Richard Parker : or, The Mutiny at the Nore. A romance

Preface

. On the completion of a work which has been crowned with such great success as that which has attended the present romance, there is nothing left for the Author to do than to express his most unqualified thanks for the encouragement and patronage he has received during the many months that his little offspring has been before the public ; and a most pleasant duty, indeed, is this to perform. From time immemorial the writers of Romance have considered themselves licensed to tax their imagination to the utmost limits, even to the exaggeration of matters of fact, in some instances, in order to en deavour to amuse and instruct their readers, and to point to a certain moral. Of this license the author of these pages has availed himself ; and that he has done so lo the satisfaction of the public, the immense number of patrons his work has obtained, affords him the flattering aad gratifying assurance.

In conclusion, therefore, it behoves him once more to return his warmest thanks to that generous public by whom he has been so frequently similarly honoured. Sept. 25th. 1851. THE MUTINY AT THE NORE. A ROMANCE OF INTENSE INTEREST. BY THE AUTHOR OF " ELA, THE OUTCAST ;" " ANGELINA ;" " THS GIPSY BOY "GALL -NT TOM;" JACK JUNK;" EIC. IUCHAHD PAKKCK REFUSES TO ODEY THE COMMANDS OF CA?TAIN A?.LI>'GTON. purple and gold, tillering the summit of (he distant 'lulls, and the surface of the Western Ocean wil li its departing beams. Nature was sinking to that calm re(>0:?c, which soothes the troubled breast, and brings a respite to the weary labourer.

Chapter I. The Lovers

— A 31AIDEN-.S DEVOTED NESS. — THE PREDICTION. The resplendent monarch of Ihe dav was just retiring to rest in a flood of Vo ■ after the toils and anxieties of the day. The flowers had closed for the night ; the feathered tribes had ceased t heir daily mellifluous warblings; the bleatmgs of the sheep in the downy pastures no longer were heard, and all was hushed in silence. At Ibis hour might have been seen stroking along a romantic walk which led immediately to the sea beach, and whieh was over-shadowed on either side by stately poplars, a youthful couple, male and female, of the most interesting des cription, deeply immersed in conversa tion, but which seemed to excite in their bosoms mingled feelings of pleasure, hope, and pain. The one was a young man of grace ful a_.d muscular proportions, handsome and intelligent features, but still with a certain melancholy expression in his fine dark eyes, that ill. accorded with the happy smile that played around his lips, and impaled such animation to his countenance.

The other was a female of the first order of simple yet surpas sing loveliness, attainst whom to raise one impure thought would have been a monstrous libel on thc Supreme. It wi Id be a waste of time to attempt to d scribe the personal charms of that fair maiden further, and it may be sufficient to add that all the perfections of hcr mind were in the strictest unison with her outward attractions. A pause of some two are three minutes occurred in their conversation, when the yount; man, who had one of his arms affectionately encircling her slender waist, said — Heaven knows the "'nsupporlable misery it will cause me to do so, since fate so wills it, I absolve you from your fond vows, and may the just God who reigns above us make yon tenfold more happy than the humble Rici.ard Parker would have tried to render you 1" "F.ichard — dear Richard!" replied the lovely girl, turning very pale, and tears starting to her eyes, " what rash, what cruel words are those you have just now given utterance to ? 1) o you doubt the sincerity of that love I liave so often aeknowleded to you, and which is regis teied in Heaven?"

" No, Mary," replied her lover, " I should be a wretch, totally unworthy of the sentiments you express towards me, could I for an instant seek to impugn their purity and truth. But fortune frowns upon me ! — the patrimony left me by my late father is almost exhausted,. God cau bear me witness through no improvidence of my own; — you are (he daughter of a wealthy man — he disapproves of our love, and — " "Bichard," interrupted the damsel, hastily, and a gentle expression of reproach for an instant passed over her lovely features, "can you believe me sordid ? — Think you that the mere idee. of the dross of gold can. mingle with my passions ? Heaven fbrbid that they should ever receive such contaminating alloy ! Ob, what is the vaiue of wealth,. if unaccompanied by happiness? Richard, a cloud seems to have absorbed your [Mason ; alas!' woe is me ! — how dreadful is the misconception you ucw se'am to iform of my feelings.

