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
“That he was a most godless and obstinate Malignant, as was plain to
see by his laughing, and the redness of his face; and that if not
drunk, he was merry; but that a gaol and bread and water would soon
take away the colour from his cheeks, and bring down the naughtiness
of his spirit.”
They forthwith committed him to Warwick Castle, as a soul-destroying
hypocrite, who held communion with idle and lewd fellows, and
consorted with witches; and they appointed one Mr. Blackaby, a true
brother, and bold as a lion for the faith, to succeed him at Old
Beech, directing that he should be protected in his settlement by a
detachment from the garrison, until the stubborn people of that
village were reduced to submit heartily to God and the Parliament.
The room of the Castle to which Juxon was now removed was a large
comfortless apartment with damp stone walls and no fire, containing
about fourteen other prisoners, ten of whom were, like himself,
incumbents. The two windows of this room looked down upon the river,
which washed the very walls of the Castle; and the windows were not
only securely barred, but even were it possible to force that
obstacle, the fall being very great, any notion of the escape of a
prisoner would have been judged an idle fear. However, the faithful
blacksmith and George Juxon’s groom had followed the escort into
Warwick, and watched the courageous parson as he walked with an
upright carriage and manly step between the guards who took him to
prison.
Having gained information concerning the part of the Castle in which
he was confined, they laid a plan for his deliverance, which, from
their knowledge of his strength and activity, they thought possible,
though extremely difficult.
They conveyed to him in a loaf of brown bread, which was sent by one
of the charity children of the place, and was given him without
suspicion, a small cord, of sufficient strength to bear his weight, a
small steel saw, and a phial of aqua-fortis.
It was not possible to conceal this from his fellow-prisoners, nor
could he desire to do so. They promised secrecy, but dissuaded him
from the attempt. That it was very perilous, he well knew; but he
resolved upon it at once. In the afternoon of the day on which he
received the cord, he saw the blacksmith standing on the river bank in
the opposite meadow. The man did not pretend to take any notice of the
Castle, but stripped off his clothes and plunged into the water; and
it being a cold frosty day, he was loudly laughed at by a group of
soldiers standing on the bridge. He swam out into the middle of the
stream and back again; then putting on his clothes, he disappeared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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