued — " certainly 
 not, if it is the dread of like punishment we 
 would instil into them. Ask yourselves, my 
 friends, are not the terrors of imagination far 
 greater than those of reality ?" 
 
 Is it not the common expression of every 
 one, after having passed through difficulties 
 and sufferings of every kind (where life is 
 spared, and they are enabled to communicate 
 their feelings to others), that the reality was 
 not nearly so bad as was anticipated, and that 
 they could not have believed they should have 
 endured it so well at the last ? And why is 
 this ? Is it not, that in all the scenes of life 
 there is action, and wherever there is action 
 there is excitement, and several of our senses 
 are employed at the same time ? But when 
 we are left to meditate upon, or to imagine
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 147 
 
 action of any kind, be it of pleasure or of 
 pain, how much more vivid is it ; how clearly 
 and how deeply is every line of the picture 
 traced ; all our outward senses are then 
 dormant ; and deep,, indeed, is the colouring 
 which imagination gives. Therefore, if death 
 must be awarded for certain crimes, it were 
 even better for the community at large, that 
 the sufferers paid their forfeiture in private." 
 
 " But if so/' said Lord H , "what 
 
 means could we employ to instil fear into the 
 minds of the lower orders of society ?" 
 
 u Let us first prove," resumed Lord Wick- 
 liffe, " whether present regulations do impart 
 any feeling of dread in the spectators. I 
 believe not; and I should like those who 
 differ from me to select some few individuals, 
 and learn from their sentiments who would 
 have the greater horror of witnessing or 
 suffering execution — he who had never been 
 a looker-on upon such an occasion, or he to 
 
 o 2
 
 148 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 whom it had been familiar from childhood, 
 and to whom it is a gratification to rise from 
 his bed to witness it; play truant for the 
 time, at the risk of giving his master displea- 
 sure, and then hasten back to a joyous and a 
 hearty breakfast." 
 
 " True, true," said the sleepy Lord S , 
 
 as he drained that glass to the dregs, which 
 should not have been re-filled, since he could 
 shake his head at men who worked harder 
 than himself, and tell them the very best 
 thing that they could do was to abstain from 
 all intemperance. 
 
 " But it will not do," observed Lord A , 
 
 " thus to allow the queen to take the power 
 into her own hands." 
 
 " We will leave her for a while/ 5 returned 
 
 Lord H , "and allow her to hold the 
 
 reins for a time. She will be sure to drive 
 headlong into some bog, from which it will 
 be ours to extricate her. We shall then have
 
 OR, ISLAND QCEEX. 149 
 
 her under our own control, and shall hold 
 influence over the people." 
 
 "Aye," observed Lord M , "unless 
 
 she should cry out for help elsewhere ; and 
 who knows what changes a woman, with 
 such highrlown notions, may choose to 
 make?" 
 
 " We must play our cards well," returned 
 Lord A . 
 
 " 1 think she has stepped quite out of 
 her sphere as a woman" said the dowager 
 old lady before-mentioned. u I do not like 
 women interfering with the business of the 
 country." 
 
 u Yet, surely," said Lady WicklifFe, " a 
 monarch should have a voice in the business 
 of the country, whether that monarch be man 
 or woman ; therefore, if a woman may not 
 interfere, a woman should not reign. And, 
 yet, I cannot but believe, that it is better to 
 have a wise and good queen than an imbecile 
 
 o 3
 
 150 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 and headstrong king. Both men and women 
 have the same touch-spring in their nature ; 
 the same motives for action, and the same 
 knowledge of right and wrong ; and, notwith- 
 standing the judgment of women may be less 
 profound, there is much greater quickness of 
 perception to make the balance equal." 
 
 u True, madam," returned the dowager 
 lady, u but it is rather hard," and here she 
 lowered her voice, that the rest of the com- 
 pany might not hear, u it is rather hard for 
 ladies, at our time of life, to see a young girl, 
 nay, a mere child, placed above us, and 
 receiving so much homage." 
 
 " That," replied Lady WicklifFe, " is by 
 no means irksome to me at my time of life. 
 I should neither wish for the state nor the 
 cares that attend royalty." 
 
 With the conclusion of this little female 
 colloquy, the ladies left the room. The 
 gentlemen sent the wine round with greater
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 151 
 
 rapidity, and continued the discussion of 
 public affairs with increased warmth and 
 vehemence. I will not give their observa- 
 tions at length. Suffice it to say, that ere 
 the juice of the grape had steeped their 
 debating powers in oblivion, they had passed 
 the resolution, that should the queen oppose 
 them, or propose any new measures that 
 were objectionable to them, they would 
 perplex her in every possible way, and exert 
 themselves to render her unpopular. How 
 far they succeeded, we must leave it to time 
 and circumstances to explain. 
 
 Many of the worthy nobles now became 
 too drowsy for debate. Still the wine went 
 freely round, and continued to do so long 
 after I had thought it prudent to desist (for I 
 never chose to be the slave of custom, and 
 take more than was pleasant to myself). 
 Bottle after bottle was called for, and the 
 conversation became less refined, and cer-
 
 152 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 tainly too little so for me to transmit to 
 paper. When they had succeeded in bringing 
 the intellectual faculties — those faculties 
 which should be regarded as the peculiar 
 blessing of the human species — down to the 
 very lowest ebb, levelling themselves as 
 nearly as possible with the beast creation, 
 they deemed it fitting to join the ladies, and 
 we entered the drawing-room. 
 
 A little tea and coffee, a little music, a 
 little flirtation, and a good deal of ennui, and 
 the company dispersed ; but not before I had 
 ingratiated myself into the favour of Lady 
 Wickliffe and her admirable daughters, and 
 had promised them that I would accept their 
 kind offer to make their house my home 
 whenever it was agreeable.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 153 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Alone, by night, a little child, 
 
 In place so silent 
 
 Has he no friend ? . . . ?" 
 
 S. T. Coleridge. 
 
 From this time I became a frequent visitor 
 at Lady Wickliffe's, and but for my constant 
 uneasiness respecting the fate of my friend, 
 and my excessive desire to return to Eng- 
 land, I could have passed a few months most 
 agreeably with this enlightened and hos- 
 pitable family. Lord WicklifFe and myself 
 became almost inseparable companions; there 
 was a similarity of taste and disposition, 
 which made us enjoy each other's society ; 
 we were both extremely fond of reading,
 
 154 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 great lovers of the beauties of nature, and 
 more than all, we were both in love, so that 
 we had rich and inexhaustible sources of 
 conversation. 
 
 We rode together, walked together, and 
 spent most of our evenings together, yet 
 were never weary of each other's company. 
 But for his society, and his listening so 
 patiently to my often-repeated eulogiums on 
 Edith Allingford, time would, indeed, have 
 been wearisome to me. He continued to 
 share my anxiety respecting the fate of Clif- 
 ford, and displayed the same lively interest 
 in the investigation of it. If accidental death, 
 or the discovery of any body were heard of 
 in any part of the kingdom, we immediately 
 set off to view it, and many a fruitless trip 
 we had. 
 
 It was after our return from one of these 
 journeys of discovery, when I had been 
 spending the evening at Lady Wickliffe's, .
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 155 
 
 before seeking my own lodgings, talking with 
 her ladyship and her amiable daughters of 
 the mysterious affair, until the finger of time 
 pointed on the dial plate to the hour of 
 midnight, and warned me that I should take 
 my departure, that as I rode along towards 
 my lodgings, before I had proceeded more 
 than a mile, my horse shied at something in 
 the road, and all that I could do, I could not 
 urge him forward. I could see nothing 
 myself, but a dark spot by the road-side, 
 which I imagined to be a pool of water ; the 
 night being dark and cloudy, with only a 
 glimmering star here and there, every object 
 was indistinct. 
 
 After trying in vain, for a considerable 
 time, to encourage the animal to go on, I 
 dismounted, and discovered that the object 
 which had alarmed my horse, instead of 
 being a pool of water, as I first imagined, was 
 a large mass of something or other, but I
 
 156 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 could not tell what, until T had felt it with 
 my hand. I then found it to be a boy about 
 ten years old, as nearly as I could judge 
 by the size. I concluded that he must have 
 lain himself down to sleep, and I tried to 
 rouse him. I spoke to him but could get no 
 answer. I shook him, calling loudly to him 
 at the same time, but to no purpose. I now 
 began to conclude that the poor fellow was 
 dead, for he betrayed no signs of life. I 
 raised him up, felt his hands, then passed 
 my own hand over his face ; he was extremely 
 cold, and I could not perceive that he 
 breathed. Poor child, thought I, as I laid 
 him down again upon the ground, he has had 
 a hard and a solitary death-bed. Just as I 
 had placed his head gently upon the earth, a 
 faint sigh escaped him, and convinced me 
 that life was not quite extinct. I took him 
 up, placed him across my saddle, and after 
 remounting myself, I supported him as well
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 157 
 
 as I could, and walked my horse gently 
 towards home. 
 
 When I arrived there, I found my land- 
 lady, who had been expecting my return, 
 waiting up for me. I somewhat surprised 
 her by sending my man in before me with 
 the poor boy, but on seeing the state he 
 was in, she had him immediately carried 
 into her own sitting-room and laid upon the 
 sofa. 
 
 Now that I had brought my little charge 
 into the light, his wretched appearance told 
 me plainly that he had long enough been a 
 stranger to the comforts of life, if ever he 
 had known them. His hands and face were 
 tolerably clean, showing that so far as the 
 poor fellow could help himself, he loved 
 cleanliness better than dirt ; but otherwise, 
 he was one mass of filth and rags, whilst 
 his form was so emaciated as to leave no 
 doubt that he was dying from starvation. 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 158 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 My kind hostess bestirred herself to get 
 some warmth into him by wrapping him 
 in a blanket and placing him near the fire. 
 After putting a few drops of warm brandy 
 and water into his mouth, he began to 
 revive, but it was not until the following 
 day was pretty far advanced, that he gave 
 any positive signs of returning conscious- 
 ness, and he then appeared so bewildered 
 with the strangeness of every thing and 
 every person around him, that we considered 
 it best to hold no conversation with him, 
 but to leave him to imagine, if he could, 
 that he was dreaming. In this state we 
 allowed him to remain for several days ; he 
 was well nursed, proper nutriment was ad- 
 ministered, and at a fortnight's end, I thought 
 him sufficiently restored to be able to give 
 some account of himself. 
 
