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+***The Project Gutenberg Etext of Kenilworth, by Walter Scott***
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+Kenilworth
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+by Walter Scott
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+January, 1999  [Etext #1606]
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+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
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+
+
+
+KENILWORTH.
+
+by Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
+
+
+
+
+*
+
+Note:  Footnotes and references to the notes at the end of the
+       printed book have been inserted in the etext in square
+       brackets ("[]") close to the place where they were
+       indicated by a suffix in the original text.  The notes
+       at the end are now numbered instead of using pages to
+       identify them as was done in the printed text.
+
+       Text in italics has been written in capital letters.
+
+*
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+A certain degree of success, real or supposed, in the delineation
+of Queen Mary, naturally induced the author to attempt something
+similar respecting "her sister and her foe," the celebrated
+Elizabeth.  He will not, however, pretend to have approached the
+task with the same feelings; for the candid Robertson himself
+confesses having felt the prejudices with which a Scottishman is
+tempted to regard the subject; and what so liberal a historian
+avows, a poor romance-writer dares not disown.  But he hopes the
+influence of a prejudice, almost as natural to him as his native
+air, will not be found to have greatly affected the sketch he has
+attempted of England's Elizabeth.  I have endeavoured to describe
+her as at once a high-minded sovereign, and a female of
+passionate feelings, hesitating betwixt the sense of her rank and
+the duty she owed her subjects on the one hand, and on the other
+her attachment to a nobleman, who, in external qualifications at
+least, amply merited her favour.  The interest of the story is
+thrown upon that period when the sudden death of the first
+Countess of Leicester seemed to open to the ambition of her
+husband the opportunity of sharing the crown of his sovereign.
+
+It is possible that slander, which very seldom favours the
+memories of persons in exalted stations, may have blackened the
+character of Leicester with darker shades than really belonged to
+it.  But the almost general voice of the times attached the most
+foul suspicions to the death of the unfortunate Countess, more
+especially as it took place so very opportunely for the
+indulgence of her lover's ambition.  If we can trust Ashmole's
+Antiquities of Berkshire, there was but too much ground for the
+traditions which charge Leicester with the murder of his wife.
+In the following extract of the passage, the reader will find the
+authority I had for the story of the romance:--
+
+"At the west end of the church are the ruins of a manor,
+anciently belonging (as a cell, or place of removal, as some
+report) to the monks of Abington.  At the Dissolution, the said
+manor, or lordship, was conveyed to one -- Owen (I believe), the
+possessor of Godstow then.
+
+"In the hall, over the chimney, I find Abington arms cut in
+stone--namely, a patonee between four martletts; and also another
+escutcheon--namely, a lion rampant, and several mitres cut in
+stone about the house.  There is also in the said house a chamber
+called Dudley's chamber, where the Earl of Leicester's wife was
+murdered, of which this is the story following:--
+
+"Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, a very goodly personage, and
+singularly well featured, being a great favourite to Queen
+Elizabeth, it was thought, and commonly reported, that had he
+been a bachelor or widower, the Queen would have made him her
+husband; to this end, to free himself of all obstacles, he
+commands, or perhaps, with fair flattering entreaties, desires
+his wife to repose herself here at his servant Anthony Forster's
+house, who then lived in the aforesaid manor-house; and also
+prescribes to Sir Richard Varney (a prompter to this design), at
+his coming hither, that he should first attempt to poison her,
+and if that did not take effect, then by any other way whatsoever
+to dispatch her.  This, it seems, was proved by the report of Dr.
+Walter Bayly, sometime fellow of New College, then living in
+Oxford, and professor of physic in that university; whom, because
+he would not consent to take away her life by poison, the Earl
+endeavoured to displace him the court.  This man, it seems,
+reported for most certain that there was a practice in Cumnor
+among the conspirators, to have poisoned this poor innocent lady,
+a little before she was killed, which was attempted after this
+manner:--They seeing the good lady sad and heavy (as one that
+well knew, by her other handling, that her death was not far
+off), began to persuade her that her present disease was
+abundance of melancholy and other humours, etc., and therefore
+would needs counsel her to take some potion, which she absolutely
+refusing to do, as still suspecting the worst; whereupon they
+sent a messenger on a day (unawares to her) for Dr. Bayly, and
+entreated him to persuade her to take some little potion by his
+direction, and they would fetch the same at Oxford; meaning to
+have added something of their own for her comfort, as the doctor
+upon just cause and consideration did suspect, seeing their great
+importunity, and the small need the lady had of physic, and
+therefore he peremptorily denied their request; misdoubting (as
+he afterwards reported) lest, if they had poisoned her under the
+name of his potion, he might after have been hanged for a colour
+of their sin, and the doctor remained still well assured that
+this way taking no effect, she would not long escape their
+violence, which afterwards happened thus.  For Sir Richard Varney
+abovesaid (the chief projector in this design), who, by the
+Earl's order, remained that day of her death alone with her, with
+one man only and Forster, who had that day forcibly sent away all
+her servants from her to Abington market, about three miles
+distant from this place; they (I say, whether first stifling her,
+or else strangling her) afterwards flung her down a pair of
+stairs and broke her neck, using much violence upon her; but,
+however, though it was vulgarly reported that she by chance fell
+downstairs (but still without hurting her hood that was upon her
+head), yet the inhabitants will tell you there that she was
+conveyed from her usual chamber where she lay, to another where
+the bed's head of the chamber stood close to a privy postern
+door, where they in the night came and stifled her in her bed,
+bruised her head very much broke her neck, and at length flung
+her down stairs, thereby believing the world would have thought
+it a mischance, and so have blinded their villainy.  But behold
+the mercy and justice of God in revenging and discovering this
+lady's murder; for one of the persons that was a coadjutor in
+this murder was afterwards taken for a felony in the marches of
+Wales, and offering to publish the manner of the aforesaid
+murder, was privately made away in the prison by the Earl's
+appointment; and Sir Richard Varney the other, dying about the
+same time in London, cried miserably, and blasphemed God, and
+said to a person of note (who hath related the same to others
+since), not long before his death, that all the devils in hell
+did tear him in pieces.  Forster, likewise, after this fact,
+being a man formerly addicted to hospitality, company, mirth, and
+music, was afterwards observed to forsake all this, and with much
+melancholy and pensiveness (some say with madness) pined and
+drooped away.  The wife also of Bald Butter, kinsman to the Earl,
+gave out the whole fact a little before her death.  Neither are
+these following passages to be forgotten, that as soon as ever
+she was murdered, they made great haste to bury her before the
+coroner had given in his inquest (which the Earl himself
+condemned as not done advisedly), which her father, or Sir John
+Robertsett (as I suppose), hearing of, came with all speed
+hither, caused her corpse to be taken up, the coroner to sit upon
+her, and further inquiry to be made concerning this business to
+the full; but it was generally thought that the Earl stopped his
+mouth, and made up the business betwixt them; and the good Earl,
+to make plain to the world the great love he bare to her while
+alive, and what a grief the loss of so virtuous a lady was to his
+tender heart, caused (though the thing, by these and other means,
+was beaten into the heads of the principal men of the University
+of Oxford) her body to be reburied in St, Mary's Church in
+Oxford, with great pomp and solemnity.  It is remarkable, when
+Dr. Babington, the Earl's chaplain, did preach the funeral
+sermon, he tript once or twice in his speech, by recommending to
+their memories that virtuous lady so pitifully murdered, instead
+of saying pitifully slain.  This Earl, after all his murders and
+poisonings, was himself poisoned by that which was prepared for
+others (some say by his wife at Cornbury Lodge before mentioned),
+though Baker in his Chronicle would have it at Killingworth; anno
+1588."  [Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire, vol.i., p.149.  The
+tradition as to Leicester's death was thus communicated by Ben
+Jonson to Drummond of Hawthornden:--"The Earl of Leicester gave
+a bottle of liquor to his Lady, which he willed her to use in any
+faintness, which she, after his returne from court, not knowing
+it was poison, gave him, and so he died."--BEN JONSON'S
+INFORMATION TO DRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN, MS., SIR ROBERT SIBBALD'S
+COPY.]
+
+The same accusation has been adopted and circulated by the author
+of Leicester's Commonwealth, a satire written directly against
+the Earl of Leicester, which loaded him with the most horrid
+crimes, and, among the rest, with the murder of his first wife.
+It was alluded to in the Yorkshire Tragedy, a play erroneously
+ascribed to Shakespeare, where a baker, who determines to destroy
+all his family, throws his wife downstairs, with this allusion to
+the supposed murder of Leicester's lady,--
+
+  "The only way to charm a woman's tongue
+  Is, break her neck--a politician did it."
+
+The reader will find I have borrowed several incidents as well as
+names from Ashmole, and the more early authorities; but my first
+acquaintance with the history was through the more pleasing
+medium of verse.  There is a period in youth when the mere power
+of numbers has a more strong effect on ear and imagination than
+in more advanced life.  At this season of immature taste, the
+author was greatly delighted with the poems of Mickle and
+Langhorne, poets who, though by no means deficient in the higher
+branches of their art, were eminent for their powers of verbal
+melody above most who have practised this department of poetry.
+One of those pieces of Mickle, which the author was particularly
+pleased with, is a ballad, or rather a species of elegy, on the
+subject of Cumnor Hall, which, with others by the same author,
+was to be found in Evans's Ancient Ballads (vol. iv., page 130),
+to which work Mickle made liberal contributions.  The first
+stanza especially had a peculiar species of enchantment for the
+youthful ear of the author, the force of which is not even now
+entirely spent; some others are sufficiently prosaic.
+
+
+CUMNOR HALL.
+
+  The dews of summer night did fall;
+   The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
+  Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall,
+   And many an oak that grew thereby,
+
+  Now nought was heard beneath the skies,
+   The sounds of busy life were still,
+  Save an unhappy lady's sighs,
+   That issued from that lonely pile.
+
+  "Leicester," she cried, "is this thy love
+   That thou so oft hast sworn to me,
+  To leave me in this lonely grove,
+   Immured in shameful privity?
+
+  "No more thou com'st with lover's speed,
+   Thy once beloved bride to see;
+  But be she alive, or be she dead,
+   I fear, stern Earl, 's the same to thee.
+
+  "Not so the usage I received
+   When happy in my father's hall;
+  No faithless husband then me grieved,
+   No chilling fears did me appal.
+
+  "I rose up with the cheerful morn,
+   No lark more blithe, no flower more gay;
+  And like the bird that haunts the thorn,
+   So merrily sung the livelong day.
+
+  "If that my beauty is but small,
+   Among court ladies all despised,
+  Why didst thou rend it from that hall,
+   Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized?
+
+  "And when you first to me made suit,
+   How fair I was you oft would say!
+  And proud of conquest, pluck'd the fruit,
+   Then left the blossom to decay.
+
+  "Yes!  now neglected and despised,
+   The rose is pale, the lily's dead;
+  But he that once their charms so prized,
+   Is sure the cause those charms are fled.
+
+  "For know, when sick'ning grief doth prey,
+   And tender love's repaid with scorn,
+  The sweetest beauty will decay,--
+   What floweret can endure the storm?
+
+  "At court, I'm told, is beauty's throne,
+   Where every lady's passing rare,
+  That Eastern flowers, that shame the sun,
+   Are not so glowing, not so fair.
+
+  "Then, Earl, why didst thou leave the beds
+   Where roses and where lilies vie,
+  To seek a primrose, whose pale shades
+   Must sicken when those gauds are by?
+
+  "'Mong rural beauties I was one,
+   Among the fields wild flowers are fair;
+  Some country swain might me have won,
+   And thought my beauty passing rare.
+
+  "But, Leicester (or I much am wrong),
+   Or 'tis not beauty lures thy vows;
+  Rather ambition's gilded crown
+   Makes thee forget thy humble spouse.
+
+  "Then, Leicester, why, again I plead
+   (The injured surely may repine)--
+  Why didst thou wed a country maid,
+   When some fair princess might be thine?
+
+  "Why didst thou praise my hum'ble charms,
+   And, oh!  then leave them to decay?
+  Why didst thou win me to thy arms,
+   Then leave to mourn the livelong day?
+
+  "The village maidens of the plain
+   Salute me lowly as they go;
+  Envious they mark my silken train,
+   Nor think a Countess can have woe.
+
+  "The simple nymphs!  they little know
+   How far more happy's their estate;
+  To smile for joy, than sigh for woe--
+   To be content, than to be great.
+
+  "How far less blest am I than them?
+   Daily to pine and waste with care!
+  Like the poor plant that, from its stem
+   Divided, feels the chilling air.
+
+  "Nor, cruel Earl!  can I enjoy
+   The humble charms of solitude;
+  Your minions proud my peace destroy,
+   By sullen frowns or pratings rude.
+
+  "Last night, as sad I chanced to stray,
+   The village death-bell smote my ear;
+  They wink'd aside, and seemed to say,
+   'Countess, prepare, thy end is near!'
+
+  "And now, while happy peasants sleep,
+   Here I sit lonely and forlorn;
+  No one to soothe me as I weep,
+   Save Philomel on yonder thorn.
+
+  "My spirits flag--my hopes decay--
+   Still that dread death-bell smites my ear;
+  And many a boding seems to say,
+   'Countess, prepare, thy end is near!'"
+
+  Thus sore and sad that lady grieved,
+   In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear;
+  And many a heartfelt sigh she heaved,
+   And let fall many a bitter tear.
+
+  And ere the dawn of day appear'd,
+   In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear,
+  Full many a piercing scream was heard,
+   And many a cry of mortal fear.
+
+  The death-bell thrice was heard to ring,
+   An aerial voice was heard to call,
+  And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing
+   Around the towers of Cumnor Hall.
+
+  The mastiff howl'd at village door,
+   The oaks were shatter'd on the green;
+  Woe was the hour--for never more
+   That hapless Countess e'er was seen!
+
+  And in that Manor now no more
+   Is cheerful feast and sprightly ball;
+  For ever since that dreary hour
+   Have spirits haunted Cumnor Hall.
+
+  The village maids, with fearful glance,
+   Avoid the ancient moss-grown wall;
+  Nor ever lead the merry dance,
+   Among the groves of Cumnor Hall.
+
+  Full many a traveller oft hath sigh'd,
+   And pensive wept the Countess' fall,
+  As wand'ring onward they've espied
+   The haunted towers of Cumnor Hall.
+
+ARBOTSFORD,
+1st March 1831.
+
+
+*
+
+
+KENILWORTH
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+  I am an innkeeper, and know my grounds,
+  And study them; Brain o' man, I study them.
+  I must have jovial guests to drive my ploughs,
+  And whistling boys to bring my harvests home,
+  Or I shall hear no flails thwack.             THE NEW INN.
+
+It is the privilege of tale-tellers to open their story in an
+inn, the free rendezvous of all travellers, and where the humour
+of each displays itself without ceremony or restraint.  This is
+specially suitable when the scene is laid during the old days of
+merry England, when the guests were in some sort not merely the
+inmates, but the messmates and temporary companions of mine Host,
+who was usually a personage of privileged freedom, comely
+presence, and good-humour.  Patronized by him the characters of
+the company were placed in ready contrast; and they seldom
+failed, during the emptying of a six-hooped pot, to throw off
+reserve, and present themselves to each other, and to their
+landlord, with the freedom of old acquaintance.
+
+The village of Cumnor, within three or four miles of Oxford,
+boasted, during the eighteenth of Queen Elizabeth, an excellent
+inn of the old stamp, conducted, or rather ruled, by Giles
+Gosling, a man of a goodly person, and of somewhat round belly;
+fifty years of age and upwards, moderate in his reckonings,
+prompt in his payments, having a cellar of sound liquor, a ready
+wit, and a pretty daughter.  Since the days of old Harry Baillie
+of the Tabard in Southwark, no one had excelled Giles Gosling in
+the power of pleasing his guests of every description; and so
+great was his fame, that to have been in Cumnor without wetting a
+cup at the bonny Black Bear, would have been to avouch one's-self
+utterly indifferent to reputation as a traveller.  A country
+fellow might as well return from London without looking in the
+face of majesty.  The men of Cumnor were proud of their Host, and
+their Host was proud of his house, his liquor, his daughter, and
+himself.
+
+It was in the courtyard of the inn which called this honest
+fellow landlord, that a traveller alighted in the close of the
+evening, gave his horse, which seemed to have made a long
+journey, to the hostler, and made some inquiry, which produced
+the following dialogue betwixt the myrmidons of the bonny Black
+Bear.
+
+"What, ho!  John Tapster."
+
+"At hand, Will Hostler," replied the man of the spigot, showing
+himself in his costume of loose jacket, linen breeches, and green
+apron, half within and half without a door, which appeared to
+descend to an outer cellar.
+
+"Here is a gentleman asks if you draw good ale," continued the
+hostler.
+
+"Beshrew my heart else," answered the tapster, "since there are
+but four miles betwixt us and Oxford.  Marry, if my ale did not
+convince the heads of the scholars, they would soon convince my
+pate with the pewter flagon."
+
+"Call you that Oxford logic?"  said the stranger, who had now
+quitted the rein of his horse, and was advancing towards the inn-
+door, when he was encountered by the goodly form of Giles Gosling
+himself.
+
+"Is it logic you talk of, Sir Guest?"  said the host; "why, then,
+have at you with a downright consequence--
+
+  'The horse to the rack,
+  And to fire with the sack.'"
+
+"Amen!  with all my heart, my good host," said the stranger; "let
+it be a quart of your best Canaries, and give me your good help
+to drink it."
+
+"Nay, you are but in your accidence yet, Sir Traveller, if you
+call on your host for help for such a sipping matter as a quart
+of sack; Were it a gallon, you might lack some neighbouring aid
+at my hand, and yet call yourself a toper."
+
+"Fear me not."  said the guest, "I will do my devoir as becomes a
+man who finds himself within five miles of Oxford; for I am not
+come from the field of Mars to discredit myself amongst the
+followers of Minerva."
+
+As he spoke thus, the landlord, with much semblance of hearty
+welcome, ushered his guest into a large, low chamber, where
+several persons were seated together in different parties--some
+drinking, some playing at cards, some conversing, and some, whose
+business called them to be early risers on the morrow, concluding
+their evening meal, and conferring with the chamberlain about
+their night's quarters.
+
+The entrance of a stranger procured him that general and careless
+sort of attention which is usually paid on such occasions, from
+which the following results were deduced:--The guest was one of
+those who, with a well-made person, and features not in
+themselves unpleasing, are nevertheless so far from handsome
+that, whether from the expression of their features, or the tone
+of their voice, or from their gait and manner, there arises, on
+the whole, a disinclination to their society.  The stranger's
+address was bold, without being frank, and seemed eagerly and
+hastily to claim for him a degree of attention and deference
+which he feared would be refused, if not instantly vindicated as
+his right.  His attire was a riding-cloak, which, when open,
+displayed a handsome jerkin overlaid with lace, and belted with a
+buff girdle, which sustained a broadsword and a pair of pistols.
+
+"You ride well provided, sir," said the host, looking at the
+weapons as he placed on the table the mulled sack which the
+traveller had ordered.
+
+"Yes, mine host; I have found the use on't in dangerous times,
+and I do not, like your modern grandees, turn off my followers
+the instant they are useless."
+
+"Ay, sir?"  said Giles Gosling; "then you are from the Low
+Countries, the land of pike and caliver?"
+
+"I have been high and low, my friend, broad and wide, far and
+near.  But here is to thee in a cup of thy sack; fill thyself
+another to pledge me, and, if it is less than superlative, e'en
+drink as you have brewed."
+
+"Less than superlative?"  said Giles Gosling, drinking off the
+cup, and smacking his lips with an air of ineffable relish,--"I
+know nothing of superlative, nor is there such a wine at the
+Three Cranes, in the Vintry, to my knowledge; but if you find
+better sack than that in the Sheres, or in the Canaries either, I
+would I may never touch either pot or penny more.  Why, hold it
+up betwixt you and the light, you shall see the little motes
+dance in the golden liquor like dust in the sunbeam.  But I would
+rather draw wine for ten clowns than one traveller.--I trust your
+honour likes the wine?"
+
+"It is neat and comfortable, mine host; but to know good liquor,
+you should drink where the vine grows.  Trust me, your Spaniard
+is too wise a man to send you the very soul of the grape.  Why,
+this now, which you account so choice, were counted but as a cup
+of bastard at the Groyne, or at Port St. Mary's.  You should
+travel, mine host, if you would be deep in the mysteries of the
+butt and pottle-pot."
+
+"In troth, Signior Guest," said Giles Gosling, "if I were to
+travel only that I might be discontented with that which I can
+get at home, methinks I should go but on a fool's errand.
+Besides, I warrant you, there is many a fool can turn his nose up
+at good drink without ever having been out of the smoke of Old
+England; and so ever gramercy mine own fireside."
+
+"This is but a mean mind of yours, mine host," said the stranger;
+"I warrant me, all your town's folk do not think so basely.  You
+have gallants among you, I dare undertake, that have made the
+Virginia voyage, or taken a turn in the Low Countries at least.
+Come, cudgel your memory.  Have you no friends in foreign parts
+that you would gladly have tidings of?"
+
+"Troth, sir, not I," answered the host, "since ranting Robin of
+Drysandford was shot at the siege of the Brill.  The devil take
+the caliver that fired the ball, for a blither lad never filled a
+cup at midnight!  But he is dead and gone, and I know not a
+soldier, or a traveller, who is a soldier's mate, that I would
+give a peeled codling for."
+
+"By the Mass, that is strange.  What!  so many of our brave
+English hearts are abroad, and you, who seem to be a man of mark,
+have no friend, no kinsman among them?"
+
+"Nay, if you speak of kinsmen," answered Gosling, "I have one
+wild slip of a kinsman, who left us in the last year of Queen
+Mary; but he is better lost than found."
+
+"Do not say so, friend, unless you have heard ill of him lately.
+Many a wild colt has turned out a noble steed.--His name, I pray
+you?"
+
+"Michael Lambourne," answered the landlord of the Black Bear; "a
+son of my sister's--there is little pleasure in recollecting
+either the name or the connection."
+
+"Michael Lambourne!"  said the stranger, as if endeavouring to
+recollect himself--"what, no relation to Michael Lambourne, the
+gallant cavalier who behaved so bravely at the siege of Venlo
+that Grave Maurice thanked him at the head of the army?  Men said
+he was an English cavalier, and of no high extraction."
+
+"It could scarcely be my nephew," said Giles Gosling, "for he had
+not the courage of a hen-partridge for aught but mischief."
+
+"Oh, many a man finds courage in the wars," replied the stranger.
+
+"It may be," said the landlord; "but I would have thought our
+Mike more likely to lose the little he had."
+
+"The Michael Lambourne whom I knew," continued the traveller,
+"was a likely fellow--went always gay and well attired, and had a
+hawk's eye after a pretty wench."
+
+"Our Michael," replied the host, "had the look of a dog with a
+bottle at its tail, and wore a coat, every rag of which was
+bidding good-day to the rest."
+
+"Oh, men pick up good apparel in the wars," replied the guest.
+
+"Our Mike," answered the landlord, "was more like to pick it up
+in a frippery warehouse, while the broker was looking another
+way; and, for the hawk's eye you talk of, his was always after my
+stray spoons.  He was tapster's boy here in this blessed house
+for a quarter of a year; and between misreckonings, miscarriages,
+mistakes, and misdemeanours, had he dwelt with me for three
+months longer, I might have pulled down sign, shut up house, and
+given the devil the key to keep."
+
+"You would be sorry, after all," continued the traveller, "were I
+to tell you poor Mike Lambourne was shot at the head of his
+regiment at the taking of a sconce near Maestricht?"
+
+"Sorry!--it would be the blithest news I ever heard of him, since
+it would ensure me he was not hanged.  But let him pass--I doubt
+his end will never do such credit to his friends.  Were it so, I
+should say"--(taking another cup of sack)--"Here's God rest him,
+with all my heart."
+
+"Tush, man," replied the traveller, "never fear but you will have
+credit by your nephew yet, especially if he be the Michael
+Lambourne whom I knew, and loved very nearly, or altogether, as
+well as myself.  Can you tell me no mark by which I could judge
+whether they be the same?"
+
+"Faith, none that I can think of," answered Giles Gosling,
+"unless that our Mike had the gallows branded on his left
+shoulder for stealing a silver caudle-cup from Dame Snort of
+Hogsditch."
+
+"Nay, there you lie like a knave, uncle," said the stranger,
+slipping aside his ruff; and turning down the sleeve of his
+doublet from his neck and shoulder; "by this good day, my
+shoulder is as unscarred as thine own.
+
+"What, Mike, boy--Mike!"  exclaimed the host;--"and is it thou,
+in good earnest?  Nay, I have judged so for this half-hour; for I
+knew no other person would have ta'en half the interest in thee.
+But, Mike, an thy shoulder be unscathed as thou sayest, thou must
+own that Goodman Thong, the hangman, was merciful in his office,
+and stamped thee with a cold iron."
+
+"Tush, uncle--truce with your jests.  Keep them to season your
+sour ale, and let us see what hearty welcome thou wilt give a
+kinsman who has rolled the world around for eighteen years; who
+has seen the sun set where it rises, and has travelled till the
+west has become the east."
+
+"Thou hast brought back one traveller's gift with thee, Mike, as
+I well see; and that was what thou least didst:  need to travel
+for.  I remember well, among thine other qualities, there was no
+crediting a word which came from thy mouth."
+
+"Here's an unbelieving pagan for you, gentlemen!"  said Michael
+Lambourne, turning to those who witnessed this strange interview
+betwixt uncle and nephew, some of whom, being natives of the
+village, were no strangers to his juvenile wildness.  "This may
+be called slaying a Cumnor fatted calf for me with a vengeance.--
+But, uncle, I come not from the husks and the swine-trough, and I
+care not for thy welcome or no welcome; I carry that with me will
+make me welcome, wend where I will."
+
+So saying, he pulled out a purse of gold indifferently well
+filled, the sight of which produced a visible effect upon the
+company.  Some shook their heads and whispered to each other,
+while one or two of the less scrupulous speedily began to
+recollect him as a school-companion, a townsman, or so forth.  On
+the other hand, two or three grave, sedate-looking persons shook
+their heads, and left the inn, hinting that, if Giles Gosling
+wished to continue to thrive, he should turn his thriftless,
+godless nephew adrift again, as soon as he could.  Gosling
+demeaned himself as if he were much of the same opinion, for even
+the sight of the gold made less impression on the honest
+gentleman than it usually doth upon one of his calling.
+
+"Kinsman Michael," he said, "put up thy purse.  My sister's son
+shall be called to no reckoning in my house for supper or
+lodging; and I reckon thou wilt hardly wish to stay longer where
+thou art e'en but too well known."
+
+"For that matter, uncle," replied the traveller, "I shall consult
+my own needs and conveniences.  Meantime I wish to give the
+supper and sleeping cup to those good townsmen who are not too
+proud to remember Mike Lambourne, the tapster's boy.  If you will
+let me have entertainment for my money, so; if not, it is but a
+short two minutes' walk to the Hare and Tabor, and I trust our
+neighbours will not grudge going thus far with me."
+
+"Nay, Mike," replied his uncle, "as eighteen years have gone over
+thy head, and I trust thou art somewhat amended in thy
+conditions, thou shalt not leave my house at this hour, and shalt
+e'en have whatever in reason you list to call for.  But I would I
+knew that that purse of thine, which thou vapourest of, were as
+well come by as it seems well filled."
+
+"Here is an infidel for you, my good neighbours!"  said
+Lambourne, again appealing to the audience.  "Here's a fellow
+will rip up his kinsman's follies of a good score of years'
+standing.  And for the gold, why, sirs, I have been where it
+grew, and was to be had for the gathering.  In the New World have
+I been, man--in the Eldorado, where urchins play at cherry-pit
+with diamonds, and country wenches thread rubies for necklaces,
+instead of rowan-tree berries; where the pantiles are made of
+pure gold, and the paving-stones of virgin silver."
+
+"By my credit, friend Mike," said young Laurence Goldthred, the
+cutting mercer of Abingdon, "that were a likely coast to trade
+to.  And what may lawns, cypruses, and ribands fetch, where gold
+is so plenty?"
+
+"Oh, the profit were unutterable," replied Lambourne, "especially
+when a handsome young merchant bears the pack himself; for the
+ladies of that clime are bona-robas, and being themselves somewhat
+sunburnt, they catch fire like tinder at a fresh complexion like
+thine, with a head of hair inclining to be red."
+
+"I would I might trade thither," said the mercer, chuckling.
+
+"Why, and so thou mayest," said Michael--"that is, if thou art
+the same brisk boy who was partner with me at robbing the Abbot's
+orchard.  'Tis but a little touch of alchemy to decoct thy house
+and land into ready money, and that ready money into a tall ship,
+with sails, anchors, cordage, and all things conforming; then
+clap thy warehouse of goods under hatches, put fifty good fellows
+on deck, with myself to command them, and so hoist topsails, and
+hey for the New World!"
+
+"Thou hast taught him a secret, kinsman," said Giles Gosling, "to
+decoct, an that be the word, his pound into a penny and his webs
+into a thread.--Take a fool's advice, neighbour Goldthred.  Tempt
+not the sea, for she is a devourer.  Let cards and cockatrices do
+their worst, thy father's bales may bide a banging for a year or
+two ere thou comest to the Spital; but the sea hath a bottomless
+appetite,--she would swallow the wealth of Lombard Street in a
+morning, as easily as I would a poached egg and a cup of clary.
+And for my kinsman's Eldorado, never trust me if I do not believe
+he has found it in the pouches of some such gulls as thyself.--
+But take no snuff in the nose about it; fall to and welcome, for
+here comes the supper, and I heartily bestow it on all that will
+take share, in honour of my hopeful nephew's return, always
+trusting that he has come home another man.--In faith, kinsman,
+thou art as like my poor sister as ever was son to mother."
+
+"Not quite so like old Benedict Lambourne, her husband, though,"
+said the mercer, nodding and winking.  "Dost thou remember, Mike,
+what thou saidst when the schoolmaster's ferule was over thee for
+striking up thy father's crutches?--it is a wise child, saidst
+thou, that knows its own father.  Dr. Bircham laughed till he
+cried again, and his crying saved yours."
+
+"Well, he made it up to me many a day after," said Lambourne;
+"and how is the worthy pedagogue?"
+
+"Dead," said Giles Gosling, "this many a day since."
+
+"That he is," said the clerk of the parish; "I sat by his bed the
+whilst.  He passed away in a blessed frame.  'MORIOR--MORTUUS SUM
+VEL FUI--MORI'--these were his latest words; and he just added,
+'my last verb is conjugated."
+
+"Well, peace be with him," said Mike, "he owes me nothing."
+
+"No, truly," replied Goldthred; "and every lash which he laid on
+thee, he always was wont to say, he spared the hangman a labour."
+
+"One would have thought he left him little to do then," said the
+clerk; "and yet Goodman Thong had no sinecure of it with our
+friend, after all."
+
+"VOTO A DIOS!"  exclaimed Lambourne, his patience appearing to
+fail him, as he snatched his broad, slouched hat from the table
+and placed it on his head, so that the shadow gave the sinister
+expression of a Spanish brave to eyes and features which
+naturally boded nothing pleasant.  "Hark'ee, my masters--all is
+fair among friends, and under the rose; and I have already
+permitted my worthy uncle here, and all of you, to use your
+pleasure with the frolics of my nonage.  But I carry sword and
+dagger, my good friends, and can use them lightly too upon
+occasion.  I have learned to be dangerous upon points of honour
+ever since I served the Spaniard, and I would not have you
+provoke me to the degree of falling foul."
+
+"Why, what would you do?"  said the clerk.
+
+"Ay, sir, what would you do?"  said the mercer, bustling up on
+the other side of the table.
+
+"Slit your throat, and spoil your Sunday's quavering, Sir Clerk,"
+said Lambourne fiercely; "cudgel you, my worshipful dealer in
+flimsy sarsenets, into one of your own bales."
+
+"Come, come," said the host, interposing, "I will have no
+swaggering here.--Nephew, it will become you best to show no
+haste to take offence; and you, gentlemen, will do well to
+remember, that if you are in an inn, still you are the inn-
+keeper's guests, and should spare the honour of his family.--I
+protest your silly broils make me as oblivious as yourself; for
+yonder sits my silent guest as I call him, who hath been my two
+days' inmate, and hath never spoken a word, save to ask for his
+food and his reckoning--gives no more trouble than a very
+peasant--pays his shot like a prince royal--looks but at the sum
+total of the reckoning, and does not know what day he shall go
+away.  Oh, 'tis a jewel of a guest!  and yet, hang-dog that I am,
+I have suffered him to sit by himself like a castaway in yonder
+obscure nook, without so much as asking him to take bite or sup
+along with us.  It were but the right guerdon of my incivility
+were he to set off to the Hare and Tabor before the night grows
+older."
+
+With his white napkin gracefully arranged over his left arm, his
+velvet cap laid aside for the moment, and his best silver flagon
+in his right hand, mine host walked up to the solitary guest whom
+he mentioned, and thereby turned upon him the eyes of the
+assembled company.
+
+He was a man aged betwixt twenty-five and thirty, rather above
+the middle size, dressed with plainness and decency, yet bearing
+an air of ease which almost amounted to dignity, and which seemed
+to infer that his habit was rather beneath his rank.  His
+countenance was reserved and thoughtful, with dark hair and dark
+eyes; the last, upon any momentary excitement, sparkled with
+uncommon lustre, but on other occasions had the same meditative
+and tranquil cast which was exhibited by his features.  The busy
+curiosity of the little village had been employed to discover his
+name and quality, as well as his business at Cumnor; but nothing
+had transpired on either subject which could lead to its
+gratification.  Giles Gosling, head-borough of the place, and a
+steady friend to Queen Elizabeth and the Protestant religion, was
+at one time inclined to suspect his guest of being a Jesuit, or
+seminary priest, of whom Rome and Spain sent at this time so many
+to grace the gallows in England.  But it was scarce possible to
+retain such a prepossession against a guest who gave so little
+trouble, paid his reckoning so regularly, and who proposed, as it
+seemed, to make a considerable stay at the bonny Black Bear.
+
+"Papists," argued Giles Gosling, "are a pinching, close-fisted
+race, and this man would have found a lodging with the wealthy
+squire at Bessellsey, or with the old Knight at Wootton, or in
+some other of their Roman dens, instead of living in a house of
+public entertainment, as every honest man and good Christian
+should.  Besides, on Friday he stuck by the salt beef and carrot,
+though there were as good spitch-cocked eels on the board as ever
+were ta'en out of the Isis."
+
+Honest Giles, therefore, satisfied himself that his guest was no
+Roman, and with all comely courtesy besought the stranger to
+pledge him in a draught of the cool tankard, and honour with his
+attention a small collation which he was giving to his nephew, in
+honour of his return, and, as he verily hoped, of his
+reformation.  The stranger at first shook his head, as if
+declining the courtesy; but mine host proceeded to urge him with
+arguments founded on the credit of his house, and the
+construction which the good people of Cumnor might put upon such
+an unsocial humour.
+
+"By my faith, sir," he said, "it touches my reputation that men
+should be merry in my house; and we have ill tongues amongst us
+at Cumnor (as where be there not?), who put an evil mark on men
+who pull their hat over their brows, as if they were looking back
+to the days that are gone, instead of enjoying the blithe
+sunshiny weather which God has sent us in the sweet looks of our
+sovereign mistress, Queen Elizabeth, whom Heaven long bless and
+preserve!"
+
+"Why, mine host," answered the stranger, "there is no treason,
+sure, in a man's enjoying his own thoughts, under the shadow of
+his own bonnet?  You have lived in the world twice as long as I
+have, and you must know there are thoughts that will haunt us in
+spite of ourselves, and to which it is in vain to say, Begone,
+and let me be merry."
+
+"By my sooth," answered Giles Gosling, "if such troublesome
+thoughts haunt your mind, and will not get them gone for plain
+English, we will have one of Father Bacon's pupils from Oxford,
+to conjure them away with logic and with Hebrew--or, what say you
+to laying them in a glorious red sea of claret, my noble guest?
+Come, sir, excuse my freedom.  I am an old host, and must have my
+talk.  This peevish humour of melancholy sits ill upon you; it
+suits not with a sleek boot, a hat of trim block, a fresh cloak,
+and a full purse.  A pize on it!  send it off to those who have
+their legs swathed with a hay-wisp, their heads thatched with a
+felt bonnet, their jerkin as thin as a cobweb, and their pouch
+without ever a cross to keep the fiend Melancholy from dancing in
+it.  Cheer up, sir!  or, by this good liquor, we shall banish
+thee from the joys of blithesome company, into the mists of
+melancholy and the land of little-ease.  Here be a set of good
+fellows willing to be merry; do not scowl on them like the devil
+looking over Lincoln."
+
+"You say well, my worthy host," said the guest, with a melancholy
+smile, which, melancholy as it was, gave a very pleasant:
+expression to his countenance--"you say well, my jovial friend;
+and they that are moody like myself should not disturb the mirth
+of those who are happy.  I will drink a round with your guests
+with all my heart, rather than be termed a mar-feast."
+
+So saying, he arose and joined the company, who, encouraged by
+the precept and example of Michael Lambourne, and consisting
+chiefly of persons much disposed to profit by the opportunity of
+a merry meal at the expense of their landlord, had already made
+some inroads upon the limits of temperance, as was evident from
+the tone in which Michael inquired after his old acquaintances in
+the town, and the bursts of laughter with which each answer was
+received.  Giles Gosling himself was somewhat scandalized at the
+obstreperous nature of their mirth, especially as he
+involuntarily felt some respect for his unknown guest.  He
+paused, therefore, at some distance from the table occupied by
+these noisy revellers, and began to make a sort of apology for
+their license.
+
+"You would think," he said, "to hear these fellows talk, that
+there was not one of them who had not been bred to live by Stand
+and Deliver; and yet tomorrow you will find them a set of as
+painstaking mechanics, and so forth, as ever cut an inch short of
+measure, or paid a letter of change in light crowns over a
+counter.  The mercer there wears his hat awry, over a shaggy head
+of hair, that looks like a curly water-dog's back, goes unbraced,
+wears his cloak on one side, and affects a ruffianly vapouring
+humour:  when in his shop at Abingdon, he is, from his flat cap
+to his glistening shoes, as precise in his apparel as if he was
+named for mayor.  He talks of breaking parks, and taking the
+highway, in such fashion that you would think he haunted every
+night betwixt Hounslow and London; when in fact he may be found
+sound asleep on his feather-bed, with a candle placed beside him
+on one side, and a Bible on the other, to fright away the
+goblins."
+
+"And your nephew, mine host, this same Michael Lambourne, who is
+lord of the feast--is he, too, such a would-be ruffler as the
+rest of them?"
+
+"Why, there you push me hard," said the host; "my nephew is my
+nephew, and though he was a desperate Dick of yore, yet Mike may
+have mended like other folks, you wot.  And I would not have you
+think all I said of him, even now, was strict gospel; I knew the
+wag all the while, and wished to pluck his plumes from him.  And
+now, sir, by what name shall I present my worshipful guest to
+these gallants?"
+
+"Marry, mine host," replied the stranger, "you may call me
+Tressilian."
+
+"Tressilian?"  answered mine host of the Bear.  "A worthy name,
+and, as I think, of Cornish lineage; for what says the south
+proverb--
+
+  'By Pol, Tre, and Pen,
+  You may know the Cornish men.'
+
+Shall I say the worthy Master Tressilian of Cornwall?"
+
+"Say no more than I have given you warrant for, mine host, and so
+shall you be sure you speak no more than is true.  A man may have
+one of those honourable prefixes to his name, yet be born far
+from Saint Michael's Mount."
+
+Mine host pushed his curiosity no further, but presented Master
+Tressilian to his nephew's company, who, after exchange of
+salutations, and drinking to the health of their new companion,
+pursued the conversation in which he found them engaged,
+seasoning it with many an intervening pledge.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+  Talk you of young Master Lancelot?   MERCHANT OF VENICE.
+
+After some brief interval, Master Goldthred, at the earnest
+instigation of mine host, and the joyous concurrence of his
+guest, indulged the company with, the following morsel of
+melody:-
+
+    "Of all the birds on bush or tree,
+     Commend me to the owl,
+    Since he may best ensample be
+     To those the cup that trowl.
+  For when the sun hath left the west,
+  He chooses the tree that he loves the best,
+  And he whoops out his song, and he laughs at his jest;
+  Then, though hours be late and weather foul,
+  We'll drink to the health of the bonny, bonny owl.
+
+    "The lark is but a bumpkin fowl,
+     He sleeps in his nest till morn;
+    But my blessing upon the jolly owl,
+     That all night blows his horn.
+  Then up with your cup till you stagger in speech,
+  And match me this catch till you swagger and screech,
+  And drink till you wink, my merry men each;
+  For, though hours be late and weather be foul,
+  We'll drink to the health of the bonny, bonny owl."
+
+"There is savour in this, my hearts," said Michael, when the
+mercer had finished his song, "and some goodness seems left among
+you yet; but what a bead-roll you have read me of old comrades,
+and to every man's name tacked some ill-omened motto!  And so
+Swashing Will of Wallingford hath bid us good-night?"
+
+"He died the death of a fat buck," said one of the party, "being
+shot with a crossbow bolt, by old Thatcham, the Duke's stout
+park-keeper at Donnington Castle."
+
+"Ay, ay, he always loved venison well," replied Michael, "and a
+cup of claret to boot--and so here's one to his memory.  Do me
+right, my masters."
+
+When the memory of this departed worthy had been duly honoured,
+Lambourne proceeded to inquire after Prance of Padworth.
+
+"Pranced off--made immortal ten years since," said the mercer;
+"marry, sir, Oxford Castle and Goodman Thong, and a tenpenny-
+worth of cord, best know how."
+
+"What, so they hung poor Prance high and dry?  so much for loving
+to walk by moonlight.  A cup to his memory, my masters-all merry
+fellows like moonlight.  What has become of Hal with the Plume--
+he who lived near Yattenden, and wore the long feather?--I
+forget his name."
+
+"What, Hal Hempseed?"  replied the mercer.  "Why, you may
+remember he was a sort of a gentleman, and would meddle in state
+matters, and so he got into the mire about the Duke of Norfolk's
+affair these two or three years since, fled the country with a
+pursuivant's warrant at his heels, and has never since been heard
+of."
+
+"Nay, after these baulks," said Michael Lambourne, "I need hardly
+inquire after Tony Foster; for when ropes, and crossbow shafts,
+and pursuivant's warrants, and such-like gear, were so rife, Tony
+could hardly 'scape them."
+
+"Which Tony Foster mean you?"  said the innkeeper.
+
+"Why, him they called Tony Fire-the-Fagot, because he brought a
+light to kindle the pile round Latimer and Ridley, when the wind
+blew out Jack Thong's torch, and no man else would give him light
+for love or money."
+
+"Tony Foster lives and thrives," said the host.  "But, kinsman, I
+would not have you call him Tony Fire-the-Fagot, if you would
+not brook the stab."
+
+"How!  is he grown ashamed on't?"  said Lambourne, "Why, he was
+wont to boast of it, and say he liked as well to see a roasted
+heretic as a roasted ox."
+
+"Ay, but, kinsman, that was in Mary's time," replied the
+landlord, "when Tony's father was reeve here to the Abbot of
+Abingdon.  But since that, Tony married a pure precisian, and is
+as good a Protestant, I warrant you, as the best."
+
+"And looks grave, and holds his head high, and scorns his old
+companions," said the mercer.
+
+"Then he hath prospered, I warrant him," said Lambourne; "for
+ever when a man hath got nobles of his own, he keeps out of the
+way of those whose exchequers lie in other men's purchase."
+
+"Prospered, quotha!"  said the mercer; "why, you remember Cumnor
+Place, the old mansion-house beside the churchyard?"
+
+"By the same token, I robbed the orchard three times-- what of
+that?  It was the old abbot's residence when there was plague or
+sickness at Abingdon."
+
+"Ay," said the host, "but that has been long over; and Anthony
+Foster hath a right in it, and lives there by some grant from a
+great courtier, who had the church-lands from the crown.  And
+there he dwells, and has as little to do with any poor wight in
+Cumnor, as if he were himself a belted knight."
+
+"Nay," said the mercer, "it is not altogether pride in Tony
+neither; there is a fair lady in the case, and Tony will scarce
+let the light of day look on her."
+
+"How!"  said Tressilian, who now for the first time interfered in
+their conversation; "did ye not say this Foster was married, and
+to a precisian?"
+
+"Married he was, and to as bitter a precisian as ever ate flesh
+in Lent; and a cat-and-dog life she led with Tony, as men said.
+But she is dead, rest be with her!  and Tony hath but a slip of a
+daughter; so it is thought he means to wed this stranger, that
+men keep such a coil about."
+
+"And why so?--I mean, why do they keep a coil about her?"  said
+Tressilian.
+
+"Why, I wot not," answered the host, "except that men say she is
+as beautiful as an angel, and no one knows whence she comes, and
+every one wishes to know why she is kept so closely mewed up.
+For my part, I never saw her--you have, I think, Master
+Goldthred?"
+
+"That I have, old boy," said the mercer.  "Look you, I was riding
+hither from Abingdon.  I passed under the east oriel window of
+the old mansion, where all the old saints and histories and such-
+like are painted.  It was not the common path I took, but one
+through the Park; for the postern door was upon the latch, and I
+thought I might take the privilege of an old comrade to ride
+across through the trees, both for shading, as the day was
+somewhat hot, and for avoiding of dust, because I had on my
+peach-coloured doublet, pinked out with cloth of gold."
+
+"Which garment," said Michael Lambourne, "thou wouldst willingly
+make twinkle in the eyes of a fair dame.  Ah!  villain, thou wilt
+never leave thy old tricks."
+
+"Not so-not so," said the mercer, with a smirking laugh--"not
+altogether so--but curiosity, thou knowest, and a strain of
+compassion withal; for the poor young lady sees nothing from morn
+to even but Tony Foster, with his scowling black brows, his
+bull's head, and his bandy legs."
+
+"And thou wouldst willingly show her a dapper body, in a silken
+jerkin--a limb like a short-legged hen's, in a cordovan boot--
+and a round, simpering, what-d'ye-lack sort of a countenance,
+set off with a velvet bonnet, a Turkey feather, and a gilded
+brooch?  Ah!  jolly mercer, they who have good wares are fond to
+show them!--Come, gentles, let not the cup stand--here's to long
+spurs, short boots, full bonnets, and empty skulls!"
+
+"Nay, now, you are jealous of me, Mike," said Goldthred; "and yet
+my luck was but what might have happened to thee, or any man."
+
+"Marry confound thine impudence," retorted Lambourne; "thou
+wouldst not compare thy pudding face, and sarsenet manners, to a
+gentleman, and a soldier?"
+
+"Nay, my good sir," said Tressilian, "let me beseech you will not
+interrupt the gallant citizen; methinks he tells his tale so
+well, I could hearken to him till midnight."
+
+"It's more of your favour than of my desert," answered Master
+Goldthred; "but since I give you pleasure, worthy Master
+Tressilian, I shall proceed, maugre all the gibes and quips of
+this valiant soldier, who, peradventure, hath had more cuffs than
+crowns in the Low Countries.  And so, sir, as I passed under the
+great painted window, leaving my rein loose on my ambling
+palfrey's neck, partly for mine ease, and partly that I might
+have the more leisure to peer about, I hears me the lattice open;
+and never credit me, sir, if there did not stand there the person
+of as fair a woman as ever crossed mine eyes; and I think I have
+looked on as many pretty wenches, and with as much judgment, as
+other folks."
+
+"May I ask her appearance, sir?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Oh, sir," replied Master Goldthred, "I promise you, she was in
+gentlewoman's attire--a very quaint and pleasing dress, that
+might have served the Queen herself; for she had a forepart with
+body and sleeves, of ginger-coloured satin, which, in my
+judgment, must have cost by the yard some thirty shillings, lined
+with murrey taffeta, and laid down and guarded with two broad
+laces of gold and silver.  And her hat, sir, was truly the best
+fashioned thing that I have seen in these parts, being of tawny
+taffeta, embroidered with scorpions of Venice gold, and having a
+border garnished with gold fringe--I promise you, sir, an
+absolute and all-surpassing device.  Touching her skirts, they
+were in the old pass-devant fashion."
+
+"I did not ask you of her attire, sir," said Tressilian, who had
+shown some impatience during this conversation, "but of her
+complexion--the colour of her hair, her features."
+
+"Touching her complexion," answered the mercer, "I am not so
+special certain, but I marked that her fan had an ivory handle,
+curiously inlaid.  And then again, as to the colour of her hair,
+why, I can warrant, be its hue what it might, that she wore above
+it a net of green silk, parcel twisted with gold."
+
+"A most mercer-like memory!"  said Lambourne.  "The gentleman
+asks him of the lady's beauty, and he talks of her fine clothes!"
+
+"I tell thee," said the mercer, somewhat disconcerted, "I had
+little time to look at her; for just as I was about to give her
+the good time of day, and for that purpose had puckered my
+features with a smile--"
+
+"Like those of a jackanape simpering at a chestnut," said Michael
+Lambourne.
+
+"Up started of a sudden," continued Goldthred, without heeding
+the interruption, "Tony Foster himself, with a cudgel in his
+hand--"
+
+"And broke thy head across, I hope, for thine impertinence," said
+his entertainer.
+
+"That were more easily said than done," answered Goldthred
+indignantly; "no, no--there was no breaking of heads.  It's true,
+he advanced his cudgel, and spoke of laying on, and asked why I
+did not keep the public road, and such like; and I would have
+knocked him over the pate handsomely for his pains, only for the
+lady's presence, who might have swooned, for what I know."
+
+"Now, out upon thee for a faint-spirited slave!"  said Lambourne;
+"what adventurous knight ever thought of the lady's terror, when
+he went to thwack giant, dragon, or magician, in her presence,
+and for her deliverance?  But why talk to thee of dragons, who
+would be driven back by a dragon-fly.  There thou hast missed the
+rarest opportunity!"
+
+"Take it thyself, then, bully Mike," answered Goldthred.  "Yonder
+is the enchanted manor, and the dragon, and the lady, all at thy
+service, if thou darest venture on them."
+
+"Why, so I would for a quartern of sack," said the soldier --"or
+stay:  I am foully out of linen--wilt thou bet a piece of
+Hollands against these five angels, that I go not up to the Hall
+to-morrow and force Tony Foster to introduce me to his fair
+guest?"
+
+"I accept your wager," said the mercer; "and I think, though thou
+hadst even the impudence of the devil, I shall gain on thee this
+bout.  Our landlord here shall hold stakes, and I will stake down
+gold till I send the linen."
+
+"I will hold stakes on no such matter," said Gosling.  "Good now,
+my kinsman, drink your wine in quiet, and let such ventures
+alone.  I promise you, Master Foster hath interest enough to lay
+you up in lavender in the Castle at Oxford, or to get your legs
+made acquainted with the town-stocks."
+
+"That would be but renewing an old intimacy, for Mike's shins and
+the town's wooden pinfold have been well known to each other ere
+now," said the mercer; "but he shall not budge from his wager,
+unless he means to pay forfeit."
+
+"Forfeit?"  said Lambourne; "I scorn it.  I value Tony Foster's
+wrath no more than a shelled pea-cod; and I will visit his
+Lindabrides, by Saint George, be he willing or no!"
+
+"I would gladly pay your halves of the risk, sir," said
+Tressilian, "to be permitted to accompany you on the adventure."
+
+"In what would that advantage you, sir?"  answered Lambourne.
+
+"In nothing, sir," said Tressilian, "unless to mark the skill and
+valour with which you conduct yourself.  I am a traveller who
+seeks for strange rencounters and uncommon passages, as the
+knights of yore did after adventures and feats of arms."
+
+"Nay, if it pleasures you to see a trout tickled," answered
+Lambourne, "I care not how many witness my skill.  And so here I
+drink success to my enterprise; and he that will not pledge me on
+his knees is a rascal, and I will cut his legs off by the
+garters!"
+
+The draught which Michael Lambourne took upon this occasion had
+been preceded by so many others, that reason tottered on her
+throne.  He swore one or two incoherent oaths at the mercer, who
+refused, reasonably enough, to pledge him to a sentiment which
+inferred the loss of his own wager.
+
+"Wilt thou chop logic with me," said Lambourne, "thou knave, with
+no more brains than are in a skein of ravelled silk?  By Heaven,
+I will cut thee into fifty yards of galloon lace!"
+
+But as he attempted to draw his sword for this doughty purpose,
+Michael Lambourne was seized upon by the tapster and the
+chamberlain, and conveyed to his own apartment, there to sleep
+himself sober at his leisure.
+
+The party then broke up, and the guests took their leave; much
+more to the contentment of mine host than of some of the company,
+who were unwilling to quit good liquor, when it was to be had for
+free cost, so long as they were able to sit by it.  They were,
+however, compelled to remove; and go at length they did, leaving
+Gosling and Tressilian in the empty apartment.
+
+"By my faith," said the former, "I wonder where our great folks
+find pleasure, when they spend their means in entertainments, and
+in playing mine host without sending in a reckoning.  It is what
+I but rarely practise; and whenever I do, by Saint Julian, it
+grieves me beyond measure.  Each of these empty stoups now, which
+my nephew and his drunken comrades have swilled off, should have
+been a matter of profit to one in my line, and I must set them
+down a dead loss.  I cannot, for my heart, conceive the pleasure
+of noise, and nonsense, and drunken freaks, and drunken quarrels,
+and smut, and blasphemy, and so forth, when a man loses money
+instead of gaining by it.  And yet many a fair estate is lost in
+upholding such a useless course, and that greatly contributes to
+the decay of publicans; for who the devil do you think would pay
+for drink at the Black Bear, when he can have it for nothing at
+my Lord's or the Squire's?"
