ing of that sort. Quite the contrairy.'
'You are an older man than your companion, sir,' said Emma,
trembling. 'Have you no pity for us? Do you not consider that we
are women?'
'I do indeed, my dear,' retorted Dennis. 'It would be very hard
not to, with two such specimens afore my eyes. Ha ha! Oh yes, I
consider that. We all consider that, miss.'
He shook his head waggishly, leered at Hugh again, and laughed
very much, as if he had said a noble thing, and rather thought he
was coming out.
There'll be no murdering, my dear. Not a bit on it. I tell you
what though, brother,' said Dennis, cocking his hat for the con-
venience of scratching his head, and looking gravely at Hugh, 'it's
worthy of notice, as a proof of the amazing equalness and dignity
of our law, that it don't make no distinction between men and wo-
men. I've heered the judge say, sometimes, to a highwayman or
housebreaker as had tied the ladies neck and heels ā you'll excuse
me making mention of it, my darlings ā and put 'em in a cellar, that
he showed no consideration to women. Now, I say that there judge
didn't know his business, brother; and that if I had been that there
highwayman or housebreaker, I should have made answer; "What
are you talking of, my lord? I showed the women as much con-
sideration as the law does, and what more would you have me do?''
If you was to count up in the newspapers the number of females as
have been worked off in this here city alone, in the last ten year,'
said Mr. Dennis thoughtfully, 'you'd be surprised at the total ā ā¢
quite amazed, you would. There's a dignified and equal thing; a
beautiful thing! But we've no security for its lasting. Now that
they've begun to favour these here Papists, I shouldn't wonder if
they went and altered even that, one of these days. Upon my soul,
I shouldn't.'
The subject, perhaps from being of too exclusive and professional
a nature, failed to interest Hugh as much as his friend had antici-
pated. But he had no time to pursue it, for at this crisis Mr. Tap-
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BARNABY RUDGE 463
pertit entered precipitately; at sight of whom Dolly uttered a
scream of joy, and fairly threw herself into his arms.
'I knew it, I was sure of it!' cried Dolly. 'My dear father's at
the door. Thank God, thank God! Bless you, Sim. Heaven bless
you for this!'
Simon Tappertit, who had at first implictly believed that the
locksmith's daughter, unable any longer to suppress he" secret
passion for himself, was about to give it full vent in its intensity,
and to declare that she was his for ever, looked extremxcly foolish
when she said these words; ā the more so, as they were received by
Hugh and Dennis with a loud laugh, which made her draw back
and regard him with a fixed and earnest look.
'Miss Haredale,' said Sim, after a very awkward silence, 'I hope
you're as comfortable as circumstances will permit of. Dolly Var-
den, my darling ā my own, my lovely one ā I hope youWe pretty
comfortable likewise.'
Poor little Dolly! She saw how it was; hid her face in her
hands; and sobbed more bitterly than ever.
'You meet in me. Miss V.,' said Simon, laying his hand upon his
breast, 'not a 'prentice, not a workman, not a slave, not the wictim
of your father's tyrannical behaviour, but the leader of a great
people, the captain of a noble band, in which these gentlemen are,
as I may say, corporals and Serjeants. You behold in me, not a
private individual, but a public character; not a mender of locks,
but a healer of the wounds of his unhappy country. Dolly V.,
sweet Dolly V., for how many years have I looked forward to this
present meeting! For how many years has it been my intention to
exalt and ennoble you ! I redeem it. Behold in me, your husband.
Yes, beautiful Dolly ā charmer ā enslaver ā S. Tappertit is all your
own!'
As he said these words he advanced towards her. Dolly retreated
till she could go no farther, and then sank down upon the floor.
Thinking it very possible that this might be maiden modesty,
Simon essayed to raise her; on which Dolly, goaded to desperation,
wound her hands in his hair, and crying out amidst her tears that
he was a dreadful little wretch, and always had been, shook, and
pulled, and beat him, until he was fain to call for help, most lustily.
Hu"jh had never admired her half so much as at that moment.
464 BARNABY RUDGE
'She's in an excited state to-night,' said Simon, as he smoothed
his rumpled feathers, 'and don't know when she's well off. Let her
be by herself till tomorrow, and that'll bring her down a little.