 I therefore went into the little room 
 appropriated] to his use, to put some
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 159 
 
 questions to him respecting his birth, and 
 his wretched situation when I found him ; 
 to these questions he replied with child-like 
 ingenuousness and artless innocence. His 
 answers to my preliminary questions at first 
 startled me, and caused me to think, whether 
 I had not been nursing a young viper in my 
 bosom. I inquired of him where his parents 
 lived, when he described to me, as plainly as 
 he could, the hut upon the heath — which is 
 now pretty nearly as familiar to my 
 readers as it then was to me — and said, that 
 his father's name was William Bertrand ; 
 but my fears were soon dissipated as he 
 proceeded. I found that the tender shoot 
 had not yet imbibed pernicious influence 
 from the blasted stem it sprung from ; and, 
 without allowing him to perceive any asto- 
 nishment on my part, I encouraged him to 
 relate to me the events of his short life, and 
 the circumstances which had brought him to 
 
 p 2
 
 160 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the destitute and miserable condition in 
 which I had found him. He then told me, 
 that he had been for the last year, or at 
 least for the last year before he became a 
 beggar, employed by a country shopkeeper 
 as errand boy, in a small town, a few miles 
 from where his father had lived ; that his 
 master and mistress had treated him kindly 
 until the very night on which he left them ; 
 but on that night, he overheard his master 
 talking very loudly in the little room ad- 
 joining the shop, and heard him repeat his 
 own name several times, whilst his mistress 
 every now and then exclaimed, " The little 
 vagabond, we'll pack him off about his 
 business." This made him creep close to 
 the door of the room, to listen to what they 
 were talking about, when his ears were 
 assailed by a full and exaggerated account of 
 the crime in which his father had been an 
 accomplice ; and which was no sooner con-
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 161 
 
 eluded, than his master and mistress came 
 out of the room, the latter exclaiming, 
 " That it was a mercy they had not all been 
 murdered in their beds ;" whilst the former, 
 seizing him by the collar, and dragging him 
 towards the door, said, " Come along, come 
 along, you young reprobate, I little thought 
 what a nest you came from, or you should 
 never have slept a night beneath my roof ;" 
 and saying this, pushed him deliberately into 
 the street and closed the door upon him, 
 without even allowing time to gather together 
 the few clothes that belonged to him. Thus 
 was the poor child turned adrift, to find food 
 and shelter where he best might. 
 
 Nature pointed out to him what course 
 to take, and he directly bent his steps 
 towards the lonely hut, which he had been 
 accustomed to call his home; but it was 
 already dark, and he scarcely knew his way 
 by day- light. When he had walked some 
 
 p 3
 
 162 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 distance, he became very weary; but not 
 having been accustomed to sleep out of 
 doors, he was afraid to lie down to rest 
 himself^ and wandered on, until he said it 
 was darker than it ever was before. He 
 could not find his home till day-light again 
 returned — and, then he added (and the tears 
 came into the poor fellow's eyes, at the 
 recollection of the bitterness of his disap- 
 pointment), " When I arrived at the door of 
 the hut, so hungry, so cold, and so tired, I 
 found it wide open, and the little dwelling 
 quite empty.' 5 
 
 He now sobbed aloud, as though he were 
 again experiencing the same poignant grief 
 and a renewed disappointment ; but when I 
 begged him to be calm, and to go on telling 
 me his history, he wiped his eyes, and said, 
 that he had not much more to tell — that all 
 his days and nights since that time had been 
 much the same — he was ashamed and afraid,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 163 
 
 on turning away from the hut, to inquire 
 for his father or his grandmother; but 
 not having heard of their imprisonment 
 for their crimes, he had hoped, that he 
 should some day meet them ; and with this 
 hope, he wandered about from place to 
 place, and procured all that had kept him 
 alive, by the few halfpence he could beg. 
 
 He had found, that it was of no use to try 
 to get into another place, for no one would 
 employ him when they learned whose child 
 he was ; he loitered by the road side all day 
 to beg, and at night, crept into old barns, 
 or anywhere he could for shelter ; but lately, 
 he said, that he had obtained so little from 
 passers by, that he very often sat down and 
 cried with hunger. At last, he thought that he 
 would try to walk to the metropolis, having 
 heard, that there were a great many boys 
 there who were beggars, and — a but — I dare 
 not tell you the rest, sir/' said the child.
 
 164 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 ** Come, come, my little man," 1 replied, 
 encouragingly, " let me know all, do not be 
 afraid to tell me even if you have done 
 wrong/' 
 
 The boy looked up into my face with the 
 most imploring, and at the same time, the 
 most pitiable expression of countenance, as 
 if to read in my face how far I would con- 
 demn him for what he was about to com- 
 municate ; when, having gained some 
 assurance by so doing, he said, whilst he 
 covered his face with his little bony hands 
 as well as he could, " I will tell you all, sir." 
 I had heard, too, that when these boys could 
 not get enough by begging, they would not 
 mind stealing ; when I first heard this, I 
 turned back, and for several days went on as 
 I had done before ; but at last, sir, I could 
 bear it no longer, and again I made my way 
 into the high road for the great city. I 
 walked, and walked on, until I felt sick and
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 165 
 
 giddy, and, I believe, I fell down — but I do 
 not remember anything more that happened 
 till I awaked, and found myself in this 
 comfortable bed. I thought then that I 
 must be in heaven — I had heard once or 
 twice that there was such a place, and that 
 every body was at rest and very happy 
 there. But, O, sir," he continued, " I do wish 
 you had left me to die on the road side — I 
 should very soon have been dead," and 
 again the child began to cry sadly. 
 
 H Why, how is this, Robert ?" I observed 
 (for such was his name), " are you not 
 kindly treated, and are you not happy and 
 comfortable here ? " 
 
 " O yes, yes, sir/' he sobbed out, u all, 
 all that, and very thankful too, but it will 
 be so dreadful, after the kindness and 
 comforts you have given me, to be turned 
 out again to beg and to starve, or to be 
 again tempted to steal."
 
 166 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 " But you shall never be turned out any 
 more," I replied, " so long as you are a good 
 boy I will keep you, and you shall wait upon 
 me." 
 
 The boy looked incredulously at me, and 
 said, " You keep me, sir, now that you know 
 what a wicked father I have, and that I was 
 going to be wicked too !" 
 
 I turned my head away for a moment, for 
 I was quite overcome by the artlessness and 
 the sorrow of the child. Then turning to him 
 again, I patted him on the head, and said — 
 " Come, cheer up, cheer up, my little fellow, 
 so long as you are a good boy you shall live 
 with me (however wicked your father may 
 have been), and be my little page." 
 
 " I do not know what it is to be a page, 
 sir," said the boy, the tears still chacing each 
 other fast down his wan cheeks, " but I will 
 be any thing you like.'*
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 167 
 
 He then went down on his knees before 
 me, and clung so tightly to mine, and kissed 
 my hand so vehemently, that it was with 
 some difficulty I was able to moderate his 
 transports, which I began to fear would prove 
 too much for him in his weak state; and 
 such I was sadly grieved to find was the case. 
 The excitement threw him back for some 
 time ; however, at length he became well and 
 strong, and followed me about like a young 
 spaniel — never was spaniel more fond or 
 more faithful. He wanted to accompany me 
 everywhere. He would watch my looks, and 
 anticipate my wants ; and withal so quiet and 
 so unobtrusive, that it was impossible to 
 award him any thing but affection for his 
 assiduity. 
 
 I have often stolen out of the house, as a 
 mother would from a spoiled child, that I 
 might not have to rebuke him for his desire
 
 168 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 to follow me. When at home with my books 
 or my writing, he has esteemed it a privilege 
 to remain in the room, that he might be 
 ready to attend my slightest wish.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " May heaven and thine own virtues, high-born lady, 
 Be as a shield of fire, far, far aloof 
 To scare all evil from thee ! Yet, if fate 
 Hath destined thee one doubtful hour of danger — " 
 
 S. T. Coleridge. 
 
 The ensuing winter was an unusually mild 
 one, accompanied with much rain, and was 
 succeeded by an early and a beautiful spring. 
 It is interesting to observe how ever}' 
 creature rejoices in the spring of the year ; 
 even in the crowded streets of a thickly- 
 populated town or city there is something 
 so genial and agreeable to us in the brightness 
 and warmth of a spring morning, that our 
 bodies feel revived, our spirits refreshed, 
 
 VOL. I. Q,
 
 170 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 and our very hearts seem to expand with 
 hope and joy, with benevolence to man, and 
 gratitude to God. 
 
 But to those whose happier lot it is to 
 dwell the whole year round, surrounded by 
 gardens and fields, stately trees, and sweet 
 meadows, and lofty hills, and enchanting 
 valleys — how delightful, how exhilarating to 
 them is the return of spring, when all nature 
 bursts simultaneously from the iron grasp of 
 winter ; when the sweet songs of birds, as 
 they chaunt a requiem to the departing tyrant 
 who has been holding dominion over them, 
 or carol a joyous welcome to his more gentle 
 successor, fill the air with melody ! When 
 the meadows are again bedecked in freshest 
 verdure, and we may watch the full buds of 
 every tree and shrub expanding in the sun- 
 beams, it is impossible to be insensible to the 
 enchantment. 
 
 Gloomy as the mind of man sometimes is,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 171 
 
 when every thing around him is gay and 
 lovely, he cannot resist the charms of nature 
 at this season of general rejoicing; however 
 involuntarily, his heart still joins in the 
 universal exultation of all created things, and 
 he breathes forth thanks, though perhaps 
 unconsciously, to the Creator. 
 
 It was one morning, just at the very com- 
 mencement, the first dawning of the spring of 
 17 — , that the queen, who had been at her 
 town residence for some weeks, intimated her 
 desire to Lord Newton and her illustrious 
 mother to return to her splendid palace and 
 grounds at , when the following conver- 
 sation took place, and was afterwards related 
 to me by Lord Newton, to whom I am 
 indebted for the knowledge of all those con- 
 versations and actions of her majesty which I 
 was not myself favoured to witness : — 
 
 "My gracious sovereign is disposed to 
 forsake town prematurely this season," ob- 
 Q 2
 
 172 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 served Lord Newton. " The groves and gar- 
 dens have not yet begun to put on their 
 summer garments ; the trees are still bare ; 
 the winds bleak; the fountains and the 
 smooth lake may yet be glazed with ice ; 
 the gay, light-footed spring hath not yet 
 succeeded in chacing surly winter to a hiding 
 place, where he may effectually conceal his 
 hoary head, and free her from his cheerless 
 presence." 
 
 "Truly, my lord," rejoined the queen, 
 playfully, " but you do not consider it were 
 unbecoming our dignity to go and await the 
 triumphant arrival of our sister queen. It were 
 but an unwelcome reception to so youthful 
 and so august a visitor, if, when she arrived, 
 no one were waiting in readiness to receive 
 and congratulate her upon her newly-achieved 
 victory over her tyrannical adversary; and 
 as she approaches, singing her own sweet 
 songs, there were none to listen ; clad in
 
 OR, ISLAXD QUEEX. 173 
 
 her new and splendid habiliments, and no 
 eye to look upon her as she tripped it gaily 
 through our groves and over our lawns with 
 her fairy train surrounding her ; and with 
 her magic wand graciously embellishing every 
 step of our territories as she passes on. 
 'Twere pity of my heart to think of it, my 
 lord." 
 
 " We must presume the imaginary sym- 
 pathy of our august daughter with her no 
 less august sister^ arises from her own desire 
 that right loyal subjects should await her 
 approach in admiring multitudes wherever 
 she may be pleased to turn her youthful 
 steps/' said the mother of her majesty, 
 accompanying her words with an affectionate 
 smile. 
 
 With the premature judgment and clear 
 discrimination between right and wrong 
 evinced by the queen, there was blended all 
 the playfulness and vivacity of manner 
 
 q 3
 
 174 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 natural to her age. It was an arch and 
 smiling look that she cast upon her idolizing 
 parent when she retorted, " Aye, dear mother, 
 could I but have all their admiration turned 
 into genuine unfeigned love for my worthy 
 self, I would barter even that kind look of 
 thine, for the dear delight of receiving ho- 
 mage from my people wherever I presented 
 mvself." 
 
