CHAPTER LXXV.
Gratis anhelans, multa agendo, nihil agens.--PHAEDRUS.
["Panting and labouring in vain; doing much,--effecting nothing."]
Upon entering the town, the streets displayed all the bustle and
excitement which the approaching meeting was eminently calculated to
create in a place ordinarily quiescent and undisturbed: groups of men
were scattered in different parts, conversing with great eagerness;
while here and there some Demosthenes of the town, impatient of the
coming strife, was haranguing his little knot of admiring friends, and
preparing his oratorical organs by petty skirmishing for the grand
battle of the morrow. Now and then the eye roved upon the gaunt forms
of Lord Ulswater's troopers, as they strolled idly along the streets,
in pairs, perfectly uninterested by the great event which set all the
more peaceable inmates of the town in a ferment, and returning, with a
slighting and supercilious glance, the angry looks and muttered
anathemas which, ever and anon, the hardier spirits of the petitioning
party liberally bestowed upon them.
As Wolfe and his comrade entered the main street, the former was
accosted by some one of his compatriots, who, seizing him by the arm,
was about to apprise the neighbouring idlers, by a sudden exclamation,
of the welcome entrance of the eloquent and noted republican. But
Wolfe perceived and thwarted his design.
"Hush!" said he, in a low voice; "I am only now on my way to an old
friend, who seems a man of influence in these parts, and may be of
avail to us on the morrow; keep silence, therefore, with regard to my
coming till I return. I would not have my errand interrupted."
"As you will," said the brother spirit: "but whom have you here, a
fellow-labourer?" and the reformer pointed to Cole, who, with an
expression of shrewd humour, blended with a sort of philosophical
compassion, stood at a little distance waiting for Wolfe, and eying
the motley groups assembled before him.
"No," answered Wolfe; "he is some vain and idle sower of unprofitable
flowers; a thing who loves poetry, and, for aught I know, writes it:
but that reminds me that I must rid myself of his company; yet stay;
do you know this neighbourhood sufficiently to serve me as a guide?"
"Ay," quoth the other; "I was born within three miles of the town."
"Indeed!" rejoined Wolfe; "then perhaps you can tell me if there is
any way of reaching a place called Mordaunt Court without passing
through the more public and crowded thoroughfares."
"To be sure," rejoined the brother spirit; "you have only to turn to
the right up yon hill, and you will in an instant be out of the
purlieus and precincts of W----, and on your shortest road to Mordaunt
Court; but surely it is not to its owner that you are bound?"
"And why not?" said Wolfe.
"Because," replied the other, "he is the wealthiest, the highest, and,
as report says, the haughtiest aristocrat of these parts."
"So much the better, then," said Wolfe, "can he aid us in obtaining a
quiet hearing to-morrow, undisturbed by those liveried varlets of
hire, who are termed, in sooth, Britain's defence! Much better, when
we think of all they cost us to pamper and to clothe, should they be
termed Britain's ruin: but farewell for the present; we shall meet to-
night; your lodgings--?"
"Yonder," said the other, pointing to a small inn opposite; and Wolfe,
nodding his adieu, returned to Cole, whose vivacious and restless
nature had already made him impatient of his companion's delay.
"I must take my leave of you now," said Wolfe, "which I do with a
hearty exhortation that you will change your studies, fit only for
effeminate and enslaved minds."
"And I return the exhortation," answered Cole. "Your studies seem to
me tenfold more crippling than mine: mine take all this earth's
restraints from me, and yours seem only to remind you that all earth
is restraint: mine show me whatever worlds the fondest fancy could
desire; yours only the follies and chains of this. In short, while
'my mind to me a kingdom is,' yours seems to consider the whole
universe itself nothing but a great meeting for the purpose of abusing
ministers and demanding reform!"
Not too well pleased by this answer, and at the same time indisposed
to the delay of further reply, Wolfe contented himself with an iron
sneer of disdain, and, turning on his heel, strode rapidly away in the
direction his friend had indicated.
Meanwhile, Cole followed him with his eye till he was out of sight,
and then muttered to himself, "Never was there a fitter addition to
old Barclay's 'Ship of Fools'! I should not wonder if this man's
patriotism leads him from despising the legislature into breaking the
law; and, faith, the surest way to the gallows is less through vice
than discontent: yet I would fain hope better things for him; for,
methinks, he is neither a common declaimer nor an ordinary man."
With these words the honest Cole turned away, and, strolling towards
the Golden Fleece, soon found himself in the hospitable mansion of
Mistress and Mister Merrylack.
While the ex-king was taking his ease at his inn, Wolfe proceeded to
Mordaunt Court. The result of the meeting that there ensued was a
determination on the part of Algernon to repair immediately to W----.
