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diff --git a/44980-0.txt b/44980-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..28a47fa --- /dev/null +++ b/44980-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1924 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44980 *** + +Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected +without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have +been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with +underscores: _italics_. + + +Rochester Reprints + +XIII + + +_One hundred copies on French hand-made paper for subscribers_ + +[Illustration: COL : BLOOD.] + + + + +COLONEL THOMAS BLOOD + +CROWN-STEALER + +1618-1680 + + +BY + +WILBUR CORTEZ ABBOTT + +PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, SHEFFIELD SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL + +YALE UNIVERSITY + + +ROCHESTER, NEW YORK +1910 + +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY +EDWARD WHEELOCK + +GENESEE PRESS +ROCHESTER, N.Y. + + + + +COLONEL THOMAS BLOOD + + +The story which follows is, without doubt, one of the most curious and +extraordinary in English history. It is, in fact, so remarkable that +it seems necessary to begin by assuring the cautious reader that it is +true. Much as it may resemble at times that species of literature +known in England as the shilling shocker and in America as the dime +novel, its material is drawn, not from the perfervid imagination of +the author, but from sources whose very nature would seem to repudiate +romance. The dullest and most sedate of official publications, +Parliamentary reports, memoranda of ministers, warrants to and from +officers and gaolers, newsletters full of gossip which for two hundred +years and more has ceased to be news, these would seem to offer little +promise of human interest. + +Yet even these cannot well disguise the fascination of a life like +that of Thomas Blood. The tale of adventure has always divided honours +with the love story. And such a career as his, full of mystery, of +personal daring, and the successful defiance of law by one on whom its +provisions seem to have borne too hardly, cannot be obscured even by +the digest of official documents. Moreover it has historical +significance. This most famous and successful of English lawbreakers +was no common criminal. In a sense he was the representative of an +important class during a critical period of history. Not merely to the +Old Englander, but to those interested in the rise of the New England +beyond seas, the fate of the irreconcilable Puritans, no less than +that of their more submissive brethren, must seem of importance. This +is the more true in that no small number of the men whose names appear +in this narrative played parts on both sides of the Atlantic. The +younger Vane, who had been the governor of Massachusetts, in 1636, and +whose execution marked the early years of Restoration vengeance, is +the most striking of these figures. Next to him come the fugitive +regicides, Goffe, Whalley and Dixwell, who lived out their days in New +Haven, Hartford and Hadley. It is not so well known, however, that +Venner, whose insurrection in the early days of the Restoration was +one of the most dramatic and important events of that time, was at one +time a resident of Salem. Still less is it likely to be known that +Paul Hobson, one of the contrivers and the involuntary betrayer of the +great plot of 1663, was later allowed to remove to Carolina. The +relationship of Lawrence Washington, whose activities in the early +years of Charles II's reign gave the government such anxiety, to the +Washingtons who settled in Virginia has been vigorously denied. But +certainly no small element among these irreconcilables found sympathy, +support or refuge among their brethren in the New World. And it was +perhaps no more than chance that the subject of this sketch did not +become governor of an English colony in America. + +This essay began as a serious historical study, whose larger results +are chronicled in another place. But it grew insensibly into the only +form of composition which seemed to do it any sort of justice, a +species of story. It is, in short, a romance, which differs from its +kind chiefly in that it has a larger proportion of truth. On the other +hand it lacks in equal measure what is generally superabundant in such +works, a plot. It has a plot, indeed many plots, but it is not always +easy to determine just what the plot is or what relation the hero or +villain as you like, bears to it. It has, above all, a mystery which +may atone for its shortcomings in other directions. And it has, +finally, for its central figure a character whose strange, surprising +adventures were the marvel of his day and are not greatly dimmed by +the dust of two centuries. On these grounds it seems not unprofitable +nor uninteresting to contemplate again and in a new light the life and +works of the man who has been generally conceded the bad eminence of +being the most daring and successful of English rascals, Thomas Blood, +courtesy-colonel of conspiracy and crown-stealer. The scene of his +activity was that brilliant and obscure period we know as the +Restoration, those years during which his most gracious Majesty, King +Charles the Second, of far from blessed memory, presided over the +destinies of the English race. And you are, if you wish, to transport +yourself at once into the very midst of the reign of him who for his +wit and wickedness has been forever miscalled the Merry Monarch. + + +The great event of the winter of 1670-1 in English politics and +society was a circumstance unprecedented in European affairs, the +visit of the head of the House of Orange to the English Court. The +young Prince William, soon to become the ruler of Holland, and later +King of England, made this, his first visit to the nation which one +day he was to rule, ostensibly to pay his respects to his uncle +Charles who was then King, and his uncle James, who was Duke of York. +Beside this his journey was officially declared to have no other +purpose than pleasure and the transaction of some private business. +What affairs of state were then secretly discussed by this precocious +statesman of nineteen and His British Majesty's ministers of the Cabal, +we have no need to inquire here, nor would our inquiries produce much +result were they made. The web of political intrigue then first set on +the roaring loom of time which was to plunge all England into +agitation and revolution and unrest, and all western Europe into war, +has, for the moment, little to do with this story. There was enough in +the external aspects of his visit to fill public attention then and to +serve our purpose now. The five months of his stay were one long round +of gayety. Balls, receptions, and dinners, horse-races, cocking mains, +gaming and drinking bouts followed each other in royal profusion. And +a marriage already projected between the Prince and his cousin, the +Princess Mary, gave a touch of romance to the affair, only qualified +by the fact that she still played at dolls in the nursery. + +The court was not alone in its efforts to entertain the young prince. +The ministers, the leaders of the opposition, and many private +individuals beside, lent their energies to this laudable end. The work +was taken up by certain public or semi-public bodies. And, in +particular, the corporation of the great city of London felt that +among these festivities it must not be outdone in paying some +attention to the most distinguished citizen of the neighbouring +republic, who, as it happened, was also the most promising Protestant +candidate for the English throne. Accordingly on the afternoon of +Tuesday, December 6, 1670, as the custom then was, they tendered him a +banquet at Guildhall where were assembled the wealth and beauty of the +city to do him honour. The great function, apart from a subtle +political significance which might have been noted by a careful and +well-informed observer, was not unlike others of that long series of +splendid hospitalities by which the greatest city in the world has +been accustomed for centuries to welcome its distinguished guests. +There was the same splendour of civic display, the same wealth of +courses, the same excellent old wine, doubtless the same excellent old +speeches. And in spite of the greatness of the event and the position +and importance of the guest of honour, the glories of this noble +feast, like those of so many of its fellows, might well have passed +into that oblivion which enfolds dead dinner parties had it not been +that before the evening was over it had become the occasion of one of +the most daring and sensational adventures in the annals of crime, the +famous attempt on the Duke of Ormond. + +This extraordinary exploit, remarkable in itself for its audacity and +the mystery which surrounded it, was made doubly so by the eminence +and character of its victim. James Butler, famous then and since as +"the great Duke of Ormond," bearer of a score of titles, member of the +Council, sometime Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and still Lord High +Steward of England, was by birth and ability one of the greatest, +wealthiest and most powerful men in the three Kingdoms. He was, +moreover, scarcely less distinguished for his noble character than for +his high rank. Neither these nor the circumstances of his career in +public life gave any apparent ground for belief that he was in danger +of personal violence. During the Civil Wars he had followed the +fortunes of King Charles the father with courage and fidelity, though +with no great success. When the royal cause was lost he followed +Charles the son into exile. When monarchy was restored he regained his +ancient estates and dignities, he was made the virtual ruler of +Ireland and with his two friends, the Chancellor, Clarendon, and the +Treasurer, Southampton, completed a triumvirate which dominated +English affairs during the first half dozen years of the Restoration. +When our story opens, Southampton was dead, Clarendon in exile. But +Ormond, last of the staunch Protestants and stately Cavaliers of the +old regime, remained conspicuous in a corrupt and worthless court for +his ability and his virtues. By reason of these, as well as his +office, he had been chosen on this occasion to accompany the Prince of +Orange to the city feast. And by reason of his years he had, before +the concluding revels of the younger men, left the banquet to return +home and so found his way into a most surprising adventure and this +story. + +At the time of which we write he lived in a mansion opposite St. +James's palace, built by his friend the Chancellor and still known as +Clarendon House. His establishment, like that of most men of rank in +those days, was on a scale almost feudal. It included some scores of +servants, companions and dependents of the family. A porter sat at the +gate, day and night, and when the Duke went abroad in his chariot he +was attended by six footmen, a coachman and a runner. It would have +seemed that in the three kingdoms there was scarce a man who, by +virtue of his position, character and surroundings, was less likely to +be exposed to violence than he. What enemies he might have made in his +administration of Ireland, if such there were, could at best be men of +little importance, living besides in a land then as distant from +London as the United States is to-day. They would, presumably, not be +well informed of his movements, least of all of his social +engagements, and they would be helpless in the midst of London, +against the power at his command. What rivals he had in England, it +might be premised from their station, would be far above the practice +of personal assault as a means of political triumph. Certainly nothing +could have been farther from his thoughts or those of his family than +that any danger beyond a possible attack of indigestion could threaten +him in connection with a Guildhall dinner. As the early winter evening +came on, therefore, the porter dozed at the gate, the family and +servants retired early, according to the better customs of a ruder +age, and the quiet of a house at peace with itself and the world +settled down on the little community within its walls. + +It was of short duration. When the lumbering seventeenth century +chariot was heard making its way up the street on its return about +eight o'clock, the porter roused from his nap and came out to unbar +the gates for the home-coming Duke. But to his dismay there was no +Duke, and neither footmen nor runner, only an empty coach and a +frightened coachman, crying that they had been set upon by seven or +eight men in St. James Street almost in sight of the house, that the +footman, lagging behind on the hill, had been overpowered or put to +flight, that the Duke had been dragged out of the chariot and carried +off down Piccadilly way, and that he was, perhaps, already killed. The +porter was a man of courage and decision. He gave the alarm and, with +a certain James Clark, one of the Duke's household, who happened to be +passing through the courtyard when the coach came in, hastened off in +the direction indicated. They found no one at the place where the +attack had been made, but hurrying on past Devonshire House they came +upon two men struggling in the mud of the Knightsbridge road. As they +approached, one of the combatants, a man of huge stature, struggled to +his feet. He was immediately joined by another who appeared from the +shadows, and both fired their pistols at the prostrate figure. Then, +without waiting to see the result, the ruffians mounted their horses +which had meanwhile been held by a third man, and rode off. The +rescuers, joined by many persons whom their alarm had brought +together, hurried to the man in the road. He was too far spent for +words and in the darkness was unrecognizable from dirt and wounds. It +was only by feeling the great star of the order of the Garter on his +breast that they identified him as the Duke. He was carried home and +though much shaken by his adventure was found otherwise uninjured and +after some days he fully recovered. His account of the night's +happenings added a curious detail to the history of the attack and +explained why he had been found so far from where the coach was +stopped. The plan of his assailants, it appeared, was not merely to +capture or kill him, nor, as might have been supposed, to hold him for +ransom. They proposed, instead, to carry him to the place of public +execution, Tyburn, and hang him from the gallows there like a common +criminal. In pursuance of this design they had mounted him behind the +large man, to whom he was securely bound, while the leader rode on to +adjust the rope that there might be no delay at the gallows. When, +however, the others failed to appear, this man rode back and found +that the Duke, despite his age, had managed to throw himself and his +companion from their horse and so gain time till help came.