 " Our noble mistress, methinks, could not 
 desire louder acclamations, or larger con- 
 course of people than she has at all times to 
 greet her approach," said Lord Newton. 
 
 " Louder acclamations ! No, in sooth, my 
 lord," said the queen; "our people now 
 have no consideration for our nerves ; their 
 clamours truly are loud, but instead of being 
 nattered by their greetings, I feel a kind of 
 melancholy and discontent in my bosom. I 
 would have less enthusiasm, less adulation 
 awarded me until I have proved myself
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 175 
 
 worthy of it, and until I may have done so 
 much good for my country that 1 can believe 
 their rejoicings and gratulations flow from 
 the honest hearts of my subjects. It is over 
 the hearts rather than the bodies of my 
 people that I would govern." 
 
 '* But, alas ! I know and feel that their 
 greetings are but offered to my state and 
 station, and not to myself ; their unbounded 
 applause alike lowers them and myself in my 
 esteem, the one for giving, the other for 
 receiving more than is due." 
 
 " And would her majesty have her people 
 acknowledge her presence by sombre and 
 averted looks and silent tongues/' said the 
 queen dowager. 
 
 " Nay, sweet mother," returned the queen, 
 " we love not mournful faces, but we do love 
 truth stamped on every feature, and falling 
 from every tongue ; and thanks be to thee 
 who hath taught us so to do : hadst thou not,
 
 176 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 perchance this foolish head had been bewil- 
 dered by the flatteries and the pomp which 
 surround me." 
 
 " And must we understand that your 
 majesty determines to fly forthwith to the 
 
 seclusion of the grounds at , to avoid 
 
 the too ostentatious display of loyalty evinced 
 by your seemingly-loving subjects," inquired 
 Lord Newton. 
 
 " Not so exactly, my lord," returned the 
 queen, "but our presence is no longer 
 required in this our metropolis, and we have 
 left cares at our other royal residence which 
 claim our constant attention, and are seldom 
 absent from our thoughts." 
 
 " If your majesty alludes to the unhappy 
 culprit," returned Lord Newton, "I greatly 
 fear the case is hopeless ; your plans for sub- 
 duing him were merciful and benevolent, but 
 I fear they will prove ineffectual, and that 
 your leniency will fail to soften his obdurate
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 177 
 
 heart — his countenance still wears the same 
 ferocious aspect." 
 
 Never on a changeful April day in our 
 own country was the transition from bright 
 sunshine to dark clouds and heavy rain more 
 sudden or more striking than was the change 
 in the expression of the fine features of the 
 queen occasioned by this observation of the 
 minister whose opinion she valued. The 
 playful winning smile of the girl instantly 
 gave place to the dignified look of the sove- 
 reign ; her whole soul rushed into her coun- 
 tenance, giving language to every feature, 
 and pourtraying the sublimity of human 
 nature when it has been well directed, and is 
 allowed to show itself undisguised ; and at the 
 same time conveyed her hopes and fears 
 upon the subject alluded to so clearly to the 
 mind of Lord Newton, that words were 
 almost superfluous ; but not being aware of 
 this herself, she had recourse to the more
 
 178 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 usual way of communicating our thoughts 
 and feelings to one another. 
 
 "I am grieved to hear your opinion, my 
 dear lord/ 5 said the queen, " and most ear- 
 nestly do I wish that you could recall it. 
 Had all the world beside discouraged me, I 
 had not heeded it, so that you were ever at 
 my side, urging me forward and rendering 
 me more confident by uniting your belief 
 with mine, that ultimate success would crown 
 my endeavours. But since I must not hope 
 for your companionship, I will stand alone 
 and trust to my own prowess, however diffi- 
 cult the position I have to maintain, or 
 severe the defeat that may await me." 
 
 " My dear lady," resumed Lord Newton, 
 " I did not say that I had entirely abandoned 
 hope ; but fearing lest your mind were cling- 
 ing too fondly and confidently to it, I pre- 
 sumed to state, that I considered there was 
 much cause to fear, that disappointment must
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 1J9 
 
 be the result of this attempt to win back the 
 errinsr mind of man bv gentleness and soli- 
 tude, rather than by bodily privation or 
 bodily suffering: but nevertheless, my beloved 
 sovereign shall not find me weary of watching 
 with her for the slightest indication of the 
 fulfilment of her desires, upon which I would 
 seize with equal avidity with herself." 
 
 " It is a rough and untoward nursling, 
 my lord," said the queen dowager, " that 
 our child hath taken to try the experiment 
 upon ; and I fear me, that should her 
 scheme prove abortive, it will be a rich 
 subject of ridicule amongst her people." 
 
 " Not with the more enlightened classes, 
 madam," said Lord Newton, " nor with the 
 unenlightened, or, I should rather say, the 
 uneducated classes who possess good feeling ; 
 whose minds will dwell more uj:>on the 
 motives for so benevolent a course of con- 
 duct, than upon its failure. It is only from
 
 ISO THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the purely vulgar that we can anticipate any 
 thing of this kind, whose good opinion her 
 majesty can never possess without having 
 recourse to unworthy measures to obtain it." 
 " Indeed ! my revered friend/' rejoined 
 the queen, " with all deference to your long 
 experience, if I have success in other pro- 
 jects, I will venture to make an attempt 
 even upon these also ; and hope to gain 
 their good will and fair word, without at all 
 sacrificing my own good opinion or yours, 
 which is of so infinite value to me; for I 
 believe, there is a direct road to every human 
 heart, though so unfrequented, that few will 
 attempt the loneliness of the way or the 
 difficulties which they must necessarily 
 encounter, from the huge masses which have 
 been cast by the thoughtless and the gay 
 into the solitary path, and which threaten to 
 block it up, and render it wholly inacces- 
 sible.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 181 
 
 " As to the more immediate subject of 
 our conversation, my lord, hopeless and 
 ineffectual as our exertions may prove, we 
 
 will return to , and mark whether the 
 
 change of the seasons may have any effect 
 upon the unhappy man — whether the return 
 of spring, with the bright heavens above 
 him, and the beautiful earth beneath, may 
 not soften his morose feelings, now that he 
 is shut out from his fellow-men, with all his 
 actual wants supplied, and with nothing to 
 irritate his angry feelings — whether he may 
 not, in his loneliness, learn to look upon and 
 admire the loveliness of surrounding objects ; 
 from the contemplation of which, his mind 
 might naturally conduct itself into a purer 
 and a holier channel, to dwell upon the 
 power and beneficence of the great Creator 
 of the universe." 
 
 " Could this change be wrought in him," 
 returned Lord Newton, " our task were 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 182 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 complete ; there would be nothing left for 
 ns to do," 
 
 " Save, to carry on our plan on a more 
 extensive scale/ 5 said the queen, " and to 
 adopt a similar method for reclaiming every 
 delinquent of our realm ; instead of hurrying 
 some out of the world, whilst they are in no 
 fit state to live in it ; and goading others on 
 to desperation, by the injudicious means 
 which we at present employ ; from which 
 we can hope for no other result, than that 
 they will be rendered far more unfit to 
 mingle in society, when they are again freed 
 from controul and imprisonment, than they 
 were when we took them under our care. 
 But more on this subject, my lord, another 
 time ; 'tis vain to talk of it now, yet it is 
 one that I will not have put to rest, though 
 I fail in this, my first attempt, at re- 
 formation." 
 
 It will be observed, that the queen
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 183 
 
 dowager took little part in the conversation ; 
 she seldom did in anything that related to 
 public affairs. She seemed now to prefer 
 leaving her daughter to her own guidance. 
 
 It had been hers to raise the noble 
 fabric, the rigging and fitting up of the 
 vessel had been completed by her own 
 skilful hand, with the nicest care of the 
 most cunning workman, and she now feared 
 not to see it launched on the great and 
 perilous ocean. 
 
 She wished the queen to feel the weight 
 of the responsibility attendant on her station, 
 rather than to habituate herself to cast the 
 burden upon others ; and she likewise 
 desired that she should receive the full and 
 undivided gratitude and affection awarded 
 by the people, for any act by which they were 
 benefitted. She seldom attempted to give 
 her opinion, or to oppose the wishes of the 
 queen. The court, therefore, agreeably to 
 
 r 2
 
 184 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 her majesty's proposition, returned to the 
 country earlier than was usual at this season 
 of the year. 
 
 The nobility and gentry murmured greatly. 
 They did not like their season of gaiety 
 curtailed. Discontent was gradually increasing 
 with this class of her majesty's subjects. She 
 became daily more unpopular with them on 
 account of her contemplative character, and 
 the disapprobation which she always evinced 
 for language or conduct that was either unjust 
 or immoral. It would have been more 
 consonant with their taste had she proved 
 herself a gay and gilded toy for them to trifle 
 with — an unthinking, unfeeling, frivolous 
 thing, to be the sport of every wind that 
 blew — a mask, behind whose privileged, 
 unmeaning frontage, they might conceal their 
 unblushing faces and walk boldly on, 
 trampling alike upon justice, mercy, truth, 
 and morality; and like the locusts of other
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 185 
 
 climes, devouring all the produce of the land, 
 whilst the poor but honest labourer was left 
 to starve. Bitter enough was their disap- 
 pointment now that they found that the 
 young creature, whose reign they had antici- 
 pated with so much hope as their golden age 
 and jubilee ; one whom they expected would 
 prove as pliable in their experienced hands 
 as the slightest osier of the streamlet, had 
 thoughts and feelings of her own, and mind 
 and fortitude wherewithal to maintain them, 
 and to support her own position despite their 
 suffrage ; one who seemed almost gifted with 
 supernatural powers to arrest them in their 
 course. 
 
 The tokens of their disappointment and 
 mortification were frequently so openly dis- 
 played, that the aged and faithful minister, 
 Lord Xewton, feared for the result. He 
 knew the instability of the throne, when 
 encompassed on all sides by intrigue and 
 
 r 3
 
 186 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 malignity, and deemed it morally impossible 
 that the people at large could know the real 
 character of her majesty, and become attached 
 to her whilst she was thus environed by those 
 who would be always ready and willing to 
 traduce her. He was fully aware, by the 
 insight which he had had into the decided 
 principles of the queen, that she would not 
 alter her course of conduct whatever conse- 
 quences might ensue. He foresaw that, in all 
 probability, her reign, instead of being the 
 tranquil one which he could desire for her, 
 must be one of continual turmoil ; if indeed 
 she were allowed to retain the crown of her 
 ancestors. It was this fear which made him 
 frequently endeavour (even where his own 
 ardent spirit panted to see her strike out in 
 the bold and daring path) to repress her 
 ardour. He heard the murmurs of discontent 
 and ridicule in every direction ere they had 
 quitted the metropolis, and he became more
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 187 
 
 anxious than ever that her majesty^s first 
 public act of responsibility — her scheme for 
 the reformation of the prisoners whom she 
 had taken under her own management — 
 should meet with success.
 
 188 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " Death stood all glassy in his fixed eye j 
 His hand was withered, and his veins were dry, 
 His foot, in bony whiteness, glittered there, 
 Shrunken and sinewless, and ghastly bare." 
 