Richard, we have ;been companions from childhood, as you just nnw obsfcrved ; we have indulged in a golden vision of happiness from our earliest days; and now would you banish that blissfal vision, and supersede it by the stern and dark reality of despair? I have solemnly vowed in all the innocence and sincerity of my heart that there is no other man on earth that can ever engage my affections but you, and I now swear — " " Oh, Mary, my own Mary ! — for you are mine in soul, in heart, in hope — though cruel fate has thrown a barrier between u;, can you — do you doubt the sincerity, the intensity of the love I bear you ? Prom the earliest period of childhood we have been companions; assimilating ideas, encouraging the same principles, join ing in the same innocent sports, looking forward to the same bright prospect, of happiness whieh only souls cemented like ours can imagine.

Oh, those w ere indeed halcyon days ! But time has wrought a woful change in our prospects, though not iu our hearts; like yon retiring orb of day, have our hope.-, declined, and the dark night of despair is ranidly succeed ing. Mary — my dearest Mary ! though " Oh, hold, my fond Mary," inter posed the young man, deep y affected by the earnestness and fervour of her man ner, " do not give utterance to any rash vow, which stern fate may c imped you to break. 1 must, unless a great and unexpected change comes over my THE MUTINY AT THE NORE. 3 fortunes, shortly become a beggar; I see no other prospect before me but the toils and perils of a seaman's life, to which, I must confess, I have always nad a predilection, and I should consider myself little better than an unprincipled scoundrel, could I for a moment think of plunging you into the same state of poverty to which it is not at all unlikely I may be reduced.

Captain Arlington is wealthy ; he professes to love you, he has made overtures for your hand ; your father approves of his suit, and has commanded you to look upon him as your future husband, and, therefore, all the hopes we have entertained ate at onec annihilated." should become an alien to yonr father's bosom." " And hear me, Richard," said Mary, solemnly. " Much as 1 love my father, ready as I am to obey his will in all things that reason and nature demand, should he persist in enforcing me to become the wife of a man I despise, though I by so doing incur bis heaviest malediction, and his eternal hatred, I will not hesitate for aninstant to abandon him, anel throw myself upon the mercy of the Supreme Judge of all our actions and the world." " Mary, dear Mary !" said her bewildered and astonished lover, " know jou what it is you say ?"

"Yes," replied our heroine, Crmly and calmly. " I know full well ; it is no rabid wandeiing of the mind — it is the life-spring of all my hopes of happiness in this world, that prompts my words. Richard, I speak in all sincerity, and I know your noble nature will not permit you to judge me wrongfully by what I say. 1 love you with all the purity and fervour that virtue can dictate ; I believe your heart beats in unison with mine own ; why then should our hopes, our wishes, be blighted by those who entertain harsh aud sordid views ? Heaven alone has the control of human hearts. Richard, do you consider me worthy to become your wife ?" " Captain Arlington !" ejaculated Mary, with an expression of disgust ; "you know, you must be sure that I view him with feelings of the utmost abhorrence, and that 1 would sooner en counter any fate, however dreadful, rather than become his wife.

Oh, the very thought is horrible and revolting 1" " But, Mr. Mason, your father, I know, my dear Mary, is inflexible," returned her lover, " and should you persist in rejecting thc man of his choice, he would discard you, and, though great as the sacrifice would be to my own feelings, never can I endeavour to persuade you to " "Richard," interrupted the maiden, with the greatest energy ; " have you forgotten all those solemn and affec tionate vows we have so long plighted together, beneath this our loved and trysting tree ?" " Mary, what mean you ?'' «• Does your heart beat wilh the same warm pulsations as it formerly did to wards me ?" eagerly demanded the damsel. " Oh, my beloved, my adored Mary," cried the young man rapturously, and straining her still more fondly to nis bosorn. "Why ask me such a question ?'* "Then, by Heaven I again most solemnly swear," replied the maiden, " that, let whatever may be the conse quences that ensue, even though it be the curse of the author of my being, though the direst poverty and misery should pursue me, I will be yours and yours only!"

