Coleman

“ Now, Hepworth Coleman was a man of iron nerve, an athlete in body and spirit, who, although full of romantic and poetic impulses, was at the base of his character as brave and steadfast as a lion. Still, even the best courage has its moment of faltering, and just at the point when one whole wall of his cell was withdrawn, so that he stood in the full glare of twenty brilliant chandeliers that lighted a large, gorgeously decorated hall, he felt the blood grow stiflingly heavy on his heart. ”

“ Coleman,” replied Oaklands, laughing. “No! those are not the things that tire me, somehow; but in general I am very easily knocked up—I am indeed—most things are so much trouble, and I hate trouble; I suppose it is that I am not strong.”
“Wretchedly weak, I should say,” rejoined Coleman; “it struck me that you were so just now, when you chucked Lawless out of the window like a cat.”
“Be quiet, Freddy,” said Cumberland, reprovingly.
“Nay, don't stop him,” said Oaklands; “I delight in a joke beyond measure, when I have not the trouble of making it myself. ”

“ Coleman fought as if with the energy of all the accumulated romance of his recent experiences, half recognizing, as he parried and thrust and feinted and recovered guard, the vivid picturesqueness, the melodramatic unreality, and yet the deadly intensity of the situation. He did not know where he was or why he had been brought there. The whole affair had mystery enough in it to have destroyed the will power of any weaker man; but to him, while the strangeness affected his imagination, there was nothing in the matter to make him falter or to weaken the force of his arm. ”

“ Meanwhile the dragoman and the two little men talked, talked, talked.- Coleman was silent, puffing his cigar and reflecting upon the odd things which happen to chivalry in the modern age.
He knew of many men who would have been astonished if they could have seen into his mind at that time, and he knew of many more men who would have laughed if they had the same privilege of sight. ”

“ Coleman innocently.
“Well, ma'am, that's a habit I've fallen into from unconsciously giving utterance to my feelings of veneration. To govern, is a venerable attribute—governor signifies one who governs—hence my inadvertent application of the term to your revered husband, eh?”
“Ah!” returned poor Mrs. Coleman, thoroughly mystified, “it's very kind of you to say so, I'm sure. I wonder whether I left my knitting upstairs, or whether it went down in the luncheon-tray.”
In order to solve this important problem, the good lady trotted off, leaving Lawless and myself tête-à-tête. ”

“ How gleefully I should lead you all into it!”
“I think you would do well,” said Shearwater gravely, “to go and see a doctor.”
Coleman gave vent to a howl of delight.
“Does it occur to you,” he went on, “that at this moment we are walking through the midst of seven million distinct and separate individuals, each with distinct and separate lives and all completely indifferent to our existence? Seven million people, each one of whom thinks himself quite as important as each of us does. Millions of them are now sleeping in an empested atmosphere. ”

“ Coleman once more lifted his hat. “O eloquent, just and mighty Death!” he exclaimed, and replaced it on his head. “You never read any papers at all—not even our friend Mercaptan’s delicious little middles in the weeklies? How is your delicious little middle, by the way?” Coleman turned to Mr. Mercaptan and with the point of his huge stick gave him a little prod in the stomach. “Ça marche—les tripes? Hein?” He turned back to Shearwater. “Not even those?” he asked.
“Never,” said Shearwater. “I have more serious things to think about than newspapers.” ”

“ The feel of the buoyant deck and of the pure salt wind was like wings to soul and body.
But I had to pay my footing first. It came upon me suddenly, in the midst of my raptures, and I staggered below, and cast myself, dressed as I was, upon my bunk. Never, never had I felt so utterly forsaken! When ill before, with my little, trivial complaints, Miss Coleman had waited on me hand and foot—everybody had coddled me; now I was overwhelmed in unspeakable agonies, and nobody cared. It is true that—though I would not have her—the steerage woman came in the middle of the night ”

“ Coleman, though too volatile to make a real friend of, was a very agreeable companion, and, if it were ever possible to get him to be serious for a minute, showed that beneath the frivolity of his manner lay a basis of clear good sense and right feeling, which only required calling forth to render him a much higher character than he appeared at present. ”

