For his epitaph, Lord Byron wrote,
Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.
One other contemporary assessment of Sidmouth and Castlereagh worth mentioning is Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem "The Mask of Anarchy," written as soon as he heard the news about the Peterloo Massacre in August 1819. It was revenge for the Massacre which in the main prompted the events at Cato Street, or at least made the men susceptible to the lies of Edwards.
The poem also highlights Eldon, the judge who tried the conspirators, and of course the new king, George IV, who for all he has been portrayed as a glamorous and rather endearingly buffoonish figure of ‘Prinny’, allowed the severe political repression to continue throughout his reign.
As I lay asleep in Italy,
There came a voice from over the Sea,
And with great power it forth led me
To walk in the visions of Poesy.
I met Murder on the way-
He had a mask like Castlereagh -
Very smooth he looked, yet grim;
Seven blood-hounds followed him;
All were fat; and well they might
Be in admirable plight,
For one by one, and two by two,
He tossed them human hearts to chew
Which from his wide cloak he drew.
Next came Fraud, and he had on,
Like Eldon, an ermined gown;
His big tears, for he wept well,
Turned to millstones as they fell.
And the little children, who
Round his feet played to and fro,
Thinking every tear a gem,
Had their brains knocked out by them.
Clothed with the Bible, as with light,
And the shadows of the night,
Like Sidmouth, next, Hypocrisy
On a crocodile rode by.
And many more Destructions played
In this ghastly masquerade,
All disguised, even to the eyes,
Like Bishops, lawyers, peers, and spies.
Last came Anarchy: he rode
He was pale even to the lips,
Like Death in the Apocalypse.
And he wore a kingly crown:
And in his grasp a sceptre shone;
On his brow this mark I saw -
‘I AM GOD, AND KING, AND LAW!’
Thus Alistair and Viola were fortunate to have come off relatively scot-free in their conflict with these two powerful ministers.
But the condemned so-called Cato Street conspirators were the last men to ever be hung, drawn and quartered in England.
It was an effective example to the populace. The Cato Street Conspiracy was the last major attempt at insurrection in the post-war Napoleonic period.
As for the rest of the Rakehells, well, a couple of them still need to return to the fold, as they try to escape their own shadowy pasts.
Once again, thanks to all of them for leading such thrilling lives, and to my wonderful readers who keep pushing me on to even bigger and better things.
As always, I love to hear from my fans, so please keep the comments and reviews coming at http://HerStoryBooks.com.
ALL TITLES BY AUTHOR:
The Mad Mistress
The Missed Match
The Miss Matched
The Matchless Miss
Scars Upon the Heart
The Scarred Heart
Guardian of the Heart
The Mistaken Miss
The Model Master
The Model Mistress
Innocence
Innocence Afire
Ravished
Experience
The Model Husband
Madness
Beguiled
Beguiled Anew