Peveril of the Peak Page 39

  CHAPTER XXXIX

  Ah! changeful head, and fickle heart! --PROGRESS OF DISCONTENT.

  No event is more ordinary in narratives of this nature, than theabduction of the female on whose fate the interest is supposed to turn;but that of Alice Bridgenorth was thus far particular, that she wasspirited away by the Duke of Buckingham, more in contradiction than inthe rivalry of passion; and that, as he made his first addresses to herat Chiffinch's, rather in the spirit of rivalry to this Sovereign, thanfrom any strong impression which her beauty had made on his affections,so he had formed the sudden plan of spiriting her away by means of hisdependents, rather to perplex Christian, the King, Chiffinch, and allconcerned, than because he had any particular desire for her society athis own mansion. Indeed, so far was this from being the case, thathis Grace was rather surprised than delighted with the success of theenterprise which had made her an inmate there, although it is probablehe might have thrown himself into an uncontrollable passion, had helearned its miscarriage instead of its success.

  Twenty-four hours had passed over since he had returned to his own roof,before, notwithstanding sundry hints from Jerningham, he could evendetermine on the exertion necessary to pay his fair captive a visit; andthen it was with the internal reluctance of one who can only be stirredfrom indolence by novelty.

  "I wonder what made me plague myself about this wench," said he, "anddoom myself to encounter all the hysterical rhapsodies of a countryPhillis, with her head stuffed with her grandmother's lessons aboutvirtue and the Bible-book, when the finest and best-bred women in townmay be had upon more easy terms. It is a pity one cannot mount thevictor's car of triumph without having a victory to boast of; yet,faith, it is what most of our modern gallants do, though it would notbecome Buckingham.--Well, I must see her," he concluded, "though it werebut to rid the house of her. The Portsmouth will not hear of herbeing set at liberty near Charles, so much is she afraid of a new fairseducing the old sinner from his allegiance. So how the girl is to bedisposed of--for I shall have little fancy to keep her here, and she istoo wealthy to be sent down to Cliefden as a housekeeper--is a matter tobe thought on."

  He then called for such a dress as might set off his natural goodmien--a compliment which he considered as due to his own merit; for asto anything farther, he went to pay his respects to his fair prisonerwith almost as little zeal in the cause, as a gallant to fight a duel inwhich he has no warmer interest than the maintenance of his reputationas man of honour.

  The set of apartments consecrated to the use of those favourites whooccasionally made Buckingham's mansion their place of abode, and whowere, so far as liberty was concerned, often required to observe theregulations of a convent, were separated from the rest of the Duke'sextensive mansion. He lived in the age when what was called gallantrywarranted the most atrocious actions of deceit and violence; as may bebest illustrated by the catastrophe of an unfortunate actress, whosebeauty attracted the attention of the last De Vere, Earl of Oxford.While her virtue defied his seductions, he ruined her under colour of amock marriage, and was rewarded for a success which occasioned the deathof his victim, by the general applause of the men of wit and gallantrywho filled the drawing-room of Charles.

  Buckingham had made provision in the interior of his ducal mansion forexploits of a similar nature; and the set of apartments which henow visited were alternately used to confine the reluctant, and toaccommodate the willing.

  Being now destined for the former purpose, the key was delivered to theDuke by a hooded and spectacled old lady, who sat reading a devout bookin the outer hall which divided these apartments (usually called theNunnery) from the rest of the house. This experienced dowager actedas mistress of the ceremonies on such occasions, and was the trustydepositary of more intrigues than were known to any dozen of herworshipful calling besides.

  "As sweet a linnet," she said, as she undid the outward door, "as eversung in a cage."

  "I was afraid she might have been more for moping than for singing,Dowlas," said the Duke.

  "Till yesterday she was so, please your Grace," answered Dowlas; "or, tospeak sooth, till early this morning, we heard of nothing but Lachrymae.But the air of your noble Grace's house is favourable to singing-birds;and to-day matters have been a-much mended."

  "Tis sudden, dame," said the Duke; "and 'tis something strange,considering that I have never visited her, that the pretty tremblershould have been so soon reconciled to her fate."

  "Ah, your Grace has such magic, that it communicates itself to yourvery walls; as wholesome Scripture says, Exodus, first and seventh, 'Itcleaveth to the walls and the doorposts.'"

  "You are too partial, Dame Dowlas," said the Duke of Buckingham.