+
+Tressilian perceived that the wine had made some impression even
+on the seasoned brain of mine host, which was chiefly to be
+inferred from his declaiming against drunkenness.  As he himself
+had carefully avoided the bowl, he would have availed himself of
+the frankness of the moment to extract from Gosling some further
+information upon the subject of Anthony Foster, and the lady whom
+the mercer had seen in his mansion-house; but his inquiries only
+set the host upon a new theme of declamation against the wiles of
+the fair sex, in which he brought, at full length, the whole
+wisdom of Solomon to reinforce his own.  Finally, he turned his
+admonitions, mixed with much objurgation, upon his tapsters and
+drawers, who were employed in removing the relics of the
+entertainment, and restoring order to the apartment; and at
+length, joining example to precept, though with no good success,
+he demolished a salver with half a score of glasses, in
+attempting to show how such service was done at the Three Cranes
+in the Vintry, then the most topping tavern in London.  This last
+accident so far recalled him to his better self, that he retired
+to his bed, slept sound, and awoke a new man in the morning.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+  Nay, I'll hold touch--the game shall be play'd out;
+  It ne'er shall stop for me, this merry wager:
+  That which I say when gamesome, I'll avouch
+  In my most sober mood, ne'er trust me else.   THE HAZARD TABLE.
+
+"And how doth your kinsman, good mine host?"  said Tressilian,
+when Giles Gosling first appeared in the public room, on the
+morning following the revel which we described in the last
+chapter.  "Is he well, and will he abide by his wager?"
+
+"For well, sir, he started two hours since, and has visited I
+know not what purlieus of his old companions; hath but now
+returned, and is at this instant breakfasting on new-laid eggs
+and muscadine.  And for his wager, I caution you as a friend to
+have little to do with that, or indeed with aught that Mike
+proposes.  Wherefore, I counsel you to a warm breakfast upon a
+culiss, which shall restore the tone of the stomach; and let my
+nephew and Master Goldthred swagger about their wager as they
+list."
+
+"It seems to me, mine host," said Tressilian, "that you know not
+well what to say about this kinsman of yours, and that you can
+neither blame nor commend him without some twinge of conscience."
+
+"You have spoken truly, Master Tressilian," replied Giles
+Gosling.  "There is Natural Affection whimpering into one ear,
+'Giles, Giles, why wilt thou take away the good name of thy own
+nephew?  Wilt thou defame thy sister's son, Giles Gosling?  wilt
+thou defoul thine own nest, dishonour thine own blood?' And then,
+again, comes Justice, and says, 'Here is a worthy guest as ever
+came to the bonny Black Bear; one who never challenged a
+reckoning' (as I say to your face you never did, Master
+Tressilian--not that you have had cause), 'one who knows not why
+he came, so far as I can see, or when he is going away; and wilt
+thou, being a publican, having paid scot and lot these thirty
+years in the town of Cumnor, and being at this instant head-
+borough, wilt thou suffer this guest of guests, this man of men,
+this six-hooped pot (as I may say) of a traveller, to fall into
+the meshes of thy nephew, who is known for a swasher and a
+desperate Dick, a carder and a dicer, a professor of the seven
+damnable sciences, if ever man took degrees in them?'  No, by
+Heaven!  I might wink, and let him catch such a small butterfly
+as Goldthred; but thou, my guest, shall be forewarned, forearmed,
+so thou wilt but listen to thy trusty host."
+
+"Why, mine host, thy counsel shall not be cast away," replied
+Tressilian; "however, I must uphold my share in this wager,
+having once passed my word to that effect.  But lend me, I pray,
+some of thy counsel.  This Foster, who or what is he, and why
+makes he such mystery of his female inmate?"
+
+"Troth," replied Gosling, "I can add but little to what you heard
+last night.  He was one of Queen Mary's Papists, and now he is
+one of Queen Elizabeth's Protestants; he was an onhanger of the
+Abbot of Abingdon; and now he lives as master of the Manor-house.
+Above all, he was poor, and is rich.  Folk talk of private
+apartments in his old waste mansion-house, bedizened fine enough
+to serve the Queen, God bless her!  Some men think he found a
+treasure in the orchard, some that he sold himself to the devil
+for treasure, and some say that he cheated the abbot out of the
+church plate, which was hidden in the old Manor-house at the
+Reformation.  Rich, however, he is, and God and his conscience,
+with the devil perhaps besides, only know how he came by it.  He
+has sulky ways too--breaking off intercourse with all that are of
+the place, as if he had either some strange secret to keep, or
+held himself to be made of another clay than we are.  I think it
+likely my kinsman and he will quarrel, if Mike thrust his
+acquaintance on him; and I am sorry that you, my worthy Master
+Tressilian, will still think of going in my nephew's company."
+
+Tressilian again answered him, that he would proceed with great
+caution, and that he should have no fears on his account; in
+short, he bestowed on him all the customary assurances with which
+those who are determined on a rash action are wont to parry the
+advice of their friends.
+
+Meantime, the traveller accepted the landlord's invitation, and
+had just finished the excellent breakfast, which was served to
+him and Gosling by pretty Cicely, the beauty of the bar, when the
+hero of the preceding night, Michael Lambourne, entered the
+apartment.  His toilet had apparently cost him some labour, for
+his clothes, which differed from those he wore on his journey,
+were of the newest fashion, and put on with great attention to
+the display of his person.
+
+"By my faith, uncle," said the gallant, "you made a wet night of
+it, and I feel it followed by a dry morning.  I will pledge you
+willingly in a cup of bastard.--How, my pretty coz Cicely!  why,
+I left you but a child in the cradle, and there thou stand'st in
+thy velvet waistcoat, as tight a girl as England's sun shines on.
+Know thy friends and kindred, Cicely, and come hither, child,
+that I may kiss thee, and give thee my blessing."
+
+"Concern not yourself about Cicely, kinsman," said Giles Gosling,
+"but e'en let her go her way, a' God's name; for although your
+mother were her father's sister, yet that shall not make you and
+her cater-cousins."
+
+"Why, uncle," replied Lambourne, "think'st thou I am an infidel,
+and would harm those of mine own house?"
+
+"It is for no harm that I speak, Mike," answered his uncle, "but
+a simple humour of precaution which I have.  True, thou art as
+well gilded as a snake when he casts his old slough in the spring
+time; but for all that, thou creepest not into my Eden.  I will
+look after mine Eve, Mike, and so content thee.--But how brave
+thou be'st, lad!  To look on thee now, and compare thee with
+Master Tressilian here, in his sad-coloured riding-suit, who
+would not say that thou wert the real gentleman and he the
+tapster's boy?"
+
+"Troth, uncle," replied Lambourne, "no one would say so but one
+of your country-breeding, that knows no better.  I will say, and
+I care not who hears me, there is something about the real gentry
+that few men come up to that are not born and bred to the
+mystery.  I wot not where the trick lies; but although I can
+enter an ordinary with as much audacity, rebuke the waiters and
+drawers as loudly, drink as deep a health, swear as round an
+oath, and fling my gold as freely about as any of the jingling
+spurs and white feathers that are around me, yet, hang me if I
+can ever catch the true grace of it, though I have practised an
+hundred times.  The man of the house sets me lowest at the board,
+and carves to me the last; and the drawer says, 'Coming, friend,'
+without any more reverence or regardful addition.  But, hang it,
+let it pass; care killed a cat.  I have gentry enough to pass the
+trick on Tony Fire-the-Faggot, and that will do for the matter in
+hand."
+
+"You hold your purpose, then, of visiting your old acquaintance?"
+said Tressilian to the adventurer.
+
+"Ay, sir," replied Lambourne; "when stakes are made, the game
+must be played; that is gamester's law, all over the world.  You,
+sir, unless my memory fails me (for I did steep it somewhat too
+deeply in the sack-butt), took some share in my hazard?"
+
+"I propose to accompany you in your adventure," said Tressilian,
+"if you will do me so much grace as to permit me; and I have
+staked my share of the forfeit in the hands of our worthy host."
+
+"That he hath," answered Giles Gosling, "in as fair Harry-nobles
+as ever were melted into sack by a good fellow.  So, luck to your
+enterprise, since you will needs venture on Tony Foster; but, by
+my credit, you had better take another draught before you depart,
+for your welcome at the Hall yonder will be somewhat of the
+driest.  And if you do get into peril, beware of taking to cold
+steel; but send for me, Giles Gosling, the head-borough, and I
+may be able to make something out of Tony yet, for as proud as he
+is."
+
+The nephew dutifully obeyed his uncle's hint, by taking a second
+powerful pull at the tankard, observing that his wit never served
+him so well as when he had washed his temples with a deep
+morning's draught; and they set forth together for the habitation
+of Anthony Foster.
+
+The village of Cumnor is pleasantly built on a hill, and in a
+wooded park closely adjacent was situated the ancient mansion
+occupied at this time by Anthony Foster, of which the ruins may
+be still extant.  The park was then full of large trees, and in
+particular of ancient and mighty oaks, which stretched their
+giant arms over the high wall surrounding the demesne, thus
+giving it a melancholy, secluded, and monastic appearance.  The
+entrance to the park lay through an old-fashioned gateway in the
+outer wall, the door of which was formed of two huge oaken leaves
+thickly studded with nails, like the gate of an old town.
+
+"We shall be finely helped up here," said Michael Lambourne,
+looking at the gateway and gate, "if this fellow's suspicious
+humour should refuse us admission altogether, as it is like he
+may, in case this linsey-wolsey fellow of a mercer's visit to his
+premises has disquieted him.  But, no," he added, pushing the
+huge gate, which gave way, "the door stands invitingly open; and
+here we are within the forbidden ground, without other impediment
+than the passive resistance of a heavy oak door moving on rusty
+hinges."
+
+They stood now in an avenue overshadowed by such old trees as we
+have described, and which had been bordered at one time by high
+hedges of yew and holly.  But these, having been untrimmed for
+many years, had run up into great bushes, or rather dwarf-trees,
+and now encroached, with their dark and melancholy boughs, upon
+the road which they once had screened.  The avenue itself was
+grown up with grass, and, in one or two places, interrupted by
+piles of withered brushwood, which had been lopped from the trees
+cut down in the neighbouring park, and was here stacked for
+drying.  Formal walks and avenues, which, at different points,
+crossed this principal approach, were, in like manner, choked up
+and interrupted by piles of brushwood and billets, and in other
+places by underwood and brambles.  Besides the general effect of
+desolation which is so strongly impressed whenever we behold the
+contrivances of man wasted and obliterated by neglect, and
+witness the marks of social life effaced gradually by the
+influence of vegetation, the size of the trees and the
+outspreading extent of their boughs diffused a gloom over the
+scene, even when the sun was at the highest, and made a
+proportional impression on the mind of those who visited it.
+This was felt even by Michael Lambourne, however alien his habits
+were to receiving any impressions, excepting from things which
+addressed themselves immediately to his passions.
+
+"This wood is as dark as a wolf's mouth," said he to Tressilian,
+as they walked together slowly along the solitary and broken
+approach, and had just come in sight of the monastic front of the
+old mansion, with its shafted windows, brick walls overgrown with
+ivy and creeping shrubs, and twisted stalks of chimneys of heavy
+stone-work.  "And yet," continued Lambourne, "it is fairly done
+on the part of Foster too for since he chooses not visitors, it
+is right to keep his place in a fashion that will invite few to
+trespass upon his privacy.  But had he been the Anthony I once
+knew him, these sturdy oaks had long since become the property of
+some honest woodmonger, and the manor-close here had looked
+lighter at midnight than it now does at noon, while Foster played
+fast and loose with the price, in some cunning corner in the
+purlieus of Whitefriars."
+
+"Was he then such an unthrift?"  asked Tressilian.
+
+"He was," answered Lambourne, "like the rest of us, no saint, and
+no saver.  But what I liked worst of Tony was, that he loved to
+take his pleasure by himself, and grudged, as men say, every drop
+of water that went past his own mill.  I have known him deal with
+such measures of wine when he was alone, as I would not have
+ventured on with aid of the best toper in Berkshire;--that, and
+some sway towards superstition, which he had by temperament,
+rendered him unworthy the company of a good fellow.  And now he
+has earthed himself here, in a den just befitting such a sly fox
+as himself."
+
+"May I ask you, Master Lambourne," said Tressilian, "since your
+old companion's humour jumps so little with your own, wherefore
+you are so desirous to renew acquaintance with him?"
+
+"And may I ask you, in return, Master Tressilian," answered
+Lambourne, "wherefore you have shown yourself so desirous to
+accompany me on this party?"
+
+"I told you my motive," said Tressilian, "when I took share in
+your wager--it was simple curiosity."
+
+"La you there now!"  answered Lambourne.  "See how you civil and
+discreet gentlemen think to use us who live by the free exercise
+of our wits!  Had I answered your question by saying that it was
+simple curiosity which led me to visit my old comrade Anthony
+Foster, I warrant you had set it down for an evasion, and a turn
+of my trade.  But any answer, I suppose, must serve my turn."
+
+"And wherefore should not bare curiosity," said Tressilian, "be a
+sufficient reason for my taking this walk with you?"
+
+"Oh, content yourself, sir," replied Lambourne; "you cannot put
+the change on me so easy as you think, for I have lived among the
+quick-stirring spirits of the age too long to swallow chaff for
+grain.  You are a gentleman of birth and breeding--your bearing
+makes it good; of civil habits and fair reputation--your manners
+declare it, and my uncle avouches it; and yet you associate
+yourself with a sort of scant-of-grace, as men call me, and,
+knowing me to be such, you make yourself my companion in a visit
+to a man whom you are a stranger to--and all out of mere
+curiosity, forsooth!  The excuse, if curiously balanced, would be
+found to want some scruples of just weight, or so."
+
+"If your suspicions were just," said Tressilian, "you have shown
+no confidence in me to invite or deserve mine."
+
+"Oh, if that be all," said Lambourne, "my motives lie above
+water.  While this gold of mine lasts"--taking out his purse,
+chucking it into the air, and catching it as it fell--"I will
+make it buy pleasure; and when it is out I must have more.  Now,
+if this mysterious Lady of the Manor--this fair Lindabrides of
+Tony Fire-the-Fagot--be so admirable a piece as men say, why,
+there is a chance that she may aid me to melt my nobles into
+greats; and, again, if Anthony be so wealthy a chuff as report
+speaks him, he may prove the philosopher's stone to me, and
+convert my greats into fair rose-nobles again."
+
+"A comfortable proposal truly," said Tressilian; "but I see not
+what chance there is of accomplishing it."
+
+"Not to-day, or perchance to-morrow," answered Lambourne; "I
+expect not to catch the old jack till.  I have disposed my
+ground-baits handsomely.  But I know something more of his
+affairs this morning than I did last night, and I will so use my
+knowledge that he shall think it more perfect than it is.  Nay,
+without expecting either pleasure or profit, or both, I had not
+stepped a stride within this manor, I can tell you; for I promise
+you I hold our visit not altogether without risk.--But here we
+are, and we must make the best on't."
+
+While he thus spoke, they had entered a large orchard which
+surrounded the house on two sides, though the trees, abandoned by
+the care of man, were overgrown and messy, and seemed to bear
+little fruit.  Those which had been formerly trained as espaliers
+had now resumed their natural mode of growing, and exhibited
+grotesque forms, partaking of the original training which they
+had received.  The greater part of the ground, which had once
+been parterres and flower-gardens, was suffered in like manner to
+run to waste, excepting a few patches which had been dug up and
+planted with ordinary pot herbs.  Some statues, which had
+ornamented the garden in its days of splendour, were now thrown
+down from their pedestals and broken in pieces; and a large
+summer-house, having a heavy stone front, decorated with carving
+representing the life and actions of Samson, was in the same
+dilapidated condition.
+
+They had just traversed this garden of the sluggard, and were
+within a few steps of the door of the mansion, when Lambourne had
+ceased speaking; a circumstance very agreeable to Tressilian, as
+it saved him the embarrassment of either commenting upon or
+replying to the frank avowal which his companion had just made of
+the sentiments and views which induced him to come hither.
+Lambourne knocked roundly and boldly at the huge door of the
+mansion, observing, at the same time, he had seen a less strong
+one upon a county jail.  It was not until they had knocked more
+than once that an aged, sour-visaged domestic reconnoitred them
+through a small square hole in the door, well secured with bars
+of iron, and demanded what they wanted.
+
+"To speak with Master Foster instantly, on pressing business of
+the state," was the ready reply of Michael Lambourne.
+
+"Methinks you will find difficulty to make that good," said
+Tressilian in a whisper to his companion, while the servant went
+to carry the message to his master.
+
+"Tush," replied the adventurer; "no soldier would go on were he
+always to consider when and how he should come off.  Let us once
+obtain entrance, and all will go well enough."
+
+In a short time the servant returned, and drawing with a careful
+hand both bolt and bar, opened the gate, which admitted them
+through an archway into a square court, surrounded by buildings.
+Opposite to the arch was another door, which the serving-man in
+like manner unlocked, and thus introduced them into a stone-paved
+parlour, where there was but little furniture, and that of the
+rudest and most ancient fashion.  The windows were tall and
+ample, reaching almost to the roof of the room, which was
+composed of black oak; those opening to the quadrangle were
+obscured by the height of the surrounding buildings, and, as they
+were traversed with massive shafts of solid stone-work, and
+thickly painted with religious devices, and scenes taken from
+Scripture history, by no means admitted light in proportion to
+their size, and what did penetrate through them partook of the
+dark and gloomy tinge of the stained glass.
+
+Tressilian and his guide had time enough to observe all these
+particulars, for they waited some space in the apartment ere the
+present master of the mansion at length made his appearance.
+Prepared as he was to see an inauspicious and ill-looking person,
+the ugliness of Anthony Foster considerably exceeded what
+Tressilian had anticipated.  He was of middle stature, built
+strongly, but so clumsily as to border on deformity, and to give
+all his motions the ungainly awkwardness of a left-legged and
+left-handed man.  His hair, in arranging which men at that time,
+as at present, were very nice and curious, instead of being
+carefully cleaned and disposed into short curls, or else set up
+on end, as is represented in old paintings, in a manner
+resembling that used by fine gentlemen of our own day, escaped in
+sable negligence from under a furred bonnet, and hung in elf-
+locks, which seemed strangers to the comb, over his rugged brows,
+and around his very singular and unprepossessing countenance.
+His keen, dark eyes were deep set beneath broad and shaggy
+eyebrows, and as they were usually bent on the ground, seemed as
+if they were themselves ashamed of the expression natural to
+them, and were desirous to conceal it from the observation of
+men.  At times, however, when, more intent on observing others,
+he suddenly raised them, and fixed them keenly on those with whom
+he conversed, they seemed to express both the fiercer passions,
+and the power of mind which could at will suppress or disguise
+the intensity of inward feeling.  The features which corresponded
+with these eyes and this form were irregular, and marked so as to
+be indelibly fixed on the mind of him who had once seen them.
+Upon the whole, as Tressilian could not help acknowledging to
+himself, the Anthony Foster who now stood before them was the
+last person, judging from personal appearance, upon whom one
+would have chosen to intrude an unexpected and undesired visit.
+His attire was a doublet of russet leather, like those worn by
+the better sort of country folk, girt with a buff belt, in which
+was stuck on the right side a long knife, or dudgeon dagger, and
+on the other a cutlass.  He raised his eyes as he entered the
+room, and fixed a keenly penetrating glance upon his two
+visitors; then cast them down as if counting his steps, while he
+advanced slowly into the middle of the room, and said, in a low
+and smothered tone of voice, "Let me pray you, gentlemen, to tell
+me the cause of this visit."
+
+He looked as if he expected the answer from Tressilian, so true
+was Lambourne's observation that the superior air of breeding and
+dignity shone through the disguise of an inferior dress.  But it
+was Michael who replied to him, with the easy familiarity of an
+old friend, and a tone which seemed unembarrassed by any doubt of
+the most cordial reception.
+
+"Ha!  my dear friend and ingle, Tony Foster!"  he exclaimed,
+seizing upon the unwilling hand, and shaking it with such
+emphasis as almost to stagger the sturdy frame of the person whom
+he addressed, "how fares it with you for many a long year?  What!
+have you altogether forgotten your friend, gossip, and
+playfellow, Michael Lambourne?"
+
+"Michael Lambourne!"  said Foster, looking at him a moment; then
+dropping his eyes, and with little ceremony extricating his hand
+from the friendly grasp of the person by whom he was addressed,
+"are you Michael Lambourne?"
+
+"Ay; sure as you are Anthony Foster," replied Lambourne.
+
+"'Tis well," answered his sullen host.  "And what may Michael
+Lambourne expect from his visit hither?"
+
+"VOTO A DIOS," answered Lambourne, "I expected a better welcome
+than I am like to meet, I think."
+
+"Why, thou gallows-bird--thou jail-rat--thou friend of the
+hangman and his customers!"  replied Foster, "hast thou the
+assurance to expect countenance from any one whose neck is beyond
+the compass of a Tyburn tippet?"
+
+"It may be with me as you say," replied Lambourne; "and suppose I
+grant it to be so for argument's sake, I were still good enough
+society for mine ancient friend Anthony Fire-the-Fagot, though he
+be, for the present, by some indescribable title, the master of
+Cumnor Place."
+
+"Hark you, Michael Lambourne," said Foster; "you are a gambler
+now, and live by the counting of chances--compute me the odds
+that I do not, on this instant, throw you out of that window into
+the ditch there."
+
+"Twenty to one that you do not," answered the sturdy visitor.
+
+"And wherefore, I pray you?"  demanded Anthony Foster, setting
+his teeth and compressing his lips, like one who endeavours to
+suppress some violent internal emotion.
+
+"Because," said Lambourne coolly, "you dare not for your life lay
+a finger on me.  I am younger and stronger than you, and have in
+me a double portion of the fighting devil, though not, it may be,
+quite so much of the undermining fiend, that finds an underground
+way to his purpose--who hides halters under folk's pillows, and
+who puts rats-bane into their porridge, as the stage-play says."
+
+Foster looked at him earnestly, then turned away, and paced the
+room twice with the same steady and considerate pace with which
+he had entered it; then suddenly came back, and extended his hand
+to Michael Lambourne, saying, "Be not wroth with me, good Mike; I
+did but try whether thou hadst parted with aught of thine old and
+honourable frankness, which your enviers and backbiters called
+saucy impudence."
+
+"Let them call it what they will," said Michael Lambourne, "it is
+the commodity we must carry through the world with us.--Uds
+daggers!  I tell thee, man, mine own stock of assurance was too
+small to trade upon.  I was fain to take in a ton or two more of
+brass at every port where I touched in the voyage of life; and I
+started overboard what modesty and scruples I had remaining, in
+order to make room for the stowage."
+
+"Nay, nay," replied Foster, "touching scruples and modesty, you
+sailed hence in ballast.  But who is this gallant, honest Mike?
+--is he a Corinthian--a cutter like thyself?"
+
+"I prithee, know Master Tressilian, bully Foster," replied
+Lambourne, presenting his friend in answer to his friend's
+question, "know him and honour him, for he is a gentleman of many
+admirable qualities; and though he traffics not in my line of
+business, at least so far as I know, he has, nevertheless, a just
+respect and admiration for artists of our class.  He will come to
+in time, as seldom fails; but as yet he is only a neophyte, only
+a proselyte, and frequents the company of cocks of the game, as a
+puny fencer does the schools of the masters, to see how a foil is
+handled by the teachers of defence."
+
+"If such be his quality, I will pray your company in another
+chamber, honest Mike, for what I have to say to thee is for thy
+private ear.--Meanwhile, I pray you, sir, to abide us in this
+apartment, and without leaving it; there be those in this house
+who would be alarmed by the sight of a stranger."
+
+Tressilian acquiesced, and the two worthies left the apartment
+together, in which he remained alone to await their return."
+[See Note 1. Foster, Lambourne, and the Black Bear.]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+  Not serve two masters?--Here's a youth will try it--
+  Would fain serve God, yet give the devil his due;
+  Says grace before he doth a deed of villainy,
+  And returns his thanks devoutly when 'tis acted,   OLD PLAY.
+
+The room into which the Master of Cumnor Place conducted his
+worthy visitant was of greater extent than that in which they had
+at first conversed, and had yet more the appearance of
+dilapidation.  Large oaken presses, filled with shelves of the
+same wood, surrounded the room, and had, at one time, served for
+the arrangement of a numerous collection of books, many of which
+yet remained, but torn and defaced, covered with dust, deprived
+of their costly clasps and bindings, and tossed together in heaps
+upon the shelves, as things altogether disregarded, and abandoned
+to the pleasure of every spoiler.  The very presses themselves
+seemed to have incurred the hostility of those enemies of
+learning who had destroyed the volumes with which they had been
+heretofore filled.  They were, in several places, dismantled of
+their shelves, and otherwise broken and damaged, and were,
+moreover, mantled with cobwebs and covered with dust.
+
+"The men who wrote these books," said Lambourne, looking round
+him, "little thought whose keeping they were to fall into."
+
+"Nor what yeoman's service they were to do me," quoth Anthony
+Foster; "the cook hath used them for scouring his pewter, and the
+groom hath had nought else to clean my boots with, this many a
+month past."
+
+"And yet," said Lambourne, "I have been in cities where such
+learned commodities would have been deemed too good for such
+offices."
+
+"Pshaw, pshaw," answered Foster, "'they are Popish trash, every
+one of them--private studies of the mumping old Abbot of
+Abingdon.  The nineteenthly of a pure gospel sermon were worth a
+cartload of such rakings of the kennel of Rome."
+
+"Gad-a-mercy, Master Tony Fire-the-Fagot!"  said Lambourne, by
+way of reply.
+
+Foster scowled darkly at him, as he replied, "Hark ye, friend
+Mike; forget that name, and the passage which it relates to, if
+you would not have our newly-revived comradeship die a sudden and
+a violent death."
+
+"Why," said Michael Lambourne, "you were wont to glory in the
+share you had in the death of the two old heretical bishops."
+
+"That," said his comrade, "was while I was in the gall of
+bitterness and bond of iniquity, and applies not to my walk or my
+ways now that I am called forth into the lists.  Mr. Melchisedek
+Maultext compared my misfortune in that matter to that of the
+Apostle Paul, who kept the clothes of the witnesses who stoned
+Saint Stephen.  He held forth on the matter three Sabbaths past,
+and illustrated the same by the conduct of an honourable person
+present, meaning me."
+
+"I prithee peace, Foster," said Lambourne, "for I know not how it
+is, I have a sort of creeping comes over my skin when I hear the
+devil quote Scripture; and besides, man, how couldst thou have
+the heart to quit that convenient old religion, which you could
+slip off or on as easily as your glove?  Do I not remember how
+you were wont to carry your conscience to confession, as duly as
+the month came round?  and when thou hadst it scoured, and
+burnished, and whitewashed by the priest, thou wert ever ready
+for the worst villainy which could be devised, like a child who
+is always readiest to rush into the mire when he has got his
+Sunday's clean jerkin on."
+
+"Trouble not thyself about my conscience," said Foster; "it is a
+thing thou canst not understand, having never had one of thine
+own.  But let us rather to the point, and say to me, in one word,
+what is thy business with me, and what hopes have drawn thee
+hither?"
+
+"The hope of bettering myself, to be sure," answered Lambourne,
+"as the old woman said when she leapt over the bridge at
+Kingston.  Look you, this purse has all that is left of as round
+a sum as a man would wish to carry in his slop-pouch.  You are
+here well established, it would seem, and, as I think, well
+befriended, for men talk of thy being under some special
+protection--nay, stare not like a pig that is stuck, mon; thou
+canst not dance in a net and they not see thee.  Now I know such
+protection is not purchased for nought; you must have services to
+render for it, and in these I propose to help thee."
+
+"But how if I lack no assistance from thee, Mike?  I think thy
+modesty might suppose that were a case possible."
+
+"That is to say," retorted Lambourne, "that you would engross the
+whole work, rather than divide the reward.  But be not over-
+greedy, Anthony--covetousness bursts the sack and spills the
+grain.  Look you, when the huntsman goes to kill a stag, he takes
+with him more dogs than one.  He has the stanch lyme-hound to
+track the wounded buck over hill and dale, but he hath also the
+fleet gaze-hound to kill him at view.  Thou art the lyme-hound, I
+am the gaze-hound; and thy patron will need the aid of both, and
+can well afford to requite it.  Thou hast deep sagacity--an
+unrelenting purpose--a steady, long-breathed malignity of nature,
+that surpasses mine.  But then, I am the bolder, the quicker, the
+more ready, both at action and expedient.  Separate, our
+properties are not so perfect; but unite them, and we drive the
+world before us.  How sayest thou--shall we hunt in couples?"
+
+"It is a currish proposal--thus to thrust thyself upon my private
+matters," replied Foster; "but thou wert ever an ill-nurtured
+whelp."
+
+"You shall have no cause to say so, unless you spurn my
+courtesy," said Michael Lambourne; "but if so, keep thee well
+from me, Sir Knight, as the romance has it.  I will either share
+your counsels or traverse them; for I have come here to be busy,
+either with thee or against thee."
+
+"Well," said Anthony Foster, "since thou dost leave me so fair a
+choice, I will rather be thy friend than thine enemy.  Thou art
+right; I CAN prefer thee to the service of a patron who has
+enough of means to make us both, and an hundred more.  And, to
+say truth, thou art well qualified for his service.  Boldness and
+dexterity he demands--the justice-books bear witness in thy
+favour; no starting at scruples in his service why, who ever
+suspected thee of a conscience?  an assurance he must have who
+would follow a courtier--and thy brow is as impenetrable as a
+Milan visor.  There is but one thing I would fain see amended in
+thee."
+
+"And what is that, my most precious friend Anthony?"  replied
+Lambourne; "for I swear by the pillow of the Seven Sleepers I
+will not be slothful in amending it."
+
+"Why, you gave a sample of it even now," said Foster.  "Your
+speech twangs too much of the old stamp, and you garnish it ever
+and anon with singular oaths, that savour of Papistrie.  Besides,
+your exterior man is altogether too deboshed and irregular to
+become one of his lordship's followers, since he has a reputation
+to keep up in the eye of the world.  You must somewhat reform
+your dress, upon a more grave and composed fashion; wear your
+cloak on both shoulders, and your falling band unrumpled and well
+starched.  You must enlarge the brim of your beaver, and diminish
+the superfluity of your trunk-hose; go to church, or, which will
+be better, to meeting, at least once a month; protest only upon
+your faith and conscience; lay aside your swashing look, and
+never touch the hilt of your sword but when you would draw the
+carnal weapon in good earnest."
+
+"By this light, Anthony, thou art mad," answered Lambourne, "and
+hast described rather the gentleman-usher to a puritan's wife,
+than the follower of an ambitious courtier!  Yes, such a thing as
+thou wouldst make of me should wear a book at his girdle instead
+of a poniard, and might just be suspected of manhood enough to
+squire a proud dame-citizen to the lecture at Saint Antonlin's,
+and quarrel in her cause with any flat-capped threadmaker that
+would take the wall of her.  He must ruffle it in another sort
+that would walk to court in a nobleman's train."
+
+"Oh, content you, sir," replied Foster, "there is a change since
+you knew the English world; and there are those who can hold
+their way through the boldest courses, and the most secret, and
+yet never a swaggering word, or an oath, or a profane word in
+their conversation."
+
+"That is to say," replied Lambourne, "they are in a trading
+copartnery, to do the devil's business without mentioning his
+name in the firm?  Well, I will do my best to counterfeit, rather
+than lose ground in this new world, since thou sayest it is grown
+so precise.  But, Anthony, what is the name of this nobleman, in
+whose service I am to turn hypocrite?"
+
+"Aha!  Master Michael, are you there with your bears?"  said
+Foster, with a grim smile; "and is this the knowledge you pretend
+of my concernments?  How know you now there is such a person IN
+RERUM NATURA, and that I have not been putting a jape upon you
+all this time?"
+
+"Thou put a jape on me, thou sodden-brained gull?"  answered
+Lambourne, nothing daunted.  "Why, dark and muddy as thou
+think'st thyself, I would engage in a day's space to sec as clear
+through thee and thy concernments, as thou callest them, as
+through the filthy horn of an old stable lantern."
+
+At this moment their conversation was interrupted by a scream
+from the next apartment.
+
+"By the holy Cross of Abingdon," exclaimed Anthony Foster,
+forgetting his Protestantism in his alarm, "I am a ruined man!"
+
+So saying, he rushed into the apartment whence the scream issued,
+followed by Michael Lambourne.  But to account for the sounds
+which interrupted their conversation, it is necessary to recede a
+little way in our narrative.
+
+It has been already observed, that when Lambourne accompanied
+Foster into the library, they left Tressilian alone in the
+ancient parlour.  His dark eye followed them forth of the
+apartment with a glance of contempt, a part of which his mind
+instantly transferred to himself, for having stooped to be even
+for a moment their familiar companion.  "These are the
+associates, Amy"--it was thus he communed with himself--"to which
+thy cruel levity--thine unthinking and most unmerited falsehood,
+has condemned him of whom his friends once hoped far other
+things, and who now scorns himself, as he will be scorned by
+others, for the baseness he stoops to for the love of thee!  But
+I will not leave the pursuit of thee, once the object of my
+purest and most devoted affection, though to me thou canst
+henceforth be nothing but a thing to weep over.  I will save thee
+from thy betrayer, and from thyself; I will restore thee to thy
+parent--to thy God.  I cannot bid the bright star again sparkle
+in the sphere it has shot from, but--"
+
+A slight noise in the apartment interrupted his reverie.  He
+looked round, and in the beautiful and richly-attired female who
+entered at that instant by a side-door he recognized the object
+of his search.  The first impulse arising from this discovery
+urged him to conceal his face with the collar of his cloak, until
+he should find a favourable moment of making himself known.  But
+his purpose was disconcerted by the young lady (she was not above
+eighteen years old), who ran joyfully towards him, and, pulling
+him by the cloak, said playfully, "Nay, my sweet friend, after I
+have waited for you so long, you come not to my bower to play the
+masquer.  You are arraigned of treason to true love and fond
+affection, and you must stand up at the bar and answer it with
+face uncovered--how say you, guilty or not?"
+
+"Alas, Amy!"  said Tressilian, in a low and melancholy tone, as
+he suffered her to draw the mantle from his face.  The sound of
+his voice, and still more the unexpected sight of his face,
+changed in an instant the lady's playful mood.  She staggered
+back, turned as pale as death, and put her hands before her face.
+Tressilian was himself for a moment much overcome, but seeming
+suddenly to remember the necessity of using an opportunity which
+might not again occur, he said in a low tone, "Amy, fear me not."
+
+"Why should I fear you?"  said the lady, withdrawing her hands
+from her beautiful face, which was now covered with crimson,-
+-"Why should I fear you, Master Tressilian?--or wherefore have
+you intruded yourself into my dwelling, uninvited, sir, and
+unwished for?"
+
+"Your dwelling, Amy!"  said Tressilian.  "Alas!  is a prison your
+dwelling?--a prison guarded by one of the most sordid of men, but
+not a greater wretch than his employer!"
+
+"This house is mine," said Amy--"mine while I choose to inhabit
+it.  If it is my pleasure to live in seclusion, who shall gainsay
+me?"
+
+"Your father, maiden," answered Tressilian, "your broken-hearted
+father, who dispatched me in quest of you with that authority
+which he cannot exert in person.  Here is his letter, written
+while he blessed his pain of body which somewhat stunned the
+agony of his mind."
+
+"The pain!  Is my father then ill?"  said the lady.
+
+"So ill," answered Tressilian, "that even your utmost haste may
+not restore him to health; but all shall be instantly prepared
+for your departure, the instant you yourself will give consent."
+
+"Tressilian," answered the lady, "I cannot, I must not, I dare
+not leave this place.  Go back to my father--tell him I will
+obtain leave to see him within twelve hours from hence.  Go back,
+Tressilian--tell him I am well, I am happy--happy could I think
+he was so; tell him not to fear that I will come, and in such a
+manner that all the grief Amy has given him shall be forgotten
+--the poor Amy is now greater than she dare name.  Go, good
+Tressilian--I have injured thee too, but believe me I have power
+to heal the wounds I have caused.  I robbed you of a childish
+heart, which was not worthy of you, and I can repay the loss with
+honours and advancement."
+
+"Do you say this to me, Amy?--do you offer me pageants of idle
+ambition, for the quiet peace you have robbed me of!--But be it
+so I came not to upbraid, but to serve and to free you.  You
+cannot disguise it from me--you are a prisoner.  Otherwise your
+kind heart--for it was once a kind heart--would have been already
+at your father's bedside.--Come, poor, deceived, unhappy maiden!
+--all shall be forgot--all shall be forgiven.  Fear not my
+importunity for what regarded our contract--it was a dream, and I
+have awaked.  But come--your father yet lives--come, and one word
+of affection, one tear of penitence, will efface the memory of
+all that has passed."
+
+"Have I not already said, Tressilian," replied she, "that I will
+surely come to my father, and that without further delay than is
+necessary to discharge other and equally binding duties?--Go,
+carry him the news; I come as sure as there is light in heaven
+--that is, when I obtain permission."
+
+"Permission!--permission to visit your father on his sick-bed,
+perhaps on his death-bed!"  repeated Tressilian, impatiently;
+"and permission from whom?  From the villain, who, under disguise
+of friendship, abused every duty of hospitality, and stole thee
+from thy father's roof!"
+
+"Do him no slander, Tressilian!  He whom thou speakest of wears a
+sword as sharp as thine--sharper, vain man; for the best deeds
+thou hast ever done in peace or war were as unworthy to be named
+with his, as thy obscure rank to match itself with the sphere he
+moves in.--Leave me!  Go, do mine errand to my father; and when
+he next sends to me, let him choose a more welcome messenger."
+
+"Amy," replied Tressilian calmly, "thou canst not move me by thy
+reproaches.  Tell me one thing, that I may bear at least one ray
+of comfort to my aged friend:--this rank of his which thou dost
+boast--dost thou share it with him, Amy?--does he claim a
+husband's right to control thy motions?"
+
+"Stop thy base, unmannered tongue!"  said the lady; "to no
+question that derogates from my honour do I deign an answer."
+
+"You have said enough in refusing to reply," answered Tressilian;
+"and mark me, unhappy as thou art, I am armed with thy father's
+full authority to command thy obedience, and I will save thee
+from the slavery of sin and of sorrow, even despite of thyself,
+Amy."
+
+"Menace no violence here!"  exclaimed the lady, drawing back from
+him, and alarmed at the determination expressed in his look and
+manner; "threaten me not, Tressilian, for I have means to repel
+force."
+
+"But not, I trust, the wish to use them in so evil a cause?"
+said Tressilian.  "With thy will--thine uninfluenced, free, and
+natural will, Amy, thou canst not choose this state of slavery
+and dishonour.  Thou hast been bound by some spell--entrapped by
+some deceit--art now detained by some compelled vow.  But thus I
+break the charm--Amy, in the name of thine excellent, thy broken-
+hearted father, I command thee to follow me!"
+
+As he spoke he advanced and extended his arm, as with the purpose
+of laying hold upon her.  But she shrunk back from his grasp, and
+uttered the scream which, as we before noticed, brought into the
+apartment Lambourne and Foster.
+
+The latter exclaimed, as soon as he entered, "Fire and fagot!
+what have we here?"  Then addressing the lady, in a tone betwixt
+entreaty and command, he added, "Uds precious!  madam, what make
+you here out of bounds?  Retire--retire--there is life and death
+in this matter.--And you, friend, whoever you may be, leave this
+house--out with you, before my dagger's hilt and your costard
+become acquainted.--Draw, Mike, and rid us of the knave!"
+
+"Not I, on my soul," replied Lambourne; "he came hither in my
+company, and he is safe from me by cutter's law, at least till we
+meet again.--But hark ye, my Cornish comrade, you have brought a
+Cornish flaw of wind with you hither, a hurricanoe as they call
+it in the Indies.  Make yourself scarce--depart--vanish--or we'll
+have you summoned before the Mayor of Halgaver, and that before
+Dudman and Ramhead meet."  [Two headlands on the Cornish coast.
+The expressions are proverbial.]
+
+"Away, base groom!"  said Tressilian.--"And you, madam, fare you
+well--what life lingers in your father's bosom will leave him at
+the news I have to tell."
+
+He departed, the lady saying faintly as he left the room,
+"Tressilian, be not rash--say no scandal of me."
+
+"Here is proper gear," said Foster.  "I pray you go to your
+chamber, my lady, and let us consider how this is to be answered
+--nay, tarry not."
+
+"I move not at your command, sir," answered the lady.
+
+"Nay, but you must, fair lady," replied Foster; "excuse my
+freedom, but, by blood and nails, this is no time to strain
+courtesies--you MUST go to your chamber.--Mike, follow that
+meddling coxcomb, and, as you desire to thrive, see him safely
+clear of the premises, while I bring this headstrong lady to
+reason.  Draw thy tool, man, and after him."
+
+"I'll follow him," said Michael Lambourne, "and see him fairly
+out of Flanders; but for hurting a man I have drunk my morning's
+draught withal, 'tis clean against my conscience."  So saying, he
+left the apartment.
+
+Tressilian, meanwhile, with hasty steps, pursued the first path
+which promised to conduct him through the wild and overgrown park
+in which the mansion of Foster was situated.  Haste and distress
+of mind led his steps astray, and instead of taking the avenue
+which led towards the village, he chose another, which, after he
+had pursued it for some time with a hasty and reckless step,
+conducted him to the other side of the demesne, where a postern
+door opened through the wall, and led into the open country.
+
+Tressilian paused an instant.  It was indifferent to him by what
+road he left a spot now so odious to his recollections; but it
+was probable that the postern door was locked, and his retreat by
+that pass rendered impossible.
+
+"I must make the attempt, however," he said to himself; "the only
+means of reclaiming this lost--this miserable--this still most
+lovely and most unhappy girl, must rest in her father's appeal to
+the broken laws of his country.  I must haste to apprise him of
+this heartrending intelligence."
+
+As Tressilian, thus conversing with himself, approached to try
+some means of opening the door, or climbing over it, he perceived
+there was a key put into the lock from the outside.  It turned
+round, the bolt revolved, and a cavalier, who entered, muffled in
+his riding-cloak, and wearing a slouched hat with a drooping
+feather, stood at once within four yards of him who was desirous
+of going out.  They exclaimed at once, in tones of resentment and
+surprise, the one "Varney!"  the other "Tressilian!"
+
+"What make you here?"  was the stern question put by the stranger
+to Tressilian, when the moment of surprise was past--"what make
+you here, where your presence is neither expected nor desired?"
+
+"Nay, Varney," replied Tressilian, "what make you here?  Are you
+come to triumph over the innocence you have destroyed, as the
+vulture or carrion-crow comes to batten on the lamb whose eyes it
+has first plucked out?  Or are you come to encounter the merited
+vengeance of an honest man?  Draw, dog, and defend thyself!"
+
+Tressilian drew his sword as he spoke, but Varney only laid his
+hand on the hilt of his own, as he replied, "Thou art mad,
+Tressilian.  I own appearances are against me; but by every oath
+a priest can make or a man can swear, Mistress Amy Robsart hath
+had no injury from me.  And in truth I were somewhat loath to
+hurt you in this cause--thou knowest I can fight."
+
+"I have heard thee say so, Varney," replied Tressilian; "but now,
+methinks, I would fain have some better evidence than thine own
+word."
+
+"That shall not be lacking, if blade and hilt be but true to me,"
+answered Varney; and drawing his sword with the right hand, he
+threw his cloak around his left, and attacked Tressilian with a
+vigour which, for a moment, seemed to give him the advantage of
+the combat.  But this advantage lasted not long.  Tressilian
+added to a spirit determined on revenge a hand and eye admirably
+well adapted to the use of the rapier; so that Varney, finding
+himself hard pressed in his turn, endeavoured to avail himself of
+his superior strength by closing with his adversary.  For this
+purpose, he hazarded the receiving one of Tressilian's passes in
+his cloak, wrapped as it was around his arm, and ere his
+adversary could, extricate his rapier thus entangled, he closed
+with him, shortening his own sword at the same time, with the
+purpose of dispatching him.  But Tressilian was on his guard, and
+unsheathing his poniard, parried with the blade of that weapon
+the home-thrust which would otherwise have finished the combat,
+and, in the struggle which followed, displayed so much address,
+as might have confirmed, the opinion that he drew his origin from
+Cornwall whose natives are such masters in the art of wrestling,
+as, were the games of antiquity revived, might enable them to
+challenge all Europe to the ring.  Varney, in his ill-advised
+attempt, received a fall so sudden and violent that his sword
+flew several paces from his hand and ere he could recover his
+feet, that of his antagonist was; pointed to his throat.
+
+"Give me the instant means of relieving the victim of thy
+treachery," said Tressilian, "or take the last look of your
+Creator's blessed sun!"
+
+And while Varney, too confused or too sullen to reply, made a
+sudden effort to arise, his adversary drew back his arm, and
+would have executed his threat, but that the blow was arrested by
+the grasp of Michael Lambourne, who, directed by the clashing of
+swords had come up just in time to save the life of Varney,
+
+"Come, come, comrade;" said Lambourne, "here is enough done and
+more than enough; put up your fox and let us be jogging.  The
+Black Bear growls for us."
+
+"Off, abject!"  said Tressilian, striking himself free of
+Lambourne's grasp; "darest thou come betwixt me and mine enemy?"
+
+"Abject!  abject!"  repeated Lambourne; "that shall be answered
+with cold steel whenever a bowl of sack has washed out memory of
+the morning's draught that we had together.  In the meanwhile, do
+you see, shog--tramp--begone--we are two to one."
+
+He spoke truth, for Varney had taken the opportunity to regain
+his weapon, and Tressilian perceived it was madness to press the
+quarrel further against such odds.  He took his purse from his
+side, and taking out two gold nobles, flung them to Lambourne.
+"There, caitiff, is thy morning wage; thou shalt not say thou
+hast been my guide unhired.--Varney, farewell!  we shall meet
+where there are none to come betwixt us."  So saying, he turned
+round and departed through the postern door.
+
+Varney seemed to want the inclination, or perhaps the power (for
+his fall had been a severe one), to follow his retreating enemy.
+But he glared darkly as he disappeared, and then addressed
+Lambourne.  "Art thou a comrade of Foster's, good fellow?"
+
+"Sworn friends, as the haft is to the knife," replied Michael
+Lambourne.
+
+"Here is a broad piece for thee.  Follow yonder fellow, and see
+where he takes earth, and bring me word up to the mansion-house
+here.  Cautious and silent, thou knave, as thou valuest thy
+throat."
+
+"Enough said," replied Lambourne; "I can draw on a scent as well
+as a sleuth-hound."
+
+"Begone, then," said Varney, sheathing his rapier; and, turning
+his back on Michael Lambourne, he walked slowly towards the
+house.  Lambourne stopped but an instant to gather the nobles
+which his late companion had flung towards him so
+unceremoniously, and muttered to himself, while he put them upon
+his purse along with the gratuity of Varney, "I spoke to yonder
+gulls of Eldorado.  By Saint Anthony, there is no Eldorado for
+men of our stamp equal to bonny Old England!  It rains nobles, by
+Heaven--they lie on the grass as thick as dewdrops--you may have
+them for gathering.  And if I have not my share of such
+glittering dewdrops, may my sword melt like an icicle!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+         He was a man
+  Versed in the world as pilot in his compass.
+  The needle pointed ever to that interest
+  Which was his loadstar, and he spread his sails
+  With vantage to the gale of others' passion.
+                                 THE DECEIVER, A TRAGEDY.
+
+Antony Foster was still engaged in debate with his fair guest,
+who treated with scorn every entreaty and request that she would
+retire to her own apartment, when a whistle was heard at the
+entrance-door of the mansion.
+
+"We are fairly sped now," said Foster; "yonder is thy lord's
+signal, and what to say about the disorder which has happened in
+this household, by my conscience, I know not.  Some evil fortune
+dogs the heels of that unhanged rogue Lambourne, and he has
+'scaped the gallows against every chance, to come back and be the
+ruin of me!"
+
+"Peace, sir," said the lady, "and undo the gate to your master.
+--My lord!  my dear lord!"  she then exclaimed, hastening to the
+entrance of the apartment; then added, with a voice expressive of
+disappointment, "Pooh!  it is but Richard Varney."
+
+"Ay, madam," said Varney, entering and saluting the lady with a
+respectful obeisance, which she returned with a careless mixture
+of negligence and of displeasure, "it is but Richard Varney; but
+even the first grey cloud should be acceptable, when it lightens
+in the east, because it announces the approach of the blessed
+sun."
+
+"How!  comes my lord hither to-night?"  said the lady, in joyful
+yet startled agitation; and Anthony Foster caught up the word,
+and echoed the question.  Varney replied to the lady, that his
+lord purposed to attend her; and would have proceeded with some
+compliment, when, running to the door of the parlour, she called
+aloud, "Janet--Janet!  come to my tiring-room instantly."  Then
+returning to Varney, she asked if her lord sent any further
+commendations to her.
+
+"This letter, honoured madam," said he, taking from his bosom a
+small parcel wrapped in scarlet silk, "and with it a token to
+the Queen of his Affections."  With eager speed the lady hastened
+to undo the silken string which surrounded the little packet, and
+failing to unloose readily the knot with which it was secured,
+she again called loudly on Janet, "Bring me a knife--scissors--
+aught that may undo this envious knot!"
+
+"May not my poor poniard serve, honoured madam?"  said Varney,
+presenting a small dagger of exquisite workmanship, which hung in
+his Turkey-leather sword-belt.
+
+"No, sir," replied the lady, rejecting the instrument which he
+offered--"steel poniard shall cut no true-love knot of mine."
+
+"It has cut many, however," said Anthony Foster, half aside, and
+looking at Varney.  By this time the knot was disentangled
+without any other help than the neat and nimble fingers of Janet,
+a simply-attired pretty maiden, the daughter of Anthony Foster,
+who came running at the repeated call of her mistress.  A
+necklace of orient pearl, the companion of a perfumed billet, was
+now hastily produced from the packet.  The lady gave the one,
+after a slight glance, to the charge of her attendant, while she
+read, or rather devoured, the contents of the other.
+
+"Surely, lady," said Janet, gazing with admiration at the neck-
+string of pearls, "the daughters of Tyre wore no fairer neck-
+jewels than these.  And then the posy, 'For a neck that is
+fairer'--each pearl is worth a freehold."
+
+"Each word in this dear paper is worth the whole string, my girl.
+But come to my tiring-room, girl; we must be brave, my lord comes
+hither to-night.--He bids me grace you, Master Varney, and to me
+his wish is a law.  I bid you to a collation in my bower this
+afternoon; and you, too, Master Foster.  Give orders that all is
+fitting, and that suitable preparations be made for my lord's
+reception to-night."  With these words she left the apartment.
+
+"She takes state on her already," said Varney, "and distributes
+the favour of her presence, as if she were already the partner of
+his dignity.  Well, it is wise to practise beforehand the part
+which fortune prepares us to play--the young eagle must gaze at
+the sun ere he soars on strong wing to meet it."
+
+"If holding her head aloft," said Foster, "will keep her eyes
+from dazzling, I warrant you the dame will not stoop her crest.
+She will presently soar beyond reach of my whistle, Master
+Varney.  I promise you, she holds me already in slight regard."
+
+"It is thine own fault, thou sullen, uninventive companion,"
+answered Varney, "who knowest no mode of control save downright
+brute force.  Canst thou not make home pleasant to her, with
+music and toys?  Canst thou not make the out-of-doors frightful
+to her, with tales of goblins?  Thou livest here by the
+churchyard, and hast not even wit enough to raise a ghost, to
+scare thy females into good discipline."
+
+"Speak not thus, Master Varney," said Foster; "the living I fear
+not, but I trifle not nor toy with my dead neighbours of the
+churchyard.  I promise you, it requires a good heart to live so
+near it.  Worthy Master Holdforth, the afternoon's lecturer of
+Saint Antonlin's, had a sore fright there the last time he came
+to visit me."
+
+"Hold thy superstitious tongue," answered Varney; "and while thou
+talkest of visiting, answer me, thou paltering knave, how came
+Tressilian to be at the postern door?"
+
+"Tressilian!"  answered Foster, "what know I of Tressilian?  I
+never heard his name."
+
+"Why, villain, it was the very Cornish chough to whom old Sir
+Hugh Robsart destined his pretty Amy; and hither the hot-brained
+fool has come to look after his fair runaway.  There must be some
+order taken with him, for he thinks he hath wrong, and is not the
+mean hind that will sit down with it.  Luckily he knows nought of
+my lord, but thinks he has only me to deal with.  But how, in the
+fiend's name, came he hither?"
+
+"Why, with Mike Lambourne, an you must know," answered Foster.
+
+"And who is Mike Lambourne?"  demanded Varney.  "By Heaven!  thou
+wert best set up a bush over thy door, and invite every stroller
+who passes by to see what thou shouldst keep secret even from the
+sun and air."
+
+"Ay!  ay!  this is a courtlike requital of my service to you,
+Master Richard Varney," replied Foster.  "Didst thou not charge
+me to seek out for thee a fellow who had a good sword and an
+unscrupulous conscience?  and was I not busying myself to find a
+fit man--for, thank Heaven, my acquaintance lies not amongst such
+companions--when, as Heaven would have it, this tall fellow, who
+is in all his dualities the very flashing knave thou didst wish,
+came hither to fix acquaintance upon me in the plenitude of his
+impudence; and I admitted his claim, thinking to do you a
+pleasure.  And now see what thanks I get for disgracing myself by
+converse with him!"
+
+"And did he," said Varney, "being such a fellow as thyself, only
+lacking, I suppose, thy present humour of hypocrisy, which lies
+as thin over thy hard, ruffianly heart as gold lacquer upon rusty
+iron--did he, I say, bring the saintly, sighing Tressilian in his
+train?"
+
+"They came together, by Heaven!"  said Foster; "and Tressilian--
+to speak Heaven's truth--obtained a moment's interview with our
+pretty moppet, while I was talking apart with Lambourne."
+
+"Improvident villain!  we are both undone," said Varney.  "She
+has of late been casting many a backward look to her father's
+halls, whenever her lordly lover leaves her alone.  Should this
+preaching fool whistle her back to her old perch, we were but
+lost men."
+
+"No fear of that, my master," replied Anthony Foster; "she is in
+no mood to stoop to his lure, for she yelled out on seeing him as
+if an adder had stung her."
+
+"That is good.  Canst thou not get from thy daughter an inkling
+of what passed between them, good Foster?"
+
+"I tell you plain, Master Varney," said Foster, "my daughter
+shall not enter our purposes or walk in our paths.  They may suit
+me well enough, who know how to repent of my misdoings; but I
+will not have my child's soul committed to peril either for your
+pleasure or my lord's.  I may walk among snares and pitfalls
+myself, because I have discretion, but I will not trust the poor
+lamb among them."