Richard Parker clasped the beauteous damsel with the most passionate ardour to his bosom; they mingled their sobs together, and for a few minutes neither of them were able to give utterance to a syllable. " Oh, Mary !" at length ejaculated our hero, "best, most dovoted of girls, how can I ever repay you for this generous confidence ?— how sufficiently convince " By all my most sacred hopes, my beloved Miry," replied Richard Parker, "if it were possible, the passion I now bear towards yon is more ardent than ever. Mv whole soul is yours, devoted only to your service and happiness ; it is my greatest felicity to acknowledge myself your slave, aud to own that I have no will but your own. Still am I prepared to sacrifice my own hopes — to become the most wretched being, as I must be, that ever crawled the surface of the earth, rather than that you you of the love I boar towards you ?

Yes, you say truly that Heaven alone has the control of human hearts, and to its Almighty will I submit ! You have proffered to become the partner of my fortunes, whatever they may be, and most gratefully ao I accept the offer ; and if I fail in my duty — if I ever abuse the confidence you repose in me, may the curse of God pursue me to destruction ! Again, 1 say, I yield myself yonr slave, and will be truided alone by what you shall dictate." your equal in point of wordly riches. 1 would yet win him, if possible, to favour our love, instead of usiug any clandestine means to thwart him in his wishes." " AVhat, then, would vou have me do, dear Richard ?" demanded our heroine, eagerly. " I would have you, Maty," replied her lover — "for you know that yonr father has latterly forbidden me his house — I would have you make one more appeal to his feelings, and if that should fail " " My love — my husband !" said Mary, looking np in his face with an inexpressi ble feeling of affection, and at the same time throwing her fair arms round his neck.

" Let the consequences be whatever they may," added Mary, determinedlv, " 1 will abandon the home I have so long cherished, and become the wife of the only man who does, or ever can possess my heart. Though the most abject poverty be my lot, it will be Heaven's bliss to that which I must experience in being united to one whom I so utterly detest as Captain Arlington. Oh, Richard, even in the humblest cottage, and enduring the greatest privations, my heart assures me that I can be happy and contented with you. You shall never hear a single murmur escape my lips, and " " Bear, confiding girl 1" interrupted hcr lover, unnble any longer to control his feelings, " what cau 1 say ? How can I convince you of the manner in which I appreciate the sentiments you feel towards me ? If ever I abuse your confidence, may the curse of God pursue me !

But hope again re-animates my breast, from your sweet example, and 1 feel certain, that however the clouds of adversity may for a time darken over us, we shall ultimately be happy — that we shall have no cares to disturb our minds." " Sweet hope !" ejaculated the iovely damsel, while tears of joy trembled in her eyes ; " may we both, my dear Richard, continue to indulge in it. Oh, I picture to myself the bliss that we sball experience, even though humble may be our circumstances in life ; what need have we to covet wealth, when we shall posses the boundless riches of the heart's warmest affection ?" "You say true, my Mary," replied her lover, " and such a prospect as that which your glowing imagination has de pictured, I would not resign to become "My fond one ! — my devoled one ! — my wife !" replied her lover, in the same tones of ardent feeling, nnd again thev were both of them so overpowered by the violence of their emotions, that for a short time speech was denied them.

" Then," said Mary, partially recovering herself, " then," beneath this, onr trysting tree, we both solemnly swear that, come ill — come weal — we devote ourselves to each other, and that, if fate should ordain that we should never come together as man and wife, neither of us will ever give our hand to another." They both knelt down beneath the umbrageous foliage of the tree, on the trunk of wliich were inscribed their names; and Richard Parker, holding one of the delicate hands of Mary in his, and with his other hand raised solemnly towards Heaven, said^- "I swear! and as I fulfil or break my oath, may Heaven judije me!" Mary solemnly responded to the vow, and after they had for some time remained upon their knees, they arose, and again embracing, were too much overcome by the feelings that were passing in their bosoms to articulate a syllable."

