Lives Of The Poets, Vol. 1 (fiscle part-III), Samuel Johnson [good summer reads .TXT] 📗
- Author: Samuel Johnson
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Importunity, A Commission Of Array, Directed to Such As He Thought Proper
To Nominate, Which Was Sent To London By The Lady Aubigney. She Knew Not
What She Carried, But Was To Deliver It On The Communication Of A Certain
Token, Which Sir Nicholas Imparted.
This Commission Could Be Only Intended to Lie Ready, Till The Time Should
Require It. To Have Attempted to Raise Any Forces, Would Have Been
Certain Destruction; It Could Be Of Use Only When The Forces Should
Appear. This Was, However, An Act Preparatory To Martial Hostility.
Crispe Would, Undoubtedly, Have Put An End To The Session Of Parliament,
Had His Strength Been Equal To His Zeal: And Out Of The Design Of Crispe,
Which Involved very Little Danger, And That Of Waller, Which Was An Act
Purely Civil, They Compounded a Horrid And Dreadful Plot.
The Discovery Of Waller'S Design Is Variously Related. In clarendon'S
History, It Is Told, That A Servant Of Tomkyns, Lurking behind The
Hangings, When His Master Was In conference With Waller, Heard Enough
To Qualify Him For An Informer, And Carried his Intelligence To Pym. A
Manuscript, Quoted in the Life Of Waller, Relates, That "He Was Betrayed
By His Sister Price, And Her Presbyterian Chaplain, Mr. Goode, Who Stole
Some Of His Papers; And, If He Had Not Strangely Dreamed the Night
Before, That His Sister Had Betrayed him, And, Thereupon, Burnt The Rest
Of His Papers, By The Fire That Was In his Chimney, He Had Certainly Lost
His Life By It." The Question Cannot Be Decided. It Is Not Unreasonable
To Believe, That The Men In power, Receiving intelligence From The
Sister, Would Employ The Servant Of Tomkyns To Listen At The Conference,
That They Might Avoid An Act So Offensive As That Of Destroying the
Brother By The Sister'S Testimony.
The Plot Was Published in the Most Terrifick Manner. On The 31St Of
May, 1643, At A Solemn Fast, When They Were Listening to The Sermon, A
Messenger Entered the Church, And Communicated his Errand To Pym, Who
Whispered it To Others That Were Placed near Him, And Then Went With Them
Out Of The Church, Leaving the Rest In solicitude And Amazement. They
Immediately Sent Guards To Proper Places, And, That Night, Apprehended
Tomkyns And Waller; Having yet Traced nothing but That Letters Had Been
Intercepted, From Which It Appeared that The Parliament And The City Were
Soon To Be Delivered into The Hands Of The Cavaliers.
They, Perhaps, Yet Knew Little Themselves, Beyond Some General And
Indistinct Notices. "But Waller," Says Clarendon, "Was So Confounded with
Fear, That He Confessed whatever He Had Heard, Said, Thought, Or Seen;
All That He Knew Of Himself, And All That He Suspected of Others, Without
Concealing any Person Of What Degree Or Quality Soever, Or Any Discourse
Which He Had Ever Upon Any Occasion Entertained with Them; What Such And
Such Ladies Of Great Honour, To Whom, Upon The Credit Of His Wit And
Great Reputation, He Had Been Admitted, Had Spoke To Him In their
Chambers Upon The Proceedings In the Houses, And How They Had Encouraged
Him To Oppose Them; What Correspondence And Intercourse They Had With
Some Ministers Of State At Oxford, And How They Had Conveyed all
Intelligence Thither." He Accused the Earl Of Portland, And Lord Conway,
As Cooperating in the Transaction; And Testified, That The Earl Of
Northumberland Had Declared himself Disposed in favour Of Any Attempt,
That Might Check The Violence Of The Parliament, And Reconcile Them To
The King.
He, Undoubtedly, Confessed much Which They Could Never Have Discovered,
And, Perhaps, Somewhat Which They Would Wish To Have Been Suppressed;
For It Is Inconvenient, In the Conflict Of Factions, To Have That
Disaffection Known Which Cannot Safely Be Punished.
Tomkyns Was Seized on The Same Night With Waller, And Appears, Likewise,
To Have Partaken Of His Cowardice; For He Gave Notice Of Crispe'S
Commission Of Array, Of Which Clarendon Never Knew How It Was Discovered.
Tomkyns Had Been Sent With The Token Appointed, To Demand It From Lady
Aubigney, And Had Buried it In his Garden, Where, By His Direction, It
Was Dug Up; And Thus The Rebels Obtained, What Clarendon Confesses Them
To Have Had, The Original Copy.
