FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147  
148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   >>   >|  
s, outstripping the tardy Essex, to dare all and die. In vain does Gunter perish beside his flag; in vain does Crosse, his horse being killed under him, spring in the midst of battle on another; in vain does "that great-spirited little Sir Samuel Luke" (the original of Hudibras) get thrice captured and thrice escape. For Hampden, the hope of the nation, is fatally shot through the shoulder with two carbine-balls, in the first charge; the whole troop sees it with dismay; Essex comes up, as usual, too late, and the fight at Chalgrove Field is lost. We must leave this picture, painted in the fading colors of a far-off time. Let us leave the noble Hampden, weak and almost fainting, riding calmly from the field, and wandering away over his own Chiltern meadows, that he loves so well,--leave him, drooping over his saddle, directing his horse first towards his father-in-law's house at Pyrton, where once he wedded his youthful bride, then turning towards Thame, and mustering his last strength to leap his tired steed across its boundary brook. A few days of laborious weakness, spent in letter-writing to urge upon Parliament something of that military energy which, if earlier adopted, might have saved his life,--and we see a last, funereal procession winding beneath the Chiltern hills, and singing the 90th Psalm as the mourners approach the tomb of the Hampdens, and the 43d as they return. And well may the "Weekly Intelligencer" say of him, (June 27, 1643,) that "the memory of this deceased Colonel is such that in no age to come but it will more and more be had in honor and esteem; a man so religious, and of that prudence, judgment, temper, valor, and integrity, that he hath left few his like behind him." And we must leave Rupert to his career of romantic daring, to be made President of Wales and Generalissimo of the army,--to rescue with unequalled energy Newark and York and the besieged heroine of Lathom House,--to fight through Newbury and Marston Moor and Naseby, and many a lesser field,--to surrender Bristol and be acquitted by court-martial, but hopelessly condemned by the King;--then to leave the kingdom, refusing a passport, and fighting his perilous way to the seaside;--then to wander over the world for years, astonishing Dutchmen by his seamanship, Austrians by his soldiership, Spaniards and Portuguese by his buccaneering powers, and Frenchmen by his gold and diamonds and birds and monkeys and "richly-liveried Blacka
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147  
148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
thrice
 

Hampden

 

energy

 

Chiltern

 

prudence

 
religious
 
integrity
 

temper

 
judgment
 

esteem


singing

 

mourners

 
approach
 

beneath

 
winding
 

procession

 
funereal
 
Hampdens
 

memory

 

deceased


Colonel

 

return

 

Weekly

 

Intelligencer

 

wander

 

Dutchmen

 

astonishing

 

seaside

 

kingdom

 

refusing


passport

 
perilous
 

fighting

 

seamanship

 

Austrians

 
diamonds
 

monkeys

 
richly
 

Blacka

 
liveried

Frenchmen
 

Spaniards

 
soldiership
 
Portuguese
 

buccaneering

 

powers

 
condemned
 

hopelessly

 
Generalissimo
 

rescue