[1] + + [1] Carte, Life of the Duke of Ormond. + +Such was the extraordinary attempt on the Duke of Ormond, than which +no event of the time showed more daring and ingenuity, nor created as +great a sensation. The assailants were not recognized by the Duke nor +his men, no assignable motive for their actions could be given, nor +any further trace of them discovered. And this was not from lack of +effort. The court, the city, and the administration were deeply +stirred by the outrage, and the whole machinery of state was set in +motion to discover and apprehend the criminals. Unprecedented rewards +were offered, the ports were watched, the local authorities warned to +be on the lookout for the desperadoes, and spies were sent in every +direction to gain information. The House of Lords appointed a +committee of no less than sixty-nine peers to examine into "the late +barbarous assaulting, wounding and robbing the Lord High Steward of +His Majesty's Household." + +For more than a month this august body, aided by the secret service +officers, pursued its investigations. The result was small. The most +important testimony was that of a "drawer" at the Bull Tavern, Charing +Cross. He deposed that on the day of the assault, between six and +seven in the evening, five men on horseback, with cloaks, who said +they were graziers, rode up to the inn. They dismounted, ordered wine, +some six pints in all, and sat there, drinking, talking and finally, +having ordered pipes and tobacco, smoking for nearly an hour. About +seven o'clock a man came by on foot crying, "Make way for the Duke of +Ormond," and shortly after the Duke's coach passed by. Fifteen minutes +later the five men paid their reckoning and rode off, still smoking, +toward the Hay Market or Pall Mall, leaving behind some wine, which +the boy duly drank. Beside this, a certain Michael Beresford, clerk or +parson of Hopton, Suffolk, testified that on the same evening, +somewhat earlier it would appear than the incident at the Bull, he had +met in the "Piattza," Covent Garden, a man formerly known to him as a +footman in the service of the regicide, Sir Michael Livesey. This man, +Allen by name, appeared much disturbed, and after some conversation in +which he hinted at "great designs" on foot, was called away by a page, +who told him the horses were ready. The principal piece of evidence, +however, was a sword, belt and pistol, marked "T. H." found at the +scene of the struggle and identified as the property of one Hunt, who +had been arrested in the preceding August under suspicion of highway +robbery, but released for lack of evidence against him. Three horses +were also found, one of which corresponded to the description of the +animal ridden by the leader of the five men at the Bull. In addition +to this there was the usual mass of more or less irrelevant +informations, rumours, arrests, witnesses and worthless testimony +which such a case always produces. After much deliberation the +committee finally drew up a bill against three men, Thomas Hunt, +Richard Halliwell, and one Thomas Allen, also called Allett, Aleck and +Ayloffe. These were summoned to render themselves "by a short day" or +stand convicted of the assault. The bill was duly passed by both +houses and fully vindicated the dignity of the Lords. But it had no +further result. The men did not render themselves by any day, short or +long, the government agents failed to find them and there the matter +rested. + +The result and indeed the whole procedure was thoroughly +unsatisfactory to many in authority. At the outset of the +investigation Justice Morton of London, the far-famed terror of +highwaymen, was asked by Ormond to look into the matter and was +furnished with the names of certain suspects. He reported on Hunt and +his career, and went on to say that Moore and Blood, concerning whom +his Grace had enquired, were in or about London. A month later, Lord +Arlington, the Secretary of State, who had charge of the secret +service, reported to the Lords' committee that of the men suspected, +"Jones, who wrote _Mene Tekel_,[2] Blood, called Allen, Allec, etc., +young Blood, his son, called Hunt, under which name he was indicted +last year, Halliwell, Moore and Simons, were desperate characters +sheltering themselves under the name of Fifth Monarchy men." "Would +not this exposing of their names by act of Parliament," he asked, +"make them hide themselves in the country, whereas the Nonconformists +with whom they met, and who abhorred their crime would otherwise be +glad to bring them to justice?" Apparently not, in the opinion of the +Lords, and the result was what we have seen. Neither Arlington's +advice nor the men were taken. And though in the minds of Ormond, +Morton and Arlington, apparently little doubt existed as to the +authors of the outrage, no way was found to put their opinions into +effect. It needed another and even more daring exploit to demonstrate +the truth of their conjecture and bring the criminal into custody. And +it was not long until just such a circumstance confirmed their surmise +that the man guilty of the assault was the most famous outlaw of his +day, long known and much wanted, many times proclaimed, and on whose +head a price had often been set. He was, in short, Thomas Blood, +courtesy-colonel of conspiracy, plotter, desperado, and now, at last, +highwayman, a man not much known to the world at large, but a source +of long standing anxiety to the government. + + [2] A famous fanatic pamphlet against the government. + +Who was he and what was the motive of this apparently foolhardy and +purposeless piece of bravado? The answer to that question lies deep in +the history of the time, for Blood was no common rascal. Unlike the +ordinary criminal he was not merely an individual lawbreaker. He was +at once a leader and a type of an element in the state, and the part +that he and his fellows played in affairs was not merely important in +itself and in its generation, but even at this distance it has an +interest little dimmed by two centuries of neglect. The story of his +life, in so far as it can be pieced out from the materials at our +command, is as follows: + +In the reign of James I, that is to say, in the first quarter of the +seventeenth century, there lived at an obscure place called Sarney, +County Meath, Ireland, a man named Blood. He was by trade a blacksmith +and ironworker and seems to have been possessed of some little +property, including an iron works. He was not a native Irishman but +one of those north English or Scotch Presbyterians, colonized in that +unhappy island according to the policy which had been pursued by the +English government. Of him we know little more save this. About 1618 +there was born to him a son, christened Thomas, who grew to young +manhood unmarked by any noteworthy achievements or qualities of which +any record remains. But if the circumstances of his own life were of +no great importance, the times in which he lived were stirring enough, +and remote as he was from the center of English political life, he +could hardly have failed to know something of the great issues then +agitating public affairs, and be moved by events far outside his own +little circle. When he was ten years old, the long struggle between +the English king and Parliament blazed up in the Petition of Right, by +which the Commons strove to check the power of the Crown. Thereafter +for eleven years no Parliament sat in England. There, supported by +royal prerogative, the Archbishop Laud sought to force conformity to +the Anglican ritual on multitudes of unwilling men and women, while +the Attorney-General, Noy, and the Treasurer, Weston, revived +long-lapsed statutes and privileges and stretched the technicalities +of the law to extort unparliamentary revenue. Then it was that the +Great Emigration poured thousands of settlers into the New World and +established finally and beyond question the success of the struggling +Puritan colonies oversea. Such matters touched the boy in the Irish +village little. But when the greatest of the Royalists, Thomas +Wentworth, Earl Strafford to be, was transferred from the presidency +of the English Council of the North to rule Ireland, Blood, like all +others in that troubled province, was brought face to face with the +issues of the time. He, like others, saw in that administration the +theory and practice of the enlightened despotism which English +Parliamentarians said it was the aim of this man and his master to +force upon England when English liberties should have been crushed +with the Irish army then forming. + +Whether young Blood enlisted in that army we do not know, but it is +not improbable. In any event, when the Civil War finally broke out, +the Blood family seem to have been in the thick of it. Years afterward +Prince Rupert said that he remembered the young man as a bold and +dashing soldier in his command. And, later still, Blood himself wrote +King Charles II, in behalf of his uncle Neptune, for thirty years dean +of Kilfernora, noting among his virtues that he had been with Charles +I at Oxford. Thus it would appear that the Bloods first sided with the +royal cause. Beside this we know that, in the year before the +execution of the King, Blood married a Miss Holcroft of Holcroft in +Lancashire. And we know further that then or thereafter, like many +another stout soldier, like the stoutest of them all, General Monk[3] +himself, the young Royalist changed sides, for the next time he +appears in history it is with the rank of lieutenant in the +Cromwellian army. + + [3] This spelling of the General's name has been disputed of + late, such authorities as Professor Firth and Mr. Willcock + preferring Monck. But the form here used seems as good, it + has much tradition and authority on its side, and the point + is, after all, of no special importance. + +Before that, however, many great events had taken place, in war and +politics. The Royalist resistance in England had been beaten down, and +the king was dead, the title and office of king had been abolished, +the House of Lords had been done away with, and England was a +commonwealth with a Huntingdonshire gentleman, Oliver Cromwell, at its +head. The war had shifted to Scotland and Ireland. Charles II had been +proclaimed in Edinburgh, and Catholic and Royalist had risen in +Ireland. Thither Cromwell had hastened with his invincible Ironsides, +to crush the Irish before they could gather head and, with the aid of +the Scotch, overthrow his hard-won power. His stroke was swift and +merciless. The chief strongholds of his enemies, Drogheda and Wexford, +were stormed and their inhabitants put to the sword after the manner +of the old Testament. The Irish army was overpowered and Cromwell +hurried back to crush the Scots at Dunbar and Worcester, leaving his +son-in-law, the lawyer-general Ireton, to stamp out the embers of +rebellion. Thereafter, he sent the ablest of his sons, Henry, to hold +the island for the Commonwealth. + +With him Blood came into touch with the house of Cromwell. The young +Irishman had probably been among the troops which were brought over to +conquer the "rebels" serving under the Lord General and Ireton after +him. For when the new government, following the example of its +predecessors, confiscated the land of its enemies and the fair domains +of Royalist and Catholic passed into the hands of the hard-hitting and +loud-praying colonels and captains and even common soldiers of the +Commonwealth, Blood not only acquired estates, but was further +distinguished by being made Justice of the Peace under Henry Cromwell. +Thus with his fellows, and in greater proportion than most of them, he +prospered and after an adventurous career seemed about to achieve the +ambition of most Englishmen then and since, and become a real country +gentleman. For a space of seven years, under Commonwealth and +Protectorate, he lived, like many others of his kind, satisfied and +secure in the enjoyment of the fruits of his share in saving England +from the tyrant, little moved by the great events oversea. And, had it +not been for circumstances as far outside his little sphere as those +which had raised him to this position, he might well have finished an +obscure and peaceful existence, with little further interest for the +historian or moralist. But at the end of those seven fat years Fate, +who had been so kind to Blood and his fellows, changed sides, and he, +like many others, missing the signs of the times, or moved by +conviction, could not, or would not, at all events did not change with +her. + +On September 3, 1658, Oliver Cromwell died and the fabric of +government which for some years had rested on little more than his +will and his sword, began at once to crumble. For a few months his son +Richard endured the empty honour of the Protector's title. Then he +resigned and the administration was left in a weltering chaos of Rump +Parliament politicians and Cromwellian army generals. To end this +anarchy came the governor of Scotland, General Monk, with his army, to +London in the first months of 1660. Under his shrewd, stern management +the old Parliament was forced to dissolve itself and a new House of +Commons was chosen. The first act of this so-called Convention was to +recall the House of Stuart to the throne, and on May 29, 1660, Charles +II rode into London and his inheritance, welcomed by the same shouting +thousands who had so recently assembled to pay the last honours to the +Protectorate. As rapidly as might be thereafter the new regime was +established. The old officers and officials were replaced by +Royalists, the forces by land and sea were disbanded, save for five +thousand trusty troops to guard the new monarchy, the leaders of the +fallen party were arrested and executed, or driven into exile, or put +under security. Some, like Monk and Montague and Browne, were now the +strongest pillars in the new political edifice. Many, like Harrison +and his fellow-regicides, were marked for speedy execution, while +others, like Vane, were kept for future sacrifice. Many more, like +Marten and Waller and Cobbet, dragged out a wretched existence as +political prisoners, exchanging one prison for another till death +released them. Some, like Hutchinson, were put under bonds and granted +a half liberty that in too many cases led only to later imprisonment. +Only a few, like Lambert, lived long in the more pleasant confinement +of the Channel Islands and the Scillies. Yet many escaped. Ludlow and +Lisle and their companions found protection if not safety in +Switzerland. Many more sought refuge in Holland. Some like Algernon +Sidney flitted over Europe like uneasy spirits. No small number joined +the Emperor to fight the Turk, or took service in Holland or Sweden or +the petty states of Germany. And still others, like Goffe and Whalley +and Dixwell, sought and found security in the New World. The