" It is a solemn compact we have entered into, Mary," at last said her lover, "and it is imperative upon us that we should act with the strictest prudence and propriety. Your father seems de termined that you shall now become the wife of Captain Arlington, although when fortune smiled upon me more favourably than she does at present, ho had no objection to my paying my ad dresses to you, although 1 was "never I THE 1IDTINY AT THE NORK. 5 the monarch of the mightiest kingdom in the universe." " My, good woman," he at length said, " I have no wish to offend you, I assure you ; but at the same time 1 must tell you, that if you think to play upon my credulity, you will find yourself much mistaken. What is your business with us ? Tell us at once, and leave us, for we wish to be alone." Again they embraced, and gave free indulgence to the feelings which throbbed in both their bosoms. * " Poor things, poor deluded mortals ! how vainly do ye flatter yourselves with hopes that are never destined to be realised !"

"Alone?" repeated the old woman,. with a half sarcastic smile; "yes, full well I know that, Richard Parker: it^ would not be well for the proud and haughty father of Mary, or the designing villain, Captain Arlington, to know that you were together. You affect to despise what Mad Moll, as the idiots term me, says; but still 1 will crave your attention while I give utterance to a few predic tions, as to that which is destined to befall you." *' Be quick then, old woman," said our hero, whose curiosity wa3 somewhat excited, " for I have no time to spare, and my patience is nearly exhausted." These words proceeded from a solemn voice near them, but the tones of which they had both of them often heard before. They started, and looking up, beheld the individual whom they expected it was, standing before them, and gazing at them with an expression of pity.

It was an old woman of cadaverous aspect, and emaciated form, who was known in the village where the lovers resided by the name of Mad Moll, from her eccentric, though harmless habits ; and her appearance at that particular moment not a little disconcerted them. But Richard Parker quickly recovered himself, and assuming a jocose air, he said — " I will not detain you long, Richard Parker," said the old woman quietly. " Yourself and Mary Mason love each other sincerely." " Why," replied Richard, laughing, "I should have thought that it required no prophet to tell us that." " Why, how now, mother, what wind has blown you hither ? Have your wits again forsook their natural tenenv-nt; and come yon here to amuse us with some of your eccentricities ?" " This is no time for joking, Richard Parker," returned Mad Moll, " when the thoughts of yourself and thc fair maiden who is leaning so affectionately on your arm, are fixed on such serious subjects.

I know they deem me mad ; laugh at me, despise me, call me oki witch, impostor, fortune-teller ; be it so — I heed not a straw what any one says of me, thinks of me ; Mad Moll has been known to speak the truth to the cost of those who at the time derided her. It is that wliich brings her here now; and though you, like other scep tics, may scorn my words, and mock at my predictions, depend upon it they will come true." " Lau«h not, young man," returned Mad Moll, solemnly, '' for that I have to say, is much more serious, and of deeper importance to you, than you now seem to imagine. Alas ! alas ! 'tis a pity that two fond hearts should be doomed to such terrible sufferings." Mary stared at her aghast as she gave utterance to these words, and trembled more violently than before, and Richard could not help feeling somewhat uncom fortable, although he was not at all disposed to superstition, and felt far more inclined to join in the general belief of all those who knew hcr, that the old woman was mad.

Jn spite of all her efforts to the con trary, Mary could not help feeling alarmed at thc observations of the sin gular old woman ; she trembled violently, and clung still closer to her lover, who himself felt somewhat uneasy and dis coniiited at the seriousness of the tone in which Mail Moll spoke, and for a moment or two he was unable to make any answer to her. "What mean you?" he demanded. "Be more explicit." " Maiy's father opposes your love,'* said the old woman. " He does," coincided our hero ;. " what then ?" "Captain Arlington is paying his addresses to her, and his suit is sanc tioned by Mr. Mason." " True ; but will Captain Arlington ever possess her hand ?" asked Richard, eagerly. " He will nos," answered Mad Moll ; "but, mark me, he will be the means, when you least expect it, of bringing you to misery and disgrace.

