Holles

“ Without definite destination, or even aim beyond that of putting as great a distance as possible between himself and Knight Ryder Street, Holles came by way of Carter Lane into Paul's Yard. There he hung a moment hesitating—for a man may well hesitate when all directions are as one to him; then he struck eastward, down Watling Street, finally plunging into the labyrinth of narrow alleys to the north of it. ”

“ The fact is that Holles lived in a world of delirium, whence at last he awakened one day to sanity—awakened to die, as he thought, when he had taken stock of his surroundings and realized them by the aid of the memories he assembled of his last waking conscious hours. ”

“ Holles kept to his quarters below-stairs, smoking continuously and drinking deeply, too, until he had consumed the little store of wine the house contained. Then not even the nepenthe of the cup remained to assuage his grim despondency, his repeated assertions to himself that his life was lived, that he was a dead man without further business above-ground. ”

“ She had heard the soft thud of feet as Holles dropped to the street, and immediately thereafter the patter of his retreating footsteps. Very faintly she thought she made out at the same time the receding figure of a man, a deeper shadow amid shadows. But however little she may have seen with the eyes of the flesh, she saw all with the eyes of her imagination. She was on the point of crying out, but suddenly checked herself, fearful of rousing the watchman and setting afoot a pursuit which, if successful, might be attended by direst consequences for Holles. ”

“ Holles stared at him a moment. Then he shook his head, and smiled in a manner to imply his contempt of charlatanry.
“I am a soldier, sir,” he said.
“Why, so am I—when the occasion serves. But that does not prevent me from being a reader of the heavens, a writer of verse, a law-giver in the north, a courtier here, and several other things besides. Man in his time plays many parts. Who plays one only may as well play none. To live, my friend, you must sip at many wells of life.” ”

“ On a squalid house at the corner of this narrow opening, and facing the space lately cleared in what was the market, I have observed with interest a fine stone bas-relief of the Holles arms, surmounted by an earl’s coronet, namely, ermine, two piles in point sable, and the motto ‘Spes audaces adjuvat,’ the supporters being a lion and that nondescript beast, a heraldic tiger, which is supposed to have a dragon’s head. The date beneath is 1659, showing [150] that they were put up for John Holles, second Earl of Clare, no doubt on a building in the market-place. ”

“ He had formed, early in life, an attachment to the beautiful daughter of that worthy character and rare exemplar of old English hospitality, sir William Holles, ancestor to the earls of Clare of that surname; but her father, from a singular pride of independence, refused to listen to his proposals, saying "that he would not have to stand cap in hand to his son-in-law; his daughter should marry a good gentleman with whom he might have society and friendship." ”

“ He paused a moment, then on a half-humorous note proceeded: "I do not know how much of squeamishness, of what men call honesty, your travels and misfortune may have left you."
"None that your grace need consider," said Holles, with some self-derision.
"That is . . . very well. Yet, you may find the task distasteful."
"I doubt it. God knows I'm not fastidious nowadays. But if I do, I will tell you so."
"Just so." The Duke nodded, and then—perhaps because of the hesitation that still beset him to make to Holles the proposal that he had in mind—his manner suddenly hardened. ”

“ Holles was a man of his hands, trained in the hardest school of all, and although for some months now sword-practice had been a thing neglected by him, yet it never occurred to him that he should find serious opposition in a creature whose proper environment was the Court rather than the camp. The Duke of Buckingham, whilst making no parade of the fact, was possibly the best blade of his day in England. He, too, after all, had known his years of adversity and adventurous vagrancy, years in which he had devoted a deal of study to the sword, for which he was gifted with a natural aptitude. ”

“ The daughter would have been the ‘richest heiress in Europe’ had not Holles endowed his nephew, Thomas Pelham-Holles, afterwards Duke of Newcastle (1693–1768) [q. v.] , with the greater part of his vast possessions (Swift, i. 192, ii. 315, 411, xii. 236) .
In person Holles is described as a ‘black, ruddy-complexioned man’ (Macky, Memoirs, p. 35) . Though avaricious and very tenacious of what he considered to be his rights, he was not incapable of generous actions. Letters of Holles will be found in British Museum Additional MSS. 29564 and 33084. ”