 Hebrew Melodies. 
 
 It was just at this juncture^ that one morn- 
 ing when reading the newspaper, which was 
 my constant practice whilst taking my 
 breakfast, that I met with the following 
 paragraph : — 
 
 u Found in a mill-dam, in the neighbour- 
 hood of , the body of a man much 
 
 decomposed, and bearing every appearance 
 of having been many months under water. 
 Any person or persons who may wish to 
 view the body must lose no time as it will
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 189 
 
 be impossible to keep it many days. It is 
 to be viewed at the Seven Stars public - 
 
 house, at ." I had little doubt that this 
 
 would prove to be the body of Clifford. 
 The length of time which it must have been 
 under water ; the place being not far distant 
 from that where we had encountered the 
 ruffians, strengthened my conviction ; and 
 after reflecting upon the subject for a short 
 time, I felt so certain that my surmises must 
 be correct, that I thought I might spare 
 myself the pain of looking on the disgusting 
 spectacle and remain content with this cer- 
 tainty in my own mind, without further 
 investigation. 
 
 However, I set off in quest of Lord 
 Wickliffe, followed by my little page, Robert, 
 whom I wanted to do some errands for me 
 in town. 
 
 I arrived at my friend's house just before
 
 190 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 they had finished that first delightful meal of 
 the day, breakfast ; and doubly delightful, 
 when a happy family meet to partake the 
 repast after their night's separation with 
 content, and cheerfulness, and affection, 
 depicted in every countenance, and such was 
 the case at Lady Wickliffe's. 
 
 A smile of welcome greeted me as usual 
 on my entrance, and a sally of wit and com- 
 pliments on my early rising, but no sooner 
 did I take the newspaper from my pocket 
 and hand it to Wickliffe, pointing to the 
 paragraph before-mentioned, then every smile 
 around me was turned into a look of curiosity 
 and anxiety. I told Wickliffe that I did not 
 
 intend going to . He agreed with me 
 
 and observed that he thought it would be 
 only needlessly distressing ourselves to go, 
 that in all probability the body was so far 
 decomposed, as to render it impossible to
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN*. 191 
 
 recognize it, and observed, there can scarcely 
 be the shadow of a doubt as to its being the 
 remains of poor Clifford. 
 
 A few minutes silence succeeded this 
 determination, which was broken by Lady 
 Wickliffe, who said, " excuse me, gentlemen, 
 but I think you are wrono; in not endeavour- 
 ing to remove even the slightest shadow of 
 doubt. There is still the possibility of the 
 body not being that of your friend. Had his 
 assailant so quickly and so easily put him 
 out of the wav, surelv he would instantlv 
 have returned to the assistance of those with 
 whom he had left vou engaged." 
 
 This remark from Lady Wickliffe made us 
 alter our decision at once. I cannot imagine 
 how it was, that in our certainty that we had 
 at length discovered the fate of Clifford, both 
 Wickliffe and myself had forgotten that the 
 same obscurity had veiled that of the assas- 
 sin, and that is was almost equally possible
 
 192 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the body found should prove to be his as 
 Clifford's, but we lost no further time in 
 useless debate about possibilities and pro- 
 babilities. 
 
 In less than half an hour, Lord Wickliffe 
 
 and myself were on the road to . In 
 
 the back seat of the chaise was my little 
 page, Robert, whom we were to drop on the 
 way, having to pass my residence ; but it so 
 chanced, that, intent as we were upon the 
 object of our journey, and being deeply 
 engaged in conversation the whole of the 
 way, we forgot the boy, until we had passed 
 some miles beyond the place. The sly 
 urchin cared not to say a word about it 
 himself, so that he went on with us, and in a 
 few hours we found ourselves upon the well- 
 known heath. Arrived here, we were uncer- 
 tain which way to turn; we had imagined 
 that we were well acquainted with the 
 neighbourhood, and believed that there was
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 193 
 
 no path we had left unexplored, but we did 
 not now remember any that led to a mill- 
 dam, nor having ever observed the public- 
 house alluded to in the newspaper. I now 
 bethought myself of Robert, and that he 
 perhaps might be of use to us in our 
 dilemma, and so he proved ; every inch of 
 ground appeared to be familiar to the boy, 
 and dear to him, as the haunts of childhood 
 always are, whether the feelings and circum- 
 stances which they recall to our recollection 
 be those of pleasure or of pain. He con- 
 ducted us to the further extremity of the 
 heath, when we found ourselves obliged to 
 alight, and after having desired Lord Wick- 
 liffe's man to put up at the first inn upon 
 the road which was some few miles distant, 
 we followed our youthful guide on foot, who 
 after having duly informed us, that had we 
 told him before where we wished to go, he 
 could have taken us by a more direct road ; 
 vol. i. s
 
 194 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 he with smiling face and dignified air, strutted 
 on manfully, not a little proud of having us 
 under his safe conduct. He led us through 
 an open gate-way, which instead of being a 
 thoroughfare, appeared to be only an 
 entrance to a small farm, but facing which 
 and bearing somewhat to the left, was a row 
 of lofty trees, partially concealing a mill 
 that was almost entirely surrounded by 
 water, which was banked up into a dam, 
 venting itself only by supplying a small 
 rivulet with the surplus water which found 
 its way over the large sluice-gates that shut 
 in one extremity of it. 
 
 tt Poor Clifford," said WicklifTe, as we 
 passed by the smooth-surfaced piece of water 
 (which looked pleasant enough on a bright 
 spring morning, with the willows dipping 
 their long branches into it), " this was a most 
 convenient place for the ruffian to put him 
 hastily out of the way."
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 195 
 
 " And no fear," I observed, u of the good 
 people at the mill being disturbed by the 
 shrieks and struggles of one human being on 
 such a night as that was." 
 
 " Possibly," returned WicklhTe, " the 
 villain mounted his horse immediately, and 
 was off to some remote part of the kingdom 
 to dispose of him, where he might not be in 
 any danger of detection, and where, having 
 heard of the fate of his comrades, and not 
 daring to return, he thinks it most prudent 
 to remain." 
 
 We proceeded along a narrow pathway 
 that wound its way round the mill, and 
 brought us out into a long open field; this 
 we crossed, and after it another ; passed 
 through the turnstile at the far end, and came 
 into a pretty winding lane, along which we 
 walked for a considerable distance. 
 
 We now arrived at a hamlet, composed of 
 several neat and picturesque cottages, about 
 
 s 2
 
 196 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 the midst of which stood the little red-bricked 
 house, with its rude sign, bearing seven blazing 
 stars, painted so full and large upon it, that 
 we needed no farther information from our 
 little guide. 
 
 Both Wickliffe and myself walked hastily 
 and nervously up to the door ; we passed the 
 threshold, but I felt as though I could proceed 
 no farther. My breathing became difficult, 
 accompanied by a half- choking sensation, 
 with dizziness in the head, and violent 
 trembling in the limbs. I had viewed several 
 bodies during the many tedious months I 
 had spent in the hitherto fruitless attempt to 
 discover my friend, but I had always been 
 composed, and had never before evinced any 
 of that nervous timidity or excessive emotion 
 which I now betrayed, and which was so 
 painful to me to endure. I could account for 
 it in no other way than that I now felt more 
 certain than I had in either of the other cases
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 197 
 
 that this would surely prove to be the body 
 of Clifford. 
 
 I had also been talking more than usual 
 about him to Wickliffe, for notwithstanding he 
 had been the frequent subject of our conversa- 
 tion, never until this morning had I traced 
 and related to Wickliffe all our boyish frolics, 
 our school-day friendship, and every little 
 circumstance which from that time forward 
 had made the bond more indissoluble between 
 us. This I suppose it was that had so com- 
 pletely wrought upon my feelings as to 
 render me unequal to the task of looking 
 upon his unseemly remains. I leaned for a 
 few seconds against the side of the entrance ; 
 the people of the house brought me a glass 
 of water, and I soon recovered myself suffi- 
 ciently to govern, if not to overcome, my 
 excitement. 
 
 The host, a short, stout, self-important 
 little fellow, ushered us into the apartment 
 
 s 3
 
 198 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 where the body lay with the same strut with 
 which he might have been expected to conduct 
 us into a room where we were to regale 
 ourselves on some of his good cheer. 
 
 We advanced towards the bier, which 
 was entirely covered with a sheet ; this the 
 inn-keeper raised, and presented to our 
 view, instead of the fine manly features that 
 once were Clifford 's, such a mass of cor- 
 ruption, as might be expected from the 
 length of time the body had been under 
 water, and which was disgusting indeed to 
 look upon ; my heart sickened at the 
 spectacle, but I shrunk not from my task, 
 notwithstanding every trace of feature 
 appeared to be gone, by which one human 
 creature could be distinguished from another. 
 I made every possible examination — I looked 
 at the single tuft of hair which still re- 
 mained upon the nearly bare skull — the 
 teeth, which preserved the same beautiful
 
 OR, ISLAND QL'EEX. . 199 
 
 whiteness and regularity as in life — the 
 stature, this too corresponded. The nails 
 still remained, though the flesh was almost 
 entirely gone, but these looked more suited 
 to the hand of a working man — to one who 
 had been accustomed to handle rougher 
 tools than the man of affluence and high 
 birth has need for — they were stunted and 
 spread, and, though well enough calculated 
 to defend the finger-ends, they could never 
 have been ornamental. This somewhat 
 staggered me in mj* conviction. I remem- 
 bered the pen in the finely- moulded hand of 
 my friend, and the barrelled nails that were 
 carefully tended. Yet, I did not wish to 
 doubt his identity, and I was willing to believe 
 that the nails had been softened and changed 
 by the effect of the water. 
 
 After going through these investigations, 
 I stood for some moments in melancholy 
 reverie; from which the host roused me,
 
 200 • THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 by stating, that there was one article of 
 dress belonging to the deceased still entire, 
 if we would like to look at it ; saying this, 
 he brought forward a striped leathern jacket 
 — at the sight of which, the poor boy, 
 Robert, who had not had courage to come 
 into the room, but who stood peeping at the 
 half- open door, cried out, with evident 
 transport, at once more recognising an 
 object, that had been familiar to him in 
 early childhood. 
 
 u 'Tis my uncle's ! my uncle Robert's 
 jacket ! granny made it herself, and I held 
 the buttons, and gave them to her one by 
 one as she sewed them on." 
 
 WicklifFe and I looked one upon the 
 other in mute astonishment. The host 
 called the boy into the room to question 
 him. 
 
 " Are you quite sure, my little man, that 
 you knew the person to whom this waistcoat 
 belonged ? "
 
 a 
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 201 
 
 " I shall be quite sure, sir/' said Robert, 
 if you will be so good as to give it to me 
 in my own hands for a minute, for when 
 granny was making it, I wanted to sew too 
 — she gave me a needle — I sewed in one 
 corner, and I dare say the stitches are there 
 still." 
 
 The man handed the jacket to the 
 boy, who, looking to one corner of the inner 
 side of it, immediately pointed to a thick 
 cluster of stitches one over another, worked 
 with strong thread. This was proof sufficient 
 — we could need no more to convince us, 
 that, whether the body before us were that 
 of the robber or of Clifford; it was quite 
 certain that the former had met with a 
 watery grave on that fearful night, and we 
 concluded, that they must both have fallen 
 in whilst struggling together. 
 
