Thomas Seymour

“ He held it to be within his competence to remove at pleasure those of its members who showed themselves adverse to him. He too had that jealousy of power, which always directs itself against those who stand nearest to it. There is no doubt that his brother, Thomas Lord Seymour, impelled by a restless ambition, hoped to overthrow the existing government and put himself in possession of the highest place, and committed manifold illegal acts; he—the Lord Admiral of the realm—even entered into alliance with the pirates in the Channel. ”

“ Crobble; “d'ye think—have you any friends?”
“None, sir; my father is a poor man, and quite unable.” I could scarcely speak—like the driver of the one-horse chaise, I could neither advance nor recede.
“The father,” said Mr. Timmis, “is only a poor shoe-maker—a good fellow tho'—an excellent fit!”
“You mean to say,” cried Mr. Wallis, “it were bootless to seek security of the shoe-maker.”
A laugh ensued; and, notwithstanding my agitated feelings, I could not forbear being tickled by Mr. Wallis's humour, and joining in the merriment. ”

“ Seymour, sir, where is he?" said the deep voice of the boatswain, as he advanced farther into the room. The light fell full upon him. He was a splendid specimen of athletic manhood; tall, powerful, long-armed, slightly bent in the shoulders; decision and courage were seen in his bearing, and were written on his face, burned a dull mahogany color by years of exposure to the weather. He was clothed in the open shirt and loose trousers of a seafaring man, and he stood with his feet slightly apart, as if balancing himself to the uneasy roll of a ship. ”

“ Pic-nics are his delight; but he always leaves others to bring the grub, and brings nothing but himself. I hate Pic-nics, squatting in the grass don't suit me at all; when once down, I find it no easy matter to get up again, I can tell you."
Hereupon there was a general laugh.
"Talking of Pic-nics," said Mr. Timmis. "reminds me of one that was held the other day in a meadow, on the banks of the Lea. The party, consisting of ladies only, and a little boy, had just spread out their prog on a clean table-cloth, when they were alarmed by the approach of a cow. ”

“ The slow, sleepy train (the London express never stops at Clinton) jerked through the deep valleys, heavy with woods, golden brown at their heart, the low hills carrying, on their horizons, white drifting clouds that flung long grey shadows. Seymour felt suddenly as though he could never return to London again exactly as he had returned to it before. "That period of my life is over, quite over.... Some one is taking me down here now—I know that I am being compelled to go. But I want to go. I am happier than I have ever been in my life before." ”

“ But the man only winked, and, significantly pointing the thumb of his left hand over his sinister shoulder, backed the horse.
"Vell, I'm blessed," exclaimed Mr. S.—and so he was—with a scolding wife and a squalling infant; "and they calls this here a trust, the fools! and there ain't no trust at all!"
And the poor animal got another vindictive cut. Oh! Mr. Martin!—thou friend of quadrupeds!—would that thou had'st been there. "It's all my eye and Betty Martin!" muttered Mr. S., as he wheeled about the jaded beast he drove, and retraced the road. ”

“ I offer'd you a heart verbally, and you said 'No!' I writ this ere wollentine, and you returns it vith a big 'No!'
“O! Molly your 'No's,' is more piercinger and crueller than your heyes. Me! to be used so:—Me! as refused the vidder at the Coal Shed! (to be sure she wore a vig and I didn't vant a bald rib!) Me!—but it's o' no use talking; von may as vell make love to a lamp-post, and expect to feed von's flame vith lights! But adoo to life; this 'ere rope, fix'd round the 'best end o' the neck' will soon scrap me, and ven I'm as dead as mutton, p'r'aps you may be werry sorry. ”

“ They went to Niagara and Trenton, they went to Newport and Saratoga, to the White Mountains and Montreal; and Mrs. John Seymour was a meteor of fashionable wonder and delight at all these places. Her dresses and her diamonds, her hats and her bonnets, were all wonderful to behold. The stir and excitement that she had created as simple Miss Ellis was nothing to the stir and excitement about Mrs. John Seymour. It was the mere grub compared with the full-blown butterfly,—the bud compared with the rose. Wherever she appeared, her old admirers flocked in her train. ”