It Can Raise No Wonder That They Formed one Plot Out Of These Two
Designs, However Remote From Each Other, When They Saw The Same Agent
Employed in both, And Found The Commission Of Array In the Hands Of Him,
Who Was Employed in collecting the Opinions And Affections Of The People.
Of The Plot, Thus Combined, They Took Care To Make The Most. They Sent
Pym Among The Citizens, To Tell Them Of Their Imminent Danger, And Happy
Escape; And Inform Them, That The Design Was, "To Seize The Lord Mayor,
And All The Committee Of Militia, And Would Not Spare One Of Them." They
Drew Up A Vow And Covenant, To Be Taken By Every Member Of Either House,
By Which He Declared his Detestation Of All Conspiracies Against The
Parliament, And His Resolution To Detect And Oppose Them. They Then
Appointed a Day Of Thanksgiving for This Wonderful Delivery; Which
Shut Out, Says Clarendon, All Doubts Whether There Had Been Such A
Deliverance, And Whether The Plot Was Real Or Fictitious.
On June 11, The Earl Of Portland And Lord Conway Were Committed, One To
The Custody Of The Mayor, And The Other Of The Sheriff; But Their Lands
And Goods Were Not Seized.
Waller Was Still To Immerse Himself Deeper In ignominy. The Earl Of
Portland And Lord Conway Denied the Charge; And There Was No Evidence
Against Them But The Confession Of Waller, Of Which, Undoubtedly, Many
Would Be Inclined to Question The Veracity. With These Doubts He Was So
Much Terrified, That He Endeavoured to Persuade Portland To A Declaration
Like His Own, By A Letter Extant In fenton'S Edition. "But For Me," Says
He, "You Had Never Known Any Thing of This Business, Which Was Prepared
For Another; And, Therefore, I Cannot Imagine Why You Should Hide It
So Far As To Contract Your Own Ruin By Concealing it, And Persisting
Unreasonably To Hide That Truth, Which Without You Already Is, And Will
Every Day Be Made More Manifest. Can You Imagine Yourself Bound In honour
To Keep That Secret, Which Is Already Revealed by Another? Or Possible It
Should Still Be A Secret, Which Is Known To One Of The Other Sex? If You
Persist To Be Cruel To Yourself, For Their Sakes Who Deserve It Not,
It Will, Nevertheless, Be Made Appear, Ere Long, I Fear, To Your Ruin.
Surely, If I Had The Happiness To Wait On You, I Could Move You To
Compassionate Both Yourself And Me, Who, Desperate As My Case Is, Am
Desirous To Die With The Honour Of Being known To Have Declared
The Truth. You Have No Reason To Contend To Hide What Is Already
Revealed--Inconsiderately To Throw Away Yourself, For The Interest Of
Others, To Whom You Are Less Obliged than You Are Aware Of."
This Persuasion Seems To Have Had Little Effect. Portland Sent, June
29, A Letter To The Lords, To Tell Them, That He "Is In custody, As
He Conceives, Without Any Charge; And That, By What Mr. Waller Hath
Threatened him With, Since He Was Imprisoned, He Doth Apprehend A Very
Cruel, Long, And Ruinous Restraint:--He, Therefore, Prays, That He
May Not Find The Effects Of Mr. Waller'S Threats, By A Long And Close
Imprisonment; But May Be Speedily Brought To A Legal Trial, And Then He
Is Confident The Vanity And Falsehood Of Those Informations Which Have
Been Given Against Him Will Appear."
In Consequence Of This Letter, The Lords Ordered portland And Waller
To Be Confronted; When The One Repeated his Charge, And The Other His
Denial. The Examination Of The Plot Being continued, July 1, Thinn, Usher
Of The House Of Lords, Deposed, That Mr. Waller Having had A Conference
With The Lord Portland In an Upper Room, Lord Portland Said, When He Came
Down, "Do Me The Favour To Tell My Lord Northumberland, That Mr. Waller
Has Extremely Pressed me To Save My Own Life And His, By Throwing the
Blame Upon The Lord Conway And The Earl Of Northumberland."
Waller, In his Letter To Portland, Tells Him Of The Reasons Which He
Could Urge With Resistless Efficacy In a Personal Conference; But He
Overrated his Own Oratory; His Vehemence, Whether Of Persuasion Or
Entreaty, Was Returned with Contempt.
One Of His Arguments With Portland Is, That The Plot Is Already Known
To A Woman. This Woman Was, Doubtless, Lady Aubigney, Who, Upon This
Occasion, Was Committed to Custody; But Who, In reality, When She
Delivered the Commission, Knew Not What It Was.