“ Coleman was destined for a surgeon, but beyond giving very occasional assistance to his father, he saw no practice. He early developed a keen interest in natural history, and in 1859 he published 'Our Woodlands. Heaths, and Hedges,' and in 1860 'British Butterflies,' both books running through several editions. He drew his own illustrations, and at the same time collaborated with Harrison Weir, Joseph Wolf, and other well-known artists in illustrating books from other pens, chiefly on natural history. ”

“ I have sometimes wished that firemen were not so modest. It would be much easier, if not so satisfactory, to record their gallant deeds. But I am not sure that it is, after all, modesty so much as a wholly different point of view. It is business with them, the work of their lives. The one feeling that is allowed to rise beyond this is the feeling of exultation in the face of peril conquered by courage, which Coleman expressed. On the ladder he was boss! It was the fancy of a masterful man, and none but a masterful man would have got upon the ladder at all. ”

“ Umph! Is he a man too?” he inquired, pointing to Coleman.
“I've been a man these seventeen years, sir,” replied Coleman.
[63] "Umph, a man seventeen years ago! a baby, more likely: what does he mean? what does he mean?”
I explained that he probably intended a pun upon his name, which was Coleman.
“A pun, Umph? he makes puns, does he? funny boy, funny boy, I daresay. How does the Doctor like that, though? Make puns to him, he'd punish you, Umph? Stupid things puns—made one myself then, though—just like me. Well, give the Doctor my compliments—Mr. Frampton's—I live at No. ”

“ Outside the crowd was beginning to roar. Coleman's groom crept out from under the little Coffee bar and comically saluted his master. The dragoman was not present. Coleman felt that he must see Marjory, and he made signs to the innkeeper. The latter understood quickly, and motioned that Coleman should follow him. They passed together through a dark hall and up a darker stairway, where after Coleman stepped out into a sun-lit room, saying loudly: "Oh, it's all right. It's all over. Don't worry."
Three wild people were instantly upon him. " Oh, what was it? What did happen? Is anybody hurt? ”

“ If hell be pleased, when souls are damned therein,
If earth be pleased, when its rid of a knave,
Then all are pleased, for Coleman's in his grave."
State Poems, vol. iii. 1704.
Qy. Who was Coleman?
JAMES CORNISH.
[We are indebted to another correspondent, LOUISA JULIA NORMAN, for pointing out the same epigram on Coleman in The Panorama of Wit (1809) . Coleman, on whom the epigram appears to have been originally written, is obviously the Jesuit of that name executed in the reign of Charles II.]
"Son of the Morning" (Vol. iv., pp. 209. 330. 391.) . ”

“ I know you. You wanted to swindle me out of my two hundred and fifty dollars."
"Sir, you insult me!" exclaimed Coleman, with lofty indignation. "What do I—a rich man—want of your paltry two hundred and fifty dollars?"
"I don't believe you are a rich man. Didn't I tell you, I have been warned against you?"
"Who dared to talk against me?" asked Coleman indignantly. Then, casting his eyes about, he noticed Luke for the first time. Now it was all clear to him.
Striding up to Luke's seat, he said threateningly, "Have you been talking against me, you young jackanapes?" ”

“ However, to make a long story short, who should Tom find one evening when he paid his usual visit, but tall young Coleman, leaning over the counter with a sickly smile on his face as he breathed sweet nothings and the flavour of caramels in bonnie Mary’s face.
Tom wasn’t a man of many words, so he simplified matters and brought them to an abrupt conclusion by seizing Coleman by his garments above and below, and flinging him straight into the street. Coleman gathered himself up. ”

“ When I got near them Coleman sprang eagerly forward to meet me, saying:—
“How jolly glad I am to see you safe again, old fellow! I was so frightened about you. How did you manage to stop her?”
“Why, Fairlegh, I had no idea you were such a rider,” exclaimed Lawless; “I made up my mind you would break your neck, and old Sam be minus a pupil, when I heard you were gone out on that mare. You have taken the devil out of her somehow, and no mistake; she's as quiet as a lamb,” added he, patting her. ”