+
+"Why, thou suspicious fool, I were as averse as thou art that thy
+baby-faced girl should enter into my plans, or walk to hell at
+her father's elbow.  But indirectly thou mightst gain some
+intelligence of her?"
+
+"And so I did, Master Varney," answered Foster; "and she said her
+lady called out upon the sickness of her father."
+
+"Good!"  replied Varney; "that is a hint worth catching, and I
+will work upon it.  But the country must be rid of this
+Tressilian.  I would have cumbered no man about the matter, for I
+hate him like strong poison--his presence is hemlock to me--and
+this day I had been rid of him, but that my foot slipped, when,
+to speak truth, had not thy comrade yonder come to my aid, and
+held his hand, I should have known by this time whether you and I
+have been treading the path to heaven or hell."
+
+"And you can speak thus of such a risk!"  said Foster.  "You keep
+a stout heart, Master Varney.  For me, if I did not hope to live
+many years, and to have time for the great work of repentance, I
+would not go forward with you."
+
+"Oh!  thou shalt live as long as Methuselah," said Varney, "and
+amass as much wealth as Solomon; and thou shalt repent so
+devoutly, that thy repentance shall be more famous than thy
+villainy--and that is a bold word.  But for all this, Tressilian
+must be looked after.  Thy ruffian yonder is gone to dog him.  It
+concerns our fortunes, Anthony."
+
+"Ay, ay," said Foster sullenly, "this it is to be leagued with
+one who knows not even so much of Scripture, as that the labourer
+is worthy of his hire.  I must, as usual, take all the trouble
+and risk."
+
+"Risk!  and what is the mighty risk, I pray you?"  answered
+Varney. "This fellow will come prowling again about your demesne
+or into your house, and if you take him for a house-breaker or a
+park-breaker, is it not most natural you should welcome him with
+cold steel or hot lead?  Even a mastiff will pull down those who
+come near his kennel; and who shall blame him?"
+
+"Ay, I have a mastiff's work and a mastiff's wage among you,"
+said Foster.  "Here have you, Master Varney, secured a good
+freehold estate out of this old superstitious foundation; and I
+have but a poor lease of this mansion under you, voidable at your
+honour's pleasure."
+
+"Ay, and thou wouldst fain convert thy leasehold into a copyhold
+--the thing may chance to happen, Anthony Foster, if thou dost
+good service for it.  But softly, good Anthony--it is not the
+lending a room or two of this old house for keeping my lord's
+pretty paroquet--nay, it is not the shutting thy doors and
+windows to keep her from flying off that may deserve it.
+Remember, the manor and tithes are rated at the clear annual
+value of seventy-nine pounds five shillings and fivepence
+halfpenny, besides the value of the wood.  Come, come, thou must
+be conscionable; great and secret service may deserve both this
+and a better thing.  And now let thy knave come and pluck off my
+boots.  Get us some dinner, and a cup of thy best wine.  I must
+visit this mavis, brave in apparel, unruffled in aspect, and gay
+in temper."
+
+They parted and at the hour of noon, which was then that of
+dinner, they again met at their meal, Varney gaily dressed like a
+courtier of the time, and even Anthony Foster improved in
+appearance, as far as dress could amend an exterior so
+unfavourable.
+
+This alteration did not escape Varney.  Then the meal was
+finished, the cloth removed, and they were left to their private
+discourse--"Thou art gay as a goldfinch, Anthony," said Varney,
+looking at his host; "methinks, thou wilt whistle a jig anon.
+But I crave your pardon, that would secure your ejection from the
+congregation of the zealous botchers, the pure-hearted weavers,
+and the sanctified bakers of Abingdon, who let their ovens cool
+while their brains get heated."
+
+"To answer you in the spirit, Master Varney," said Foster, "were
+--excuse the parable--to fling sacred and precious things before
+swine.  So I will speak to thee in the language of the world,
+which he who is king of the world, hath taught thee, to
+understand, and to profit by in no common measure."
+
+"Say what thou wilt, honest Tony," replied Varney; "for be it
+according to thine absurd faith, or according to thy most
+villainous practice, it cannot choose but be rare matter to
+qualify this cup of Alicant.  Thy conversation is relishing and
+poignant, and beats caviare, dried neat's-tongue, and all other
+provocatives that give savour to good liquor."
+
+"Well, then, tell me," said Anthony Foster, "is not our good lord
+and master's turn better served, and his antechamber more
+suitably filled, with decent, God-fearing men, who will work his
+will and their own profit quietly, and without worldly scandal,
+than that he should be manned, and attended, and followed by such
+open debauchers and ruffianly swordsmen as Tidesly, Killigrew,
+this fellow Lambourne, whom you have put me to seek out for you,
+and other such, who bear the gallows in their face and murder in
+their right hand--who are a terror to peaceable men, and a
+scandal to my lord's service?"
+
+"Oh, content you, good Master Anthony Foster," answered Varney;
+"he that flies at all manner of game must keep all kinds of
+hawks, both short and long-winged.  The course my lord holds is
+no easy one, and he must stand provided at all points with trusty
+retainers to meet each sort of service.  He must have his gay
+courtier, like myself, to ruffle it in the presence-chamber, and
+to lay hand on hilt when any speaks in disparagement of my lord's
+honour--"
+
+"Ay," said Foster, "and to whisper a word for him into a fair
+lady's ear, when he may not approach her himself."
+
+"Then," said Varney, going on without appearing to notice the
+interruption, "he must have his lawyers--deep, subtle pioneers
+--to draw his contracts, his pre-contracts, and his post-
+contracts, and to find the way to make the most of grants of
+church-lands, and commons, and licenses for monopoly.  And he
+must have physicians who can spice a cup or a caudle.  And he
+must have his cabalists, like Dec and Allan, for conjuring up the
+devil.  And he must have ruffling swordsmen, who would fight the
+devil when he is raised and at the wildest.  And above all,
+without prejudice to others, he must have such godly, innocent,
+puritanic souls as thou, honest Anthony, who defy Satan, and do
+his work at the same time."
+
+"You would not say, Master Varney," said Foster, "that our good
+lord and master, whom I hold to be fulfilled in all nobleness,
+would use such base and sinful means to rise, as thy speech
+points at?"
+
+"Tush, man," said Varney, "never look at me with so sad a brow.
+You trap me not--nor am I in your power, as your weak brain may
+imagine, because I name to you freely the engines, the springs,
+the screws, the tackle, and braces, by which great men rise in
+stirring times.  Sayest thou our good lord is fulfilled of all
+nobleness?  Amen, and so be it--he has the more need to have
+those about him who are unscrupulous in his service, and who,
+because they know that his fall will overwhelm and crush them,
+must wager both blood and brain, soul and body, in order to keep
+him aloft; and this I tell thee, because I care not who knows
+it."
+
+"You speak truth, Master Varney," said Anthony Foster.  "He that
+is head of a party is but a boat on a wave, that raises not
+itself, but is moved upward by the billow which it floats upon."
+
+"Thou art metaphorical, honest Anthony," replied Varney; "that
+velvet doublet hath made an oracle of thee.  We will have thee to
+Oxford to take the degrees in the arts.  And, in the meantime,
+hast thou arranged all the matters which were sent from London,
+and put the western chambers into such fashion as may answer my
+lord's humour?"
+
+"They may serve a king on his bridal-day," said Anthony; "and I
+promise you that Dame Amy sits in them yonder as proud and gay as
+if she were the Queen of Sheba."
+
+"'Tis the better, good Anthony," answered Varney; "we must found
+our future fortunes on her good liking."
+
+"We build on sand then," said Anthony Foster; "for supposing that
+she sails away to court in all her lord's dignity and authority,
+how is she to look back upon me, who am her jailor as it were, to
+detain her here against her will, keeping her a caterpillar on an
+old wall, when she would fain be a painted butterfly in a court
+garden?"
+
+"Fear not her displeasure, man," said Varney.  "I will show her
+all thou hast done in this matter was good service, both to my
+lord and her; and when she chips the egg-shell and walks alone,
+she shall own we have hatched her greatness."
+
+"Look to yourself, Master Varney," said Foster, "you may
+misreckon foully in this matter.  She gave you but a frosty
+reception this morning, and, I think, looks on you, as well as
+me, with an evil eye."
+
+"You mistake her, Foster--you mistake her utterly.  To me she is
+bound by all the ties which can secure her to one who has been
+the means of gratifying both her love and ambition.  Who was it
+that took the obscure Amy Robsart, the daughter of an
+impoverished and dotard knight--the destined bride of a
+moonstruck, moping enthusiast, like Edmund Tressilian, from her
+lowly fates, and held out to her in prospect the brightest
+fortune in England, or perchance in Europe?  Why, man, it was I
+--as I have often told thee--that found opportunity for their
+secret meetings.  It was I who watched the wood while he beat for
+the deer.  It was I who, to this day, am blamed by her family as
+the companion of her flight; and were I in their neighbourhood,
+would be fain to wear a shirt of better stuff than Holland linen,
+lest my ribs should be acquainted with Spanish steel.  Who
+carried their letters?--I.  Who amused the old knight and
+Tressilian?--I.  Who planned her escape?--it was I.  It was I, in
+short, Dick Varney, who pulled this pretty little daisy from its
+lowly nook, and placed it in the proudest bonnet in Britain."
+
+"Ay, Master Varney," said Foster; "but it may be she thinks that
+had the matter remained with you, the flower had been stuck so
+slightly into the cap, that the first breath of a changeable
+breeze of passion had blown the poor daisy to the common."
+
+"She should consider," said Varney, smiling, "the true faith I
+owed my lord and master prevented me at first from counselling
+marriage; and yet I did counsel marriage when I saw she would not
+be satisfied without the--the sacrament, or the ceremony--which
+callest thou it, Anthony?"
+
+"Still she has you at feud on another score," said Foster; "and I
+tell it you that you may look to yourself in time.  She would not
+hide her splendour in this dark lantern of an old monastic house,
+but would fain shine a countess amongst countesses."
+
+"Very natural, very right," answered Varney; "but what have I to
+do with that?--she may shine through horn or through crystal at
+my lord's pleasure, I have nought to say against it."
+
+"She deems that you have an oar upon that side of the boat,
+Master Varney," replied Foster, "and that you can pull it or no,
+at your good pleasure.  In a word, she ascribes the secrecy and
+obscurity in which she is kept to your secret counsel to my lord,
+and to my strict agency; and so she loves us both as a sentenced
+man loves his judge and his jailor."
+
+"She must love us better ere she leave this place, Anthony,"
+answered Varney.  "If I have counselled for weighty reasons that
+she remain here for a season, I can also advise her being brought
+forth in the full blow of her dignity.  But I were mad to do so,
+holding so near a place to my lord's person, were she mine enemy.
+Bear this truth in upon her as occasion offers, Anthony, and let
+me alone for extolling you in her ear, and exalting you in her
+opinion--KA ME, KA THEE--it is a proverb all over the world.  The
+lady must know her friends, and be made to judge of the power
+they have of being her enemies; meanwhile, watch her strictly,
+but with all the outward observance that thy rough nature will
+permit.  'Tis an excellent thing that sullen look and bull-dog
+humour of thine; thou shouldst thank God for it, and so should my
+lord, for when there is aught harsh or hard-natured to be done,
+thou dost it as if it flowed from thine own natural doggedness,
+and not from orders, and so my lord escapes the scandal.--But,
+hark--some one knocks at the gate.  Look out at the window--let
+no one enter--this were an ill night to be interrupted."
+
+"It is he whom we spoke of before dinner," said Foster, as he
+looked through the casement; "it is Michael Lambourne."
+
+"Oh, admit him, by all means," said the courtier; "he comes to
+give some account of his guest; it imports us much to know the
+movements of Edmund Tressilian.--Admit him, I say, but bring him
+not hither; I will come to you presently in the Abbot's library."
+
+Foster left the room, and the courtier, who remained behind,
+paced the parlour more than once in deep thought, his arms folded
+on his bosom, until at length he gave vent to his meditations in
+broken words, which we have somewhat enlarged and connected, that
+his soliloquy may be intelligible to the reader.
+
+"'Tis true," he said, suddenly stopping, and resting his right
+hand on the table at which they had been sitting, "this base
+churl hath fathomed the very depth of my fear, and I have been
+unable to disguise it from him.  She loves me not--I would it
+were as true that I loved not her!  Idiot that I was, to move her
+in my own behalf, when wisdom bade me be a true broker to my
+lord!  And this fatal error has placed me more at her discretion
+than a wise man would willingly be at that of the best piece of
+painted Eve's flesh of them all.  Since the hour that my policy
+made so perilous a slip, I cannot look at her without fear, and
+hate, and fondness, so strangely mingled, that I know not
+whether, were it at my choice, I would rather possess or ruin
+her.  But she must not leave this retreat until I am assured on
+what terms we are to stand.  My lord's interest--and so far it is
+mine own, for if he sinks I fall in his train--demands
+concealment of this obscure marriage; and besides, I will not
+lend her my arm to climb to her chair of state, that she may set
+her foot on my neck when she is fairly seated.  I must work an
+interest in her, either through love or through fear; and who
+knows but I may yet reap the sweetest and best revenge for her
+former scorn?--that were indeed a masterpiece of courtlike art!
+Let me but once be her counsel-keeper--let her confide to me a
+secret, did it but concern the robbery of a linnet's nest, and,
+fair Countess, thou art mine own!"  He again paced the room in
+silence, stopped, filled and drank a cup of wine, as if to
+compose the agitation of his mind, and muttering, "Now for a
+close heart and an open and unruffled brow," he left the
+apartment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+  The dews of summer night did fall,
+    The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
+  Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall,
+    And many an oak that grew thereby.     MICKLE.
+
+[This verse is the commencement of the ballad already quoted, as
+what suggested the novel.]
+
+Four apartments; which, occupied the western side of the old
+quadrangle at Cumnor Place, had been fitted up with extraordinary
+splendour.  This had been the work of several days prior to that
+on which our story opened.  Workmen sent from London, and not
+permitted to leave the premises until the work was finished, had
+converted the apartments in that side of the building from the
+dilapidated appearance of a dissolved monastic house into the
+semblance of a royal palace.  A mystery was observed in all these
+arrangements:  the workmen came thither and returned by night,
+and all measures were taken to prevent the prying curiosity of
+the villagers from observing or speculating upon the changes
+which were taking place in the mansion of their once indigent but
+now wealthy neighbour, Anthony Foster.  Accordingly, the secrecy
+desired was so far preserved, that nothing got abroad but vague
+and uncertain reports, which were received and repeated, but
+without much credit being attached to them.
+
+On the evening of which we treat, the new and highly-decorated
+suite of rooms were, for the first time, illuminated, and that
+with a brilliancy which might have been visible half-a-dozen
+miles off, had not oaken shutters, carefully secured with bolt
+and padlock, and mantled with long curtains of silk and of
+velvet, deeply fringed with gold, prevented the slightest gleam
+of radiance front being seen without.
+
+The principal apartments, as we have seen, were four in number,
+each opening into the other.  Access was given to them by a large
+scale staircase, as they were then called, of unusual length and
+height, which had its landing-place at the door of an
+antechamber, shaped somewhat like a gallery.  This apartment the
+abbot had used as an occasional council-room, but it was now
+beautifully wainscoted with dark, foreign wood of a brown colour,
+and bearing a high polish, said to have been brought from the
+Western Indies, and to have been wrought in London with infinite
+difficulty and much damage to the tools of the workmen.  The dark
+colour of this finishing was relieved by the number of lights in
+silver sconces which hung against the walls, and by six large and
+richly-framed pictures, by the first masters of the age.  A massy
+oaken table, placed at the lower end of the apartment, served to
+accommodate such as chose to play at the then fashionable game of
+shovel-board; and there was at the other end an elevated gallery
+for the musicians or minstrels, who might be summoned to increase
+the festivity of the evening.
+
+From this antechamber opened a banqueting-room of moderate size,
+but brilliant enough to dazzle the eyes of the spectator with the
+richness of its furniture.  The walls, lately so bare and
+ghastly, were now clothed with hangings of sky-blue velvet and
+silver; the chairs were of ebony, richly carved, with cushions
+corresponding to the hangings; and the place of the silver
+sconces which enlightened the ante-chamber was supplied by a huge
+chandelier of the same precious metal.  The floor was covered
+with a Spanish foot-cloth, or carpet, on which flowers and fruits
+were represented in such glowing and natural colours, that you
+hesitated to place the foot on such exquisite workmanship.  The
+table, of old English oak, stood ready covered with the finest
+linen; and a large portable court-cupboard was placed with the
+leaves of its embossed folding-doors displayed, showing the
+shelves within, decorated with a full display of plate and
+porcelain.  In the midst of the table stood a salt-cellar of
+Italian workmanship--a beautiful and splendid piece of plate
+about two feet high, moulded into a representation of the giant
+Briareus, whose hundred hands of silver presented to the guests
+various sorts of spices, or condiments, to season their food
+withal.
+
+The third apartment was called the withdrawing-room.  It was hung
+with the finest tapestry, representing the fall of Phaeton; for
+the looms of Flanders were now much occupied on classical
+subjects.  The principal seat of this apartment was a chair of
+state, raised a step or two from the floor, and large enough to
+contain two persons.  It was surmounted by a canopy, which, as
+well as the cushions, side-curtains, and the very footcloth, was
+composed of crimson velvet, embroidered with seed-pearl.  On the
+top of the canopy were two coronets, resembling those of an earl
+and countess.  Stools covered with velvet, and some cushions
+disposed in the Moorish fashion, and ornamented with Arabesque
+needle-work, supplied the place of chairs in this apartment,
+which contained musical instruments, embroidery frames, and other
+articles for ladies' pastime.  Besides lesser lights, the
+withdrawing-room was illuminated by four tall torches of virgin
+wax, each of which was placed in the grasp of a statue,
+representing an armed Moor, who held in his left arm a round
+buckler of silver, highly polished, interposed betwixt his breast
+and the light, which was thus brilliantly reflected as from a
+crystal mirror.
+
+The sleeping chamber belonging to this splendid suite of
+apartments was decorated in a taste less showy, but not less
+rich, than had been displayed in the others.  Two silver lamps,
+fed with perfumed oil, diffused at once a delicious odour and a
+trembling twilight-seeming shimmer through the quiet apartment.
+It was carpeted so thick that the heaviest step could not have
+been heard, and the bed, richly heaped with down, was spread with
+an ample coverlet of silk and gold; from under which peeped forth
+cambric sheets and blankets as white as the lambs which yielded
+the fleece that made them.  The curtains were of blue velvet,
+lined with crimson silk, deeply festooned with gold, and
+embroidered with the loves of Cupid and Psyche.  On the toilet
+was a beautiful Venetian mirror, in a frame of silver filigree,
+and beside it stood a gold posset-dish to contain the night-
+draught.  A pair of pistols and a dagger, mounted with gold, were
+displayed near the head of the bed, being the arms for the night,
+which were presented to honoured guests, rather, it may be
+supposed, in the way of ceremony than from any apprehension of
+danger.  We must not omit to mention, what was more to the credit
+of the manners of the time, that in a small recess, illuminated
+by a taper, were disposed two hassocks of velvet and gold,
+corresponding with the bed furniture, before a desk of carved
+ebony.  This recess had formerly been the private oratory of the
+abbot; but the crucifix was removed, and instead there were
+placed on the desk, two Books of Common Prayer, richly bound, and
+embossed with silver.  With this enviable sleeping apartment,
+which was so far removed from every sound save that of the wind
+sighing among the oaks of the park, that Morpheus might have
+coveted it for his own proper repose, corresponded two wardrobes,
+or dressing-rooms as they are now termed, suitably furnished, and
+in a style of the same magnificence which we have already
+described.  It ought to be added, that a part of the building in
+the adjoining wing was occupied by the kitchen and its offices,
+and served to accommodate the personal attendants of the great
+and wealthy nobleman, for whose use these magnificent
+preparations had been made.
+
+The divinity for whose sake this temple had been decorated was
+well worthy the cost and pains which had been bestowed.  She was
+seated in the withdrawing-room which we have described, surveying
+with the pleased eye of natural and innocent vanity the splendour
+which had been so suddenly created, as it were, in her honour.
+For, as her own residence at Cumnor Place formed the cause of the
+mystery observed in all the preparations for opening these
+apartments, it was sedulously arranged that, until she took
+possession of them, she should have no means of knowing what was
+going forward in that part of the ancient building, or of
+exposing herself to be seen by the workmen engaged in the
+decorations.  She had been, therefore, introduced on that evening
+to a part of the mansion which she had never yet seen, so
+different from all the rest that it appeared, in comparison, like
+an enchanted palace.  And when she first examined and occupied
+these splendid rooms, it was with the wild and unrestrained joy
+of a rustic beauty who finds herself suddenly invested with a
+splendour which her most extravagant wishes had never imagined,
+and at the same time with the keen feeling of an affectionate
+heart, which knows that all the enchantment that surrounds her is
+the work of the great magician Love.
+
+The Countess Amy, therefore--for to that rank she was exalted by
+her private but solemn union with England's proudest Earl--had
+for a time flitted hastily from room to room, admiring each new
+proof of her lover and her bridegroom's taste, and feeling that
+admiration enhanced as she recollected that all she gazed upon
+was one continued proof of his ardent and devoted affection.
+"How beautiful are these hangings!  How natural these paintings,
+which seem to contend with life!  How richly wrought is that
+plate, which looks as if all the galleons of Spain had been
+intercepted on the broad seas to furnish it forth!  And oh,
+Janet!"  she exclaimed repeatedly to the daughter of Anthony
+Foster, the close attendant, who, with equal curiosity, but
+somewhat less ecstatic joy, followed on her mistress's footsteps
+--"oh, Janet!  how much more delightful to think that all these
+fair things have been assembled by his love, for the love of me!
+and that this evening--this very evening, which grows darker
+every instant, I shall thank him more for the love that has
+created such an unimaginable paradise, than for all the wonders
+it contains."
+
+"The Lord is to be thanked first," said the pretty Puritan, "who
+gave thee, lady, the kind and courteous husband whose love has
+done so much for thee.  I, too, have done my poor share.  But if
+you thus run wildly from room to room, the toil of my crisping
+and my curling pins will vanish like the frost-work on the window
+when the sun is high."
+
+"Thou sayest true, Janet," said the young and beautiful Countess,
+stopping suddenly from her tripping race of enraptured delight,
+and looking at herself from head to foot in a large mirror, such
+as she had never before seen, and which, indeed, had few to match
+it even in the Queen's palace--"thou sayest true, Janet!"  she
+answered, as she saw, with pardonable self-applause, the noble
+mirror reflect such charms as were seldom presented to its fair
+and polished surface; "I have more of the milk-maid than the
+countess, with these cheeks flushed with haste, and all these
+brown curls, which you laboured to bring to order, straying as
+wild as the tendrils of an unpruned vine.  My falling ruff is
+chafed too, and shows the neck and bosom more than is modest and
+seemly.  Come, Janet; we will practise state--we will go to the
+withdrawing-room, my good girl, and thou shalt put these rebel
+locks in order, and imprison within lace and cambric the bosom
+that beats too high."
+
+They went to the withdrawing apartment accordingly, where the
+Countess playfully stretched herself upon the pile of Moorish
+cushions, half sitting, half reclining, half wrapt in her own
+thoughts, half listening to the prattle of her attendant.
+
+While she was in this attitude, and with a corresponding
+expression betwixt listlessness and expectation on her fine and
+intelligent features, you might have searched sea and land
+without finding anything half so expressive or half so lovely.
+The wreath of brilliants which mixed with her dark-brown hair did
+not match in lustre the hazel eye which a light-brown eyebrow,
+pencilled with exquisite delicacy, and long eyelashes of the same
+colour, relieved and shaded.  The exercise she had just taken,
+her excited expectation and gratified vanity, spread a glow over
+her fine features, which had been sometimes censured (as beauty
+as well as art has her minute critics) for being rather too pale.
+The milk-white pearls of the necklace which she wore, the same
+which she had just received as a true-love token from her
+husband, were excelled in purity by her teeth, and by the colour
+of her skin, saving where the blush of pleasure and self-
+satisfaction had somewhat stained the neck with a shade of light
+crimson.--"Now, have done with these busy fingers, Janet," she
+said to her handmaiden, who was still officiously employed in
+bringing her hair and her dress into order--"have done, I say.  I
+must see your father ere my lord arrives, and also Master Richard
+Varney, whom my lord has highly in his esteem--but I could tell
+that of him would lose him favour."
+
+"Oh, do not do so, good my lady!"  replied Janet; "leave him to
+God, who punishes the wicked in His own time; but do not you
+cross Varney's path, for so thoroughly hath he my lord's ear,
+that few have thriven who have thwarted his courses."
+
+"And from whom had you this, my most righteous Janet?"  said the
+Countess; "or why should I keep terms with so mean a gentleman as
+Varney, being as I am, wife to his master and patron?"
+
+"Nay, madam," replied Janet Foster, "your ladyship knows better
+than I; but I have heard my father say he would rather cross a
+hungry wolf than thwart Richard Varney in his projects.  And he
+has often charged me to have a care of holding commerce with
+him."
+
+"Thy father said well, girl, for thee," replied the lady, "and I
+dare swear meant well.  It is a pity, though, his face and manner
+do little match his true purpose--for I think his purpose may be
+true."
+
+"Doubt it not, my lady," answered Janet--"doubt not that my
+father purposes well, though he is a plain man, and his blunt
+looks may belie his heart."
+
+"I will not doubt it, girl, were it only for thy sake; and yet he
+has one of those faces which men tremble when they look on.  I
+think even thy mother, Janet--nay, have done with that poking-
+iron--could hardly look upon him without quaking."
+
+"If it were so, madam," answered Janet Foster, "my mother had
+those who could keep her in honourable countenance.  Why, even
+you, my lady, both trembled and blushed when Varney brought the
+letter from my lord."
+
+"You are bold, damsel," said the Countess, rising from the
+cushions on which she sat half reclined in the arms of her
+attendant.  "Know that there are causes of trembling which have
+nothing to do with fear.--But, Janet," she added, immediately
+relapsing into the good-natured and familiar tone which was
+natural to her, "believe me, I will do what credit I can to your
+father, and the rather that you, sweetheart, are his child.
+Alas!  alas!"  she added, a sudden sadness passing over her fine
+features, and her eyes filling with tears, "I ought the rather to
+hold sympathy with thy kind heart, that my own poor father is
+uncertain of my fate, and they say lies sick and sorrowful for my
+worthless sake!  But I will soon cheer him--the news of my
+happiness and advancement will make him young again.  And that I
+may cheer him the sooner"--she wiped her eyes as she spoke--"I
+must be cheerful myself.  My lord must not find me insensible to
+his kindness, or sorrowful, when he snatches a visit to his
+recluse, after so long an absence.  Be merry, Janet; the night
+wears on, and my lord must soon arrive.  Call thy father hither,
+and call Varney also.  I cherish resentment against neither; and
+though I may have some room to be displeased with both, it shall
+be their own fault if ever a complaint against them reaches the
+Earl through my means.  Call them hither, Janet."
+
+Janet Foster obeyed her mistress; and in a few minutes after,
+Varney entered the withdrawing-room with the graceful ease and
+unclouded front of an accomplished courtier, skilled, under the
+veil of external politeness, to disguise his own feelings and to
+penetrate those of others.  Anthony Foster plodded into the
+apartment after him, his natural gloomy vulgarity of aspect
+seeming to become yet more remarkable, from his clumsy attempt to
+conceal the mixture of anxiety and dislike with which he looked
+on her, over whom he had hitherto exercised so severe a control,
+now so splendidly attired, and decked with so many pledges of the
+interest which she possessed in her husband's affections.  The
+blundering reverence which he made, rather AT than TO the
+Countess, had confession in it.  It was like the reverence which
+the criminal makes to the judge, when he at once owns his guilt
+and implores mercy--which is at the same time an impudent and
+embarrassed attempt at defence or extenuation, a confession of a
+fault, and an entreaty for lenity.
+
+Varney, who, in right of his gentle blood, had pressed into the
+room before Anthony Foster, knew better what to say than he, and
+said it with more assurance and a better grace.
+
+The Countess greeted him indeed with an appearance of cordiality,
+which seemed a complete amnesty for whatever she might have to
+complain of.  She rose from her seat, and advanced two steps
+towards him, holding forth her hand as she said, "Master Richard
+Varney, you brought me this morning such welcome tidings, that I
+fear surprise and joy made me neglect my lord and husband's
+charge to receive you with distinction.  We offer you our hand,
+sir, in reconciliation."
+
+"I am unworthy to touch it," said Varney, dropping on one knee,
+"save as a subject honours that of a prince."
+
+He touched with his lips those fair and slender fingers, so
+richly loaded with rings and jewels; then rising, with graceful
+gallantry, was about to hand her to the chair of state, when she
+said, "No, good Master Richard Varney, I take not my place there
+until my lord himself conducts me.  I am for the present but a
+disguised Countess, and will not take dignity on me until
+authorized by him whom I derive it from."
+
+"I trust, my lady," said Foster, "that in doing the commands of
+my lord your husband, in your restraint and so forth, I have not
+incurred your displeasure, seeing that I did but my duty towards
+your lord and mine; for Heaven, as holy writ saith, hath given
+the husband supremacy and dominion over the wife--I think it runs
+so, or something like it."
+
+"I receive at this moment so pleasant a surprise, Master Foster,"
+answered the Countess, "that I cannot but excuse the rigid
+fidelity which secluded me from these apartments, until they had
+assumed an appearance so new and so splendid."
+
+"Ay lady," said Foster, "it hath cost many a fair crown; and that
+more need not be wasted than is absolutely necessary, I leave you
+till my lord's arrival with good Master Richard Varney, who, as I
+think, hath somewhat to say to you from your most noble lord and
+husband.--Janet, follow me, to see that all be in order."
+
+"No, Master Foster," said the Countess, "we will your daughter
+remains here in our apartment--out of ear-shot, however, in case
+Varney bath ought to say to me from my lord."
+
+Foster made his clumsy reverence, and departed, with an aspect
+which seemed to grudge the profuse expense which had been wasted
+upon changing his house from a bare and ruinous grange to an
+Asiastic palace.  When he was gone, his daughter took her
+embroidery frame, and went to establish herself at the bottom of
+the apartment; while Richard Varney, with a profoundly humble
+courtesy, took the lowest stool he could find, and placing it by
+the side of the pile of cushions on which the Countess had now
+again seated herself, sat with his eyes for a time fixed on the
+ground, and in pro-found silence
+
+"I thought, Master Varney," said the Countess, when she saw he
+was not likely to open the conversation, "that you had something
+to communicate from my lord and husband; so at least I understood
+Master Foster, and therefore I removed my waiting-maid.  If I am
+mistaken, I will recall her to my side; for her needle is not so
+absolutely perfect in tent and cross-stitch, but that my
+superintendence is advisable."
+
+"Lady," said Varney, "Foster was partly mistaken in my purpose.
+It was not FROM but OF your noble husband, and my approved and
+most noble patron, that I am led, and indeed bound, to speak."
+
+"The theme is most welcome, sir," said the Countess, "whether it
+be of or from my noble husband.  But be brief, for I expect his
+hasty approach."
+
+"Briefly then, madam," replied Varney, "and boldly, for my
+argument requires both haste and courage--you have this day seen
+Tressilian?"
+
+"I have, sir and what of that?"  answered the lady somewhat
+sharply.
+
+"Nothing that concerns me, lady," Varney replied with humility.
+"But, think you, honoured madam, that your lord will hear it with
+equal equanimity?"
+
+"And wherefore should he not?  To me alone was Tressilian's visit
+embarrassing and painful, for he brought news of my good father's
+illness."
+
+"Of your father's illness, madam!"  answered Varney.  "It must
+have been sudden then--very sudden; for the messenger whom I
+dispatched, at my lord's instance, found the good knight on the
+hunting field, cheering his beagles with his wonted jovial field-
+cry.  I trust Tressilian has but forged this news.  He hath his
+reasons, madam, as you well know, for disquieting your present
+happiness."
+
+"You do him injustice, Master Varney," replied the Countess, with
+animation--"you do him much injustice.  He is the freest, the
+most open, the most gentle heart that breathes.  My honourable
+lord ever excepted, I know not one to whom falsehood is more
+odious than to Tressilian."
+
+"I crave your pardon, madam," said Varney, "I meant the gentleman
+no injustice--I knew not how nearly his cause affected you.  A
+man may, in some circumstances, disguise the truth for fair and
+honest purpose; for were it to be always spoken, and upon all
+occasions, this were no world to live in."
+
+"You have a courtly conscience, Master Varney," said the
+Countess, "and your veracity will not, I think, interrupt your
+preferment in the world, such as it is.  But touching Tressilian
+--I must do him justice, for I have done him wrong, as none knows
+better than thou.  Tressilian's conscience is of other mould--the
+world thou speakest of has not that which could bribe him from
+the way of truth and honour; and for living in it with a soiled
+fame, the ermine would as soon seek to lodge in the den of the
+foul polecat.  For this my father loved him; for this I would
+have loved him--if I could.  And yet in this case he had what
+seemed to him, unknowing alike of my marriage and to whom I was
+united, such powerful reasons to withdraw me from this place,
+that I well trust he exaggerated much of my father's
+indisposition, and that thy better news may be the truer."
+
+"Believe me they are, madam," answered Varney.  "I pretend not to
+be a champion of that same naked virtue called truth, to the very
+outrance.  I can consent that her charms be hidden with a veil,
+were it but for decency's sake.  But you must think lower of my
+head and heart than is due to one whom my noble lord deigns to
+call his friend, if you suppose I could wilfully and
+unnecessarily palm upon your ladyship a falsehood, so soon to be
+detected, in a matter which concerns your happiness."
+
+"Master Varney," said the Countess, "I know that my lord esteems
+you, and holds you a faithful and a good pilot in those seas in
+which he has spread so high and so venturous a sail.  Do not
+suppose, therefore, I meant hardly by you, when I spoke the truth
+in Tressilian's vindication.  I am as you well know, country-
+bred, and like plain rustic truth better than courtly compliment;
+but I must change my fashions with my sphere, I presume."
+
+"True, madam," said Varney, smiling; "and though you speak now in
+jest, it will not be amiss that in earnest your present speech
+had some connection with your real purpose.  A court-dame--take
+the most noble, the most virtuous, the most unimpeachable that
+stands around our Queen's throne--would, for example, have
+shunned to speak the truth, or what she thought such, in praise
+of a discarded suitor, before the dependant and confidant of her
+noble husband."
+
+"And wherefore," said the Countess, colouring impatiently,
+"should I not do justice to Tressilian's worth, before my
+husband's friend--before my husband himself--before the whole
+world?"
+
+"And with the same openness," said Varney, "your ladyship will
+this night tell my noble lord your husband that Tressilian has
+discovered your place of residence, so anxiously concealed from
+the world, and that he has had an interview with you?"
+
+"Unquestionably," said the Countess.  "It will be the first thing
+I tell him, together with every word that Tressilian said and
+that I answered.  I shall speak my own shame in this, for
+Tressilian's reproaches, less just than he esteemed them, were
+not altogether unmerited.  I will speak, therefore, with pain,
+but I will speak, and speak all."
+
+"Your ladyship will do your pleasure," answered Varney; "but
+methinks it were as well, since nothing calls for so frank a
+disclosure, to spare yourself this pain, and my noble lord the
+disquiet, and Master Tressilian, since belike he must be thought
+of in the matter, the danger which is like to ensue."
+
+"I can see nought of all these terrible consequences," said the
+lady composedly, "unless by imputing to my noble lord unworthy
+thoughts, which I am sure never harboured in his generous heart."
+
+"Far be it from me to do so," said Varney.  And then, after a
+moment's silence, he added, with a real or affected plainness of
+manner, very different from his usual smooth courtesy, "Come,
+madam, I will show you that a courtier dare speak truth as well
+as another, when it concerns the weal of those whom he honours
+and regards, ay, and although it may infer his own danger."  He
+waited as if to receive commands, or at least permission, to go
+on; but as the lady remained silent, he proceeded, but obviously
+with caution.  "Look around you," he said, "noble lady, and
+observe the barriers with which this place is surrounded, the
+studious mystery with which the brightest jewel that England
+possesses is secluded from the admiring gaze.  See with what
+rigour your walks are circumscribed.  and your movement
+restrained at the beck of yonder churlish Foster.  Consider all
+this, and judge for yourself what can be the cause.
+
+"My lord's pleasure," answered the Countess; "and I am bound to
+seek no other motive."
+
+"His pleasure it is indeed," said Varney; "and his pleasure
+arises out of a love worthy of the object which inspires it.  But
+he who possesses a treasure, and who values it, is oft anxious,
+in proportion to the value he puts upon it, to secure it from the
+depredations of others."
+
+"What needs all this talk, Master Varney?"  said the lady, in
+reply.  "You would have me believe that my noble lord is
+jealous.  Suppose it true, I know a cure for jealousy."
+
+"Indeed, madam?"  said Varney.
+
+"It is," replied the lady, "to speak the truth to my lord at all
+times--to hold up my mind and my thoughts before him as pure as
+that polished mirror--so that when he looks into my heart, he
+shall only see his own features reflected there."
+
+"I am mute, madam answered Varney; "and as I have no reason to
+grieve for Tressilian, who would have my heart's blood were he
+able, I shall reconcile myself easily to what may befall the
+gentleman in consequence of your frank disclosure of his having
+presumed to intrude upon your solitude.  You, who know my lord so
+much better than I, will judge if he be likely to bear the insult
+unavenged."
+
+"Nay, if I could think myself the cause of Tressilian's ruin,"
+said the Countess, "I who have already occasioned him so much
+distress, I might be brought to be silent.  And yet what will it
+avail, since he was seen by Foster, and I think by some one else?
+No, no, Varney, urge it no more.  I will tell the whole matter to
+my lord; and with such pleading for Tressilian's folly, as shall
+dispose my lord's generous heart rather to serve than to punish
+him."
+
+"Your judgment, madam," said Varney, "is far superior to mine,
+especially as you may, if you will, prove the ice before you step
+on it, by mentioning Tressilian's name to my lord, and observing
+how he endures it.  For Foster and his attendant, they know not
+Tressilian by sight, and I can easily give them some reasonable
+excuse for the appearance of an unknown stranger."
+
+The lady paused for an instant, and then replied, "If, Varney, it
+be indeed true that Foster knows not as yet that the man he saw
+was Tressilian, I own I were unwilling he should learn what
+nowise concerns him.  He bears himself already with austerity
+enough, and I wish him not to be judge or privy-councillor in my
+affairs."
+
+"Tush," said Varney, "what has the surly groom to do with your
+ladyship's concerns?--no more, surely, than the ban-dog which
+watches his courtyard.  If he is in aught distasteful to your
+ladyship, I have interest enough to have him exchanged for a
+seneschal that shall be more agreeable to you."
+
+"Master Varney," said the Countess, "let us drop this theme.
+When I complain of the attendants whom my lord has placed around
+me, it must be to my lord himself.--Hark!  I hear the trampling
+of horse.  He comes!  he comes!"  she exclaimed, jumping up in
+ecstasy.
+
+"I cannot think it is he," said Varney; "or that you can hear the
+tread of his horse through the closely-mantled casements."
+
+"Stop me not, Varney--my ears are keener than thine.  It is he!"
+
+"But, madam!--but, madam!"  exclaimed Varney anxiously, and still
+placing himself in her way, "I trust that what I have spoken in
+humble duty and service will not be turned to my ruin?  I hope
+that my faithful advice will not be bewrayed to my prejudice?  I
+implore that--"
+
+"Content thee, man--content thee!"  said the Countess, "and quit
+my skirt--you are too bold to detain me.  Content thyself, I
+think not of thee."
+
+At this moment the folding-doors flew wide open, and a man of
+majestic mien, muffled in the folds of a long dark riding-cloak,
+entered the apartment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+       This is he
+  Who rides on the court-gale; controls its tides;
+  Knows all their secret shoals and fatal eddies;
+  Whose frown abases, and whose smile exalts.
+  He shines like any rainbow--and, perchance,
+  His colours are as transient."                OLD PLAY.
+
+There was some little displeasure and confusion on the Countess's
+brow, owing to her struggle with Varney's pertinacity; but it was
+exchanged for an expression of the purest joy and affection, as
+she threw herself into the arms of the noble stranger who
+entered, and clasping him to her bosom, exclaimed, "At length--at
+length thou art come!"
+
+Varney discreetly withdrew as his lord entered, and Janet was
+about to do the same, when her mistress signed to her to remain.
+She took her place at the farther end of the apartment, and
+continued standing, as if ready for attendance.
+
+Meanwhile the Earl, for he was of no inferior rank, returned his
+lady's caress with the most affectionate ardour, but affected to
+resist when she strove to take his cloak from him.
+
+"Nay," she said, "but I will unmantle you.  I must see if you
+have kept your word to me, and come as the great Earl men call
+thee, and not as heretofore like a private cavalier."
+
+"Thou art like the rest of the world, Amy," said the Earl,
+suffering her to prevail in the playful contest; "the jewels, and
+feathers, and silk are more to them than the man whom they adorn
+--many a poor blade looks gay in a velvet scabbard."
+
+"But so cannot men say of thee, thou noble Earl," said his lady,
+as the cloak dropped on the floor, and showed him dressed as
+princes when they ride abroad; "thou art the good and well-tried
+steel, whose inly worth deserves, yet disdains, its outward
+ornaments.  Do not think Amy can love thee better in this
+glorious garb than she did when she gave her heart to him who
+wore the russet-brown cloak in the woods of Devon."
+
+"And thou too," said the Earl, as gracefully and majestically he
+led his beautiful Countess towards the chair of state which was
+prepared for them both--"thou too, my love, hast donned a dress
+which becomes thy rank, though it cannot improve thy beauty.
+What think'st thou of our court taste?"
+
+The lady cast a sidelong glance upon the great mirror as they
+passed it by, and then said, "I know not how it is, but I think
+not of my own person while I look at the reflection of thine.
+Sit thou there," she said, as they approached the chair of state,
+"like a thing for men to worship and to wonder at."
+
+"Ay, love," said the Earl, "if thou wilt share my state with me."
+
+"Not so," said the Countess; "I will sit on this footstool at thy
+feet, that I may spell over thy splendour, and learn, for the
+first time, how princes are attired."
+
+And with a childish wonder, which her youth and rustic education
+rendered not only excusable but becoming, mixed as it was with a
+delicate show of the most tender conjugal affection, she examined
+and admired from head to foot the noble form and princely attire
+of him who formed the proudest ornament of the court of England's
+Maiden Queen, renowned as it was for splendid courtiers, as well
+as for wise counsellors.  Regarding affectionately his lovely
+bride, and gratified by her unrepressed admiration, the dark eye
+and noble features of the Earl expressed passions more gentle
+than the commanding and aspiring look which usually sat upon his
+broad forehead, and in the piercing brilliancy of his dark eye;
+and he smiled at the simplicity which dictated the questions she
+put to him concerning the various ornaments with which he was
+decorated.
+
+"The embroidered strap, as thou callest it, around my knee," he
+said, "is the English Garter, an ornament which kings are proud
+to wear.  See, here is the star which belongs to it, and here the
+Diamond George, the jewel of the order.  You have heard how King
+Edward and the Countess of Salisbury--"
+
+"Oh, I know all that tale," said the Countess, slightly blushing,
+"and how a lady's garter became the proudest badge of English
+chivalry."
+
+"Even so," said the Earl; "and this most honourable Order I had
+the good hap to receive at the same time with three most noble
+associates, the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of Northampton, and
+the Earl of Rutland.  I was the lowest of the four in rank--but
+what then?  he that climbs a ladder must begin at the first
+round."
+
+"But this other fair collar, so richly wrought, with some jewel
+like a sheep hung by the middle attached to it, what," said the
+young Countess, "does that emblem signify?"
+
+"This collar," said the Earl, "with its double fusilles
+interchanged with these knobs, which are supposed to present
+flint-stones sparkling with fire, and sustaining the jewel you
+inquire about, is the badge of the noble Order of the Golden
+Fleece, once appertaining to the House of Burgundy it hath high
+privileges, my Amy, belonging to it, this most noble Order; for
+even the King of Spain himself, who hath now succeeded to the
+honours and demesnes of Burgundy, may not sit in judgment upon a
+knight of the Golden Fleece, unless by assistance and consent of
+the Great Chapter of the Order."
+
+"And is this an Order belonging to the cruel King of Spain?"
+said the Countess.  "Alas!  my noble lord, that you will defile
+your noble English breast by bearing such an emblem!  Bethink you
+of the most unhappy Queen Mary's days, when this same Philip held
+sway with her in England, and of the piles which were built for
+our noblest, and our wisest, and our most truly sanctified
+prelates and divines--and will you, whom men call the standard-
+bearer of the true Protestant faith, be contented to wear the
+emblem and mark of such a Romish tyrant as he of Spain?"
+
+"Oh, content you, my love," answered the Earl; "we who spread our
+sails to gales of court favour cannot always display the ensigns
+we love the best, or at all times refuse sailing under colours
+which we like not.  Believe me, I am not the less good
+Protestant, that for policy I must accept the honour offered me
+by Spain, in admitting me to this his highest order of
+knighthood.  Besides, it belongs properly to Flanders; and
+Egmont, Orange, and others have pride in seeing it displayed on
+an English bosom."
+
+"Nay, my lord, you know your own path best," replied the
+Countess.  "And this other collar, to what country does this fair
+jewel belong?"
+
+"To a very poor one, my love," replied the Earl; "this is the
+Order of Saint Andrew, revived by the last James of Scotland.  It
+was bestowed on me when it was thought the young widow of France
+and Scotland would gladly have wedded an English baron; but a
+free coronet of England is worth a crown matrimonial held at the
+humour of a woman, and owning only the poor rocks and bogs of the
+north."
+
+The Countess paused, as if what the Earl last said had excited
+some painful but interesting train of thought; and, as she still
+remained silent, her husband proceeded:--
+
+"And now, loveliest, your wish is gratified, and you have seen
+your vassal in such of his trim array as accords with riding
+vestments; for robes of state and coronets are only for princely
+halls."
+
+"Well, then," said the Countess, "my gratified wish has, as
+usual, given rise to a new one."
+
+"And what is it thou canst ask that I can deny?"  said the fond
+husband.
+
+"I wished to see my Earl visit this obscure and secret bower,"
+said the Countess, "in all his princely array; and now, methinks
+I long to sit in one of his princely halls, and see him enter
+dressed in sober russet, as when he won poor Amy Robsart's
+heart."
+
+"That is a wish easily granted," said the Earl--"the sober russet
+shall be donned to-morrow, if you will."
+
+"But shall I," said the lady, "go with you to one of your
+castles, to see how the richness of your dwelling will correspond
+with your peasant habit?"
+
+"Why, Amy," said the Earl, looking around, "are not these
+apartments decorated with sufficient splendour?  I gave the most
+unbounded order, and, methinks, it has been indifferently well
+obeyed; but if thou canst tell me aught which remains to be done,
+I will instantly give direction."
+
+"Nay, my lord, now you mock me," replied the Countess; "the
+gaiety of this rich lodging exceeds my imagination as much as it
+does my desert.  But shall not your wife, my love--at least one
+day soon--be surrounded with the honour which arises neither from
+the toils of the mechanic who decks her apartment, nor from the
+silks and jewels with which your generosity adorns her, but which
+is attached to her place among the matronage, as the avowed wife
+of England's noblest Earl?"
+
+"One day?"  said her husband.  "Yes, Amy, my love, one day this
+shall surely happen; and, believe me, thou canst not wish for
+that day more fondly than I.  With what rapture could I retire
+from labours of state, and cares and toils of ambition, to spend
+my life in dignity and honour on my own broad domains, with thee,
+my lovely Amy, for my friend and companion!  But, Amy, this
+cannot yet be; and these dear but stolen interviews are all I can
+give to the loveliest and the best beloved of her sex."
+
+"But WHY can it not be?"  urged the Countess, in the softest
+tones of persuasion--"why can it not immediately take place--this
+more perfect, this uninterrupted union, for which you say you
+wish, and which the laws of God and man alike command?  Ah!  did
+you but desire it half as much as you say, mighty and favoured as
+you are, who or what should bar your attaining your wish?"
+
+The Earl's brow was overcast.
+
+"Amy," he said, "you speak of what you understand not.  We that
+toil in courts are like those who climb a mountain of loose sand
+--we dare make no halt until some projecting rock affords us a
+secure footing and resting-place.  If we pause sooner, we slide
+down by our own weight, an object of universal derision.  I stand
+high, but I stand not secure enough to follow my own inclination.
+To declare my marriage were to be the artificer of my own ruin.
+But, believe me, I will reach a point, and that speedily, when I
+can do justice to thee and to myself.  Meantime, poison not the
+bliss of the present moment, by desiring that which cannot at
+present be, Let me rather know whether all here is managed to thy
+liking.  How does Foster bear himself to you?--in all things
+respectful, I trust, else the fellow shall dearly rue it."
+
+"He reminds me sometimes of the necessity of this privacy,"
+answered the lady, with a sigh; "but that is reminding me of your
+wishes, and therefore I am rather bound to him than disposed to
+blame him for it."
+
+"I have told you the stern necessity which is upon us," replied
+the Earl.  "Foster is, I note, somewhat sullen of mood; but
+Varney warrants to me his fidelity and devotion to my service.
+If thou hast aught, however, to complain of the mode in which he
+discharges his duty, he shall abye it."
+
+"Oh, I have nought to complain of," answered the lady, "so he
+discharges his task with fidelity to you; and his daughter Janet
+is the kindest and best companion of my solitude--her little air
+of precision sits so well upon her!"
+
+"Is she indeed?"  said the Earl.  "She who gives you pleasure
+must not pass unrewarded.--Come hither, damsel."
+
+"Janet," said the lady, "come hither to my lord."
+
+Janet, who, as we already noticed, had discreetly retired to some
+distance, that her presence might be no check upon the private
+conversation of her lord and lady, now came forward; and as she
+made her reverential curtsy, the Earl could not help smiling at
+the contrast which the extreme simplicity of her dress, and the
+prim demureness of her looks, made with a very pretty countenance
+and a pair of black eyes, that laughed in spite of their
+mistress's desire to look grave.
+
+"I am bound to you, pretty damsel," said the Earl, "for the
+contentment which your service hath given to this lady."  As he
+said this, he took from his finger a ring of some price, and
+offered it to Janet Foster, adding, "Wear this, for her sake and
+for mine."
+
+"I am well pleased, my lord," answered Janet demurely, "that my
+poor service hath gratified my lady, whom no one can draw nigh to
+without desiring to please; but we of the precious Master
+Holdforth's congregation seek not, like the gay daughters of this
+world, to twine gold around our fingers, or wear stones upon our
+necks, like the vain women of Tyre and of Sidon."
+
+"Oh, what!  you are a grave professor of the precise sisterhood,
+pretty Mistress Janet," said the Earl, "and I think your father
+is of the same congregation in sincerity?  I like you both the
+better for it; for I have been prayed for, and wished well to, in
+your congregations.  And you may the better afford the lack of
+ornament, Mistress Janet, because your fingers are slender, and
+your neck white.  But here is what neither Papist nor Puritan,
+latitudinarian nor precisian, ever boggles or makes mouths at.
+E'en take it, my girl, and employ it as you list."
+
+So saying, he put into her hand five broad gold pieces of Philip
+and Mary,
+
+"I would not accept this gold either," said Janet, "but that I
+hope to find a use for it which will bring a blessing on us all."
+
+"Even please thyself, pretty Janet," said the Earl, "and I shall
+be well satisfied.  And I prithee let them hasten the evening
+collation."
+
+"I have bidden Master Varney and Master Foster to sup with us, my
+lord," said the Countess, as Janet retired to obey the Earl's
+commands; "has it your approbation?"
+
+"What you do ever must have so, my sweet Amy," replied her
+husband; "and I am the better pleased thou hast done them this
+grace, because Richard Varney is my sworn man, and a close
+brother of my secret council; and for the present, I must needs
+repose much trust in this Anthony Foster."
+
+"I had a boon to beg of thee, and a secret to tell thee, my dear
+lord," said the Countess, with a faltering accent.
+
+"Let both be for to-morrow, my love," replied the Earl.  "I see
+they open the folding-doors into the banqueting-parlour, and as I
+have ridden far and fast, a cup of wine will not be
+unacceptable."
+
+So saying he led his lovely wife into the next apartment, where
+Varney and Foster received them with the deepest reverences,
+which the first paid after the fashion of the court, and the
+second after that of the congregation.  The Earl returned their
+salutation with the negligent courtesy of one long used to such
+homage; while the Countess repaid it with a punctilious
+solicitude, which showed it was not quite so familiar to her.
+
+The banquet at which the company seated themselves corresponded
+in magnificence with the splendour of the apartment in which it
+was served up, but no domestic gave his attendance.  Janet alone
+stood ready to wait upon the company; and, indeed, the board was
+so well supplied with all that could be desired, that little or
+no assistance was necessary.  The Earl and his lady occupied the
+upper end of the table, and Varney and Foster sat beneath the
+salt, as was the custom with inferiors.  The latter, overawed
+perhaps by society to which he was altogether unused, did not
+utter a single syllable during the repast; while Varney, with
+great tact and discernment, sustained just so much of the
+conversation as, without the appearance of intrusion on his part,
+prevented it from languishing, and maintained the good-humour of
+the Earl at the highest pitch.  This man was indeed highly
+qualified by nature to discharge the part in which he found
+himself placed, being discreet and cautious on the one hand, and,
+on the other, quick, keen-witted, and imaginative; so that even
+the Countess, prejudiced as she was against him on many accounts,
+felt and enjoyed his powers of conversation, and was more
+disposed than she had ever hitherto found herself to join in the
+praises which the Earl lavished on his favourite.  The hour of
+rest at length arrived, the Earl and Countess retired to their
+apartment, and all was silent in the castle for the rest of the
+night.
