hastily dismounted. The Riot Act was read, but not a man
stirred.
In the first rank of the Insurgents. Barnaby and Hugh
stood side by side. Somebody had thrust into Barnaby "s
hands when he came out into the street, his precious flag ;
which, being now rolled up and tied round the pole, looked
like a giant quarter-staff as he grasped it firmly and stood
upon his guard. If ever man believed with his whole heart
and soul that he was engaged in a just cause, and that he
was bound to stand by his leader to the last, poor Barnaby
believed it of himself and Lord George Gordon.
After an ineffectual attempt to make himself heard, the
magistrate gave the word and the Horse Guards came riding
in among the crowd. But, even then, he galloped here and
there, exhorting the people to disperse ; and, although heavy
stones were thrown at the men, and some were desperately
cut and bruised, they had no orders but to make prisoners
of such of the rioters as were the most active, and to drive
the people back with the flat of their sabres. As the horses
came in among them, the throng gave way at many points,
and the Guards, following up their advantage, were rapidly
clearing the ground, when two or three of the foremost, who
were in a manner cut off from the rest by the people closing
round them, made straight towards Barnaby and Hugh, who
had no doubt been pointed out as the two men who dropped
into the lobby : laying about them now with some effect, and
inflicting on the more turbulent of their opponents, a few slight
flesh wounds, under the influence of which a man dropped,
here and there, into the arms of his fellows, amid much
groaning and confusion.
At the sight of gashed and bloody faces, seen for a moment
in the crowd, then hidden by the press around them, Barnaby
turned pale and sick. But he stood his ground, and grasping
his pole more firmly yet, kept his eye fixed upon the nearest
74, BARNABY RUDGE.
soldier nodding his head meanwhile, as Hugh, with a scowl-
ing visage, whispered in his ear.
The soldier came spurring on, making his horse rear as the
people pressed about him, cutting at the hands of those who
would have grasped his rein and forced his charger back, and
waving to his comrades to follow and still Barnaby, without
retreating an inch, waited for his coming. Some called to
him to fly, and some were in the very act of closing round
him, to prevent his being taken, when the pole swept into
the air above the peopled heads, and the man's saddle was
empty in an instant.
Then, he and Hugh turned and fled, the crowd opening
to let them pass, and closing up again so quickly that there
was no clue to the course they had taken. Panting for
breath, hot, dusty, and exhausted with fatigue, they reached
the river-side in safety, and getting into a boat with all
despatch were soon out of any immediate danger.
As they glided down the river, they plainly heard the
people cheering ; and supposing they might have forced the
soldiers to retreat, lay upon their oars for a few minutes,
uncertain whether to return or not. But the crowd passing
along Westminster Bridge, soon assured them that the
populace were dispersing ; and Hugh rightly guessed from
this, that they had cheered the magistrate for offering to
dismiss the military on condition of their immediate departure
to their several homes, and that he and Barnaby were better
where they were. He advised, therefore, that they should
proceed to Blackfriars, and, going ashore at the bridge, make
the best of their way to The Boot ; where there was not
only good entertainment and safe lodging, but where they
would certainly be joined by many of their late companions.
Barnaby assenting, they decided on this course of action, and
pulled for Blackfriars accordingly.
They landed at a critical time, and fortunately for them-
selves at the right moment. For, coming into Fleet-street,
they found it in an unusual stir ; and inquiring the cause,
RIOTERS TAKEN TO NEWGATE. 75
were told that a body of Horse Guards had just galloped
past, and that they were escorting some rioters whom they
had made prisoners, to Newgate for safety. Not at all
ill-pleased to have so narrowly escaped the cavalcade, they
lost no more time in asking questions, but hurried to The
Boot with as much speed as Hugh considered it prudent to
make, without appearing singular or attracting an incon-
venient share of public notice.
CHAPTER L.
THEY were among the first to reach the tavern, but they hail
not been there many minutes, when several groups of men
who had formed part of the crowd, came straggling in.
Among them were Simon Tappertit and Mr. Dennis ; both
of whom, but especially the latter, greeted Barnaby with the
utmost warmth, and paid him many compliments on the
prowess he had shown.
"Which," said Dennis, with an oath, as he rested his
bludgeon in a corner with his hat upon it, and took his seat
at the same table with them, " it does me good to think of.