“ Lawless, we're all right—punctual to a moment—always ready 'to come to time,' as we say in the ring”.
“Who is he?” whispered I to Coleman.
“Who is he?” replied Coleman; “why the best fellow in the world, to be sure'. Not know Smithson, the prince of tailors, the tailor par excellence! ”

“ I was aroused by Coleman, who whispered in an undertone, “The sexton has peached, depend upon it, and the sooner we're off the better”.
“Yes, and I'll go in style too; so good-bye, and take care of yourselves,” exclaimed Lawless, and, springing forward, before any one was aware of his intention, he forced his way through the crowd, overturning sundry members thereof in his progress, until he reached the fire-engine, upon which he seated himself with a bound, shouting as he did so: “Forward, forward! do you want the place to be burnt to the ground? ”

“ I hope I do not often lose my temper as I have done this evening; but really Mr. Lawless appears quite an adept in the art of ingeniously tormenting.”
“I am afraid you must have found so much exertion very fatiguing,” observed Coleman, politely. ”

“ He surveyed the room now with a more critical eye, discovering at once that the pictures, the curtains, the carpets, and indeed all the articles of furniture were costly and beautiful beyond anything he had ever seen before. Evidently he was in Judge Favart de Caumartin's house.
The moon was shining brilliantly when Coleman went forth for a short walk in the street. Not many people were abroad, it being the dinner-hour, but certain cafés were crowded with men and women who were drinking champagne and discussing the dishes on well-spread tables. ”

“ Coleman sat back down suddenly.
"You don't want life as a Sleeper, do you?" I pursued. "You did want a relatively short sentence of a few months or a few years. I can think of two reasons why. The answer is probably a combination of both. In the first place, you are a joy-popper with Dreams—you don't want to live out your life in one, but you like a brief Dream every few years like an occasional dose of a narcotic. In the second place, you probably have political reasons for wanting to hide out somewhere in safety for the next few years. ”

“ When the traps were all packed again on the horse Coleman looked back surprised to see the three women engaged in the most friendly discussion. The combined parties now made a very respectable squadron. Coleman rode off at its head without glancing behind at all. He knew that they were following from the soft pounding of the horses hoofs on the sod and from the mellow hum of human voices.
For a long time he did not think to look upon himself as anything but a man much injured by circumstances. ”

“ Although I confess himself hath affirmed divers things of the church of Scotland which he doth not understand, as I have made plainly to appear. If he take a review of the title-page of his Re-examination, he gives more ground for this consequence,—that Mr Coleman is the only man that denies himself; others seek great things for themselves. Or from the title-page of his Male Dicis this consequence will be as good,—that Mr Coleman is the only man that blesseth; others are revilers. ”

“ After the chase had lasted for several minutes Coleman, when on the point of being captured, contrived, by a master-stroke of policy, to substitute Mullins in his place, and the affair ended by that worthy being knocked down by Lawless, “for always choosing to interfere with everything,” and being kicked up again by Coleman, “for having prevented him from properly vindicating his wounded honour”.
“Who's going near the Post-office, and will put a letter in for me?” asked Oaklands.
“I am,” replied Cumberland; “I've got one of my own to put in also.” ”

“ Coleman (in the execution of which he, as far as possible, employed convict labour) is, fortunately, to be seen in the map of the town and its environs surveyed by him in 1836, and lithographed in Calcutta the same year, a copy of which is given in Moor's Notices of the Indian Archipelago. ”

“ The dangerous nature of Coleman’s correspondence was recognised at the time by sensible people, as well Catholics as Protestants. Barillon, October 3/13: “On trouve dans les papiers de ceux qui ont été arrêtés beaucoup de commerces qui paraissent criminels en Angleterre, parce qu’il s’agit de la religion.” October 10/20, 1678: “On continue toujours ici la visite des papiers du Sieur Coleman.... Tous les gens raisonnables croyent que la conjuration contre la personne du Roi de la Grande Bretagne n’a aucun véritable fondement. ”