+
+Early on the ensuing morning, Varney acted as the Earl's
+chamberlain as well as his master of horse, though the latter was
+his proper office in that magnificent household, where knights
+and gentlemen of good descent were well contented to hold such
+menial situations, as nobles themselves held in that of the
+sovereign.  The duties of each of these charges were familiar to
+Varney, who, sprung from an ancient but somewhat decayed family,
+was the Earl's page during his earlier and more obscure fortunes,
+and, faithful to him in adversity, had afterwards contrived to
+render himself no less useful to him in his rapid and splendid
+advance to fortune; thus establishing in him an interest resting
+both on present and past services, which rendered him an almost
+indispensable sharer of his confidence.
+
+"Help me to do on a plainer riding-suit, Varney," said the Earl,
+as he laid aside his morning-gown, flowered with silk and lined
+with sables, "and put these chains and fetters there" (pointing
+to the collars of the various Orders which lay on the table)
+"into their place of security--my neck last night was well-nigh
+broke with the weight of them.  I am half of the mind that they
+shall gall me no more.  They are bonds which knaves have invented
+to fetter fools.  How thinkest thou, Varney?"
+
+"Faith, my good lord," said his attendant, "I think fetters of
+gold are like no other fetters--they are ever the weightier the
+welcomer."
+
+"For all that, Varney," replied his master, "I am well-nigh
+resolved they shall bind me to the court no longer.  What can
+further service and higher favour give me, beyond the high rank
+and large estate which I have already secured?  What brought my
+father to the block, but that he could not bound his wishes
+within right and reason?  I have, you know, had mine own ventures
+and mine own escapes.  I am well-nigh resolved to tempt the sea
+no further, but sit me down in quiet on the shore."
+
+"And gather cockle-shells, with Dan Cupid to aid you," said
+Varney.
+
+"How mean you by that, Varney?"  said the Earl somewhat hastily.
+
+"Nay, my lord," said Varney, "be not angry with me.  If your
+lordship is happy in a lady so rarely lovely that, in order to
+enjoy her company with somewhat more freedom, you are willing to
+part with all you have hitherto lived for, some of your poor
+servants may be sufferers; but your bounty hath placed me so
+high, that I shall ever have enough to maintain a poor gentleman
+in the rank befitting the high office he has held in your
+lordship's family."
+
+"Yet you seem discontented when I propose throwing up a dangerous
+game, which may end in the ruin of both of us."
+
+"I, my lord?"  said Varney; "surely I have no cause to regret
+your lordship's retreat!  It will not be Richard Varney who will
+incur the displeasure of majesty, and the ridicule of the court,
+when the stateliest fabric that ever was founded upon a prince's
+favour melts away like a morning frost-work.  I would only have
+you yourself to be assured, my lord, ere you take a step which
+cannot be retracted, that you consult your fame and happiness in
+the course you propose."
+
+"Speak on, then, Varney," said the Earl; "I tell thee I have
+determined nothing, and will weigh all considerations on either
+side."
+
+"Well, then, my lord," replied Varney, "we will suppose the step
+taken, the frown frowned, the laugh laughed, and the moan moaned.
+You have retired, we will say, to some one of your most distant
+castles, so far from court that you hear neither the sorrow of
+your friends nor the glee of your enemies, We will suppose, too,
+that your successful rival will be satisfied (a thing greatly to
+be doubted) with abridging and cutting away the branches of the
+great tree which so long kept the sun from him, and that he does
+not insist upon tearing you up by the roots.  Well; the late
+prime favourite of England, who wielded her general's staff and
+controlled her parliaments, is now a rural baron, hunting,
+hawking, drinking fat ale with country esquires, and mustering
+his men at the command of the high sheriff--"
+
+"Varney, forbear!"  said the Earl.
+
+"Nay, my lord, you must give me leave to conclude my picture.
+--Sussex governs England--the Queen's health fails--the
+succession is to be settled--a road is opened to ambition more
+splendid than ambition ever dreamed of.  You hear all this as you
+sit by the hob, under the shade of your hall-chimney.  You then
+begin to think what hopes you have fallen from, and what
+insignificance you have embraced; and all that you might look
+babies in the eyes of your fair wife oftener than once a
+fortnight,"
+
+"I say, Varney," said the Earl, "no more of this.  I said not
+that the step, which my own ease and comfort would urge me to,
+was to be taken hastily, or without due consideration to the
+public safety.  Bear witness to me, Varney; I subdue my wishes of
+retirement, not because I am moved by the call of private
+ambition, but that I may preserve the position in which I may
+best serve my country at the hour of need.--Order our horses
+presently; I will wear, as formerly, one of the livery cloaks,
+and ride before the portmantle.  Thou shalt be master for the
+day, Varney--neglect nothing that can blind suspicion.  We will
+to horse ere men are stirring.  I will but take leave of my lady,
+and be ready.  I impose a restraint on my own poor heart, and
+wound one yet more dear to me; but the patriot must subdue the
+husband.
+
+Having said this in a melancholy but firm accent, he left the
+dressing apartment.
+
+"I am glad thou art gone," thought Varney, "or, practised as I am
+in the follies of mankind, I had laughed in the very face of
+thee!  Thou mayest tire as thou wilt of thy new bauble, thy
+pretty piece of painted Eve's flesh there, I will not be thy
+hindrance. But of thine old bauble, ambition, thou shalt not
+tire; for as you climb the hill, my lord, you must drag Richard
+Varney up with you, and if he can urge you to the ascent he means
+to profit by, believe me he will spare neither whip nor spur, and
+for you, my pretty lady, that would be Countess outright, you
+were best not thwart my courses, lest you are called to an old
+reckoning on a new score.  'Thou shalt be master,' did he say?
+By my faith, he may find that he spoke truer than he is aware of;
+and thus he who, in the estimation of so many wise-judging men,
+can match Burleigh and Walsingham in policy, and Sussex in war,
+becomes pupil to his own menial--and all for a hazel eye and a
+little cunning red and white, and so falls ambition.  And yet if
+the charms of mortal woman could excuse a man's politic pate for
+becoming bewildered, my lord had the excuse at his right hand on
+this blessed evening that has last passed over us.  Well--let
+things roll as they may, he shall make me great, or I will make
+myself happy; and for that softer piece of creation, if she speak
+not out her interview with Tressilian, as well I think she dare
+not, she also must traffic with me for concealment and mutual
+support, in spite of all this scorn.  I must to the stables.
+Well, my lord, I order your retinue now; the time may soon come
+that my master of the horse shall order mine own.  What was
+Thomas Cromwell but a smith's son?  and he died my lord--on a
+scaffold, doubtless, but that, too, was in character.  And what
+was Ralph Sadler but the clerk of Cromwell?  and he has gazed
+eighteen fair lordships--VIA!  I know my steerage as well as
+they."
+
+So saying, he left the apartment.
+
+In the meanwhile the Earl had re-entered the bedchamber, bent on
+taking a hasty farewell of the lovely Countess, and scarce daring
+to trust himself in private with her, to hear requests again
+urged which he found it difficult to parry, yet which his recent
+conversation with his master of horse had determined him not to
+grant.
+
+He found her in a white cymar of silk lined with furs, her little
+feet unstockinged and hastily thrust into slippers; her unbraided
+hair escaping from under her midnight coif, with little array but
+her own loveliness, rather augmented than diminished by the grief
+which she felt at the approaching moment of separation.
+
+"Now, God be with thee, my dearest and loveliest!"  said the
+Earl, scarce tearing himself from her embrace, yet again
+returning to fold her again and again in his arms, and again
+bidding farewell, and again returning to kiss and bid adieu once
+more.  "The sun is on the verge of the blue horizon--I dare not
+stay.  Ere this I should have been ten miles from hence."
+
+Such were the words with which at length he strove to cut short
+their parting interview.  "You will not grant my request, then?"
+said the Countess.  "Ah, false knight!  did ever lady, with bare
+foot in slipper, seek boon of a brave knight, yet return with
+denial?"
+
+"Anything, Amy, anything thou canst ask I will grant," answered
+the Earl--"always excepting," he said, "that which might ruin us
+both."
+
+"Nay," said the Countess, "I urge not my wish to be acknowledged
+in the character which would make me the envy of England--as the
+wife, that is, of my brave and noble lord, the first as the most
+fondly beloved of English nobles.  Let me but share the secret
+with my dear father!  Let me but end his misery on my unworthy
+account--they say he is ill, the good old kind-hearted man!"
+
+"They say?"  asked the Earl hastily; "who says?  Did not Varney
+convey to Sir Hugh all we dare at present tell him concerning
+your happiness and welfare?  and has he not told you that the
+good old knight was following, with good heart and health, his
+favourite and wonted exercise.  Who has dared put other thoughts
+into your head?"
+
+"Oh, no one, my lord, no one," said the Countess, something
+alarmed at the tone, in which the question was put; "but yet, my
+lord, I would fain be assured by mine own eyesight that my father
+is well."
+
+"Be contented, Amy; thou canst not now have communication with
+thy father or his house.  Were it not a deep course of policy to
+commit no secret unnecessarily to the custody of more than must
+needs be, it were sufficient reason for secrecy that yonder
+Cornish man, yonder Trevanion, or Tressilian, or whatever his
+name is, haunts the old knight's house, and must necessarily know
+whatever is communicated there."
+
+"My lord," answered the Countess, "I do not think it so.  My
+father has been long noted a worthy and honourable man; and for
+Tressilian, if we can pardon ourselves the ill we have wrought
+him, I will wager the coronet I am to share with you one day that
+he is incapable of returning injury for injury."
+
+"I will not trust him, however, Amy," said her husband--"by my
+honour, I will not trust him, I would rather the foul fiend
+intermingle in our secret than this Tressilian!"
+
+"And why, my lord?"  said the Countess, though she shuddered
+slightly at the tone of determination in which he spoke; "let me
+but know why you think thus hardly of Tressilian?"
+
+"Madam," replied the Earl, "my will ought to be a sufficient
+reason.  If you desire more, consider how this Tressilian is
+leagued, and with whom.  He stands high in the opinion of this
+Radcliffe, this Sussex, against whom I am barely able to maintain
+my ground in the opinion of our suspicious mistress; and if he
+had me at such advantage, Amy, as to become acquainted with the
+tale of our marriage, before Elizabeth were fitly prepared, I
+were an outcast from her grace for ever--a bankrupt at once in
+favour and in fortune, perhaps, for she hath in her a touch of
+her father Henry--a victim, and it may be a bloody one, to her
+offended and jealous resentment."
+
+"But why, my lord," again urged his lady, "should you deem thus
+injuriously of a man of whom you know so little?  What you do
+know of Tressilian is through me, and it is I who assure you that
+in no circumstances will be betray your secret.  If I did him
+wrong in your behalf, my lord, I am now the more concerned you
+should do him justice.  You are offended at my speaking of him,
+what would you say had I actually myself seen him?"
+
+"If you had," replied the Earl, "you would do well to keep that
+interview as secret as that which is spoken in a confessional.  I
+seek no one's ruin; but he who thrusts himself on my secret
+privacy were better look well to his future walk.  The bear [The
+Leicester cognizance was the ancient device  adopted by his
+father, when Earl of Warwick, the bear and ragged staff.]  brooks
+no one to cross his awful path."
+
+"Awful, indeed!"  said the Countess, turning very pale.
+
+"You are ill, my love," said the Earl, supporting her in his
+arms.  "Stretch yourself on your couch again; it is but an early
+day for you to leave it.  Have you aught else, involving less
+than my fame, my fortune, and my life, to ask of me?"
+
+"Nothing, my lord and love," answered the Countess faintly;
+"something there was that I would have told you, but your anger
+has driven it from my recollection."
+
+"Reserve it till our next meeting, my love," said the Earl
+fondly, and again embracing her; "and barring only those requests
+which I cannot and dare not grant, thy wish must be more than
+England and all its dependencies can fulfil, if it is not
+gratified to the letter."
+
+Thus saying, he at length took farewell.  At the bottom of the
+staircase he received from Varney an ample livery cloak and
+slouched hat, in which he wrapped himself so as to disguise his
+person and completely conceal his features.  Horses were ready in
+the courtyard for himself and Varney; for one or two of his
+train, intrusted with the secret so far as to know or guess that
+the Earl intrigued with a beautiful lady at that mansion, though
+her name and duality were unknown to them, had already been
+dismissed over-night.
+
+Anthony Foster himself had in hand the rein of the Earl's
+palfrey, a stout and able nag for the road; while his old
+serving-man held the bridle of the more showy and gallant steed
+which Richard Varney was to occupy in the character of master.
+
+As the Earl approached, however, Varney advanced to hold his
+master's bridle, and to prevent Foster from paying that duty to
+the Earl which he probably considered as belonging to his own
+office.  Foster scowled at an interference which seemed intended
+to prevent his paying his court to his patron, but gave place to
+Varney; and the Earl, mounting without further observation, and
+forgetting that his assumed character of a domestic threw him
+into the rear of his supposed master, rode pensively out of the
+quadrangle, not without waving his hand repeatedly in answer to
+the signals which were made by the Countess with her kerchief
+from the windows of her apartment.
+
+While his stately form vanished under the dark archway which led
+out of the quadrangle, Varney muttered, "There goes fine policy
+--the servant before the master!"  then as he disappeared, seized
+the moment to speak a word with Foster.  "Thou look'st dark on
+me, Anthony," he said, "as if I had deprived thee of a parting
+nod of my lord; but I have moved him to leave thee a better
+remembrance for thy faithful service.  See here!  a purse of as
+good gold as ever chinked under a miser's thumb and fore-finger.
+Ay, count them, lad," said he, as Foster received the gold with a
+grim smile, "and add to them the goodly remembrance he gave last
+night to Janet."
+
+"How's this?  how's this?"  said Anthony Foster hastily; "gave he
+gold to Janet?"
+
+"Ay, man, wherefore not?--does not her service to his fair lady
+require guerdon?"
+
+"She shall have none on't," said Foster; "she shall return it.  I
+know his dotage on one face is as brief as it is deep.  His
+affections are as fickle as the moon."
+
+"Why, Foster, thou art mad--thou dost not hope for such good
+fortune as that my lord should cast an eye on Janet?  Who, in the
+fiend's name, would listen to the thrush while the nightingale is
+singing?"
+
+"Thrush or nightingale, all is one to the fowler; and, Master
+Varney, you can sound the quail-pipe most daintily to wile
+wantons into his nets.  I desire no such devil's preferment for
+Janet as you have brought many a poor maiden to.  Dost thou
+laugh?  I will keep one limb of my family, at least, from Satan's
+clutches, that thou mayest rely on.  She shall restore the gold."
+
+"Ay, or give it to thy keeping, Tony, which will serve as well,"
+answered Varney; "but I have that to say which is more serious.
+Our lord is returning to court in an evil humour for us."
+
+"How meanest thou?"  said Foster.  "Is he tired already of his
+pretty toy--his plaything yonder?  He has purchased her at a
+monarch's ransom, and I warrant me he rues his bargain."
+
+"Not a whit, Tony," answered the master of the horse; "he dotes
+on her, and will forsake the court for her.  Then down go hopes,
+possessions, and safety--church-lands are resumed, Tony, and well
+if the holders be not called to account in Exchequer."
+
+"That were ruin," said Foster, his brow darkening with
+apprehensions; "and all this for a woman!  Had it been for his
+soul's sake, it were something; and I sometimes wish I myself
+could fling away the world that cleaves to me, and be as one of
+the poorest of our church."
+
+"Thou art like enough to be so, Tony," answered Varney; "but I
+think the devil will give thee little credit for thy compelled
+poverty, and so thou losest on all hands.  But follow my counsel,
+and Cumnor Place shall be thy copyhold yet.  Say nothing of this
+Tressilian's visit--not a word until I give thee notice."
+
+"And wherefore, I pray you?"  asked Foster, suspiciously.
+
+"Dull beast!"  replied Varney.  "In my lord's present humour it
+were the ready way to confirm him in his resolution of
+retirement, should he know that his lady was haunted with such a
+spectre in his absence.  He would be for playing the dragon
+himself over his golden fruit, and then, Tony, thy occupation is
+ended.  A word to the wise.  Farewell!  I must follow him."
+
+He turned his horse, struck him with the spurs, and rode off
+under the archway in pursuit of his lord.
+
+"Would thy occupation were ended, or thy neck broken, damned
+pander!"  said Anthony Foster.  "But I must follow his beck, for
+his interest and mine are the same, and he can wind the proud
+Earl to his will.  Janet shall give me those pieces though; they
+shall be laid out in some way for God's service, and I will keep
+them separate in my strong chest, till I can fall upon a fitting
+employment for them.  No contagious vapour shall breathe on
+Janet--she shall remain pure as a blessed spirit, were it but to
+pray God for her father.  I need her prayers, for I am at a hard
+pass.  Strange reports are abroad concerning my way of life.  The
+congregation look cold on me, and when Master Holdforth spoke of
+hypocrites being like a whited sepulchre, which within was full
+of dead men's bones, methought he looked full at me.  The Romish
+was a comfortable faith; Lambourne spoke true in that.  A man had
+but to follow his thrift by such ways as offered--tell his beads,
+hear a mass, confess, and be absolved.  These Puritans tread a
+harder and a rougher path; but I will try--I will read my Bible
+for an hour ere I again open mine iron chest."
+
+Varney, meantime, spurred after his lord, whom he found waiting
+for him at the postern gate of the park.
+
+"You waste time, Varney," said the Earl, "and it presses.  I must
+be at Woodstock before I can safely lay aside my disguise, and
+till then I journey in some peril."
+
+"It is but two hours' brisk riding, my lord," said Varney.  "For
+me, I only stopped to enforce your commands of care and secrecy
+on yonder Foster, and to inquire about the abode of the gentleman
+whom I would promote to your lordship's train, in the room of
+Trevors."
+
+"Is he fit for the meridian of the antechamber, think'st thou?"
+said the Earl.
+
+"He promises well, my lord," replied Varney ; "but if your
+lordship were pleased to ride on, I could go back to Cumnor, and
+bring him to your lordship at Woodstock before you are out of
+bed."
+
+"Why, I am asleep there, thou knowest, at this moment," said the
+Earl; "and I pray you not to spare horse-flesh, that you may be
+with me at my levee."
+
+So saying, he gave his horse the spur, and proceeded on his
+journey, while Varney rode back to Cumnor by the public road,
+avoiding the park.  The latter alighted at the door of the bonny
+Black Bear, and desired to speak with Master Michael Lambourne,
+That respectable character was not long of appearing before his
+new patron, but it was with downcast looks.
+
+"Thou hast lost the scent," said Varney, "of thy comrade
+Tressilian.  I know it by thy bang-dog visage.  Is this thy
+alacrity, thou impudent knave?"
+
+"Cogswounds!"  said Lambourne, "there was never a trail so finely
+hunted.  I saw him to earth at mine uncle's here--stuck to him
+like bees'-wax--saw him at supper--watched him to his chamber,
+and, presto!  he is gone next morning, the very hostler knows not
+where."
+
+"This sounds like practice upon me, sir," replied Varney; "and if
+it proves so, by my soul you shall repent it!"
+
+"Sir, the best hound will be sometimes at fault," answered
+Lambourne; "how should it serve me that this fellow should have
+thus evanished?  You may ask mine host, Giles Gosling--ask the
+tapster and hostler--ask Cicely, and the whole household, how I
+kept eyes on Tressilian while he was on foot.  On my soul, I
+could not be expected to watch him like a sick nurse, when I had
+seen him fairly a-bed in his chamber.  That will be allowed me,
+surely."
+
+Varney did, in fact, make some inquiry among the household, which
+confirmed the truth of Lambourne's statement.  Tressilian, it was
+unanimously agreed, had departed suddenly and unexpectedly,
+betwixt night and morning.
+
+"But I will wrong no one," said mine host; "he left on the table
+in his lodging the full value of his reckoning, with some
+allowance to the servants of the house, which was the less
+necessary that he saddled his own gelding, as it seems, without
+the hostler's assistance."
+
+Thus satisfied of the rectitude of Lambourne's conduct, Varney
+began to talk to him upon his future prospects, and the mode in
+which he meant to bestow himself, intimating that he understood
+from Foster he was not disinclined to enter into the household of
+a nobleman.
+
+"Have you," said he, "ever been at court?"
+
+"No," replied Lambourne; "but ever since I was ten years old, I
+have dreamt once a week that I was there, and made my fortune."
+
+"It may be your own fault if your dream comes not true," said
+Varney.  "Are you needy?"
+
+"Um!"  replied Lambourne; "I love pleasure."
+
+"That is a sufficient answer, and an honest one," said Varney.
+"Know you aught of the requisites expected from the retainer of a
+rising courtier?"
+
+"I have imagined them to myself, sir," answered Lambourne; "as,
+for example, a quick eye, a close mouth, a ready and bold hand, a
+sharp wit, and a blunt conscience."
+
+"And thine, I suppose," said Varney, "has had its edge blunted
+long since?"
+
+"I cannot remember, sir, that its edge was ever over-keen,"
+replied Lambourne.  "When I was a youth, I had some few whimsies;
+but I rubbed them partly out of my recollection on the rough
+grindstone of the wars, and what remained I washed out in the
+broad waves of the Atlantic."
+
+"Thou hast served, then, in the Indies?"
+
+"In both East and West," answered the candidate for court
+service, "by both sea and land.  I have served both the Portugal
+and the Spaniard, both the Dutchman and the Frenchman, and have
+made war on our own account with a crew of jolly fellows, who
+held there was no peace beyond the Line."  [Sir Francis Drake,
+Morgan, and many a bold buccaneer of those days, were, in fact,
+little better than pirates.]
+
+"Thou mayest do me, and my lord, and thyself, good service," said
+Varney, after a pause.  "But observe, I know the world--and
+answer me truly, canst thou be faithful?"
+
+"Did you not know the world," answered Lambourne, "it were my
+duty to say ay, without further circumstance, and to swear to it
+with life and honour, and so forth.  But as it seems to me that
+your worship is one who desires rather honest truth than politic
+falsehood, I reply to you, that I can be faithful to the gallows'
+foot, ay, to the loop that dangles from it, if I am well used and
+well recompensed--not otherwise."
+
+"To thy other virtues thou canst add, no doubt," said Varney, in
+a jeering tone, "the knack of seeming serious and religious, when
+the moment demands it?"
+
+"It would cost me nothing," said Lambourne, "to say yes; but, to
+speak on the square, I must needs say no.  If you want a
+hypocrite, you may take Anthony Foster, who, from his childhood,
+had some sort of phantom haunting him, which he called religion,
+though it was that sort of godliness which always ended in being
+great gain.  But I have no such knack of it."
+
+"Well," replied Varney, "if thou hast no hypocrisy, hast thou not
+a nag here in the stable?"
+
+"Ay, sir," said Lambourne, "that shall take hedge and ditch with
+my Lord Duke's best hunters.  Then I made a little mistake on
+Shooter's Hill, and stopped an ancient grazier whose pouches were
+better lined than his brain-pan, the bonny bay nag carried me
+sheer off in spite of the whole hue and cry."
+
+"Saddle him then instantly, and attend me," said Varney.  "Leave
+thy clothes and baggage under charge of mine host; and I will
+conduct thee to a service, in which, if thou do not better
+thyself, the fault shall not be fortune's, but thine own."
+
+"Brave and hearty!"  said Lambourne, "and I am mounted in an
+instant.--Knave, hostler, saddle my nag without the loss of one
+second, as thou dost value the safety of thy noddle.--Pretty
+Cicely, take half this purse to comfort thee for my sudden
+departure."
+
+"Gogsnouns!"  replied the father, "Cicely wants no such token
+from thee.  Go away, Mike, and gather grace if thou canst, though
+I think thou goest not to the land where it grows."
+
+"Let me look at this Cicely of thine, mine host," said Varney; "I
+have heard much talk of her beauty."
+
+"It is a sunburnt beauty," said mine host, "well qualified to
+stand out rain and wind, but little calculated to please such
+critical gallants as yourself.  She keeps her chamber, and cannot
+encounter the glance of such sunny-day courtiers as my noble
+guest."
+
+"Well, peace be with her, my good host," answered Varney; "our
+horses are impatient--we bid you good day."
+
+"Does my nephew go with you, so please you?"  said Gosling.
+
+"Ay, such is his purpose," answered Richard Varney.
+
+"You are right--fully right," replied mine host--"you are, I say,
+fully right, my kinsman.  Thou hast got a gay horse; see thou
+light not unaware upon a halter--or, if thou wilt needs be made
+immortal by means of a rope, which thy purpose of following this
+gentleman renders not unlikely, I charge thee to find a gallows
+as far from Cumnor as thou conveniently mayest.  And so I commend
+you to your saddle."
+
+The master of the horse and his new retainer mounted accordingly,
+leaving the landlord to conclude his ill-omened farewell, to
+himself and at leisure; and set off together at a rapid pace,
+which prevented conversation until the ascent of a steep sandy
+hill permitted them to resume it.
+
+"You are contented, then," said Varney to his companion, "to take
+court service?"
+
+"Ay, worshipful sir, if you like my terms as well as I like
+yours."
+
+"And what are your terms?"  demanded Varney.
+
+"If I am to have a quick eye for my patron's interest, he must
+have a dull one towards my faults," said Lambourne.
+
+"Ay," said Varney, "so they lie not so grossly open that he must
+needs break his shins over them."
+
+"Agreed," said Lambourne.  "Next, if I run down game, I must have
+the picking of the bones."
+
+"That is but reason," replied Varney, "so that your betters are
+served before you."
+
+"Good," said Lambourne; "and it only remains to be said, that if
+the law and I quarrel, my patron must bear me out, for that is a
+chief point."
+
+"Reason again," said Varney, "if the quarrel hath happened in
+your master's service."
+
+"For the wage and so forth, I say nothing," proceeded Lambourne;
+"it is the secret guerdon that I must live by."
+
+"Never fear," said Varney; "thou shalt have clothes and spending
+money to ruffle it with the best of thy degree, for thou goest to
+a household where you have gold, as they say, by the eye."
+
+"That jumps all with my humour," replied Michael Lambourne; "and
+it only remains that you tell me my master's name."
+
+"My name is Master Richard Varney," answered his companion.
+
+"But I mean," said Lambourne, "the name of the noble lord to
+whose service you are to prefer me."
+
+"How, knave, art thou too good to call me master?"  said Varney
+hastily; "I would have thee bold to others, but not saucy to me."
+
+"I crave your worship's pardon," said Lambourne, "but you seemed
+familiar with Anthony Foster; now I am familiar with Anthony
+myself."
+
+"Thou art a shrewd knave, I see," replied Varney.  "Mark me--I do
+indeed propose to introduce thee into a nobleman's household; but
+it is upon my person thou wilt chiefly wait, and upon my
+countenance that thou wilt depend.  I am his master of horse.
+Thou wilt soon know his name--it is one that shakes the council
+and wields the state."
+
+"By this light, a brave spell to conjure with," said Lambourne,
+"if a man would discover hidden treasures!"
+
+"Used with discretion, it may prove so," replied Varney; "but
+mark--if thou conjure with it at thine own hand, it may raise a
+devil who will tear thee in fragments."
+
+"Enough said," replied Lambourne; "I will not exceed my limits."
+
+The travellers then resumed the rapid rate of travelling which
+their discourse had interrupted, and soon arrived at the Royal
+Park of Woodstock.  This ancient possession of the crown of
+England was then very different from what it had been when it was
+the residence of the fair Rosamond, and the scene of Henry the
+Second's secret and illicit amours; and yet more unlike to the
+scene which it exhibits in the present day, when Blenheim House
+commemorates the victory of Marlborough, and no less the genius
+of Vanbrugh, though decried in his own time by persons of taste
+far inferior to his own.  It was, in Elizabeth's time, an ancient
+mansion in bad repair, which had long ceased to be honoured with
+the royal residence, to the great impoverishment of the adjacent
+village.  The inhabitants, however, had made several petitions to
+the Queen to have the favour of the sovereign's countenance
+occasionally bestowed upon them; and upon this very business,
+ostensibly at least, was the noble lord, whom we have already
+introduced to our readers, a visitor at Woodstock.
+
+Varney and Lambourne galloped without ceremony into the courtyard
+of the ancient and dilapidated mansion, which presented on that
+morning a scene of bustle which it had not exhibited for two
+reigns.  Officers of the Earl's household, liverymen and
+retainers, went and came with all the insolent fracas which
+attaches to their profession.  The neigh of horses and the baying
+of hounds were heard; for my lord, in his occupation of
+inspecting and surveying the manor and demesne, was of course
+provided with the means of following his pleasure in the chase or
+park, said to have been the earliest that was enclosed in
+England, and which was well stocked with deer that had long
+roamed there unmolested.  Several of the inhabitants of the
+village, in anxious hope of a favourable result from this
+unwonted visit, loitered about the courtyard, and awaited the
+great man's coming forth.  Their attention was excited by the
+hasty arrival of Varney, and a murmur ran amongst them, "The
+Earl's master of the horse!"  while they hurried to bespeak
+favour by hastily unbonneting, and proffering to hold the bridle
+and stirrup of the favoured retainer and his attendant.
+
+"Stand somewhat aloof, my masters!"  said Varney haughtily, "and
+let the domestics do their office."
+
+The mortified citizens and peasants fell back at the signal;
+while Lambourne, who had his eye upon his superior's deportment,
+repelled the services of those who offered to assist him, with
+yet more discourtesy--"Stand back, Jack peasant, with a murrain
+to you, and let these knave footmen do their duty!"
+
+While they gave their nags to the attendants of the household,
+and walked into the mansion with an air of superiority which long
+practice and consciousness of birth rendered natural to Varney,
+and which Lambourne endeavoured to imitate as well as he could,
+the poor inhabitants of Woodstock whispered to each other, "Well-
+a-day!  God save us from all such misproud princoxes!  An the
+master be like the men, why, the fiend may take all, and yet have
+no more than his due."
+
+"Silence, good neighbours!"  said the bailiff, "keep tongue
+betwixt teeth; we shall know more by-and-by.  But never will a
+lord come to Woodstock so welcome as bluff old King Harry!  He
+would horsewhip a fellow one day with his own royal hand, and
+then fling him an handful of silver groats, with his own broad
+face on them, to 'noint the sore withal."
+
+"Ay, rest be with him!"  echoed the auditors; "it will be long
+ere this Lady Elizabeth horsewhip any of us."
+
+"There is no saying," answered the bailiff.  "Meanwhile,
+patience, good neighbours, and let us comfort ourselves by
+thinking that we deserve such notice at her Grace's hands."
+
+Meanwhile, Varney, closely followed by his new dependant, made
+his way to the hall, where men of more note and consequence than
+those left in the courtyard awaited the appearance of the Earl,
+who as yet kept his chamber.  All paid court to Varney, with more
+or less deference, as suited their own rank, or the urgency of
+the business which brought them to his lord's levee.  To the
+general question of, "When comes my lord forth, Master Varney?"
+he gave brief answers, as, "See you not my boots?  I am but just
+returned from Oxford, and know nothing of it," and the like,
+until the same query was put in a higher tone by a personage of
+more importance.  "I will inquire of the chamberlain, Sir Thomas
+Copely," was the reply.  The chamberlain, distinguished by his
+silver key, answered that the Earl only awaited Master Varney's
+return to come down, but that he would first speak with him in
+his private chamber.  Varney, therefore, bowed to the company,
+and took leave, to enter his lord's apartment.
+
+There was a murmur of expectation which lasted a few minutes, and
+was at length hushed by the opening of the folding-doors at the
+upper end or the apartment, through which the Earl made his
+entrance, marshalled by his chamberlain and the steward of his
+family, and followed by Richard Varney.  In his noble mien and
+princely features, men read nothing of that insolence which was
+practised by his dependants.  His courtesies were, indeed,
+measured by the rank of those to whom they were addressed, but
+even the meanest person present had a share of his gracious
+notice.  The inquiries which he made respecting the condition of
+the manor, of the Queen's rights there, and of the advantages and
+disadvantages which might attend her occasional residence at the
+royal seat of Woodstock, seemed to show that he had most
+earnestly investigated the matter of the petition of the
+inhabitants, and with a desire to forward the interest of the
+place.
+
+"Now the Lord love his noble countenance!"  said the bailiff, who
+had thrust himself into the presence-chamber; "he looks somewhat
+pale.  I warrant him he hath spent the whole night in perusing
+our memorial.  Master Toughyarn, who took six months to draw it
+up, said it would take a week to understand it; and see if the
+Earl hath not knocked the marrow out of it in twenty-four hours!"
+
+The Earl then acquainted them that he should move their sovereign
+to honour Woodstock occasionally with her residence during her
+royal progresses, that the town and its vicinity might derive,
+from her countenance and favour, the same advantages as from
+those of her predecessors.  Meanwhile, he rejoiced to be the
+expounder of her gracious pleasure, in assuring them that, for
+the increase of trade and encouragement of the worthy burgesses
+of Woodstock, her Majesty was minded to erect the town into a
+Staple for wool.
+
+This joyful intelligence was received with the acclamations not
+only of the better sort who were admitted to the audience-
+chamber, but of the commons who awaited without.
+
+The freedom of the corporation was presented to the Earl upon
+knee by the magistrates of the place, together with a purse of
+gold pieces, which the Earl handed to Varney, who, on his part,
+gave a share to Lambourne, as the most acceptable earnest of his
+new service.
+
+The Earl and his retinue took horse soon after to return to
+court, accompanied by the shouts of the inhabitants of Woodstock,
+who made the old oaks ring with re-echoing, "Long live Queen
+Elizabeth, and the noble Earl of Leicester!"  The urbanity and
+courtesy of the Earl even threw a gleam of popularity over his
+attendants, as their haughty deportment had formerly obscured
+that of their master; and men shouted, "Long life to the Earl,
+and to his gallant followers!"  as Varney and Lambourne, each in
+his rank, rode proudly through the streets of Woodstock.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  HOST.  I will hear you, Master Fenton; and I will, at the
+  least, keep your counsel.--MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.
+
+It becomes necessary to return to the detail of those
+circumstances which accompanied, and indeed occasioned, the
+sudden disappearance of Tressilian from the sign of the Black
+Bear at Cumnor.  It will be recollected that this gentleman,
+after his rencounter with Varney, had returned to Giles Gosling's
+caravansary, where he shut himself up in his own chamber,
+demanded pen, ink, and paper, and announced his purpose to remain
+private for the day.  In the evening he appeared again in the
+public room, where Michael Lambourne, who had been on the watch
+for him, agreeably to his engagement to Varney, endeavoured to
+renew his acquaintance with him, and hoped he retained no
+unfriendly recollection of the part he had taken in the morning's
+scuffle.
+
+But Tressilian repelled his advances firmly, though with
+civility.  "Master Lambourne," said he, "I trust I have
+recompensed to your pleasure the time you have wasted on me.
+Under the show of wild bluntness which you exhibit, I know you
+have sense enough to understand me, when I say frankly that the
+object of our temporary acquaintance having been accomplished, we
+must be strangers to each other in future."
+
+"VOTO!"  said Lambourne, twirling his whiskers with one hand, and
+grasping the hilt of his weapon with the other; "if I thought
+that this usage was meant to insult me--"
+
+"You would bear it with discretion, doubtless," interrupted
+Tressilian, "as you must do at any rate.  You know too well the
+distance that is betwixt us, to require me to explain myself
+further.  Good evening."
+
+So saying, he turned his back upon his former companion, and
+entered into discourse with the landlord.  Michael Lambourne felt
+strongly disposed to bully; but his wrath died away in a few
+incoherent oaths and ejaculations, and he sank unresistingly
+under the ascendency which superior spirits possess over persons
+of his habits and description.  He remained moody and silent in a
+corner of the apartment, paying the most marked attention to
+every motion of his late companion, against whom he began now to
+nourish a quarrel on his own account, which he trusted to avenge
+by the execution of his new master Varney's directions.  The hour
+of supper arrived, and was followed by that of repose, when
+Tressilian, like others, retired to his sleeping apartment.
+
+He had not been in bed long, when the train of sad reveries,
+which supplied the place of rest in his disturbed mind, was
+suddenly interrupted by the jar of a door on its hinges, and a
+light was seen to glimmer in the apartment.  Tressilian, who was
+as brave as steel, sprang from his bed at this alarm, and had
+laid hand upon his sword, when he was prevented from drawing it
+by a voice which said, "Be not too rash with your rapier, Master
+Tressilian.  It is I, your host, Giles Gosling."
+
+At the same time, unshrouding the dark lantern, which had
+hitherto only emitted an indistinct glimmer, the goodly aspect
+and figure of the landlord of the Black Bear was visibly
+presented to his astonished guest.
+
+"What mummery is this, mine host?"  said Tressilian.  "Have you
+supped as jollily as last night, and so mistaken your chamber?
+or is midnight a time for masquerading it in your guest's
+lodging?"
+
+"Master Tressilian," replied mine host, "I know my place and my
+time as well as e'er a merry landlord in England.  But here has
+been my hang-dog kinsman watching you as close as ever cat
+watched a mouse; and here have you, on the other hand, quarrelled
+and fought, either with him or with some other person, and I fear
+that danger will come of it."
+
+"Go to, thou art but a fool, man," said Tressilian.  "Thy kinsman
+is beneath my resentment; and besides, why shouldst thou think I
+had quarrelled with any one whomsoever?"
+
+"Oh, sir," replied the innkeeper, "there was a red spot on thy
+very cheek-bone, which boded of a late brawl, as sure as the
+conjunction of Mars and Saturn threatens misfortune; and when you
+returned, the buckles of your girdle were brought forward, and
+your step was quick and hasty, and all things showed your hand
+and your hilt had been lately acquainted."
+
+"Well, good mine host, if I have been obliged to draw my sword,"
+said Tressilian, "why should such a circumstance fetch thee out
+of thy warm bed at this time of night?  Thou seest the mischief
+is all over."
+
+"Under favour, that is what I doubt.  Anthony Foster is a
+dangerous man, defended by strong court patronage, which hath
+borne him out in matters of very deep concernment.  And, then, my
+kinsman--why, I have told you what he is; and if these two old
+cronies have made up their old acquaintance, I would not, my
+worshipful guest, that it should be at thy cost.  I promise you,
+Mike Lambourne has been making very particular inquiries at my
+hostler when and which way you ride.  Now, I would have you think
+whether you may not have done or said something for which you may
+be waylaid, and taken at disadvantage."
+
+"Thou art an honest man, mine host," said Tressilian, after a
+moment's consideration, "and I will deal frankly with thee.  If
+these men's malice is directed against me--as I deny not but it
+may--it is because they are the agents of a more powerful villain
+than themselves."
+
+"You mean Master Richard Varney, do you not?"  said the landlord;
+"he was at Cumnor Place yesterday, and came not thither so
+private but what he was espied by one who told me."
+
+"I mean the same, mine host."
+
+"Then, for God's sake, worshipful Master Tressilian," said honest
+Gosling, "look well to yourself.  This Varney is the protector
+and patron of Anthony Foster, who holds under him, and by his
+favour, some lease of yonder mansion and the park.  Varney got a
+large grant of the lands of the Abbacy of Abingdon, and Cumnor
+Place amongst others, from his master, the Earl of Leicester.
+Men say he can do everything with him, though I hold the Earl too
+good a nobleman to employ him as some men talk of.  And then the
+Earl can do anything (that is, anything right or fitting) with
+the Queen, God bless her!  So you see what an enemy you have made
+to yourself."
+
+"Well--it is done, and I cannot help it," answered Tressilian.
+
+"Uds precious, but it must be helped in some manner," said the
+host.  "Richard Varney--why, what between his influence with my
+lord, and his pretending to so many old and vexatious claims in
+right of the abbot here, men fear almost to mention his name,
+much more to set themselves against his practices.  You may judge
+by our discourses the last night. Men said their pleasure of Tony
+Foster, but not a word of Richard Varney, though all men judge
+him to be at the bottom of yonder mystery about the pretty wench.
+But perhaps you know more of that matter than I do; for women,
+though they wear not swords, are occasion for many a blade's
+exchanging a sheath of neat's leather for one of flesh and
+blood."
+
+"I do indeed know more of that poor unfortunate lady than thou
+dost, my friendly host; and so bankrupt am I, at this moment, of
+friends and advice, that I will willingly make a counsellor of
+thee, and tell thee the whole history, the rather that I have a
+favour to ask when my tale is ended."
+
+"Good Master Tressilian," said the landlord, "I am but a poor
+innkeeper, little able to adjust or counsel such a guest as
+yourself.  But as sure as I have risen decently above the world,
+by giving good measure and reasonable charges, I am an honest
+man; and as such, if I may not be able to assist you, I am, at
+least, not capable to abuse your confidence.  Say away therefore,
+as confidently as if you spoke to your father; and thus far at
+least be certain, that my curiosity--for I will not deny that
+which belongs to my calling--is joined to a reasonable degree of
+discretion."
+
+"I doubt it not, mine host," answered Tressilian; and while his
+auditor remained in anxious expectation, he meditated for an
+instant how he should commence his narrative.  "My tale," he at
+length said, "to be quite intelligible, must begin at some
+distance back.  You have heard of the battle of Stoke, my good
+host, and perhaps of old Sir Roger Robsart, who, in that battle,
+valiantly took part with Henry VII., the Queen's grandfather, and
+routed the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Geraldin and his wild Irish, and
+the Flemings whom the Duchess of Burgundy had sent over, in the
+quarrel of Lambert Simnel?"
+
+"I remember both one and the other," said Giles Gosling; "it is
+sung of a dozen times a week on my ale-bench below.  Sir Roger
+Robsart of Devon--oh, ay, 'tis him of whom minstrels sing to this
+hour,--
+
+ 'He was the flower of Stoke's red field,
+  When Martin Swart on ground lay slain;
+  In raging rout he never reel'd,
+  But like a rock did firm remain.'
+
+[This verse, or something similar, occurs in a long ballad, or
+poem, on Flodden Field, reprinted by the late Henry Weber.]
+
+Ay, and then there was Martin Swart I have heard my grandfather
+talk of, and of the jolly Almains whom he commanded, with their
+slashed doublets and quaint hose, all frounced with ribands above
+the nether-stocks.  Here's a song goes of Martin Swart, too, an I
+had but memory for it:--
+
+ 'Martin Swart and his men,
+  Saddle them, saddle them,
+  Martin Swart and his men;
+  Saddle them well.'"
+
+[This verse of an old song actually occurs in an old play where
+the singer boasts,
+ "Courteously I can both counter and knack
+  Of Martin Swart and all his merry men."]
+
+"True, good mine host--the day was long talked of; but if you
+sing so loud, you will awake more listeners than I care to commit
+my confidence unto."
+
+"I crave pardon, my worshipful guest," said mine host, "I was
+oblivious.  When an old song comes across us merry old knights of
+the spigot, it runs away with our discretion."
+
+"Well, mine host, my grandfather, like some other Cornishmen,
+kept a warm affection to the House of York, and espoused the
+quarrel of this Simnel, assuming the title of Earl of Warwick, as
+the county afterwards, in great numbers, countenanced the cause
+of Perkin Warbeck, calling himself the Duke of York.  My
+grandsire joined Simnel's standard, and was taken fighting
+desperately at Stoke, where most of the leaders of that unhappy
+army were slain in their harness.  The good knight to whom he
+rendered himself, Sir Roger Robsart, protected him from the
+immediate vengeance of the king, and dismissed him without
+ransom.  But he was unable to guard him from other penalties of
+his rashness, being the heavy fines by which he was impoverished,
+according to Henry's mode of weakening his enemies.  The good
+knight did what he might to mitigate the distresses of my
+ancestor; and their friendship became so strict, that my father
+was bred up as the sworn brother and intimate of the present Sir
+Hugh Robsart, the only son of Sir Roger, and the heir of his
+honest, and generous, and hospitable temper, though not equal to
+him in martial achievements."
+
+"I have heard of good Sir Hugh Robsart," interrupted the host,
+"many a time and oft; his huntsman and sworn servant, Will
+Badger, hath spoken of him an hundred times in this very house.
+A jovial knight he is, and hath loved hospitality and open
+housekeeping more than the present fashion, which lays as much
+gold lace on the seams of a doublet as would feed a dozen of tall
+fellows with beef and ale for a twelvemonth, and let them have
+their evening at the alehouse once a week, to do good to the
+publican."
+
+"If you have seen Will Badger, mine host," said Tressilian, "you
+have heard enough of Sir Hugh Robsart; and therefore I will but
+say, that the hospitality you boast of hath proved somewhat
+detrimental to the estate of his family, which is perhaps of the
+less consequence, as he has but one daughter to whom to bequeath
+it.  And here begins my share in the tale.  Upon my father's
+death, now several years since, the good Sir Hugh would willingly
+have made me his constant companion.  There was a time, however,
+at which I felt the kind knight's excessive love for field-sports
+detained me from studies, by which I might have profited more;
+but I ceased to regret the leisure which gratitude and hereditary
+friendship compelled me to bestow on these rural avocations.  The
+exquisite beauty of Mistress Amy Robsart, as she grew up from
+childhood to woman, could not escape one whom circumstances
+obliged to be so constantly in her company--I loved her, in
+short, mine host, and her father saw it."
+
+"And crossed your true loves, no doubt?"  said mine host.  "It is
+the way in all such cases; and I judge it must have been so in
+your instance, from the heavy sigh you uttered even now."
+
+"The case was different, mine host.  My suit was highly approved
+by the generous Sir Hugh Robsart; it was his daughter who was
+cold to my passion."
+
+"She was the more dangerous enemy of the two," said the
+innkeeper.  "I fear me your suit proved a cold one."
+
+"She yielded me her esteem," said Tressilian, "and seemed not
+unwilling that I should hope it might ripen into a warmer
+passion.  There was a contract of future marriage executed
+betwixt us, upon her father's intercession; but to comply with
+her anxious request, the execution was deferred for a
+twelvemonth.  During this period, Richard Varney appeared in the
+country, and, availing himself of some distant family connection
+with Sir Hugh Robsart, spent much of his time in his company,
+until, at length, he almost lived in the family."
+
+"That could bode no good to the place he honoured with his
+residence," said Gosling.
+
+"No, by the rood!"  replied Tressilian.  "Misunderstanding and
+misery followed his presence, yet so strangely that I am at this
+moment at a loss to trace the gradations of their encroachment
+upon a family which had, till then, been so happy.  For a time
+Amy Robsart received the attentions of this man Varney with the
+indifference attached to common courtesies; then followed a
+period in which she seemed to regard him with dislike, and even
+with disgust; and then an extraordinary species of connection
+appeared to grow up betwixt them.  Varney dropped those airs of
+pretension and gallantry which had marked his former approaches;
+and Amy, on the other hand, seemed to renounce the ill-disguised
+disgust with which she had regarded them.  They seemed to have
+more of privacy and confidence together than I fully liked, and I
+suspected that they met in private, where there was less
+restraint than in our presence.  Many circumstances, which I
+noticed but little at the time--for I deemed her heart as open as
+her angelic countenance--have since arisen on my memory, to
+convince me of their private understanding.  But I need not
+detail them--the fact speaks for itself.  She vanished from her
+father's house; Varney disappeared at the same time; and this
+very day I have seen her in the character of his paramour, living
+in the house of his sordid dependant Foster, and visited by him,
+muffled, and by a secret entrance."
+
+"And this, then, is the cause of your quarrel?  Methinks, you
+should have been sure that the fair lady either desired or
+deserved your interference."
+
+"Mine host," answered Tressilian, "my father--such I must ever
+consider Sir Hugh Robsart--sits at home struggling with his
+grief, or, if so far recovered, vainly attempting to drown, in
+the practice of his field-sports, the recollection that he had
+once a daughter--a recollection which ever and anon breaks from
+him under circumstances the most pathetic.  I could not brook the
+idea that he should live in misery, and Amy in guilt; and I
+endeavoured to-seek her out, with the hope of inducing her to
+return to her family.  I have found her, and when I have either
+succeeded in my attempt, or have found it altogether unavailing,
+it is my purpose to embark for the Virginia voyage."
+
+"Be not so rash, good sir," replied Giles Gosling, "and cast not
+yourself away because a woman--to be brief--IS a woman, and
+changes her lovers like her suit of ribands, with no better
+reason than mere fantasy.  And ere we probe this matter further,
+let me ask you what circumstances of suspicion directed you so
+truly to this lady's residence, or rather to her place of
+concealment?"
+
+"The last is the better chosen word, mine host," answered
+Tressilian; "and touching your question, the knowledge that
+Varney held large grants of the demesnes formerly belonging to
+the monks of Abingdon directed me to this neighbourhood; and your
+nephew's visit to his old comrade Foster gave me the means of
+conviction on the subject."
+
+"And what is now your purpose, worthy sir?--excuse my freedom in
+asking the question so broadly."
+
+"I purpose, mine host," said Tressilian, "to renew my visit to
+the place of her residence to-morrow, and to seek a more detailed
+communication with her than I have had to-day.  She must indeed
+be widely changed from what she once was, if my words make no
+impression upon her."
+
+"Under your favour, Master Tressilian," said the landlord, "you
+can follow no such course.  The lady, if I understand you, has
+already rejected your interference in the matter."
+
+"It is but too true," said Tressilian; "I cannot deny it."
+
+"Then, marry, by what right or interest do you process a
+compulsory interference with her inclination, disgraceful as it
+may be to herself and to her parents?  Unless my judgment gulls
+me, those under whose protection she has thrown herself would
+have small hesitation to reject your interference, even if it
+were that of a father or brother; but as a discarded lover, you
+expose yourself to be repelled with the strong hand, as well as
+with scorn.  You can apply to no magistrate for aid or
+countenance; and you are hunting, therefore, a shadow in water,
+and will only (excuse my plainness) come by ducking and danger in
+attempting to catch it."
+
+"I will appeal to the Earl of Leicester," said Tressilian,
+"against the infamy of his favourite.  He courts the severe and
+strict sect of Puritans.  He dare not, for the sake of his own
+character, refuse my appeal, even although he were destitute of
+the principles of honour and nobleness with which fame invests
+him.  Or I will appeal to the Queen herself."
+
+"Should Leicester," said the landlord, "be disposed to protect
+his dependant (as indeed he is said to be very confidential with
+Varney), the appeal to the Queen may bring them both to reason.
+Her Majesty is strict in such matters, and (if it be not treason
+to speak it) will rather, it is said, pardon a dozen courtiers
+for falling in love with herself, than one for giving preference
+to another woman.  Coragio then, my brave guest!  for if thou
+layest a petition from Sir Hugh at the foot of the throne,
+bucklered by the story of thine own wrongs, the favourite Earl
+dared as soon leap into the Thames at the fullest and deepest, as
+offer to protect Varney in a cause of this nature.  But to do
+this with any chance of success, you must go formally to work;
+and, without staying here to tilt with the master of horse to a
+privy councillor, and expose yourself to the dagger of his
+cameradoes, you should hie you to Devonshire, get a petition
+drawn up for Sir Hugh Robsart, and make as many friends as you
+can to forward your interest at court."
+
+"You have spoken well, mine host," said Tressilian, "and I will
+profit by your advice, and leave you to-morrow early."
+
+"Nay, leave me to-night, sir, before to-morrow comes," said he
+landlord.  "I never prayed for a guest's arrival more eagerly
+than I do to have you safely gone, My kinsman's destiny is most
+like to be hanged for something, but I would not that the cause
+were the murder of an honoured guest of mine.  'Better ride safe
+in the dark,' says the proverb, 'than in daylight with a cut-
+throat at your elbow.' Come, sir, I move you for your own safety.
+Your horse and all is ready, and here is your score."
+
+"It is somewhat under a noble," said Tressilian, giving one to
+the host; "give the balance to pretty Cicely, your daughter, and
+the servants of the house."
+
+"They shall taste of your bounty, sir," said Gosling, "and you
+should taste of my daughter's lips in grateful acknowledgment,
+but at this hour she cannot grace the porch to greet your
+departure."
+
+"Do not trust your daughter too far with your guests, my good
+landlord," said Tressilian.
+
+"Oh, sir, we will keep measure; but I wonder not that you are
+jealous of them all.--May I crave to know with what aspect the
+fair lady at the Place yesterday received you?"
+
+"I own," said Tressilian, "it was angry as well as confused, and
+affords me little hope that she is yet awakened from her unhappy
+delusion."
+
+"In that case, sir, I see not why you should play the champion of
+a wench that will none of you, and incur the resentment of a
+favourite's favourite, as dangerous a monster as ever a knight
+adventurer encountered in the old story books."
+
+"You do me wrong in the supposition, mine host--gross wrong,"
+said Tressilian; "I do not desire that Amy should ever turn
+thought upon me more.  Let me but see her restored to her father,
+and all I have to do in Europe--perhaps in the world--is over and
+ended."
+
+"A wiser resolution were to drink a cup of sack, and forget her,"
+said the landlord.  "But five-and-twenty and fifty look on those
+matters with different eyes, especially when one cast of peepers
+is set in the skull of a young gallant, and the other in that of
+an old publican.  I pity you, Master Tressilian, but I see not
+how I can aid you in the matter."
+
+"Only thus far, mine host," replied Tressilian--"keep a watch on
+the motions of those at the Place, which thou canst easily learn
+without suspicion, as all men's news fly to the ale-bench; and be
+pleased to communicate the tidings in writing to such person, and
+to no other, who shall bring you this ring as a special token.
+Look at it; it is of value, and I will freely bestow it on you."
+
+"Nay, sir," said the landlord, "I desire no recompense--but it
+seems an unadvised course in me, being in a public line, to
+connect myself in a matter of this dark and perilous nature.  I
+have no interest in it."
+
+"You, and every father in the land, who would have his daughter
+released from the snares of shame, and sin, and misery, have an
+interest deeper than aught concerning earth only could create."
+
+"Well, sir," said the host, "these are brave words; and I do pity
+from my soul the frank-hearted old gentleman, who has minished
+his estate in good housekeeping for the honour of his country,
+and now has his daughter, who should be the stay of his age, and
+so forth, whisked up by such a kite as this Varney.  And though
+your part in the matter is somewhat of the wildest, yet I will
+e'en be a madcap for company, and help you in your honest attempt
+to get back the good man's child, so far as being your faithful
+intelligencer can serve.  And as I shall be true to you, I pray
+you to be trusty to me, and keep my secret; for it were bad for
+the custom of the Black Bear should it be said the bear-warder
+interfered in such matters.  Varney has interest enough with the
+justices to dismount my noble emblem from the post on which he
+swings so gallantly, to call in my license, and ruin me from
+garret to cellar."