 But this recent discovery left us only 
 increased mystery to unravel. We could
 
 202 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 have conceived it possible that a heavy 
 weight should have been fastened to the 
 body of Clifford, had he alone perished, 
 before he was immersed in the water, in 
 order to keep him from rising; but it was 
 very difficult to account for that of the 
 robber remaining so long below the surface. 
 There was now no other course left for us to 
 pursue, than to have the mill-dam searched. 
 The good man of the little hostelry 
 volunteered to go with us to the miller. We 
 accordingly sallied forth, attended by our 
 companion, and followed by Robert, who 
 still kept the jacket tucked up closely under 
 his arm, and seemed to regard it as an old 
 friend newly recovered.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN, 203 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " How bright the sun-shine that a cheerful heart 
 To all within its influence can impart ! 
 Frankly it welcomes — cordially it greets, 
 And owns a brother, in each man it meets." 
 
 Smythe. 
 
 We found the miller a jovial good-humoured 
 man, who bore every mark of life having 
 glided on with him as smoothly and tran- 
 quilly as the limpid stream which surrounded 
 his dwelling. 
 
 When we informed him that it was our 
 desire to have the mill-dam dragged, and 
 requested his permission to be allowed to send 
 men to do it, he looked as grave upon the 
 subject as the risible muscles of his face would 
 permit, and replied —
 
 204 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 " Certainly, certainly, gentlemen, you 
 shall be quite welcome to fish in my pond. 
 Wife and I would be as well pleased if you 
 exterminate that breed altogether. Being 
 somewhat delicate in our appetites, we have 
 no relish for so large a species of fish. Before 
 the last was fairly caught and brought to 
 land, I assure you (pardon me, gentleman, if 
 the deceased is nearly allied to you, I mean 
 no harm), but in good truth he gave me many 
 a cold sweat. Many a bright moonlight 
 night has he made my hair bristle up on end 
 when he swayed his ghastly face about, and 
 waved his bony hands, just so far below the 
 surface of that smooth water that I could 
 every now and then catch a glimpse of him. 
 I suppose he had one of his legs hooked into 
 one of the massive rings of the sluice-gates, 
 as he never rose any higher till he was disco- 
 vered floating quite on the surface the other 
 day. I dare say he had just got his freedom,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 205 
 
 after being so long detained prisoner, by 
 slipping his shin-bone out of the flesh, as we 
 should our leg out of a stocking." 
 
 Annoyed by the levity of the miller's 
 manners, but unable to show displeasure from 
 the evidence we had, that his jocularity on a 
 subject so serious to us was produced more 
 by over- exuberant animal spirits than from 
 any unkindness of heart, we observed, " But 
 how was it, if you had for some time noticed 
 the body of a man in the water, you did 
 not have the matter looked into r" 
 
 " Why, for this very same reason, gentle- 
 men," returned the miller, " the spectral 
 view which I had of him was so very indistinct, 
 that I was ready to conclude it was some 
 apparition which my own sinful conscience 
 had conjured up — some demon from below 
 who was to be my escort to a place of retri- 
 bution, so I said not a word to any one; I 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 206 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 liked not to own any acquaintance with 
 him." 
 
 " But we are losing time, gentlemen," 
 said our little fat friend of the inn, " shall I 
 go and procure some men ? It is not often 
 we meet with a piece of good luck at the 
 1 Seven Stars.' But I shall not make much 
 by the job if I am long off the premises — 
 there 's nobody else to puff my good ale and 
 stout." 
 
 " Nay, nay, Jemmy Blunt," said the 
 miller, " we will not detain thee, man, go thy 
 ways ; the gentlemen, I am sure, would not 
 wish to stand between thee and good Mistress 
 Fortune. My men shall attend to the little 
 business which these gentlemen have for 
 them to do. But go not away empty, my 
 honest friend ; tarry awhile, whilst I get a 
 tankard of our home-brewed, which, though 
 it may not be compared with the brown stout 
 and X X of the * Seven Stars,' may yet serve 
 to help thee on thy way/'
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 207 
 
 The tankard of ale shortly appeared, from 
 which we each quaffed a hearty draught. The 
 country innkeeper took a second potion for 
 the honour of the house, as he said, and then 
 took his departure, strutting on with all due 
 decorum until he fancied himself out of 
 sight ; then, with as long strides as his short 
 legs would permit, and now a hop and a jump, 
 he made his way over the ground towards his 
 own home. 
 
 We watched him as far as we could ; the 
 miller laughing heartily at the ludicrous little 
 figure in the distance, whom he compared to 
 a grass-hopper. The miller's men were sum- 
 moned and set to work, and for several hours 
 they were fruitlessly employed in dragging 
 the dam. At length they became weary, and 
 we hopeless ; but seeing us still unwilling to 
 relinquish the search, the good-natured miller 
 proposed opening the sluice-gates so far as 
 to admit the water to escape, but not wide 
 
 t 2
 
 208 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 enough to allow any solid body to pass at 
 the same time, by this means to empty the 
 dam and insure the certainty we so much 
 desired, respecting the object of our anxiety, 
 adding with his native good-humour (alluding 
 to the mill), " that it would but stop the fair 
 lady for a time from doing her duty." 
 
 After some considerable difficulty and 
 exertion, the opening of the gates was at 
 length effected, and the water was left to 
 make its escape during the night, whilst we 
 unreluctantly accepted the oner of the jovial 
 miller. 
 
 He conducted us through a grotesque 
 archway and down an avenue of trees of his 
 own planting, all of different species, shapes, 
 and sizes, which I was ready to fancy were 
 alike laughing at each other, and at their 
 merry master who had placed them side by 
 side in such absurd variety. 
 
 We now entered the good man's house ;
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 209 
 
 here all looked bright and mirthful, indicat- 
 ing that the spirit of contentment and gaiety 
 displayed by the head of the family had 
 shed its influence over the whole household. 
 The fat little wife of the miller bestirred 
 herself to set before us the very best her 
 larder could supply ; whilst six or seven 
 chubby-faced children swarmed round the 
 good man like a hive of bees. He pretended 
 to wish to shake them off, but it was evident 
 all the while that he delighted in their 
 caresses, and amidst their boisterous mirth, 
 he called out to his wife — 
 
 " Dame, you can furnish the gentlemen 
 with a bed, can you not ; you know our good 
 maxim is one for ourselves and one for a 
 friend." 
 
 The good lady assented with a smile. 
 
 We thanked our hospitable host, but told 
 him that we would not encroach upon his 
 kindness, that we would trust to the accom- 
 
 T 3
 
 210 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 modation at the " Seven Stars f however, he 
 would take no refusal, and we liked our 
 quarters too well to persist in opposing him. 
 The next morning we arose early, and upon 
 the stairs we met the miller who had already- 
 been out. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, now is your time," 
 were the words with which he accosted us, 
 " the dam is well-nigh exhausted, and a few 
 minutes may put your doubts to rest." We 
 took our hats and hastened out, watched the 
 water escaping for about half an hour longer, 
 when the bottom was clearly to be seen in 
 all parts of the dam ; but to our astonish- 
 ment, we could discover no other vestige of 
 a human being, excepting that of the rem- 
 nants of a pair of corderoy trousers clinging 
 to one of the rings of the sluice-gates, which 
 gave evidence of the miller's surmises 
 respecting the cause of the body, which had 
 been taken out of the water, remaining in 
 the same position so long.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 211 
 
 I can scarcely describe the disappointment 
 I now felt ; I had almost as anxiously desired 
 to rind this the resting-place of my friend, as 
 I had at first hoped to discover him alive. 
 This hope had long since passed away, and 
 now, too, had the expectation of ever being 
 able to discover his body. My perplexity 
 was greater than ever. The assassin had 
 perished ; the body lately found, unquestion- 
 ably, was his, and mystery must for ever 
 veil the fate of my earliest friend. 
 
 After remunerating the miller in as deli- 
 cate a manner as we could, by lavishing our 
 money upon the children, we returned to 
 town. I was sorrowful and dejected, and in 
 vain did Lord Wickliffe seek to cheer me on 
 the way. The next day I secured my passage 
 in the first ship that sailed for the port of 
 
 , hoping from thence to make my way 
 
 speedily to England. But even supposing 
 that I could meet with a British vessel readv
 
 212 THE MAIDEN MONARCH 1 
 
 to sail, I could not expect to make the voyage 
 in less than five months. 
 
 This interval of time which must neces- 
 sarily pass before I could again meet my 
 beloved Edith, was in anticipation as a 
 century to me, now that I had determined to 
 return to my native land. 
 
 I had not received one letter either from 
 Sir H. Allingford, or from Edith ; but I had 
 no just cause for uneasiness on this account ; 
 the distance, the time that must transpire 
 between letters passing to and fro, rendering 
 it scarcely possible that I could have a reply 
 to any letters that I had sent. I had written 
 by every vessel that afforded me the oppor- 
 tunity, and had hitherto borne with a tolerable 
 degree of patience, the privation to which I 
 had subjected myself for so many months ; 
 but now that I had its termination in view, I 
 became restless and irritable, alternately tor- 
 tured by impatient hopes and imaginary 
 fears.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 213 
 
 I believe once or twice during the few 
 remaining days I passed on shore previous 
 to my departure, that I behaved almost 
 rudely in return for the kindness, the consi- 
 derate attention which I received from Lord 
 Wickliffe and his excellent family. When 
 spoken to I gave but a short and ungracious 
 reply, and when they sat silently around, I 
 complained of the tediousness of time. 
 
 But if I foolishly imagined that time 
 stood still purposely to torment me, he 
 shortly gave proof that he did not, by bring- 
 ing the hour of leave-taking of these kind 
 friends, and with many apologies and many 
 promises that I would one day return to 
 introduce my bride, and sojourn a few months 
 with them, I bade them adieu; and like a 
 boy eager to hasten from school at the com- 
 mencement of his holidays, I hurried to the 
 place of embarkation, and was on board the 
 vessel that was to bear me the first part of
 
 214 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 my way towards the haven of my hopes and 
 eager anticipations, some hours before it was 
 needful, and before any other passenger had 
 arrived. I took an anxious and impatient 
 survey of the blue and boundless waters that 
 I had to traverse, and vainlv desired that I 
 had the power to force my vision to penetrate 
 the distance, that I might have the cliffs of 
 my native country in view during my 
 voyage.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 215 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " Ye hours of expectation, quickly fly, 
 And bring on hours of blest reality ; 
 When I shall Laura see, beside her stand, 
 Hear her sweet voice, and press her yielded hand." 
 
 " When minds are joyful, then we look around, 
 And what is seen is all on fairy ground ; 
 Again they sicken, and on every view 
 Cast their own dull and melancholy hue ; 
 Or, if absorb' d by their peculiar cares, 
 The vacant eye on viewless matter glares : 
 Our feelings still upon our views attend, 
 And their own natures to the objects lend." 
 
 The Lover's Journey — Crabbk. 
 
 A brisk gale bore me from the shores ol 
 
 , and in a few hours the land was 
 
 almost lost to sight. 
 