Oh, maiden, you will for a short time be a happy wife, but soon a heart-broken widow !" " Gracious Heaven !" exclaimed the terrified damsel, "what could put such fearful thoughts into your head?" " I speak the truth, Mary," answered the old woman, and the expression of her countenance became more solemn and sorrowful ; " he whose arm now encircles your slender waist so affectionately, to whom your heart is so fondly attached, and who returns your love with equal fervour and sincerity, is destined to die a violent, an ignominious death !" Mary Mason uttered a scream of horror, when she heard tbose words, and sank almost fainting in the arms of her lover. imagined, ridiculous as thc whole circumstance might appear to be, his mind felt ill at ease; "heed them not, my sweet one, for they are totally unworthy of a serious thought ; they are but the preposterous ravings of a mad woman, and should ia no way trouble us.

Come, come, we have tarried beyond our time, and your father, if he misses you from tbe house, may suspect the cause of your absence, and devise measures to prevent onr future interviews ; we will meet again to morrow evening, if pos sible, at the same pUce, and 1 hope that we shall then have to congratulate each other on a change in our prospects for the better." Mary did indeed try hard to banish from her mind the impression which the observalions ofthe old woman had made upon it, but she succeeded only indifferently, and without making any re mark, she suffered her lover to conduct her from the spot, and to lead her by a way where they were the least likely to be observed by any one towards her residence, aud having arrived in sight of which, after many affectionate adieus and fond embraces, they sepa rated.

" Mad woman !" exclaimed the excited Richard Parker, " know you what yon say ?" "Alas, too well," replied tbe old woman, with a sorrowful look; "would that I had no occasion to utter the awful prediction. I repeat, that you are doomed to die a violent and ignominious death ; death by the halter !" Richard Parker started and turned ghastly pale ; his tongue refused its office, and ere he could recover himself, Mad Moll, fixing upon him and Mary a look of the deepest regret and compassion, hurried from the spot, and was soon hidden from the sight in the shadows of the evening which had now descended upon the earth. It was several minutes ere the lovers

Chapter II. Mary's Fruitless Appeae To Her Father

. — TIIE ELOPEMENT OF HER WITH RICHARD PARKER,, AND THE SECRET MA3RIAGE. At one end of a rural village in the vicinity of Exeter, stood the stately mansion of Mr. Mason, the father of the heroine of our tale. It was a fine building in the Elizabethan style of architecture, and had been in the pos session of the family of the Masons from the period of the reign of that sovereign. Mr. Mason was a widower, and had been so for several years, and Mary was his only child. His principal faults were pride and irasci bility of temper, whieh often led him be yond the bounds of reason, and caused him to do that which he afterwards bitcould recover themselves sufficiently from the surprise and the shock which the observations of the old woman had caused them, to speak; but when they did so, Mary said, while tears of anguish trembled in her eyes : " Oh, Richard, dear Richard, what horrible words are those to which we have been listening ?

My blood freezes in my veins when I think of them, and the most fearful forebodings take possession of my mind." '• Heed them not, my beloved Mary," replied our hero, assuming as mueh com posure as he could, though, as may be terly regretted. Independent of those failings, he had ever been a kind and in dulgent parent, and well did Mary repay the affection he bestowed upon her. The early part of her life passed happily away THE MUTINY AT THE NORE. r she was highly esteemed by all who had the honour to be acquainted with her, and little cause had she to anticipate the fearful troubles it was her hard lot at no distant period to experience. The lather of Richard Parker, the hero of our tale, was a respectable farmer, in the neighbourhood of Mr. Mason's mansion, and being a man of considerable attainments, they were on terms of the greatest intimacy together, aud thus it was lhat Richard and Mary became com panions from the earliest period of child hood, and that affection sprang up between them which nothing could ever afterwards destroy, and Mr, Mason encouraged their passion, for, as the father of our hero was a man of considerable properly, he did not consider his son an unworthy match for his (Mr. Mason's) daughter.

