It occurs twice in the book--once in the
itinerary, and again in a trifling and unmetrical song, which is
probably the duke's own composition; written probably on the eve of his
flight with his romantic but guilty companion to Holland:--
"'With joy we leave thee,
False world, and do forgive
All thy false treachery.
For now we'll happy live.
We'll to our bowers,
And there spend our hours;
Happy there we'll be,
We no strifes can see;
No quarrelling for crowns,
Nor fear the great one's frowns;
Nor slavery of state,
Nor changes in our fate.
From plots this place is free,
There we'll ever be;
We'll sit and bless our stars
That from the noise of wars
Did this glorious place give
(Or did us Toddington give)
That thus we happy live.'"
In Macaulay's history we find that the latest act of the duke on the
scaffold, before submitting to the stroke of the executioner, was to
call his servant, and put into the man's hand a toothpick-case, the last
token of ill-starred love. "Give it," he said, "_to that person!_" After
the description of Monmouth's burial occurs the following affecting
passage:--
"Yet a few months and the quiet village of Toddington, in
Bedfordshire, witnessed a yet sadder funeral. Near that village
stood an ancient and stately hall, the seat of the Wentworths. The
transept of the parish church had long been their burial-place.
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