+
+"Do not doubt my secrecy, mine host," said Tressilian; "I will
+retain, besides, the deepest sense of thy service, and of the
+risk thou dost run--remember the ring is my sure token.  And now,
+farewell!  for it was thy wise advice that I should tarry here as
+short a time as may be."
+
+"Follow me, then, Sir Guest," said the landlord, "and tread as
+gently as if eggs were under your foot, instead of deal boards.
+No man must know when or how you departed."
+
+By the aid of his dark lantern he conducted Tressilian, as soon
+as he had made himself ready for his journey, through a long
+intricacy of passages, which opened to an outer court, and from
+thence to a remote stable, where he had already placed his
+guest's horse.  He then aided him to fasten on the saddle the
+small portmantle which contained his necessaries, opened a
+postern door, and with a hearty shake of the hand, and a
+reiteration of his promise to attend to what went on at Cumnor
+Place, he dismissed his guest to his solitary journey.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+  Far in the lane a lonely hut he found,
+  No tenant ventured on the unwholesome ground:
+  Here smokes his forge, he bares his sinewy arm,
+  And early strokes the sounding anvil warm;
+  Around his shop the steely sparkles flew,
+  As for the steed he shaped the bending shoe.   GAY'S TRIVIA.
+
+As it was deemed proper by the traveller himself, as well as by
+Giles Gosling, that Tressilian should avoid being seen in the
+neighbourhood of Cumnor by those whom accident might make early
+risers, the landlord had given him a route, consisting of various
+byways and lanes, which he was to follow in succession, and
+which, all the turns and short-cuts duly observed, was to conduct
+him to the public road to Marlborough.
+
+But, like counsel of every other kind, this species of direction
+is much more easily given than followed; and what betwixt the
+intricacy of the way, the darkness of the night, Tressilian's
+ignorance of the country, and the sad and perplexing thoughts
+with which he had to contend, his journey proceeded so slowly,
+that morning found him only in the vale of Whitehorse, memorable
+for the defeat of the Danes in former days, with his horse
+deprived of a fore-foot shoe, an accident which threatened to put
+a stop to his journey by laming the animal.  The residence of a
+smith was his first object of inquiry, in which he received
+little satisfaction from the dullness or sullenness of one or two
+peasants, early bound for their labour, who gave brief and
+indifferent answers to his questions on the subject.  Anxious, at
+length, that the partner of his journey should suffer as little
+as possible from the unfortunate accident, Tressilian dismounted,
+and led his horse in the direction of a little hamlet, where he
+hoped either to find or hear tidings of such an artificer as he
+now wanted.  Through a deep and muddy lane, he at length waded on
+to the place, which proved only an assemblage of five or six
+miserable huts, about the doors of which one or two persons,
+whose appearance seemed as rude as that of their dwellings, were
+beginning the toils of the day.  One cottage, however, seemed of
+rather superior aspect, and the old dame, who was sweeping her
+threshold, appeared something less rude than her neighbours.  To
+her Tressilian addressed the oft-repeated question, whether there
+was a smith in this neighbourhood, or any place where he could
+refresh his horse?  The dame looked him in the face with a
+peculiar expression as she replied, "Smith!  ay, truly is there a
+smith--what wouldst ha' wi' un, mon?"
+
+"To shoe my horse, good dame," answered Tressiliany:  you may see
+that he has thrown a fore-foot shoe."
+
+"Master Holiday!"  exclaimed the dame, without returning any
+direct answer--"Master Herasmus Holiday, come and speak to mon,
+and please you."
+
+"FAVETE LINGUIS," answered a voice from within;" I cannot now
+come forth, Gammer Sludge, being in the very sweetest bit of my
+morning studies."
+
+"Nay, but, good now, Master Holiday, come ye out, do ye.  Here's
+a mon would to Wayland Smith, and I care not to show him way to
+devil; his horse hath cast shoe."
+
+"QUID MIHI CUM CABALLO?"  replied the man of learning from
+within; "I think there is but one wise man in the hundred, and
+they cannot shoe a horse without him!"
+
+And forth came the honest pedagogue, for such his dress bespoke
+him.  A long, lean, shambling, stooping figure was surmounted by
+a head thatched with lank, black hair somewhat inclining to grey.
+His features had the cast of habitual authority, which I suppose
+Dionysius carried with him from the throne to the schoolmaster's
+pulpit, and bequeathed as a legacy to all of the same profession,
+A black buckram cassock was gathered at his middle with a belt,
+at which hung, instead of knife or weapon, a goodly leathern pen-
+and-ink case.  His ferula was stuck on the other side, like
+Harlequin's wooden sword; and he carried in his hand the tattered
+volume which he had been busily perusing.
+
+On seeing a person of Tressilian's appearance, which he was
+better able to estimate than the country folks had been, the
+schoolmaster unbonneted, and accosted him with, "SALVE, DOMINE.
+INTELLIGISNE LINGUAM LATINAM?"
+
+Tressilian mustered his learning to reply, "LINGUAE LATINAE HAUD
+PENITUS IGNARUS, VENIA TUA, DOMINE ERUDITISSIME, VERNACULAM
+LIBENTIUS LOQUOR."
+
+The Latin reply had upon the schoolmaster the effect which the
+mason's sign is said to produce on the brethren of the trowel.
+He was at once interested in the learned traveller, listened with
+gravity to his story of a tired horse and a lost shoe, and then
+replied with solemnity, "It may appear a simple thing, most
+worshipful, to reply to you that there dwells, within a brief
+mile of these TUGURIA, the best FABER FERARIUS, the most
+accomplished blacksmith, that ever nailed iron upon horse.  Now,
+were I to say so, I warrant me you would think yourself COMPOS
+VOTI, or, as the vulgar have it, a made man."
+
+"I should at least," said Tressilian, "have a direct answer to a
+plain question, which seems difficult to be obtained in this
+country."
+
+"It is a mere sending of a sinful soul to the evil un," said the
+old woman, "the sending a living creature to Wayland Smith."
+
+"Peace, Gammer Sludge!"  said the pedagogue; "PAUCA VERBA, Gammer
+Sludge; look to the furmity, Gammer Sludge; CURETUR JENTACULUM,
+Gammer Sludge; this gentleman is none of thy gossips."  Then
+turning to Tressilian, he resumed his lofty tone, "And so, most
+worshipful, you would really think yourself FELIX BIS TERQUE
+should I point out to you the dwelling of this same smith?"
+
+"Sir," replied Tressilian, "I should in that case have all that I
+want at present--a horse fit to carry me forward;--out of hearing
+of your learning."  The last words he muttered to himself.
+
+"O CAECA MENS MORTALIUM!"  said the learned man "well was it sung
+by Junius Juvenalis, 'NUMINIBUS VOTA EXAUDITA MALIGNIS!'"
+
+"Learned Magister," said Tressilian, "your erudition so greatly
+exceeds my poor intellectual capacity that you must excuse my
+seeking elsewhere for information which I can better understand."
+
+"There again now," replied the pedagogue, "how fondly you fly
+from him that would instruct you!  Truly said Quintilian--"
+
+"I pray, sir, let Quintilian be for the present, and answer, in a
+word and in English, if your learning can condescend so far,
+whether there is any place here where I can have opportunity to
+refresh my horse until I can have him shod?"
+
+"Thus much courtesy, sir," said the schoolmaster, "I can readily
+render you, that although there is in this poor hamlet (NOSTRA
+PAUPERA REGNA) no regular HOSPITIUM, as my namesake Erasmus
+calleth it, yet, forasmuch as you are somewhat embued, or at
+least tinged, as it were, with good letters, I will use my
+interest with the good woman of the house to accommodate you with
+a platter of furmity--an wholesome food for which I have found no
+Latin phrase--your horse shall have a share of the cow-house,
+with a bottle of sweet hay, in which the good woman Sludge so
+much abounds, that it may be said of her cow, FAENUM HABET IN
+CORNU; and if it please you to bestow on me the pleasure of your
+company, the banquet shall cost you NE SEMISSEM QUIDEM, so much
+is Gammer Sludge bound to me for the pains I have bestowed on the
+top and bottom of her hopeful heir Dickie, whom I have painfully
+made to travel through the accidence."
+
+"Now, God yield ye for it, Master Herasmus," said the good
+Gammer, "and grant that little Dickie may be the better for his
+accident!  And for the rest, if the gentleman list to stay,
+breakfast shall be on the board in the wringing of a dishclout;
+and for horse-meat, and man's meat, I bear no such base mind as
+to ask a penny."
+
+Considering the state of his horse, Tressilian, upon the whole,
+saw no better course than to accept the invitation thus learnedly
+made and hospitably confirmed, and take chance that when the good
+pedagogue had exhausted every topic of conversation, he might
+possibly condescend to tell him where he could find the smith
+they spoke of.  He entered the hut accordingly, and sat down with
+the learned Magister Erasmus Holiday, partook of his furmity, and
+listened to his learned account of himself for a good half hour,
+ere he could get him to talk upon any other topic, The reader
+will readily excuse our accompanying this man of learning into
+all the details with which he favoured Tressilian, of which the
+following sketch may suffice.
+
+He was born at Hogsnorton, where, according to popular saying,
+the pigs play upon the organ; a proverb which he interpreted
+allegorically, as having reference to the herd of Epicurus, of
+which litter Horace confessed himself a porker.  His name of
+Erasmus he derived partly from his father having been the son of
+a renowned washerwoman, who had held that great scholar in clean
+linen all the while he was at Oxford; a task of some difficulty,
+as he was only possessed of two shirts, "the one," as she
+expressed herself, "to wash the other," The vestiges of one of
+these CAMICIAE, as Master Holiday boasted, were still in his
+possession, having fortunately been detained by his grandmother
+to cover the balance of her bill.  But he thought there was a
+still higher and overruling cause for his having had the name of
+Erasmus conferred on him--namely, the secret presentiment of his
+mother's mind that, in the babe to be christened, was a hidden
+genius, which should one day lead him to rival the fame of the
+great scholar of Amsterdam.  The schoolmaster's surname led him
+as far into dissertation as his Christian appellative.  He was
+inclined to think that he bore the name of Holiday QUASI LUCUS A
+NON LUCENDO, because he gave such few holidays to his school.
+"Hence," said he, "the schoolmaster is termed, classically, LUDI
+MAGISTER, because he deprives boys of their play."  And yet, on
+the other hand, he thought it might bear a very different
+interpretation, and refer to his own exquisite art in arranging
+pageants, morris-dances, May-day festivities, and such-like
+holiday delights, for which he assured Tressilian he had
+positively the purest and the most inventive brain in England;
+insomuch, that his cunning in framing such pleasures had made him
+known to many honourable persons, both in country and court, and
+especially to the noble Earl of Leicester.  "And although he may
+now seem to forget me," he said, "in the multitude of state
+affairs, yet I am well assured that, had he some pretty pastime
+to array for entertainment of the Queen's Grace, horse and man
+would be seeking the humble cottage of Erasmus Holiday.  PARVO
+CONTENTUS, in the meanwhile, I hear my pupils parse and construe,
+worshipful sir, and drive away my time with the aid of the Muses.
+And I have at all times, when in correspondence with foreign
+scholars, subscribed myself Erasmus ab Die Fausto, and have
+enjoyed the distinction due to the learned under that title:
+witness the erudite Diedrichus Buckerschockius, who dedicated to
+me under that title his treatise on the letter TAU.  In fine,
+sir, I have been a happy and distinguished man."
+
+"Long may it be so, sir!"  said the traveller; "but permit me to
+ask, in your own learned phrase, QUID HOC AD IPHYCLI BOVES?  what
+has all this to do with the shoeing of my poor nag?"
+
+"FESTINA LENTE," said the man of learning, "we will presently
+came to that point.  You must know that some two or three years
+past there came to these parts one who called himself Doctor
+Doboobie, although it may be he never wrote even MAGISTER ARTIUM,
+save in right of his hungry belly.  Or it may be, that if he had
+any degrees, they were of the devil's giving; for he was what the
+vulgar call a white witch, a cunning man, and such like.--Now,
+good sir, I perceive you are impatient; but if a man tell not his
+tale his own way, how have you warrant to think that he can tell
+it in yours?"
+
+"Well, then, learned sir, take your way," answered Tressilian;
+"only let us travel at a sharper pace, for my time is somewhat of
+the shortest."
+
+"Well, sir," resumed Erasmus Holiday, with the most provoking
+perseverance, "I will not say that this same Demetrius for so he
+wrote himself when in foreign parts, was an actual conjurer, but
+certain it is that he professed to be a brother of the mystical
+Order of the Rosy Cross, a disciple of Geber (EX NOMINE CUJUS
+VENIT VERBUM VERNACULUM, GIBBERISH).  He cured wounds by salving
+the weapon instead of the sore; told fortunes by palmistry;
+discovered stolen goods by the sieve and shears; gathered the
+right maddow and the male fern seed, through use of which men
+walk invisible; pretended some advances towards the panacea, or
+universal elixir; and affected to convert good lead into sorry
+silver."
+
+"In other words," said Tressilian, "he was a quacksalver and
+common cheat; but what has all this to do with my nag, and the
+shoe which he has lost?"
+
+"With your worshipful patience," replied the diffusive man of
+letters, "you shall understand that presently--PATENTIA then,
+right worshipful, which word, according to our Marcus Tullius, is
+'DIFFICILIUM RERUM DIURNA PERPESSIO.' This same Demetrius
+Doboobie, after dealing with the country, as I have told you,
+began to acquire fame INTER MAGNATES, among the prime men of the
+land, and there is likelihood he might have aspired to great
+matters, had not, according to vulgar fame (for I aver not the
+thing as according with my certain knowledge), the devil claimed
+his right, one dark night, and flown off with Demetrius, who was
+never seen or heard of afterwards.  Now here comes the MEDULLA,
+the very marrow, of my tale.  This Doctor Doboobie had a servant,
+a poor snake, whom he employed in trimming his furnace,
+regulating it by just measure--compounding his drugs--tracing his
+circles--cajoling his patients, ET SIC ET CAETERIS.  Well, right
+worshipful, the Doctor being removed thus strangely, and in a way
+which struck the whole country with terror, this poor Zany thinks
+to himself, in the words of Maro, 'UNO AVULSO, NON DEFICIT
+ALTER;' and, even as a tradesman's apprentice sets himself up in
+his master's shop when he is dead or hath retired from business,
+so doth this Wayland assume the dangerous trade of his defunct
+master.  But although, most worshipful sir, the world is ever
+prone to listen to the pretensions of such unworthy men, who are,
+indeed, mere SALTIM BANQUI and CHARLATANI, though usurping the
+style and skill of doctors of medicine, yet the pretensions of
+this poor Zany, this Wayland, were too gross to pass on them, nor
+was there a mere rustic, a villager, who was not ready to accost
+him in the sense of Persius, though in their own rugged words,--
+
+  DILIUS HELLEBORUM CERTO COMPESCERE PUNCTO
+  NESCIUS EXAMEN?  VETAT HOC NATURA VEDENDI;'
+
+which I have thus rendered in a poor paraphrase of mine own,--
+
+  Wilt thou mix hellebore, who dost not know
+  How many grains should to the mixture go?
+  The art of medicine this forbids, I trow.
+
+Moreover, the evil reputation of the master, and his strange and
+doubtful end, or at least sudden disappearance, prevented any,
+excepting the most desperate of men, to seek any advice or
+opinion from the servant; wherefore, the poor vermin was likely
+at first to swarf for very hunger.  But the devil that serves
+him, since the death of Demetrius or Doboobie, put him on a fresh
+device.  This knave, whether from the inspiration of the devil,
+or from early education, shoes horses better than e'er a man
+betwixt us and Iceland; and so he gives up his practice on the
+bipeds, the two-legged and unfledged species called mankind, and
+betakes him entirely to shoeing of horses."
+
+"Indeed!  and where does he lodge all this time?"  said
+Tressilian. "And does he shoe horses well?  Show me his dwelling
+presently."
+
+The interruption pleased not the Magister, who exclaimed, "O
+CAECA MENS MORTALIUM!--though, by the way, I used that quotation
+before.  But I would the classics could afford me any sentiment
+of power to stop those who are so willing to rush upon their own
+destruction.  Hear but, I pray you, the conditions of this man,"
+said he, in continuation, "ere you are so willing to place
+yourself within his danger--"
+
+"A' takes no money for a's work," said the dame, who stood by,
+enraptured as it were with the line words and learned apophthegms
+which glided so fluently from her erudite inmate, Master Holiday.
+But this interruption pleased not the Magister more than that of
+the traveller.
+
+"Peace," said he, "Gammer Sludge; know your place, if it be your
+will.  SUFFLAMINA, Gammer Sludge, and allow me to expound this
+matter to our worshipful guest.--Sir," said he, again addressing
+Tressilian, "this old woman speaks true, though in her own rude
+style; for certainly this FABER FERRARIUS, or blacksmith, takes
+money of no one."
+
+"And that is a sure sign he deals with Satan," said Dame Sludge;
+"since no good Christian would ever refuse the wages of his
+labour."
+
+"The old woman hath touched it again," said the pedagogue; "REM
+ACU TETIGIT--she hath pricked it with her needle's point.  This
+Wayland takes no money, indeed; nor doth he show himself to any
+one."
+
+"And can this madman, for such I hold him," said the traveller,
+"know aught like good skill of his trade?"
+
+"Oh, sir, in that let us give the devil his due--Mulciber
+himself, with all his Cyclops, could hardly amend him.  But
+assuredly there is little wisdom in taking counsel or receiving
+aid from one who is but too plainly in league with the author of
+evil."
+
+"I must take my chance of that, good Master Holiday," said
+Tressilian, rising; "and as my horse must now have eaten his
+provender, I must needs thank you for your good cheer, and pray
+you to show me this man's residence, that I may have the means of
+proceeding on my journey."
+
+"Ay, ay, do ye show him, Master Herasmus," said the old dame, who
+was, perhaps, desirous to get her house freed of her guest; "a'
+must needs go when the devil drives."
+
+"DO MANUS," said the Magister, "I submit--taking the world to
+witness, that I have possessed this honourable gentleman with the
+full injustice which he has done and shall do to his own soul, if
+he becomes thus a trinketer with Satan.  Neither will I go forth
+with our guest myself, but rather send my pupil.--RICARDE!
+ADSIS, NEBULO."
+
+"Under your favour, not so," answered the old woman; "you may
+peril your own soul, if you list, but my son shall budge on no
+such errand.  And I wonder at you, Dominie Doctor, to propose
+such a piece of service for little Dickie."
+
+"Nay, my good Gammer Sludge," answered the preceptor, "Ricardus
+shall go but to the top of the hill, and indicate with his digit
+to the stranger the dwelling of Wayland Smith.  Believe not that
+any evil can come to him, he having read this morning, fasting, a
+chapter of the Septuagint, and, moreover, having had his lesson
+in the Greek Testament."
+
+"Ay," said his mother, "and I have sewn a sprig of witch's elm in
+the neck of un's doublet, ever since that foul thief has begun
+his practices on man and beast in these parts."
+
+"And as he goes oft (as I hugely suspect) towards this conjurer
+for his own pastime, he may for once go thither, or near it, to
+pleasure us, and to assist this stranger.--ERGO, HEUS RICARDE!
+ADSIS, QUAESO, MI DIDASCULE."
+
+The pupil, thus affectionately invoked, at length came stumbling
+into the room; a queer, shambling, ill-made urchin, who, by his
+stunted growth, seemed about twelve or thirteen years old, though
+he was probably, in reality, a year or two older, with a carroty
+pate in huge disorder, a freckled, sunburnt visage, with a snub
+nose, a long chin, and two peery grey eyes, which had a droll
+obliquity of vision, approaching to a squint, though perhaps not
+a decided one.  It was impossible to look at the little man
+without some disposition to laugh, especially when Gammer Sludge,
+seizing upon and kissing him, in spite of his struggling and
+kicking in reply to her caresses, termed him her own precious
+pearl of beauty.
+
+"RICARDE," said the preceptor, "you must forthwith (which is
+PROFECTO) set forth so far as the top of the hill, and show this
+man of worship Wayland Smith's workshop."
+
+"A proper errand of a morning," said the boy, in better language
+than Tressilian expected; "and who knows but the devil may fly
+away with me before I come back?"
+
+"Ay, marry may un," said Dame Sludge; "and you might have thought
+twice, Master Domine, ere you sent my dainty darling on arrow
+such errand.  It is not for such doings I feed your belly and
+clothe your back, I warrant you!"
+
+"Pshaw--NUGAE, good Gammer Sludge," answered the preceptor; "I
+ensure you that Satan, if there be Satan in the case, shall not
+touch a thread of his garment; for Dickie can say his PATER with
+the best, and may defy the foul fiend--EUMENIDES, STYGIUMQUE
+NEFAS."
+
+"Ay, and I, as I said before, have sewed a sprig of the mountain-
+ash into his collar," said the good woman, "which will avail more
+than your clerkship, I wus; but for all that, it is ill to seek
+the devil or his mates either."
+
+"My good boy," said Tressilian, who saw, from a grotesque sneer
+on Dickie's face, that he was more likely to act upon his own
+bottom than by the instructions of his elders, "I will give thee
+a silver groat, my pretty fellow, if you will but guide me to
+this man's forge."
+
+The boy gave him a knowing side-look, which seemed to promise
+acquiescence, while at the same time he exclaimed, "I be your
+guide to Wayland Smith's!  Why, man, did I not say that the devil
+might fly off with me, just as the kite there" (looking to the
+window) "is flying off with one of grandam's chicks?"
+
+"The kite!  the kite!"  exclaimed the old woman in return, and
+forgetting all other matters in her alarm, hastened to the rescue
+of her chickens as fast as her old legs could carry her.
+
+"Now for it," said the urchin to Tressilian; "snatch your beaver,
+get out your horse, and have at the silver groat you spoke of."
+
+"Nay, but tarry, tarry," said the preceptor--"SUFFLAMINA,
+RICARDE!"
+
+"Tarry yourself," said Dickie, "and think what answer you are to
+make to granny for sending me post to the devil."
+
+The teacher, aware of the responsibility he was incurring,
+bustled up in great haste to lay hold of the urchin and to
+prevent his departure; but Dickie slipped through his fingers,
+bolted from the cottage, and sped him to the top of a
+neighbouring rising ground, while the preceptor, despairing, by
+well-taught experience, of recovering his pupil by speed of foot,
+had recourse to the most honied epithets the Latin vocabulary
+affords to persuade his return.  But to MI ANIME, CORCULUM MEUM,
+and all such classical endearments, the truant turned a deaf ear,
+and kept frisking on the top of the rising ground like a goblin
+by moonlight, making signs to his new acquaintance, Tressilian,
+to follow him.
+
+The traveller lost no time in getting out his horse and departing
+to join his elvish guide, after half-forcing on the poor,
+deserted teacher a recompense for the entertainment he had
+received, which partly allayed that terror he had for facing the
+return of the old lady of the mansion.  Apparently this took
+place soon afterwards; for ere Tressilian and his guide had
+proceeded far on their journey, they heard the screams of a
+cracked female voice, intermingled with the classical
+objurgations of Master Erasmus Holiday.  But Dickie Sludge,
+equally deaf to the voice of maternal tenderness and of
+magisterial authority, skipped on unconsciously before
+Tressilian, only observing that "if they cried themselves hoarse,
+they might go lick the honey-pot, for he had eaten up all the
+honey-comb himself on yesterday even."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+  There entering in, they found the goodman selfe
+  Full busylie unto his work ybent,
+  Who was to weet a wretched wearish elf,
+  With hollow eyes and rawbone cheeks forspent,
+  As if he had been long in prison pent.   THE FAERY QUEENE.
+
+"Are we far from the dwelling of this smith, my pretty lad?"
+said Tressilian to his young guide.
+
+"How is it you call me?"  said the boy, looking askew at him with
+his sharp, grey eyes.
+
+"I call you my pretty lad--is there any offence in that, my boy?"
+
+"No; but were you with my grandam and Dominie Holiday, you might
+sing chorus to the old song of
+
+  'We three
+  Tom-fools be.'"
+
+"And why so, my little man?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Because," answered the ugly urchin, "you are the only three ever
+called me pretty lad.  Now my grandam does it because she is
+parcel blind by age, and whole blind by kindred; and my master,
+the poor Dominie, does it to curry favour, and have the fullest
+platter of furmity and the warmest seat by the fire.  But what
+you call me pretty lad for, you know best yourself."
+
+"Thou art a sharp wag at least, if not a pretty one.  But what do
+thy playfellows call thee?"
+
+"Hobgoblin," answered the boy readily; "but for all that, I would
+rather have my own ugly viznomy than any of their jolter-heads,
+that have no more brains in them than a brick-bat."
+
+"Then you fear not this smith whom you are going to see?"
+
+"Me fear him!"  answered the boy.  "If he were the devil folk
+think him, I would not fear him; but though there is something
+queer about him, he's no more a devil than you are, and that's
+what I would not tell to every one."
+
+"And why do you tell it to me, then, my boy?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Because you are another guess gentleman than those we see here
+every day," replied Dickie; "and though I am as ugly as sin, I
+would not have you think me an ass, especially as I may have a
+boon to ask of you one day."
+
+"And what is that, my lad, whom I must not call pretty?"  replied
+Tressilian.
+
+"Oh, if I were to ask it just now," said the boy, "you would deny
+it me; but I will wait till we meet at court."
+
+"At court, Richard!  are you bound for court?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Ay, ay, that's just like the rest of them," replied the boy.  "I
+warrant me, you think, what should such an ill-favoured,
+scrambling urchin do at court?  But let Richard Sludge alone; I
+have not been cock of the roost here for nothing.  I will make
+sharp wit mend foul feature."
+
+"But what will your grandam say, and your tutor, Dominie
+Holiday?"
+
+"E'en what they like," replied Dickie; "the one has her chickens
+to reckon, and the other has his boys to whip.  I would have
+given them the candle to hold long since, and shown this trumpery
+hamlet a fair pair of heels, but that Dominie promises I should
+go with him to bear share in the next pageant he is to set forth,
+and they say there are to be great revels shortly."
+
+"And whereabouts are they to be held, my little friend?"  said
+Tressilian.
+
+"Oh, at some castle far in the north," answered his guide--"a
+world's breadth from Berkshire.  But our old Dominie holds that
+they cannot go forward without him; and it may be he is right,
+for he has put in order many a fair pageant.  He is not half the
+fool you would take him for, when he gets to work he understands;
+and so he can spout verses like a play-actor, when, God wot, if
+you set him to steal a goose's egg, he would be drubbed by the
+gander."
+
+"And you are to play a part in his next show?"  said Tressilian,
+somewhat interested by the boy's boldness of conversation and
+shrewd estimate of character.
+
+"In faith," said Richard Sludge, in answer, "he hath so promised
+me; and if he break his word, it will be the worse for him, for
+let me take the bit between my teeth, and turn my head downhill,
+and I will shake him off with a fall that may harm his bones.
+And I should not like much to hurt him neither," said he, "for
+the tiresome old fool has painfully laboured to teach me all he
+could.  But enough of that--here are we at Wayland Smith's forge-
+door."
+
+"You jest, my little friend," said Tressilian; "here is nothing
+but a bare moor, and that ring of stones, with a great one in the
+midst, like a Cornish barrow."
+
+"Ay, and that great flat stone in the midst, which lies across
+the top of these uprights," said the boy, "is Wayland Smith's
+counter, that you must tell down your money upon."
+
+"What do you mean by such folly?"  said the traveller, beginning
+to be angry with the boy, and vexed with himself for having
+trusted such a hare-brained guide.
+
+"Why," said Dickie, with a grin, "you must tie your horse to that
+upright stone that has the ring in't, and then you must whistle
+three times, and lay me down your silver groat on that other flat
+stone, walk out of the circle, sit down on the west side of that
+little thicket of bushes, and take heed you look neither to right
+nor to left for ten minutes, or so long as you shall hear the
+hammer clink, and whenever it ceases, say your prayers for the
+space you could tell a hundred--or count over a hundred, which
+will do as well--and then come into the circle; you will find
+your money gone and your horse shod."
+
+"My money gone to a certainty!"  said Tressilian; "but as for the
+rest--Hark ye, my lad, I am not your school-master, but if you
+play off your waggery on me, I will take a part of his task off
+his hands, and punish you to purpose."
+
+"Ay, when you catch me!"  said the boy; and presently took to his
+heels across the heath, with a velocity which baffled every
+attempt of Tressilian to overtake him, loaded as he was with his
+heavy boots.  Nor was it the least provoking part of the urchin's
+conduct, that he did not exert his utmost speed, like one who
+finds himself in danger, or who is frightened, but preserved just
+such a rate as to encourage Tressilian to continue the chase, and
+then darted away from him with the swiftness of the wind, when
+his pursuer supposed he had nearly run him down, doubling at the
+same time, and winding, so as always to keep near the place from
+which he started.
+
+This lasted until Tressilian, from very weariness, stood still,
+and was about to abandon the pursuit with a hearty curse on the
+ill-favoured urchin, who had engaged him in an exercise so
+ridiculous.  But the boy, who had, as formerly, planted himself
+on the top of a hillock close in front, began to clap his long,
+thin hands, point with his skinny fingers, and twist his wild and
+ugly features into such an extravagant expression of laughter and
+derision, that Tressilian began half to doubt whether he had not
+in view an actual hobgoblin.
+
+Provoked extremely, yet at the same time feeling an irresistible
+desire to laugh, so very odd were the boy's grimaces and
+gesticulations, the Cornishman returned to his horse, and mounted
+him with the purpose of pursuing Dickie at more advantage.
+
+The boy no sooner saw him mount his horse, than he holloed out to
+him that, rather than he should spoil his white-footed nag, he
+would come to him, on condition he would keep his fingers to
+himself.
+
+"I will make no conditions with thee, thou ugly varlet!"  said
+Tressilian; "I will have thee at my mercy in a moment."
+
+"Aha, Master Traveller," said the boy, "there is a marsh hard by
+would swallow all the horses of the Queen's guard.  I will into
+it, and see where you will go then.  You shall hear the bittern
+bump, and the wild-drake quack, ere you get hold of me without my
+consent, I promise you."
+
+Tressilian looked out, and, from the appearance of the ground
+behind the hillock, believed it might be as the boy said, and
+accordingly determined to strike up a peace with so light-footed
+and ready-witted an enemy.  "Come down," he said, "thou
+mischievous brat!  Leave thy mopping and mowing, and, come
+hither.
+
+I will do thee no harm, as I am a gentleman."
+
+The boy answered his invitation with the utmost confidence, and
+danced down from his stance with a galliard sort of step, keeping
+his eye at the same time fixed on Tressilian's, who, once more
+dismounted, stood with his horse's bridle in his hand,
+breathless, and half exhausted with his fruitless exercise,
+though not one drop of moisture appeared on the freckled forehead
+of the urchin, which looked like a piece of dry and discoloured
+parchment, drawn tight across the brow of a fleshless skull.
+
+"And tell me," said Tressilian, "why you use me thus, thou
+mischievous imp?  or what your meaning is by telling me so absurd
+a legend as you wished but now to put on me?  Or rather show me,
+in good earnest, this smith's forge, and I will give thee what
+will buy thee apples through the whole winter."
+
+"Were you to give me an orchard of apples," said Dickie Sludge,
+"I can guide thee no better than I have done.  Lay down the
+silver token on the flat stone--whistle three times--then come
+sit down on the western side of the thicket of gorse.  I will sit
+by you, and give you free leave to wring my head off, unless you
+hear the smith at work within two minutes after we are seated."
+
+"I may be tempted to take thee at thy word," said Tressilian, "if
+you make me do aught half so ridiculous for your own mischievous
+sport; however, I will prove your spell.  Here, then, I tie my
+horse to this upright stone.  I must lay my silver groat here,
+and whistle three times, sayest thou?"
+
+"Ay, but thou must whistle louder than an unfledged ousel," said
+the boy, as Tressilian, having laid down his money, and half
+ashamed of the folly he practised, made a careless whistle--"you
+must whistle louder than that, for who knows where the smith is
+that you call for?  He may be in the King of France's stables for
+what I know."
+
+"Why, you said but now he was no devil," replied Tressilian.
+
+"Man or devil," said Dickie, "I see that I must summon him for
+you;" and therewithal he whistled sharp and shrill, with an
+acuteness of sound that almost thrilled through Tressilian's
+brain.  "That is what I call whistling," said he, after he had
+repeated the signal thrice; "and now to cover, to cover, or
+Whitefoot will not be shod this day."
+
+Tressilian, musing what the upshot of this mummery was to be, yet
+satisfied there was to be some serious result, by the confidence
+with which the boy had put himself in his power, suffered himself
+to be conducted to that side of the little thicket of gorse and
+brushwood which was farthest from the circle of stones, and there
+sat down; and as it occurred to him that, after all, this might
+be a trick for stealing his horse, he kept his hand on the boy's
+collar, determined to make him hostage for its safety.
+
+"Now, hush and listen," said Dickie, in a low whisper; "you will
+soon hear the tack of a hammer that was never forged of earthly
+iron, for the stone it was made of was shot from the moon."  And
+in effect Tressilian did immediately hear the light stroke of a
+hammer, as when a farrier is at work.  The singularity of such a
+sound, in so very lonely a place, made him involuntarily start;
+but looking at the boy, and discovering, by the arch malicious
+expression of his countenance, that the urchin saw and enjoyed
+his slight tremor, he became convinced that the whole was a
+concerted stratagem, and determined to know by whom, or for what
+purpose, the trick was played off.
+
+Accordingly, he remained perfectly quiet all the time that the
+hammer continued to sound, being about the space usually employed
+in fixing a horse-shoe.  But the instant the sound ceased,
+Tressilian, instead of interposing the space of time which his
+guide had required, started up with his sword in his hand, ran
+round the thicket, and confronted a man in a farrier's leathern
+apron, but otherwise fantastically attired in a bear-skin dressed
+with the fur on, and a cap of the same, which almost hid the
+sooty and begrimed features of the wearer.  "Come back, come
+back!"  cried the boy to Tressilian, "or you will be torn to
+pieces; no man lives that looks on him."  In fact, the invisible
+smith (now fully visible) heaved up his hammer, and showed
+symptoms of doing battle.
+
+But when the boy observed that neither his own entreaties nor the
+menaces of the farrier appeared to change Tressilian's purpose,
+but that, on the contrary, he confronted the hammer with his
+drawn sword, he exclaimed to the smith in turn, "Wayland, touch
+him not, or you will come by the worse!--the gentleman is a true
+gentleman, and a bold."
+
+"So thou hast betrayed me, Flibbertigibbet?"  said the smith; "it
+shall be the worse for thee!"
+
+"Be who thou wilt," said Tressilian, "thou art in no danger from
+me, so thou tell me the meaning of this practice, and why thou
+drivest thy trade in this mysterious fashion."
+
+The smith, however, turning to Tressilian, exclaimed, in a
+threatening tone, "Who questions the Keeper of the Crystal Castle
+of Light, the Lord of the Green Lion, the Rider of the Red
+Dragon?  Hence!--avoid thee, ere I summon Talpack with his fiery
+lance, to quell, crush, and consume!"  These words he uttered
+with violent gesticulation, mouthing, and flourishing his hammer.
+
+"Peace, thou vile cozener, with thy gipsy cant!"  replied
+Tressilian scornfully, "and follow me to the next magistrate, or
+I will cut thee over the pate."
+
+"Peace, I pray thee, good Wayland!"  said the boy.  "Credit me,
+the swaggering vein will not pass here; you must cut boon whids."
+["Give good words."--SLANG DIALECT.]
+
+"I think, worshipful sir," said the smith, sinking his hammer,
+and assuming a more gentle and submissive tone of voice, "that
+when so poor a man does his day's job, he might be permitted to
+work it out after his own fashion.  Your horse is shod, and your
+farrier paid--what need you cumber yourself further than to mount
+and pursue your journey?"
+
+"Nay, friend, you are mistaken," replied Tressilian; "every man
+has a right to take the mask from the face of a cheat and a
+juggler; and your mode of living raises suspicion that you are
+both."
+
+"If you are so determined; sir," said the smith, "I cannot help
+myself save by force, which I were unwilling to use towards you,
+Master Tressilian; not that I fear your weapon, but because I
+know you to be a worthy, kind, and well-accomplished gentleman,
+who would rather help than harm a poor man that is in a strait."
+
+"Well said, Wayland," said the boy, who had anxiously awaited the
+issue of their conference.  "But let us to thy den, man, for it
+is ill for thy health to stand here talking in the open air."
+
+"Thou art right, Hobgoblin," replied the smith; and going to the
+little thicket of gorse on the side nearest to the circle, and
+opposite to that at which his customer had so lately crouched, he
+discovered a trap-door curiously covered with bushes, raised it,
+and, descending into the earth, vanished from their eyes.
+Notwithstanding Tressilian's curiosity, he had some hesitation at
+following the fellow into what might be a den of robbers,
+especially when he heard the smith's voice, issuing from the
+bowels of the earth, call out, "Flibertigibbet, do you come last,
+and be sure to fasten the trap!"
+
+"Have you seen enough of Wayland Smith now?"  whispered the
+urchin to Tressilian, with an arch sneer, as if marking his
+companion's uncertainty.
+
+"Not yet," said Tressilian firmly; and shaking off his momentary
+irresolution, he descended into the narrow staircase, to which
+the entrance led, and was followed by Dickie Sludge, who made
+fast the trap-door behind him, and thus excluded every glimmer of
+daylight.  The descent, however, was only a few steps, and led to
+a level passage of a few yards' length, at the end of which
+appeared the reflection of a lurid and red light.  Arrived at
+this point, with his drawn sword in his hand, Tressilian found
+that a turn to the left admitted him and Hobgoblin, who followed
+closely, into a small, square vault, containing a smith's forge,
+glowing with charcoal, the vapour of which filled the apartment
+with an oppressive smell, which would have been altogether
+suffocating, but that by some concealed vent the smithy
+communicated with the upper air.  The light afforded by the red
+fuel, and by a lamp suspended in an iron chain, served to show
+that, besides an anvil, bellows, tongs, hammers, a quantity of
+ready-made horse-shoes, and other articles proper to the
+profession of a farrier, there were also stoves, alembics,
+crucibles, retorts, and other instruments of alchemy.  The
+grotesque figure of the smith, and the ugly but whimsical
+features of the boy, seen by the gloomy and imperfect light of
+the charcoal fire and the dying lamp, accorded very well with all
+this mystical apparatus, and in that age of superstition would
+have made some impression on the courage of most men.
+
+But nature had endowed Tressilian with firm nerves, and his
+education, originally good, had been too sedulously improved by
+subsequent study to give way to any imaginary terrors; and after
+giving a glance around him, he again demanded of the artist who
+he was, and by what accident he came to know and address him by
+his name.
+
+"Your worship cannot but remember," said the smith, "that about
+three years since, upon Saint Lucy's Eve, there came a travelling
+juggler to a certain hall in Devonshire, and exhibited his skill
+before a worshipful knight and a fair company.--I see from your
+worship's countenance, dark as this place is, that my memory has
+not done me wrong."
+
+"Thou hast said enough," said Tressilian, turning away, as
+wishing to hide from the speaker the painful train of
+recollections which his discourse had unconsciously awakened.
+
+"The juggler," said the smith, "played his part so bravely that
+the clowns and clown-like squires in the company held his art to
+be little less than magical; but there was one maiden of fifteen,
+or thereby, with the fairest face I ever looked upon, whose rosy
+cheek grew pale, and her bright eyes dim, at the sight of the
+wonders exhibited."
+
+"Peace, I command thee, peace!"  said Tressilian.
+
+"I mean your worship no offence," said the fellow; "but I have
+cause to remember how, to relieve the young maiden's fears, you
+condescended to point out the mode in which these deceptions were
+practised, and to baffle the poor juggler by laying bare the
+mysteries of his art, as ably as if you had been a brother of his
+order.--She was indeed so fair a maiden that, to win a smile of
+her, a man might well--"
+
+"Not a word more of her, I charge thee!"  said Tressilian.  "I do
+well remember the night you speak of--one of the few happy
+evenings my life has known."
+
+"She is gone, then," said the smith, interpreting after his own
+fashion the sigh with which Tressilian uttered these words--"she
+is gone, young, beautiful, and beloved as she was!--I crave your
+worship's pardon--I should have hammered on another theme.  I see
+I have unwarily driven the nail to the quick."
+
+This speech was made with a mixture of rude feeling which
+inclined Tressilian favourably to the poor artisan, of whom
+before he was inclined to judge very harshly.  But nothing can so
+soon attract the unfortunate as real or seeming sympathy with
+their sorrows.
+
+"I think," proceeded Tressilian, after a minute's silence, "thou
+wert in those days a jovial fellow, who could keep a company
+merry by song, and tale, and rebeck, as well as by thy juggling
+tricks--why do I find thee a laborious handicraftsman, plying thy
+trade in so melancholy a dwelling and under such extraordinary
+circumstances?"
+
+"My story is not long," said the artist, "but your honour had
+better sit while you listen to it."  So saying, he approached to
+the fire a three-footed stool, and took another himself; while
+Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet, as he called the boy, drew a
+cricket to the smith's feet, and looked up in his face with
+features which, as illuminated by the glow of the forge, seemed
+convulsed with intense curiosity.  "Thou too," said the smith to
+him, "shalt learn, as thou well deservest at my hand, the brief
+history of my life; and, in troth, it were as well tell it thee
+as leave thee to ferret it out, since Nature never packed a
+shrewder wit into a more ungainly casket.--Well, sir, if my poor
+story may pleasure you, it is at your command, But will you not
+taste a stoup of liquor?  I promise you that even in this poor
+cell I have some in store."
+
+"Speak not of it," said Tressilian, "but go on with thy story,
+for my leisure is brief."
+
+"You shall have no cause to rue the delay," said the smith, "for
+your horse shall be better fed in the meantime than he hath been
+this morning, and made fitter for travel."
+
+With that the artist left the vault, and returned after a few
+minutes' interval.  Here, also, we pause, that the narrative may
+commence in another chapter.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+  I say, my lord, can such a subtilty
+  (But all his craft ye must not wot of me,
+  And somewhat help I yet to his working),
+  That all the ground on which we ben riding,
+  Till that we come to Canterbury town,
+  He can all clean turnen so up so down,
+  And pave it all of silver and of gold.
+       THE CANON'S YEOMAN'S PROLOGUE, CANTERBURY TALES.
+
+THE artist commenced his narrative in the following terms:--
+
+"I was bred a blacksmith, and knew my art as well as e'er a
+black-thumbed, leathern-aproned, swart-faced knave of that noble
+mystery.  But I tired of ringing hammer-tunes on iron stithies,
+and went out into the world, where I became acquainted with a
+celebrated juggler, whose fingers had become rather too stiff for
+legerdemain, and who wished to have the aid of an apprentice in
+his noble mystery.  I served him for six years, until I was
+master of my trade--I refer myself to your worship, whose
+judgment cannot be disputed, whether I did not learn to ply the
+craft indifferently well?"
+
+"Excellently," said Tressilian; "but be brief."
+
+"It was not long after I had performed at Sir Hugh Robsart's, in
+your worship's presence," said the artist, "that I took myself to
+the stage, and have swaggered with the bravest of them all, both
+at the Black Bull, the Globe, the Fortune, and elsewhere; but I
+know not how--apples were so plenty that year that the lads in
+the twopenny gallery never took more than one bite out of them,
+and threw the rest of the pippin at whatever actor chanced to be
+on the stage.  So I tired of it--renounced my half share in the
+company, gave my foil to my comrade, my buskins to the wardrobe,
+and showed the theatre a clean pair of heels."
+
+"Well, friend, and what," said Tressilian, "was your next shift?"
+
+"I became," said the smith, "half partner, half domestic to a man
+of much skill and little substance, who practised the trade of a
+physicianer."
+
+"In other words," said Tressilian, "you were Jack Pudding to a
+quacksalver."
+
+"Something beyond that, let me hope, my good Master Tressilian,"
+replied the artist; "and yet to say truth, our practice was of an
+adventurous description, and the pharmacy which I had acquired in
+my first studies for the benefit of horses was frequently applied
+to our human patients.  But the seeds of all maladies are the
+same; and if turpentine, tar, pitch, and beef-suet, mingled with
+turmerick, gum-mastick, and one bead of garlick, can cure the
+horse that hath been grieved with a nail, I see not but what it
+may benefit the man that hath been pricked with a sword.  But my
+master's practice, as well as his skill, went far beyond mine,
+and dealt in more dangerous concerns.  He was not only a bold,
+adventurous practitioner in physic, but also, if your pleasure so
+chanced to be, an adept who read the stars, and expounded the
+fortunes of mankind, genethliacally, as he called it, or
+otherwise.  He was a learned distiller of simples, and a profound
+chemist--made several efforts to fix mercury, and judged himself
+to have made a fair hit at the philosopher's stone.  I have yet a
+programme of his on that subject, which, if your honour
+understandeth, I believe you have the better, not only of all who
+read, but also of him who wrote it."
+
+He gave Tressilian a scroll of parchment, bearing at top and
+bottom, and down the margin, the signs of the seven planets,
+curiously intermingled with talismanical characters and scraps of
+Greek and Hebrew.  In the midst were some Latin verses from a
+cabalistical author, written out so fairly, that even the gloom
+of the place did not prevent Tressilian from reading them.  The
+tenor of the original ran as follows:-
+
+  "Si fixum solvas, faciasque volare solutum,
+  Et volucrem figas, facient te vivere tutum;
+  Si pariat ventum, valet auri pondere centum;
+  Ventus ubi vult spirat--Capiat qui capere potest."
+
+"I protest to you," said Tressilian, "all I understand of this
+jargon is that the last words seem to mean 'Catch who catch
+can.'"
+
+"That," said the smith, "is the very principle that my worthy
+friend and master, Doctor Doboobie, always acted upon; until,
+being besotted with his own imaginations, and conceited of his
+high chemical skill, he began to spend, in cheating himself, the
+money which he had acquired in cheating others, and either
+discovered or built for himself, I could never know which, this
+secret elaboratory, in which he used to seclude himself both from
+patients and disciples, who doubtless thought his long and
+mysterious absences from his ordinary residence in the town of
+Farringdon were occasioned by his progress in the mystic
+sciences, and his intercourse with the invisible world.  Me also
+he tried to deceive; but though I contradicted him not, he saw
+that I knew too much of his secrets to be any longer a safe
+companion.  Meanwhile, his name waxed famous--or rather infamous,
+and many of those who resorted to him did so under persuasion
+that he was a sorcerer.  And yet his supposed advance in the
+occult sciences drew to him the secret resort of men too powerful
+to be named, for purposes too dangerous to be mentioned.  Men
+cursed and threatened him, and bestowed on me, the innocent
+assistant of his studies, the nickname of the Devil's foot-post,
+which procured me a volley of stones as soon as ever I ventured
+to show my face in the street of the village.  At length my
+master suddenly disappeared, pretending to me that he was about
+to visit his elaboratory in this place, and forbidding me to
+disturb him till two days were past.  When this period had
+elapsed, I became anxious, and resorted to this vault, where I
+found the fires extinguished and the utensils in confusion, with
+a note from the learned Doboobius, as he was wont to style
+himself, acquainting me that we should never meet again,
+bequeathing me his chemical apparatus, and the parchment which I
+have just put into your hands, advising me strongly to prosecute
+the secret which it contained, which would infallibly lead me to
+the discovery of the grand magisterium."
+
+"And didst thou follow this sage advice?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Worshipful sir, no," replied the smith; "for, being by nature
+cautious, and suspicious from knowing with whom I had to do, I
+made so many perquisitions before I ventured even to light a
+fire, that I at length discovered a small barrel of gunpowder,
+carefully hid beneath the furnace, with the purpose, no doubt,
+that as soon as I should commence the grand work of the
+transmutation of metals, the explosion should transmute the vault
+and all in it into a heap of ruins, which might serve at once for
+my slaughter-house and my grave.  This cured me of alchemy, and
+fain would I have returned to the honest hammer and anvil; but
+who would bring a horse to be shod by the Devil's post?
+Meantime, I had won the regard of my honest Flibbertigibbet here,
+he being then at Farringdon with his master, the sage Erasmus
+Holiday, by teaching him a few secrets, such as please youth at
+his age; and after much counsel together, we agreed that, since I
+could get no practice in the ordinary way, I should try how I
+could work out business among these ignorant boors, by practising
+upon their silly fears; and, thanks to Flibbertigibbet, who hath
+spread my renown, I have not wanted custom.  But it is won at too
+great risk, and I fear I shall be at length taken up for a
+wizard; so that I seek but an opportunity to leave this vault,
+when I can have the protection of some worshipful person against
+the fury of the populace, in case they chance to recognize me."
+
+"And art thou," said Tressilian, "perfectly acquainted with the
+roads in this country?"
+
+"I could ride them every inch by midnight," answered Wayland
+Smith, which was the name this adept had assumed.
+
+"Thou hast no horse to ride upon," said Tressilian.
+
+"Pardon me," replied Wayland; "I have as good a tit as ever
+yeoman bestrode; and I forgot to say it was the best part of the
+mediciner's legacy to me, excepting one or two of the choicest of
+his medical secrets, which I picked up without his knowledge and
+against his will."
+
+"Get thyself washed and shaved, then," said Tressilian; "reform
+thy dress as well as thou canst, and fling away these grotesque
+trappings; and, so thou wilt be secret and faithful, thou shalt
+follow me for a short time, till thy pranks here are forgotten.
+Thou hast, I think, both address and courage, and I have matter
+to do that may require both."
+
+Wayland Smith eagerly embraced the proposal, and protested his
+devotion to his new master.  In a very few minutes he had made so
+great an alteration in his original appearance, by change of
+dress, trimming his beard and hair, and so forth, that Tressilian
+could not help remarking that he thought he would stand in little
+need of a protector, since none of his old acquaintance were
+likely to recognize him.
+
+"My debtors would not pay me money," said Wayland, shaking his
+head; "but my creditors of every kind would be less easily
+blinded.  And, in truth, I hold myself not safe, unless under the
+protection of a gentleman of birth and character, as is your
+worship."
+
+So saying, he led the way out of the cavern.  He then called
+loudly for Hobgoblin, who, after lingering for an instant,
+appeared with the horse furniture, when Wayland closed and
+sedulously covered up the trap-door, observing it might again
+serve him at his need, besides that the tools were worth
+somewhat.  A whistle from the owner brought to his side a nag
+that fed quietly on the common, and was accustomed to the signal.
+
+While he accoutred him for the journey, Tressilian drew his own
+girths tighter, and in a few minutes both were ready to mount.
+
+At this moment Sludge approached to bid them farewell.
+
+"You are going to leave me, then, my old playfellow," said the
+boy; "and there is an end of all our game at bo-peep with the
+cowardly lubbards whom I brought hither to have their broad-
+footed nags shed by the devil and his imps?"
+
+"It is even so," said Wayland Smith, "the best friends must part,
+Flibbertigibbet; but thou, my boy, art the only thing in the Vale
+of Whitehorse which I shall regret to leave behind me."
+
+"Well, I bid thee not farewell," said Dickie Sludge, "for you
+will be at these revels, I judge, and so shall I; for if Dominie
+Holiday take me not thither, by the light of day, which we see
+not in yonder dark hole, I will take myself there!"
+
+"In good time," said Wayland; "but I pray you to do nought
+rashly."
+
+"Nay, now you would make a child, a common child of me, and tell
+me of the risk of walking without leading-strings.  But before
+you are a mile from these stones, you shall know by a sure token
+that I have more of the hobgoblin about me than you credit; and I
+will so manage that, if you take advantage, you may profit by my
+prank."
+
+"What dost thou mean, boy?"  said Tressilian; but Flibbertigibbet
+only answered with a grin and a caper, and bidding both of them
+farewell, and, at the same time, exhorting them to make the best
+of their way from the place, he set them the example by running
+homeward with the same uncommon velocity with which he had
+baffled Tressilian's former attempts to get hold of him.
+
+"It is in vain to chase him," said Wayland Smith; "for unless
+your worship is expert in lark-hunting, we should never catch
+hold of him--and besides, what would it avail?  Better make the
+best of our way hence, as he advises."
+
+They mounted their horses accordingly, and began to proceed at a
+round pace, as soon as Tressilian had explained to his guide the
+direction in which he desired to travel.
+
+After they had trotted nearly a mile, Tressilian could not help
+observing to his companion that his horse felt more lively under
+him than even when he mounted in the morning.
+
+"Are you avised of that?"  said Wayland Smith, smiling.  "That is
+owing to a little secret of mine.  I mixed that with an handful
+of oats which shall save your worship's heels the trouble of
+spurring these six hours at least.  Nay, I have not studied
+medicine and pharmacy for nought."
+
+"I trust," said Tressilian, "your drugs will do my horse no
+harm?"
+
+"No more than the mare's milk; which foaled him," answered the
+artist, and was proceeding to dilate on the excellence of his
+recipe when he was interrupted by an explosion as loud and
+tremendous as the mine which blows up the rampart of a
+beleaguered city.  The horses started, and the riders were
+equally surprised.  They turned to gaze in the direction from
+which the thunder-clap was heard, and beheld, just over the spot
+they had left so recently, a huge pillar of dark smoke rising
+high into the clear, blue atmosphere.  "My habitation is gone to
+wreck," said Wayland, immediately conjecturing the cause of the
+explosion.  "I was a fool to mention the doctor's kind intentions
+towards my mansion before that limb of mischief, Flibbertigibbet;
+I might have guessed he would long to put so rare a frolic into
+execution.  But let us hasten on, for the sound will collect the
+country to the spot."
+
+So saying, he spurred his horse, and Tressilian also quickening
+his speed, they rode briskly forward.
+
+"This, then, was the meaning of the little imp's token which he
+promised us?"  said Tressilian.  "Had we lingered near the spot,
+we had found it a love-token with a vengeance."
+
+"He would have given us warning," said the smith.  "I saw him
+look back more than once to see if we were off--'tis a very
+devil for mischief, yet not an ill-natured devil either.  It were
+long to tell your honour how I became first acquainted with him,
+and how many tricks he played me.  Many a good turn he did me
+too, especially in bringing me customers; for his great delight
+was to see them sit shivering behind the bushes when they heard
+the click of my hammer.  I think Dame Nature, when she lodged a
+double quantity of brains in that misshapen head of his, gave him
+the power of enjoying other people's distresses, as she gave them
+the pleasure of laughing at his ugliness."