Carry her into the next house ! '
Hugh had her in his arms directly. It might be that Mr. Tap-
pertit's heart was really softened by her distress, or it might be that
he felt it in some degree indecorous that his intended bride should
be struggling in the grasp of another man. He commanded him,
on second thoughts, to put her down again, and looked moodily on
as she flew to Miss Haredale's side, and clinging to her dress, hid
her flushed face in its folds.
'They shall remain here together till to-morrow,' said Simon,
who had now quite recovered his dignity ā 'till to-morrow. Come
away!'
'Ay! ' cried Hugh. 'Come away, captain. Ha ha ha! '
'What are you laughing at?' demanded Simon sternly.
'Nothing, captain, nothing,' Hugh rejoined; and as he spoke,
and clapped his hand upon the shoulder of the little man, he
laughed again, for some unknown reason, with tenfold violence.
Mr. Tappertit surveyed him from head to foot with lofty scorn
(this only made him laugh the more), and turning to the prisoners,
said:
'You'll take notice, ladies, that this place is well watched on ev-
ery side, and that the least noise is certain to be attended with un-
pleasant consequences. You'll hear ā both of you ā more of our
intentions to-morrow. In the meantime, don't show yourselves at
the window, or appeal to any of the people you may see pass it; for
if you do, it'll be known directly that you come from a Catholic
house, and all the exertions our men can make, may not be able
to save your lives.'
With this last caution, which was true enough, he turned to the
door, followed by Hugh and Dennis. They paused for a moment,
going out, to look at them clasped in each other's arms, and then
left the cottage ; fastening the door, and setting a good watch upon
it, and indeed all round the house.
'I say,' growled Dennis, as they walked in company, 'that's a
dainty pair. Muster Gashford's one is as handsome as the other,
eh?'
BARNABY RUDGE 465
'Hush!' said Hugh, hastily. 'Don't you mention names. It 's a
bad habit.'
'I wouldn't like to be him, then (as you don't like names), when
he breaks it out to her; that's all,' said Dennis. 'She's one of them
fine, black-eyed, proud gals, as I wouldn't trust at such times with
a knife too near 'em. I've seen some of that sort, afore now. I re-
collect one that was worked off, many year ago ā and there was a
gentleman in that case too ā that says to me, with her lip a trembl-
ing, but her hand as steady as ever I see one; "Dennis, I'm near
my end, but if I had a dagger in these fingers, and he was within my
reach, I 'd strike him dead afore me"; ā ah, she did ā ^and she 'd
have done it too ! '
'Strike who dead?' demanded Hugh.
'How should I know, brother?' answered Dennis. ^She never
said: not she.'
Hugh looked, for a moment, as though he would have made some
further inquiry into this incoherent recollection; but Simon Tap-
pertit, who had been med'tating deeply, gave his thoughts a new
direction.
'Hugh!' said Sim. 'You have done well to-day. You shall be re-
warded. So have you, Dennis. ā There's no young woman you
want to carry off, is there?'
'N ā no,' returned that gentleman, stroking his grizzly beard,
which was some two inches long. 'None in partikler, I think.'
'Very good,' said Sim; 'then we'll find some other way of making
it up to you. As to you, old boy' ā he turned to Hugh ā 'you shall
have Miggs (her that I promised you, you know) within three
days. Mind. I pass my word for it.'
Hugh thanked him heartily; and as he did so, his laughing fit
returned with such violence that he was obliged to hold his side
with one hand, and to lean with the other on the shoulder of his
small captain, without whose support he would certainly have
rolled upon the ground.
466 BARNABY RUDGE
CHAPTER LX
The three worthies turned their faces towards The Boot, with
the intention of passing the night in that place of rendezvous, and
of seeking the repose they so much needed in the shelter of their
old den; for now that the mischief and destruction they had pur-
posed were achieved, and their prisoners were safely bestowed for
the night, they began to be conscious of exhaustion, and to feel the
wasting effects of the madness which had led to such deplorable
results.
Notwithstanding the lassitude and fatigue which oppressed him
now, in common with his two companions, and indeed with all who
had taken an active share in that night's work, Hugh's boisterous
merriment broke out afresh whenever he looked at Simon Tapper-
tit, and vented itself ā much to that gentleman's indignation ā in
such shouts of laughter as bade fair to bring the watch upon them,
and involve them in a skirmish, to which in their present worn-out
condition they might prove by no means equal. Even Mr. Dennis,
who was not at all particular on the score of gravity or dignity,
and who had a great relish for his young friend's eccentric hu-
mours, took occasion to remonstrate with him on this imprudent
behaviour, which he held to be a species of suicide, tantamount to
a man's working himself off without being overtaken by the law,
than which he could imagine nothing more ridiculous or imperti-
nent.