leaders +of the fallen party out of the way, for the ensuing six years the +government left no stone unturned to undo the work of revolution and +to restore in so far as possible the old order. + +It was no easy task. For twenty years England had been engaged in a +civil strife where political animosities were embittered by religious +dissensions, emphasized by lines of social cleavage. Not merely had +the ancient fabric of church and state been shattered, but society +itself had been convulsed by the intrusion of ideas and classes +hitherto little regarded as vital elements of public affairs. One by +one institutions long held sacred fell before these new vandals who +seemed about to set up a new heaven and a new earth. King, Lords, +Church, local government, finally the House of Commons itself +disappeared. An open way for the talents was created. A carter became +a colonel and member of Parliament, a butcher became a major-general. +The son of a country merchant developed into the greatest English +naval commander of his time. Meeting house and conventicle took their +place beside parish church and cathedral. Bishops, vestments, liturgy, +at last the whole Establishment disappeared, and there came to be +thousands of men who, like Pepys, saw a church service with its +"singing men" for the first time after the Restoration. One section of +the people in short had triumphed over another. Many of them, like +Blood, actually entered into their enemies' inheritance and seemed +likely to found a new dominant caste. Nor was the effect confined to +England. That land where Puritanism had taken refuge across the sea, +New England, felt the impulse no less strongly. The current of +emigration which some years before had flowed so strongly toward the +new world was checked and even turned back. With the clash of arms not +a few New World Puritans hastened to the mother country to strike a +blow for their cause. Thus the young George Downing, but just +graduated from Harvard, entered the Parliamentary army as chaplain, +turning thence to diplomacy, and with the overthrow of the Puritans, +to Royalism. But many were more scrupulous or less fortunate than he. +When 1660 came and this was all reversed, when the old party was in +the ascendant, the king on the throne, what would become of them? They +had been free to worship in their own way and had been largely exempt +even from many forms of taxation. But all this was now suddenly +reversed. The Royalists were again in the ascendant, the king was on +his throne, Puritanism was discredited, its leaders gone, its +organization destroyed. What were men like Blood to do? + +Matters moved rapidly in those early months of 1660 as they had need +to do if the restoration of the old order was to be accomplished +without bloodshed. From the first of January when Monk with his Scotch +army entered England on its way to London to the end of May when +Charles II rode into Whitehall and his inheritance, great events +pressed close on each other's heels. The old Long Parliament was +restored to decree its own dissolution and the summoning of its +successor. A general election when Royalism was stimulated by the +Declaration from Breda promising amnesty and toleration produced the +Convention Parliament which under stress of Royal promise and fear of +the sectaries recalled the King. A Royal Council was hurriedly brought +together, the House of Lords filled up, the Commonwealth officials and +officers replaced as rapidly as might be by Royalists and before the +end of June administration had been secured for the new monarchy. Thus +under the protection of Monk and his trusty regiments, King, Lords, +Commons resumed their ancient place, administration came into new +hands, the bishops were taking their place in the Lords, the clergy in +their parishes as they could and all England seemed well on the way to +accept a settlement. Yet great issues remained. + +For the moment the restoration had affected only the leaders of the +fallen party and the army. The divisions in society and politics +remained, and the three classes which had fought the civil war +persisted. But their positions were greatly changed. The Anglicans +were in power. The Presbyterians for the time shared that power with +their rivals, and it was only by their aid the king had been recalled. +But the Third Party, or sectaries--Independents, Baptists, Unitarians, +Quakers, and the rest, were now hopelessly at sea. Cromwell, under +whom they had risen to numbers and influence, was dead, their army was +being disbanded, they had little voice in Parliament, and the shadow +of persecution was already upon them. Yet though cast down they were +not destroyed. They had not time to fully establish themselves as a +factor in religion and politics. Their development was checked half +way and they had been given no opportunity to work out their salvation +unhindered. But they were there and they were to be reckoned with. + +For several months, though the Anglicans strove to prevent it, the +Presbyterians at least, seemed likely to receive the recognition they +had earned by their services to the restoration. In the Parliament +they were the most powerful group. In the new Council twelve men of +the thirty had borne arms against the late king. Among the royal +chaplains ten Presbyterian divines found place. And beside issuing the +Declaration from Breda promising liberty of conscience, the king +presently called a conference of Anglicans and Presbyterians at the +Savoy palace to consider some plan of toleration or comprehension. So +far all promised well for an amicable adjustment of relations between +the two great parties in church and state. But their very agreement +boded ill for the third party. In the days of their prosperity they +had suppressed Anglican and Presbyterian alike. Now that these had +joined hands the sectaries had little to hope. They had early stirred +to meet the danger. While the Convention debated the terms on which +the king should return, their deliberations were cut short not less by +the declaration of the king, than by the fear of a rising of the +republicans and sects. But, as the event proved, it was not in the +alliance of the two greater parties their danger lay, for that +alliance was of a few days and full of trouble. The Convention was +dissolved without the embodiment into legislation of those guarantees +which might have made the Presbyterians secure. And before the new +House was chosen, or the Savoy Conference held, their cause was +hopelessly compromised by the third party with whom, against their +will, the Anglicans successfully endeavored to identify them. For in +January, 1661, fanaticism broke out in London. A cooper named Venner, +a soldier of the old army, sometime conspirator against Cromwell, +sometime resident of Salem, in New England, with some three score +followers, all of that peculiar millennial sect known as Fifth +Monarchy men, rose against the government, and for three days kept the +city, the court and the administration in a state of feverish alarm. +But the odds against them were too great. They found neither aid nor +comfort from outside, and the children of this world triumphed over +those who would have restored the rule of the saints under King Jesus. + +That rising helped destroy whatever chance the Presbyterians had of +holding their strength in the new Parliament, and the House of Commons +showed a clear majority of Royalist Anglicans. Hardly had this body +begun its deliberations when the Savoy Conference met, and, after some +wrangling, dissolved without reaching any agreement. Thence ensued a +period of reaction whose results are writ large in religious history +to this day, for this was the time when established church and +denominations definitely parted company. The dominant party lost no +time in destroying the strength of their rivals. The Corporation Act +drove the dissenters from those bodies which governed the cities and +towns and chose a majority of the Commons. The Act of Uniformity +excluded all dissenting ministers from the Church of England. And the +restoration of the bishops to the House of Lords, and of its +confiscated property to the Church completed the discomfiture of the +Presbyterians. These, indeed, suffered most for they had most to lose, +but the new policy bore no less hardly on the sectaries. And these, +joined by the more extreme Presbyterians, were less inclined to submit +to the revived authority in church and state. Many moderate men, +indeed, found it in their consciences to conform enough to evade the +law. But many more were not able nor inclined to take this course. +Deprived of their army, of their political position, of their +religious liberty, even at length of their right to petition, in many +cases of what they considered their rightful property, with no outlet +for their opinions in Parliament, the case seemed hopeless enough. +Some recanted, the most began a long and honorable course of silent +endurance of their persecution. And some, of bolder spirit, turned to +darker ways. + +These events in England had their counterpart in Scotland and Ireland. +In the former a Royalist Parliament, intoxicated with power, a source, +however, from which its name of the Drunken Parliament was not +derived, repealed at one stroke all the acts of the preceding +twenty-eight years, and abolished that document so dear to +Presbyterian hearts, the Solemn League and Covenant. In the latter a +Court of Claims was established to unravel the intricacies of the +interminable land question and restore the estates, as far as +possible, to their former owners. In all three kingdoms the +dispossessed party was thrown into a ferment of discontent over this +sudden reversal of their fortunes. The soldiers of the old army were +especially enraged. They felt that they had lost by political trickery +what had been won in fair fight. By a sudden turn of fortune's wheel, +a bit of legal chicanery, their old enemy, the Parliament, had caught +them off their guard and overthrown them. Their place had been taken +by the ungodly, the Arminian and the idol-worshipper. And these +brethren of the Covenant and the sword were not men to rest quietly +under such wrongs. Many, indeed, turned aside from politics and war, +taking no further part in public affairs. But not a few declared they +would not be led into an Egyptian bondage under a new Pharaoh. They +would not be turned adrift by the empty vote of a packed Parliament, +whence they had been excluded. Those whom they had fairly fought and +fairly conquered, those who had followed Mammon, and bowed the knee to +Baal, the worshippers of Rimmon, the doers of abominations, the +servants of the Scarlet Woman who sits on the Seven Hills, were these +to enter upon that fair inheritance, so lately in the hands of the +Saints, without a blow? Surely the Lord was on the side of His +servants, as he had shown them by so many signal instances of His +favour, at Naseby, at Marston Moor, at Dunbar and Worcester, and a +hundred fights beside, in the great days gone by. Was He to look on +unmoved? Had He abandoned them to their enemies? Was this not rather a +device of His to try their constancy and courage? Was it not their +part as brave and righteous men to strike another blow for the faith +that was in them and the heritage He had put in their hands? A bold +stroke had once prevailed against their oppressors. Might not another +restore the Covenant and give back to the afflicted saints their +inheritance and the spoil of the Philistines? A new king was on the +throne who knew not Joseph. But his rule was recent, his hold +precarious. His father had been overthrown though all the wealth and +power of the mighty had been on his side. Now the land was honeycombed +with sedition, there were thousands of bold spirits accustomed to +discipline and the use of arms, and thousands more of the faithful +with money and sympathy to aid in the great work of destroying the +rule of grasping bishops and a Catholic king. + +Thus while the regicides fled from the wrath of the new government, or +suffered the penalty of their deeds in London, while Parliament was +driving Nonconformity from church and state and the greater part of +the dispossessed party girded itself to endure the impending +persecution, while new-fledged royalty flaunted its licentiousness in +Whitehall, earnest and vindictive men plotted against the new order in +England, in Ireland and Scotland and Wales, in London itself. +Emissaries made their way by night along unfrequented roads, or stole +from village to village in tiny fishing boats, or crept through narrow +lanes of the old City and its environs, to cheer the secret and +unlawful conventicles of Baptist and Quaker, Presbyterian and +Congregationalist, Unitarian and Fifth Monarchist, with hopes and +plans for the resurrection of the Kingdom of the Righteous. The old +Republicans were approached, the holders of land taken in the recent +troubles, the members of the old Rump Parliament, the exiles abroad, +the officers and soldiers of the old army at home. Proclamations were +printed promising all things to all men, but chiefly toleration and +lighter taxes. Tracts were smuggled from London or Holland full of the +language of prophecy. The new monarchy had been measured and found +wanting, the old Covenant was about to rise, Phoenix-like, from its +ashes, the heavens were full of signs and portents, and prodigies +everywhere indicated the fall of king and bishop. A new Armageddon was +at hand, the rule of King Jesus was to be restored, "even by Blood." +Everywhere arms were gathered and men enlisted against that great day. +A council of conspirators directed the activities of its agents from +London and communicated with other groups throughout the three +kingdoms and with the refugees on the Continent. In such wise were +woven the threads of conspiracy against restored royalty and the pride +of the Anglicans, widely but loosely. + +And everywhere, meanwhile, the government followed close on the trail +of the conspirators and kept in close touch with the elements of +discontent. Everywhere spies and informers were enlisted, even from +the ranks of conspiracy itself, to discover and also, it was +whispered, to foment conspiracy where none existed, that dangerous men +might be drawn in and seized. From every county justices and deputy +lieutenants poured a steady stream of prisoners and information into +the hands of the administration. Under the careful direction of the +Lord General the militia was reorganized, former strongholds weakened +or destroyed, troops moved here and there, suspicious persons seized +and incipient disturbance vigorously repressed. So for three years +this underground warfare went on. Late in 1661 the government found or +professed to find, a clue to conspiracy and exploited its discovery in +Parliament to secure the act against corporations. Again in 1662 +another, and perhaps more