“ The fact is, I came to tell you that in about an hour’s time you may expect seven callers. Lauderdale and Graham and Holles and some of the other boys intend to pay you their respects this evening. They fear lest they may be prevented later on by the storm which I’ve prophesied for the last fortnight, and which I shall continue to prophesy with unfailing persistence until it comes. You will find Holles most amusing [68] if he is in good form. But he has been quite ill for the last three weeks, and is only just himself again. ”

“ Like many other leaders of the parliamentary opposition, he entered into secret negotiations with the French ambassador in order to frustrate the policy of the king. Barillon, writing 14 Dec. 1679, describes Holles as ‘the man of all England for whom the different cabals have the most consideration. He is respected in general by all parties, but principally by the presbyterians. ”

“ Thus at the outset was Holles delivered from his worst peril. Next he was informed that, since service of any distinction in England was almost out of the question for his father's son, Buckingham would supply him with letters to several high-placed friends of his own in France, where a capable soldier well recommended need never lack employment. If Colonel Holles made the most of the opportunity thus afforded him, his future should be assured and his days of adversity at an end. ”

“ Holles and the aldermen accompanied the king and queen by water to Westminster (cf. Hall, Chronicle, 1809, p. 837) . Holles was a wealthy merchant, and besides his house in Bishopsgate Street, somewhat west of Sir Thomas Gresham's dwelling, where he kept his mayoralty, and another in the parish of St. Mary-le-Bow, was possessed of several manors in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and other counties (Brit. Mus. Add. 6118, pp. 486–488, Inq. p. m.) He also was the owner of Clement's Inn in the Strand (Hatton, New View of London, 1708, p. 646) . He died at his house in London on 13 Oct. ”

“ Albemarle hesitated. He realized the danger to Holles in naming him at this unfortunate juncture. Buckingham might go to any lengths to have him removed, and there was that in Holles’s past, in his very name, which would supply abundant grounds. “His name would not be known to your grace. He is a comparatively obscure soldier, whose merits, however, are fully known to me, and I am persuaded that a fitter man for the office could not be found. ”

“ Holles lounged forward to engage them in talk. Of set purpose and despite the warm weather, he had donned a well-worn leather jerkin to cover and conceal his fairly presentable coat. He had removed the feather from his hat, and all minor ornaments, replacing his embroidered baldric by one of plain leather. A pair of old boots completed the studied shabbiness of his appearance, and gave him the air of a down-at-heel ruffler, ready to make a friend of any man. ”

“ Bidding Holles a good-night and a stout courage, the physician and the examiner departed together. The watchman, who remained to hinder any unauthorized person from passing in or out, then closed the door. Holles heard the key being turned on the outside, and knew himself a prisoner in that infected house for weeks to come, unless death should chance to set him free meanwhile. ”

“ With Lord Thanet he fought a duel on the night of 13 May 1692, in which both were wounded (ib. ii. 451) . In October 1691 Holles asked the king to create him Duke of Newcastle. The king merely promised to consider the request, whereupon Holles immediately resigned his offices, and retired to his seat at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire (ib. ii. 301) . In January 1693–4 he succeeded to the estates of his kinsman, Denzil, third lord Holles of Ifield (ib. iii. 259) .
Holles was now one of the richest and most powerful men in the kingdom. The king promised to make him Duke of Clarence (ib. iii. 300) . ”

“ During the summer of 1648, while the army under Cromwell and Ireton was trampling out the royalist risings and scattering the intrusive Scots (no longer led by Lesley) , Holles availed himself of the absence of the military members to return to the house and regain his majority. Under his direction, and at the pressure of the city, negotiations in the exclusive presbyterian interest were re-opened with the king. ”