 It may easily be conceived, that I cared 
 not to make any fresh acquaintances on the
 
 216 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 voyage, with so many objects of deep 
 interest in my mind's eye. 
 
 I had friends enough thronging around 
 my heart and brain to hold converse with. 
 It is the gay and the thoughtless — those 
 whose hearts are not pre-occupied — who seek 
 new faces to gaze upon, and to contract new 
 friendships with, in order to fill up the void 
 within. As for me, I had my Edith, Clifford, 
 the queen of the fine country I had so lately 
 quitted, and the hospitable friends with 
 whom I had but just parted, to engross all 
 my thoughts and feelings. 
 
 On my arrival at the port of , I was 
 
 so unfortunate as to find that a ship had 
 sailed only two days before for England, and 
 that I must now wait a full month before I 
 could re-embark. Maddened with vexation 
 and disappointment at this delay, I derived 
 but little consolation from the knowledge 
 that the vessel now on her way bore my last
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 217 
 
 letter to Edith, informing her of the pro- 
 bable time of my return ; and in which I 
 had warmly expressed the long-imprisoned 
 ardour of my soul, and the fond hope, that 
 no unforeseen event might happen to dissi- 
 pate my vision of happiness ; and had 
 likewise entreated her to prepare for a 
 speedy union. 
 
 To none but those who have never 
 experienced a similar delay, need I attempt 
 to describe what I endured during the 
 following month, and to these perhaps it 
 were vain ; for words are altogether inade- 
 quate to express the apparent extension of 
 seconds into hours, and weeks into months, 
 when we are looking forward to one desired 
 event, with no other object in view, and no 
 necessary employment to beguile us into the 
 belief that time passes on as swiftly as he is 
 wont to do. 
 
 vol. i. u
 
 218 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 I had no acquaintance to speak to, no 
 books to read, no walks or rides but the 
 same dull rounds, where every dwelling of 
 the town, every hill, and tree, and shrub, 
 and flower of the country, were irksome to 
 me to look upon ; for all were alike tinged 
 and overshadowed by the gloom and weariness 
 which pervaded my own mind. 
 
 I have often pondered since upon that 
 solitary month of my existence, and reflected 
 upon the purgatory of a whole life spent in 
 total seclusion and idleness ; more especially 
 if held in durance vile by the will of others, 
 and deprived of the power of achieving any 
 one desire which the human heart pants 
 after. 
 
 My only solace, the only mitigation of 
 my vexation that I could have recourse to, 
 was pourtraying to my imagination my first 
 meeting with Edith ; in contemplating our 
 marriage, and in arranging all our plans of
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 219 
 
 future happiness. This train of thought would 
 often lead me on to hope, that I might be able 
 to prevail upon Edith to leave her native 
 land, and return to reside with me in the 
 beautiful country where I had so long been 
 a visitor. I was sure, that if she could 
 overcome the difficulty of being separated 
 from her family, that she would feel the 
 same delight in living in a land, under a 
 monarch such as I should describe the queen 
 
 of to be ; and that she would enter into 
 
 all my anxiety to observe the effect pro- 
 duced, by individual exertion, upon a 
 country whose subjects were corrupt enough 
 in their morals when that monarch came to 
 the throne. 
 
 I had left Edith Allingford a benevolent, 
 contemplative girl, of a firm and decided 
 cast of character, but full of gentleness and 
 affection, with heart and mind to resist all 
 the vicissitudes of life, so long as her delicate 
 
 u 2
 
 220 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 frame could withstand them ; and, although 
 I had been so long separated from her, I 
 had no fear of finding her changed ; 1 could 
 calculate upon her sentiments as clearly as 
 though I had parted with her bat yesterday. 
 I indulged in these contemplations to the 
 full, dreaming away my days, and converting 
 my fond imaginations into realities by night. 
 In the pride of my heart, I longed to present 
 my beautiful Edith to Lord Wickliffe and 
 his amiable sisters, and I pictured to myself 
 all the kindness and affection they would 
 bestow upon her. I reflected, too, that, if I 
 resided in that country, I must eventually 
 discover the fate of Clifford, and this would 
 ever be one amongst my most ardent wishes. 
 I dwelt so frequently upon the idea of 
 settling in so interesting a country, having 
 no tie, save Edith, to bind me to any other, 
 that it at length became identified with all 
 my prospects of the future.
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 2 '21 
 
 During this month's solitude, the only 
 creature who ever broke in upon the current 
 of my thoughts, was my little page, Robert. 
 He naturally construed my pensive manners 
 into sorrow and sadness, and his essays to 
 rouse me from my moodiness, were very 
 laughable ; displaying at once the simplicity 
 of childhood, and the disinterestedness of his 
 affection for me. 
 
 One morning, on returning from a long 
 walk, I found a little jumping figure (ma- 
 noeuvring all kinds of antics) placed upon 
 the mantel-piece of the room which I occupied. 
 On inquiring of him how it came there, he 
 told me, in the most artless manner, u That 
 he thought it would amuse me," and added, 
 " that he would have bought me a better 
 one, but he had no more money." I laughed 
 heartily, and this delighted the boy ; he had 
 not seen me laugh for many a long day. I 
 gave him some money to fill his pockets, 
 
 u 3
 
 222 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 and a parental admonition about not spending 
 it wastefully, and then dismissed him. The 
 next evening, whilst I was sitting at the 
 open window, and looking upon a beautiful 
 sun-set, there was a gentle tap at the room- 
 door, and the boy entered with a little 
 mongrel puppy, which he brought and laid 
 at my feet, saying, as he looked up into my 
 face, and smiling with self-satisfaction, " That 
 he believed I was very fond of dogs." I 
 told him that I was so, having no heart to 
 damp the poor fellow's enjoyment, whilst he 
 fancied that he was softening my suffering, 
 and contributing to my pleasure. 
 
 " But where did you meet with this dog, 
 llobert ?" I inquired, " you have not, I hope, 
 brought me one that belongs to any body 
 else ?" 
 
 I had scarcely uttered these words when 
 I would have given the world to have recalled 
 them. I had asked the question without a
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 223 
 
 thought, and almost without a meaning 
 attached to it, for he had roused me on 
 coming into the room from a deep reverie ; 
 but the effect it had upon the child grieved 
 me much for my inadvertence. He cast a 
 look of anguish upon me, and tears filled 
 his eyes, and chaced each other down his 
 cheeks. 
 
 " No, master,'' he replied, " I have bought 
 it honestly, and paid for it ; but do you," 
 and here he looked me more earnestly in the 
 face, " do you, too, think that I must be a 
 robber like my father when I grow up to be 
 a man ? Every body else says so ; but I did 
 not believe that you thought so, sir. I sup- 
 pose you are afraid, sometimes, that the child 
 of so bad a family can never grow up to be a 
 good man." 
 
 I cannot express how distressed I was at 
 having thus wounded the boy's feelings, but
 
 224 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 was at the same time greatly pleased to find 
 them so acute upon this subject. I patted 
 him on the head, and assured him that he 
 had misunderstood me. That I thought he 
 might, without consideration, have taken up 
 the dog in the street, and brought him home ; 
 and that had I believed him a worthless 
 child, whom no care or kindness could have 
 any effect upon, I certainly should never have 
 taken him to live with me. In this way I 
 re-assured the poor fellow, who went away 
 smiling through his tears, leaving the little 
 ugly quadruped at my feet, but which I kept, 
 ugly as he was, for many a long year, till he 
 died of old age. 
 
 One day, a cage with a squirrel in it was 
 placed upon my table; and every morning 
 when I came down there was a bouquet of 
 sweet flowers prepared for me. In this way 
 did he strive to beguile my solitude, until I
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 225 
 
 was compelled to forbid his spending more 
 money, lest he should contract habits of 
 extravagance. 
 
 I continued to live the life of a solitary 
 during the whole of this tedious month, 
 forming no intimacy with any one.
 
 226 THE MAIDEN MONARCH I 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " If aught on earth demand an unmixed feeling, 
 'Tis surely this— after long years of exile, 
 To step forth on firm land, and gazing round us, 
 To hail at once our country, and our birth-place." 
 
 Remorse. — Coleridge. 
 
 " My very soul was crush'd at the sad news, — 
 I scarcely could believe the dread report, 
 I shed of bitterest tears, a flood profuse, 
 Andf elt myself to be of fate the sport." 
 
 The Desert. 
 
 It was as late in the autumn of the same 
 year as the tenth of October, when the ship 
 Amazon rode gaily before a fine wind into 
 Plymouth harbour, and conveyed me once 
 more to the shores of England. We had had 
 a very favourable voyage, full of health and 
 youthful vigour ; and panting with hope and 
 expectation of the delight that would soon be
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN". 227 
 
 mine (for I had but thirty miles to proceed 
 from the coast to Allingford House), I leapt 
 on shore, I had no command over myself, I 
 could not controul the transport of my feel- 
 ings, and I believe I was the subject of 
 merriment to the by-standers, who observed 
 my impatience to set my foot upon land. 
 When I did so, I started forward without 
 paying the remainder of my passage-money, 
 or thinking anything about having my lug- 
 gage conveyed safely on shore, although it 
 contained the whole of my wardrobe ; forget- 
 ing, too, the boy Robert, who, in a strange 
 land could not tell how to follow me unless 
 he kept me constantly within sight ; alike, 
 regardless of every thing, I proceeded to the 
 nearest hotel, ordered a post-chariot to be 
 immediately in readiness, and then hurried 
 up stairs to put myself in suitable trim; for I 
 did remember that after a sea voyage, I was 
 not precisely in decorous plight for land
 
 228 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 travelling. But now that I wanted my trunk 
 in order to procure a change of dress, I 
 bethought myself of my luggage, and the 
 boy at the same instant. I caught up my 
 hat again, and hastened back to the scene of 
 action. I was much alarmed lest the boy 
 should have wandered away and lost himself, 
 but I soon met the poor fellow running 
 backwards and forwards, wringing his hands 
 in bitter despair, having concluded that I 
 had forsaken him altogether. 
 
 I had seen some of my luggage brought 
 on shore, and was telling the porter to follow 
 me with it, when I felt a significant touch on 
 my arm, and on turning sharply round to 
 see whether some friend were not already by 
 my side to greet me on my return to my 
 native country, the figure of a man met my 
 view, entirely muffled in a large cloak, he 
 placed a letter in my hand, sprung upon a 
 horse that was standing by, and was out of
 
 OR, ISLAND QL'EEX. 229 
 
 sight in an instant. Panic-struck by the 
 singular appearance of the figure that had 
 thus accosted me, I scarcely dared look at 
 the superscription of the letter ; a foreboding 
 of some impending evil overwhelmed me. I 
 could not trace in the manners or deportment 
 of the mysterious being who had placed it in 
 my hand any similitude to any one that I 
 had ever known, and I began to hope that 
 he might be an entire stranger, and had mis- 
 taken me for some one else. T now took 
 courage, read the address of the letter, and 
 to my utter dismay? saw my own name in 
 large and legible characters, written in the 
 well-known hand of Sir Henry Allingford. 
 The letter fell from my hand, I staggered a 
 few paces back and supported myself against 
 a brick-wall ; I was convinced that some 
 heavy calamity awaited me, or I had not met 
 with so strange, so uncordial a welcome after 
 my long absence. 
 
 vol. i. x
 
 230 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 Sir Henry had ever been as a father to 
 me, addressing me by the familiar appella- 
 tion of " his dear boy," and bidding me at 
 all times to make his house my home ; and 
 whenever I chanced, in former days, before I 
 became a traveller, to be absent from his 
 table or his fire-side circle for a whole week, 
 he would ride forth to meet me when he 
 knew that I was coming, and greet me as a 
 favourite child. 
 