real danger was brought to light, and again +this was used to pass the Act of Uniformity, a measure against +dissenting ministers which drove some eighteen hundred from the Church +and rendered comprehension finally impossible. Some of the alleged +conspirators were hanged, some were used to get more information, but +for the most part the leaders remained unknown, or escaped. Thus far +the disaffected had played into the hands of their bitterest enemies, +and had accomplished little more than furnish a much desired excuse +for legislation to destroy Nonconformity root and branch. If +insurrection had been planned at all it had been thwarted, and turned +against its authors and their party. So useful had it been to the +Anglicans, indeed, that it was more than hinted that the so-called +conspiracies were in fact engineered by them for use in Parliament. + +This was not quite true. Conspiracy there had been, and was, as events +were to prove. The increasing persecution of Dissent, the increasing +weight of taxation, the increasing luxury of the court and the +exactions of the church, provided an increasing basis of discontent, +deep and far-reaching. And the administration learned presently that +the plot they had so diligently pursued and exploited had a very real +existence. By 1663 it was a wide spread and apparently well-organized +conspiracy. It included the discontented Nonconformists of the west +and north of England, the Scotch Covenanters, the dispossessed +Cromwellians in Ireland, the London conventiclers and the Continental +refugees. A central Committee of Six, chiefly old army officers, sat +in London, whence they directed the movement from their hiding places +in those little known regions of the metropolis where even the King's +writ ran with difficulty or not at all. The scheme contemplated the +surprise and seizure of Whitehall and the Tower, the capture of the +King and his brother, of the Chancellor, and the Lord General. +Simultaneous risings were to take place throughout the country whereby +the local authorities were to be overpowered, the Guards, if possible, +decoyed away from the capital, and the central administration +paralyzed and destroyed. The forces of the conspirators, under their +former leaders, especially General Ludlow, were to unite, march on +London, and there either exact terms from the captive King or set up +another Republic, but in any event relieve the people from the burdens +of religious and financial oppression. Such was the dream of the +discontented, which, transformed into action might well have plunged +England again into the throes of civil war. + +Meanwhile what of our friend Blood amid all these great affairs? Had +he, like many others, preferred the safer course, withdrawn into +private life and abandoned his property and ambitions together? That, +indeed, seems to have been his first course. The Court of Claims +apparently deprived him, among many others, of part or all of his +new-found fortune in land, and he seems to have taken up his residence +in Dublin, with or near his brother-in-law, Lackie, or Lecky, a +Presbyterian clergyman, and, like his modern namesake, the historian, +a fellow of Trinity College. Even so he maintained his reputation as +an active man, for on June 30, 1663, a Dublin butcher, Dolman by name, +is found petitioning the Duke of Ormond for the return of an +"outlandish bull and cow" of which he had been unlawfully deprived by +Thomas Blood, lieutenant in the late army. The petition was duly +granted and the animals doubtless duly recovered. But before that the +gallant lieutenant was in far deeper designs than the benevolent +assimilation of other people's outlandish bulls, and before the worthy +butcher petitioned against him he had come under the direct attention +of the Lord-lieutenant in a much more serious connection. + +It was not to be supposed that such a man was overlooked in the +assignment of parts for the great conspiracy. A committee had been +formed in Dublin to organize and enlist the old Cromwellians in the +design and of this committee Blood and his brother-in-law were +prominent members. They were, in fact, the chief means by which +correspondence was maintained with the north Irish Presbyterians in +Ulster, and the so-called Cameronians in Scotland, as well as the +Nonconformist group in Lancashire and north England, with whom Blood's +marriage had given him some connection. The local design, as evolved +by this committee, was most ingenious. A day, the 9th or 10th of May, +was set for its execution, men and arms were collected, and the +details carefully arranged for the seizure of Dublin Castle and the +person of Ormond. According to an old usage the Lord-lieutenant was +accustomed from day to day to receive petitions in person from all who +cared to carry their troubles to him in this way. Taking advantage of +this custom, it was proposed by the conspirators to send certain men +enlisted in the enterprise into the Castle in the guise of +petitioners. Some eighty others, meanwhile, disguised as workingmen +and loiterers, were to hang about the great gate of the Castle. +Another, disguised as a baker, and carrying a basket of bread on his +head, was to enter the gate, as if on his way to the kitchen. As he +went in he was to stumble and let fall his pile of loaves. It was +calculated that the careless guard would probably rush out to snatch +the bread thus scattered. The baker would resist, the pretended +workmen and loiterers would gather to see the fun, and, under cover of +the disturbance, rush the gate, seize the guard-house and its arms, +overpower the guard, and, with the aid of the petitioners within, +occupy the Castle. Upon the news of this, risings were to take place +throughout the country, and the English troops and officials +overpowered and brought over or killed. + +It was an admirable plan. The volunteers were chosen, the disguises +prepared, a proclamation to the people was printed, and the whole +matter laid in train. The plot, in fact, wanted but one thing to +succeed--secrecy. This it was not destined to have. At the proper time +the inevitable informer appeared in the person of Mr. Philip Alden or +Arden, a member of the committee. By him and by a certain Sir +Theophilus Jones, to whom some knowledge of the plot had come, Ormond +was warned of his danger. He took immediate steps to secure himself +and arrest the conspirators. But they were warned of their danger in +time to escape, and under the rules of the game they should have made +off at once. Instead they boldly went on with their plans, but set the +time four days ahead, for May 5th. Even this daring step failed to +save them. The Castle guard was increased, troops and militia called +out, the other districts warned, and the conspirators sought out and +arrested. Among the first victims was Blood's brother-in-law, Lackie. +He was thrown into prison, where the severity of his treatment is said +to have driven him insane. His wife petitioned for his release, and +there is a story that his colleagues, the fellows of Trinity College, +joined her in begging that his life be spared. They were told that he +might have his liberty if he would conform, which, however, even at +that price, he refused to do. This much is quite certain, his wife was +promised, not her husband's liberty but his body. And this, after his +execution in December, was accordingly handed over to her. The other +conspirators suffered likewise in life, or liberty, or property, and +every effort was made to include Blood in the list of victims. A +proclamation he had issued was burned by the hangman. He was declared +an outlaw, his remaining estates were confiscated, and a price was set +on his head. But the government was compelled to satisfy itself with +this, the man himself disappeared. Among the brethren of his faith he +was able to find plenty of hiding places. But, according to his own +story, told many years later, he scorned to skulk in corners. +Disguised as a Quaker, as a Dissenting minister, even as a Catholic +priest, he made his way from place to place, living and preaching +openly, and by his very effrontery keeping the officers off his scent +for some years. And so great, it is said, was the terror of his name +and his daring that a plot to rescue Lackie from the scaffold not only +frightened away the crowd from the execution, but nearly succeeded in +its object, while for months afterward Ormond was hindered from +venturing out of Dublin by the fear of his friends that he would be +kidnapped or killed by Blood and his companions. + +Meanwhile the great design in England, like that in Ireland, found its +shipwreck in treachery. Two of the men entrusted with the secrets of +the design revealed it to the government. One of the leaders, Paul +Hobson, was early seized, and his correspondence intercepted. The +first leader chosen went mad, and the miracles which were prophesied, +did not come to pass. The plans for a rising in Durham, Westmoreland +and Lancashire were betrayed, troops and militia were hurried to the +points of danger, and the few who rose in arms during that fatal month +of October, 1663, discouraged by the fewness of their numbers and the +strength brought against them, dispersed without a blow. The rest was +but the story of arrests, examinations, trials, and executions. More +than a score of those who took part in the design were executed, more +than a hundred punished by fine or imprisonment or exile, or all +three. Hobson was kept prisoner in the Tower for more than a year. His +health failed, and in consideration of information he had given, he +and his family were permitted to go under heavy bonds, to the +Carolinas, where, as elsewhere in the colonies, he doubtless found +many kindred spirits. By the middle of 1664 the tale of victims was +complete, and the conspiracy was crushed. The alarm again reacted on +Parliament, and a bill against meetings of Dissenters, which had been +long pending, was passed under pressure of the plot. By its provisions +it became unlawful to hold a religious meeting of more than five +persons beside the family in whose house the worshippers assembled +under severe and cumulative penalties. This was the Conventicle Act. + +Blood, meanwhile, like several of his co-conspirators, flitted from +place to place, in Ireland and England, the authorities always on his +trail. Finally, like many before and after him, he seems to have found +refuge in the seventeenth century sanctuary of political refugees, +Holland. There no small number of the leaders and soldiers of the old +army had preceded him, and many had taken service in the Dutch army +and navy. It may be that he had some thought of following their +example, perhaps his designs were deeper still. He had nothing to hope +from England, for his confiscated estates had been leased to a certain +Captain Toby Barnes, reserving the rights of the government, based on +his forfeiture by treason. He therefore made his way and extended his +acquaintance not only among the English, but among the Dutch as well, +and, if his story is true, was introduced to no less a person than the +great Dutch admiral, De Ruyter, the most formidable of all England's +enemies. And this was of much importance, for while he sojourned +abroad, England and Holland had drifted into war. From February, 1665, +to July, 1667, the two strongest maritime powers strove for control of +the sea. In the summer of 1665 the English won some advantage in the +fierce battle of Lowestoft, but the noise of rejoicing was stilled by +a terrible catastrophe. In that same summer the Plague fell upon +London. The death list in the city alone swelled from 600 in April to +20,000 in August. Business was suspended, the court and most of the +administration and the clergy fled, and the war languished. A few +brave spirits like Sheldon, the bishop of London, a certain secretary +in the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys, of much fame thereafter, and the old +Cromwellian general, Monk, now Duke of Albemarle, stuck grimly to +their posts. But they and their fellows were few among many. Amid the +terror and confusion the Nonconformist clergy came out of their hiding +places, ascended the pulpits which had been deserted by their brethren +of the Anglican church, few of whom followed the example of their +brave, intolerant old bishop, and ministered to the spiritual needs of +the stricken people. Conventicles sprung up everywhere, and conspiracy +again raised its head. This time new plans were devised. Hundreds of +old soldiers were reported coming to London and taking quarters near +the Tower. Arms were collected and a plan formed to surprise the great +stronghold by an attack from the water side. In addition there was a +design for risings elsewhere, aided by the Dutch. The government +bestirred itself under the direction of the inevitable Monk. The +London conspirators were seized, information was sent to the local +authorities, who made arrests and called out the militia, and the +danger was averted. Parliament met at Oxford in October and, as a +sequel to the plot, passed the most ferocious of the persecuting +measures, the Five Mile Act, by which no Nonconformist preacher or +teacher was permitted to come within that distance of a city or +borough, save on a duly certified journey. + +The next year repeated the history of its predecessor. The English +fleet under the only man who seemed to rise to emergencies in this +dark time, Monk, met the Dutch off the North Foreland and fought there +a terrible battle which lasted three days, and was claimed as a +victory by both sides. Again this was followed by a calamity. In +September a fire broke out in London which raged almost unchecked for +a week, and laid the greater part of the city in ashes. France, +meanwhile, entered the war on the side of Holland, and the English +government, corrupt and exhausted, seemed almost ready to fall. It was +little wonder that the sectaries, though their arms had been lost in +the fire, plucked up courage and laid more plans. Six weeks after the +fire the Covenanters in west Scotland, maddened by persecution, were +in arms, and maintained themselves for some weeks against the forces +sent against them. During the following winter the English, short of +money, and negotiating for peace, resolved not to set out a fleet in +the spring. In June the Dutch, apprised of the defenceless condition +of the English coasts, brought together a fleet under De Ruyter, +sailed up the Medway and the Thames, took Sheerness and Chatham, broke +through the defenses there and captured or destroyed the English ships +they found at anchor. There was little to oppose them. The Guards were +drawn out, the young gentlemen about the court enlisted, the militia +was brought together, and volunteers collected. Some entrenchments +were dug, and guns were mounted to oppose a landing. And the Lord +General Monk, who had done all that was done, marched