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retreat from a powerful adversary. This had been the secret of his
secession at the time of Lord Raymond's election. In the unsteady glance of
his eye, in his extreme desire to learn the opinions of all, in the
feebleness of his hand-writing, these qualities might be obscurely traced,
but they were not generally known. He was now our Lord Protector. He had
canvassed eagerly for this post. His protectorate was to be distinguished
by every kind of innovation on the aristocracy. This his selected task was
exchanged for the far different one of encountering the ruin caused by the
convulsions of physical nature. He was incapable of meeting these evils by
any comprehensive system; he had resorted to expedient after expedient, and
could never be induced to put a remedy in force, till it came too late to
be of use.
Certainly the Ryland that advanced towards us now, bore small resemblance
to the powerful, ironical, seemingly fearless canvasser for the first rank
among Englishmen. Our native oak, as his partisans called him, was visited
truly by a nipping winter. He scarcely appeared half his usual height; his
joints were unknit, his limbs would not support him; his face was
contracted, his eye wandering; debility of purpose and dastard fear were
expressed in every gesture.
In answer to our eager questions, one word alone fell, as it were
involuntarily, from his convulsed lips: The Plague.--"Where?"--"Every
where--we must fly--all fly--but whither? No man can tell--there is
no refuge on earth, it comes on us like a thousand packs of wolves--we
must all fly--where shall you go? Where can any of us go?"
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