113 



CREPU; OR, "IS IT POSSIBLE?" 



A TALE OF BLOOD. 



The solemn bell of Brussels cathedral had given warning of that most 

 portentous of all hours, which, according to ancient crones and chronicles, 

 releases the interred body from the bondage of the grave, and permits 

 of its temporary re-union with the spirit, to roam awhile on earth, to 

 scare the conscience of the wicked, fright babes and old veterans, clank 

 chains, lift bed-hangings, wave tapestry, turn tapers blue, and howl and 

 gibber in the lone court, or by the still loner way-side. In short it was 

 midnight, and as the last echo of the last chime died away, the painted, 

 carved, and highly-polished door of a sumptuous edifice near the Hotel- 

 de-Ville, was thrown open, and discovered a group of merry roisterers, 

 who had evidently bowed fervently at the shrine of Bacchus, and were 

 still reeling from their genuflections. Their mirth was loud and daring ; 

 *'quip and crank" prevailed, as the strong flames of a couple of torches 

 held aloft by liveried lackeys, showed a ** candle-light effect" which 

 Schalcken* would have contemplated with rapture. Half a dozen 

 gallants, attired in the full mode of 1680, with an immense mass of 

 curls on their shoulders, long cravats of Mechlin lace, deep ruffles of 

 the same, and richly embroidered suits of velvet, with diamond buckles 

 in their square-toed high-heeled shoes, were bidding adieu to a boon- 

 companion, and pledging him in what might have been the stirrup-cup 

 had the stranger been otherwise than a pedestrian. A stout, middle- 

 aged, muscular man, with blunt features, twinkling grey eyes, and a 

 complexion pretty well bronzed in its natural state, but now heightened 

 to a dull brick colour by its proprietor's late orgies, was the object of 

 these valedictory courtesies. His steeple-crowned hat, set jauntily on 

 one side, was ornamented with a long feather and a precious stone of 

 great brilliancy ; a wide Flanders ruff, somewhat disordered, encompassed 

 his neck, and a short full cloak of black velvet, opening in front, dis- 

 played a close-fitting doublet of military cut, crossing which a broad, 

 white leathern belt sustained a sword of rather extravagant longitude : 

 trunk hose and maroquin shoes, with trim rosettes, completed the 

 costume of the departing guest. Bursts of laughter, jests, and gibes, 

 and sarcasms, with sentiments more memorable for their good-will and 

 jollity than their sober philosophy, stunned the martial visitant as he 

 raised a huge bell-mouthed drinking glass to his lips, and, at one 

 draught, decanted the Rhenish which it contained. A peevish refusal 

 of attendance, a muttered " good night," a striking down of his beaver 

 upon his brow, a fierce flinging out of his right leg, and a correspondent 

 flourish of his dexter arm, as he prepared for his homeward march, 

 raised an uproar of merriment from his friends ; he heeded it not, but, 

 steadying himself for a moment to recover the gravity partially endan- 

 gered by his too vigorous outset, went off at a pace remarkable for 

 nothing but sundry vacillations from right to left, similar to those 

 practised by fresh-water sailors on stepping from stem to stern in a 

 rough sea. 



* Godfrey Schalcken, the celebrated painter of fire-lights, who desired William 

 III. to hold a candle while he sketched in his Majesty's portrait. 