The Parliament Then Proceeded against The Conspirators, And Committed
Their Trial To A Council Of War. Tomkyns And Chaloner Were Hanged near
Their Own Doors. Tomkyns, When He Came To Die, Said It Was A "Foolish
Business;" And, Indeed, There Seems To Have Been No Hope That It Should
Escape Discovery; For, Though Never More Than Three Met At A Time, Yet
A Design So Extensive Must, By Necessity, Be Communicated to Many, Who
Could Not Be Expected to Be All Faithful, And All Prudent. Chaloner Was
Attended at His Execution By Hugh Peters. His Crime Was, That He Had
Commission To Raise Money For The King; But It Appears Not That The Money
Was To Be Expended upon The Advancement Of Either Crispe'S Or Waller'S
Plot.
The Earl Of Northumberland, Being too Great For Prosecution, Was Only
Once Examined before The Lords. The Earl Of Portland And Lord Conway,
Persisting to Deny The Charge, And No Testimony, But Waller'S, Yet
Appearing against Them, Were, After A Long Imprisonment, Admitted to
Bail. Hassel, The King'S Messenger, Who Carried the Letters To Oxford,
Died the Night Before His Trial. Hampden Escaped death, Perhaps, By The
Interest Of His Family; But Was Kept In prison To The End Of His Life.
They, Whose Names Were Inserted in the Commission Of Array, Were Not
Capitally Punished, As It Could Not Be Proved that They Had Consented to
Their Own Nomination; But They Were Considered as Malignants, And Their
Estates Were Seized.
"Waller, Though Confessedly," Says Clarendon, "The Most Guilty, With
Incredible Dissimulation, Affected such A Remorse Of Conscience, That His
Trial Was Put Off, Out Of Christian Compassion, Till He Might Recover His
Understanding." What Use He Made Of This Interval, With What Liberality
And Success He Distributed flattery And Money, And How, When He Was
Brought, July 4, Before The House, He Confessed and Lamented, And
Submitted and Implored, May Be Read In the History Of The Rebellion, (B.
Vii.) The Speech, To Which Clarendon Ascribes The Preservation Of His
"Dear-Bought Life," Is Inserted in his Works. The Great Historian,
However, Seems To Have Been Mistaken In relating that "He Prevailed" In
The Principal Part Of His Supplication, "Not To Be Tried by A Council Of
War;" For, According to Whitlock, He Was, By Expulsion From The House,
Abandoned to The Tribunal Which He So Much Dreaded, And, Being tried and
Condemned, Was Reprieved by Essex; But, After A Year'S Imprisonment,
In Which Time Resentment Grew Less Acrimonious, Paying a Fine Of Ten
Thousand Pounds, He Was Permitted to "Recollect Himself In another
Country."
Of His Behaviour In this Part Of His Life, It Is Not Necessary To
Direct The Reader'S Opinion. "Let Us Not," Says His Last Ingenious
Biographer[85], "Condemn Him With Untempered severity, Because He Was
Not A Prodigy Which The World Hath Seldom Seen, Because His Character
Included not The Poet, The Orator, And The Hero."
For The Place Of His Exile He Chose France, And Stayed some Time At Roan,
Where His Daughter Margaret Was Born, Who Was Afterwards His Favourite,
And His Amanuensis. He Then Removed to Paris, Where He Lived with Great
Splendour And Hospitality; And, From Time To Time, Amused himself With
Poetry, In which He Sometimes Speaks Of The Rebels, And Their Usurpation,
In The Natural Language Of An Honest Man.
At Last, It Became Necessary, For His Support, To Sell His Wife'S Jewels;
And Being reduced, As He Said, At Last "To The Rump-Jewel," He Solicited,
From Cromwell, Permission To Return, And Obtained it By The Interest Of
Colonel Scroop, To Whom His Sister Was Married. Upon The Remains Of A
Fortune Which The Danger Of His Life Had Very Much Diminished, He Lived
At Hall Barn, A House Built By Himself Very Near To Beaconsfield, Where
His Mother Resided. His Mother, Though Related to Cromwell And Hampden,
Was Zealous For The Royal Cause, And, When Cromwell Visited her, Used
To Reproach Him; He, In return, Would Throw A Napkin At Her, And Say He
Would Not Dispute With His Aunt; But Finding, In time, That She Acted for
The King, As Well As Talked, He Made Her A Prisoner To Her Own Daughter,
In Her Own House. If He Would Do Any Thing,
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