The Broken Font: A Story of the Civil War, Vol. 2 (of 2)Sherer, Moyle
History
The Broken Font: A Story of the Civil War, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Sherer, Moyle
Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
“He neither shall be clothed
In purple nor in pall,
But all in fair linen,
As were babies all;
He neither shall be rocked
In silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
That rocks on the mould.”
At the close he went to the door, and before he entered called her
gently by name. The tone of voice in which he spoke had the effect
which he intended, and, without any cry of alarm, she rose up quietly
and turned round; but she no sooner beheld his military dress than her
terror became excessive. It was quite in vain that he attempted to
bring himself to her recollection: the fear of being dragged forth and
led to the stake was uppermost, and entirely bewildered her. In his
person she saw only one of those from whose hands she had so recently
escaped, and her shrieks and implorations were agonising to hear. To
relieve her he quitted the ruin; and before he was many hundred yards
from it had the pain of seeing her on the far side of it hobbling fast
towards the cover of the adjoining wood for concealment. He walked to
his quarters in a miserable and dejected mood; and as he passed an
open church which had apparently been occupied by Parliamentary
soldiers, he went in for a moment. It was empty: the tombs and
monuments had been broken and their inscriptions defaced: not a pane
of glass in the tall windows had escaped destruction: a painting over
the altar had been hacked to pieces; and, as if in mockery, the tables
of God’s commandments were left on either side plainly legible, and
above, in the midst, might be seen, in letters of gold, the words of
that message of mercy which the angels of God sang to the shepherds
keeping watch by night, when they announced the advent of
Messiah,--_Peace on earth,--good will towards man_.
CHAP. XII.
Thus see we how these ugly furious spirits
Of warre are cloth’d, colour’d, and disguis’d,
With stiles of vertue, honour, zeale, and merits,
Whose owne complexion, well anatomis’d,
A mixture is of pride, rage, avarice,
Ambition, lust, and every tragicke vice.
LORD BROOKE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account