There was a opportunity ! But it led to nothing. For my
part, I don't know what would. There's no spirit among
the people in these here times. Bring something to eat and
drink here. I'm disgusted with humanity."
" On what account ? " asked Mr. Tappertit, who had been
quenching his fiery face in a half-gallon can. " Don't you
consider this a good beginning, mister ? "
" Give me security that it an't a ending," rejoined the
hangman. " When that soldier went down, we might have
made London ours ; but no ; we stand, and gape, and look
on the justice (I wish he had had a bullet in each eye, as he
would have had, if we'd gone to work my way) says ' My
lads, if you'll give me your word to disperse, I'll order off
the military,' our people sets up a hurrah, throws up the
game with the winning cards in their hands, and skulks away
like a pack of tame curs as they are. Ah," said the hangman,
MR. DENNIS DISGUSTED. 77
in a tone of deep disgust, " it makes me blush for my feller
creeturs. I wish I had been born a ox, I do ! "
" You'd have been quite as agreeable a character if you
had been, I think," returned Simon Tappertit, going out in
a lofty manner.
" Don't be too sure of that," rejoined the hangman, calling
after him ; " if I was a horned animal at the present moment,
with the smallest grain of sense, I'd toss every man in this
company, excepting them two," meaning Hugh and Barnaby,
" for his manner of conducting himself this day."
With which mournful review of their proceedings, Mr.
Dennis sought consolation in cold boiled beef and beer ; but
without at all relaxing the grim and dissatisfied expression
of his face, the gloom of which was rather deepened than
dissipated by their grateful influence.
The company who were thus libelled might have retaliated
by strong words, if not by blow r s, but they were dispirited
and worn out. The greater part of them had fasted since
morning; all had suffered extremely from the excessive heat;
and between the day's shouting, exertion, and excitement,
many had quite lost their voices, and so much of their
strength that they could hardly stand. Then they were
uncertain what to do next, fearful of the consequences of
what they had done already, and sensible that after all they
had carried no point, but had indeed left matters worse
than they had found them. Of those who had come to The
Boot, many dropped off' within an hour; such of them as
were really honest and sincere, never, after the morning's
experience, to return, or to hold any communication with
their late companions. Others remained but to refresh
themselves, and then went home desponding; others who
had theretofore been regular in their attendance, avoided
the place altogether. The half-dozen prisoners whom the
Guards had taken, were magnified by report into half-a-
hundred at least ; and their friends, being faint and sober,
so slackened in their energy, and so drooped beneath these
78 BARNABY RUDGE.
dispiriting influences, that by eight o'clock in the evening,
Dennis, Hugh, and Barnaby, were left alone. Even they
were fast asleep upon the benches, when Gashford's entrance
roused them.
" Oh ! you are here then?" said the secretary. " Dear me ! "
" Why, where should we be, Muster Gashford ! " Dennis
rejoined as he rose into a sitting posture.
" Oh nowhere, nowhere,"" he returned with excessive mild-
ness. "The streets are filled with blue cockades. I rather
thought you might have been among them. I am glad you
are not. 1 '
" You have orders for us, master, then ? " said Hugh.
" Oh dear, no. Not I. No orders, my good fellow.
What orders should I have ? You are not in my service."
"Muster Gashford," remonstrated Dennis, "we belong to
the cause, don't we?"
"The cause!" repeated the secretary, looking at him in
a sort of abstraction. "There is no cause. The cause
is lost."
"Lost!"
"Oh yes. You have heard, I suppose? The petition is
rejected by a hundred and ninety-two, to six. It's quite
final. We might have spared ourselves some trouble. That,
and my lord's vexation, are the only circumstances I regret.
I am quite satisfied in all other respects."
As he said this, he took a penknife from his pocket, and
putting his hat upon his knee, began to busy himself in
ripping off the blue cockade which he had worn all day ; at
the same time humming a psalm tune which had been very
popular in the morning, and dwelling on it with a gentle
regret.
His two adherents looked at each other, and at him, as
if they were at a loss how to pursue the subject. At length
Hugh, after some elbowing and winking between himself
and Mr. Dennis, ventured to stay his hand, and to ask him
why he meddled with that riband in his hat.
STILL, DO NOTHING! 79
" Because, 11 said the secretary, looking up with something
between a snarl and a smile, " because to sit still and wear
it, or to fall asleep and wear it, is a mockery. That's all,
friend."
