The Prince and the Pauper Read online

  CHAPTER XI. At Guildhall.

  The royal barge, attended by its gorgeous fleet, took its stately waydown the Thames through the wilderness of illuminated boats. The air wasladen with music; the river banks were beruffled with joy-flames; thedistant city lay in a soft luminous glow from its countless invisiblebonfires; above it rose many a slender spire into the sky, incrustedwith sparkling lights, wherefore in their remoteness they seemed likejewelled lances thrust aloft; as the fleet swept along, it was greetedfrom the banks with a continuous hoarse roar of cheers and the ceaselessflash and boom of artillery.

  To Tom Canty, half buried in his silken cushions, these sounds and thisspectacle were a wonder unspeakably sublime and astonishing. To hislittle friends at his side, the Princess Elizabeth and the Lady JaneGrey, they were nothing.

  Arrived at the Dowgate, the fleet was towed up the limpid Walbrook(whose channel has now been for two centuries buried out of sight underacres of buildings) to Bucklersbury, past houses and under bridgespopulous with merry-makers and brilliantly lighted, and at last came toa halt in a basin where now is Barge Yard, in the centre of the ancientcity of London. ?Tom disembarked, and he and his gallant processioncrossed Cheapside and made a short march through the Old Jewry andBasinghall Street to the Guildhall.

  Tom and his little ladies were received with due ceremony by the LordMayor and the Fathers of the City, in their gold chains and scarletrobes of state, and conducted to a rich canopy of state at the head ofthe great hall, preceded by heralds making proclamation, and by the Maceand the City Sword. ?The lords and ladies who were to attend upon Tomand his two small friends took their places behind their chairs.

  At a lower table the Court grandees and other guests of noble degreewere seated, with the magnates of the city; the commoners took places ata multitude of tables on the main floor of the hall. ?From their loftyvantage-ground the giants Gog and Magog, the ancient guardians of thecity, contemplated the spectacle below them with eyes grown familiarto it in forgotten generations. ?There was a bugle-blast and aproclamation, and a fat butler appeared in a high perch in the leftwardwall, followed by his servitors bearing with impressive solemnity aroyal baron of beef, smoking hot and ready for the knife.

  After grace, Tom (being instructed) rose--and the whole house withhim--and drank from a portly golden loving-cup with the PrincessElizabeth; from her it passed to the Lady Jane, and then traversed thegeneral assemblage. ?So the banquet began.

  By midnight the revelry was at its height. ?Now came one of thosepicturesque spectacles so admired in that old day. ?A description of itis still extant in the quaint wording of a chronicler who witnessed it:

  'Space being made, presently entered a baron and an earl appareled afterthe Turkish fashion in long robes of bawdkin powdered with gold; hats ontheir heads of crimson velvet, with great rolls of gold, girded with twoswords, called scimitars, hanging by great bawdricks of gold. ?Next cameyet another baron and another earl, in two long gowns of yellow satin,traversed with white satin, and in every bend of white was a bend ofcrimson satin, after the fashion of Russia, with furred hats of gray ontheir heads; either of them having an hatchet in their hands, and bootswith pykes' (points a foot long), 'turned up. ?And after them camea knight, then the Lord High Admiral, and with him five nobles, indoublets of crimson velvet, voyded low on the back and before to thecannell-bone, laced on the breasts with chains of silver; and overthat, short cloaks of crimson satin, and on their heads hats afterthe dancers' fashion, with pheasants' feathers in them. ?These wereappareled after the fashion of Prussia. ?The torchbearers, which wereabout an hundred, were appareled in crimson satin and green, like Moors,their faces black. Next came in a mommarye. Then the minstrels, whichwere disguised, danced; and the lords and ladies did wildly dance also,that it was a pleasure to behold.'