  "Not a word but truth," said the dame; "and I wish I may be an outcastfrom the fold of the lambs, but I think this damsel's very frame haschanged since she was under your Grace's roof. Methinks she hath alighter form, a finer step, a more displayed ankle--I cannot tell, butI think there is a change. But, lack-a-day, your Grace knows I am as oldas I am trusty, and that my eyes wax something uncertain."

  "Especially when you wash them with a cup of canary, Dame Dowlas,"answered the Duke, who was aware that temperance was not amongst thecardinal virtues which were most familiar to the old lady's practice.

  "Was it canary, your Grace said?--Was it indeed with canary, that yourGrace should have supposed me to have washed my eyes?" said the offendedmatron. "I am sorry that your Grace should know me no better."

  "I crave your pardon, dame," said the Duke, shaking aside, fastidiously,the grasp which, in the earnestness of her exculpation, Madam Dowlas hadclutched upon his sleeve. "I crave your pardon. Your nearer approach hasconvinced me of my erroneous imputation--I should have said nantz--notcanary."

  So saying, he walked forward into the inner apartments, which werefitted up with an air of voluptuous magnificence.

  "The dame said true, however," said the proud deviser and proprietor ofthe splendid mansion--"A country Phillis might well reconcile herselfto such a prison as this, even without a skilful bird-fancier to toucha bird-call. But I wonder where she can be, this rural Phidele. Is itpossible she can have retreated, like a despairing commandant, into herbedchamber, the very citadel of the place, without even an attempt todefend the outworks?"

  As he made this reflection, he passed through an antechamber and littleeating parlour, exquisitely furnished, and hung with excellent paintingsof the Venetian school.

  Beyond these lay a withdrawing-room, fitted up in a style of still morestudied elegance. The windows were darkened with painted glass, of sucha deep and rich colour, as made the midday beams, which found theirway into the apartment, imitate the rich colours of sunset; and, inthe celebrated expression of the poet, "taught light to counterfeit agloom."

  Buckingham's feelings and taste had been too much, and too often, andtoo readily gratified, to permit him, in the general case, to be easilyaccessible, even to those pleasures which it had been the business ofhis life to pursue. The hackneyed voluptuary is like the jaded epicure,the mere listlessness of whose appetite becomes at length a sufficientpenalty for having made it the principal object of his enjoyment andcultivation. Yet novelty has always some charms, and uncertainty hasmore.

  The doubt how he was to be received--the change of mood which hisprisoner was said to have evinced--the curiosity to know how such acreature as Alice Bridgenorth had been described, was likely to bearherself under the circumstances in which she was so unexpectedly placed,had upon Buckingham the effect of exciting unusual interest. On his ownpart, he had none of those feelings of anxiety with which a man, even ofthe most vulgar mind, comes to the presence of the female whom hewishes to please, far less the more refined sentiments of love, respect,desire, and awe, with which the more refined lover approaches thebeloved object. He had been, to use an expressive French phrase, toocompletely _blase_ even from his earliest youth, to permit him nowto experience the animal eagerness of the o
ne, far less the moresentimental pleasure of the other. It is no small aggravation of thisjaded and uncomfortable state of mind, that the voluptuary cannotrenounce the pursuits with which he is satiated, but must continue, forhis character's sake, or from the mere force of habit, to take all thetoil, fatigue, and danger of the chase, while he has so little realinterest in the termination.

  Buckingham, therefore, felt it due to his reputation as a successfulhero of intrigue, to pay his addresses to Alice Bridgenorth withdissembled eagerness; and, as he opened the door of the inner apartment,he paused to consider, whether the tone of gallantry, or that ofpassion, was fittest to use on the occasion. This delay enabled him tohear a few notes of a lute touched with exquisite skill, and accompaniedby the still sweeter strains of a female voice, which, without executingany complete melody, seemed to sport itself in rivalship of the silversound of the instrument.

  "A creature so well educated," said the Duke, "with the sense she issaid to possess, would, rustic as she is, laugh at the assumed rantsof Oroondates. It is the vein of Dorimont--once, Buckingham, thineown--that must here do the feat, besides that the part is easier."

  So thinking, he entered the room with that easy grace whichcharacterised the gay courtiers among whom he flourished, and approachedthe fair tenant, whom he found seated near a table covered with booksand music, and having on her left hand the large half-open casement,dim with stained glass, admitting only a doubtful light into this lordlyretiring-room, which, hung with the richest tapestry of the Gobelines,and ornamented with piles if china and splendid mirrors, seemed like abower built for a prince to receive his bride.