“ Seymour resented with an infinite rancor at that moment the contrast with his own flushed, fatigued, tousled, agitated, persistent, querulous personality. He could not have given up to save his life, and yet he could but despise himself for holding on.
"You had better stop pushing me to the wall," he said, and this was literal, for he gave back step by step at each feint of the needle; "you had better be looking out for Captain Baynell. He might have an attack of conscience at any moment, and have all the fruits of your industry seized and confiscated as contraband of war. ”

“ But we are anticipating, and must return to the early years of Edward Seymour. He was educated both at Oxford 22and Cambridge; and afterwards joining his father at Court, entered the army, and also distinguished himself greatly in France, and was knighted for his services in 1525. On his return to England he was appointed Esquire to the King, and was one of the challengers in the tilt-yard of Greenwich, when Henry kept his Christmas there. On the King’s marriage with his sister Jane, Edward Seymour was created Viscount Beauchamp, with other grants and honours, and in 1537, Earl of Hertford. ”

“ We do not hear of a single voice raised in Seymour’s defence. The common people, when Somerset in his turn had fallen a victim to jealousy and hate, made no secret of their sorrow and their love; but the nobles who had been his brother’s supporters were silent and cowed, or went to swell the number of his accusers.
124 By March 20 hope and fear were alike at an end. A Bill of Attainder had been brought into the House of Lords, after an examination of the culprit before the Council, when his demand to be confronted with his accusers had been refused. ”

“ You, sir, too, will understand us; and if you proceed farther with any follies you may have gotten into your head, you will incur our heavy displeasure, which is not a light matter for any man to bear. So be wise, if wisdom can enter into so young a pate. Now you may retire, sir."
Seymour bowed, and withdrew; and, to say the truth, had not the matter so much affected his happiness, he might have inclined to laugh at the reprimand of the King. ”

“ A sudden Explosion—a hit by one of the Sportsmen, which the other takes amiss.
A blustering wind arose, and like a burly coachman on mounting his box, took up the rain!
The two crouching friends taking advantage of the cessation in the storm, prepared to start. But in straightening the acute angles of their legs and arms, Mr. Sprigg's piece, by some entanglement in his protecting garb, went off, and the barrel striking Mr. Grubb upon the os nasi, stretched him bawling on the humid turf.
"O! Lord! I'm shot."
"O! my heye!" exclaimed the trembling Spriggs.
"O! my nose!" roared Grubb. ”

“ He is a splendid fellow; I wish we had him. He would be of great service to the cause, with his name and influence, and the money he would bring; and then the quality of the young man himself would be of value to us. You have met him, Seymour, I believe?"
"Yes, sir, several times; and I agree with you entirely. It is his mother who keeps him back. I have had one or two conversations with her. She is a Tory through and through."
"Not a doubt of it, not a doubt of it," said the colonel. "Katharine, can't you do something with him?" ”

“ The spanker sheet was cut in two, and the boom swept out to windward, knocking one of the men overboard. There was neither time nor opportunity to pick him up, and he went to his death unheeded.
Seymour dropped his sword, every instinct of a sailor aroused, and sprang to the horse-block. ”

“ They killed nothing but time, yet they were exceedingly merry, especially during the discussion of the provisions. Their laughter, indeed, was enough to scare all the birds in the neighbourhood.
“Jim, if you wanted to correct those sheep yonder,” said Tom, “what sort of tool would you use?”
“An ewe-twig, of course,” replied my master.
“No; that's devilish good,” said Wallis; “but you ain't hit it yet.”
“For a crown you don't do a better?”
“Done!”
“Well, what is it?”
“Why, a Ram-rod to be sure—as we're sportsmen.” ”

“ Seymour had a very limited sense of humor and could not endure to be made ridiculous, even to gladden so merry a lady-love; but when she declared that she would transfer the whole paraphernalia—thimble, needle, towel, and all—to Captain Baynell, and let him do the hemming, Seymour, all unaware of the secret amusement his sudden consent afforded the company, showed that he preferred that she should make him ludicrous rather than compliment another man by her mirthful ridicule. ”