up and down the +bank, before the Dutch ships whose big black hulks lay well within the +sound of his voice, chewing tobacco, swearing like a pirate, shaking +his heavy cane at the enemy, and daring them to land. They did not +kill him as they might easily have done. From their ships came a brisk +cannonade, volleys of jeers and profanity, and the insulting cries of +English seamen aboard, deriding their fellow-countrymen ashore. And +with these insults the fleet presently weighed anchor and sailed away +to patrol the coasts, interrupt commerce, and attack other ports. In +particular an attempt was made on Landguard fort, covering Harwich. +There the Dutch fleet was taken into the harbour by English pilots, +some twelve hundred men landed under command of an English exile, +Colonel Doleman. But despite the heroic efforts of the "tall English +lieutenant-colonel" who led them, efforts which extorted the +admiration of his fellow-countrymen who held the fort against him, the +Dutch were driven off. At Portsmouth and elsewhere similar attempts +were made but with no greater success and, the negotiations then in +progress at Breda having been expedited by this exploit, the Dutch +fleet withdrew, leaving England seething with impotent rage and +mortification. Peace was signed at Breda a month later, on terms +influenced in no small degree by this notable raid, the first in +centuries which had brought an enemy into the Thames. + +And what had become of our friend Blood in these stirring times? It is +not to be supposed that the organizer of Irish rebellion, the +correspondent of English revolutionary committee and Scotch +Covenanters, and the friend of De Ruyter, sat quietly apart from this +turmoil of war and conspiracy. Yet, working underground as he did, +like a mole, it is possible to trace his movements only by an +occasional upheaval on the surface. It seems quite certain that he did +not, like so many of his countrymen, enlist in the Dutch service and +that he was not among the four or five thousand troops, mostly +English, which manned their fleet, nor did he, like them, take part in +the attempt to storm the forts covering Harwich. On February 13, 1666, +there is a secret service note, that Captain Blood may be found at +Colonel Gilby Carr's in the north of Ireland, or at his wife's near +Dublin, and that the fanatics had secretly held a meeting at Liverpool +and put off their rising till after the engagement of the fleets. On +May 3, there is a similar note concerning a man named Padshall, then +prisoner in the Gatehouse in London, that if he is kept close he may +discover where Allen, alias Blood, lodges, or "Joannes" alias Mene +Tekel, and the note indicates their presence in the city. Then came +the battle of the North Foreland and the failure of the Dutch to crush +the English fleet. On August 24th we learn that these two men, Blood +and Jones, have gone to Ireland to do mischief. There another plot was +reported forming, which contemplated the seizure of Limerick. But +this, like that of the preceding year on the Tower, both of which bear +a strong family resemblance to the old design on Dublin Castle, were +discovered and defeated. One insurrection alone, as we have seen, +resulted from this unrest, the rising of the Scotch Covenanters in +October. And among them, according to advices which came to the +administration, was Blood. He had evidently found the Irish plot +betrayed and with some of his companions, described in the accounts of +the Pentland rising as "some Presbyterian ministers and old officers +from Ireland," hurried to the only chance of real fighting. That was +not great. The Covenanters, cooped up in the Pentland Hills, were +beaten, dispersed and butchered, before concentrated aid could be +given them. Blood, as usual, escaped. He seems first to have sought +refuge in Lancashire among his relatives. Thence he went to Ireland, +but, landing near Carrickfergus, was so closely pursued there by Lord +Dungannon that he turned again to England, and by the first of the +following April was reported to the government as being at the house +of a rigid Anabaptist in Westmoreland. From there he watched the +government unravel the web of conspiracy he had been so busy weaving. + +Yet even here lies another mystery. In 1665, at the time when he might +be supposed to have been most active against the government, his wife +petitioned, through him apparently, for the return of certain property +seized from her father by one Richard Clively, then in prison for +killing a bailiff, and in December of that year it appears that +certain men convicted of attending conventicles are to be discharged, +and the order is endorsed by Blood. More than that, there is a +petition of September, 1666, the month of the Fire, noted as "Blood's +memorial," requesting a permit from Secretary Arlington that the +"hidden persons, especially the spies, be not seized till they are +disposed of." From such data it has been conjectured that Blood was +playing a double part, that he was, after all, no dangerous +conspirator but a mere informer. + +And this brings us to a most curious phase of this whole movement, the +relation of the conspirators to the government. It is a remarkable +fact that no small number of those who to all appearances were most +deeply implicated in conspiracy, corresponded at one time or another +with the administration, in many instances furnishing information of +each other to the secretaries. And this might lead, indeed, it has +led, many to imagine that the whole of these vaunted conspiracies +were, after all, nothing but what we should call in the language of +modern crime, "plants," devised and executed by the government itself +for purposes of its own. There is, in some instances, evidence of +this. But in many others it is apparent that this is not a full +explanation of cases like that of Blood. In that doubtful borderland +between secret service and conspiracy it was often possible for a man +to serve both sides. Having engineered a plot and acquired money and +arms and companions to carry it out a man not infrequently found +himself in the clutches of the law. The officers, because they did not +have evidence to hang him, or because they hoped to gain more from him +alive than dead, were often disposed to offer him his life, even his +liberty, in return for information. He, on his part, was nearly always +ready to furnish information in any quantity and of any sort, in +return for this favour. And, if he were shrewd enough, he might amuse +his captors for years with specious stories, with just enough truth to +make them plausible, and just enough vagueness to make them unusable, +and ultimately escape, meanwhile carrying on the very plans which he +purported to betray. He might even get money from both sides and make +a not to be despised livelihood from his trade. This is very different +from the regular informer, who, like Alden, received a lump sum or an +annuity from the government, and it was a very fair profession for a +man with enough shrewdness and not too much conscience in those +troubled times. If, indeed, Blood were such a man, as seems probable, +he represented a considerable element in the underground politics of +the early Restoration. And it is to be observed that no small +proportion of the men who were executed for actual and undeniable +complicity in the plots were of just this type and had at various +times been in government service, only to be caught red-handed at the +end. And that such was the case of Blood seems to be proved by the +fact that the next time he appears above the horizon his actions seem +to dissipate any idea of permanent accommodation with the government. + +The arrests and examinations which succeeded the abortive conspiracy +of 1663 had led the secretaries of state into many dark ways of +subterranean politics, and they had steadily pushed their +investigations through the years of the war, the plague and the fire. +They had broken up one group after another, pursuing a steady policy +of enlisting the weaker men as informers, and executing or keeping in +prison the irreconcilables. Among those they had thus discovered had +been a little group, the "desperadoes," the names of some of whom we +have come across before, Blood, his brother-in-law, Colonel Lockyer, +Jones, the author of _Mene Tekel_, and a Captain John Mason. The +last had been taken, had escaped, and some time during the Dutch war, +was recaptured. On the 20th of July, 1667, while the Dutch fleets +still patrolled the English coast and the peace of Breda was just +about to be signed, warrants were issued from the Secretary of State +to the Keeper of the Tower and the Keeper of Newgate to deliver +Captain John Mason and Mr. Leving to the bearer to be conveyed to York +gaol. This duty was assigned to a certain Corporal Darcy, otherwise +unknown to fame, who with some seven or eight troopers proceeded to +carry out his instructions. The little party thus made up rode north +by easy stages for four days without incident. On the fourth day they +were joined by one Scott, a citizen of York, apparently by profession +a barber, who, not much fancying solitary travel in that somewhat +insecure district, sought safety with the soldiers. About seven +o'clock on the evening of the 25th of August the little party entered +a narrow lane near the village of Darrington, Yorkshire, and there met +a most extraordinary adventure. As they rode along, doubtless with no +great caution, they heard behind them a sudden rattle of horses' +hoofs. They turned to meet a pistol-volley from a small body of well +armed and mounted men, and a demand for their prisoners. Several of +the guard were wounded at the first fire, and the surprise was +complete. But Corporal Darcy was not a man to be thus handled. He +faced his little force about, delivered a volley in return, charged +his assailants briskly and in a moment was the center of a sharp +hand-to-hand fight. He was twice wounded and had his horse shot under +him. Three of his companions were badly hurt. Of the attacking party +at least one was severely wounded[4]. But when they drew off they +carried Mason with them. Leving, feeling discretion the better part of +valour, took refuge in a house near by and after the fight surrendered +himself again to the stout corporal. Scott, the innocent by-stander +who had sought protection with the soldiers, was killed outright, the +only immediate fatality in either party, though some of the troopers +died later of their wounds. The corporal, despite his disabled +condition, managed to get one of his opponents' horses in place of the +one he lost, and rode hurriedly into the nearby village for help. But +the fearful villagers had barricaded themselves in their houses, and +were moved neither by his promises nor his threats to join in the +pursuit of the desperadoes. He had, therefore, to be content with +giving information to the nearest justice, sending after them the hue +and cry, and making his way to York with his remaining prisoner. + + [4] Blood's story of this exploit differs in some + unimportant details, all reflecting credit on himself. He + puts the number of his party at four, that of Darcy at + eight. He tells how he happened on Darcy at an inn near + Doncaster when almost ready to abandon the pursuit. He + explains that two of Mason's party lingered behind and were + put out of action by Blood and one of his companions, who + then rode on to demand Mason from his guards and maintained + an unequal fight with the seven men in Darcy's party for + some time before reinforced by their two fellows. But + Darcy's account supplemented by Leving's is much clearer and + at least more plausible. + +This, it will be remembered, was one Leving. And with him we come upon +a character, and a plot beneath a plot, which well illustrates the +times. William Leving, or Levings, or Levering, or Leonard Williams, +as he was variously called, was very far from being the man his guards +thought him. It must have been a surprise to them after the fight to +see one of their prisoners instead of making off with the rescuers, +render himself again into their hands. But the explanation, though the +good corporal and his men did not know it, nor yet the governor of +York gaol to whom Leving was delivered, was only too well known to +Captain Mason's friends, and explains the strange conduct of the +Captain's fellow prisoner on other grounds than mere cowardice. Leving +had been deeply implicated in the plots of 1661 and 1662, perhaps in +that of 1663 as well. He had been caught, and, to save his life, he +had "come in," to use an expressive phrase of the time. He was, in +short, one of the most useful of the government's spies. It was he who +had given news of Blood and his companions in Ireland. It was he who +had furnished some of the information on which the government was then +acting, and who proposed to furnish more, acquired, possibly, by this +very ruse of sending him North with Mason. And it was he who now gave +to the justice and the officers the names of the principal rescuers, +Captain Lockyer, Major Blood, and Timothy Butler, and wrote to +Secretary Arlington suggesting that the ways into London be watched as +they would probably seek refuge there. It was little wonder that +Mason's rescuers had sought to kill Leving, or that he had sought +refuge in flight and surrender. + +These indeed availed him little. He was kept a prisoner at York even +after it appeared from his examination who and what he was. This was +doubtless done more for his own safety than for any other reason, but +even this was not effectual. Not many weeks later he was found dead in +his cell. Some time after another informer, similarly confined there, +wrote Arlington a terrified letter begging protection or release, +"that he might not, like Leving, be poisoned in his cell." Thus, it +appears, his enemies found him out even there. And that you may not +think too hardly of the poor spy, it may be added that on his dead +body was found a letter, apparently one he was engaged on when he +died, completely exonerating certain men then in hiding for the great +conspiracy. It would, perhaps, be uncharitable to hint that this was +part of an even more subtle plot beneath the other two, and that his +murderers sought to shield their friends outside by this device. York +gaol, in any event, was no place to keep men disaffected toward the +government. From the Lord-lieutenant down the place was thick with +discontent and conspiracy. Indeed no great while before the Council +had arrested the Lord-lieutenant himself, no less a person than one of +their own number, the great Duke of Buckingham, on the charge of +corresponding with the sectaries, and had confined him for some time +in the Tower. + +But what, meanwhile, had happened to Mason and his friends? On August +8th they were proclaimed outlaws by name and a hundred pounds reward +was offered for Lockyer, Butler, Mason