" What would you have us do, master ! " cried Hugh.
"Nothing,"" returned Gashford, shrugging his shoulders,
" nothing. When my lord was reproached and threatened
for standing by you, I, as a prudent man, would have had
you do nothing. When the soldiers were trampling you
under their horses'" feet, I would have had you do nothing.
When one of them was struck down by a daring hand, and
I saw confusion and dismay in all their faces, I would have
had you do nothing just what you did, in short, This is
the young man who had so little prudence and so much
boldness. Ah ! I am sorry for him.""
" Sorry, master ! " cried Hugh.
" Sorry, Muster Gashford ! " echoed Dennis.
"In case there should be a proclamation out to-morrow,
offering five hundred pounds, or some such trifle, for his
apprehension ; and in case it should include another man
who dropped into the lobby from the stairs above," 1 ' said
Gashford, coldly ; " still, do nothing."
" Fire and fury, master ! " cried Hugh, starting up.
"What have we done, that you should talk to us like
this ! "
" Nothing," 1 " 1 returned Gashford with a sneer. " If you arc
cast into prison; if the young man"" here he looked hard
at Barnaby's attentive face "is dragged from us and from
his friends ; perhaps from people whom he loves, and whom
his death would kill ; is thrown into jail, brought out and
hanged before their eyes ; still, do nothing. You'll find
it your best policy, I have no doubt."
" Come on ! " cried Hugh, striding towards the door.
" Dennis Barnaby come on ! "
"Where? To do what?" said Gashford, slipping past
him, and standing with his back against it.
80 BARNABY RUDGE.
" Anywhere ! Anything ! " cried Hugh. " Stand aside,
master, or the window will serve our turn as well. Let
us out ! "
" Ha ha ha ! You are of such of such an impetuous
nature," said Gashford, changing his manner for one of the
utmost good fellowship and the pleasantest raillery ; " you
are such an excitable creature but you'll drink with me
before you go?"
"Oh, yes certainly," growled Dennis, drawing his sleeve
across his thirsty lips. "No malice, brother. Drink with
Muster Gashford ! "
Hugh wiped his heated brow, and relaxed into a smile.
The artful secretary laughed outright.
" Some liquor here ! Be quick, or he'll not stop, even for
that. He is a man of such desperate ardour ! " said the
smooth secretary, whom Mr. Dennis corroborated with sundry
nods and muttered oaths. "Once roused, he is a fellow of
such fierce determination ! "
Hugh poised his sturdy arm aloft, and clapping Barnaby
on the back, bade him fear nothing. They shook hands
together poor Barnaby evidently possessed with the idea
that he was among the most virtuous and disinterested heroes
in the world and Gashford laughed again.
" I hear," he said smoothly, as he stood among them with
a great measure of liquor in his hand, and filled their glasses
as quickly and as often as they chose, " I hear but I cannot
say whether it be true or false that the men who are
loitering in the streets to-night are half disposed to pull
down a Romish chapel or two, and that they only want
leaders. I even heard mention of those in Duke-street,
LincolnVInn Fields, and in Warwick-street, Golden-square;
but common report, you know You are not going?"
" To do nothing, master, eh?" cried Hugh. "No jails
and halter for Barnaby and me. They must be frightened
out of that. Leaders are wanted, are they ? Now,
boys ! "
MISCHfEF REALLY BEGUN. 81
" A most impetuous fellow ! " cried the secretary. " Ha
ha ! A courageous, boisterous, most vehement fellow ! A
man who "
There was no need to finish the sentence, for they had
rushed out of the house, and were far beyond hearing. He
stopped in the middle of a laugh, listened, drew on his
gloves, and, clasping his hands behind him, paced the deserted
room for a long time, then bent his steps towards the busy
town, and walked into the streets.
They were filled with people, for the rumour of that day's
proceedings had made a great noise. Those persons who did
not care to leave home, were at their doors or windows, and
one topic of discourse prevailed on every side. Some reported
that the riots were effectually put down; others that they
had broken out again : some said that Lord George Gordon
had been sent under a strong guard to the Tower; others
that an attempt had been made upon the King's life, that
the soldiers had been again called out, and that the noise of
musketry in a distant part of the town had been plainly
heard within an hour. As it grew darker, these stories
became more direful and mysterious ; and often, when some
frightened passenger ran past with tidings that the rioters
were not far off, and were coming up, the doors were shut
and barred, lower windows made secure, and as much con-
sternation engendered, as if the city were invaded by a
foreign army.