 I could not trust myself to unseal in 
 public, the letter which Robert had replaced 
 in my hand, but I seized the boy's hand con- 
 vulsively, lest I should lose him again, and 
 dragged him on to the hotel by long strides 
 and as firm a step as I could command. I 
 then bade him remain in the sitting-room, 
 and made my way back to the chamber I 
 had quitted with exuberant spirits but half 
 an hour before. I sat down, and with tremb- 
 ling hand broke the seal of the letter, and 
 read as follows : —
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 231 
 
 " To Lord Ravensbourne, — 
 
 " The hand of Edith Allingford is 
 bestowed upon another, and the last request 
 that Sir Henry Allingford will ever make to 
 Lord Ravensbourne, is, that he will never 
 again make his appearance at Allingford 
 House. Xo explanation is requisite, and 
 none will be given. Lord R.'s knowledge of 
 Sir H. A., is sufficient to assure him that the 
 inclination of Sir H. A.'s daughter would 
 never be forced, but that her hand would 
 ever be at her own disposal. 
 
 Signed, « H. A." 
 
 And in a postscript, these words were 
 added : 
 
 u An interview now, or at any future time, 
 would only be productive of pain to both 
 parties." 
 
 I read and re-read this letter, it might be 
 ten, twenty, or a hundred times over, I know 
 not, but I could not comprehend it at last. I 
 x 2
 
 232 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 examined the writing, and compared it with 
 a former letter which I had by me ; but this 
 was needless, every cipher was as familiar to 
 mv eye as my own hand-writing. 
 
 My only recollection of what succeeded is, 
 that I sat motionless, experienced a swimming 
 in my head, a sensation of sickness, and a 
 dimness of sight, and felt utterly bewildered. 
 
 I have since been told, that several hours 
 afterwards I was found by my little page and 
 some of the household in a state of torpid 
 insensibility. 
 
 The boy, who had observed the stranger, 
 and the effect which his giving me the letter 
 had had upon me, became uneasy at my 
 prolonged absence, and ventured to tap at 
 the room-door, to know if all were well with 
 me, but receiving no answer, he tried to 
 open the door ; finding that he could not do 
 this, I having fastened it on the inside, he 
 gave the alarm. The people of the house,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 
 
 233 
 
 after many fruitless attempts to rouse me, at 
 length had the door forced open, and disco- 
 vered me as described above, with the fatal 
 letter still in my hand. The eager child, who 
 was the first to enter when the door was 
 opened, with more delicacy of feeling than 
 many an older head and heart possesses, took 
 the letter before any other person had noticed 
 it, folded it, and placed it carefully in his 
 bosom, and thus prevented the curious eyes 
 of strangers from prying into his master's 
 secrets, when he was himself unable to guard 
 them. 
 
 They concluded that I had been seized 
 by sudden death ; but medical assistance was 
 called, and proper remedies had recourse to ; 
 and after a serious illness of six weeks (during 
 the greater part of which time the restoration 
 of my faculties was despaired of), I was so 
 far recovered as to be allowed by the physi- 
 cians to read or talk during the day. 
 
 x 3
 
 234 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 When consciousness at first returned, after 
 this long interval of delirium, the first object 
 that met my eye was Robert, the murderer's 
 son, standing motionless by my bed-side, 
 with a fearfully- emaciated countenance, and 
 with his eyes rivetted upon me. When my 
 strength had in some degree returned, the 
 mistress of the hotel told me that he had 
 been my constant attendant; that in vain 
 had they endeavoured to get him from the 
 bed-side, or to induce him to take any rest. 
 All that he had had during my illness was 
 now and then, when weary, worn-out nature 
 would have her way independently of his 
 will, and had forced him to sink down ex- 
 hausted by the bed-side, when he would 
 sleep so soundly for a few hours that they 
 scarcely knew when to expect him to awake ; 
 and when he did so, it was to reproach him- 
 self for going to sleep and forgetting me. As 
 to refreshment, he had taken but just enough
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 235 
 
 to enable him to keep up strength sufficient 
 to stand by and watch me. 
 
 With my consciousness of external objects, 
 I did not at once recover my recollection of 
 past events. Memory was vacant, if not 
 absent. 
 
 I recognised the child, and I was grieved 
 to see him looking so ill. I thought that 
 some accident must have happened both to 
 him and to myself. I called him to me, and 
 asked him what was the matter : I can 
 never forget the bright gleam of delight that 
 played over his pallid features when he heard 
 my voice in rational articulation. He advanced 
 closer toward the bed-head, and without 
 heeding my question, inquired, in a gentle 
 voice, how I was ? I told him that I was 
 better. On hearing this, he took my hand, 
 and kissed it fervently, and showed every 
 demonstration of joy ; but the nurse who was 
 in attendance drew him gently away, and
 
 236 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 told him that he must not talk to me. There 
 was no need to dismiss him the room. I 
 have known him sit mute and motionless as 
 a carved block of stone, hour after hour, 
 watching for some opportunity of attending 
 to my wants. 
 
 As I made progress towards recovery, I 
 took care that he should render me all the 
 little services in his power. It was his task 
 to administer my medicine. I would not 
 allow any one else to offer it to me, for I saw 
 how great the gratification was to him, and, 
 in truth, it became almost as much so to 
 myself. 
 
 The tribute of affection is at all times 
 grateful to us, however mean the object that 
 proffers it. There is no human heart so 
 obdurate as entirely ,to disregard its kindly 
 influence ; it soothes us in pain ; it softens 
 our afflictions; it ofttimes lulls our sorrow 
 to repose ; and gives additional zest to our
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 237 
 
 joys. It is a powerful instrument in the 
 hand of man, which enables him to hold 
 dominion over his fellow-man without the 
 aid of bloodshed or warfare, or the restraint 
 of massive chains and torturing irons. To 
 these it should be needful onlv to have 
 recourse when we wish to secure beasts of 
 prey ; never should we employ them to 
 degrade a fellow-creature, an intellectual 
 being — a man — the image of his God. 
 
 But I am wandering from the thread of 
 my narrative, and treating upon subjects out 
 of their due course. Suffice it to say, that as 
 I recovered health and strength, so did my 
 anxious little attendant ; but my progress 
 was slow. The remembrance of the fatal 
 letter rushed upon my disordered brain, and 
 threatened me with a relapse. 
 
 I took the opportunity one day when I 
 was left alone with Robert, to ask him 
 whether he had seen a letter laying about
 
 238 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 since I had been ill, the unconscious boy at 
 once drew the letter from his bosom, telling 
 me that he had kept it there all the time, 
 and that no one had seen it. This was a 
 proof of the boy's integrity and sense of 
 honour that I could not have expected from 
 him. I firmly believe, that although he could 
 now read writing well, that he had not 
 indulged his natural curiosity by glancing even 
 at a word of the letter which he had had so 
 long in his possession, and which he knew to 
 be so mysteriously brought to me ; such was 
 the effect which kindness and confidence had 
 had upon a young creature, the circumstances 
 of whose birth and early training had been 
 so unfavourable. 
 
 I took the letter from him with a look of 
 approbation, which he seemed fully to under- 
 stand. I again opened it, and ventured once 
 more to read the hateful contents, in order 
 to see whether my memory were sufficiently
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 239 
 
 faithful to me to retain their true import. 
 One thing I found had escaped my observa- 
 tion, it was the date of the letter which now 
 told me that a twelvemonth and some days 
 had transpired between the time when it was 
 written, and the time when I received it. 
 
 The excitement which the reperusal occa- 
 sioned, brought on a relapse, but this did not 
 prove so serious as was expected ; I rallied 
 again in a few days, and was soon so far 
 recovered as to take the air. Now that I 
 had regained full possession of myself and 
 could reflect upon the situation in which I 
 was placed, one subject, one determination 
 alone occupied my thoughts. I was resolved 
 once more to look upon her whom I had so 
 long and so fondly regarded as the partner of 
 my life ; upon her whom I had loved so 
 intensely, that the very fibres of my heart 
 were but threads of affection for her twining 
 around it ; upon her whom I had idolized as
 
 240 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 the purest and most faithful of her sex, and 
 who I had fondly imagined would not have 
 forsaken me, even in death, but who (had an 
 early grave been my lot) would have pined 
 away and followed the friend of her child- 
 hood, the betrothed of her youth. 
 
 I thought T could so far gain a mastery 
 over my feelings as to look upon her once 
 more, even as the wife of another, and re- 
 proach her with her perfidy. I was yet more 
 resolved to see Sir Henry, to hear the con- 
 tents of his letter owned and corroborated by 
 his own lips, to require of him why I had 
 been thus treated. Why, even though Edith 
 had proved changeable and faithless, I should 
 be regarded as an outcast from a family by 
 whom I had always hitherto been looked 
 upon with so much kindness ; whilst in 
 conscious innocence, I could still stand before 
 them with the same unblemished reputation. 
 I had so many queries to have set at rest
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 241 
 
 before I quitted my country for ever (which 
 I had resolved to do), that I was determined 
 to hazard the attempt, fearful as it was to 
 me. I cared not if death immediately 
 ensued, so that I could wear a manly front 
 till the interview was over. To obtain this 
 point, I embraced every means prescribed to 
 recover health and strength. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 242 THE MAIDEN MONARCH ; 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 " Where the mind's free, 
 
 The body's delicate : the tempest in my mind 
 
 Doth from my senses take all feeling else, 
 
 Save what beats there." 
 
 King Lear. 
 
 " Had it pleas'd heaven 
 To try me with affliction ; had he rain'd 
 All kinds of sores, and shames, on my bare head ; 
 Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips ; 
 Given to captivity, me and my utmost hopes ; 
 I should have found in some part of my soul, 
 A drop of patience : . . . . 
 
 But there where I have garner'd up my heart ; 
 
 Where either I must live, or bear no life ; 
 
 The fountain from the which my current runs, 
 
 Or else dries up ; to be discarded thence !" 
 
 Othello. 
 
 The winter had set in, the weather was 
 severely cold, but this was disregarded by 
 me, I had fixed upon a certain day for going 
 to Allingford House ; and what, though that
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 243 
 
 day proved a most inclement one, bad roads, 
 drizzling rain and sleet falling fast, and hol- 
 low dismal gusts of wind blowing fearfully 
 over the open country, like the loud whis- 
 perings of some angry spirit, threatening 
 devastation to the whole face of nature. 
 
 The inclemency of the season was of no 
 moment; it was as nothing compared with 
 the chilliness, the desolation, the discord, 
 the despondency, pent up within my own 
 breast. Perhaps it was more congenial to 
 me than softer weather would have been — 
 all outward objects were alike disregarded — 
 and as soon as I arose on the morning of 
 the day appointed, I ordered a chariot to be 
 in waiting for me about noon to convey me 
 
 to . I dressed myself with the nicest 
 
 care — I was determined, if possible, to 
 appear so that they should not triumph 
 over me in my distress ; for what else could 
 
 y 2
 
 244 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 I expect after the unmerited treatment 
 which I had received. 
 