and Blood. But they had +disappeared, as usual. Blood, it was said, had been mortally wounded, +and was finally reported dead. That part of the story, at least, was +greatly exaggerated, and was, no doubt, spread by Blood himself. He +seems, in fact, to have retired to one of his hiding places and there +recovered from his injuries, which were severe. The rest dispersed, +and Mason, we know, found his way to London where three years later he +appears in the guise of an innkeeper, still plotting for the +inevitable rising. To us this seems strange. Our minds conjure up a +well-ordered city, properly policed and thoroughly known. But apart +from the fallacy of such a view even now, the London of Charles II was +a far different place from the city of to-day in more ways than its +size and the advances wrought by civilization. The City itself was +then distant from the Court. The long thoroughfare connecting them, +now the busy Strand, was then what its name implies still, the way +along the river, and was the seat of only a few great palaces, like +the Savoy, and the rising pile of Buckingham. Beside what is now +Trafalgar Square stood then, as now, St. Martin's in the Fields. But +the fields have long since fled from Piccadilly and Whitehall. Beyond +and around in every direction outside the purlieus of the Court and +the liberties of the City, stretched great collections of houses and +hovels, affording rich hiding places for men outside the law. The inns +abounding everywhere offered like facilities. Beneath the very walls +of St. Stephen's where Parliament devised measures to suppress +conventicles, those conventicles flourished. Among their numbers, +among the small and secluded country houses round about, among the +rough watermen and sailors along the river, in wide stretching +districts where the King's writ ran with difficulty or not at all, and +a man's life was safe only as his strength or skill made it so, or, it +was whispered, even among some of the great houses like that of the +Duke of Buckingham, men flying from justice might find safety enough. + +Later Mason seems to have been joined in London by Blood and the old +practices were renewed. But the Major, for Blood had now by some +subterranean means arrived at that title, was apparently not wholly +content with this. He retired, it would appear, to the little village +of Romford, in Surrey, and there, under the name of Allen or Ayloffe, +set up--amazing choice among all the things he might have chosen--as a +physician. His son-in-law was apprenticed to an apothecary, and thus, +with every appearance of quiet and sobriety, the outlaw began life +again. But it was not for long, at any rate. Most likely, indeed, this +whole business, if it ever existed at all, was a sham. For on May +28th, 1670, we find Secretary Trevor, who had succeeded Arlington in +office, ordering the Provost Marshal to search out and take in custody +Henry Danvers and William Allen, alias Blood. In December of that same +year came the assault on Ormond, with which our story began, and +Blood, under his alias, was for the third time proclaimed an outlaw, +and for the third time had a price set on his head. Surely, you will +say, this is enough of that impudent scoundrel who so long disturbed +the slumber of His Majesty's secretaries, and flouted the activities +of their agents. And, in spite of the stir raised by the attempt on +Ormond, if Blood had disappeared after that for the last time, he +would not have lived again in the pages of history. For that he is +indebted to the great exploit which at once ended his career of crime +and raised him above the ordinary herd of outlaws and criminals. + +At the time of which we write the Tower of London served even more +numerous and important purposes than it does to-day. It was then, as +now, a depository of arms and ammunition, and the quarters of a +considerable body of troops, which served to overawe possible +disturbance in the city. But in 1670 it was also the principal prison +for political offenders, and it was the place where the state regalia, +the crown, the orb, and the scepter, were kept. Then, as now, the +various functions of the great fortress were quite distinct. The +visitor of to-day passes through a wide courtyard to the main edifice, +the White Tower of William the Conqueror, whose chambers are filled +with curious weapons and armour. He may climb the stone stairs to see +the grim apartments once reserved for men reckoned dangerous to the +state, and gaze with what awe he can muster upon the imitation crown +jewels set out for the delectation of the tourists. Everywhere he +finds in evidence the guardians of these treasures, the unobtrusive +attendant, the picturesque beefeater, the omnipresent policeman, and +if he looks down from the high windows he may see far below him the +red tunics or white undercoats of the soldiers on parade or at work. +In some measure this was true in 1670, and it is to this spot we must +now turn our attention. We have already seen some of the characters in +this story taken to or from the custody of the lieutenant of the +Tower, and our steps in trace of our hero or villain, as you choose to +call him, have often led perilously near its grim portals. At last +they are to go inside. + +Among the various functionaries in and about the Tower in the year +1670 was one Edwards, the Keeper of the Regalia, an old soldier who +lived with his wife and daughter within the walls, his son being away +at the wars on the Continent. Some time after the attack on the Duke +of Ormond there appeared one day, among the visitors who flocked to +see the sights of the stronghold, a little party of strangers from the +country, a clergyman, his wife and his nephew. They visited the usual +places of interest, and presently under Edwards' guidance, were taken +to see the regalia. They were pleasant folk and much interested in +what they saw. But unfortunately while looking at the royal +paraphernalia the lady fell ill with some sort of a chill or +convulsion. Her husband and nephew and Edwards were greatly alarmed. +They carried her to Edwards' apartments where his wife and daughter +took her in charge, and administered cordials and restoratives until +she recovered. The clergyman was deeply grateful. He rewarded Edwards +generously for his attention and they were all profuse in +acknowledging the kindness of the Keeper's family. Nor did the matter +end here. From this little incident there sprang up an acquaintance +which rapidly ripened into friendship between the two families. The +clergyman and his nephew came in from time to time on visits. The +nephew was young and dashing, the daughter was pretty and pleasing[5]. +They were obviously attracted to each other, and their elders looked +on the dawning romance with favor. So rapidly did the matter progress +that the clergyman presently proposed a marriage between the young +couple. Edwards was not unwilling and on the 9th of May, 1671, the +clergyman, his nephew, and a friend, with two companions rode up about +seven in the morning to make the final arrangements. Mrs. Edwards, +however, was not prepared to meet guests at so early an hour and some +delay occurred. To fill in the time the clergyman suggested that +Edwards might show the regalia to his friend who had never seen it. So +the four mounted the steps to the room where the treasures were kept. +Edwards went on before to take the regalia out for exhibition. But as +he stooped over the chest to get them he was seized suddenly from +behind, a cloak was thrown over his head, he was bound and gagged, +knocked on the head with a mallet, and all these measures having +failed to prevent his giving an alarm, he was finally stabbed. One of +the men with him seized the crown and bent it so that it went under +his cloak. The other put the orb in the pocket of his baggy breeches, +and began to file the scepter in two that it might be more easily +carried. But as they were thus busied, by a coincidence, surely the +strangest out of a play, at this precise instant Edwards' son, Talbot, +returned from the wars, bringing a companion with him. They accosted +the third man who had remained as a sentinel at the foot of the +stairs. He gave the alarm, the two men ran down the stairs and all +three hurried off toward the Tower Gate. But there fortune deserted +them. Edwards roused from his stupor, tore out the gag and shouted +"Treason and Murder!" The daughter hurried to his side and thence to +Tower Hill crying, "Treason! the crown is stolen!" Young Edwards and +his companion, Captain Beckman, took up the alarm and hurried to the +Keeper's side. Gaining from him some idea of the situation they rushed +down and saw the thieves just going out the gate. Edwards drew his +pistols and shouted to the sentinels. But the warders were apparently +terrified and young Edwards, Beckman, and others who joined the +pursuit closed in on the outlaws. They in turn aided the confusion by +also crying "Stop Thief" so that some were deceived into believing the +parson a party to the pursuit. Beckman seems to have caught him and +wrestled with him for the crown, while a servant seized one of the +other men. Beckman and Blood had a most "robustious struggle." Blood +had fired one pistol at Beckman, and when they grappled drew a second +and fired again, but missed both times. The accomplices waiting +outside, mounted and rode off in different directions. But the pursuit +was too close. Two of the three principals having been taken almost at +the gate, the third might have got away but was thrown from his horse +by running into a projecting cart pole, and captured at no great +distance. The other accomplices, two apparently, seem to have escaped. +The prisoners were brought back to the Tower at once and identified. +To the astonishment of their captors the clergyman was found to be our +old friend Blood, the so-called nephew was his son[6], the third man +an Anabaptist silk dyer, named Parret. Warrants were immediately made +out to the governor of the Tower, Sir John Robinson, for their +imprisonment; Blood's on the ground of outlawry for treason and other +great and heinous crimes in England; young Blood's and Parret's for +dangerous crimes and practices. + + [5] The Somers Tracts account says that it was Edwards' son + and a pretended daughter of Blood, but this is almost + certainly incorrect. + + [6] Though there is some confusion here. The cobbler who + seized him exclaimed, "This is Tom Hunt who was in the + bloody business against the Duke of Ormond," and Edwards' + account to Talbot (_ Biog. Britt._ II, 366) speaks of him as + Blood's son-in-law. But his pardon was certainly made out to + Thomas Blood, Jr., and there is no mention of the name Hunt. + The explanation probably is that he was Thomas Hunt, Blood's + son-in-law, but was called Blood by his father-in-law, and, + like many men in that time, used either of the two names + indifferently. It appears from Talbot's account that the + cobbler and a constable who came up took Hunt to a nearby + Justice of the Peace, one Smith, who was about to release + him when news came of the attempt on the crown, and Hunt was + then taken back to the Tower. + +Thus fell the mighty Blood in this unique attempt at crime. The +sensation caused by his extraordinary undertaking was naturally +tremendous. Newsletters and correspondence of the time are all filled +with the details of the exploit, for the moment the gravest affairs of +state sunk into insignificance before the interest in this most +audacious venture. An infinite number of guesses were hazarded at the +motive for the theft, for it was felt that mere robbery would not +account for it. It was even suspected that it was a prelude to the +assassination of the king and the proclamation of a usurper who +hoped to strengthen himself by the possession of the regalia. This +view was reenforced by the fact that the Chancellor's house was +entered at about the same time and nothing taken but the Great Seal. +The darkest suspicions were afloat, and the relief at the capture of +the noted outlaw and the failure of his attempt on the crown was +intensified by the sense of having escaped from some vague and +terrible danger which would have menaced the state had he succeeded. +Broadsides and squibs of all sorts were inspired by the exploit. +Among others the irrepressible Presbyterian satirist, Andrew Marvell, +characteristically improved the occasion to make it the subject of a +satire on the Church, as follows: + + _ON BLOOD'S STEALING THE CROWN._ + + _When daring Blood his rent to have regained + Upon the English diadem restrained + He chose the cassock, surcingle and gown, + The fittest mask for one that robs the crown: + But his lay pity underneath prevailed. + And whilst he saved the keeper's life he failed; + With the priest's vestment had he but put on + The prelate's cruelty, the crown had gone._ + +The proceedings in Blood's case, therefore, excited extraordinary +interest, which was not lessened by the unusual circumstances +surrounding it. The prisoners were first brought before Sir Gilbert +Talbot, the provost-marshal[7]. But Blood refused absolutely to answer +any leading questions put him by that official as to his motives, +accomplices, and the ultimate purpose of his exploit. This naturally +deepened the interest in the matter, and increased the suspicion that +there was more in it than appeared on the surface, the more so as the +outlaw declared he would speak only with the king himself. To the +further astonishment of the world this bold request was granted. Three +days after his arrest, on May 12, he was taken by the king's express +order to Whitehall and there examined by Charles, the Duke of York, +and a select few of the royal family and household. The proceeding was +not quite as unusual as it seemed, for in the earlier years of the +Restoration it had been fairly common and the king had proved a master +in the art of examination. But it had been given up of late and its +revival seemed to indicate a matter of unusual gravity. "The man need +not despair," said Ormond to Southwell when he heard that the king was +to give Blood a hearing, "for surely no king would wish to see a +malefactor but with intention to pardon him." But this opinion was not +general and his conviction was never doubted by the world at large. A +few days after his examination Secretary Williamson's Dublin +correspondent wrote him that there was little news in Ireland save the +talk of Blood's attempt on the crown, and he voiced the prevailing +sentiment when he "hoped that Blood would receive the reward of his +many wicked attempts." The coffee houses talked of nothing else and +all London prepared to gratify itself with the spectacle of the +execution of the most daring criminal of the time[8]. + + [7] He seems also to have been examined by Dr. Chamberlain + and Sir William Waller. + + [8] It was hinted that Buckingham had set Blood on to steal + the