Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

So my

Evil-Questioning and these Diabolonians; wherefore what does he, but goes to his lord, and tells him what he had heard. And sayest thou so, my trusty ?" quoth my lord. Ay," quoth Diligence, "that I do, and if your lordship will be pleased to go with me, you shall find it as I have said." "And are they there?" quoth my lord; "I know Evil-Questioning well, for he and I were great at the time of our apostasy; but know not now where he dwells." "But I do," said his man, "and if your lordship will go, I will lead you the way to his den." "Go!" quoth my lord, "that I will. Come, my Diligence, let us go find them out." lord and his man went together the direct way to his house. Now this man went before to show him the way, and they went till they came even under old Mr. Evil-Questioning's wall. Then said Diligence, "Hark! my lord, do you know the old gentleman's tongue when you hear it ?" "Yes," said my lord, "I know it well; but I have not seen him many a day. This I know, he is cunning; I wish he may not give us the slip." "Let me alone for that," said his servant Diligence. "But how shall we find the door?" quoth my lord. "Let me alone for that too," said his man. So he had my Lord Will-be-will about, and showed him the way to the door. Then my lord, without more ado, broke open the door, rushed into the house, and caught them all five together, even as Diligence his man had told him. So my lord apprehended them, and led them away, and committed them to the hand of Mr. Trueman the gaoler, and he commanded, and put them in ward. This done, my Lord Mayor was acquainted in the morning with what my Lord Will-be-will had done over night, and his lordship rejoiced much at the news, not only because there were Doubters apprehended, but because that old Evil-Questioning was taken; for he had been a very great trouble to Mansoul, and much affliction to my Lord Mayor himself. He had also been sought for often, but no hand could ever be laid on him till now.

[ocr errors]

Well, the next thing was, to make preparations to try these five that by my lord had been apprehended, and that were in the hands of Mr. Trueman the gaoler. So the day was set, and the court called and came together, and the prisoners brought to the bar. My Lord Will-be-will had power to have slain them when first he took them, and that without any more ado, but he thought it at this time more for the honour of the Prince, the comfort of Mansoul, and the discouragement of the enemy, to bring them forth to

public judgment. But I say, Mr. Trueman brought, them in chains to the bar, to the town-hall, for that was the place of judgment. So to be short, the jury was pannelled, the witnesses sworn, and the prisoners tried for their lives; the jury was the same that tried Mr. No-Truth, Pitiless, Haughty, and the rest of their companions.

And, first, old Evil-Questioning himself was set to the bar; for he was the receiver, the entertainer, and comforter of these Doubters, that by nation were outlandish men: and he was bid to hearken to his charge, and was told that he had liberty to object, if he had aught to say for himself. So his indictment was read; the manner and form here follows:

:

"Mr. Questioning, thou art here indicted by the name Evil-Questioning, an intruder upon the town of Mansoul, for that thou art a Diabolonian by nature, and also a hater of the Prince Emanuel, and one that hast studied the ruin of Mansoul. Thou art also here indicted for entertaining the King's enemies, after wholesome laws made to the contrary: for,

"1. Thou hast questioned the truth of her doctrine and state.

"2. In wishing that ten thousand Doubters were in her. In receiving, entertaining, and encouraging, of her enemies, that came from their army unto thee. What sayest thou to this indictment? Art thou guilty, or not guilty?"

My lord," quoth he, "I know not the meaning of this indictment, forasmuch as I am not the man concerned in it; the man that standeth by this charge accused before this bench, is called by the name of Evil-Questioning, which name I deny to be mine, mine being Honest-Inquiring. The one indeed sounds like the other, but, I trow, your lordships know that between these two there is a wide difference: for I hope that a man, even in the worst of times, and that, too, amongst the worst of men, may make an honest inquiry after things, without running the danger of death.”

Then spake my Lord Will-be-will, for he was one of the witnesses: "My lord, and you the honourable bench and magistrates of the town of Mansoul, you all have heard with your ears that the prisoner at the bar has denied his name, and so thinks to shift from the charge of the indictment. But I know him to be the man concerned, and that his proper name is Evil-Questioning. I have known him, my lord, above these thirty years, for he and I (a shame it is for me to speak it) were great acquaintance, when Diabolus, that tyrant, had the government of Mansoul; and I testify

&

that he is a Diabolonian by nature, an enemy to our Prince, and an hater of the blessed town of Mansoul. He has in times of rebellion been at, and laid in, my house, my lord, not so little as twenty nights together, and we used to talk then, for the substance of talk, as he and his Doubters have talked of late. True, I have not seen him many a day, I suppose that the coming of Emanuel to Mansoul has made him change his lodgings, as this indictment has driven him to change his name; but this is the man, my lord." Then said the court unto him, "Hast thou any more to say?"