 I arranged and changed a thousand times 
 during that forenoon all that I would say to 
 Edith and her father ; and as many times, 
 now that the dreaded crisis drew near, did I 
 resolve that I would not go at all, but that I 
 would leave the country without permitting 
 them to witness the torments which they 
 had inflicted ; then, again, I reasoned, that I 
 should not be doing justice to myself, and 
 that at some future time, I might discover 
 that I had been duped ; that some individual 
 had so completely acquired the trick of Sir 
 Henry* s hand- writing as to impose upon 
 my credulity, and to have occasioned me, 
 perhaps, so much needless suffering. 
 
 A.t length the light wheels of the chaise 
 rolled round to the door of the hotel, and 
 bidding Robert await my return, I threw 
 myself into it. The roads were so bad, that
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 245 
 
 the journey was tedious — the evening was 
 already closing in when I arrived at Allingford 
 Park gates. Here I alighted, preferring to 
 proceed on foot through these well-remem- 
 bered and once favourite haunts. I cut 
 across the shortest paths, and soon found 
 myself in front of the house, on the 
 line lawn; from whose beds of sweet 
 flowers I had so often assisted Edith to cull 
 the sweetest and the fairest — but, alas ! even 
 here all looked dreary and desolate, and gave 
 me but a cold welcome. 
 
 Darkness was fast approaching, the land- 
 scape was already half veiled in the sombre 
 shades that were ushering in a long winter's 
 night. I passed behind a bed of evergreens, 
 directly facing the bay window of the dining 
 room, and effectually concealed myself behind 
 one of my own planting, which I had put 
 into the ground quite a young slip, whilst 
 
 y 3
 
 246 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 Edith stood by my side, the evening before 
 I quitted England with my friend Clifford. 
 
 The young and delicate plant had now 
 become a fine healthy tree; but I was 
 standing beside it shivering in the bleak 
 wind that swept around, with withered 
 heart and blighted hopes. Edith, too, was 
 changed — faithless to me, and the wife of 
 another — and Clifford, alas! what was he? 
 I gave an involuntary shudder. 
 
 I had concealed myself in order that I 
 might, unperceived, look into the window of 
 the dining-room, to see whether there were 
 any preparations going forward for visitors ; 
 but as yet, 1 had not dared to raise my eyes, 
 lest I should encounter those of Edith. I 
 was not about twenty paces from the 
 window, when, after pausing a few minutes 
 to collect my scattered thoughts, I turned 
 my head abruptly and looked full into the 
 room. The light from a blazing fire shone
 
 OR. ISLAND QUEEN. 24 7 
 
 brightly upon every object, and presented to 
 my view a young man seated with his back 
 to the window, Sir Henry facing me. and 
 Edith by his side, caressing a young infant. 
 the latter apparently engrossing the attention 
 of all. 
 
 Maddened by the sight of their felicity. 
 I sprung across the bed of evergreens like a 
 maniac, and I believe that I should have 
 rushed through the window, closed as it was* 
 had I not been arrested in my course, by 
 seeing that Edith had advanced towards it 
 with her infant in her arms ; on my appearing 
 before her, she gave a piercing shriek, which 
 seemed to find an echo every where around 
 me. I thought I saw her fall to the ground, 
 but I could endure no more. 
 
 In an agony of despair, almost amounting 
 to frenzy, I took to flight as though I would 
 by this means escape from torture. If my 
 memory bears faithful record of succeeding
 
 248 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 events, I fled with the swiftness of the wind, 
 and did not slacken my pace, until I regained 
 the gate where I had ordered the chariot to 
 await me. I leapt into it and desired the 
 driver to return the same way he came, and 
 to drive with rapidity. I was impatient to 
 get out of the neighbourhood. I had seen 
 Edith in her matron's dress, and had had 
 sufficient proof that she had become a 
 mother. It was enough — I felt that my 
 resolution had been exerted to the uttermost 
 — and the smallest chance now of meeting 
 with a familiar face was hateful to me ; and, 
 until I had proceeded some miles, and it had 
 become so dark that I could fear no intrusion 
 from the inquisitive glance of passers-by, I 
 leant back in the chaise, and strove to calm 
 the perturbation of my mind. 
 
 I was anxious, beyond expression, not to 
 be detained in the country by renewed illness. 
 I would gladly have bid a lasting adieu to my
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEX. 249 
 
 native land that very night. I summoned up 
 all my reasoning faculties to aid me, if pos- 
 sible, to keep down the fever of my brain ; 
 and I so far succeeded as to arrive at my 
 hotel calm and collected, but so oppressed 
 with lassitude and exhaustion that I went to 
 bed, and imagined that I should never arise 
 from it again. But this proved to be but the 
 subsiding of a fearful storm into an unlooked- 
 for calm, and I arose in the morning perfectly 
 tranquil. 
 
 I made inquiries for the first vessel that 
 
 would sail for the port of , and found 
 
 that one would leave the harbour in the 
 course of the following week. I carefully 
 concealed my name, and shut myself up 
 during the interim closely in my own room, 
 that no one might encounter me or hear any 
 tidings of me. I continued to hold perfect 
 command over myself; and all the change 
 that any one who had previously known me
 
 250 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 could have discovered, might possibly have 
 been an appearance of ten years or more 
 having been added to my age during the 
 short interval of time that had elapsed since 
 I had returned to the shores of England. 
 But I will dwell no longer upon this event, 
 nor upon the suffering which it occasioned 
 me. It has been the darkest spot in my 
 history; and I would not have pained my 
 readers by the relation of it, but that I would 
 have them know why I quitted my native 
 land to sojourn in a land of strangers. 
 
 Nothing remarkable occurred during my 
 voyage. I arrived in the following July at the 
 
 Isle of , landed at the same port where 
 
 I had embarked with bright hopes a few 
 months before, and sought my old residence; 
 but the melancholy of my mind was too deep 
 and too dreary to allow me at present to 
 appear before my friend, Wickliffe. For a long 
 time, I led a life of perfect seclusion,
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 251 
 
 immured in the house during the day, and 
 every night a solitary wanderer over the most 
 unfrequented paths of the adjacent country. 
 I made repeated attempts during this time to 
 acquaint Lord WicklifTe with my arrival. I 
 wrote several notes, but destroyed them as 
 soon as written. Sometimes I set out with 
 the determination to call upon him; but 
 despondency had laid so firm hold on me, 
 that I invariably returned ere I had proceeded 
 a hundred yards on my way. 
 
 I know not how long this might have 
 lasted, had not a printed hand-bill been 
 placed one day upon my table by the ever- 
 watchful Robert, headed, " The Queen in 
 danger." The words ran thus — 
 
 " Men and countrymen, let not the hands 
 of tyrants wrest the sceptre from our beloved 
 monarch. People, support your queen !" 
 
 I had taken no newspaper since my 
 return. I thought I had lost all interest in
 
 252 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 life, but these few words roused me from 
 the state of indifference and apathy into 
 which I had fallen ; annihilated self and 
 selfish sorrows, and revived all the lively 
 interest I had felt heretofore in the character 
 and fortunes of this exemplary and highly- 
 gifted woman. I no longer delayed seeking 
 my friend, Wiekliffe, whose surprise was 
 indeed great at my solitary return, and my 
 changed appearance; but I waved entering 
 into my own affairs, until I had learned from 
 him the import of the words of the hand- 
 bill, and what had transpired during my 
 absence. 
 
 He told me that the distribution of these 
 papers was but one amongst the many 
 proofs of the unsettled state of the country ; 
 " Time must prove/' he continued, " who will 
 gain the mastery. Things wear a fearful 
 aspect, party- spirit runs higher than ever, and 
 the queen appears but the more determined
 
 OR, ISLAND QUEEN. 253 
 
 to crush that spirit altogether, and to select if 
 possible, none but upright, liberal- minded 
 men, to assist her in the legislation of the 
 country. Her majesty has too much philan- 
 throphy and genuine patriotism in her to 
 secure a peaceful reign. The nobles of the 
 land, and their servile followers are most 
 inveterate against her; and yet, on she moves 
 nothing daunted, steadily refusing to sanc- 
 tion measures which they propose to her, if 
 she cannot approve them, and inflexibly per- 
 sisting to urge the adoption of her own 
 plans for the universal good of the country, 
 notwithstanding their violent opposition/' 
 
 " It is an extraordinary and beautiful 
 development of character in one so young," 
 I observed. 
 
 " It is, indeed," returned Lord Wickliffe, 
 " but there is great cause to fear that the 
 result will be tragical ; the very foundation 
 of the throne is trembling, and the fear is 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 254 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 continually before me (even though the 
 queen should tender her resignation, which 
 has already been whispered abroad) lest her 
 life may be attempted by some hired remorse- 
 less villain, willing to sacrifice one so pure 
 and virtuous, alike to gratify his own avarice, 
 and the hatred of his employers, who, whilst 
 she lives beloved by the large mass of the 
 people, may not feel themselves secure in 
 the lasting success of their own less worthy 
 schemes. 
 
 " Good God ! say you so, Wickliffe," I 
 rejoined, " would that there were a vacancy 
 in the household, and I were deemed worthy 
 to fill it ; I would watch with unwearied care 
 for the most trivial indication of your fears 
 being realized." 
 
 Well pleased to have it in his power to 
 hold out to me any prospect that might tend 
 to dissipate my own personal sorrows, my 
 kind friend instantly replied : — 
 
 " That if such would really be agreeable
 
 ORj ISLAND QUEEN. 255 
 
 to me, he doubted not, that through Lord 
 Newton, with whom he had become very 
 intimate during my absence, he could get me 
 appointed to an office which would shortly be 
 vacated in consequence of some improper 
 conduct on the part of the person who had 
 hitherto filled it, which had reached the ears 
 of the queen." 
 
 " I should consider myself honoured," I 
 replied, "to be permitted to devote the 
 remainder of my life to the service of one. 
 who, instead of being dignified by the high 
 station which her birth has assigned her, 
 adds grace and dignity to that station by her 
 own virtues and beneficence." 
 
 The entrance of the ladies put a stop 
 to our conversation ; my unexpected and 
 changed appearance so much surprised them, 
 that they did not immediately recognize me 
 on entering the room ; but they shortly 
 greeted me with that genuine kindness which 
 was natural to them. Lady Wickliffe urged
 
 256 THE MAIDEN MONARCH; 
 
 me to stay and dine with them, this I 
 declined ; and Lord Wickliffe now proposed 
 accompanying me back to my lodgings. I 
 understood his motive ; he passed the remain- 
 der of the day with me, and I communicated 
 to him all that had transpired during my 
 short stay in England. 
 
 In a few days from this time, I was 
 formally introduced at Court, and in less 
 than six weeks was duly installed as one of 
 the lords in waiting to the queen. I do not 
 think that any other event could have roused 
 me to action, or from the despondency into 
 which I had been plunged ; but I now entered 
 upon the duties of my new station with real 
 pleasure. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON : 
 Printed by J. Truscott, Blackfriars Road.