+
+"It may be so," said Tressilian; "those who find themselves
+severed from society by peculiarities of form, if they do not
+hate the common bulk of mankind, are at least not altogether
+indisposed to enjoy their mishaps and calamities."
+
+"But Flibbertigibbet," answered Wayland, "hath that about him
+which may redeem his turn for mischievous frolic; for he is as
+faithful when attached as he is tricky and malignant to
+strangers, and, as I said before, I have cause to say so."
+
+Tressilian pursued the conversation no further, and they
+continued their journey towards Devonshire without further
+adventure, until they alighted at an inn in the town of
+Marlborough, since celebrated for having given title to the
+greatest general (excepting one) whom Britain ever produced.
+Here the travellers received, in the same breath, an example of
+the truth of two old proverbs--namely, that ILL NEWS FLY FAST,
+and that LISTENERS SELDOM HEAR A GOOD TALE OF THEMSELVES.
+
+The inn-yard was in a sort of combustion when they alighted;
+insomuch, that they could scarce get man or boy to take care of
+their horses, so full were the whole household of some news which
+flew from tongue to tongue, the import of which they were for
+some time unable to discover.  At length, indeed, they found it
+respected matters which touched them nearly.
+
+"What is the matter, say you, master?"  answered, at length, the
+head hostler, in reply to Tressilian's repeated questions.--"Why,
+truly, I scarce know myself.  But here was a rider but now, who
+says that the devil hath flown away with him they called Wayland
+Smith, that won'd about three miles from the Whitehorse of
+Berkshire, this very blessed morning, in a flash of fire and a
+pillar of smoke, and rooted up the place he dwelt in, near that
+old cockpit of upright stones, as cleanly as if it had all been
+delved up for a cropping."
+
+"Why, then," said an old farmer, "the more is the pity; for that
+Wayland Smith (whether he was the devil's crony or no I skill
+not) had a good notion of horses' diseases, and it's to be
+thought the bots will spread in the country far and near, an
+Satan has not gien un time to leave his secret behind un."
+
+"You may say that, Gaffer Grimesby," said the hostler in return;
+"I have carried a horse to Wayland Smith myself, for he passed
+all farriers in this country."
+
+"Did you see him?"  said Dame Alison Crane, mistress of the inn
+bearing that sign, and deigning to term HUSBAND the owner
+thereof, a mean-looking hop-o'-my-thumb sort or person, whose
+halting gait, and long neck, and meddling, henpecked
+insignificance are supposed to have given origin to the
+celebrated old English tune of "My name hath a lame tame Crane."
+
+On this occasion he chirped out a repetition of his wife's
+question, "Didst see the devil, Jack Hostler, I say?"
+
+"And what if I did see un, Master Crane?"  replied Jack Hostler,
+for, like all the rest of the household, he paid as little
+respect to his master as his mistress herself did.
+
+"Nay, nought, Jack Hostler," replied the pacific Master Crane;
+"only if you saw the devil, methinks I would like to know what
+un's like?"
+
+"You will know that one day, Master Crane," said his helpmate,
+"an ye mend not your manners, and mind your business, leaving off
+such idle palabras.--But truly, Jack Hostler, I should be glad to
+know myself what like the fellow was."
+
+"Why, dame," said the hostler, more respectfully, "as for what he
+was like I cannot tell, nor no man else, for why I never saw un."
+
+"And how didst thou get thine errand done," said Gaffer Grimesby,
+"if thou seedst him not?"
+
+"Why, I had schoolmaster to write down ailment o' nag," said Jack
+Hostler; "and I went wi' the ugliest slip of a boy for my guide
+as ever man cut out o' lime-tree root to please a child withal."
+
+"And what was it?--and did it cure your nag, Jack Hostler?"  was
+uttered and echoed by all who stood around.
+
+"Why, how can I tell you what it was?"  said the hostler; "simply
+it smelled and tasted--for I did make bold to put a pea's
+substance into my mouth--like hartshorn and savin mixed with
+vinegar; but then no hartshorn and savin ever wrought so speedy a
+cure.  And I am dreading that if Wayland Smith be gone, the bots
+will have more power over horse and cattle."
+
+The pride of art, which is certainly not inferior in its
+influence to any other pride whatever, here so far operated on
+Wayland Smith, that, notwithstanding the obvious danger of his
+being recognized, he could not help winking to Tressilian, and
+smiling mysteriously, as if triumphing in the undoubted evidence
+of his veterinary skill.  In the meanwhile, the discourse
+continued.
+
+"E'en let it be so," said a grave man in black, the companion of
+Gaffer Grimesby; "e'en let us perish under the evil God sends us,
+rather than the devil be our doctor."
+
+"Very true," said Dame Crane; "and I marvel at Jack Hostler that
+he would peril his own soul to cure the bowels of a nag."
+
+"Very true, mistress," said Jack Hostler, "but the nag was my
+master's; and had it been yours, I think ye would ha' held me
+cheap enow an I had feared the devil when the poor beast was in
+such a taking.  For the rest, let the clergy look to it.  Every
+man to his craft, says the proverb--the parson to the prayer-
+book, and the groom to his curry-comb.
+
+"I vow," said Dame Crane, "I think Jack Hostler speaks like a
+good Christian and a faithful servant, who will spare neither
+body nor soul in his master's service.  However, the devil has
+lifted him in time, for a Constable of the Hundred came hither
+this morning to get old Gaffer Pinniewinks, the trier of witches,
+to go with him to the Vale of Whitehorse to comprehend Wayland
+Smith, and put him to his probation.  I helped Pinniewinks to
+sharpen his pincers and his poking-awl, and I saw the warrant
+from Justice Blindas."
+
+"Pooh--pooh--the devil would laugh both at Blindas and his
+warrant, constable and witch-finder to boot," said old Dame
+Crank, the Papist laundress; "Wayland Smith's flesh would mind
+Pinniewinks' awl no more than a cambric ruff minds a hot
+piccadilloe-needle.  But tell me, gentlefolks, if the devil ever
+had such a hand among ye, as to snatch away your smiths and your
+artists from under your nose, when the good Abbots of Abingdon
+had their own?  By Our Lady, no!--they had their hallowed tapers;
+and their holy water, and their relics, and what not, could send
+the foulest fiends a-packing.  Go ask a heretic parson to do the
+like.  But ours were a comfortable people."
+
+"Very true, Dame Crank," said the hostler; "so said Simpkins of
+Simonburn when the curate kissed his wife,--'They are a
+comfortable people,' said he."
+
+"Silence, thou foul-mouthed vermin," said Dame Crank; "is it fit
+for a heretic horse-boy like thee to handle such a text as the
+Catholic clergy?"
+
+"In troth no, dame," replied the man of oats; "and as you
+yourself are now no text for their handling, dame, whatever may
+have been the case in your day, I think we had e'en better leave
+un alone."
+
+At this last exchange of sarcasm, Dame Crank set up her throat,
+and began a horrible exclamation against Jack Hostler, under
+cover of which Tressilian and his attendant escaped into the
+house.
+
+They had no sooner entered a private chamber, to which Goodman
+Crane himself had condescended to usher them, and dispatched
+their worthy and obsequious host on the errand of procuring wine
+and refreshment, than Wayland Smith began to give vent to his
+self-importance.
+
+"You see, sir," said he, addressing Tressilian, "that I nothing
+fabled in asserting that I possessed fully the mighty mystery of
+a farrier, or mareschal, as the French more honourably term us.
+These dog-hostlers, who, after all, are the better judges in such
+a case, know what credit they should attach to my medicaments.  I
+call you to witness, worshipful Master Tressilian, that nought,
+save the voice of calumny and the hand of malicious violence,
+hath driven me forth from a station in which I held a place alike
+useful and honoured."
+
+"I bear witness, my friend, but will reserve my listening,"
+answered Tressilian, "for a safer time; unless, indeed, you deem
+it essential to your reputation to be translated, like your late
+dwelling, by the assistance of a flash of fire.  For you see your
+best friends reckon you no better than a mere sorcerer."
+
+"Now, Heaven forgive them," said the artist, "who confounded
+learned skill with unlawful magic!  I trust a man may be as
+skilful, or more so, than the best chirurgeon ever meddled with
+horse-flesh, and yet may be upon the matter little more than
+other ordinary men, or at the worst no conjurer."
+
+"God forbid else!"  said Tressilian.  "But be silent just for the
+present, since here comes mine host with an assistant, who seems
+something of the least."
+
+Everybody about the inn, Dame Crane herself included, had been
+indeed so interested and agitated by the story they had heard of
+Wayland Smith, and by the new, varying, and more marvellous
+editions of the incident which arrived from various quarters,
+that mine host, in his righteous determination to accommodate his
+guests, had been able to obtain the assistance of none of his
+household, saving that of a little boy, a junior tapster, of
+about twelve years old, who was called Sampson.
+
+"I wish," he said, apologizing to his guests, as he set down a
+flagon of sack, and promised some food immediately--"I wish the
+devil had flown away with my wife and my whole family instead of
+this Wayland Smith, who, I daresay, after all said and done, was
+much less worthy of the distinction which Satan has done him."
+
+"I hold opinion with you, good fellow," replied Wayland Smith;
+"and I will drink to you upon that argument."
+
+"Not that I would justify any man who deals with the devil," said
+mine host, after having pledged Wayland in a rousing draught of
+sack, "but that--saw ye ever better sack, my masters?--but that,
+I say, a man had better deal with a dozen cheats and scoundrel
+fellows, such as this Wayland Smith, than with a devil incarnate,
+that takes possession of house and home, bed and board."
+
+The poor fellow's detail of grievances was here interrupted by
+the shrill voice of his helpmate, screaming from the kitchen, to
+which he instantly hobbled, craving pardon of his guests.  He was
+no sooner gone than Wayland Smith expressed, by every
+contemptuous epithet in the language, his utter scorn for a
+nincompoop who stuck his head under his wife's apron-string; and
+intimated that, saving for the sake of the horses, which required
+both rest and food, he would advise his worshipful Master
+Tressilian to push on a stage farther, rather than pay a
+reckoning to such a mean-spirited, crow-trodden, henpecked
+coxcomb, as Gaffer Crane.
+
+The arrival of a large dish of good cow-heel and bacon something
+soothed the asperity of the artist, which wholly vanished before
+a choice capon, so delicately roasted that the lard frothed on
+it, said Wayland, like May-dew on a lily; and both Gaffer Crane
+and his good dame became, in his eyes, very painstaking,
+accommodating, obliging persons.
+
+According to the manners of the times, the master and his
+attendant sat at the same table, and the latter observed, with
+regret, how little attention Tressilian paid to his meal.  He
+recollected, indeed, the pain he had given by mentioning the
+maiden in whose company he had first seen him; but, fearful of
+touching upon a topic too tender to be tampered with, he chose to
+ascribe his abstinence to another cause.
+
+"This fare is perhaps too coarse for your worship," said Wayland,
+as the limbs of the capon disappeared before his own exertions;
+"but had you dwelt as long as I have done in yonder dungeon,
+which Flibbertigibbet has translated to the upper element, a
+place where I dared hardly broil my food, lest the smoke should
+be seen without, you would think a fair capon a more welcome
+dainty."
+
+"If you are pleased, friend," said Tressilian, "it is well.
+Nevertheless, hasten thy meal if thou canst, For this place is
+unfriendly to thy safety, and my concerns crave travelling."
+
+Allowing, therefore, their horses no more rest than was
+absolutely necessary for them, they pursued their journey by a
+forced march as far as Bradford, where they reposed themselves
+for the night.
+
+The next morning found them early travellers.  And, not to
+fatigue the reader with unnecessary particulars, they traversed
+without adventure the counties of Wiltshire and Somerset, and
+about noon of the third day after Tressilian's leaving Cumnor,
+arrived at Sir Hugh Robsart's seat, called Lidcote Hall, on the
+frontiers of Devonshire.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+  Ah me!  the flower and blossom of your house,
+  The wind hath blown away to other towers.
+                        JOANNA BAILLIE'S  FAMILY LEGEND.
+
+The ancient seat of Lidcote Hall was situated near the village of
+the same name, and adjoined the wild and extensive forest of
+Exmoor, plentifully stocked with game, in which some ancient
+rights belonging to the Robsart family entitled Sir Hugh to
+pursue his favourite amusement of the chase.  The old mansion was
+a low, venerable building, occupying a considerable space of
+ground, which was surrounded by a deep moat.  The approach and
+drawbridge were defended by an octagonal tower, of ancient
+brickwork, but so clothed with ivy and other creepers that it was
+difficult to discover of what materials it was constructed.  The
+angles of this tower were each decorated with a turret,
+whimsically various in form and in size, and, therefore, very
+unlike the monotonous stone pepperboxes which, in modern Gothic
+architecture, are employed for the same purpose.  One of these
+turrets was square, and occupied as a clock-house.  But the clock
+was now standing still; a circumstance peculiarly striking to
+Tressilian, because the good old knight, among other harmless
+peculiarities, had a fidgety anxiety about the exact measurement
+of time, very common to those who have a great deal of that
+commodity to dispose of, and find it lie heavy upon their hands--
+just as we see shopkeepers amuse themselves with taking an exact
+account of their stock at the time there is least demand for it.
+
+The entrance to the courtyard of the old mansion lay through an
+archway, surmounted by the foresaid tower; but the drawbridge was
+down, and one leaf of the iron-studded folding-doors stood
+carelessly open.  Tressilian hastily rode over the drawbridge,
+entered the court, and began to call loudly on the domestics by
+their names.  For some time he was only answered by the echoes
+and the howling of the hounds, whose kennel lay at no great
+distance from the mansion, and was surrounded by the same moat.
+At length Will Badger, the old and favourite attendant of the
+knight, who acted alike as squire of his body and superintendent
+of his sports, made his appearance.  The stout, weather-beaten
+forester showed great signs of joy when he recognized Tressilian.
+
+"Lord love you," he said, "Master Edmund, be it thou in flesh and
+fell?  Then thou mayest do some good on Sir Hugh, for it passes
+the wit of man--that is, of mine own, and the curate's, and
+Master Mumblazen's--to do aught wi'un."
+
+"Is Sir Hugh then worse since I went away, Will?"  demanded
+Tressilian.
+
+"For worse in body--no; he is much better," replied the domestic;
+"but he is clean mazed as it were--eats and drinks as he was
+wont--but sleeps not, or rather wakes not, for he is ever in a
+sort of twilight, that is neither sleeping nor waking.  Dame
+Swineford thought it was like the dead palsy.  But no, no, dame,
+said I, it is the heart, it is the heart."
+
+"Can ye not stir his mind to any pastimes?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"He is clean and quite off his sports," said Will Badger; "hath
+neither touched backgammon or shovel-board, nor looked on the big
+book of harrowtry wi' Master Mumblazen.  I let the clock run
+down, thinking the missing the bell might somewhat move him--for
+you know, Master Edmund, he was particular in counting time--but
+he never said a word on't, so I may e'en set the old chime a-
+towling again.  I made bold to tread on Bungay's tail too, and
+you know what a round rating that would ha' cost me once a-day;
+but he minded the poor tyke's whine no more than a madge howlet
+whooping down the chimney--so the case is beyond me."
+
+"Thou shalt tell me the rest within doors, Will.  Meanwhile, let
+this person be ta'en to the buttery, and used with respect.  He
+is a man of art."
+
+"White art or black art, I would," said Will Badger, "that he had
+any art which could help us.--Here, Tom Butler, look to the man
+of art;--and see that he steals none of thy spoons, lad," he
+added in a whisper to the butler, who showed himself at a low
+window, "I have known as honest a faced fellow have art enough to
+do that."
+
+He then ushered Tressilian into a low parlour, and went, at his
+desire, to see in what state his master was, lest the sudden
+return of his darling pupil and proposed son-in-law should affect
+him too strongly.  He returned immediately, and said that Sir
+Hugh was dozing in his elbow-chair, but that Master Mumblazen
+would acquaint Master Tressilian the instant he awaked.
+
+"But it is chance if he knows you," said the huntsman, "for he
+has forgotten the name of every hound in the pack.  I thought,
+about a week since, he had gotten a favourable turn.  'Saddle me
+old Sorrel,' said he suddenly, after he had taken his usual
+night-draught out of the great silver grace-cup, 'and take the
+hounds to Mount Hazelhurst to-morrow.' Glad men were we all, and
+out we had him in the morning, and he rode to cover as usual,
+with never a word spoken but that the wind was south, and the
+scent would lie.  But ere we had uncoupled'the hounds, he began
+to stare round him, like a man that wakes suddenly out of a
+dream--turns bridle, and walks back to Hall again, and leaves us
+to hunt at leisure by ourselves, if we listed."
+
+"You tell a heavy tale, Will," replied Tressilian; "but God must
+help us--there is no aid in man."
+
+"Then you bring us no news of young Mistress Amy?  But what need
+I ask--your brow tells the story.  Ever I hoped that if any man
+could or would track her, it must be you.  All's over and lost
+now.  But if ever I have that Varney within reach of a flight-
+shot, I will bestow a forked shaft on him; and that I swear by
+salt and bread."
+
+As he spoke, the door opened, and Master Mumblazen appeared--a
+withered, thin, elderly gentleman, with a cheek like a winter
+apple, and his grey hair partly concealed by a small, high hat,
+shaped like a cone, or rather like such a strawberry-basket as
+London fruiterers exhibit at their windows.  He was too
+sententious a person to waste words on mere salutation; so,
+having welcomed Tressilian with a nod and a shake of the hand, he
+beckoned him to follow to Sir Hugh's great chamber, which the
+good knight usually inhabited.  Will Badger followed, unasked,
+anxious to see whether his master would be relieved from his
+state of apathy by the arrival of Tressilian.
+
+In a long, low parlour, amply furnished with implements of the
+chase, and with silvan trophies, by a massive stone chimney, over
+which hung a sword and suit of armour somewhat obscured by
+neglect, sat Sir Hugh Robsart of Lidcote, a man of large size,
+which had been only kept within moderate compass by the constant
+use of violent exercise, It seemed to Tressilian that the
+lethargy, under which his old friend appeared to labour, had,
+even during his few weeks' absence, added bulk to his person--at
+least it had obviously diminished the vivacity of his eye, which,
+as they entered, first followed Master Mumblazen slowly to a
+large oaken desk, on which a ponderous volume lay open, and then
+rested, as if in uncertainty, on the stranger who had entered
+along with him.  The curate, a grey-headed clergyman, who had
+been a confessor in the days of Queen Mary, sat with a book in
+his hand in another recess in the apartment.  He, too, signed a
+mournful greeting to Tressilian, and laid his book aside, to
+watch the effect his appearance should produce on the afflicted
+old man.
+
+As Tressilian, his own eyes filling fast with tears, approached
+more and more nearly to the father of his betrothed bride, Sir
+Hugh's intelligence seemed to revive.  He sighed heavily, as one
+who awakens from a state of stupor; a slight convulsion passed
+over his features; he opened his arms without speaking a word,
+and, as Tressilian threw himself into them, he folded him to his
+bosom.
+
+"There is something left to live for yet," were the first words
+he uttered; and while he spoke, he gave vent to his feelings in a
+paroxysm of weeping, the tears chasing each other down his
+sunburnt cheeks and long white beard.
+
+"I ne'er thought to have thanked God to see my master weep," said
+Will Badger; "but now I do, though I am like to weep for
+company."
+
+"I will ask thee no questions," said the old knight; "no
+questions--none, Edmund.  Thou hast not found her--or so found
+her, that she were better lost."
+
+Tressilian was unable to reply otherwise than by putting his
+hands before his face.
+
+"It is enough--it is enough.  But do not thou weep for her,
+Edmund.  I have cause to weep, for she was my daughter; thou hast
+cause to rejoice, that she did not become thy wife.--Great God!
+thou knowest best what is good for us.  It was my nightly prayer
+that I should see Amy and Edmund wedded,--had it been granted, it
+had now been gall added to bitterness."
+
+"Be comforted, my friend," said the curate, addressing Sir Hugh,
+"it cannot be that the daughter of all our hopes and affections
+is the vile creature you would bespeak her."
+
+"Oh, no," replied Sir Hugh impatiently, "I were wrong to name
+broadly the base thing she is become--there is some new court
+name for it, I warrant me.  It is honour enough for the daughter
+of an old Devonshire clown to be the leman of a gay courtier--of
+Varney too--of Varney, whose grandsire was relieved by my father,
+when his fortune was broken, at the battle of--the battle of--
+where Richard was slain--out on my memory!--and I warrant none
+of you will help me--"
+
+"The battle of Bosworth," said Master Mumblazen--"stricken
+between Richard Crookback and Henry Tudor, grandsire of the Queen
+that now is, PRIMO HENRICI SEPTIMI; and in the year one thousand
+four hundred and eighty-five, POST CHRISTUM NATUM."
+
+"Ay, even so," said the old knight; "every child knows it.  But
+my poor head forgets all it should remember, and remembers only
+what it would most willingly forget.  My brain has been at fault,
+Tressilian, almost ever since thou hast been away, and even yet
+it hunts counter."
+
+"Your worship," said the good clergyman, "had better retire to
+your apartment, and try to sleep for a little space.  The
+physician left a composing draught; and our Great Physician has
+commanded us to use earthly means, that we may be strengthened to
+sustain the trials He sends us."
+
+"True, true, old friend," said Sir Hugh; "and we will bear our
+trials manfully--we have lost but a woman.--See, Tressilian,"--he
+drew from his bosom a long ringlet of glossy hair,--"see this
+lock!  I tell thee, Edmund, the very night she disappeared, when
+she bid me good even, as she was wont, she hung about my neck,
+and fondled me more than usual; and I, like an old fool, held her
+by this lock, until she took her scissors, severed it, and left
+it in my hand--as all I was ever to see more of her!"
+
+Tressilian was unable to reply, well judging what a complication
+of feelings must have crossed the bosom of the unhappy fugitive
+at that cruel moment.  The clergyman was about to speak, but Sir
+Hugh interrupted him.
+
+"I know what you would say, Master Curate,--After all, it is but
+a lock of woman's tresses; and by woman, shame, and sin, and
+death came into an innocent world.--And learned Master Mumblazen,
+too, can say scholarly things of their inferiority."
+
+"C'EST L'HOMME," said Master Mumblazen, "QUI SE BAST, ET QUI
+CONSEILLE."
+
+"True," said Sir Hugh, "and we will bear us, therefore, like men
+who have both mettle and wisdom in us.--Tressilian, thou art as
+welcome as if thou hadst brought better news.  But we have spoken
+too long dry-lipped.--Amy, fill a cup of wine to Edmund, and
+another to me."  Then instantly recollecting that he called upon
+her who could not hear, he shook his head, and said to the
+clergyman, "This grief is to my bewildered mind what the church
+of Lidcote is to our park: we may lose ourselves among the briers
+and thickets for a little space, but from the end of each avenue
+we see the old grey steeple and the grave of my forefathers.  I
+would I were to travel that road tomorrow!"
+
+Tressilian and the curate joined in urging the exhausted old man
+to lay himself to rest, and at length prevailed.  Tressilian
+remained by his pillow till he saw that slumber at length sunk
+down on him, and then returned to consult with the curate what
+steps should be adopted in these unhappy circumstances.
+
+They could not exclude from these deliberations Master Michael
+Mumblazen; and they admitted him the more readily, that besides
+what hopes they entertained from his sagacity, they knew him to
+be so great a friend to taciturnity, that there was no doubt of
+his keeping counsel.  He was an old bachelor, of good family, but
+small fortune, and distantly related to the House of Robsart; in
+virtue of which connection, Lidcote Hall had been honoured with
+his residence for the last twenty years.  His company was
+agreeable to Sir Hugh, chiefly on account of his profound
+learning, which, though it only related to heraldry and
+genealogy, with such scraps of history as connected themselves
+with these subjects, was precisely of a kind to captivate the
+good old knight; besides the convenience which he found in having
+a friend to appeal to when his own memory, as frequently
+happened, proved infirm and played him false concerning names and
+dates, which, and all similar deficiencies, Master Michael
+Mumblazen supplied with due brevity and discretion.  And, indeed,
+in matters concerning the modern world, he often gave, in his
+enigmatical and heraldic phrase, advice which was well worth
+attending to, or, in Will Badger's language, started the game
+while others beat the bush.
+
+"We have had an unhappy time of it with the good knight, Master
+Edmund," said the curate.  "I have not suffered so much since I
+was torn away from my beloved flock, and compelled to abandon
+them to the Romish wolves."
+
+"That was in TERTIO MARIAE," said Master Mumblazen.
+
+"In the name of Heaven," continued the curate, "tell us, has your
+time been better spent than ours, or have you any news of that
+unhappy maiden, who, being for so many years the principal joy of
+this broken-down house, is now proved our greatest unhappiness?
+Have you not at least discovered her place of residence?"
+
+"I have," replied Tressilian.  "Know you Cumnor Place, near
+Oxford?"
+
+"Surely," said the clergyman; "it was a house of removal for the
+monks of Abingdon."
+
+"Whose arms," said Master Michael, "I have seen over a stone
+chimney in the hall,--a cross patonce betwixt four martlets."
+
+"There," said Tressilian, "this unhappy maiden resides, in
+company with the villain Varney.  But for a strange mishap, my
+sword had revenged all our injuries, as well as hers, on his
+worthless head."
+
+"Thank God, that kept thine hand from blood-guiltiness, rash
+young man!"  answered the curate.  "Vengeance is mine, saith the
+Lord, and I will repay it.  It were better study to free her from
+the villain's nets of infamy."
+
+"They are called, in heraldry, LAQUEI AMORIS, or LACS D'AMOUR,"
+said Mumblazen.
+
+"It is in that I require your aid, my friends," said Tressilian.
+"I am resolved to accuse this villain, at the very foot of the
+throne, of falsehood, seduction, and breach of hospitable laws.
+The Queen shall hear me, though the Earl of Leicester, the
+villain's patron, stood at her right hand."
+
+"Her Grace," said the curate, "hath set a comely example of
+continence to her subjects, and will doubtless do justice on this
+inhospitable robber.  But wert thou not better apply to the Earl
+of Leicester, in the first place, for justice on his servant?  If
+he grants it, thou dost save the risk of making thyself a
+powerful adversary, which will certainly chance if, in the first
+instance, you accuse his master of the horse and prime favourite
+before the Queen."
+
+"My mind revolts from your counsel," said Tressilian.  "I cannot
+brook to plead my noble patron's cause the unhappy Amy's cause--
+before any one save my lawful Sovereign.  Leicester, thou wilt
+say, is noble.  Be it so; he is but a subject like ourselves, and
+I will not carry my plaint to him, if I can do better.  Still, I
+will think on what thou hast said; but I must have your
+assistance to persuade the good Sir Hugh to make me his
+commissioner and fiduciary in this matter, for it is in his name
+I must speak, and not in my own.  Since she is so far changed as
+to dote upon this empty profligate courtier, he shall at least do
+her the justice which is yet in his power."
+
+"Better she died CAELEBS and SINE PROLE," said Mumblazen, with
+more animation than he usually expressed, "than part, PER PALE,
+the noble coat of Robsart with that of such a miscreant!"
+
+"If it be your object, as I cannot question," said the clergyman,
+"to save, as much as is yet possible, the credit of this unhappy
+young woman, I repeat, you should apply, in the first instance,
+to the Earl of Leicester.  He is as absolute in his household as
+the Queen in her kingdom, and if he expresses to Varney that such
+is his pleasure, her honour will not stand so publicly
+committed."
+
+"You are right, you are right!"  said Tressilian eagerly, "and I
+thank you for pointing out what I overlooked in my haste.  I
+little thought ever to have besought grace of Leicester; but I
+could kneel to the proud Dudley, if doing so could remove one
+shade of shame from this unhappy damsel.  You will assist me then
+to procure the necessary powers from Sir Hugh Robsart?"
+
+The curate assured him of his assistance, and the herald nodded
+assent.
+
+"You must hold yourselves also in readiness to testify, in case
+you are called upon, the openhearted hospitality which our good
+patron exercised towards this deceitful traitor, and the
+solicitude with which he laboured to seduce his unhappy
+daughter."
+
+"At first," said the clergyman, "she did not, as it seemed to me,
+much affect his company; but latterly I saw them often together."
+
+"SEIANT in the parlour," said Michael Mumblazen, "and PASSANT in
+the garden."
+
+"I once came on them by chance," said the priest, "in the South
+wood, in a spring evening.  Varney was muffled in a russet cloak,
+so that I saw not his face.  They separated hastily, as they
+heard me rustle amongst the leaves; and I observed she turned her
+head and looked long after him."
+
+"With neck REGUARDANT," said the herald.  "And on the day of her
+flight, and that was on Saint Austen's Eve, I saw Varney's groom,
+attired in his liveries, hold his master's horse and Mistress
+Amy's palfrey, bridled and saddled PROPER, behind the wall of the
+churchyard,"
+
+"And now is she found mewed up in his secret place of
+retirement," said Tressilian.  "The villain is taken in the
+manner, and I well wish he may deny his crime, that I may thrust
+conviction down his false throat!  But I must prepare for my
+journey.  Do you, gentlemen, dispose my patron to grant me such
+powers as are needful to act in his name."
+
+So saying, Tressilian left the room.
+
+"He is too hot," said the curate; "and I pray to God that He may
+grant him the patience to deal with Varney as is fitting."
+
+"Patience and Varney," said Mumblazen, "is worse heraldry than
+metal upon metal.  He is more false than a siren, more rapacious
+than a griffin, more poisonous than a wyvern, and more cruel than
+a lion rampant."
+
+"Yet I doubt much," said the curate, "whether we can with
+propriety ask from Sir Hugh Robsart, being in his present
+condition, any deed deputing his paternal right in Mistress Amy
+to whomsoever--"
+
+"Your reverence need not doubt that," said Will Badger, who
+entered as he spoke, "for I will lay my life he is another man
+when he wakes than he has been these thirty days past."
+
+"Ay, Will," said the curate, "hast thou then so much confidence
+in Doctor Diddleum's draught?"
+
+"Not a whit," said Will, "because master ne'er tasted a drop
+on't, seeing it was emptied out by the housemaid.  But here's a
+gentleman, who came attending on Master Tressilian, has given Sir
+Hugh a draught that is worth twenty of yon un.  I have spoken
+cunningly with him, and a better farrier or one who hath a more
+just notion of horse and dog ailment I have never seen; and such
+a one would never be unjust to a Christian man."
+
+"A farrier!  you saucy groom--and by whose authority, pray?"
+said the curate, rising in surprise and indignation; "or who will
+be warrant for this new physician?"
+
+"For authority, an it like your reverence, he had mine; and for
+warrant, I trust I have not been five-and-twenty years in this
+house without having right to warrant the giving of a draught to
+beast or body--I who can gie a drench, and a ball, and bleed, or
+blister, if need, to my very self."
+
+The counsellors of the house of Robsart thought it meet to carry
+this information instantly to Tressilian, who as speedily
+summoned before him Wayland Smith, and demanded of him (in
+private, however) by what authority he had ventured to administer
+any medicine to Sir Hugh Robsart?
+
+"Why," replied the artist, "your worship cannot but remember that
+I told you I had made more progress into my master's--I mean the
+learned Doctor Doboobie's--mystery than he was willing to own;
+and indeed half of his quarrel and malice against me was that,
+besides that I got something too deep into his secrets, several
+discerning persons, and particularly a buxom young widow of
+Abingdon, preferred my prescriptions to his."
+
+"None of thy buffoonery, sir," said Tressilian sternly.  "If thou
+hast trifled with us--much more, if thou hast done aught that may
+prejudice Sir Hugh Robsart's health, thou shalt find thy grave at
+the bottom of a tin-mine."
+
+"I know too little of the great ARCANUM to convert the ore to
+gold," said Wayland firmly.  "But truce to your apprehensions,
+Master Tressilian.  I understood the good knight's case from what
+Master William Badger told me; and I hope I am able enough to
+administer a poor dose of mandragora, which, with the sleep that
+must needs follow, is all that Sir Hugh Robsart requires to
+settle his distraught brains."
+
+"I trust thou dealest fairly with me, Wayland?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Most fairly and honestly, as the event shall show," replied the
+artist.  "What would it avail me to harm the poor old man for
+whom you are interested?--you, to whom I owe it that Gaffer
+Pinniewinks is not even now rending my flesh and sinews with his
+accursed pincers, and probing every mole in my body with his
+sharpened awl (a murrain on the hands which forged it!) in order
+to find out the witch's mark?--I trust to yoke myself as a humble
+follower to your worship's train, and I only wish to have my
+faith judged of by the result of the good knight's slumbers."
+
+Wayland Smith was right in his prognostication.  The sedative
+draught which his skill had prepared, and Will Badger's
+confidence had administered, was attended with the most
+beneficial effects.  The patient's sleep was long and healthful,
+and the poor old knight awoke, humbled indeed in thought and weak
+in frame, yet a much better judge of whatever was subjected to
+his intellect than he had been for some time past.  He resisted
+for a while the proposal made by his friends that Tressilian
+should undertake a journey to court, to attempt the recovery of
+his daughter, and the redress of her wrongs, in so far as they
+might yet be repaired.  "Let her go," he said; "she is but a hawk
+that goes down the wind; I would not bestow even a whistle to
+reclaim her."  But though he for some time maintained this
+argument, he was at length convinced it was his duty to take the
+part to which natural affection inclined him, and consent that
+such efforts as could yet be made should be used by Tressilian in
+behalf of his daughter.  He subscribed, therefore, a warrant of
+attorney, such as the curate's skill enabled him to draw up; for
+in those simple days the clergy were often the advisers of their
+flock in law as well as in gospel.
+
+All matters were prepared for Tressilian's second departure,
+within twenty-four hours after he had returned to Lidcote Hall;
+but one material circumstance had been forgotten, which was first
+called to the remembrance of Tressilian by Master Mumblazen.
+"You are going to court, Master Tressilian," said he; "you will
+please remember that your blazonry must be ARGENT and OR--no
+other tinctures will pass current."  The remark was equally just
+and embarrassing.  To prosecute a suit at court, ready money was
+as indispensable even in the golden days of Elizabeth as at any
+succeeding period; and it was a commodity little at the command
+of the inhabitants of Lidcote Hall.  Tressilian was himself poor;
+the revenues of good Sir Hugh Robsart were consumed, and even
+anticipated, in his hospitable mode of living; and it was finally
+necessary that the herald who started the doubt should himself
+solve it.  Master Michael Mumblazen did so by producing a bag of
+money, containing nearly three hundred pounds in gold and silver
+of various coinage, the savings of twenty years, which he now,
+without speaking a syllable upon the subject, dedicated to the
+service of the patron whose shelter and protection had given him
+the means of making this little hoard.  Tressilian accepted it
+without affecting a moment's hesitation, and a mutual grasp of
+the hand was all that passed betwixt them, to express the
+pleasure which the one felt in dedicating his all to such a
+purpose, and that which the other received from finding so
+material an obstacle to the success of his journey so suddenly
+removed, and in a manner so unexpected.
+
+While Tressilian was making preparations for his departure early
+the ensuing morning, Wayland Smith desired to speak with him,
+and, expressing his hope that he had been pleased with the
+operation of his medicine in behalf of Sir Hugh Robsart, added
+his desire to accompany him to court.  This was indeed what
+Tressilian himself had several times thought of; for the
+shrewdness, alertness of understanding, and variety of resource
+which this fellow had exhibited during the time they had
+travelled together, had made him sensible that his assistance
+might be of importance.  But then Wayland was in danger from the
+grasp of law; and of this Tressilian reminded him, mentioning
+something, at the same time, of the pincers of Pinniewinks and
+the warrant of Master Justice Blindas.  Wayland Smith laughed
+both to scorn.
+
+"See you, sir!"  said he, "I have changed my garb from that of a
+farrier to a serving-man; but were it still as it was, look at my
+moustaches.  They now hang down; I will but turn them up, and dye
+them with a tincture that I know of, and the devil would scarce
+know me again."
+
+He accompanied these words with the appropriate action, and in
+less than a minute, by setting up, his moustaches and his hair,
+he seemed a different person from him that had but now entered
+the room.  Still, however, Tressilian hesitated to accept his
+services, and the artist became proportionably urgent.
+
+"I owe you life and limb," he said, "and I would fain pay a part
+of the debt, especially as I know from Will Badger on what
+dangerous service your worship is bound.  I do not, indeed,
+pretend to be what is called a man of mettle, one of those
+ruffling tear-cats who maintain their master's quarrel with sword
+and buckler.  Nay, I am even one of those who hold the end of a
+feast better than the beginning of a fray.  But I know that I can
+serve your worship better, in such quest as yours, than any of
+these sword-and-dagger men, and that my head will be worth an
+hundred of their hands."
+
+Tressilian still hesitated.  He knew not much of this strange
+fellow, and was doubtful how far he could repose in him the
+confidence necessary to render him a useful attendant upon the
+present emergency.  Ere he had come to a determination, the
+trampling of a horse was heard in the courtyard, and Master
+Mumblazen and Will Badger both entered hastily into Tressilian's
+chamber, speaking almost at the same moment.
+
+"Here is a serving-man on the bonniest grey tit I ever see'd in
+my life," said Will Badger, who got the start--"having on his
+arm a silver cognizance, being a fire-drake holding in his mouth
+a brickbat, under a coronet of an Earl's degree," said Master
+Mumblazen, "and bearing a letter sealed of the same."
+
+Tressilian took the letter, which was addressed "To the
+worshipful Master Edmund Tressilian, our loving kinsman--These--
+ride, ride, ride--for thy life, for thy life, for thy life.  "He
+then opened it, and found the following contents:--
+
+"MASTER TRESSILIAN, OUR GOOD FRIEND AND COUSIN,
+
+"We are at present so ill at ease, and otherwise so unhappily
+circumstanced, that we are desirous to have around us those of
+our friends on whose loving-kindness we can most especially
+repose confidence; amongst whom we hold our good Master
+Tressilian one of the foremost and nearest, both in good will and
+good ability.  We therefore pray you, with your most convenient
+speed, to repair to our poor lodging, at Sayes Court, near
+Deptford, where we will treat further with you of matters which
+we deem it not fit to commit unto writing.  And so we bid you
+heartily farewell, being your loving kinsman to command,
+          "RATCLIFFE, EARL OF SUSSEX."
+
+"Send up the messenger instantly, Will Badger," said Tressilian;
+and as the man entered the room, he exclaimed, "Ah, Stevens, is
+it you?  how does my good lord?"
+
+"Ill, Master Tressilian," was the messenger's reply, "and having
+therefore the more need of good friends around him."
+
+"But what is my lord's malady?"  said Tressilian anxiously; I
+heard nothing of his being ill."
+
+"I know not, sir," replied the man; "he is very ill at ease.  The
+leeches are at a stand, and many of his household suspect foul
+practice-witchcraft, or worse."
+
+"What are the symptoms?"  said Wayland Smith, stepping forward
+hastily.
+
+"Anan?"  said the messenger, not comprehending his meaning.
+
+"What does he ail?"  said Wayland; "where lies his disease?"
+
+The man looked at Tressilian, as if to know whether he should
+answer these inquiries from a stranger, and receiving a sign in
+the affirmative, he hastily enumerated gradual loss of strength,
+nocturnal perspiration, and loss of appetite, faintness, etc.
+
+"Joined," said Wayland, "to a gnawing pain in the stomach, and a
+low fever?"
+
+"Even so," said the messenger, somewhat surprised.
+
+"I know how the disease is caused," said the artist, "and I know
+the cause.  Your master has eaten of the manna of Saint Nicholas.
+I know the cure too--my master shall not say I studied in his
+laboratory for nothing."
+
+"How mean you?"  said Tressilian, frowning; "we speak of one of
+the first nobles of England.  Bethink you, this is no subject for
+buffoonery."
+
+"God forbid!"  said Wayland Smith.  "I say that I know this
+disease, and can cure him.  Remember what I did for Sir Hugh
+Robsart,"
+
+"We will set forth instantly," said Tressilian.  "God calls us."
+
+Accordingly, hastily mentioning this new motive for his instant
+departure, though without alluding to either the suspicions of
+Stevens, or the assurances of Wayland Smith, he took the kindest
+leave of Sir Hugh and the family at Lidcote Hall, who accompanied
+him with prayers and blessings, and, attended by Wayland and the
+Earl of Sussex's domestic, travelled with the utmost speed
+towards London.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+  Ay, I know you have arsenic,
+  Vitriol, sal-tartre, argaile, alkaly,
+  Cinoper:  I know all.--This fellow, Captain,
+  Will come in time to be a great distiller,
+  And give a say (I will not say directly,
+  But very near) at the philosopher's stone.   THE ALCHEMIST.
+
+Tressilian and his attendants pressed their route with all
+dispatch.  He had asked the smith, indeed, when their departure
+was resolved on, whether he would not rather choose to avoid
+Berkshire, in which he had played a part so conspicuous?  But
+Wayland returned a confident answer.  He had employed the short
+interval they passed at Lidcote Hall in transforming himself in a
+wonderful manner.  His wild and overgrown thicket of beard was
+now restrained to two small moustaches on the upper lip, turned
+up in a military fashion.  A tailor from the village of Lidcote
+(well paid) had exerted his skill, under his customer's
+directions, so as completely to alter Wayland's outward man, and
+take off from his appearance almost twenty years of age.
+Formerly, besmeared with soot and charcoal, overgrown with hair,
+and bent double with the nature of his labour, disfigured too by
+his odd and fantastic dress, he seemed a man of fifty years old.
+But now, in a handsome suit of Tressilian's livery, with a sword
+by his side and a buckler on his shoulder, he looked like a gay
+ruffling serving-man, whose age might be betwixt thirty and
+thirty-five, the very prime of human life.  His loutish, savage-
+looking demeanour seemed equally changed, into a forward, sharp,
+and impudent alertness of look and action.
+
+When challenged by Tressilian, who desired to know the cause of a
+metamorphosis so singular and so absolute, Wayland only answered
+by singing a stave from a comedy, which was then new, and was
+supposed, among the more favourable judges, to augur some genius
+on the part of the author.  We are happy to preserve the couplet,
+which ran exactly thus,--
+
+  "Ban, ban, ca Caliban--
+  Get a new master--Be a new man."
+
+Although Tressilian did not recollect the verses, yet they
+reminded him that Wayland had once been a stage player, a
+circumstance which, of itself, accounted indifferently well for
+the readiness with which he could assume so total a change of
+personal appearance.  The artist himself was so confident of his
+disguise being completely changed, or of his having completely
+changed his disguise, which may be the more correct mode of
+speaking, that he regretted they were not to pass near his old
+place of retreat.
+
+"I could venture," he said, "in my present dress, and with your
+worship's backing, to face Master Justice Blindas, even on a day
+of Quarter Sessions; and I would like to know what is become of
+Hobgoblin, who is like to play the devil in the world, if he can
+once slip the string, and leave his granny and his dominie.--Ay,
+and the scathed vault!"  he said; "I would willingly have seen
+what havoc the explosion of so much gunpowder has made among
+Doctor Demetrius Doboobie's retorts and phials.  I warrant me, my
+fame haunts the Vale of the Whitehorse long after my body is
+rotten; and that many a lout ties up his horse, lays down his
+silver groat, and pipes like a sailor whistling in a calm for
+Wayland Smith to come and shoe his tit for him.  But the horse
+will catch the founders ere the smith answers the call."
+
+In this particular, indeed, Wayland proved a true prophet; and so
+easily do fables rise, that an obscure tradition of his
+extraordinary practice in farriery prevails in the Vale of
+Whitehorse even unto this day; and neither the tradition of
+Alfred's Victory, nor of the celebrated Pusey Horn, are better
+preserved in Berkshire than the wild legend of Wayland Smith.
+[See Note 2, Legend of Wayland Smith.]
+
+The haste of the travellers admitted their making no stay upon
+their journey, save what the refreshment of the horses required;
+and as many of the places through which they passed were under
+the influence of the Earl of Leicester, or persons immediately
+dependent on him, they thought it prudent to disguise their names
+and the purpose of their journey.  On such occasions the agency
+of Wayland Smith (by which name we shall continue to distinguish
+the artist, though his real name was Lancelot Wayland) was
+extremely serviceable.  He seemed, indeed, to have a pleasure in
+displaying the alertness with which he could baffle
+investigation, and amuse himself by putting the curiosity of
+tapsters and inn-keepers on a false scent.  During the course of
+their brief journey, three different and inconsistent reports
+were circulated by him on their account--namely, first, that
+Tressilian was the Lord Deputy of Ireland, come over in disguise
+to take the Queen's pleasure concerning the great rebel Rory Oge
+MacCarthy MacMahon; secondly, that the said Tressilian was an
+agent of Monsieur, coming to urge his suit to the hand of
+Elizabeth; thirdly, that he was the Duke of Medina, come over,
+incognito, to adjust the quarrel betwixt Philip and that
+princess.
+
+Tressilian was angry, and expostulated with the artist on the
+various inconveniences, and, in particular, the unnecessary
+degree of attention to which they were subjected by the figments
+he thus circulated; but he was pacified (for who could be proof
+against such an argument?) by Wayland's assuring him that a
+general importance was attached to his own (Tressilian's)
+striking presence, which rendered it necessary to give an
+extraordinary reason for the rapidity and secrecy of his journey.
+
+At length they approached the metropolis, where, owing to the
+more general recourse of strangers, their appearance excited
+neither observation nor inquiry, and finally they entered London
+itself.
+
+It was Tressilian's purpose to go down directly to Deptford,
+where Lord Sussex resided, in order to be near the court, then
+held at Greenwich, the favourite residence of Elizabeth, and
+honoured as her birthplace.  Still a brief halt in London was
+necessary; and it was somewhat prolonged by the earnest
+entreaties of Wayland Smith, who desired permission to take a
+walk through the city.
+
+"Take thy sword and buckler, and follow me, then," said
+Tressilian; "I am about to walk myself, and we will go in
+company."
+
+This he said, because he was not altogether so secure of the
+fidelity of his new retainer as to lose sight of him at this
+interesting moment, when rival factions at the court of Elizabeth
+were running so high.  Wayland Smith willingly acquiesced in the
+precaution, of which he probably conjectured the motive, but only
+stipulated that his master should enter the shops of such
+chemists or apothecaries as he should point out, in walking
+through Fleet Street, and permit him to make some necessary
+purchases.  Tressilian agreed, and obeying the signal of his
+attendant, walked successively into more than four or five shops,
+where he observed that Wayland purchased in each only one single
+drug, in various quantities.  The medicines which he first asked
+for were readily furnished, each in succession, but those which
+he afterwards required were less easily supplied; and Tressilian
+observed that Wayland more than once, to the surprise of the
+shopkeeper, returned the gum or herb that was offered to him, and
+compelled him to exchange it for the right sort, or else went on
+to seek it elsewhere.  But one ingredient, in particular, seemed
+almost impossible to be found.  Some chemists plainly admitted
+they had never seen it; others denied that such a drug existed,
+excepting in the imagination of crazy alchemists; and most of
+them attempted to satisfy their customer, by producing some
+substitute, which, when rejected by Wayland, as not being what he
+had asked for, they maintained possessed, in a superior degree,
+the self-same qualities.  In general they all displayed some
+curiosity concerning the purpose for which he wanted it.  One
+old, meagre chemist, to whom the artist put the usual question,
+in terms which Tressilian neither understood nor could recollect,
+answered frankly, there was none of that drug in London, unless
+Yoglan the Jew chanced to have some of it upon hand.
+
+"I thought as much," said Wayland.  And as soon as they left the
+shop, he said to Tressilian, "I crave your pardon, sir, but no
+artist can work without his tools.  I must needs go to this
+Yoglan's; and I promise you, that if this detains you longer than
+your leisure seems to permit, you shall, nevertheless, be well
+repaid by the use I will make of this rare drug.  Permit me," he
+added, "to walk before you, for we are now to quit the broad
+street and we will make double speed if I lead the way."
+
+Tressilian acquiesced, and, following the smith down a lane which
+turned to the left hand towards the river, he found that his
+guide walked on with great speed, and apparently perfect
+knowledge of the town, through a labyrinth of by-streets, courts,
+and blind alleys, until at length Wayland paused in the midst of
+a very narrow lane, the termination of which showed a peep of the
+Thames looking misty and muddy, which background was crossed
+saltierwise, as Mr. Mumblazen might have said, by the masts of
+two lighters that lay waiting for the tide.  The shop under which
+he halted had not, as in modern days, a glazed window, but a
+paltry canvas screen surrounded such a stall as a cobbler now
+occupies, having the front open, much in the manner of a
+fishmonger's booth of the present day.  A little old smock-faced
+man, the very reverse of a Jew in complexion, for he was very
+soft-haired as well as beardless, appeared, and with many
+courtesies asked Wayland what he pleased to want.  He had no
+sooner named the drug, than the Jew started and looked surprised.
+"And vat might your vorship vant vith that drug, which is not
+named, mein God, in forty years as I have been chemist here?"
+
+"These questions it is no part of my commission to answer," said
+Wayland; "I only wish to know if you have what I want, and having
+it, are willing to sell it?"
+
+"Ay, mein God, for having it, that I have, and for selling it, I
+am a chemist, and sell every drug."  So saying, he exhibited a
+powder, and then continued, "But it will cost much moneys.  Vat I
+ave cost its weight in gold--ay, gold well-refined--I vilI say
+six times.  It comes from Mount Sinai, where we had our blessed
+Law given forth, and the plant blossoms but once in one hundred
+year."
+
+"I do not know how often it is gathered on Mount Sinai," said
+Wayland, after looking at the drug offered him with great
+disdain, "but I will wager my sword and buckler against your
+gaberdine, that this trash you offer me, instead of what I asked
+for, may be had for gathering any day of the week in the castle
+ditch of Aleppo."
+
+"You are a rude man," said the Jew; "and, besides, I ave no
+better than that--or if I ave, I will not sell it without order
+of a physician, or without you tell me vat you make of it."
+
+The artist made brief answer in a language of which Tressilian
+could not understand a word, and which seemed to strike the Jew
+with the utmost astonishment.  He stared upon Wayland like one
+who has suddenly recognized some mighty hero or dreaded
+potentate, in the person of an unknown and unmarked stranger.
+"Holy Elias!"  he exclaimed, when he had recovered the first
+stunning effects of his surprise; and then passing from his
+former suspicious and surly manner to the very extremity of
+obsequiousness, he cringed low to the artist, and besought him to
+enter his poor house, to bless his miserable threshold by
+crossing it.
+
+"Vill you not taste a cup vith the poor Jew, Zacharias Yoglan?
+--Vill you Tokay ave?--vill you Lachrymae taste?--vill you--"
+
+"You offend in your proffers," said Wayland; "minister to me in
+what I require of you, and forbear further discourse."
+
+The rebuked Israelite took his bunch of keys, and opening with
+circumspection a cabinet which seemed more strongly secured than
+the other cases of drugs and medicines amongst which it stood, he
+drew out a little secret drawer, having a glass lid, and
+containing a small portion of a black powder.  This he offered to
+Wayland, his manner conveying the deepest devotion towards him,
+though an avaricious and jealous expression, which seemed to
+grudge every grain of what his customer was about to possess
+himself, disputed ground in his countenance with the obsequious
+deference which he desired it should exhibit.
+
+"Have you scales?"  said Wayland.
+
+The Jew pointed to those which lay ready for common use in the
+shop, but he did so with a puzzled expression of doubt and fear,
+which did not escape the artist.
+
+"They must be other than these," said Wayland sternly.  "Know you
+not that holy things lose their virtue if weighed in an unjust
+balance?"
+
+The Jew hung his head, took from a steel-plated casket a pair of
+scales beautifully mounted, and said, as he adjusted them for the
+artist's use, "With these I do mine own experiment--one hair of
+the high-priest's beard would turn them."
+
+"It suffices," said the artist, and weighed out two drachms for
+himself of the black powder, which he very carefully folded up,
+and put into his pouch with the other drugs.  He then demanded
+the price of the Jew, who answered, shaking his head and bowing,
+--
+
+"No price--no, nothing at all from such as you.  But you will see
+the poor Jew again?  you will look into his laboratory, where,
+God help him, he hath dried himself to the substance of the
+withered gourd of Jonah, the holy prophet.  You will ave pity on
+him, and show him one little step on the great road?"
+
+"Hush!"  said Wayland, laying his finger mysteriously on his
+mouth; "it may be we shall meet again.  Thou hast already the
+SCHAHMAJM, as thine own Rabbis call it--the general creation;
+watch, therefore, and pray, for thou must attain the knowledge of
+Alchahest Elixir Samech ere I may commune further with thee."
+Then returning with a slight nod the reverential congees of the
+Jew, he walked gravely up the lane, followed by his master, whose
+first observation on the scene he had just witnessed was, that
+Wayland ought to have paid the man for his drug, whatever it was.
+
+"I pay him?"  said the artist.  "May the foul fiend pay me if I
+do!  Had it not been that I thought it might displease your
+worship, I would have had an ounce or two of gold out of him, in
+exchange of the same just weight of brick dust."
+
+"I advise you to practise no such knavery while waiting upon me,"
+said Tressilian.
+
+"Did I not say," answered the artist, "that for that reason alone
+I forbore him for the present?--Knavery, call you it?  Why,
+yonder wretched skeleton hath wealth sufficient to pave the whole
+lane he lives in with dollars, and scarce miss them out of his
+own iron chest; yet he goes mad after the philosopher's stone.
+And besides, he would have cheated a poor serving-man, as he
+thought me at first, with trash that was not worth a penny.
+Match for match, quoth the devil to the collier; if his false
+medicine was worth my good crowns, my true brick dust is as well
+worth his good gold."
+
+"It may be so, for aught I know," said Tressilian, "in dealing
+amongst Jews and apothecaries; but understand that to have such
+tricks of legerdemain practised by one attending on me diminishes
+my honour, and that I will not permit them.  I trust thou hast
+made up thy purchases?"