  And while Tom, in his high seat, was gazing upon this 'wild' dancing,lost in admiration of the dazzling commingling of kaleidoscopic colourswhich the whirling turmoil of gaudy figures below him presented, theragged but real little Prince of Wales was proclaiming his rights andhis wrongs, denouncing the impostor, and clamouring for admission atthe gates of Guildhall! The crowd enjoyed this episode prodigiously,and pressed forward and craned their necks to see the small rioter.Presently they began to taunt him and mock at him, purposely to goad himinto a higher and still more entertaining fury. ?Tears of mortificationsprang to his eyes, but he stood his ground and defied the mob rightroyally. ?Other taunts followed, added mockings stung him, and heexclaimed--

  "I tell ye again, you pack of unmannerly curs, I am the Prince of Wales!And all forlorn and friendless as I be, with none to give me word ofgrace or help me in my need, yet will not I be driven from my ground,but will maintain it!"

  "Though thou be prince or no prince, 'tis all one, thou be'st a gallantlad, and not friendless neither! ?Here stand I by thy side to proveit; and mind I tell thee thou might'st have a worser friend than MilesHendon and yet not tire thy legs with seeking. Rest thy small jaw, mychild; I talk the language of these base kennel-rats like to a verynative."

  The speaker was a sort of Don Caesar de Bazan in dress, aspect, andbearing. ?He was tall, trim-built, muscular. ?His doublet and trunkswere of rich material, but faded and threadbare, and their gold-laceadornments were sadly tarnished; his ruff was rumpled and damaged;the plume in his slouched hat was broken and had a bedraggled anddisreputable look; at his side he wore a long rapier in a rusty ironsheath; his swaggering carriage marked him at once as a ruffler ofthe camp. ?The speech of this fantastic figure was received with anexplosion of jeers and laughter. ?Some cried, "'Tis another prince indisguise!" "'Ware thy tongue, friend: ?belike he is dangerous!"?"Marry, he looketh it--mark his eye!" ?"Pluck the lad from him--to thehorse-pond wi' the cub!"

  Instantly a hand was laid upon the Prince, under the impulse of thishappy thought; as instantly the stranger's long sword was out and themeddler went to the earth under a sounding thump with the flat of it.The next moment a score of voices shouted, "Kill the dog! ?Kill him!Kill him!" and the mob closed in on the warrior, who backed himselfagainst a wall and began to lay about him with his long weapon like amadman. ?His victims sprawled this way and that, but the mob-tide pouredover their prostrate forms and dashed itself against the champion withundiminished fury.

  His moments seemed numbered, his destruction certain, when suddenly atrumpet-blast sounded, a voice shouted, "Way for the King's messenger!"and a troop of horsemen came charging down upon the mob, who fled out ofharm's reach as fast as their legs could carry them. The bold strangercaught up the Prince in his arms, and was soon far away from danger andthe multitude.

  Return we within the Guildhall. ?Suddenly, high above the jubilant roarand thunder of the revel, broke the clear peal of a bugle-note. ?Therewas instant silence--a deep hush; then a single voice rose--that of themessenger from the palace--and began to pipe forth a proclamation, thewhole multitude standing listening.

  The closing words, solemnly pronounced, were--

  "The King is dead!"

  The great assemblage bent their heads upon their breasts with oneaccord; remained so, in profound silence, a few moments; then all sankupon their knees in a body, stretched out their hands toward Tom, and amighty shout burst forth that seemed to shake the building--

  "Long live the King!"

  Poor Tom's dazed eyes wandered abroad over this stupefying spectacle,and finally rested dreamily upon the kneeling princesses beside him, amoment, then upon the Earl of Hertford. A sudden purpose dawned in hisface. ?He said, in a low tone, at Lord Hertford's ear--

  "Answer me truly, on thy faith and honour! ?Uttered I here a command,the which none but a king might hold privilege and prerogative to utter,would such commandment be obeyed, and none rise up to say me nay?"

  "None, my liege, in all these realms. ?In thy person bides the majestyof England. ?Thou art the king--thy word is law."

  Tom responded, in a strong, earnest voice, and with great animation--

  "Then shall the king's
law be law of mercy, from this day, and nevermore be law of blood! ?Up from thy knees and away! ?To the Tower, andsay the King decrees the Duke of Norfolk shall not die!"

  The words were caught up and carried eagerly from lip to lip far andwide over the hall, and as Hertford hurried from the presence, anotherprodigious shout burst forth--

  "The reign of blood is ended! ?Long live Edward, King of England!"