CHAPTER V. Now all the youth of England are on fire, SHAKSPEARE. RENDERING a literal obedience to Lord Sunderland's directions, not to mention the subject of their last conversation, so far at least as the attack of the bravoes was concerned, Walter contented himself with informing Seagrave, whom he luckily encountered at his lodgings, that he must hasten instantly to Clarendon House, his Lordship having most urgent occasion to see him. "Must-and instantly, and urgent !"-cried 1 the Captain, setting his arms a-kimbo-" Sink me, who am I? Look you, Mynheer Wouter, these words may pass muster when an officer is on duty taking orders from his superior; but you may tell the Earl of Sunderland, Baron of Wormleighton, President of the Privy Council, Principal Secretary of State, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, that to me he is no more than simple Bob Spencer. I care not for him, nor should I if he wore a sword for every title, and methinks therefore he might send me his requests in less imperious language." 66 They are his Lordship's expressions, not mine," said Walter, who saw that the Captain was under the influence of his morning potations, and disposed to give himself airs of importance upon the strength of the message from the Peer. "Sacre, mon cher! I believe it, for you would better have known what is due to a gentleman and a soldier. What new business is toward, I wonder, that I must march to Picca dilly, in double quick time? What roysterers and swashbucklers am I now to tame ? Is Sir James Hayes again to be rescued-have Culpepper and the Duke of Devonshire a second time tilted at one another's throats in the King's antichamber, or am I simply required to dispose of some vulgar desperado, with an iron sword, a tied-up wig, and a tucked-in cravat ?" • What his Lordship may require of you, I know not; but he seemed to have most cogent reasons for requesting you to be expeditious." 66 Why, then, his Secretaryship must be equally prompt in furnishing the mercede, the chink, the rhino, ay, and this long-promised Major's commission too, or he shall find that I am not the man to serve his present turn, and my honest bilboa shall go to sleep in its scabbard. Peste! Signor Gualtero, if every brave fellow were rewarded according to his deserts, I might appear in the ring, wearing a wig like a cloak, a hat like a shuttlecock, and a point lace cravat, as I rode in my own gold-mounted coach, with six Flanders mares before, and as many French liveries behind. Zwaarten en ponjaarten! they had better look to it, or I shall imitate some of our discontented gallants, slip over to Frogland, ask the hook-nosed Prince for a commission, and enrol myself in the service of the Hoghan-moghans." Instead of reprehending him for this refractory mood, the manifest overflowing of his cups, Walter coaxed him into a compliance with his patron's orders, and at length had the pleasure of seeing him take his departure for Piccadilly, though not until he had blustered some little time longer, and eructed his whole store of polyglot oaths. Our young soldier having received an intimation from the Premier, that his reception at the Levee would be more likely to be favourable if he had previously joined his troop, and were presented in a red-coat, set about the completion of his equipments with so much zeal and alacrity, that he was speedily enabled to make his appearance at the head-quarters of his regiment, then constituting a portion of the stand ing army, which the King had assembled upon Hounslow Heath, that they might acquire confidence in themselves, and take it from others : 66 a dangerous engine," as the historian justly observes," which generally subjects the people to the Prince, and the Prince to itself." Of his being reported fit for immediate duty, he did not entertain a doubt; for his father, who had always intended him for the army, the only profession which he thought worthy of a gentleman, had taken care to have him instructed in all military exercises. Even had he not been personally interested in the glory of the scene, it would have been impossible for him to contemplate, without emotion, the magnificent, picturesque, and spirit-stirring prospect of the encampment, suddenly presenting itself as he caught an open view of the Heath. Arms were flashing in all directions; the tents arranged in the form of a square, the formality of which was broken by clumps of intervening trees, shone radiant in a cloudless sun; their surmounting streamers played gaily in the air, |