+
+"I have, sir," replied Wayland; "and with these drugs will I,
+this very day, compound the true orvietan, that noble medicine
+which is so seldom found genuine and effective within these
+realms of Europe, for want of that most rare and precious drug
+which I got but now from Yoglan."  [Orvietan, or Venice treacle,
+as it was sometimes called, was understood to be a sovereign
+remedy against poison; and the reader must be contented, for the
+time he peruses these pages, to hold the same opinion, which was
+once universally received by the learned as well as the vulgar.]
+
+"But why not have made all your purchases at one shop?"  said his
+master; "we have lost nearly an hour in running from one pounder
+of simples to another."
+
+"Content you, sir," said Wayland.  "No man shall learn my secret;
+and it would not be mine long, were I to buy all my materials
+from one chemist."
+
+They now returned to their inn (the famous Bell-Savage); and
+while the Lord Sussex's servant prepared the horses for their
+journey, Wayland, obtaining from the cook the service of a
+mortar, shut himself up in a private chamber, where he mixed,
+pounded, and amalgamated the drugs which he had bought, each in
+its due proportion, with a readiness and address that plainly
+showed him well practised in all the manual operations of
+pharmacy.
+
+By the time Wayland's electuary was prepared the horses were
+ready, and a short hour's riding brought them to the present
+habitation of Lord Sussex, an ancient house, called Sayes Court,
+near Deptford, which had long pertained to a family of that name,
+but had for upwards of a century been possessed by the ancient
+and honourable family of Evelyn.  The present representative of
+that ancient house took a deep interest in the Earl of Sussex,
+and had willingly accommodated both him and his numerous retinue
+in his hospitable mansion.  Sayes Court was afterwards the
+residence of the celebrated Mr. Evelyn, whose "Silva" is still
+the manual of British planters; and whose life, manners, and
+principles, as illustrated in his Memoirs, ought equally to be
+the manual of English gentlemen.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+  This is rare news thou tell'st me, my good fellow;
+  There are two bulls fierce battling on the green
+  For one fair heifer--if the one goes down,
+  The dale will be more peaceful, and the herd,
+  Which have small interest in their brulziement,
+  May pasture there in peace.--OLD PLAY.
+
+Sayes Court was watched like a beleaguered fort; and so high rose
+the suspicions of the time, that Tressilian and his attendants
+were stopped and questioned repeatedly by sentinels, both on foot
+and horseback, as they approached the abode of the sick Earl.  In
+truth, the high rank which Sussex held in Queen Elizabeth's
+favour, and his known and avowed rivalry of the Earl of
+Leicester, caused the utmost importance to be attached to his
+welfare; for, at the period we treat of, all men doubted whether
+he or the Earl of Leicester might ultimately have the higher rank
+in her regard.
+
+Elizabeth, like many of her sex, was fond of governing by
+factions, so as to balance two opposing interests, and reserve in
+her own hand the power of making either predominate, as the
+interest of the state, or perhaps as her own female caprice (for
+to that foible even she was not superior), might finally
+determine.  To finesse--to hold the cards--to oppose one interest
+to another--to bridle him who thought himself highest in her
+esteem, by the fears he must entertain of another equally
+trusted, if not equally beloved, were arts which she used
+throughout her reign, and which enabled her, though frequently
+giving way to the weakness of favouritism, to prevent most of its
+evil effects on her kingdom and government.
+
+The two nobles who at present stood as rivals in her favour
+possessed very different pretensions to share it; yet it might be
+in general said that the Earl of Sussex had been most serviceable
+to the Queen, while Leicester was most dear to the woman.  Sussex
+was, according to the phrase of the times, a martialist--had done
+good service in Ireland and in Scotland, and especially in the
+great northern rebellion, in 1569, which was quelled, in a great
+measure, by his military talents.  He was, therefore, naturally
+surrounded and looked up to by those who wished to make arms
+their road to distinction.  The Earl of Sussex, moreover, was of
+more ancient and honourable descent than his rival, uniting in
+his person the representation of the Fitz-Walters, as well as of
+the Ratcliffes; while the scutcheon of Leicester was stained by
+the degradation of his grandfather, the oppressive minister of
+Henry VII., and scarce improved by that of his father, the
+unhappy Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, executed on Tower Hill,
+August 22, 1553.  But in person, features, and address, weapons
+so formidable in the court of a female sovereign, Leicester had
+advantages more than sufficient to counterbalance the military
+services, high blood, and frank bearing of the Earl of Sussex;
+and he bore, in the eye of the court and kingdom, the higher
+share in Elizabeth's favour, though (for such was her uniform
+policy) by no means so decidedly expressed as to warrant him
+against the final preponderance of his rival's pretensions.  The
+illness of Sussex therefore happened so opportunely for
+Leicester, as to give rise to strange surmises among the public;
+while the followers of the one Earl were filled with the deepest
+apprehensions, and those of the other with the highest hopes of
+its probable issue.  Meanwhile--for in that old time men never
+forgot the probability that the matter might be determined by
+length of sword--the retainers of each noble flocked around their
+patron, appeared well armed in the vicinity of the court itself,
+and disturbed the ear of the sovereign by their frequent and
+alarming debates, held even within the precincts of her palace.
+This preliminary statement is necessary, to render what follows
+intelligible to the reader.  [See Note 3. Leicester and Sussex.]
+
+On Tressilian's arrival at Sayes Court, he found the place filled
+with the retainers of the Earl of Sussex, and of the gentlemen
+who came to attend their patron in his illness.  Arms were in
+every hand, and a deep gloom on every countenance, as if they had
+apprehended an immediate and violent assault from the opposite
+faction.  In the hall, however, to which Tressilian was ushered
+by one of the Earl's attendants, while another went to inform
+Sussex of his arrival, he found only two gentlemen in waiting.
+There was a remarkable contrast in their dress, appearance, and
+manners.  The attire of the elder gentleman, a person as it
+seemed of quality and in the prime of life, was very plain and
+soldierlike, his stature low, his limbs stout, his bearing
+ungraceful, and his features of that kind which express sound
+common sense, without a grain of vivacity or imagination.  The
+younger, who seemed about twenty, or upwards, was clad in the
+gayest habit used by persons of quality at the period, wearing a
+crimson velvet cloak richly ornamented with lace and embroidery,
+with a bonnet of the same, encircled with a gold chain turned
+three times round it, and secured by a medal.  His hair was
+adjusted very nearly like that of some fine gentlemen of our own
+time--that is, it was combed upwards, and made to stand as it
+were on end; and in his ears he wore a pair of silver earrings,
+having each a pearl of considerable size.  The countenance of
+this youth, besides being regularly handsome and accompanied by a
+fine person, was animated and striking in a degree that seemed to
+speak at once the firmness of a decided and the fire of an
+enterprising character, the power of reflection, and the
+promptitude of determination.
+
+Both these gentlemen reclined nearly in the same posture on
+benches near each other; but each seeming engaged in his own
+meditations, looked straight upon the wall which was opposite to
+them, without speaking to his companion.  The looks of the elder
+were of that sort which convinced the beholder that, in looking
+on the wall, he saw no more than the side of an old hall hung
+around with cloaks, antlers, bucklers, old pieces of armour,
+partisans, and the similar articles which were usually the
+furniture of such a place.  The look of the younger gallant had
+in it something imaginative; he was sunk in reverie, and it
+seemed as if the empty space of air betwixt him and the wall were
+the stage of a theatre on which his fancy was mustering his own
+DRAMATIS PERSONAE, and treating him with sights far different
+from those which his awakened and earthly vision could have
+offered.
+
+At the entrance of Tressilian both started from their musing, and
+made him welcome--the younger, in particular, with great
+appearance of animation and cordiality.
+
+"Thou art welcome, Tressilian," said the youth.  "Thy philosophy
+stole thee from us when this household had objects of ambition to
+offer; it is an honest philosophy, since it returns thee to us
+when there are only dangers to be shared."
+
+"Is my lord, then, so greatly indisposed?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"We fear the very worst," answered the elder gentleman, "and by
+the worst practice."
+
+"Fie," replied Tressilian, "my Lord of Leicester is honourable."
+
+"What doth he with such attendants, then, as he hath about him?"
+said the younger gallant.  "The man who raises the devil may be
+honest, but he is answerable for the mischief which the fiend
+does, for all that."
+
+"And is this all of you, my mates," inquired Tressilian, "that
+are about my lord in his utmost straits?"
+
+"No, no," replied the elder gentleman, "there are Tracy, Markham,
+and several more; but we keep watch here by two at once, and some
+are weary and are sleeping in the gallery above."
+
+"And some," said the young man," are gone down to the Dock yonder
+at Deptford, to look out such a hull; as they may purchase by
+clubbing their broken fortunes; and as soon as all is over, we
+will lay our noble lord in a noble green grave, have a blow at
+those who have hurried him thither, if opportunity suits, and
+then sail for the Indies with heavy hearts and light purses."
+
+"It may be," said Tressilian, "that I will embrace the same
+purpose, so soon as I have settled some business at court."
+
+"Thou business at court!"  they both exclaimed at once, "and thou
+make the Indian voyage!"
+
+"Why, Tressilian," said the younger man, "art thou not wedded,
+and beyond these flaws of fortune, that drive folks out to sea
+when their bark bears fairest for the haven?-- What has become of
+the lovely Indamira that was to match my Amoret for truth and
+beauty?"
+
+"Speak not of her!"  said Tressilian, averting his face.
+
+"Ay, stands it so with you?"  said the youth, taking his hand
+very affectionately; "then, fear not I will again touch the green
+wound.  But it is strange as well as sad news.  Are none of our
+fair and merry fellowship to escape shipwreck of fortune and
+happiness in this sudden tempest?  I had hoped thou wert in
+harbour, at least, my dear Edmund.  But truly says another dear
+friend of thy name,
+
+  'What man that sees the ever whirling wheel
+  Of Chance, the which all mortal things doth sway,
+  But that thereby doth find and plainly feel,
+  How Mutability in them doth play
+  Her cruel sports to many men's decay.'"
+
+The elder gentleman had risen from his bench, and was pacing the
+hall with some impatience, while the youth, with much earnestness
+and feeling, recited these lines.  When he had done, the other
+wrapped himself in his cloak, and again stretched himself down,
+saying, "I marvel, Tressilian, you will feed the lad in this
+silly humour.  If there were ought to draw a judgment upon a
+virtuous and honourable household like my lord's, renounce me if
+I think not it were this piping, whining, childish trick of
+poetry, that came among us with Master Walter Wittypate here and
+his comrades, twisting into all manner of uncouth and
+incomprehensible forms of speech, the honest plain English phrase
+which God gave us to express our meaning withal."
+
+"Blount believes," said his comrade, laughing, "the devil woo'd
+Eve in rhyme, and that the mystic meaning of the Tree of
+Knowledge refers solely to the art of clashing rhymes and meting
+out hexameters."  [See Note 4. Sir Walter Raleigh.]
+
+At this moment the Earl's chamberlain entered, and informed
+Tressilian that his lord required to speak with him.
+
+He found Lord Sussex dressed, but unbraced, and lying on his
+couch, and was shocked at the alteration disease had made in his
+person.  The Earl received him with the most friendly cordiality,
+and inquired into the state of his courtship.  Tressilian evaded
+his inquiries for a moment, and turning his discourse on the
+Earl's own health, he discovered, to his surprise, that the
+symptoms of his disorder corresponded minutely with those which
+Wayland had predicated concerning it.  He hesitated not,
+therefore, to communicate to Sussex the whole history of his
+attendant, and the pretensions he set up to cure the disorder
+under which he laboured.  The Earl listened with incredulous
+attention until the name of Demetrius was mentioned, and then
+suddenly called to his secretary to bring him a certain casket
+which contained papers of importance.  "Take out from thence," he
+said, "the declaration of the rascal cook whom we had under
+examination, and look heedfully if the name of Demetrius be not
+there mentioned."
+
+The secretary turned to the passage at once, and read, "And said
+declarant, being examined, saith, That he remembers having made
+the sauce to the said sturgeon-fish, after eating of which the
+said noble Lord was taken ill; "and he put the usual ingredients
+and condiments therein, namely--"
+
+"Pass over his trash," said the Earl, "and see whether he had not
+been supplied with his materials by a herbalist called
+Demetrius."
+
+"It is even so," answered the secretary.  "And he adds, he has
+not since seen the said Demetrius."
+
+"This accords with thy fellow's story, Tressilian," said the
+Earl; "call him hither."
+
+On being summoned to the Earl's presence, Wayland Smith told his
+former tale with firmness and consistency.
+
+"It may be," said the Earl, "thou art sent by those who have
+begun this work, to end it for them; but bethink, if I miscarry
+under thy medicine, it may go hard with thee."
+
+"That were severe measure," said Wayland, "since the issue of
+medicine, and the end of life, are in God's disposal.  But I will
+stand the risk.  I have not lived so long under ground to be
+afraid of a grave."
+
+"Nay, if thou be'st so confident," said the Earl of Sussex, "I
+will take the risk too, for the learned can do nothing for me.
+Tell me how this medicine is to be taken."
+
+"That will I do presently," said Wayland; "but allow me to
+condition that, since I incur all the risk of this treatment, no
+other physician shall be permitted to interfere with it."
+
+"That is but fair," replied the Earl; "and now prepare your
+drug."
+
+While Wayland obeyed the Earl's commands, his servants, by the
+artist's direction, undressed their master, and placed him in
+bed.
+
+"I warn you," he said, "that the first operation of this medicine
+will be to produce a heavy sleep, during which time the chamber
+must be kept undisturbed, as the consequences may otherwise he
+fatal.  I myself will watch by the Earl with any of the gentlemen
+of his chamber."
+
+"Let all leave the room, save Stanley and this good fellow," said
+the Earl.
+
+"And saving me also," said Tressilian.  "I too am deeply
+interested in the effects of this potion."
+
+"Be it so, good friend," said the Earl.  "And now for our
+experiment; but first call my secretary and chamberlain."
+
+"Bear witness," he continued, when these officers arrived--"bear
+witness for me, gentlemen, that our honourable friend Tressilian
+is in no way responsible for the effects which this medicine may
+produce upon me, the taking it being my own free action and
+choice, in regard I believe it to be a remedy which God has
+furnished me by unexpected means to recover me of my present
+malady.  Commend me to my noble and princely Mistress; and say
+that I live and die her true servant, and wish to all about her
+throne the same singleness of heart and will to serve her, with
+more ability to do so than hath been assigned to poor Thomas
+Ratcliffe."
+
+He then folded his hands, and seemed for a second or two absorbed
+in mental devotion, then took the potion in his hand, and,
+pausing, regarded Wayland with a look that seemed designed to
+penetrate his very soul, but which caused no anxiety or
+hesitation in the countenance or manner of the artist.
+
+"Here is nothing to be feared," said Sussex to Tressilian, and
+swallowed the medicine without further hesitation
+
+"I am now to pray your lordship," said Wayland, "to dispose
+yourself to rest as commodiously as you can; and of you,
+gentlemen, to remain as still and mute as if you waited at your
+mother's deathbed."
+
+The chamberlain and secretary then withdrew, giving orders that
+all doors should be bolted, and all noise in the house strictly
+prohibited.  Several gentlemen were voluntary watchers in the
+hall, but none remained in the chamber of the sick Earl, save his
+groom of the chamber, the artist, and Tressilian.--Wayland
+Smith's predictions were speedily accomplished, and a sleep fell
+upon the Earl, so deep and sound that they who watched his
+bedside began to fear that, in his weakened state, he might pass
+away without awakening from his lethargy.  Wayland Smith himself
+appeared anxious, and felt the temples of the Earl slightly, from
+time to time, attending particularly to the state of his
+respiration, which was full and deep, but at the same time easy
+and uninterrupted.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV,
+
+  You loggerheaded and unpolish'd grooms,
+  What, no attendance, no regard, no duty?
+  Where is the foolish knave I sent before?  TAMING OF THE SHREW.
+
+There is no period at which men look worse in the eyes of each
+other, or feel more uncomfortable, than when the first dawn of
+daylight finds them watchers.  Even a beauty of the first order,
+after the vigils of a ball are interrupted by the dawn, would do
+wisely to withdraw herself from the gaze of her fondest and most
+partial admirers.  Such was the pale, inauspicious, and
+ungrateful light which began to beam upon those who kept watch
+all night in the hall at Sayes Court, and which mingled its cold,
+pale, blue diffusion with the red, yellow, and smoky beams of
+expiring lamps and torches.  The young gallant, whom we noticed
+in our last chapter, had left the room for a few minutes, to
+learn the cause of a knocking at the outward gate, and on his
+return was so struck with the forlorn and ghastly aspects of his
+companions of the watch that he exclaimed, "Pity of my heart, my
+masters, how like owls you look!  Methinks, when the sun rises, I
+shall see you flutter off with your eyes dazzled, to stick
+yourselves into the next ivy-tod or ruined steeple."
+
+"Hold thy peace, thou gibing fool," said Blount; "hold thy peace.
+
+Is this a time for jeering, when the manhood of England is
+perchance dying within a wall's breadth of thee?"
+
+"There thou liest," replied the gallant.
+
+"How, lie!"  exclaimed Blount, starting up, "lie!  and to me?"
+
+"Why, so thou didst, thou peevish fool," answered the youth;
+"thou didst lie on that bench even now, didst thou not?  But art
+thou not a hasty coxcomb to pick up a wry word so wrathfully?
+Nevertheless, loving and, honouring my lord as truly as thou, or
+any one, I do say that, should Heaven take him from us, all
+England's manhood dies not with him."
+
+"Ay," replied Blount, "a good portion will survive with thee,
+doubtless."
+
+"And a good portion with thyself, Blount, and with stout Markham
+here, and Tracy, and all of us.  But I am he will best employ the
+talent Heaven has given to us all."
+
+"As how, I prithee?"  said Blount; "tell us your mystery of
+multiplying."
+
+"Why, sirs," answered the youth, "ye are like goodly land, which
+bears no crop because it is not quickened by manure; but I have
+that rising spirit in me which will make my poor faculties labour
+to keep pace with it.  My ambition will keep my brain at work, I
+warrant thee."
+
+"I pray to God it does not drive thee mad," said Blount; "for my
+part, if we lose our noble lord, I bid adieu to the court and to
+the camp both.  I have five hundred foul acres in Norfolk, and
+thither will I, and change the court pantoufle for the country
+hobnail."
+
+"O base transmutation!"  exclaimed his antagonist; "thou hast
+already got the true rustic slouch--thy shoulders stoop, as if
+thine hands were at the stilts of the plough; and thou hast a
+kind of earthy smell about thee, instead of being perfumed with
+essence, as a gallant and courtier should.  On my soul, thou hast
+stolen out to roll thyself on a hay mow!  Thy only excuse will be
+to swear by thy hilts that the farmer had a fair daughter."
+
+"I pray thee, Walter," said another of the company, "cease thy
+raillery, which suits neither time nor place, and tell us who was
+at the gate just now."
+
+"Doctor Masters, physician to her Grace in ordinary, sent by her
+especial orders to inquire after the Earl's health," answered
+Walter.
+
+"Ha!  what?"  exclaimed Tracy; "that was no slight mark of
+favour. If the Earl can but come through, he will match with
+Leicester yet.  Is Masters with my lord at present?"
+
+"Nay," replied Walter, "he is half way back to Greenwich by this
+time, and in high dudgeon."
+
+"Thou didst not refuse him admittance?"  exclaimed Tracy.
+
+"Thou wert not, surely, so mad?"  ejaculated Blount.
+
+"I refused him admittance as flatly, Blount, as you would refuse
+a penny to a blind beggar--as obstinately, Tracy, as thou didst
+ever deny access to a dun."
+
+"Why, in the fiend's name, didst thou trust him to go to the
+gate?"  said Blount to Tracy.
+
+"It suited his years better than mine," answered Tracy; "but he
+has undone us all now thoroughly.  My lord may live or die, he
+will never have a look of favour from her Majesty again."
+
+"Nor the means of making fortunes for his followers," said the
+young gallant, smiling contemptuously;--"there lies the sore
+point that will brook no handling.  My good sirs, I sounded my
+lamentations over my lord somewhat less loudly than some of you;
+but when the point comes of doing him service, I will yield to
+none of you.  Had this learned leech entered, think'st thou not
+there had been such a coil betwixt him and Tressilian's
+mediciner, that not the sleeper only, but the very dead might
+have awakened?  I know what larurm belongs to the discord of
+doctors."
+
+"And who is to take the blame of opposing the Queen's orders?"
+said Tracy; "for, undeniably, Doctor Masters came with her
+Grace's positive commands to cure the Earl."
+
+"I, who have done the wrong, will bear the blame," said Walter.
+
+"Thus, then, off fly the dreams of court favour thou hast
+nourished," said Blount, "and despite all thy boasted art and
+ambition, Devonshire will see thee shine a true younger brother,
+fit to sit low at the board, carve turn about with the chaplain,
+look that the hounds be fed, and see the squire's girths drawn
+when he goes a-hunting."
+
+"Not so," said the young man, colouring, "not while Ireland and
+the Netherlands have wars, and not while the sea hath pathless
+waves.  The rich West hath lands undreamed of, and Britain
+contains bold hearts to venture on the quest of them.  Adieu for
+a space, my masters.  I go to walk in the court and look to the
+sentinels."
+
+"The lad hath quicksilver in his veins, that is certain," said
+Blount, looking at Markham.
+
+"He hath that both in brain and blood," said Markham, "which may
+either make or mar him.  But in closing the door against Masters,
+he hath done a daring and loving piece of service; for
+Tressilian's fellow hath ever averred that to wake the Earl were
+death, and Masters would wake the Seven Sleepers themselves, if
+he thought they slept not by the regular ordinance of medicine."
+
+Morning was well advanced when Tressilian, fatigued and over-
+watched, came down to the hall with the joyful intelligence that
+the Earl had awakened of himself, that he found his internal
+complaints much mitigated, and spoke with a cheerfulness, and
+looked round with a vivacity, which of themselves showed a
+material and favourable change had taken place.  Tressilian at
+the same time commanded the attendance of one or two of his
+followers, to report what had passed during the night, and to
+relieve the watchers in the Earl's chamber.
+
+When the message of the Queen was communicated to the Earl of
+Sussex, he at first smiled at the repulse which the physician had
+received from his zealous young follower; but instantly
+recollecting himself, he commanded Blount, his master of the
+horse, instantly to take boat, and go down the river to the
+Palace of Greenwich, taking young Walter and Tracy with him, and
+make a suitable compliment, expressing his grateful thanks to his
+Sovereign, and mentioning the cause why he had not been enabled
+to profit by the assistance of the wise and learned Doctor
+Masters.
+
+"A plague on it!"  said Blount, as he descended the stairs; "had
+he sent me with a cartel to Leicester I think I should have done
+his errand indifferently well.  But to go to our gracious
+Sovereign, before whom all words must be lacquered over either
+with gilding or with sugar, is such a confectionary matter as
+clean baffles my poor old English brain.--Come with me, Tracy,
+and come you too, Master Walter Wittypate, that art the cause of
+our having all this ado.  Let us see if thy neat brain, that
+frames so many flashy fireworks, can help out a plain fellow at
+need with some of thy shrewd devices."
+
+"Never fear, never fear," exclaimed the youth, "it is I will help
+you through; let me but fetch my cloak."
+
+"Why, thou hast it on thy shoulders," said Blount,--"the lad is
+mazed,"
+
+"No, No, this is Tracy's old mantle," answered Walter.  "I go not
+with thee to court unless as a gentleman should."
+
+"Why," Said Blount, "thy braveries are like to dazzle the eyes of
+none but some poor groom or porter."
+
+"I know that," said the youth; "but I am resolved I will have my
+own cloak, ay, and brush my doublet to boot, ere I stir forth
+with you."
+
+"Well, well," said Blount, "here is a coil about a doublet and a
+cloak.  Get thyself ready, a God's name!"
+
+They were soon launched on the princely bosom of the broad
+Thames, upon which the sun now shone forth in all its splendour.
+
+"There are two things scarce matched in the universe," said
+Walter to Blount--"the sun in heaven, and the Thames on the
+earth."
+
+"The one will light us to Greenwich well enough," said Blount,
+"and the other would take us there a little faster if it were
+ebb-tide."
+
+"And this is all thou thinkest--all thou carest--all thou deemest
+the use of the King of Elements and the King of Rivers--to guide
+three such poor caitiffs as thyself, and me, and Tracy, upon an
+idle journey of courtly ceremony!"
+
+"It is no errand of my seeking, faith," replied Blount, "and I
+could excuse both the sun and the Thames the trouble of carrying
+me where I have no great mind to go, and where I expect but dog's
+wages for my trouble--and by my honour," he added, looking out
+from the head of the boat, "it seems to me as if our message were
+a sort of labour in vain, for, see, the Queen's barge lies at the
+stairs as if her Majesty were about to take water."
+
+It was even so.  The royal barge, manned with the Queen's
+watermen richly attired in the regal liveries, and having the
+Banner of England displayed, did indeed lie at the great stairs
+which ascended from the river, and along with it two or three
+other boats for transporting such part of her retinue as were not
+in immediate attendance on the royal person.  The yeomen of the
+guard, the tallest and most handsome men whom England could
+produce, guarded with their halberds the passage from the palace-
+gate to the river side, and all seemed in readiness for the
+Queen's coming forth, although the day was yet so early.
+
+"By my faith, this bodes us no good," said Blount; "it must be
+some perilous cause puts her Grace in motion thus untimeously, By
+my counsel, we were best put back again, and tell the Earl what
+we have seen."
+
+"Tell the Earl what we have seen!"  said Walter; "why what have
+we seen but a boat, and men with scarlet jerkins, and halberds in
+their hands?  Let us do his errand, and tell him what the Queen
+says in reply."
+
+So saying, he caused the boat to be pulled towards a landing-
+place at some distance from the principal one, which it would
+not, at that moment, have been thought respectful to approach,
+and jumped on shore, followed, though with reluctance, by his
+cautious and timid companions.  As they approached the gate of
+the palace, one of the sergeant porters told them they could not
+at present enter, as her Majesty was in the act of coming forth.
+The gentlemen used the name of the Earl of Sussex; but it proved
+no charm to subdue the officer, who alleged, in reply, that it
+was as much as his post was worth to disobey in the least tittle
+the commands which he had received.
+
+"Nay, I told you as much before," said Blount; "do, I pray you,
+my dear Walter, let us take boat and return."
+
+"Not till I see the Queen come forth," returned the youth
+composedly.
+
+"Thou art mad, stark mad, by the Mass!"  answered Blount.
+
+"And thou," said Walter, "art turned coward of the sudden.  I
+have seen thee face half a score of shag-headed Irish kerns to
+thy own share of them; and now thou wouldst blink and go back to
+shun the frown of a fair lady!"
+
+At this moment the gates opened, and ushers began to issue forth
+in array, preceded and flanked by the band of Gentlemen
+Pensioners.  After this, amid a crowd of lords and ladies, yet so
+disposed around her that she could see and be seen on all sides,
+came Elizabeth herself, then in the prime of womanhood, and in
+the full glow of what in a Sovereign was called beauty, and who
+would in the lowest rank of life have been truly judged a noble
+figure, joined to a striking and commanding physiognomy.  She
+leant on the arm of Lord Hunsdon, whose relation to her by her
+mother's side often procured him such distinguished marks of
+Elizabeth's intimacy.
+
+The young cavalier we have so often mentioned had probably never
+yet approached so near the person of his Sovereign, and he
+pressed forward as far as the line of warders permitted, in order
+to avail himself of the present opportunity.  His companion, on
+the contrary, cursing his imprudence, kept pulling him backwards,
+till Walter shook him off impatiently, and letting his rich cloak
+drop carelessly from one shoulder; a natural action, which
+served, however, to display to the best advantage his well-
+proportioned person.  Unbonneting at the same time, he fixed his
+eager gaze on the Queen's approach, with a mixture of respectful
+curiosity and modest yet ardent admiration, which suited so well
+with his fine features that the warders, struck with his rich
+attire and noble countenance, suffered him to approach the ground
+over which the Queen was to pass, somewhat closer than was
+permitted to ordinary spectators.  Thus the adventurous youth
+stood full in Elizabeth's eye--an eye never indifferent to the
+admiration which she deservedly excited among her subjects, or to
+the fair proportions of external form which chanced to
+distinguish any of her courtiers.
+
+Accordingly, she fixed her keen glance on the youth, as she
+approached the place where he stood, with a look in which
+surprise at his boldness seemed to be unmingled with resentment,
+while a trifling accident happened which attracted her attention
+towards him yet more strongly.  The night had been rainy, and
+just where the young gentleman stood a small quantity of mud
+interrupted the Queen's passage.  As she hesitated to pass on,
+the gallant, throwing his cloak from his shoulders, laid it on
+the miry spot, so as to ensure her stepping over it dry-shod.
+Elizabeth looked at the young man, who accompanied this act of
+devoted courtesy with a profound reverence, and a blush that
+overspread his whole countenance.  The Queen was confused, and
+blushed in her turn, nodded her head, hastily passed on, and
+embarked in her barge without saying a word.
+
+"Come along, Sir Coxcomb," said Blount; "your gay cloak will need
+the brush to-day, I wot.  Nay, if you had meant to make a
+footcloth of your mantle, better have kept Tracy's old drab-de-
+bure, which despises all colours."
+
+"This cloak," said the youth, taking it up and folding it, "shall
+never be brushed while in my possession."
+
+"And that will not be long, if you learn not a little more
+economy; we shall have you in CUERPO soon, as the Spaniard says."
+
+Their discourse was here interrupted by one of the band of
+Pensioners.
+
+"I was sent," said he, after looking at them attentively, "to a
+gentleman who hath no cloak, or a muddy one.--You, sir, I think,"
+addressing the younger cavalier, "are the man; you will please to
+follow me."
+
+"He is in attendance on me," said Blount--"on me, the noble Earl
+of Sussex's master of horse."
+
+"I have nothing to say to that," answered the messenger; "my
+orders are directly from her Majesty, and concern this gentleman
+only."
+
+So saying, he walked away, followed by Walter, leaving the others
+behind, Blount's eyes almost starting from his head with the
+excess of his astonishment.  At length he gave vent to it in an
+exclamation, "Who the good jere would have thought this!"  And
+shaking his head with a mysterious air, he walked to his own
+boat, embarked, and returned to Deptford.
+
+The young cavalier was in the meanwhile guided to the water-side
+by the Pensioner, who showed him considerable respect; a
+circumstance which, to persons in his situation, may be
+considered as an augury of no small consequence.  He ushered him
+into one of the wherries which lay ready to attend the Queen's
+barge, which was already proceeding; up the river, with the
+advantage of that flood-tide of which, in the course of their
+descent, Blount had complained to his associates.
+
+The two rowers used their oars with such expedition at the signal
+of the Gentleman Pensioner, that they very soon brought their
+little skiff under the stern of the Queen's boat, where she sat
+beneath an awning, attended by two or three ladies, and the
+nobles of her household.  She looked more than once at the wherry
+in which the young adventurer was seated, spoke to those around
+her, and seemed to laugh.  At length one of the attendants, by
+the Queen's order apparently, made a sign for the wherry to come
+alongside, and the young man was desired to step from his own
+skiff into the Queen's barge, which he performed with graceful
+agility at the fore part of the boat, and was brought aft to the
+Queen's presence, the wherry at the same time dropping into the
+rear.  The youth underwent the gaze of Majesty, not the less
+gracefully that his self-possession was mingled with
+embarrassment.  The muddled cloak still hung upon his arm, and
+formed the natural topic with which the Queen introduced the
+conversation.
+
+"You have this day spoiled a gay mantle in our behalf, young man.
+We thank you for your service, though the manner of offering it
+was unusual, and something bold."
+
+"In a sovereign's need," answered the youth, "it is each liege-
+man's duty to be bold."
+
+"God's pity!  that was well said, my lord," said the Queen,
+turning to a grave person who sat by her, and answered with a
+grave inclination of the head, and something of a mumbled
+assent.--"Well, young man, your gallantry shall not go
+unrewarded.  Go to the wardrobe keeper, and he shall have orders
+to supply the suit which you have cast away in our service.  Thou
+shalt have a suit, and that of the newest cut, I promise thee, on
+the word of a princess."
+
+"May it please your Grace," said Walter, hesitating, "it is not
+for so humble a servant of your Majesty to measure out your
+bounties; but if it became me to choose--"
+
+"Thou wouldst have gold, I warrant me," said the Queen,
+interrupting him.  "Fie, young man!  I take shame to say that in
+our capital such and so various are the means of thriftless
+folly, that to give gold to youth is giving fuel to fire, and
+furnishing them with the means of self-destruction.  If I live
+and reign, these means of unchristian excess shall be abridged.
+Yet thou mayest be poor," she added, "or thy parents may be.  It
+shall be gold, if thou wilt, but thou shalt answer to me for the
+use on't."
+
+Walter waited patiently until the Queen had done, and then
+modestly assured her that gold was still less in his wish than
+the raiment her Majesty had before offered.
+
+"How, boy!"  said the Queen, "neither gold nor garment?  What is
+it thou wouldst have of me, then?"
+
+"Only permission, madam--if it is not asking too high an honour
+--permission to wear the cloak which did you this trifling
+service."
+
+"Permission to wear thine own cloak, thou silly boy!"  said the
+Queen.
+
+"It is no longer mine," said Walter; "when your Majesty's foot
+touched it, it became a fit mantle for a prince, but far too rich
+a one for its former owner."
+
+The Queen again blushed, and endeavoured to cover, by laughing, a
+slight degree of not unpleasing surprise and confusion.
+
+"Heard you ever the like, my lords?  The youth's head is turned
+with reading romances.  I must know something of him, that I may
+send him safe to his friends.--What art thou?"
+
+"A gentleman of the household of the Earl of Sussex, so please
+your Grace, sent hither with his master of horse upon message to
+your Majesty."
+
+In a moment the gracious expression which Elizabeth's face had
+hitherto maintained, gave way to an expression of haughtiness and
+severity.
+
+"My Lord of Sussex," she said, "has taught us how to regard his
+messages by the value he places upon ours.  We sent but this
+morning the physician in ordinary of our chamber, and that at no
+usual time, understanding his lordship's illness to be more
+dangerous than we had before apprehended.  There is at no court
+in Europe a man more skilled in this holy and most useful science
+than Doctor Masters, and he came from Us to our subject.
+Nevertheless, he found the gate of Sayes Court defended by men
+with culverins, as if it had been on the borders of Scotland, not
+in the vicinity of our court; and when he demanded admittance in
+our name, it was stubbornly refused.  For this slight of a
+kindness, which had but too much of condescension in it, we will
+receive, at present at least, no excuse; and some such we suppose
+to have been the purport of my Lord of Sussex's message."
+
+This was uttered in a tone and with a gesture which made Lord
+Sussex's friends who were within hearing tremble.  He to whom the
+speech was addressed, however, trembled not; but with great
+deference and humility, as soon as the Queen's passion gave him
+an opportunity, he replied, "So please your most gracious
+Majesty, I was charged with no apology from the Earl of Sussex."
+
+"With what were you then charged, sir?"  said the Queen, with the
+impetuosity which, amid nobler qualities, strongly marked her
+character.  "Was it with a justification?--or, God's death!  with
+a defiance?"
+
+"Madam," said the young man, "my Lord of Sussex knew the offence
+approached towards treason, and could think of nothing save of
+securing the offender, and placing him in your Majesty's hands,
+and at your mercy.  The noble Earl was fast asleep when your most
+gracious message reached him, a potion having been administered
+to that purpose by his physician; and his Lordship knew not of
+the ungracious repulse your Majesty's royal and most comfortable
+message had received, until after he awoke this morning."
+
+"And which of his domestics, then, in the name of Heaven,
+presumed to reject my message, without even admitting my own
+physician to the presence of him whom I sent him to attend?"
+said the Queen, much surprised.
+
+"The offender, madam, is before you," replied Walter, bowing very
+low; "the full and sole blame is mine; and my lord has most
+justly sent me to abye the consequences of a fault, of which he
+is as innocent as a sleeping man's dreams can be of a waking
+man's actions."
+
+"What!  was it thou?--thou thyself, that repelled my messenger
+and my physician from Sayes Court?"  said the Queen.  "What could
+occasion such boldness in one who seems devoted--that is, whose
+exterior bearing shows devotion--to his Sovereign?"
+
+"Madam," said the youth--who, notwithstanding an assumed
+appearance of severity, thought that he saw something in the
+Queen's face that resembled not implacability--"we say in our
+country, that the physician is for the time the liege sovereign
+of his patient.  Now, my noble master was then under dominion of
+a leech, by whose advice he hath greatly profited, who had issued
+his commands that his patient should not that night be disturbed,
+on the very peril of his life."
+
+"Thy master hath trusted some false varlet of an empiric," said
+the Queen.
+
+"I know not, madam, but by the fact that he is now--this very
+morning--awakened much refreshed and strengthened from the only
+sleep he hath had for many hours."
+
+The nobles looked at each other, but more with the purpose to see
+what each thought of this news, than to exchange any remarks on
+what had happened.  The Queen answered hastily, and without
+affecting to disguise her satisfaction, "By my word, I am glad he
+is better.  But thou wert over-bold to deny the access of my
+Doctor Masters.  Knowest thou not the Holy Writ saith, 'In the
+multitude of counsel there is safety'?"
+
+"Ay, madam," said Walter; "but I have heard learned men say that
+the safety spoken of is for the physicians, not for the patient."
+
+"By my faith, child, thou hast pushed me home," said the Queen,
+laughing; "for my Hebrew learning does not come quite at a call.
+--How say you, my Lord of Lincoln?  Hath the lad given a just
+interpretation of the text?"
+
+"The word SAFETY, most gracious madam," said the Bishop of
+Lincoln, "for so hath been translated, it may be somewhat
+hastily, the Hebrew word, being--"
+
+"My lord," said the Queen, interrupting him, "we said we had
+forgotten our Hebrew.--But for thee, young man, what is thy name
+and birth?"
+
+"Raleigh is my name, most gracious Queen, the youngest son of a
+large but honourable family of Devonshire."
+
+"Raleigh?"  said Elizabeth, after a moment's recollection.  "Have
+we not heard of your service in Ireland?"
+
+"I have been so fortunate as to do some service there, madam,"
+replied Raleigh; "scarce, however, of consequence sufficient to
+reach your Grace's ears."
+
+"They hear farther than you think of," said the Queen graciously,
+"and have heard of a youth who defended a ford in Shannon against
+a whole band of wild Irish rebels, until the stream ran purple
+with their blood and his own."
+
+"Some blood I may have lost," said the youth, looking down, "but
+it was where my best is due, and that is in your Majesty's
+service."
+
+The Queen paused, and then said hastily, "You are very young to
+have fought so well, and to speak so well.  But you must not
+escape your penance for turning back Masters.  The poor man hath
+caught cold on the river for our order reached him when he was
+just returned from certain visits in London, and he held it
+matter of loyalty and conscience instantly to set forth again.
+So hark ye, Master Raleigh, see thou fail not to wear thy muddy
+cloak, in token of penitence, till our pleasure be further known.
+And here," she added, giving him a jewel of gold, in the form of
+a chess-man, "I give thee this to wear at the collar."
+
+Raleigh, to whom nature had taught intuitively, as it were, those
+courtly arts which many scarce acquire from long experience,
+knelt, and, as he took from her hand the jewel, kissed the
+fingers which gave it.  He knew, perhaps, better than almost any
+of the courtiers who surrounded her, how to mingle the devotion
+claimed by the Queen with the gallantry due to her personal
+beauty; and in this, his first attempt to unite them, he
+succeeded so well as at once to gratify Elizabeth's personal
+vanity and her love of power.  [See Note 5. Court favour of Sir
+Walter Raleigh.]
+
+His master, the Earl of Sussex, had the full advantage of the
+satisfaction which Raleigh had afforded Elizabeth, on their first
+interview.
+
+"My lords and ladies," said the Queen, looking around to the
+retinue by whom she was attended, "methinks, since we are upon
+the river, it were well to renounce our present purpose of going
+to the city, and surprise this poor Earl of Sussex with a visit.
+He is ill, and suffering doubtless under the fear of our
+displeasure, from which he hath been honestly cleared by the
+frank avowal of this malapert boy.  What think ye?  were it not
+an act of charity to give him such consolation as the thanks of a
+Queen, much bound to him for his loyal service, may perchance
+best minister?"
+
+It may be readily supposed that none to whom this speech was
+addressed ventured to oppose its purport.
+
+"Your Grace," said the Bishop of Lincoln, "is the breath of our
+nostrils."  The men of war averred that the face of the Sovereign
+was a whetstone to the soldier's sword; while the men of state
+were not less of opinion that the light of the Queen's
+countenance was a lamp to the paths of her councillors; and the
+ladies agreed, with one voice, that no noble in England so well
+deserved the regard of England's Royal Mistress as the Earl of
+Sussex--the Earl of Leicester's right being reserved entire, so
+some of the more politic worded their assent, an exception to
+which Elizabeth paid no apparent attention.  The barge had,
+therefore, orders to deposit its royal freight at Deptford, at
+the nearest and most convenient point of communication with Sayes
+Court, in order that the Queen might satisfy her royal and
+maternal solicitude, by making personal inquiries after the
+health of the Earl of Sussex.
+
+Raleigh, whose acute spirit foresaw and anticipated important
+consequences from the most trifling events, hastened to ask the
+Queen's permission to go in the skiff; and announce the royal
+visit to his master; ingeniously suggesting that the joyful
+surprise might prove prejudicial to his health, since the richest
+and most generous cordials may sometimes be fatal to those who
+have been long in a languishing state.
+
+But whether the Queen deemed it too presumptuous in so young a
+courtier to interpose his opinion unasked, or whether she was
+moved by a recurrence of the feeling of jealousy which had been
+instilled into her by reports that the Earl kept armed men about
+his person, she desired Raleigh, sharply, to reserve his counsel
+till it was required of him, and repeated her former orders to be
+landed at Deptford, adding, "We will ourselves see what sort of
+household my Lord of Sussex keeps about him."
+
+"Now the Lord have pity on us!"  said the young courtier to
+himself.  "Good hearts, the Earl hath many a one round him; but
+good heads are scarce with us--and he himself is too ill to give
+direction.  And Blount will be at his morning meal of Yarmouth
+herrings and ale, and Tracy will have his beastly black puddings
+and Rhenish; those thorough-paced Welshmen, Thomas ap Rice and
+Evan Evans, will be at work on their leek porridge and toasted
+cheese;--and she detests, they say, all coarse meats, evil
+smells, and strong wines.  Could they but think of burning some
+rosemary in the great hall!  but VOGUE LA GALERE, all must now be
+trusted to chance.  Luck hath done indifferent well for me this
+morning; for I trust I have spoiled a cloak, and made a court
+fortune.  May she do as much for my gallant patron!"
+
+The royal barge soon stopped at Deptford, and, amid the loud
+shouts of the populace, which her presence never failed to
+excite, the Queen, with a canopy borne over her head, walked,
+accompanied by her retinue, towards Sayes Court, where the
+distant acclamations of the people gave the first notice of her
+arrival.  Sussex, who was in the act of advising with Tressilian
+how he should make up the supposed breach in the Queen's favour,
+was infinitely surprised at learning her immediate approach.  Not
+that the Queen's custom of visiting her more distinguished
+nobility, whether in health or sickness, could be unknown to him;
+but the suddenness of the communication left no time for those
+preparations with which he well knew Elizabeth loved to be
+greeted, and the rudeness and confusion of his military
+household, much increased by his late illness, rendered him
+altogether unprepared for her reception.
+
+Cursing internally the chance which thus brought her gracious
+visitation on him unaware, he hastened down with Tressilian, to
+whose eventful and interesting story he had just given an
+attentive ear.
+
+"My worthy friend," he said, "such support as I can give your
+accusation of Varney, you have a right to expect, alike from
+justice and gratitude.  Chance will presently show whether I can
+do aught with our Sovereign, or whether, in very deed, my
+meddling in your affair may not rather prejudice than serve you."
+
+Thus spoke Sussex while hastily casting around him a loose robe
+of sables, and adjusting his person in the best manner he could
+to meet the eye of his Sovereign.  But no hurried attention
+bestowed on his apparel could remove the ghastly effects of long
+illness on a countenance which nature had marked with features
+rather strong than pleasing.  Besides, he was low of stature,
+and, though broad-shouldered, athletic, and fit for martial
+achievements, his presence in a peaceful hall was not such as
+ladies love to look upon; a personal disadvantage, which was
+supposed to give Sussex, though esteemed and honoured by his
+Sovereign, considerable disadvantage when compared with
+Leicester, who was alike remarkable for elegance of manners and
+for beauty of person.
+
+The Earl's utmost dispatch only enabled him to meet the Queen as
+she entered the great hall, and he at once perceived there was a
+cloud on her brow.  Her jealous eye had noticed the martial array
+of armed gentlemen and retainers with which the mansion-house was
+filled, and her first words expressed her disapprobation.  "Is
+this a royal garrison, my Lord of Sussex, that it holds so many
+pikes and calivers?  or have we by accident overshot Sayes Court,
+and landed at Our Tower of London?"
+
+Lord Sussex hastened to offer some apology.
+
+"It needs not," she said.  "My lord, we intend speedily to take
+up a certain quarrel between your lordship and another great lord
+of our household, and at the same time to reprehend this
+uncivilized and dangerous practice of surrounding yourselves with
+armed, and even with ruffianly followers, as if, in the
+neighbourhood of our capital, nay in the very verge of our royal
+residence, you were preparing to wage civil war with each other.
+--We are glad to see you so well recovered, my lord, though
+without the assistance of the learned physician whom we sent to
+you.  Urge no excuse; we know how that matter fell out, and we
+have corrected for it the wild slip, young Raleigh.  By the way,
+my lord, we will speedily relieve your household of him, and take
+him into our own.  Something there is about him which merits to
+be better nurtured than he is like to be amongst your very
+military followers."
+
+To this proposal Sussex, though scarce understanding how the
+Queen came to make it could only bow and express his
+acquiescence.  He then entreated her to remain till refreshment
+could be offered, but in this he could not prevail.  And after a
+few compliments of a much colder and more commonplace character
+than might have been expected from a step so decidedly favourable
+as a personal visit, the Queen took her leave of Sayes Court,
+having brought confusion thither along with her, and leaving
+doubt and apprehension behind.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  Then call them to our presence.  Face to face,
+  And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear
+  The accuser and accused freely speak;--
+  High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire,
+  In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.         RICHARD II.
+
+"I am ordered to attend court to-morrow," said Leicester,
+speaking to Varney, "to meet, as they surmise, my Lord of Sussex.
+The Queen intends to take up matters betwixt us.  This comes of
+her visit to Sayes Court, of which you must needs speak so
+lightly."
+
+"I maintain it was nothing," said Varney; "nay, I know from a
+sure intelligencer, who was within earshot of much that was said,
+that Sussex has lost rather than gained by that visit.  The Queen
+said, when she stepped into the boat, that Sayes Court looked
+like a guard-house, and smelt like an hospital.  'Like a cook's
+shop in Ram's Alley, rather,' said the Countess of Rutland, who
+is ever your lordship's good friend.  And then my Lord of Lincoln
+must needs put in his holy oar, and say that my Lord of Sussex
+must be excused for his rude and old-world housekeeping, since he
+had as yet no wife."
+
+"And what said the Queen?"  asked Leicester hastily.
+
+"She took him up roundly," said Varney, "and asked what my Lord
+Sussex had to do with a wife, or my Lord Bishop to speak on such
+a subject.  'If marriage is permitted,' she said, 'I nowhere read
+that it is enjoined.'"
+
+"She likes not marriages, or speech of marriage, among
+churchmen," said Leicester.
+
+"Nor among courtiers neither," said Varney; but, observing that
+Leicester changed countenance, he instantly added, "that all the
+ladies who were present had joined in ridiculing Lord Sussex's
+housekeeping, and in contrasting it with the reception her Grace
+would have assuredly received at my Lord of Leicester's."
+
+"You have gathered much tidings," said Leicester, "but you have
+forgotten or omitted the most important of all.  She hath added
+another to those dangling satellites whom it is her pleasure to
+keep revolving around her."
+
+"Your lordship meaneth that Raleigh, the Devonshire youth," said
+Varney--"the Knight of the Cloak, as they call him at court?"
+
+"He may be Knight of the Garter one day, for aught I know," said
+Leicester, "for he advances rapidly--she hath capped verses with
+him, and such fooleries.  I would gladly abandon, of my own free
+will, the part--I have in her fickle favour; but I will not be
+elbowed out of it by the clown Sussex, or this new upstart.  I
+hear Tressilian is with Sussex also, and high in his favour.  I
+would spare him for considerations, but he will thrust himself on
+his fate.  Sussex, too, is almost as well as ever in his health."
+
+"My lord," replied Varney, "there will be rubs in the smoothest
+road, specially when it leads uphill.  Sussex's illness was to us
+a godsend, from which I hoped much.  He has recovered, indeed,
+but he is not now more formidable than ere he fell ill, when he
+received more than one foil in wrestling with your lordship.  Let
+not your heart fail you, my lord, and all shall be well."
+
+"My heart never failed me, sir," replied Leicester.
+
+"No, my lord," said Varney; "but it has betrayed you right often.
+He that would climb a tree, my lord, must grasp by the branches,
+not by the blossom."
+
+"Well, well, well!"  said Leicester impatiently; "I understand
+thy meaning--my heart shall neither fail me nor seduce me.  Have
+my retinue in order--see that their array be so splendid as to
+put down, not only the rude companions of Ratcliffe, but the
+retainers of every other nobleman and courtier.  Let them be well
+armed withal, but without any outward display of their weapons,
+wearing them as if more for fashion's sake than for use.  Do thou
+thyself keep close to me, I may have business for you."
+
+The preparations of Sussex and his party were not less anxious
+than those of Leicester.
+
+"Thy Supplication, impeaching Varney of seduction," said the Earl
+to Tressilian, "is by this time in the Queen's hand--I have sent
+it through a sure channel.  Methinks your suit should succeed,
+being, as it is, founded in justice and honour, and Elizabeth
+being the very muster of both.  But--I wot not how--the gipsy"
+(so Sussex was wont to call his rival on account of his dark
+complexion) "hath much to say with her in these holyday times of
+peace.  Were war at the gates, I should be one of her white boys;
+but soldiers, like their bucklers and Bilboa blades, get out of
+fashion in peace time, and satin sleeves and walking rapiers bear
+the bell.  Well, we must be gay, since such is the fashion.--
+Blount, hast thou seen our household put into their new
+braveries?  "But thou knowest as little of these toys as I do;
+thou wouldst be ready enow at disposing a stand of pikes."
+
+"My good lord," answered Blount, "Raleigh hath been here, and
+taken that charge upon him--your train will glitter like a May
+morning.  Marry, the cost is another question.  One might keep an
+hospital of old soldiers at the charge of ten modern lackeys."
+
+"He must not count cost to-day, Nicholas," said the Earl in
+reply.  "I am beholden to Raleigh for his care.  I trust, though,
+he has remembered that I am an old soldier, and would have no
+more of these follies than needs must."
+
+"Nay, I understand nought about it," said Blount; "but here are
+your honourable lordship's brave kinsmen and friends coming in by
+scores to wait upon you to court, where, methinks, we shall bear
+as brave a front as Leicester, let him ruffle it as he will."
+
+"Give them the strictest charges," said Sussex, "that they suffer
+no provocation short of actual violence to provoke them into
+quarrel.  They have hot bloods, and I would not give Leicester
+the advantage over me by any imprudence of theirs."
+
+The Earl of Sussex ran so hastily through these directions, that
+it was with difficulty Tressilian at length found opportunity to
+express his surprise that he should have proceeded so far in the
+affair of Sir Hugh Robsart as to lay his petition at once before
+the Queen.  "It was the opinion of the young lady's friends," he
+said, "that Leicester's sense of justice should be first appealed
+to, as the offence had been committed by his officer, and so he
+had expressly told to Sussex."
+
+"This could have been done without applying to me," said Sussex,
+somewhat haughtily.  "I at least, ought not to have been a
+counsellor when the object was a humiliating reference to
+Leicester; and I am suprised that you, Tressilian, a man of
+honour, and my friend, would assume such a mean course.  If you
+said so, I certainly understood you not in a matter which sounded
+so unlike yourself."
+
+"My lord," said Tressilian, "the course I would prefer, for my
+own sake, is that you have adopted; but the friends of this most
+unhappy lady--"
+
+"Oh, the friends--the friends," said Sussex, interrupting him;
+"they must let us manage this cause in the way which seems best.
+This is the time and the hour to accumulate every charge against
+Leicester and his household, and yours the Queen will hold a
+heavy one.  But at all events she hath the complaint before her."
+
+Tressilian could not help suspecting that, in his eagerness to
+strengthen himself against his rival, Sussex had purposely
+adopted the course most likely to throw odium on Leicester,
+without considering minutely whether it were the mode of
+proceeding most likely to be attended with success.  But the step
+was irrevocable, and Sussex escaped from further discussing it by
+dismissing his company, with the command, "Let all be in order at
+eleven o'clock; I must be at court and in the presence by high
+noon precisely."
+
+While the rival statesmen were thus anxiously preparing for their
+approaching meeting in the Queen's presence, even Elizabeth
+herself was not without apprehension of what might chance from
+the collision of two such fiery spirits, each backed by a strong
+and numerous body of followers, and dividing betwixt them, either
+openly or in secret, the hopes and wishes of most of her court.
+The band of Gentlemen Pensioners were all under arms, and a
+reinforcement of the yeomen of the guard was brought down the
+Thames from London.  A royal proclamation was sent forth,
+strictly prohibiting nobles of whatever degree to approach the
+Palace with retainers or followers armed with shot or with long
+weapons; and it was even whispered that the High Sheriff of Kent
+had secret instructions to have a part of the array of the county
+ready on the shortest notice.
+
+The eventful hour, thus anxiously prepared for on all sides, at
+length approached, and, each followed by his long and glittering
+train of friends and followers, the rival Earls entered the
+Palace Yard of Greenwich at noon precisely.
