By such a disinterestedness did this noble representative of the long line of British Kings, uniting the royal blood of Scotland and of England in the bosom of George of Brunswick, rivet the loyalty of Louis de Montemar to the country of his maternal ancestors! Certain wellinformed agents of the crown, had lodged private information with the Secretary of State, that Philip Duke of Wharton was secreted at Lindisfarne. But the same agents had also reported the calamitous circumstances which had thrown him under that protection; and the King, knowing the friendship which had subsisted between the Marquis de Montemar and the outlawed Duke; for the sake of de Montemar's virtues and approved loyalty, transmitted to him a free pardon to his friend,—an amnesty that re-invested him with his former rights, as a British Peer and Landholder!
"'Tis well!" answered the Duke, with a kindling cheek, when this part of the dispatch was read to him; "I accept the amnesty, that I may now witness the nuptials of my friend in the face of day; and, that hereafter, my Cornelia need not shrink from giving her hand to a man under sentence of the scaffold! But, for my rightsas a British Peer, I derive them from the House of Stuart, and will not hold their possession by the sale of my honour. George of Brunswick may be the people's King;—James Stuart is mine! I give what I claim. And, while your Sovereign reigns in their hearts, I shall not dispute his possession. Meanwhile, Saint-Germains is my country;—though my sword may sleep in its scabbard!"
There was no voice in that room to expostulate against principle; and the messenger himself, who was a soldier and a man of honour, venerating the same, though it pointed differently from his own, merely answered:
"Permit me, Duke, to explain the mistake of those who suppose that the throne of Great Britain came to the House of Brunswick, not by the right of blood, but by virtue of an act of Parliament. George the First was descended from a daughter of James the First; and theact of settlement neither creates nor confers any new right, but only confirms that which was inherent in the House of Brunswick upon the exclusion of the Papist branch of the royal line. To assert the contrary, is to subvert the ancient constitution; and from an hereditary, to turn this into an elective monarchy."
The Duke smiled and bowed.
"This is an intricate question; but I am the last man to dispute its consequence. However, happy is the prince whose throne is so well founded, that it may be disputed whether it rests most on his birth-right, or his people's will!"
With this remark he quitted the room; and, leaving all other thoughts but those of love and gratitude behind him, hastened to the suite of chambers, where he hoped to find her whose arms had never closed on him, till she thought he could receive no other comforter.
Louis had left the room in the midst of Mr. Stanhope's conversation with hisfriend, to relieve the suffering groupe above stairs, of the alarm which he guessed had caused the insensibility of his cousin. Wharton met him at the door of Cornelia's chamber, where she was resting from the awful interchanges of her feelings, on the breast of her mother. Louis pressed the hand of his friend as he passed him.
"You will find her," said he, "all your own!"
But in this, even her cousin, who best knew the movements of her soul, was mistaken.
Cornelia suffered the grateful, the happy Wharton, to fold her to his heart, in the sacred emotion of a meeting, redeemed as from the grave; for, when they parted a few minutes before, the scaffold appeared to each, the scene of their next separation; and the world to come, where they could only meet again! But Cornelia remained firm to her first resolution."In Heaven's eye," cried she, "I believe you are as pure as in mine. But the World must be convinced of the same. Your happiness, as well as mine, compels the sacrifice; and, dearest Wharton, it shall be made! Another year, and instead of my going to seek my affianced husband in a foreign land, he will come to claim me in the hall of my fathers!"
Mr. Stanhope did not pass that day only, with the Pastor and his interesting household; he remained to witness the most heart-felt ceremony that ever took place in the little humble church that succeeded the once magnificent abbey of Lindisfarne.
The double marriages of their beloved Louis and Alice were to be solemnized there; and every fisherman's hut sent forth its inmates to honour the holy ceremony.
The stars of many orders might have glared on the noble breast of Wharton,as he followed the happy groupe under the rustic archway; but he chose only the badge of the garter. It was bestowed on him by James Stuart, when three of the greatest kings in Europe, signed the league for his support; and it was the Duke's pride, doubly to acknowledge the hand that bestowed it, by wearing it now, in the utter despair of his fortunes.
Louis, looked so like his former self, in the brightness of unclouded happiness, that every lip moved in rapturous blessings as he passed; and so great was the acclaim of the honest fishermen, around this their often venturous companion, and ever darling master; that no sense was left unoccupied, to bestow a glance on the waving plumes of Ferdinand, though many a benizon followed the down-cast looks of his blushing Alice.