crown in pursuance of some of his mad schemes for + ascending the throne. And it is also charged that the King + himself had employed the outlaw to get the jewels, pawn or + sell them abroad and divide the proceeds. Beside such + suggestions as these even Blood's letter sinks into the + commonplace. At all events, as in the Ormond affair, it was + and is generally believed that there were other influences + at work behind his exploit. + +But in this, at any rate for the present, they were to be +disappointed. Blood was remanded to the Tower, and there held for some +time while certain other steps were taken to probe the case deeper. +Two months later Sir John Robinson wrote to Secretary Williamson that +Lord Arlington had dined with him the Saturday before, and had given +into his hands certain warrants, not as every one supposed for Blood's +execution, but for his release and that of his son. Two weeks later a +grant of pardon was issued to him for "all the treasons, murders, +felonies, etc., committed by him alone or with others from the day of +His Majesty's accession, May 29, 1660, to the present," and this was +followed by a similar grant to his son. Later, to complete this +incredible story, his estates were restored to him, he was given a +place at Court, and a pension of five hundred pounds a year in Irish +lands. Not long afterward the indefatigable diner-out, John Evelyn, +notes in his diary that, dining with the Lord Treasurer, Arlington, a +few days before, he had met there, among the guests, Colonel Thomas +Blood. It is no wonder that a Londoner wrote in early August of that +same year: "On Thursday last in the courtyard at Whitehall, I saw +walking, in a new suit and periwig, Mr. Blood exceeding pleasant and +jocose--a tall rough-boned man, with small legs, a pock-frecken face +with little hollow blue eyes." And in September Blood had acquired +enough credit, apparently, not only to get a new grant of pardon +confirmed for himself and his son, but others for certain of his +former companions as well. + +What is the explanation of this extraordinary circumstance? It is a +question no one has yet answered satisfactorily, and it has remained +one of the many unsolved mysteries of the period, along with the +murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey and the Popish Plot. If we knew +fully we could clear up many dark ways of Restoration politics. We +have certain second-hand accounts of what took place in that memorable +interview between the vagabond king and the Irish outlaw, from which +we may get some light on the matter. The latter "as gallant and hardy +a villain as ever herded with the sneaking sect of Anabaptists," in +the words of a contemporary, we are told, "answered so frankly and +undauntedly that every one stood amazed." Snatches of Blood's comments +on his most recent exploit have floated down to us. "It was, at all +events, a stroke for a crown," had been his remark to Beckman when he +was captured, a cool witticism which must have pleased the wittiest of +monarchs when it was repeated to him. "Who are your associates?" he is +said to have been asked, to which he replied that he "would never +betray a friend's life nor deny guilt in defense of his own." Blood +explained to the king, it is said, that he thought the crown was worth +a hundred thousand pounds, when, in fact the whole regalia, had he +known it, only cost six thousand. He told the story of his life and +adventures with much freedom, and it must have been a good story to +hear. He confessed to the attempt on Dublin Castle, to the rescue of +Mason and the kidnapping of Ormond. There was found on his person a +"little book in which he had set down sixty signal deliverances from +eminent dangers." And one may remark, in passing, that it is a pity +that it, instead of the dagger with which Edwards was stabbed, is not +preserved in a London museum. Perhaps it may turn up some day, and +allow us the whole story as he told it to Charles. Several about the +monarch contributed their information of Blood. Prince Rupert, in +particular, recalled him as "a very stout, bold fellow in the royal +service," twenty years before. But the thing to which rumor credited +his escape and which was reported to have made his fortune, was a +story in connection with the king himself. A plot had been laid by +Blood and his accomplices, according to his account, to kill the king +while he was bathing in the river at Battersea. But as they hid in the +reeds, said the outlaw turned courtier, with their victim before them, +the majesty of royalty was too great--he could not fire the shot. But, +he continued, there was a band to which he belonged, three hundred +strong, pledged to avenge his death on the king, in case of his +conviction. + +Doubtless truth lurks amid all this. It may all be true. Even so there +is hardly material here for pardon, much less for reward. Other +reasons not known at that time, must be assigned for such royal +clemency. One, perhaps, lies in this letter written six days after the +examination: + + "May 19, 1671. Tower. Col. Blood to the King. + + May it please your Majesty these may tell and inform you that it + was Sir Thomas Osborne and Sir Thomas Littleton, both your + treasurers for your Navy, that set me to steal your crown, but he + that feed me with money was James Littleton, Esq. 'Tis he that + pays under your treasurer at the Pay Office. He is a very bold + villainous fellow, a very rogue, for I and my companions have had + many a hundred pounds of him of your Majesty's money to encourage + us upon this attempt. I pray no words of this confession, but know + your friends. Not else but am your Majesty's prisoner and if life + spared your dutiful subject whose name is Blood, which I hope is + not that your Majesty seeks after." + +Surely of the two qualities then so necessary in the court, wit and +effrontery, a plentiful supply was not lacking to a man who could +write such a letter in such a situation. And his daring, his +effrontery and his adventures undoubtedly made a great impression on +the king. + +Another reason for the treatment Blood received was, strangely enough, +his powerful influence at court. It will be remembered, in connection +with the rescue of Mason, that the great Duke of Buckingham, +Lord-lieutenant of Yorkshire, and one of the men highest in favour at +court and in the country at large, had been arrested on a charge of +conspiring with the fanatics against the throne. He had been released, +and was now not only again in the royal favour, but was one of the +leading men in the ministry of the day, the so-called Cabal. It was he +who secured the interview with the king for Blood, and he doubtless +lent his influence for mercy. And there was, perhaps, a deeper reason +for this. Buckingham was the bitter enemy of Ormond. The king, +whatever his inclination, could not, in decency, pardon Blood, after +his confessing to the attack on Ormond, without at least some pretense +of consulting the man who had been so maltreated. He sent, therefore, +to Ormond to ask him to forgive Blood. Lord Arlington carried the +message with those private reasons for the request, which still +puzzles us. Blood, meanwhile, under direction, wrote a letter to +Ormond, expressing his regret in unmeasured terms. The old Duke's +reply was at once a lesson in dignity and loyalty. "If the king could +forgive an attempt on his crown," he said proudly to Arlington, "I +myself may easily forgive an attempt on my life, and since it is his +Majesty's pleasure, that is reason sufficient for me, and your +lordship may well spare the rest of the explanations." But Ormond's +son, and his biographer, took refuge in no such dignity. The latter +declares roundly that Buckingham instigated the attempt on his master. +And not long after the affair, the former, the gallant young Earl of +Ossory, coming into the royal presence and seeing the Duke of +Buckingham standing by the king, his colour rose, and he spoke to this +effect: + +"My lord, I know well that you are at the bottom of this late attempt +of Blood's upon my father; and therefore I give you fair warning if my +father comes to a violent end by sword or pistol, or if he dies by the +hand of a ruffian, or by the more secret way of poison, I shall not be +at a loss to know the first author of it; I shall consider you as the +assassin; I shall treat you as such; and wherever I meet you I shall +pistol you, though you stood behind the king's chair; and I tell it +you in his Majesty's presence that you may be sure I shall keep my +word." + +These were brave words, and had they come from other lips than those +of the Restoration Bayard, might have been regarded as mere bravado. +But he had proved his courage on too many occasions to count this +lightly. Scarce five years before, while visiting Sir Thomas Clifford, +in the country, he had heard the guns of the fleet off Harwich, in the +fierce battle of Lowestoft. With no commission and with no connection +with either the navy or the government, he had mounted a horse, and, +accompanied by his host, had ridden to the shore and put off in an +open boat to the English fleet to take his part in one of the hardest +day's fighting the English fleet ever saw. The word of such a man, +conspicuous for his honesty as for his courage, was not to be lightly +set aside. And whether this threat was the cause or not, or whether +Buckingham was really not responsible for an assault which might have +been attributed to Blood's desire for revenge on the man who had +confiscated his estates and hanged his brother-in-law, the old Duke +was not further molested. + +But, apart from these matters, there is another, and one may be +permitted to think, a more serious reason for Blood's escape. It lies +in the political situation of the time. This was, in many ways, +peculiar. Some four years before the events we have narrated in +connection with the theft of the crown the administration of Clarendon +had fallen and had been succeeded by that of a group called the Cabal, +whose chief bond of union lay in the fact that they were none of them +Anglicans and they were all opposed to Clarendon. They, with the aid +of the king, who, largely through tenderness to the Catholics, had +never favoured the persecuting policy, had relaxed the execution of +the Clarendonian measures, and had thus far succeeded in preventing +the re-enactment of the Conventicle Act which had expired some years +before. The Anglicans in Parliament had been no less insistent that +the old policy be maintained and that the Act be renewed. The king, +now supported by his ministers, was no less eager to renew the attempt +which had failed under Clarendon, and revive the dispensing power, +whereby the toleration of Catholic and Protestant Nonconformist alike +would rest in his own hands. This situation was complicated by the +fact that king and ministers alike were bent on another war with +Holland. It seemed highly desirable to them to pacify the still +discontented Nonconformists before entering on such a struggle, +particularly since the government had little money and must rely on +the city, which was strongly Nonconformist in its sentiments. It +seemed no less necessary to destroy, if possible, that group of +extremists whose conspiracies were doubly dangerous in the face of a +war. To gain information of the feelings of the dissenting bodies, and +discover what terms would be most acceptable to them, to track down +and bring in the fierce and desperate men from whom trouble might be +anticipated, to discover if possible the connection that existed +between the sects and those in high places, these were objects of the +highest importance. They needed such a man as Blood. And it seemed +worth while to Charles to tame this fierce bird of prey to his service +to achieve such ends as he contemplated. Some such thought evidently +occurred to the king during the examination. "What," he is said to +have asked bluntly at its close, "What if I should give you your +life?" Blood's reply is almost epic, "I would endeavor to deserve it." + +This, at any rate, became his immediate business. Almost at once he +was taken in hand by the government, and it was soon reported that he +was making discoveries. The arrest of three of Cromwell's captains is +noted among the first fruits of his information. And close upon the +heels of his pardon came the arrest and conviction of some twenty-four +or twenty-five irreconcilables[9]. This may or may not show the hand +of the new government agent, but the circumstantial evidence is +strong. It is certain, however, that throughout the winter of 1671-2 +Secretary Williamson was in close consultation with Blood over the +situation and the demands of Dissenters, and he filled many pages of +good paper with cryptic abbreviations of these long and important +interviews, in which are to be found many curious secrets of +conventicles and conspiracies, of back-stairs politics and the +underground connections of men high in the councils of the nation. +From Blood, from the Presbyterian ministers, through one or two of +their number, and from sources to which these communications led, the +court and ministry gradually obtained the information from which a +great and far-reaching policy was framed. This took form in the +beginning of the following year in the famous Declaration of +Indulgence. This, taking the control of the Nonconformist situation +from Parliament, placed it in the hands of the king. Licenses were to +be issued to ministers to preach, to meeting-houses, and to other +places for worship which was not according to the forms or under the +direction of the Anglican church. The policy, owing to the bitter +opposition of Parliament, lasted but a few months, but it marked an +era in English history. The rioting which had accompanied the revival +of the Conventicle Act, and which had encouraged the government to try +the licensing system, disappeared. For a few months entire religious +toleration prevailed, and, though Parliament forced the king to +withdraw his Declaration, the old persecution was never revived. In +this work Blood's share was not small. He not merely furnished +information, he became one of the recognized channels through whom +licenses were obtained, and in the few months while they were being +issued he drove a thriving trade. And with one other activity which +preceded the Dutch war he was doubtless closely connected. This was +the issuing of pardons to many of those old Cromwellians who had +sought refuge in Holland a dozen years before. No small number of +these, taking advantage of the government's new lenience, came back +from exile with their families and goods, and took up their residence +again in England. Thus Colonels Burton and Kelsey, Berry and +Desborough, Blood's brother-in-law Captain Lockyer, Nicholas, Sweetman +and many others found pardons and were received again into England. +"Through his means," wrote Mrs. Goffe to her