[graphic][merged small]

"Yes," quoth the old gentleman, "that I have; for all that has yet been said against me, is but by the mouth of one witness, and it is not lawful for the famous town of Mansoul, at the mouth of one witness, to put any man to death."

Then stood forth Mr. Diligence, and said, "My lord, as I was upon my

watch such a night at the head of Bad-Street, in this town, I chanced to hear a muttering within the gentleman's house. Then, thought I, what's to do here? So I went up close, but very softly, to the side of the house to listen, thinking, as indeed it fell out, that there I might light on some Diabolonian conventicle. So, as I said, I drew nearer and nearer, and when I was got up close to the wall, it was but a while before I perceived that there were outlandish men in the house, but I understood their speech, for I have been a traveller myself. Now, hearing such language in such a tottering cottage as this old gentleman dwelt in, I clapt mine ear to a hole in the window, and there heard them talk as followeth :-This old Mr. Questioning asked these Doubters what they were, whence they came, and what was their business in these parts ? and they answered him to all these questions, yet he entertained them. He also asked what numbers there were of them; and they told him, ten thousand men. He then asked them why they made no more manly assault upon Mansoul? and they told him. So he called their general coward, for marching off when he should have fought for his prince. Further, this old Evil-Questioning wished, and I heard him wish, would all the ten thousand Doubters were now in Mansoul, and himself at the head of them! He bid them also take heed and lie quiet; for if they were taken they must die, although they had heads of gold."

Then said the court, "Mr. Evil-Questioning, here is now another witness against you, and this testimony is full."

"1. He swears that you have received these men into your house, and that you nourished them there, though you knew that they were Diabolonians, and the King's enemies.

"2. He swears that you wished ten thousand of them in Mansoul.

"3. He swears that you gave them advice to be quiet and close, lest they were taken by the King's servants. All which manifesteth that thou art a Diabolonian; but hadst thou been a friend to the King, thou wouldst have apprehended them."

Then said Evil-Questioning, "To the first of these I answer, The men that came into mine house were strangers, and I took them in; and is it now become a crime in Mansoul for a man to entertain strangers? That I also nourished them, is true; and why should my charity be blamed? As for the reason why I wished ten thousand of them in Mansoul, I never

777774

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

told it to the witnesses, nor to themselves.

I might wish them to be taken, and so my wish might mean well to Mansoul, for aught that any yet knows. I also bid them take heed that they fell not into the captain's hands, but that might be because I am unwilling that any man should be slain, and not because I would have the King's enemies, as such, escape."

My Lord Mayor then replied: "That though it was a virtue to entertain strangers, yet it was treason to entertain the King's enemies. And for what else thou hast said, thou dost by words but labour to evade and defer the execution of judgment. But could there be no more proved against thee but that thou art a Diabolonian, thou must for that die the death by the law; but to be a receiver, a nourisher, a countenancer, and a harbourer of others of them, yea, of outlandish Diabolonians; yea, of them that came from far, on purpose to cut off and destroy our Mansoul-this must not be borne."

Then said Evil-Questioning: "I see how the game will go. I must die for my name, and for my charity." And so held his peace.

Then they called the outlandish Doubters to the bar, and the first of them that was arraigned, was the Election-Doubter. So his indictment was read; and because he was an outlandish man, the substance of it was told to him by an interpreter; to wit, "That he was there charged with being an enemy to Emanuel the Prince, a hater of the town of Mansoul, and an opposer of her most wholesome doctrine."

Then the judge asked him if he would plead? but he said only this,That he confessed that he was an Election-Doubter, and that that was the religion that he had ever been brought up in. And said, moreover, "If I must die for my religion, I trow I shall die a martyr, and so I care the less."

Then the judge replied, "To question election is to overthrow a great doctrine of the gospel, to wit, the omniscience, and power, and will of God; to take away the liberty of God with his creature, to stumble the faith of the town of Mansoul, and to make salvation to depend upon works, and not upon grace. It also belied the word, and disquieted the minds of the men of Mansoul, therefore by the best of laws he must die."

Then was the Vocation-Doubter called, and set to the bar; and his

K K

« НазадПродовжити »