success. But whatever was the result of their industry--yea,
though it was but a minnow--it was brought and presented to my Waller
by the honourable hands of the young man, with so loving an air, that
it was easy to behold how gladly he would have consented, if she had
been the companion of their sports, if by any means Charles could have
been persuaded to have exchanged Alice Snowton for her. But the very
mention of such an idea did throw the child into such wrathful
indignation, that the right honourable was fain to bestow on him whole
handfuls of sugar-plums, and promise that Alice should not be left
behind. So fared the time away; and at last I began to hope that the
fears of the great lady were unfounded, and that nothing would occur
to trouble her repose. The manner of living had been resumed again,
with the difference that, on the days the young maidens did not visit
the noble mansion, the honourable viscount was, as it were, domiciled
in the parsonage; and I perceived that, by this arrangement, the great
lady was highly pleased; perhaps because the presence of a kinsman, a
courageous gentleman, gave her some security against the rudenesses
she seemed to be afraid of on the part of her own son--a grievous
state of human affairs when the fifth commandment is not held in
honour, and reducing us below the level of puppy-dogs and kittens, to
whom that commandment, along with the rest of the decalogue, is
totally unknown. Sundry times I did observe symptoms of alarm; and
care did write a sad story of mental suffering on the brow of the
great lady, which was a person of the magnanimity of an ancient
matron, and bore up in a manner surprising to behold in one who stood,
as it were, with one hand upon her coffin, while her other stretched
backward through the shadow of fourscore years to touch her cradle.
And ever, from time to time, couriers came to the noble mansion, while
others flew in various directions on swift horses at utmost speed; and
looking up into that lofty atmosphere, we saw clouds and ominous signs
of coming storms, before we could hear the voice of the thunder. And
once a royal messenger (called a pursuivant-at-arms) came down in
person, and carried the great lady to London, and there she staid
many days, and was threatened with many things and great punishments,
yea, even to be tried by the Lord Jeffreys for high treason, in
resisting the king's order to deliver up her grandchild to its natural
guardian-