Not abating one jot of his noisy mirth for these remonstrances,
Hugh reeled along between them, having an arm of each, until
they hove in sight of The Boot, and were within a field or two of
that convenient tavern. He happened by great good luck to have
roared and shouted himself into silence by this time. They were
proceeding onward without noise, when a scout who had been
creeping about the ditches all night, to warn any stragglers from
encroaching further on what was now such dangerous ground,
peeped cautiously from his hiding-place, and called to them to
stop.
'Stop! and why?' said Hugh.
BARNABY RUDGE 467
Because (the scout replied) the house was filled with constables
and soldiers; having been surprised that afternoon. The inmates
had fled or been taken into custody, he could not say which. He had
prevented a great many people from approaching nearer, and he
believed they had gone to the markets and such places to pass the
night. He had seen the distant fires, but they were all out now. He
had heard the people who passed and repassed, speaking of them
too, and could report that the prevailing opinion was one of appre-
hension and dismay. He had not heard a word of Barnaby ā didn't
even know his name ā but it had been said in his hearing that some
man had been taken and carried off to Newgate. Whether this was
true or false, he could not affirm.
The three took counsel together, on hearing this, and debated
what it might be best to do. Hugh, deeming it possible that Barn-
aby was in the hands of the soldiers, and at that moment under de-
tention at The Boot, was for advancing stealthily, and firing the
house; but his companions, who objected to such rash measures
unless they had a crowd at their backs, represented that if Barnaby
were taken he had assuredly been removed to a stronger prison;
they would never have dreamed, he said, of keeping him all night
in a place so weak and open to attack. Yielding to this reasoning,
and to their persuasions, Hugh consented to turn back and to re-
pair to Fleet Market; for which place, it seemed, a few of their
boldest associates had shaped their course, on receiving the same
intelligence.
Feeling their strength recruited and their spirits roused, now
that there was a new necessity for action, they hurried away quite
forgetful of the fatigue under which they had been sinking but a
few minutes before; and soon arrived at their new place of desti-
nation.
Fleet Market, at that time, was a long irregular row of wooden
sheds and pent-houses, occupying the centre of what is now called
Farringdon Street. They were jumbled together in a most unsightly
fashion, in the middle of the road; to the great obstruction of the
thoroughfare and the annoyance of passengers, who were fain to
make their way, as they best could, among carts, baskets, barrows,
trucks, casks, bulks, and benches, and to jostle with porters, huck-
sters, waggoners, and a motley crowd of buyers, sellers, pickpock
468 BARNABY RUDGE
ets, vagrants, and idlers. The air was perfumed with the stench of
rotten leaves and faded fruit ; the refuse of the butchers' stalls, and
offal and garbage ot a hundred kinds. It was indispensable to most
public conveniences in those days, that they should be public
nuisances likewise; and Fleet Market maintained the principle to
admiration.
To this place, perhaps because its sheds and baskets were a tol-
erable substitute for beds, or perhaps because it afforded the means
of a hasty barricade in case of need, many of the rioters had strag-
gled, not only that night, but for two or three nights before. It was
now broad day, but the morning being cold, a group of them were
gathered round a fire in a public-house, drinking hot purl, and
smoking pipes, and planning new schemes for to-morrow.
Hugh and his two friends being known to most of these men,
were received with signal marks of approbation, and inducted into
the most honourable seats. The room-door was closed and fastened
to keep intruders at a distance, and then they proceeded to ex-
change news.
'The soldiers have taken possession of The Boot, I hear,' said
Hugh. ^Who knows anything about it?'
Several cried that they did; but the majority of the company
having been engaged in the assault upon the Warren, and all pres-
ent having been concerned in one or other of the night's expedi-
tions, it proved that they knew no more than Hugh himself ; hav-
ing been merely warned by each other, or by the scout, and know-
ing nothing of their own knowledge.
'We left a man on guard there to-day,' said Hugh, looking round
him, 'who is not here. You know who it is ā Barnaby, who brought
the soldier down, at Westminster. Has any man seen or heard of
him?'
