It would have been an inestimable consolation to Eustace had the worthy
Barton officiated in that capacity; but he was now among the number of
respectable characters who were thrown into prison for presuming to
intercede in the King's behalf. The person who attended Eustace was an
ignorant desperate fanatic, in reality a spy of Cromwell's, whom the
arbitrary will of Lady Bellingham compelled her lord to retain about his
person. Such an assistant could afford no comfort to a condemned man; in
reality he only served to disturb the composure which a long series of
sorrows and sufferings had enabled Eustace externally to assume--I say
externally, for his soul secretly melted at the unusual misfortunes that
had clouded his short existence. He recollected at this trying moment
the precious delights and glorious visions of his boyhood. His mind
dwelt on the delusive opinion of his own powers, which had endangered
his high expectations of renown, the fatal intimacy, and the numerous
errors that changed glory into disgrace; and now, when misfortune had
taught him wisdom, by the cruel sentence of coward rebels he was doomed,
in cold blood, not only to an early, but also to an ignominious grave.
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