Gashford walked stealthily about, listening to all he heard,
and diffusing or confirming, whenever he had an opportunity,
such false intelligence as suited his own purpose ; and, busily
occupied in this way, turned into Holborn for the twentieth
time, when a great many women and children came flying
along the street often panting and looking back and the
confused murmur of numerous voices struck upon his ear.
Assured by these tokens, and by the red light which began
to flash upon the houses on either side, that some of his
friends were indeed approaching, he begged a moment's
VOL. ii. G
82 BARNABY RUDGE.
shelter at a door which opened as he passed, and running
with some other persons to an upper window, looked out
upon the crowd.
They had torches among them, and the chief faces were
distinctly visible. That they had been engaged in the
destruction of some building was sufficiently apparent, and
that it was a Catholic place of worship was evident from the
spoils they bore as trophies, which were easily recognisable
for the vestments of priests, and rich fragments of altar
furniture. Covered with soot, and dirt, and dust, and lime;
their garments torn to rags ; their hair hanging wildly about
them ; their hands and faces jagged and bleeding with the
wounds of rusty nails ; Barnaby, Hugh, and Dennis hurried on
before them all, like hideous madmen. After them, the dense
throng came fighting on : some singing ; some shouting in
triumph ; some quarrelling among themselves ; some menacing
the spectators as they passed ; some with great wooden
fragments, on which they spent their rage as if they had
been alive, rending them limb from limb, and hurling the
scattered morsels high into the air; some in a drunken state,
unconscious of the hurts they had received from falling bricks,
and stones, and beams; one borne upon a shutter, in the
very midst, covered with a dingy cloth, a senseless, ghastly
heap. Thus a vision of coarse faces, with here and there
a blot of flaring, smoky light; a dream of demon heads and
savage eyes, and sticks and iron bars uplifted in the air, and
whirled about; a bewildering horror, in which so much was
seen, and yet so little, which seemed so long, and yet so
short, in which there were so many phantoms, not to be
forgotten all through life, and yet so many things that could
not be observed in one distracting glimpse it flitted onward,
and was gone.
As it passed away upon its work of wrath and ruin, a
piercing scream was heard. A knot of persons ran towards
the spot ; Gashford, who just then emerged into the street,
among them. He was on the outskirts of the little concourse,
A LITTLE MORE LIKE BUSINESS! 83
and could not see or hear what passed within ; but one who
had a better place, informed him that a widow woman had
descried her son among the rioters.
"Is that all?" said the secretary, turning his face home-
wards. " Well ! I think this looks a little more like
business ! "
CHAPTER LI.
PROMISING as these outrages were to Gashford's view, and
much like business as they looked, they extended that night
no farther. The soldiers were again called out, again they
took half-a-dozen prisoners, and again the crowd dispersed
after a short and bloodless scuffle. Hot and drunken though
they were, they had not yet broken all bounds and set all
law and government at defiance. Something of their habitual
deference to the authority erected by society for its own
preservation yet remained among them, and had its majesty
been vindicated in time, the secretary would have had to
digest a bitter disappointment.
By midnight, the streets were clear and quiet, and, save
that there stood in two parts of the town a heap of nodding
walls and pile of rubbish, where there had been at sunset a
rich and handsome building, everything wore its usual aspect.
Even the Catholic gentry and tradesmen, of whom there were
many resident in different parts of the City and its suburbs,
had no fear for their lives or property, and but little indigna-
tion for the wrong they had already sustained in the plunder
and destruction of their temples of worship. An honest
confidence in the government under whose protection they
had lived for many years, and a well-founded reliance on
the good feeling and right thinking of the great mass of
the community, with whom, notwithstanding their religious
differences, they were every day in habits of confidential,
KEEPING WATCH. 85
affectionate, and friendly intercourse, reassured them, even
under the excesses that had been committed ; and convinced
them that they who were Protestants in anything but the
name, were no more to be considered as abettors of these
disgraceful occurrences, than they themselves were chargeable
with the uses of the block, the rack, the gibbet, and the
stake in cruel Mary's reign.
The clock was on the stroke of one, when Gabriel Varden,
with his lady and Miss Miggs, sat waiting in the little parlour.