“ And then under a final blow the door all splintered about, the lock flew open and the grooms flowed into the room to their master’s rescue.
[Pg 211]
Holles tore his wrist free at the same moment by a last wrench. But it was too late. Casting the Duke’s sword hand from him, he sprang away and round with a tearing sob to face the lackeys. For a second his glittering point held them at bay. Then the blow of a club shivered the blade, and they rushed in upon him. He felled one of them with a blow of the hilt which he still retained, before a club took him across the skull. ”

“ Holles flushed this time in sheer delight. Often though Fortune had fooled him, yet she had not utterly quenched his faith in men. Thus, miraculously, in the eleventh hour had salvation come to him, and it had come through that precious ruby which a wise intuition had made him treasure so tenaciously.
The Duke produced a purse of green silk netting, through the meshes of which glowed the mellow warmth of gold.
"Meanwhile, my friend—as an earnest of my good intent . . ."
"Not that, your grace." For the second time that day Holles waved back a proffered purse, his foolish pride in arms. ”

“ The doctor nodded, pointing to the purple patch. “The tokens are very plain to see,” he said. “I beg, sir, that you will go.” And on that he once more held the handkerchief to his mouth and nostrils, and turned his shoulder upon the Colonel.
[Pg 115]
Holles withdrew as he was bidden, moving slowly and thoughtfully, stricken by the first sight of the plague at work upon a fellow-creature. As he approached the edges of the crowd, which, keeping its distance, yet stood at gaze as crowds will, he observed that men shrank back from him as if he were himself already tainted. ”

“ The woman they were persecuting with their insults and menaces might be no better than that dirty fanatic was pronouncing her. But she was a woman and helpless. And apart from this there was in all the world no vice that Holles found more hideous than virtue driven to excess. ”

“ But one evening whilst she was sitting on the honeysuckle porch, Holles rode up waving a paper in his hands.
“Such good news!” he cried; “the strike is over. There has been some kind of a compromise between the company and the men, and some of the mails are through. I’ve got a ton-load for you in this gunny-sack. Nothing for me, of course, except [206] my religious paper. That never gets lost.”
She put the magazines on one side, and opened her home letters. They were the first she had received in answer to her own letter telling of Robert’s death. ”

“ In many points Madame Gould strongly resembles the German Dame Holle: such as her connection with water and her silver comb, as well as the appearance to the apple-picker. Holle or Holdar, in Germany, is a very beautiful white lady with long flowing hair of a golden hue; she haunts fountains and streams, and is often engaged in washing. She is well disposed, and rebukes bad children, punishing theft and other faults. ”

“ Then followed six tranquil years in which Holly grew from a small, long-legged, angular child to a very charming maiden of eighteen, dainty with the fragrant daintiness of a southern rosebud; small of stature, as her mother had been before her, yet possessed of a gracious dignity that added mythical inches to her height; no longer angular but gracefully symmetrical with the soft curves of womanhood; with a fair skin like the inner petal of a La France rose; with eyes warmly, deeply brown, darkened by large irises; a low, broad forehead [17] under a wealth of hair just failing of being black ”

“ Holly’s smooth cheeks reddened a little.
“A girl ought to marry a man much older than herself,” she said, decisively.
“Oh! Then Julian won’t do?”
“I haven’t decided,” Holly laughed. “Maybe. He’s nice. I wonder if you’ll like him. Will you try to, please? He—he’s awfully down on Northerners, though.”
“That’s bad,” said Winthrop, seriously. “Perhaps he won’t approve of me. Do you think I’d better run away over Sunday? I might go out to visit Colonel Byers; he’s asked me.”
“Silly!” said Holly. “He won’t eat you!” ”

“ It was the general opinion that William Rufus Holly, fat, yellow-haired, and twenty-four years old, was doomed to failure in life, in spite of the fact that he had a little income of a thousand dollars a year, and had made a century in an important game of cricket. Great, therefore, was the surprise of the college, and afterwards of the Province, when, at the farewell dinner of the graduates, Sleeping Beauty, or “Averdroopy,” the pride of every junior sportsman in the country, announced, between his little open-eyed naps, that he was going Far North as a missionary. ”