husband, "as is reputed, +Desborough and Maggarborn [Major Bourne?] and Lewson of Yarmouth is +come out of Holland and Kelsi and have their pardon and liberty to +live quietly, no oath being imposed on them." "The people of God have +much liberty and meetings are very free and they sing psalms in many +places and the King is very favourable to many of the fanatics and to +some of them he was highly displeased with." It might have been that +the regicides in New England could have returned but the cautious Mrs. +Goffe warned her husband not to rely on the favourable appearance of +affairs. "It is reported," she wrote, "that Whalley and Goffe and +Ludlow is sent for but I think they have more wit than to trust them." + + [9] Variously noted as 20, 24 and 27. + +In the third great measure of the period, the Stop of the Exchequer, +Blood naturally had no part, but when the war actually broke out, he +found a new field of usefulness in obtaining information from Holland, +in ferreting out the tracts which the Dutch smuggled into England, in +watching for the signs of conspiracy at home. Thus he lived and +flourished. His residence was in Bowling Alley, now Bowling Street, +leading from Dean's Yard to Tufton Street, Westminster, convenient to +Whitehall. His favorite resort is said to have been White's Coffee +House, near the Royal Exchange[10]. His sinister face and ungraceful +form became only too familiar about the court. His bearing was +resented by many as insolent. He was both hated and feared as he moved +through the atmosphere of intrigue by which the court was surrounded, +getting and revealing to the king information of the conspirators, of +the Dutch, and the other enemies of royalty. His was not a pleasant +trade and there were undoubtedly many who, for good reasons of their +own, wished him out of the way. There were many who contrasted his +reward with the neglect of the unfortunate Edwards, and who railed at +Blood and the king alike. Rochester allowed himself the usual liberty +of rhymed epigram: + + [10] Thus Wheatley and Cunningham. John Timbs, in his + _Romance of London_, says Blood lived first in Whitehall, + then, according to tradition, in a house on the corner of + Peter and Tufton Streets. + + _Blood that wears treason in his face + Villain complete in parson's gown + How much is he at court in grace + For stealing Ormond and the crown? + Since loyalty does no man good + Let's steal the King and out do Blood._ + +There were doubtless many more who regretted that the king had not +bestowed on him a reward that was at one time contemplated, the +governorship of a colony, the hotter the better. In that event America +would have had some direct share in the career of England's most +distinguished criminal. And even so it is by no means certain she +would have suffered greatly in comparison with the situation of some +colonies under the governors they actually had. But Blood was far too +useful at home to be wasted on a distant dependency. And, on the +whole, the outlaw seems to have fully justified his existence and even +his pardon, as an outer sentinel along the line of guards between King +Charles and his enemies. That he was so hated is perhaps, in some sort +a measure of his usefulness. For the times when men in the ministry or +just out of the ministry conspired or connived at conspiracy against +the government and held communication with an enemy in arms to compel +their sovereign to their will are not those in which a ruler will be +too squeamish about his means, least of all such a ruler as Charles. + +In such wise Blood lived until 1679. Then he seems to have fallen foul +of the Duke of Buckingham, who had played such a great part in his +career. He, with three others, was accused by the Duke of swearing +falsely to a monstrous charge against his Grace and sued for the +crushing sum of ten thousand pounds. A most curious circumstance +brought out by this trial connects our story with the literature of +to-day. In Scott's novel, _Peveril of the Peak_, it will be remembered +that the villain is one Christian, brother of the deemster of the Isle +of Man, who was executed by the Countess of Derby. This man, a most +accomplished scoundrel, is there portrayed as the familiar Duke of +Buckingham, who plays a part in the romance very like that which he +plays in this story of real life. With the appearance of the later +editions of the novel the author, in response to many inquiries +concerning the authenticity of the various characters there portrayed, +added some notes in which he gave some account of the originals of +many of his characters. Concerning Christian, however, he declared +that he was a wholly original creation, that, so far as he knew, no +such man had ever existed, and that he was purely a fictitious +character. Though, strange as it may seem, one of the men indicted +with Blood in this action at law, was, in fact, named Christian, and +Scott knew of him. And while he may not have played the part assigned +to him in the story, he had for some time been in the service of the +Duke, and to have had a reputation, if not a character, which might +well have served as a model for the villain of the novel. + +The motive of Buckingham in beginning this suit is obscure, but it was +suspected that he thought by this means to hush up certain accusations +which might have been brought against his own machinations, then +scarcely to be defended in the light of day. The curious and unusual +procedure and the absurdity of the charge which one might suppose it +beneath the dignity of so great a nobleman to press in such fashion +against such men, lends a certain colour to this suspicion. In any +event the suit was tried and Blood was duly found guilty. But he was +never punished. He fell sick in the summer of 1680 and, after two +weeks of suffering, died August 24, in his house on the southwest +corner of Bowling Alley. He was firm and undaunted to the last, and +looked death in the face at the end with the same courage he had +exhibited many times before. All England was then in the throes of the +excitement of the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Bill, and civil war +seemed almost in sight. Whig and Tory stood arrayed against each +other, with the crown as the prize between. It would not be supposed +that the death of the old adventurer could have caused more than a +passing ripple of interest. Quite the contrary was the case. Strange +end of a strange story, the mystery which surrounded him during his +life did not altogether end with his death and burial. Even that, said +many, was but one of the old fox's tricks. And to prove that it was +not his body which had been interred in the adjoining churchyard of +New Chapel, Tothill Fields, the grave was opened after some days, the +corpse carried before a coroner and identified by the curious fact +that one of the thumbs was twice the natural size, a peculiarity which +it seems would have betrayed Blood many times during his life. + +Thus ended the troubled life of a mysterious man. If his end was not +peace it certainly was not worse than his beginning. Not a few persons +must have breathed easier at the final burial of the secrets which +died with him. He was not without some literary remains, chief of +which was a Life, which though not written by his own hand, gives +evidence of having been written, either under his direction, or from +material furnished by him. It contains, as perhaps its chief matter of +interest outside the facts here included, not many of which adorn its +pages, a story of which Blood seems to have been very proud. It is +that on one occasion some of the men in his following of desperadoes +proved unfaithful. He caused them to be seized and brought before him +for trial in a public house. There, after the case had been set forth +and the arguments made, he sentenced them to death, but later +reprieved them. This, of all the good stories he might have told, is +left to us as almost his sole contribution to the account of his +adventures. For the rest, his memory was promptly embalmed in prose +and verse, mostly libellous and wholly worthless, from any standpoint, +of which the following sample may suffice whether of history or +literature: + + "_At last our famous hero, Colonel Blood, + Seeing his projects all will do no good, + And that success was still to him denied + Fell sick with grief, broke his great heart and died._" + +But there is still one curious circumstance about his family which it +would be too bad not to insert here, and with which this story may +fittingly conclude. It concerns one of his sons whom we have not met, +Holcroft Blood. This youth, evidently inheriting the paternal love of +adventure, ran away from home at the age of twelve. He found his way, +through an experience as a sailor, into the French army. After the +Revolution of 1688 he became an engineer in the English service, owing +chiefly to his escape from a suit brought against him by his enemies, +which was intended to ruin him but by accident attracted to him +instead the notice of the man with whose visit to England our story +began, now William the Third of England and Holland. This became the +foundation of his fortunes. In the English service young Blood rose +rapidly through the long period of wars which followed. He gained the +praise of the great Marlborough, and ultimately became the principal +artillery commander of the allied forces in the War of the Spanish +Succession, dying, full of honors, in 1707. Meanwhile Ormond's +grandson and heir, the second Duke, distinguished himself likewise in +that same war in other quarters, and bade fair to take high rank as a +commander. But on the death of Queen Anne he took the Jacobite side, +was driven into exile, and died many years later, a fugitive supported +by a Spanish and Papal pension. Thus did Fate equalize the two +families within a generation. + +I said at the beginning that this was to be the story of the greatest +rascal in English history, but I am not so sure that it is, after all. +It may be only the story of a brave man on the wrong side of politics +and society. For his courage and ability, thrown on the other side of +the scale, would, without doubt, have given him a far different place +in history than the one he now occupies. What is the moral of it all? +I do not know, and I am inclined to fall back on the dictum of a great +man in a far different connection: "I do not think it desirable that +we should always be drawing morals or seeking for edification. Of +great men it may truly be said, 'It does good only to look at them.'" + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. + + +The story here told has been related elsewhere though not in such +detail nor, so far as I am aware, from precisely this point of view. +Apart from the accounts in encyclopedias and biographical +dictionaries, of which by far the best for its day is the _Biographia +Brittanica_, the most accessible source of information is the article +on Blood in the _Dictionary of National Biography_ and the fullest +details are to be found in W. Hepworth Dixon's _Her Majesty's Tower_, +VOL. IV, pp. 119, and in a note (No. 35) to Scott's _Peveril of the +Peak_, in which novel the Colonel plays enough part to have a +pen-portrait drawn of him by Scott in a speech by Buckingham. + +These, of course, touch but lightly on the broader aspects of the +matter. The sources for nearly all the statements made in the +foregoing narrative are to be found in the _Calendars of State Papers, +Domestic and Ireland, 1660-1675_, in the _Reports of the Historical +Manuscripts Commission_, especially in the _Ormond Papers_ and in +Carte's _Life of Ormond_. In 1680 was published a pamphlet entitled +_Remarks on the Life and Death of the Famed Mr. Blood, etc._, signed +R. H., which includes, besides a general running account of several of +the outlaw's chief adventures, a curious and obscure story of the +Buckingham incident from which it is practically impossible to get any +satisfaction. To this is added a Postscript written some time after +the body of the work and describing Blood's illness, death and burial. +This tract appears to have been written by some one who knew Blood, +and in places seems to represent his own story. It would perhaps be +too much to assume from the similarity of the initials that it was +composed by that Richard Halliwell, Hallowell or Halloway, the tobacco +cutter of Frying-Pan Alley, Petticoat Lane, whose name, or alias, +appears among those often connected with Blood in his enterprises. Sir +Gilbert Talbot's narrative of Blood's adventures, especially valuable +for its full account of the attempt on the crown, is to be found in +Strype's _Continuation of Stowe's Survey of London_. Some details as +to Blood's London haunts may be found in Wheatley and Cunningham's +_London, Past and Present_. + +There are several portraits of Blood extant of which the one in the +_National Portrait Gallery_, painted by Gerard Soest, is the best. +This is reproduced in Cust's _National Portrait Gallery_, VOL. I, p. +163. Another which appeared in the _Literary Magazine_, for the year +1791, is evidently a copy of the one prefixed to this study. This is +reproduced from a contemporary mezzotint, which is described in +Smith's _British Mezzotinto Portraits_, (Henry Sotheran & Co., Lond., +1884), as follows: + + THOMAS BLOOD. + + H. L. in oval frame directed to left facing towards and looking to + front, long hair, cravat, black gown. Under: _G. White Fecit. Coll + Blood. Sold by S. Sympson in ye Strand near Catherine Street._ H. + 10; Sub. 8-3/4; W. 7-1/4; O.D.H. 8-1/4; W. 7. + + I. As described. II. Engraver's name and address erased, reworked, + modern. + + Another reproduction of the same original may be found in Lord + Ronald Gower's _Tower of London_, VOL. II, p. 66. The daggers of + Blood and Parret which were used to stab Edwards are said to be + preserved in the Royal Literary Fund Society's museum, Adelphi + Terrace. + +The family of Blood among the earlier settlers of New England has +sometimes been said to be closely connected with that of the Colonel, +but there is no substantial evidence either way. (_Mass. Hist. Coll._) +On the other hand a tablet to the memory of Blood's cousin, Neptune, +is to be found in Kilfernora Cathedral (_Proc. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Irel. +1900_, p. 396). A note says that he was the son and namesake of his +predecessor in the Deanery and grandson of Edmond Blood of Macknay in +Derbyshire who settled in Ireland about 1595 and was M.P. for Ennis in +1613. A fuller account of the plots is to be found in articles by the +author of this sketch in the _American Historical Review_ for April +and July, 1909, under title of _English Conspiracy and Dissent, +1660-1674_. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Colonel Thomas Blood, by Wilbur Cortez Abbott + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44980 *** |