This fact ; the toppling wicks of the dull, wasted candles ;
the silence that prevailed; and, above all, the nightcaps of
both maid and matron, were sufficient evidence that they had
been prepared for bed some time ago, and had some reason
for sitting up so far beyond their usual hour.
If any other corroborative testimony had been required,
it would have been abundantly furnished in the actions of
Miss Miggs, who, having arrived at that restless state and
sensitive condition of the nervous system which are the result
of long watching, did, by a constant rubbing and tweaking
of her nose, a perpetual change of position (arising from the
sudden growth of imaginary knots and knobs in her chair),
a frequent friction of her eyebrows, the incessant recurrence
of a small cough, a small groan, a gasp, a sigh, a sniff, a
spasmodic start, and by other demonstrations of that nature,
so file down and rasp, as it were, the patience of the lock-
smith, that after looking at her in silence for some time, he
at last broke out into this apostrophe :
"Miggs, my good girl, go to bed do go to bed. You're
really worse than the dripping of a hundred water-butts out-
side the window, or the scratching of as many mice behind
the wainscot. I can't bear it. Do go to bed, Miggs. To
oblige me do."
"You haven't got nothing to untie, sir," returned Miss
Miggs, "and therefore your requests does not surprise me.
But missis has and while you sit up, mini" she added,
turning to the locksmith's wife, " I couldn't, no, not if twenty
86 BARNABY RUDGE.
times the quantity of cold water was aperiently running
down my back at this moment, go to bed with a quiet
spirit."
Having spoken these words, Miss Miggs made divers efforts
to rub her shoulders in an impossible place, and shivered
from head to foot; thereby giving the beholders to under-
stand that the imaginary cascade was still in full flow, but
that a sense of duty upheld her under that and all other
sufferings, and nerved her to endurance.
Mrs. Varden being too sleepy to speak, and Miss Miggs
having, as the phrase is, said her say, the locksmith had
nothing for it but to sigh and be as quiet as he could.
But to be quiet with such a basilisk before him was im-
possible. If he looked another way, it was worse to feel that
she was rubbing her cheek, or twitching her ear, or winking
her eye, or making all kinds of extraordinary shapes with
her nose, than to see her do it. If she was for a moment
free from any of these complaints, it was only because of her
foot being asleep, or of her arm having got the fidgets, or
of her leg being doubled up with the cramp, or of some
other horrible disorder which racked her whole frame. If
she did enjoy a moment's ease, then with her eyes shut and
her mouth wide open, she would be seen to sit very stiff and
upright in her chair; then to nod a little way forward, and
stop with a jerk ; then to nod a little farther forward,
and stop with another jerk; then to recover herself; then
to come forward again lower lower lower by very slow
degrees, until, just as it seemed impossible that she could
preserve her balance for another instant, and the locksmith
was about to call out in an agony, to save her from dashing
down upon her forehead and fracturing her skull, then all of
a sudden and without the smallest notice, she would come
upright and rigid again with her eyes open, and in her
countenance an expression of defiance, sleepy but yet most
obstinate, which plainly said " Fve never once closed 'em
since I looked at you last, and I'll take my oath of it ! "
ALLY LOOYER! SIMMUNS ! 87
At, length, after the clock had struck two, there was a
sound at the street door, as if somebody had fallen against
the knocker by accident. Miss Miggs immediately jumping
up and clapping her hands, cried with a drowsy mingling
of the sacred and profane, "Ally Looyer, mini! there's
Simmuns's knock ! "
"Who's there?" said Gabriel.
" Me ! " cried the well-known voice of Mr. Tappertit.
Gabriel opened the door, and gave him admission.
He did not cut a very insinuating figure, for a man of
his stature suffers in a crowd ; and having been active in
yesterday morning's work, his dress was literally crushed
from head to foot : his hat being beaten out of all shape,
and his shoes trodden down at heel like slippers. His coat
fluttered in strips about him, the buckles were torn away
both from his knees and feet, half his neckerchief was gone,
and the bosom of his shirt was rent to tatters. Yet not-
withstanding all these personal disadvantages; despite his
being very weak from heat and fatigue ; and so begrimed
with mud and dust that he might have been in a case, for
anything of the real texture (either of his skin or apparel)
that the eye could discern; he stalked haughtily into the
parlour, and throwing himself into a chair, and endeavouring