  The splendid dress of the inmate corresponded with the taste of theapartment which she occupied and partook of the Oriental costume whichthe much-admired Roxalana had the brought into fashion. A slender footand ankle, which escaped from the wide trowser of richly ornamented andembroidered blue satin, was the only part of her person distinctly seen;the rest was enveloped, from head to foot, in a long veil of silvergauze, which, like a feathery and light mist on a beautiful landscape,suffered you to perceive that what it concealed was rarely lovely, yetinduced the imagination even to enhance the charms it shaded. Such partof the dress as could be discovered was, like the veil and the trowsers,in the Oriental taste; a rich turban, and splendid caftan, were ratherindicated than distinguished through the folds of the former. The wholeattire argued at least coquetry on the part of the fair one, who musthave expected, from her situation, a visitor of some pretension; andinduced Buckingham to smile internally at Christian's account of theextreme simplicity and purity of his niece.

  He approached the lady _en cavalier_, and addressed her with the airof being conscious, while he acknowledged his offences, that hiscondescending to do so formed a sufficient apology for them. "FairMistress Alice," he said, "I am sensible how deeply I ought to sue forpardon for the mistaken zeal of my servants, who, seeing you desertedand exposed without protection during an unlucky affray, took it uponthem to bring you under the roof of one who would expose his life ratherthan suffer you to sustain a moment's anxiety. Was it my fault thatthose around me should have judged it necessary to interfere for yourpreservation; or that, aware of the interest I must take in you, theyhave detained you till I could myself, in personal attendance, receiveyour commands?"

  "That attendance has not been speedily rendered, my lord," answered thelady. "I have been a prisoner for two days--neglected, and left to thecharge of menials."

  "How say you, lady?--Neglected!" exclaimed the Duke. "By Heaven, if thebest in my household has failed in his duty, I will discard him on theinstant!"

  "I complain of no lack of courtesy from your servants, my lord," shereplied; "but methinks it had been but complaisant in the Duke himselfto explain to me earlier wherefore he has had the boldness to detain meas a state prisoner."

  "And can the divine Alice doubt," said Buckingham, "that, had time andspace, those cruel enemies to the flight of passion, given permission,the instant in which you crossed your vassal's threshold had seen itsdevoted master at your feet, who hath thought, since he saw you, ofnothing but the charms which that fatal morning placed before him atChiffinch's?"

  "I understand, then, my lord," said the lady, "that you have beenabsent, and have had no part in the restraint which has been exercisedupon me?"

  "Absent on the King's command, lady, and employed in the dischargeof his duty," answered Buckingham without hesitation. "What could Ido?--The moment you left Chiffinch's, his Majesty commanded me to thesaddle in such haste, that I had no time to change my satin buskinsfor riding-boots.[*] If my absence has occasioned you a moment ofinconvenience, blame the inconsiderate zeal of those who, seeing medepart from London, half distracted at my separation from you, werewilling to contribute their unmannered, though well-meant exertions, topreserve their master from despair, by retaining the fair Alice withinhis reach. To whom, indeed, could they have restored you? He whom youselected as your champion is in prison, or fled--your father absent fromtown--your uncle in the north. To Chiffinch's house you had expressedyour well-founded aversion; and what fitter asylum remained than that ofyour devoted slave, where you must ever reign a queen?"

  [*] This case is not without precedent. Among the jealousies and fears expressed by the Long Parliament, they insisted much upon an agent for the King departing for the continent so abruptly, that he had not time to change his court dress--white buskins, to wit, and black silk pantaloons--for an equipment more suitable to travel with.

  "An imprisoned one," said the lady. "I desire not royalty."

  "Alas! how wilfully you misconstrue me!" said the Duke, kneeling on oneknee; "and what right can you have to complain of a few hours' gentlerestraint--you, who destine so many to hopeless captivity? Be mercifulfor once, and withdraw that envious veil; for the divinities are evermost cruel when they deliver their oracles from such clouded recesses.Suffer at least my rash hand----"

  "I will save your Grace that unworthy trouble," said the lady haughtily;and rising up, she flung back over her shoulders the veil which shroudedher, saying, at the same time, "Look on me, my Lord Duke, and see ifthese be indeed the charms which have made on your Grace an impressionso powerful."