“ He read much, and occupied himself with gardening. In spite of having only one arm, he was able to dispense with assistance in the ordinary pursuits of life.
In January 1829 he accepted the appointment of commissioner at Portsmouth, which was, by custom, tenable for life; but in 1832 the admiralty abolished the navy board and, with it, the commissionerships at the dockyards. Seymour was offered the choice of holding his office for two years longer and then retiring, or of returning to the active list, taking his flag, and going out to South America as commander-in-chief. ”

“ Warner's 's boy as wants to speak vith you," said his landlady.
"Show him up," languidly replied our lover, throwing his aching head from his right to his left hand.
"Vell, Jim, vot's the matter!" demanded he—"How's your missus?"
"She ain't no missus o' mine no longer," replied Jim.
"How?"
"I tell you vot it is, sir, she promised to give me a shillin'-aweek an' my feed; an' she ain't done vun thing nor t' other; for I'm bless'd if I ain't starved, and ain't seen the color of her money sin' I bin there. Father's goin' to summon her." ”

“ Seymour here interrupted the conversation, by enquiring of the major the plan of those amusements which he proposed to provide.
“I will convert the elm meadow at Osterley Park into a fair,” replied the major, “wherein every species of amusement shall be exhibited: I will engage that vagabond Punch, who, like a snail, travels about the country with his house at his back, to display his hereditary wit, and mimic drolleries; tumblers, rope-dancers, conjurors, fire-eaters, and, in short, the whole merry train of Comus, shall be pressed into our service. ”

“ The dowager lady Seymour, a weak woman, but indulgent parent, was easily prevailed on by her lovely daughter, to choose London for her place of residence; and when Sir Henry married, their visits to Deane Hall, which had never been frequent entirely ceased. Miss Seymour meantime took every advantage of the opportunities her new line of life afforded. She cultivated with assiduity and success every brilliant accomplishment, and was admired even more than her own vanity, and her mother's blind partiality, had taught her to expect. ”

“ SEYMOUR, HORATIO (1810–1886) , American statesman, was born at Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, on the 31st of May 1810. His ancestor, Richard Seymour, a Protestant Episcopal °clergyman, was an early settler at Hartford, Connecticut, and his father, Henry Seymour, who removed from Connecticut to New York, was prominent in the Democratic party in the state, being a member of the “ Albany Regency ” and serving as state senator in 1816–1819 and in 1822, and as canal commissioner in 1819-1831. ”

“ Seymour returned to England in the Conway frigate, and, being tried by court-martial for the loss of his ship, was acquitted of all blame and highly commended for his conduct subsequent to the wreck. In 1841 he commanded the Britannia as flag-captain to Sir John Acworth Ommanney [q. v.] , and from her was moved to the Powerful, which he brought home and paid off early in 1842.
From 1845 to 1848 he commanded the Vindictive as flag-captain to Sir Francis William Austen [q. v.] ”

“ Taking advantage of the smoke and of the weather-gage, the Yarmouth was suddenly headed for the Randolph. As the enormous bows of the line-of-battle ship came slowly shoving out of the smoke, towering above them, covered with men, cutlass or boarding pike in hand, Seymour discerned at once the purpose of the manoeuvre. Raising himself upon his elbow to better direct the movement,—
"All hands repel boarders!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the ship as powerfully as ever. ”

“ I must, say," said Grubb, stretching his weary legs under the mahogany, "I never did spend sich a pleasant day afore—never!"
"Nor I," chimed in Spriggs, "and many a day ven I'm a chopping up the 'lump' shall I think on it. It's ralely bin a hout and houter! Lauk! how Suke vill open her heyes, to be sure, ven I inform her how ve've bin out with two real guns, and kill'd our own dinner. I'm bless'd if she'll swallow it!"
"I must say ve have seen a little life," said Grubb.
"And death too," added Spriggs. "Vitness the pig!" ”

“ Although Seymour never wholly abandoned oil-painting, he mainly confined his energies to preparing illustrations for the publishers of books, journals, and caricatures. Nothing seemed to come amiss to him. He was as much at home with ‘Don Juan’ as the ‘Book of Martyrs,’ and passed with the confidence of youth from the illustrations of Demosthenes and Ovid, to Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Gay, and Southey. He thus spent six busy years, during which all his work was drawn on the wood, or at any rate with a view to the graver. He worked with extraordinary rapidity, and at a very low price. ”