They shook their heads, and murmured an answer in the nega-
tive, as each man looked round and appealed to his fellow; when a
noise was heard without, and a man was heard to say that he want-
ed Hugh ā that he must see Hugh.
'He is but one man,' cried Hugh to those who kept the door;
'let him come in.'
'Ay, ay!' muttered the others. 'Let him come in. Let him come
in.'
BARNABY RUDGE 469
The door was accordingly unlocked and opened. A one-armed
man, with his head and face tied up with a bloody cloth, as though
he had been severely beaten, his clothes torn, and his remaining
hand grasping a thick stick, rushed in among them, and panting
for breath demanded which was Hugh.
'Here he is,' replied the person he inquired for. 'I am Hugh.
What do you want with me?'
'I have a message for you,' said the man. 'You know one
Barnaby.'
^What of him? Did he send the message?'
Yes. He's taken. He's in one of the strong cells in Newgate.
He defended himself as well as he could, but was overpowered by
numbers. That's his message.'
'When did you see him?' asked Hugh, hastily.
'On his way to prison, where he was taken by a party of soldiers.
They took a by-road, and not the one we expected. I was one of
the few who tried to rescue him, and he called to me, and told me
to tell Hugh where he was. We made a good struggle, though it
failed. Look here!'
He pointed to his dress and to his bandaged head, and still pant-
ing for breath, glanced round the room; then faced towards Hugh
again.
T know you by sight,' he said, 'for I was in the crowd on Friday,
and on Saturday, and yesterday, but I didn't know your name.
You're a bold fellow, I know. So is he. He fought like a lion to-
night, but it was of no use. / did my best, considering that I want
this limb.'
Again he glanced inquisitively round the room ā or seemed to do
so, for his face was nearly hidden by the bandage ā and again fac-
ing sharply towards Hugh, grasped his stick as if he half expected
to be set upon, and stood on the defensive.
If he had any such apprehension, however, he was speedily re-
assured by the demeanour of all present. None thought of the
bearer of the tidings. He was lost in the news he brought. Oaths,
threats, and execrations, were vented on all sides. Some cried that
if they bore this tamely, another day would see them all in jail;
some, that they should have rescued the other prisoners, and this
would not have happened. One man cried in a loud voice, 'Who'll
470 BAKNABY RUDGE
follow me to Newgate ! ' and there was a loud shout and general
rush towards the door.
But Hugh and Dennis stood with their backs against it, and kept
them back, until the clamour had so far subsided that their voices
could be heard, when they called them together that to go now,
in broad day, would be madness; and that if they waited until
night and arranged a plan of attack, they might release, not only
their own companions, but all the prisoners, and burn down the
jail.
'Not that jail alone,' cried Hugh, 'but every jail in London. They
shall have no place to put their prisoners in. We'll burn them all
down; make bonfires of them every one! Here!' he cried, catching
at the hangman's hand. 'Let all who're men here, join with us.
Shake hands upon it. Barnaby out of jail, and not a jail left stand-
ing! Who joins?'
Every man there. And they swore a great oath to release their
friends from Newgate next night; to force the doors and burn the
jail; or perish in the fire themselves.
CHAPTER LXI
On that same night ā events so crowd upon each other in convulsed
and distracted times, that more than the stirring incidents of a
whole life often become compressed into the compass of four-and-
twenty hours ā on that same night, Mr. Haredale, having strongly
bound his prisoner, with the assistance of the sexton, and forced
him to mount his horse, conducted him to Chigwell; bent upon
procuring a conveyance to London from that place, and carrying
him at once before a justice. The disturbed state of the town would
be, he knew, a sufficient reason for demanding the murderer's com-
mittal to prison before daybreak, as no man could answer for the
security of any of the watch-houses or ordinary places of deten-
tion; and to convey a prisoner through the streets when the mob
were again abroad, would not only be a task of great danger and
hazard, but would be to challenge an attempt at rescue. Directing
BARNABY RUDGE 471
the sexton to lead the horse, he walked close by the murderer's side,
and in this order they reached the village about the middle of the
night.
The people were all awake and up, for they were fearful of being
burnt in their beds, and sought to comfort and assure each other
by watching in company. A few of the stoutest-hearted were armed
and gathered in a body on the green. To these, who knew him well,
Mr. Haredale addressed himself, briefly narrating what had hap-
pened, and beseeching them to aid in conveying the criminal to
London before the dawn of day.