  Buckingham did look; and the effect produced on him by surprise wasso strong, that he rose hastily from his knee, and remained for a fewseconds as if he had been petrified. The figure that stood before himhad neither the height nor the rich shape of Alice Bridgenorth; and,though perfectly well made, was so slightly formed, as to seem almostinfantine. Her dress was three or four short vests of embroidered satin,disposed one over the other, of different colours, or rather differentshades of similar colours; for strong contrast was carefully avoided.These opened in front, so as to show part of the throat and neck,partially obscured by an inner covering of the finest lace; over theuppermost vest was worn a sort of mantle, or coat of rich fur. A smallbut magnificent turban was carelessly placed on her head, from underwhich flowed a profusion of coal-black tresses, which Cleopatra mighthave envied. The taste and splendour of the Eastern dress correspondedwith the complexion of the lady's face, which was brunette, of a shadeso dark as might almost have served an Indian.

  Amidst a set of features, in which rapid and keen expression made amendsfor the want of regular beauty, the essential points of eyes as brightas diamonds, and teeth as white as pearls, did not escape the Duke ofBuckingham, a professed connoisseur in female charms. In a word, thefanciful and singular female who thus unexpectedly produced herselfbefore him, had one of those faces which are never seen without makingan impression; which, when removed, are long after remembered; and forwhich, in our idleness, we are tempted to invent a hundred histories,that we may please our fancy by supposing the features under theinfluence of different kinds of emotion. Every one must have inrecollection countenances of this kind, which, from a captivating andstimulating originality of expression, abide longer in the memory, andare more seductive to the imagination, than ever regular beauty.
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  "My Lord Duke," said the lady, "it seems the lifting of my veil has donethe work of magic upon your Grace. Alas, for the captive princess, whosenod was to command a vassal so costly as your Grace! She runs, methinks,no slight chance of being turned out of doors, like a second Cinderella,to seek her fortune among lackeys and lightermen."

  "I am astonished!" said the Duke. "That villain, Jerningham--I will havethe scoundrel's blood!"

  "Nay, never abuse Jerningham for the matter," said the Unknown; "butlament your own unhappy engagements. While you, my Lord Duke, wereposting northward, in white satin buskins, to toil in the King'saffairs, the right and lawful princess sat weeping in sables in theuncheered solitude to which your absence condemned her. Two days she wasdisconsolate in vain; on the third came an African enchantress to changethe scene for her, and the person for your Grace. Methinks, my lord,this adventure will tell but ill, when some faithful squire shallrecount or record the gallant adventures of the second Duke ofBuckingham."

  "Fairly bit and bantered to boot," said the Duke--"the monkey has a turnfor satire, too, by all that is _piquante_.--Hark ye, fair Princess, howdared you adventure on such a trick as you have been accomplice to?"

  "Dare, my lord," answered the stranger; "put the question to others, notto one who fears nothing."

  "By my faith, I believe so; for thy front is bronzed by nature.--Harkye, once more, mistress--What is your name and condition?"

  "My condition I have told you--I am a Mauritanian sorceress byprofession, and my name is Zarah," replied the Eastern maiden.

  "But methinks that face, shape, and eyes"--said the Duke--"when didstthou pass for a dancing fairy?--Some such imp thou wert not many dayssince."

  "My sister you may have seen--my twin sister; but not me, my lord,"answered Zarah.

  "Indeed," said the Duke, "that duplicate of thine, if it was not thyvery self, was possessed with a dumb spirit, as thou with a talking one.I am still in the mind that you are the same; and that Satan, always sopowerful with your sex, had art enough on our former meeting, to makethee hold thy tongue."

  "Believe what you will of it, my lord," replied Zarah, "it cannot changethe truth.--And now, my lord, I bid you farewell. Have you any commandsto Mauritania?"

  "Tarry a little, my Princess," said the Duke; "and remember, that youhave voluntarily entered yourself as pledge for another; and are justlysubjected to any penalty which it is my pleasure to exact. None mustbrave Buckingham with impunity."

  "I am in no hurry to depart, if your Grace hath any commands for me."

  "What! are you neither afraid of my resentment, nor of my love, fairZarah?" said the Duke.

  "Of neither, by this glove," answered the lady. "Your resentment must bea pretty passion indeed, if it could stoop to such a helpless object asI am; and for your love--good lack! good lack!"

