When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
When healths and draughts go free,
Fishes that tipple in the deep
Know no such liberty.
LOVELACE
"A blessing and a salutation, reverend sir! and may the sun, moon, and
stars be sanctified unto you!"
"Ah! Solomon Grundy, would that the Lord had given thee sense to
understand, as he hath bestowed upon thee talent to speak according to
thy understanding! As it is, Solomon, I lament that thou art a fool,
Solomon, a very fool, except in what regardeth the creature-comforts;
and, of a verity, thou art worthy to send up a dinner even unto Hugh
Peters, after he hath delivered a soul-converting oration before the
chosen from among God's people."
"Which refection he would in nowise condemn," observed the cook of Cecil
Place, whose closely-cropped head of foxy hair seemed to throw a
proportionate quantity of glowing colour upon his rubicund countenance.
He had all the outward marks that indicate a bon vivant, and words of
piety came as awkwardly from his lips as sighs from the mouth of a seal
or a salmon. His little grey eyes twinkled with affection for the said
"creature-comforts;" and the leathern pouch he now carried over his
shoulder was stocked with sundry good things appropriated from the
larder for his own especial diet. He had received permission from
Mistress Cecil to accompany some of his neighbours to see the grand
company from London visit a first-rate man-of-war that had just arrived
off Sheerness, bringing in a train of prizes which the veteran Blake had
taken and sent home, himself proceeding to Vera Cruz, and which it was
rumoured the Lord Oliver was about to inspect in person. This
intelligence set the country in a ferment, and persons of all classes
hastened to the island to witness the sight. For the English were, as
they now are, a sight-loving people, who find pleasure in pageants;
and then, as at present, they demanded economy; but when economy came,
they designated it meanness.
The staunch Roundheads exulted at the idea of Cromwell's exhibiting
himself thus openly after the upsetting of the Syndercomb plot; and the
Royalists, depressed and disappointed, were content to let matters take
their course, at least until they saw some prospect of a change; while
the Levellers, the party most dreaded by the Protector, and which had
been most fatal to the Stuarts, remained in that dangerous state of
repose that is but the preparative for renewed activity.
The Reverend Jonas Fleetword had set forth from the sole desire of
"beholding him who was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, and whose
name among the nations was wonderful." Solomon Grundy, and such other of
the servants of Cecil Place as could be spared, were impelled forward by
the wish of hearing or of seeing something new; intelligence not
travelling upon wings of steam in the seventeenth century, and
newspapers being but rare visiters at Shepey. Occasionally, indeed,
there did descend from the breakfast-room of Sir Robert, unto the
servants' hall, a stray number or two of the "Mercurius Politicus," the
"Perfect Diurnal," or the "Parliament Scout;" the contents of which were
eagerly devoured by the several auditors, while one, more gifted than
his fellows, drawled forth, amid ejaculations and thanks unto the Lord,
the doings of the Commonwealth, and especially of him who was a master
in the new Israel. But the information of the underlings of the house
was generally gathered from the pious pedlars, who sought entrance at
the gate, well stocked with wares of every possible description, and
with "gifts" of which they were always abundantly lavish to those who
hungered or were athirst.