But not a man among them dared to help him by so much as the
motion of a finger. The rioters, in their passage through the vil-
lage, had menaced with their fiercest vengeance, any person who
should aid in extinguishing the fire, or render the least assistance to
him, or any Catholic whomsoever. Their threats extended to their
lives and all they possessed. They were assembled for their own
protection, and could not endanger themselves by lending any aid
to him. This they told him, not without hesitation and regret, as
they kept aloof in the moonlight and glanced fearfully at the
ghostly rider, who, with his head drooping on his breast and his hat
slouched down upon his brow, neither moved nor spoke.
Finding it impossible to persuade them, and indeed hardly
knowing how to do so after what they had seen of the fury of the
crowd, Mr. Haredale besought them that at least they would leave
him free to act for himself, and would suffer him to take the only
chaise and pair of horses that the place afforded. This was not ac-
ceded to without some difficulty, but in the end they told him to
do what he would, and go away from them in Heaven's name.
Leaving the sexton at the horse's bridle, he drew out the chaise
with his own hands, and would have harnessed the horses, but that
the post-boy of the village ā a soft-hearted, good-for-nothing, vag-
abond kind of fellow ā was moved by his earnestness and passion,
and, throwing down a pitchfork with which he was armed, swore
that the rioters might cut him into mince-meat if they liked but he
would not stand by and see an honest gentleman whc had done no
wrong, reduced to such extremity, without doing what he could to
help him. Mr. Haredale shook him warmly by the hand, and
thanked him from his heart. In five minutes' time the chaise was
472 BARNABY RUDGE
ready, and this good scape-grace in his saddle. The murderer was
put inside, the blinds were drawn up, the sexton took his seat upon
the bar, Mr. Haredale mounted his horse and rode close beside the
door ; and so they started in the dead of night, and in profound si-
lence, for London.
The consternation was so extreme that even the horses which
had escaped the flames at the Warren, could find no friends to
shelter them. They passed them on the road, browsing on the
stunted grass; and the driver told them, that the poor beasts had
wandered to the village first, but had been driven away, lest they
should bring the vengeance of the crowd on any of the inhabitants.
Nor was this feeling confined to such small places, where the
people were timid, ignorant, and unprotected. WTien they came
near London they met, in the grey light of morning, more than one
poor Catholic family who, terrified by the threats and warnings of
their neighbours, were quitting the city on foot, and who told them
they could hire no cart or horse for the removal of their goods, and
had been compelled to leave them behind, at the mercy of the
crowd. Near Mile End they passed a house, the master of which, a
Catholic gentleman of small means, having hired a waggon to re-
move his furniture by midnight, had had it all brought down into
the street, to wait the vehicle's arrival, and save time in the pack-
ing. But the man with whom he made the bargain, alarmed by the
fires that night, and by the sight of the rioters passing his door, had
refused to keep it: and the poor gentleman, with his wife and serv-
ant and their little children, were sitting trembling among their
goods in the open street, dreading the arrival of day and not know-
ing where to turn or what to do.
It was the sam^e, they heard, with the public conveyances. The
panic was so great that the mails and stage-coaches were afraid to
carry passengers who professed the obnoxious religion. If the driv-
ers knew them, or they admitted that they held that creed, they
would not take them, no, though they offered large sums; and yes-
terday, people had been afraid to recognise Catholic acquaintance
in the streets, lest they should be marked by spies, and burnt out,
as it was called, in consequence. One mild old man ā a priest, whose
chapel was destroyed; a very feeble, patient, inoffensive creature ā
who was trudging away, alone, designing to walk some distance
BARNABY RUDGE 473
from town, and then try his fortune with the coaches, told Mr.
Haredale that he feared he might not find a magistrate who would
have the hardihood to commit a prisoner to jail, on his complaint.
But notwithstanding these discouraging accounts they went on,
and reached the Mansion House soon after sunrise.
Mr. Haredale threw himself from his horse, but he had no need
to knock at the door, for it was already open, and there stood upon
the step a portly old man, with a very red, or rather purple face,
who with an anxious expression of countenance, was remonstrating
with some unseen personage upstairs, while the porter essayed to
close the door by degrees and get rid of him. With the intense im-
patience and excitement natural to one in his condition, Mr. Hare-