  "And why good lack with such a tone of contempt, lady?" said the Duke,piqued in spite of himself. "Think you Buckingham cannot love, or hasnever been beloved in return?"

  "He may have thought himself beloved," said the maiden; "but by whatslight creatures!--things whose heads could be rendered giddy by aplayhouse rant--whose brains were only filled with red-heeled shoes andsatin buskins--and who run altogether mad on the argument of a Georgeand a star."

  "And are there no such frail fair ones in your climate, most scornfulPrincess?" said the Duke.

  "There are," said the lady; "but men rate them as parrots andmonkeys--things without either sense or soul, head or heart. Thenearness we bear to the sun has purified, while it strengthens, ourpassions. The icicles of your frozen climate shall as soon hammer hotbars into ploughshares, as shall the foppery and folly of your pretendedgallantry make an instant's impression on a breast like mine."

  "You speak like one who knows what passion is," said the Duke. "Sitdown, fair lady, and grieve not that I detain you. Who can consentto part with a tongue of so much melody, or an eye of such expressiveeloquence!--You have known then what it is to love?"

  "I know--no matter if by experience, or through the report ofothers--but I do know, that to love, as I would love, would be to yieldnot an iota to avarice, not one inch to vanity, not to sacrifice theslightest feeling to interest or to ambition; but to give up all tofidelity of heart and reciprocal affection."

  "And how many women, think you, are capable of feeling suchdisinterested passion?"

  "More, by thousands, than there are men who merit it," answeredZarah. "Alas! how often do you see the female, pale, and wretched, anddegraded, still following with patient constancy the footsteps of somepredominating tyrant, and submitting to all his injustice with theendurance of a faithful and misused spaniel, which prizes a look fromhis master, though the surliest groom that ever disgraced humanity, morethan all the pleasure which the world besides can furnish him? Thinkwhat such would be to one who merited and repaid her devotion."

  "Perhaps the very reverse," said the Duke; "and for your simile, I cansee little resemblance. I cannot charge my spaniel with any perfidy; butfor my mistresses--to confess truth, I must always be in a cursed hurryif I would have the credit of changing them before they leave me."

  "And they serve you but rightly, my lord," answered the lady; "for whatare you?--Nay, frown not; for you must hear the truth for once. Naturehas done its part, and made a fair outside, and courtly education hathadded its share. You are noble, it is the accident of birth--handsome,it is the caprice of Nature--generous, because to give is more easythan to refuse--well-apparelled, it is to the credit of yourtailor--well-natured in the main, because you have youth andhealth--brave, because to be otherwise were to be degraded--and witty,because you cannot help it."

  The Duke darted a glance on one of the large mirrors. "Noble, andhandsome, and court-like, generous, well-attired, good-humoured,brave, and witty!--You allow me more, madam, than I have the slightestpretension to, and surely enough to make my way, at some point at least,to female favour."

  "I have neither allowed you a heart nor a head," said Zarahcalmly.--"Nay, never redden as if you would fly at me. I say not butnature may have given you both; but folly has confounded the one, andselfishness perverted the other. The man whom I call deserving thename is one whose thoughts and exertions are for others, rather thanhimself,--whose high purpose is adopted on just principles, and neverabandoned while heaven or earth affords means of accomplishing it. He isone who will neither seek an indirect advantage by a specious road, nortake an evil path to gain a real good purpose. Such a man were one forwhom a woman's heart should beat constant while he breathes, and breakwhen he dies."

  She spoke with so much energy that the water sparkled in her eyes, andher cheek coloured with the vehemence of her feelings.

  "You speak," said the Duke, "as if you had yourself a heart which couldpay the full tribute to the merit which you describe so warmly."

  "And have I not?" said she, laying her hand on her bosom. "Here beatsone that would bear me out in what I have said, whether in life or indeath."

  "Were it in my power," said the Duke, who began to get fartherinterested in his visitor than he could at first have thoughtpossible--"Were it in my power to deserve such faithful attachment,methinks it should be my care to requite it."

  "Your wealth, your titles, your reputation as a gallant--all youpossess, were too little to merit such sincere affection."

  "Come, fair lady," said the Duke, a good deal piqued, "do not be quiteso disdainful. Bethink you, that if your love be as pure as coinedgold, still a poor fellow like myself may offer you an equivalent insilver--The quantity of my affection must make up for its quality."