Time, however, wrought a wonderful change in his ideas. The father of Richard Parker died suddenly ; misfortunes lighted upon bis son ; his patrimony became gradually diminished, through the failure of crops and other casualties, and he was reduced to a state of com parative poverty. Then it was that Mr. Mason began to look coldly upon our hero, and it was soon too painfully evident to the youthful lovers that a fatal change had come over his mind in the sentiments he had formerly entertained towards Richard, which they could not fail to attribute to the unfortunate alteration that had taken place in the circumstances of Richard, though it was through no misconduct of his own. mind to retrieve his broken fortunes ; his circumstances every day became worse, and a spell seemed to rest upon him.

It was just at this time, too, that acci dent introduced Captain Arlington to the house of Mr. Mason, and then the visits of Richard were peremptorily prohibited, and Mary was commanded to forgot him in any other character but lhat of the companion of her youth, and to raise her thoughts to more ambitious views, as he could never for a moment think of encouraging the addresses of one who was so far beneath her in posi tion of society. This was a terrible shock to the feelings of the lovers, though they had long expected it, and their hopes were now almost entirely annihilated, especially when Captain Arliugton made the most bold and unmistakable advances towards Mary, and which were evidently approved of and encouraged by her father. Still, however, they contrived at intervals to meet by stealth, and at such times they gave vent to the feeliDgs of anguish that inhabited their bosoms, at the sudden change which had so suddenly come over their prospects, and in vain endea voured to devise some means by which they might escape the fate with which they were threatened.

Captain Arlington was a man of plausible manners and insinuating address, but, at the same time, it needed no deep penetration to discover that the villain lurked within his breast, and that there were few things which he would hesitate to do, in order that he might obtain the gratification of his desires. Prom the very first moment of his introduction to her, Mary had felt a most unconquerable aversion to him ; the most painful mis givings took possession of her mind, and she felt truly wretched whenever she was in his society. This was in creased when her father informed her that Ai'lingtou had made proposals for her haud, and that, he had given his con sent, without consulting her feelings, to his paying his addresses to her. In vain she supplicated him wilh tears in her eyes, and with a bursting heart, to take compassion on her, and to abandon such harsh and cruel designs which were so revolting to her feelings ; he was perfectly invulnerable, and com manded her, on pain of his everlasting We need not seek to describe the many pangs which this caused them, and the despair which now began to settle upon their hearts ; and when they could find an opportunity of being alone, which was not so often as they had hitherto been accustomed to, they gave fixe vent to their sorrows, aud deeply lamented the sad and unexpected change which had so suddenly came over their forlunes ; but still they solemnly vowed that let the consequences be whatever they might to each other, nothing whatever should banish from their bosoms the ardent passion that had been implanted in them from the earliest days of childhood, and which Heaven had hitherto seemed to sanction.

It was in vaiu that Richard Parker exerted all the energies of his body and S RICHARD PARITER threw herself on a seat, and gave free indulgence to the violence of the grief and despair which filled her breast. At length she arose, and wliile her pale features assumed an expiession of firmness and determination, she exclaimed — " 'Tis done — 'tis decided ! — my reso lution is formed. Cruel father, it is you who by your stern decree ur^e me to this desperate course, and the consequences that may follow will rest upon your own head. Richard, dear Richard! in spite of everything, though the greatest misery may be my future por tion, though the most abject poverty may overtake me, I am yours, yours for ever !" displeasure, to receive the addresses of Captain Arlington with favour, for that it was his determination that he and no other should become her future hus band ; aud thus were all the ideal scenes of happiness she had indulged in, in an union with Eichard Parker, destroyed at one fell swoop, and she could antici pate nothing but the greatest misery to herself, nnd he to whom she was so fondly devoted, and whom she was con vinced loved her with all the fervour that man could possibly bestow npon woman.