John Enderby

John Enderby

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Title: John Enderby
Author: Gilbert Parker
Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6254] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on October 31,
2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN
ENDERBY BY PARKER ***

This eBook was produced by David Widger

JOHN ENDERBY
By Gilbert Parker

I
Of all the good men that Lincolnshire gave to England to make her
proud, strong and handsome, none was stronger, prouder and more
handsome than John Enderby, whom King Charles made a knight
against his will.
"Your gracious Majesty," said John Enderby, when the King was come
to Boston town on the business of draining the Holland fen and other
matters more important and more secret, "the honour your Majesty
would confer is well beyond a poor man like myself, for all
Lincolnshire knows that I am driven to many shifts to keep myself
above water. Times have been hard these many years, and, craving
your Majesty's pardon, our taxes have been heavy."
"Do you refuse knighthood of his Majesty?" asked Lord Rippingdale,
with a sneer, patting the neck of his black stallion with a gloved hand.
"The King may command my life, my Lord Rippingdale," was
Enderby's reply, "he may take me, body and bones and blood, for his
service, but my poor name must remain as it is when his Majesty
demands a price for honouring it."
"Treason," said Lord Rippingdale just so much above his breath as the
King might hear.
"This in our presence!" said the King, tapping his foot upon the ground,
his brows contracting, and the narrow dignity of the divine right lifting
his nostrils scornfully.
"No treason, may it please your Majesty," said Enderby, "and it were
better to speak boldly to the King's face than to be disloyal behind his

back. My estates will not bear the tax which the patent of this
knighthood involves. I can serve the country no better as Sir John
Enderby than as plain John Enderby, and I can serve my children best
by shepherding my shattered fortunes for their sakes."
For a moment Charles seemed thoughtful, as though Enderby's reasons
appealed to him, but Lord Rippingdale had now the chance which for
ten years he had invited, and he would not let it pass.
"The honour which his Majesty offers, my good Lincolnshire squire, is
more to your children than the few loaves and fishes which you might
leave them. We all know how miserly John Enderby has grown."
Lord Rippingdale had touched the tenderest spot in the King's mind.
His vanity was no less than his impecuniosity, and this was the third
time in one day he had been defeated in his efforts to confer an honour,
and exact a price beyond all reason for that honour. The gentlemen he
had sought had found business elsewhere, and were not to be seen
when his messengers called at their estates. It was not the King's way to
give anything for nothing. Some of these gentlemen had been benefited
by the draining of the Holland fens, which the King had undertaken,
reserving a stout portion of the land for himself; but John Enderby
benefited nothing, for his estates lay further north, and near the sea, not
far from the town of Mablethorpe. He had paid all the taxes which the
King had levied and had not murmured beyond his own threshold.
He spoke his mind with candour, and to him the King was still a man to
whom the truth was to be told with directness, which was the highest
honour one man might show another.
"Rank treason!" repeated Lord Rippingdale, loudly. "Enderby has been
in bad company, your Majesty. If you are not wholly with the King,