  "But I am not carrying my affection to market, my lord; and therefore Ineed none of the base coin you offer in change for it."

  "How do I know that, my fairest?" said the Duke. "This is the realmof Paphos--You have invaded it, with what purpose you best know; butI think with none consistent with your present assumption of cruelty.Come, come--eyes that are so intelligent can laugh with delight, as wellas gleam with scorn an
d anger. You are here a waif on Cupid's manor, andI must seize on you in name of the deity."

  "Do not think of touching me, my lord," said the lady. "Approach me not,if you would hope to learn the purpose of my being here. Your Gracemay suppose yourself a Solomon if you please, but I am no travellingprincess, come from distant climes, either to flatter your pride, orwonder at your glory."

  "A defiance, by Jupiter!" said the Duke.

  "You mistake the signal," said the 'dark ladye'; "I came not herewithout taking sufficient precautions for my retreat."

  "You mouth it bravely," said the Duke; "but never fortress so boastedits resources but the garrison had some thoughts of surrender. Thus Iopen the first parallel."

  They had been hitherto divided from each other by a long narrow table,which, placed in the recess of the large casement we have mentioned,had formed a sort of barrier on the lady's side, against the adventurousgallant. The Duke went hastily to remove it as he spoke; but, attentiveto all his motions, his visitor instantly darted through the half-openwindow. Buckingham uttered a cry of horror and surprise, having nodoubt, at first, that she had precipitated herself from a height of atleast fourteen feet; for so far the window was distant from the ground.But when he sprung to the spot, he perceived, to his astonishment, thatshe had effected her descent with equal agility and safety.

  The outside of this stately mansion was decorated with a quantity ofcarving, in the mixed state, betwixt the Gothic and Grecian styles,which marks the age of Elizabeth and her successor; and though thefeat seemed a surprising one, the projections of these ornaments weresufficient to afford footing to a creature so light and active, even inher hasty descent.

  Inflamed alike by mortification and curiosity, Buckingham at firstentertained some thought of following her by the same dangerous route,and had actually got upon the sill of the window for that purpose; andwas contemplating what might be his next safe movement, when, froma neighbouring thicket of shrubs, amongst which his visitor haddisappeared, he heard her chant a verse of a comic song, then much infashion, concerning a despairing lover who had recourse to a precipice--

  "But when he came near, Beholding how steep The sides did appear, And the bottom how deep; Though his suit was rejected, He sadly reflected, That a lover forsaken A new love may get; But a neck that's once broken Can never be set."

  The Duke could not help laughing, though much against his will, at theresemblance which the verses bore to his own absurd situation, and,stepping back into the apartment, desisted from an attempt which mighthave proved dangerous as well as ridiculous. He called his attendants,and contented himself with watching the little thicket, unwilling tothink that a female, who had thrown herself in a great measure into hisway, meant absolutely to mortify him by a retreat.

  That question was determined in an instant. A form, wrapped in a mantle,with a slouched hat and shadowy plume, issued from the bushes, and waslost in a moment amongst the ruins of ancient and of modern buildings,with which, as we have already stated, the demesne formerly termed YorkHouse, was now encumbered in all directions.

  The Duke's servants, who had obeyed his impatient summons, were hastilydirected to search for this tantalising siren in every direction. Theirmaster, in the meantime, eager and vehement in every new pursuit, butespecially when his vanity was piqued, encouraged their diligence bybribes, and threats, and commands. All was in vain. They found nothingof the Mauritanian Princess, as she called herself, but the turban andthe veil; both of which she had left in the thicket, together with hersatin slippers; which articles, doubtless, she had thrown aside as sheexchanged them for others less remarkable.

  Finding all his search in vain, the Duke of Buckingham, after theexample of spoiled children of all ages and stations, gave a loose tothe frantic vehemence of passion; and fiercely he swore vengeance onhis late visitor, whom he termed by a thousand opprobrious epithets, ofwhich the elegant phrase "Jilt" was most frequently repeated.

  Even Jerningham, who knew the depths and the shallows of his master'smood, and was bold to fathom them at almost every state of his passions,kept out of his way on the present occasion; and, cabineted with thepious old housekeeper, declared to her, over a bottle of ratafia, that,in his apprehension, if his Grace did not learn to put some control onhis temper, chains, darkness, straw, and Bedlam, would be the final doomof the gifted and admired Duke of Buckingham.