London Pride: Or, When the World Was Younger

A rainy summer, and a mild rainy autumn had been followed by the hardest frost this generation hadever known. The Thames was frozen over, and tempestuous winds had shaken the ships in the Pool, and the steep gable ends and tall chimney-stacks on London Bridge. A never-to-be-forgotten winter, which had witnessed the martyrdom of England's King, and the exile of her chief nobility, while arabble Parliament rode roughshod over a cowed people. Gloom and sour visages prevailed, themaypoles were down, the play-houses were closed, the bear-gardens were empty, the cock-pits weredesolate; and a saddened population, impoverished and depressed by the sacrifices that had beenexacted and the tyranny that had been exercised in the name of Liberty, were ground under the ironheel of Cromwell's red-coats.The pitiless journey from London to Louvain, a journey of many days and nights, prolonged byaccident and difficulty, had been spun out to uttermost tedium for those two in the heavily movingold leathern coach. Who and what were they, these wearied travellers, journeying together silentlytowards a destination which promised but little of pleasure or luxury by way of welcome-adestination which meant severance for those tw