Back home. Before leaving this morning, I read a splendid passage which I must quote in full. Poul Anderson fans and regular blog readers will appreciate its significance.
"'Tell me, Baynes,' Pym asked, 'what did you do in the late wars?'
"'I was in the service of Sir Edward Bulstrode, a gentleman close to His Highness Prince Rupert,' Baynes replied with unnerving frankness.
"'What's that,' Pym said, startled.
"'Politics were never the concerns of persons of my quality, sir,' Baynes said reprovingly. 'The fortunes of war took my master to sea when Rupert turned Admiral. There we were unfortunate enough to encounter General Blake, who gave me the choice between entering the Parliament service or being hanged.'
"Pym smiled at the expression on the man's face in the lamplight. Baynes had a plump look about him that suggested a talent for survival.
"'Why didn't you tell us this when you signed the articles?' It was hard to sound harsh after the way Baynes had looked after him.
"'You never asked,' Baynes said simply. 'Your breakfast,' he added, whipping the cover off a tray he had brought in.
"Breakfast. All other considerations vanished as Pym made the discovery that he was ravenous."
-John Sanders, The Hat Of Authority (London, 1966), 16, pp. 193-194.
There are several important lessons here, I think. In Poul Anderson's yarns, we are used to Nicholas van Rijn or Dominic Flandry being served their breakfasts although Flandry is not about to learn that Chives had recently fought on the other side.
On general principle, I would support a Parliament against a King - although I would prefer not to fight about it - but I would not threaten to hang a prisoner. Some of us ask ourselves, "Which side would I have fought on in the Civil War?" but there are others for whom politics are not their concern and how often do we ask: "Would I have changed sides if the alternative was to be hanged?" Baynes is a cheerful, plump survivor rendering faithful service to the suddenly ravenous Colonel Pym.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I would have favored or supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War. As did MANY ordinary English men, such as William Fairweather (a character in A MIDSUMMER TEMPEST).
The civilized way of handling prisoners in cases like that of Baynes would have been to offer them paroles on condition of them not fighting again for the opposing side.
Ad astra! Sean
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