Mr. Athelstone stood on the steps of the altar. He began—and he finishedthe holy ceremony, which was to bind so many faithful hearts into one interest, in this world, and in the next. And when he consigned the married pairs to the benediction of their parents, (in the light of one of whom stood Sir Anthony Athelstone,) he raised his devout hands, and solemnly pronounced his general blessing.
Cornelia wept in sisterly congratulation on Alice's bosom; and when she relinquished her to the enraptured Ferdinand, her sweetest tears dropped on the shoulder of the no less happy Louis. Wharton's arm supported the agitated frame of his future bride, while he clasped his friend's hand in his with a felicitation that knew no utterance. Mr. Athelstone looked on the kindred group with the feelings of a parent; and piously exclaimed,
"O! how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of Hosts! For here, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other!""And may such, dearest sir," said the Duke, turning his bright countenance towards him; "be ever the Guests of the Pastor's Fire-side!"
FINIS.
Printed by A. Strahan,New-Street-Square, London.
Transcriber’s Notespage 8, subtelty changed to subtlety (abruptness of consummate subtlety)page 35, faitful changed to faithful (and that faithful servant)page 100, road changed to rode (Aben Humeya rode forward)page 110, revolved changed to resolved (resolved how he should)page 117, assersion changed to assertion (the assertion of his character)page 126, comma changed to a period (Louis rose and followed his conductor.)page 137, holdly changed to boldly (came boldly forward)page 140, persistance changed to persistence (persistence of Ripperda)page 150, anwered changed to answered (The Moors answered)page 170, dutchy changed to duchy (Emperor to that duchy)page 180, sactified changed to sanctified (offspring of our heaven-sanctified)page 183, subtilty changed to subtlety (subtlety of this apology)page 184, your's changed to yours("will determine the fate of yours!")page 187, sieze changed to seize (courage to remain and seize the aimless weapon)page 201, kimself changed to himself (Santa Cruz had made himself)page 202, extroardinary changed to extraordinary (without any apparent extraordinary)page 208, retrogade changed to retrograde (same retrograde motion)page 215, recal changed to recall (trumpet of recall)page 247, clapsed changed to clasped (clasped his arm)page 259, Recal changed to Recall (Recall the promises of the Scriptures)page 268, corse changed to corpse (heart would have been with that cold corpse)page 269, Christain changed to Christian (other Christian captives)page 279, removed quotation mark at beginning of paragraph (On my father arriving at the palace)page 296, removed extra "he" (where he had imbibed the first)page 319, posponed changed to postponed (was to be yet further postponed)page 329, changed overturn to over-turn to standardize spelling (threaten its instant over-turn)page 341, removed extraneous period after it (for it was he that Louis)page 418, extra set of quote marks removed (continued the Pastor, "has been)page 419, quotation mark added (I derived from his holy word!")page 439, quotation mark added (shall soon have no interests in this world!")page 457, exclamation point changed to a comma (artless Alice exclaimed, "oh, how)page 459, removed unncessary quote (replied the Pastor, gently smiling.)page 462, ncrease changed to encrease (And when the encrease of)page 466, suspence changed to suspense (this terrific hour of suspense)page 468, yatch changed to yacht (The yacht is safe!")page 472, decribed changed to described (were not to be described)page 482, recal changed to recall (did not recall the hands)page 484, n changed to in (meet in the Pastor's library)page 488, neice changed to niece (no less serious converse of his niece)page 491, Mr. Sanhope's changed to Mr. Stanhope's (But such was not the import of Mr. Stanhope's dispatches)Quotations errors have been left as is.List of Archaic and Variable Spelling (not an exhaustive list)portray is spelled pourtrayachievements is spelled atchievementsalleged is spelled alledgedante-chamber is spelled anti-chamberante-room is spelled anti-roomburden is spelled burthencloths/clothe are spelled cloaths/cloathechase is spelled chace/chasechequered is spelled checquereddesert is spelled desartdoting is spelled doatingexpence is spelled expensefaltering is spelled faulteringhavoc is spelled havockincrease in spelled both increase and encreaselily is spelled lillynegotiations/negotiated/negotiating are spelled negociations/negociated/negociatingself-controlled is spelled self-controuledsurprise is spelled surprize/surprisesteadfastly is spelled stedfastlyvalleys is spelled valliessqualid is spelled squallid
Transcriber’s Notes
List of Archaic and Variable Spelling (not an exhaustive list)