+
+As if by previous arrangement, or perhaps by intimation that such
+was the Queen's pleasure, Sussex and his retinue came to the
+Palace from Deptford by water while Leicester arrived by land;
+and thus they entered the courtyard from opposite sides.  This
+trifling circumstance gave Leicester a ascendency in the opinion
+of the vulgar, the appearance of his cavalcade of mounted
+followers showing more numerous and more imposing than those of
+Sussex's party, who were necessarily upon foot.  No show or sign
+of greeting passed between the Earls, though each looked full at
+the other, both expecting perhaps an exchange of courtesies,
+which neither was willing to commence.  Almost in the minute of
+their arrival the castle-bell tolled, the gates of the Palace
+were opened, and the Earls entered, each numerously attended by
+such gentlemen of their train whose rank gave them that
+privilege.  The yeomen and inferior attendants remained in the
+courtyard, where the opposite parties eyed each other with looks
+of eager hatred and scorn, as if waiting with impatience for some
+cause of tumult, or some apology for mutual aggression.  But they
+were restrained by the strict commands of their leaders, and
+overawed, perhaps, by the presence of an armed guard of unusual
+strength.
+
+In the meanwhile, the more distinguished persons of each train
+followed their patrons into the lofty halls and ante-chambers of
+the royal Palace, flowing on in the same current, like two
+streams which are compelled into the same channel, yet shun to
+mix their waters.  The parties arranged themselves, as it were
+instinctively, on the different sides of the lofty apartments,
+and seemed eager to escape from the transient union which the
+narrowness of the crowded entrance had for an instant compelled
+them to submit to.  The folding doors at the upper end of the
+long gallery were immediately afterwards opened, and it was
+announced in a whisper that the Queen was in her presence-
+chamber, to which these gave access.  Both Earls moved slowly and
+stately towards the entrance--Sussex followed by Tressilian,
+Blount, and Raleigh, and Leicester by Varney.  The pride of
+Leicester was obliged to give way to court-forms, and with a
+grave and formal inclination of the head, he paused until his
+rival, a peer of older creation than his own, passed before him.
+Sussex returned the reverence with the same formal civility, and
+entered the presence-room.  Tressilian and Blount offered to
+follow him, but were not permitted, the Usher of the Black Rod
+alleging in excuse that he had precise orders to look to all
+admissions that day.  To Raleigh, who stood back on the repulse
+of his companions, he said, "You, sir, may enter," and he entered
+accordingly.
+
+"Follow me close, Varney," said the Earl of Leicester, who had
+stood aloof for a moment to mark the reception of Sussex; and
+advancing to the entrance, he was about to pass on, when Varney,
+who was close behind him, dressed out in the utmost bravery of
+the day, was stopped by the usher, as Tressilian and Blount had
+been before him, "How is this, Master Bowyer?"  said the Earl of
+Leicester.  "Know you who I am, and that this is my friend and
+follower?"
+
+"Your lordship will pardon me," replied Bowyer stoutly; "my
+orders are precise, and limit me to a strict discharge of my
+duty."
+
+"Thou art a partial knave," said Leicester, the blood mounting to
+his face, "to do me this dishonour, when you but now admitted a
+follower of my Lord of Sussex."
+
+"My lord," said Bowyer, "Master Raleigh is newly admitted a sworn
+servant of her Grace, and to him my orders did not apply."
+
+"Thou art a knave--an ungrateful knave," said Leicester; "but he
+that hath done can undo--thou shalt not prank thee in thy
+authority long!"
+
+This threat he uttered aloud, with less than his usual policy and
+discretion; and having done so, he entered the presence-chamber,
+and made his reverence to the Queen, who, attired with even more
+than her usual splendour, and surrounded by those nobles and
+statesmen whose courage and wisdom have rendered her reign
+immortal, stood ready to receive the hommage of her subjects.
+She graciously returned the obeisance of the favourite Earl, and
+looked alternately at him and at Sussex, as if about to speak,
+when Bowyer, a man whose spirit could not brook the insult he had
+so openly received from Leicester, in the discharge of his
+office, advanced with his black rad in his hand, and knelt down
+before her.
+
+"Why, how now, Bowyer?"  said Elizabeth, "thy courtesy seems
+strangely timed!"
+
+"My Liege Sovereign," he said, while every courtier around
+trembled at his audacity, "I come but to ask whether, in the
+discharge of mine office, I am to obey your Highness's commands,
+or those of the Earl of Leicester, who has publicly menaced me
+with his displeasure, and treated me with disparaging terms,
+because I denied entry to one of his followers, in obedience to
+your Grace's precise orders?"
+
+The spirit of Henry VIII.  was instantly aroused in the bosom of
+his daughter, and she turned on Leicester with a severity which
+appalled him, as well as all his followers.
+
+"God's death!  my lord."  such was her emphatic phrase, "what
+means this?  We have thought well of you, and brought you near to
+our person; but it was not that you might hide the sun from our
+other faithful subjects.  Who gave you license to contradict our
+orders, or control our officers?  I will have in this court, ay,
+and in this realm, but one mistress, and no master.  Look to it
+that Master Bowyer sustains no harm for his duty to me faithfully
+discharged; for, as I am Christian woman and crowned Queen, I
+will hold you dearly answerable.--Go, Bowyer, you have done the
+part of an honest man and a true subject.  We will brook no mayor
+of the palace here.
+
+Bowyer kissed the hand which she extended towards him, and
+withdrew to his post!  astonished at the success of his own
+audacity.  A smile of triumph pervaded the faction of Sussex;
+that of Leicester seemed proportionally dismayed, and the
+favourite himself, assuming an aspect of the deepest humility,
+did not even attempt a word in his own esculpation.
+
+He acted wisely; for it was the policy of Elizabeth to humble,
+not to disgrace him, and it was prudent to suffer her, without
+opposition or reply, to glory in the exertion of her authority.
+The dignity of the Queen was gratified, and the woman began soon
+to feel for the mortification which she had imposed on her
+favourite.  Her keen eye also observed the secret looks of
+congratulation exchanged amongst those who favoured Sussex, and
+it was no part of her policy to give either party a decisive
+triumph.
+
+"What I say to my Lord of Leicester," she said, after a moment's
+pause, "I say also to you, my Lord of Sussex.  You also must
+needs ruffle in the court of England, at the head of a faction of
+your own?"
+
+"My followers, gracious Princess," said Sussex, "have indeed
+ruffled in your cause in Ireland, in Scotland, and against yonder
+rebellious Earls in the north.  I am ignorant that--"
+
+"Do you bandy looks and words with me, my lord?"  said the Queen,
+interrupting him; "methinks you might learn of my Lord of
+Leicester the modesty to be silent, at least, under our censure.
+I say, my lord, that my grandfather and my father, in their
+wisdom, debarred the nobles of this civilized land from
+travelling with such disorderly retinues; and think you, that
+because I wear a coif, their sceptre has in my hand been changed
+into a distaff?  I tell you, no king in Christendom will less
+brook his court to be cumbered, his people oppressed, and his
+kingdom's peace disturbed, by the arrogance of overgrown power,
+than she who now speaks with you.--My Lord of Leicester, and you,
+my Lord of Sussex, I command you both to be friends with each
+other; or by the crown I wear, you shall find an enemy who will
+be too strong for both of you!"
+
+"Madam," said the Earl of Leicester, "you who are yourself the
+fountain of honour know best what is due to mine.  I place it at
+your disposal, and only say that the terms on which I have stood
+with my Lord of Sussex have not been of my seeking; nor had he
+cause to think me his enemy, until he had done me gross wrong."
+
+"For me, madam," said the Earl of Sussex, "I cannot appeal from
+your sovereign pleasure; but I were well content my Lord of
+Leicester should say in what I have, as he terms it, wronged him,
+since my tongue never spoke the word that I would not willingly
+justify either on foot or horseback.
+
+"And for me," said Leicester, "always under my gracious
+Sovereign's pleasure, my hand shall be as ready to make good my
+words as that of any man who ever wrote himself Ratcliffe."
+
+"My lords," said the Queen, "these are no terms for this
+presence; and if you cannot keep your temper, we will find means
+to keep both that and you close enough.  Let me see you join
+hands, my lords, and forget your idle animosities."
+
+The two rivals looked at each other with reluctant eyes, each
+unwilling to make the first advance to execute the Queen's will.
+
+"Sussex," said Elizabeth,"I entreat--Leicester, I command you."
+
+Yet, so were her words accented, that the entreaty sounded like
+command, and the command like entreaty.  They remained still and
+stubborn, until she raised her voice to a height which argued at
+once impatience and absolute command.
+
+"Sir Henry Lee," she said, to an officer in attendance, "have a
+guard in present readiness, and man a barge instantly.--My Lords
+of Sussex and Leicester, I bid you once more to join hands; and,
+God's death!  he that refuses shall taste of our Tower fare ere
+he sees our face again.  I will lower your proud hearts ere we
+part, and that I promise, on the word of a Queen!"
+
+"The prison?"  said Leicester, "might be borne, but to lose your
+Grace's presence were to lose light and life at once.--Here,
+Sussex, is my hand."
+
+"And here," said Sussex, "is mine in truth and honesty; but--"
+
+"Nay, under favour, you shall add no more," said the Queen.
+"Why, this is as it should be," she added, looking on them more
+favourably; "and when you the shepherds of the people, unite to
+protect them, it shall be well with the flock we rule over.  For,
+my lords, I tell you plainly, your follies and your brawls lead
+to strange disorders among your servants.--My Lord of Leicester,
+you have a gentleman in your household called Varney?"
+
+"Yes, gracious madam," replied Leicester; "I presented him to
+kiss your royal hand when you were last at Nonsuch."
+
+"His outside was well enough," said the Queen, "but scarce so
+fair, I should have thought, as to have caused a maiden of
+honourable birth and hopes to barter her fame for his good looks,
+and become his paramour.  Yet so it is; this fellow of yours hath
+seduced the daughter of a good old Devonshire knight, Sir Hugh
+Robsart of Lidcote Hall, and she hath fled with him from her
+father's house like a castaway.--My Lord of Leicester, are you
+ill, that you look so deadly pale?"
+
+"No, gracious madam," said Leicester; and it required every
+effort he could make to bring forth these few words.
+
+"You are surely ill, my lord?"  said Elizabeth, going towards him
+with hasty speech and hurried step, which indicated the deepest
+concern.  "Call Masters--call our surgeon in ordinary.--Where be
+these loitering fools?--we lose the pride of our court through
+their negligence.--Or is it possible, Leicester," she continued,
+looking on him with a very gentle aspect, "can fear of my
+displeasure have wrought so deeply on thee?  Doubt not for a
+moment, noble Dudley, that we could blame THEE for the folly of
+thy retainer--thee, whose thoughts we know to be far otherwise
+employed.  He that would climb the eagle's nest, my lord, cares
+not who are catching linnets at the foot of the precipice."
+
+"Mark you that?"  said Sussex aside to Raleigh.  "The devil aids
+him surely; for all that would sink another ten fathom deep seems
+but to make him float the more easily.  Had a follower of mine
+acted thus--"
+
+"Peace, my good lord," said Raleigh, "for God's sake, peace!
+Wait the change of the tide; it is even now on the turn."
+
+The acute observation of Raleigh, perhaps, did not deceive him;
+for Leicester's confusion was so great, and, indeed, for the
+moment, so irresistibly overwhelming, that Elizabeth, after
+looking at him with a wondering eye, and receiving no
+intelligible answer to the unusual expressions of grace and
+affection which had escaped from her, shot her quick glance
+around the circle of courtiers, and reading, perhaps, in their
+faces something that accorded with her own awakened suspicions,
+she said suddenly, "Or is there more in this than we see--or than
+you, my lord, wish that we should see?  Where is this Varney?
+Who saw him?"
+
+"An it please your Grace," said Bowyer, "it is the same against
+whom I this instant closed the door of the presence-room."
+
+"An it please me?"  repeated Elizabeth sharply, not at that
+moment in the humour of being pleased with anything.--"It does
+NOT please me that he should pass saucily into my presence, or
+that you should exclude from it one who came to justify himself
+from an accusation."
+
+"May it please you," answered the perplexed usher, "if I knew, in
+such case, how to bear myself, I would take heed--"
+
+"You should have reported the fellow's desire to us, Master
+Usher, and taken our directions.  You think yourself a great man,
+because but now we chid a nobleman on your account; yet, after
+all, we hold you but as the lead-weight that keeps the door fast.
+Call this Varney hither instantly.  There is one Tressilian also
+mentioned in this petition.  Let them both come before us."
+
+She was obeyed, and Tressilian and Varney appeared accordingly.
+Varney's first glance was at Leicester, his second at the Queen.
+In the looks of the latter there appeared an approaching storm,
+and in the downcast countenance of his patron he could read no
+directions in what way he was to trim his vessel for the
+encounter.  He then saw Tressilian, and at once perceived the
+peril of the situation in which he was placed.  But Varney was as
+bold-faced and ready-witted as he was cunning and unscrupulous--a
+skilful pilot in extremity, and fully conscious of the advantages
+which he would obtain could he extricate Leicester from his
+present peril, and of the ruin that yawned for himself should he
+fail in doing so.
+
+"Is it true, sirrah," said the Queen, with one of those searching
+looks which few had the audacity to resist, "that you have
+seduced to infamy a young lady of birth and breeding, the
+daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart of Lidcote Hall?"
+
+Varney kneeled down, and replied, with a look of the most
+profound contrition, "There had been some love passages betwixt
+him and Mistress Amy Robsart."
+
+Leicester's flesh quivered with indignation as he heard his
+dependant make this avowal, and for one moment he manned himself
+to step forward, and, bidding farewell to the court and the royal
+favour, confess the whole mystery of the secret marriage.  But he
+looked at Sussex, and the idea of the triumphant smile which
+would clothe his cheek upon hearing the avowal sealed his lips.
+"Not now, at least," he thought, "or in this presence, will I
+afford him so rich a triumph."  And pressing his lips close
+together, he stood firm and collected, attentive to each word
+which Varney uttered, and determined to hide to the last the
+secret on which his court-favour seemed to depend.  Meanwhile,
+the Queen proceeded in her examination of Varney.
+
+"Love passages!"  said she, echoing his last words; "what
+passages, thou knave?  and why not ask the wench's hand from her
+father, if thou hadst any honesty in thy love for her?"
+
+"An it please your Grace," said Varney, still on his knees, "I
+dared not do so, for her father had promised her hand to a
+gentleman of birth and honour--I will do him justice, though I
+know he bears me ill-will--one Master Edmund Tressilian, whom I
+now see in the presence."
+
+"Soh!"  replied the Queen.  "And what was your right to make the
+simple fool break her worthy father's contract, through your love
+PASSAGES, as your conceit and assurance terms them?"
+
+"Madam," replied Varney, "it is in vain to plead the cause of
+human frailty before a judge to whom it is unknown, or that of
+love to one who never yields to the passion"--he paused an
+instant, and then added, in a very low and timid tone--"which she
+inflicts upon all others."
+
+Elizabeth tried to frown, but smiled in her own despite, as she
+answered, "Thou art a marvellously impudent knave.  Art thou
+married to the girl?"
+
+Leicester's feelings became so complicated and so painfully
+intense, that it seemed to him as if his life was to depend on
+the answer made by Varney, who, after a moment's real hesitation,
+answered, "Yes."
+
+"Thou false villain!"  said Leicester, bursting forth into rage,
+yet unable to add another word to the sentence which he had begun
+with such emphatic passion.
+
+"Nay, my lord," said the Queen, "we will, by your leave, stand
+between this fellow and your anger.  We have not yet done with
+him.--Knew your master, my Lord of Leicester, of this fair work
+of yours?  Speak truth, I command thee, and I will be thy warrant
+from danger on every quarter."
+
+"Gracious madam," said Varney, "to speak Heaven's truth, my lord
+was the cause of the whole matter."
+
+"Thou villain, wouldst thou betray me?"  said Leicester.
+
+"Speak on," said the Queen hastily, her cheek colouring, and her
+eyes sparkling, as she addressed Varney--"speak on.  Here no
+commands are heard but mine."
+
+"They are omnipotent, gracious madam," replied Varney; "and to
+you there can be no secrets.--Yet I would not," he added, looking
+around him, "speak of my master's concerns to other ears."
+
+"Fall back, my lords," said the Queen to those who surrounded
+her, "and do you speak on.  What hath the Earl to do with this
+guilty intrigue of thine?  See, fellow, that thou beliest him
+not!"
+
+"Far be it from me to traduce my noble patron," replied Varney;
+"yet I am compelled to own that some deep, overwhelming, yet
+secret feeling hath of late dwelt in my lord's mind, hath
+abstracted him from the cares of the household which he was wont
+to govern with such religious strictness, and hath left us
+opportunities to do follies, of which the shame, as in this case,
+partly falls upon our patron.  Without this, I had not had means
+or leisure to commit the folly which has drawn on me his
+displeasure--the heaviest to endure by me which I could by any
+means incur, saving always the yet more dreaded resentment of
+your Grace."
+
+"And in this sense, and no other, hath he been accessory to thy
+fault?"  said Elizabeth.
+
+"Surely, madam, in no other," replied Varney; "but since somewhat
+hath chanced to him, he can scarce be called his own man.  Look
+at him, madam, how pale and trembling he stands!  how unlike his
+usual majesty of manner!--yet what has he to fear from aught I
+can say to your Highness?  Ah!  madam, since he received that
+fatal packet!"
+
+"What packet, and from whence?"  said the Queen eagerly.
+
+"From whence, madam, I cannot guess; but I am so near to his
+person that I know he has ever since worn, suspended around his
+neck and next to his heart, that lock of hair which sustains a
+small golden jewel shaped like a heart.  He speaks to it when
+alone--he parts not from it when he sleeps--no heathen ever
+worshipped an idol with such devotion."
+
+"Thou art a prying knave to watch thy master so closely," said
+Elizabeth, blushing, but not with anger; "and a tattling knave to
+tell over again his fooleries.--What colour might the braid of
+hair be that thou pratest of?"
+
+Varney replied, "A poet, madam, might call it a thread from the
+golden web wrought by Minerva; but to my thinking it was paler
+than even the purest gold--more like the last parting sunbeam of
+the softest day of spring."
+
+"Why, you are a poet yourself, Master Varney," said the Queen,
+smiling.  "But I have not genius quick enough to follow your rare
+metaphors.  Look round these ladies--is there"--(she hesitated,
+and endeavoured to assume an air of great indifference)--"is
+there here, in this presence, any lady, the colour of whose hair
+reminds thee of that braid?  Methinks, without prying into my
+Lord of Leicester's amorous secrets, I would fain know what kind
+of locks are like the thread of Minerva's web, or the--what was
+it?--the last rays of the May-day sun."
+
+Varney looked round the presence-chamber, his eye travelling from
+one lady to another, until at length it rested upon the Queen
+herself, but with an aspect of the deepest veneration.  "I see no
+tresses," he said, "in this presence, worthy of such similies,
+unless where I dare not look on them."
+
+"How, sir knave?"  said the Queen; "dare you intimate--"
+
+"Nay, madam," replied Varney, shading his eyes with his hand, "it
+was the beams of the May-day sun that dazzled my weak eyes."
+
+"Go to--go to," said the Queen; "thou art a foolish fellow"--and
+turning quickly from him she walked up to Leicester.
+
+Intense curiosity, mingled with all the various hopes, fears, and
+passions which influence court faction, had occupied the
+presence-chamber during the Queen's conference with Varney, as if
+with the strength of an Eastern talisman.  Men suspended every,
+even the slightest external motion, and would have ceased to
+breathe, had Nature permitted such an intermission of her
+functions.  The atmosphere was contagious, and Leicester, who saw
+all around wishing or fearing his advancement or his fall forgot
+all that love had previously dictated, and saw nothing for the
+instant but the favour or disgrace which depended on the nod of
+Elizabeth and the fidelity of Varney.  He summoned himself
+hastily, and prepared to play his part in the scene which was
+like to ensue, when, as he judged from the glances which the
+Queen threw towards him, Varney's communications, be they what
+they might, were operating in his favour.  Elizabeth did not long
+leave him in doubt; for the more than favour with which she
+accosted him decided his triumph in the eyes of his rival, and of
+the assembled court of England.  "Thou hast a prating servant of
+this same Varney, my lord," she said; "it is lucky you trust him
+with nothing that can hurt you in our opinion, for believe me, he
+would keep no counsel."
+
+"From your Highness," said Leicester, dropping gracefully on one
+knee, "it were treason he should.  I would that my heart itself
+lay before you, barer than the tongue of any servant could strip
+it."
+
+"What, my lord," said Elizabeth, looking kindly upon him, "is
+there no one little corner over which you would wish to spread a
+veil?  Ah!  I see you are confused at the question, and your
+Queen knows she should not look too deeply into her servants'
+motives for their faithful duty, lest she see what might, or at
+least ought to, displease her."
+
+Relieved by these last words, Leicester broke out into a torrent
+of expressions of deep and passionate attachment, which perhaps,
+at that moment, were not altogether fictitious.  The mingled
+emotions which had at first overcome him had now given way to the
+energetic vigour with which he had determined to support his
+place in the Queen's favour; and never did he seem to Elizabeth
+more eloquent, more handsome, more interesting, than while,
+kneeling at her feet, he conjured her to strip him of all his
+dower, but to leave him the name of her servant.--"Take from the
+poor Dudley," he exclaimed, "all that your bounty has made him,
+and bid him be the poor gentleman he was when your Grace first
+shone on him; leave him no more than his cloak and his sword, but
+let him still boast he has--what in word or deed he never
+forfeited--the regard of his adored Queen and mistress!"
+
+"No, Dudley!"  said Elizabeth, raising him with one hand, while
+she extended the other that he might kiss it.  "Elizabeth hath
+not forgotten that, whilst you were a poor gentleman, despoiled
+of your hereditary rank, she was as poor a princess, and that in
+her cause you then ventured all that oppression had left you--
+your life and honour.  Rise, my lord, and let my hand go--rise,
+and be what you have ever been, the grace of our court and the
+support of our throne!  Your mistress may be forced to chide your
+misdemeanours, but never without owning your merits.--And so help
+me God," she added, turning to the audience, who, with various
+feelings, witnessed this interesting scene--"so help me God,
+gentlemen, as I think never sovereign had a truer servant than I
+have in this noble Earl!"
+
+A murmur of assent rose from the Leicestrian faction, which the
+friends of Sussex dared not oppose.  They remained with their
+eyes fixed on the ground, dismayed as well as mortified by the
+public and absolute triumph of their opponents.  Leicester's
+first use of the familiarity to which the Queen had so publicly
+restored him was to ask her commands concerning Varney's offence.
+"although," he said, "the fellow deserves nothing from me but
+displeasure, yet, might I presume to intercede--"
+
+"In truth, we had forgotten his matter," said the Queen; "and it
+was ill done of us, who owe justice to our meanest as well as to
+our highest subject.  We are pleased, my lord, that you were the
+first to recall the matter to our memory.--Where is Tressilian,
+the accuser?--let him come before us."
+
+Tressilian appeared, and made a low and beseeming reference.  His
+person, as we have elsewhere observed, had an air of grace and
+even of nobleness, which did not escape Queen Elizabeth's
+critical observation.  She looked at him with, attention as he
+stood before her unabashed, but with an air of the deepest
+dejection.
+
+"I cannot but grieve for this gentleman," she said to Leicester.
+"I have inquired concerning him, and his presence confirms what I
+heard, that he is a scholar and a soldier, well accomplished both
+in arts and arms.  We women, my lord, are fanciful in our choice
+--I had said now, to judge by the eye, there was no comparison to
+be held betwixt your follower and this gentleman.  But Varney is
+a well-spoken fellow, and, to say truth, that goes far with us of
+the weaker sex.--look you, Master Tressilian, a bolt lost is not
+a bow broken.  Your true affection, as I will hold it to be, hath
+been, it seems, but ill requited; but you have scholarship, and
+you know there have been false Cressidas to be found, from the
+Trojan war downwards.  Forget, good sir, this Lady Light o' Love
+--teach your affection to see with a wiser eye.  This we say to
+you, more from the writings of learned men than our own
+knowledge, being, as we are, far removed by station and will from
+the enlargement of experience in such idle toys of humorous
+passion.  For this dame's father, we can make his grief the less
+by advancing his son-in-law to such station as may enable him to
+give an honourable support to his bride.  Thou shalt not be
+forgotten thyself, Tressilian--follow our court, and thou shalt
+see that a true Troilus hath some claim on our grace.  Think of
+what that arch-knave Shakespeare says--a plague on him, his toys
+come into my head when I should think of other matters.  Stay,
+how goes it?
+
+ 'Cressid was yours, tied with the bonds of heaven ;
+  These bonds of heaven are slipt, dissolved, and loosed,
+  And with another knot five fingers tied,
+  The fragments of her faith are bound to Diomed.'
+
+You smile, my Lord of Southampton--perchance I make your player's
+verse halt through my bad memory.  But let it suffice let there
+be no more of this mad matter."
+
+And as Tressilian kept the posture of one who would willingly be
+heard, though, at the same time, expressive of the deepest
+reverence, the Queen added with some impatience, "What would the
+man have?  The wench cannot wed both of you?  She has made her
+election--not a wise one perchance--but she is Varney's wedded
+wife."
+
+"My suit should sleep there, most gracious Sovereign," said
+Tressilian, "and with my suit my revenge.  But I hold this
+Varney's word no good warrant for the truth."
+
+"Had that doubt been elsewhere urged," answered Varney, "my
+sword--"
+
+"THY sword!"  interrupted Tressilian scornfully; "with her
+Grace's leave, my sword shall show--"
+
+"Peace, you knaves, both!"  said the Queen; "know you where you
+are?--This comes of your feuds, my lords," she added, looking
+towards Leicester and Sussex; "your followers catch your own
+humour, and must bandy and brawl in my court and in my very
+presence, like so many Matamoros.--Look you, sirs, he that speaks
+of drawing swords in any other quarrel than mine or England's, by
+mine honour, I'll bracelet him with iron both on wrist and
+ankle!"  She then paused a minute, and resumed in a milder tone,
+"I must do justice betwixt the bold and mutinous knaves
+notwithstanding.--My Lord of Leicester, will you warrant with
+your honour--that is, to the best of your belief--that your
+servant speaks truth in saying he hath married this Amy Robsart?"
+
+This was a home-thrust, and had nearly staggered Leicester.  But
+he had now gone too far to recede, and answered, after a moment's
+hesitation, "To the best of my belief--indeed on my certain
+knowledge--she is a wedded wife."
+
+"Gracious madam," said Tressilian, "may I yet request to know,
+when and under what circumstances this alleged marriage--"
+
+"Out, sirrah," answered the Queen; "ALLEGED marriage!  Have you
+not the word of this illustrious Earl to warrant the truth of
+what his servant says?  But thou art a loser--thinkest thyself
+such at least--and thou shalt have indulgence; we will look into
+the matter ourself more at leisure.--My Lord of Leicester, I
+trust you remember we mean to taste the good cheer of your Castle
+of Kenilworth on this week ensuing.  We will pray you to bid our
+good and valued friend, the Earl of Sussex, to hold company with
+us there."
+
+"If the noble Earl of Sussex," said Leicester, bowing to his
+rival with the easiest and with the most graceful courtesy, "will
+so far honour my poor house, I will hold it an additional proof
+of the amicable regard it is your Grace's desire we should
+entertain towards each other."
+
+Sussex was more embarrassed.  "I should," said he, "madam, be but
+a clog on your gayer hours, since my late severe illness."
+
+"And have you been indeed so very ill?"  said Elizabeth, looking
+on him with more attention than before; "you are, in faith,
+strangely altered, and deeply am I grieved to see it.  But be of
+good cheer--we will ourselves look after the health of so valued
+a servant, and to whom we owe so much.  Masters shall order your
+diet; and that we ourselves may see that he is obeyed, you must
+attend us in this progress to Kenilworth."
+
+This was said so peremptorily, and at the same time with so much
+kindness, that Sussex, however unwilling to become the guest of
+his rival, had no resource but to bow low to the Queen in
+obedience to her commands, and to express to Leicester, with
+blunt courtesy, though mingled with embarrassment, his acceptance
+of his invitation.  As the Earls exchanged compliments on the
+occasion, the Queen said to her High Treasurer, "Methinks, my
+lord, the countenances of these our two noble peers resemble
+those of the two famed classic streams, the one so dark and sad,
+the other so fair and noble.  My old Master Ascham would have
+chid me for forgetting the author.  It is Caesar, as I think.
+See what majestic calmness sits on the brow of the noble
+Leicester, while Sussex seems to greet him as if he did our will
+indeed, but not willingly."
+
+"The doubt of your Majesty's favour," answered the Lord
+Treasurer, "may perchance occasion the difference, which does
+not--as what does?--escape your Grace's eye."
+
+"Such doubt were injurious to us, my lord," replied the Queen.
+"We hold both to be near and dear to us, and will with
+impartiality employ both in honourable service for the weal of
+our kingdom.  But we will break their further conference at
+present.--My Lords of Sussex and Leicester, we have a word more
+with you.  'Tressilian and Varney are near your persons--you will
+see that they attend you at Kenilworth.  And as we shall then
+have both Paris and Menelaus within our call, so we will have the
+same fair Helen also, whose fickleness has caused this broil.--
+Varney, thy wife must be at Kenilworth, and forthcoming at my
+order.--My Lord of Leicester, we expect you will look to this."
+
+The Earl and his follower bowed low and raised their heads,
+without daring to look at the Queen, or at each other, for both
+felt at the instant as if the nets and toils which their own
+falsehood had woven were in the act of closing around them.  The
+Queen, however, observed not their confusion, but proceeded to
+say, "My Lords of Sussex and Leicester, we require your presence
+at the privy-council to be presently held, where matters of
+importance are to be debated.  We will then take the water for
+our divertisement, and you, my lords, will attend us.--And that
+reminds us of a circumstance.--Do you, Sir Squire of the Soiled
+Cassock" (distinguishing Raleigh by a smile), "fail not to
+observe that you are to attend us on our progress.  You shall be
+supplied with suitable means to reform your wardrobe."
+
+And so terminated this celebrated audience, in which, as
+throughout her life, Elizabeth united the occasional caprice of
+her sex with that sense and sound policy in which neither man nor
+woman ever excelled her.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+  Well, then--our course is chosen--spread the sail--
+  Heave oft the lead, and mark the soundings well--
+  Look to the helm, good master--many a shoal
+  Marks this stern coast, and rocks, where sits the Siren,
+  Who, like ambition, lures men to their ruin.     THE SHIPWRECK.
+
+During the brief interval that took place betwixt the dismissal
+of the audience and the sitting of the privy-council, Leicester
+had time to reflect that he had that morning sealed his own fate.
+"It was impossible for him now," he thought, "after having, in
+the face of all that was honourable in England, pledged his truth
+(though in an ambiguous phrase) for the statement of Varney, to
+contradict or disavow it, without exposing himself, not merely to
+the loss of court-favour, but to the highest displeasure of the
+Queen, his deceived mistress, and to the scorn and contempt at
+once of his rival and of all his compeers."  This certainty
+rushed at once on his mind, together with all the difficulties
+which he would necessarily be exposed to in preserving a secret
+which seemed now equally essential to his safety, to his power,
+and to his honour.  He was situated like one who walks upon ice
+ready to give way around him, and whose only safety consists in
+moving onwards, by firm and unvacillating steps.  The Queen's
+favour, to preserve which he had made such sacrifices, must now
+be secured by all means and at all hazards; it was the only plank
+which he could cling to in the tempest.  He must settle himself,
+therefore, to the task of not only preserving, but augmenting the
+Queen's partiality--he must be the favourite of Elizabeth, or a
+man utterly shipwrecked in fortune and in honour.  All other
+considerations must be laid aside for the moment, and he repelled
+the intrusive thoughts which forced on his mind the image of,
+Amy, by saying to himself there would be time to think hereafter
+how he was to escape from the labyrinth ultimately, since the
+pilot who sees a Scylla under his bows must not for the time
+think of the more distant dangers of Charybdis.
+
+In this mood the Earl of Leicester that day assumed his chair at
+the council table of Elizabeth; and when the hours of business
+were over, in this same mood did he occupy an honoured place near
+her during her pleasure excursion on the Thames.  And never did
+he display to more advantage his powers as a politician of the
+first rank, or his parts as an accomplished courtier.
+
+It chanced that in that day's council matters were agitated
+touching the affairs of the unfortunate Mary, the seventh year of
+whose captivity in England was now in doleful currency.  There
+had been opinions in favour of this unhappy princess laid before
+Elizabeth's council, and supported with much strength of argument
+by Sussex and others, who dwelt more upon the law of nations and
+the breach of hospitality than, however softened or qualified,
+was agreeable to the Queen's ear.  Leicester adopted the contrary
+opinion with great animation and eloquence, and described the
+necessity of continuing the severe restraint of the Queen of
+Scots, as a measure essential to the safety of the kingdom, and
+particularly of Elizabeth's sacred person, the lightest hair of
+whose head, he maintained, ought, in their lordships' estimation,
+to be matter of more deep and anxious concern than the life and
+fortunes of a rival, who, after setting up a vain and unjust
+pretence to the throne of England, was now, even while in the
+bosom of her country, the constant hope and theme of
+encouragement to all enemies to Elizabeth, whether at home or
+abroad.  He ended by craving pardon of their lordships, if in the
+zeal of speech he had given any offence, but the Queen's safety
+was a theme which hurried him beyond his usual moderation of
+debate.
+
+Elizabeth chid him, but not severely, for the weight which he
+attached unduly to her personal interests; yet she owned that,
+since it had been the pleasure of Heaven to combine those
+interests with the weal of her subjects, she did only her duty
+when she adopted such measures of self-preservation as
+circumstances forced upon her; and if the council in their wisdom
+should be of opinion that it was needful to continue some
+restraint on the person of her unhappy sister of Scotland, she
+trusted they would not blame her if she requested of the Countess
+of Shrewsbury to use her with as much kindness as might be
+consistent with her safe keeping.  And with this intimation of
+her pleasure the council was dismissed.
+
+Never was more anxious and ready way made for "my Lord of
+Leicester," than as he passed through the crowded anterooms to go
+towards the river-side, in order to attend her Majesty to her
+barge--never was the voice of the ushers louder, to "make room,
+make room for the noble Earl"--never were these signals more
+promptly and reverently obeyed--never were more anxious eyes
+turned on him to obtain a glance of favour, or even of mere
+recognition, while the heart of many a humble follower throbbed
+betwixt the desire to offer his congratulations, and the fear of
+intruding himself on the notice of one so infinitely above him.
+The whole court considered the issue of this day's audience,
+expected with so much doubt and anxiety, as a decisive triumph on
+the part of Leicester, and felt assured that the orb of his rival
+satellite, if not altogether obscured by his lustre, must revolve
+hereafter in a dimmer and more distant sphere.  So thought the
+court and courtiers, from high to low; and they acted
+accordingly.
+
+On the other hand, never did Leicester return the general
+greeting with such ready and condescending courtesy, or endeavour
+more successfully to gather (in the words of one who at that
+moment stood at no great distance from him) "golden opinions from
+all sorts of men."
+
+For all the favourite Earl had a bow a smile at least, and often
+a kind word.  Most of these were addressed to courtiers, whose
+names have long gone down the tide of oblivion; but some, to such
+as sound strangely in our ears, when connected with the ordinary
+matters of human life, above which the gratitude of posterity has
+long elevated them.  A few of Leicester's interlocutory sentences
+ran as follows:--
+
+"Poynings, good morrow; and how does your wife and fair daughter?
+Why come they not to court?--Adams, your suit is naught; the
+Queen will grant no more monopolies.  But I may serve you in
+another matter.--My good Alderman Aylford, the suit of the City,
+affecting Queenhithe, shall be forwarded as far as my poor
+interest can serve.--Master Edmund Spenser, touching your Irish
+petition, I would willingly aid you, from my love to the Muses;
+but thou hast nettled the Lord Treasurer."
+
+"My lord, " said the poet, "were I permitted to explain--"
+
+"Come to my lodging, Edmund," answered the Earl "not to-morrow,
+or next day, but soon.--Ha, Will Shakespeare--wild Will!--thou
+hast given my nephew Philip Sidney, love-powder; he cannot sleep
+without thy Venus and Adonis under his pillow!  We will have thee
+hanged for the veriest wizard in Europe.  Hark thee, mad wag, I
+have not forgotten thy matter of the patent, and of the bears."
+
+The PLAYER bowed, and the Earl nodded and passed on--so that age
+would have told the tale; in ours, perhaps, we might say the
+immortal had done homage to the mortal.  The next whom the
+favourite accosted was one of his own zealous dependants.
+
+"How now, Sir Francis Denning," he whispered, in answer to his
+exulting salutation, "that smile hath made thy face shorter by
+one-third than when I first saw it this morning.--What, Master
+Bowyer, stand you back, and think you I bear malice?  You did but
+your duty this morning; and if I remember aught of the passage
+betwixt us, it shall be in thy favour."
+
+Then the Earl was approached, with several fantastic congees, by
+a person quaintly dressed in a doublet of black velvet, curiously
+slashed and pinked with crimson satin.  A long cock's feather in
+the velvet bonnet, which he held in his hand, and an enormous
+ruff; stiffened to the extremity of the absurd taste of the
+times, joined with a sharp, lively, conceited expression of
+countenance, seemed to body forth a vain, harebrained coxcomb,
+and small wit; while the rod he held, and an assumption of formal
+authority, appeared to express some sense of official
+consequence, which qualified the natural pertness of his manner.
+A perpetual blush, which occupied rather the sharp nose than the
+thin cheek of this personage, seemed to speak more of "good
+life," as it was called, than of modesty; and the manner in which
+he approached to the Earl confirmed that suspicion.
+
+"Good even to you, Master Robert Laneham," said Leicester, and
+seemed desirous to pass forward, without further speech.
+
+"I have a suit to your noble lordship," said the figure, boldly
+following him.
+
+"And what is it, good master keeper of the council-chamber door?"
+
+"CLERK of the council-chamber door," said Master Robert Laneham,
+with emphasis, by way of reply, and of correction.
+
+"Well, qualify thine office as thou wilt, man," replied the Earl;
+"what wouldst thou have with me?"
+
+"Simply," answered Laneham, "that your lordship would be, as
+heretofore, my good lord, and procure me license to attend the
+Summer Progress unto your lordship's most beautiful and all-to-
+be-unmatched Castle of Kenilworth."
+
+"To what purpose, good Master Laneham?"  replied the Earl;
+"bethink you, my guests must needs be many."
+
+"Not so many," replied the petitioner, "but that your nobleness
+will willingly spare your old servitor his crib and his mess.
+Bethink you, my lord, how necessary is this rod of mine to fright
+away all those listeners, who else would play at bo-peep with the
+honourable council, and be searching for keyholes and crannies in
+the door of the chamber, so as to render my staff as needful as a
+fly-flap in a butcher's shop."
+
+"Methinks you have found out a fly-blown comparison for the
+honourable council, Master Laneham," said the Earl; "but seek not
+about to justify it.  Come to Kenilworth, if you list; there will
+be store of fools there besides, and so you will be fitted."
+
+"Nay, an there be fools, my lord," replied Laneham, with much
+glee, "I warrant I will make sport among them, for no greyhound
+loves to cote a hare as I to turn and course a fool.  But I have
+another singular favour to beseech of your honour."
+
+"Speak it, and let me go," said the Earl; "I think the Queen
+comes forth instantly."
+
+"My very good lord, I would fain bring a bed-fellow with me."
+
+"How, you irreverent rascal!"  said Leicester.
+
+"Nay, my lord, my meaning is within the canons," answered his
+unblushing, or rather his ever-blushing petitioner.  "I have a
+wife as curious as her grandmother who ate the apple.  Now, take
+her with me I may not, her Highness's orders being so strict
+against the officers bringing with them their wives in a
+progress, and so lumbering the court with womankind.  But what I
+would crave of your lordship is to find room for her in some
+mummery, or pretty pageant, in disguise, as it were; so that, not
+being known for my wife, there may be no offence."
+
+"The foul fiend seize ye both!"  said Leicester, stung into
+uncontrollable passion by the recollections which this speech
+excited--"why stop you me with such follies?"
+
+The terrified clerk of the chamber-door, astonished at the burst
+of resentment he had so unconsciously produced, dropped his staff
+of office from his hand, and gazed on the incensed Earl with a
+foolish face of wonder and terror, which instantly recalled
+Leicester to himself.
+
+"I meant but to try if thou hadst the audacity which befits thine
+office," said he hastily.  "Come to Kenilworth, and bring the
+devil with thee, if thou wilt."
+
+"My wife, sir, hath played the devil ere now, in a Mystery, in
+Queen Mary's time; but me shall want a trifle for properties."
+
+"Here is a crown for thee," said the Earl,--"make me rid of thee
+--the great bell rings."
+
+Master Robert Laneham stared a moment at the agitation which he
+had excited, and then said to himself, as he stooped to pick up
+his staff of office, "The noble Earl runs wild humours to-day.
+But they who give crowns expect us witty fellows to wink at their
+unsettled starts; and, by my faith, if they paid not for mercy,
+we would finger them tightly!"  [See Note 6.  Robert Laneham.]
+
+Leicester moved hastily on, neglecting the courtesies he had
+hitherto dispensed so liberally, and hurrying through the courtly
+crowd, until he paused in a small withdrawing-room, into which he
+plunged to draw a moment's breath unobserved, and in seclusion.
+
+"What am I now," he said to himself, "that am thus jaded by the
+words of a mean, weather-beaten, goose-brained gull!  Conscience,
+thou art a bloodhound, whose growl wakes us readily at the paltry
+stir of a rat or mouse as at the step of a lion.  Can I not quit
+myself, by one bold stroke, of a state so irksome, so unhonoured?
+What if I kneel to Elizabeth, and, owning the whole, throw myself
+on her mercy?"
+
+As he pursued this train of thought, the door of the apartment
+opened, and Varney rushed in.
+
+"Thank God, my lord, that I have found you!"  was his
+exclamation.
+
+"Thank the devil, whose agent thou art," was the Earl's reply.
+
+"Thank whom you will, my lord," replied Varney; "but hasten to
+the water-side.  The Queen is on board, and asks for you."
+
+"Go, say I am taken suddenly ill," replied Leicester; "for, by
+Heaven, my brain can sustain this no longer!"
+
+"I may well say so," said Varney, with bitterness of expression,
+"for your place, ay, and mine, who, as your master of the horse,
+was to have attended your lordship, is already filled up in the
+Queen's barge.  The new minion, Walter Raleigh, and our old
+acquaintance Tressilian were called for to fill our places just
+as I hastened away to seek you."
+
+"Thou art a devil, Varney," said Leicester hastily; "but thou
+hast the mastery for the present--I follow thee."
+
+Varney replied not, but led the way out of the palace, and
+towards the river, while his master followed him, as if
+mechanically; until, looking back, he said in a tone which
+savoured of familiarity at least, if not of authority, "How is
+this, my lord?  Your cloak hangs on one side--your hose are
+unbraced--permit me--"
+
+"Thou art a fool, Varney, as well as a knave," said Leicester,
+shaking him off, and rejecting his officious assistance.  "We are
+best thus, sir; when we require you to order our person, it is
+well, but now we want you not."
+
+So saying, the Earl resumed at once his air of command, and with
+it his self-possession--shook his dress into yet wilder disorder
+--passed before Varney with the air of a superior and master, and
+in his turn led the way to the river-side.
+
+The Queen's barge was on the very point of putting off, the seat
+allotted to Leicester in the stern, and that to his master of the
+horse on the bow of the boat, being already filled up.  But on
+Leicester's approach there was a pause, as if the bargemen
+anticipated some alteration in their company.  The angry spot
+was, however, on the Queen's cheek, as, in that cold tone with
+which superiors endeavour to veil their internal agitation, while
+speaking to those before whom it would be derogation to express
+it, she pronounced the chilling words, "We have waited, my Lord
+of Leicester."
+
+"Madam, and most gracious Princess," said Leicester, "you, who
+can pardon so many weaknesses which your own heart never knows,
+can best bestow your commiseration on the agitations of the
+bosom, which, for a moment, affect both head and limbs.  I came
+to your presence a doubting and an accused subject; your goodness
+penetrated the clouds of defamation, and restored me to my
+honour, and, what is yet dearer, to your favour--is it wonderful,
+though for me it is most unhappy, that my master of the horse
+should have found me in a state which scarce permitted me to make
+the exertion necessary to follow him to this place, when one
+glance of your Highness, although, alas!  an angry one, has had
+power to do that for me in which Esculapius might have failed?"
+
+"How is this?"  said Elizabeth hastily, looking at Varney; "hath
+your lord been ill?"
+
+"Something of a fainting fit," answered the ready-witted Varney,
+"as your Grace may observe from his present condition.  My lord's
+haste would not permit me leisure even to bring his dress into
+order."
+
+"It matters not," said Elizabeth, as she gazed on the noble face
+and form of Leicester, to which even the strange mixture of
+passions by which he had been so lately agitated gave additional
+interest; "make room for my noble lord.  Your place, Master
+Varney, has been filled up; you must find a seat in another
+barge."
+
+Varney bowed, and withdrew.
+
+"And you, too, our young Squire of the Cloak," added she, looking
+at Raleigh, "must, for the time, go to the barge of our ladies of
+honour.  As for Tressilian, he hath already suffered too much by
+the caprice of women that I should aggrieve him by my change of
+plan, so far as he is concerned."
+
+Leicester seated himself in his place in the barge, and close to
+the Sovereign.  Raleigh rose to retire, and Tressilian would have
+been so ill-timed in his courtesy as to offer to relinquish his
+own place to his friend, had not the acute glance of Raleigh
+himself, who seemed no in his native element, made him sensible
+that so ready a disclamation of the royal favour might be
+misinterpreted.  He sat silent, therefore, whilst Raleigh, with a
+profound bow, and a look of the deepest humiliation, was about to
+quit his place.
+
+A noble courtier, the gallant Lord Willoughby, read, as he
+thought, something in the Queen's face which seemed to pity
+Raleigh's real or assumed semblance of mortification.
+
+"It is not for us old courtiers," he said, "to hide the sunshine
+from the young ones.  I will, with her Majesty's leave,
+relinquish for an hour that which her subjects hold dearest, the
+delight of her Highness's presence, and mortify myself by walking
+in starlight, while I forsake for a brief season the glory of
+Diana's own beams.  I will take place in the boat which the
+ladies occupy, and permit this young cavalier his hour of
+promised felicity."
+
+The Queen replied, with an expression betwixt mirth and earnest,
+"If you are so willing to leave us, my lord, we cannot help the
+mortification.  But, under favour, we do not trust you--old and
+experienced as you may deem yourself--with the care of our young
+ladies of honour.  Your venerable age, my lord," she continued,
+smiling, "may be better assorted with that of my Lord Treasurer,
+who follows in the third boat, and by whose experience even my
+Lord Willoughby's may be improved."
+
+Lord Willoughby hid his disappointment under a smile--laughed,
+was confused, bowed, and left the Queen's barge to go on board my
+Lord Burleigh's.  Leicester, who endeavoured to divert his
+thoughts from all internal reflection, by fixing them on what was
+passing around, watched this circumstance among others.  But when
+the boat put off from the shore--when the music sounded from a
+barge which accompanied them--when the shouts of the populace
+were heard from the shore, and all reminded him of the situation
+in which he was placed, he abstracted his thoughts and feelings
+by a strong effort from everything but the necessity of
+maintaining himself in the favour of his patroness, and exerted
+his talents of pleasing captivation with such success, that the
+Queen, alternately delighted with his conversation, and alarmed
+for his health, at length imposed a temporary silence on him,
+with playful yet anxious care, lest his flow of spirits should
+exhaust him.
+
+"My lords," she said, "having passed for a time our edict of
+silence upon our good Leicester, we will call you to counsel on a
+gamesome matter, more fitted to be now treated of, amidst mirth
+and music, than in the gravity of our ordinary deliberations.
+Which of you, my lords," said she, smiling, "know aught of a
+petition from Orson Pinnit, the keeper, as he qualifies himself,
+of our royal bears?  Who stands godfather to his request?"
+
+"Marry, with Your Grace's good permission, that do I," said the
+Earl of Sussex.  "Orson Pinnit was a stout soldier before he was
+so mangled by the skenes of the Irish clan MacDonough; and I
+trust your Grace will be, as you always have been, good mistress
+to your good and trusty servants."
+
+"Surely," said the Queen, "it is our purpose to be so, and in
+especial to our poor soldiers and sailors, who hazard their lives
+for little pay.  We would give," she said, with her eyes
+sparkling, "yonder royal palace of ours to be an hospital for
+their use, rather than they should call their mistress
+ungrateful.  But this is not the question," she said, her voice,
+which had been awakened by her patriotic feelings, once more
+subsiding into the tone of gay and easy conversation; "for this
+Orson Pinnit's request goes something further.  He complains
+that, amidst the extreme delight with which men haunt the play-
+houses, and in especial their eager desire for seeing the
+exhibitions of one Will Shakespeare (whom I think, my lords, we
+have all heard something of), the manly amusement of bear-baiting
+is falling into comparative neglect, since men will rather throng
+to see these roguish players kill each other in jest, than to see
+our royal dogs and bears worry each other in bloody earnest.--
+What say you to this, my Lord of Sussex?"
+
+"Why, truly, gracious madam," said Sussex, "you must expect
+little from an old soldier like me in favour of battles in sport,
+when they are compared with battles in earnest; and yet, by my
+faith, I wish Will Shakespeare no harm.  He is a stout man at
+quarter-staff, and single falchion, though, as I am told, a
+halting fellow; and he stood, they say, a tough fight with the
+rangers of old Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecot, when he broke his
+deer-park and kissed his keeper's daughter."
+
+"I cry you mercy, my Lord of Sussex," said Queen Elizabeth,
+interrupting him; "that matter was heard in council, and we will
+not have this fellow's offence exaggerated--there was no kissing
+in the matter, and the defendant hath put the denial on record.
+But what say you to his present practice, my lord, on the stage?
+for there lies the point, and not in any ways touching his former
+errors, in breaking parks, or the other follies you speak of."
+
+"Why, truly, madam," replied Sussex, "as I said before, I wish
+the gamesome mad fellow no injury.  Some of his whoreson poetry
+(I crave your Grace's pardon for such a phrase) has rung in mine
+ears as if the lines sounded to boot and saddle.  But then it is
+all froth and folly--no substance or seriousness in it, as your
+Grace has already well touched.  What are half a dozen knaves,
+with rusty foils and tattered targets, making but a mere mockery
+of a stout fight, to compare to the royal game of bear-baiting,
+which hath been graced by your Highness's countenance, and that
+of your royal predecessors, in this your princely kingdom, famous
+for matchless mastiffs and bold bearwards over all Christendom?
+Greatly is it to be doubted that the race of both will decay, if
+men should throng to hear the lungs of an idle player belch forth
+nonsensical bombast, instead of bestowing their pence in
+encouraging the bravest image of war that can be shown in peace,
+and that is the sports of the Bear-garden.  There you may see the
+bear lying at guard, with his red, pinky eyes watching the onset
+of the mastiff, like a wily captain who maintains his defence
+that an assailant may be tempted to venture within his danger.
+And then comes Sir Mastiff, like a worthy champion, in full
+career at the throat of his adversary; and then shall Sir Bruin
+teach him the reward for those who, in their over-courage,
+neglect the policies of war, and, catching him in his arms,
+strain him to his breast like a lusty wrestler, until rib after
+rib crack like the shot of a pistolet.  And then another mastiff;
+as bold, but with better aim and sounder judgment, catches Sir
+Bruin by the nether lip, and hangs fast, while he tosses about
+his blood and slaver, and tries in vain to shake Sir Talbot from
+his hold.  And then--"
+
+"Nay, by my honour, my lord," said the Queen, laughing, "you have
+described the whole so admirably that, had we never seen a bear-
+baiting, as we have beheld many, and hope, with Heaven's
+allowance, to see many more, your words were sufficient to put
+the whole Bear-garden before our eyes.--But come, who speaks next
+in this case?--My Lord of Leicester, what say you?"
+
+"Am I then to consider myself as unmuzzled, please your Grace?"
+replied Leicester.
+
+"Surely, my lord--that is, if you feel hearty enough to take part
+in our game," answered Elizabeth; "and yet, when I think of your
+cognizance of the bear and ragged staff, methinks we had better
+hear some less partial orator."
+
+"Nay, on my word, gracious Princess," said the Earl, "though my
+brother Ambrose of Warwick and I do carry the ancient cognizance
+your Highness deigns to remember, I nevertheless desire nothing
+but fair play on all sides; or, as they say, 'fight dog, fight
+bear.'  And in behalf of the players, I must needs say that they
+are witty knaves, whose rants and jests keep the minds of the
+commons from busying themselves with state affairs, and listening
+to traitorous speeches, idle rumours, and disloyal insinuations.
+When men are agape to see how Marlow, Shakespeare, and other play
+artificers work out their fanciful plots, as they call them, the
+mind of the spectators is withdrawn from the conduct of their
+rulers."
+
+"We would not have the mind of our subjects withdrawn from the
+consideration of our own conduct, my lord," answered Elizabeth;
+"because the more closely it is examined, the true motives by
+which we are guided will appear the more manifest."
+
+"I have heard, however, madam," said the Dean of St. Asaph's, an
+eminent Puritan, "that these players are wont, in their plays,
+not only to introduce profane and lewd expressions, tending to
+foster sin and harlotry; but even to bellow out such reflections
+on government, its origin and its object, as tend to render the
+subject discontented, and shake the solid foundations of civil
+society.  And it seems to be, under your Grace's favour, far less
+than safe to permit these naughty foul-mouthed knaves to ridicule
+the godly for their decent gravity, and, in blaspheming heaven
+and slandering its earthly rulers, to set at defiance the laws
+both of God and man."
+
+"If we could think this were true, my lord," said Elizabeth, "we
+should give sharp correction for such offences.  But it is ill
+arguing against the use of anything from its abuse.  And touching
+this Shakespeare, we think there is that in his plays that is
+worth twenty Bear-gardens; and that this new undertaking of his
+Chronicles, as he calls them, may entertain, with honest mirth,
+mingled with useful instruction, not only our subjects, but even
+the generation which may succeed to us."
+
+"Your Majesty's reign will need no such feeble aid to make it
+remembered to the latest posterity," said Leicester.  "And yet,
+in his way, Shakespeare hath so touched some incidents of your
+Majesty's happy government as may countervail what has been
+spoken by his reverence the Dean of St. Asaph's.  There are some
+lines, for example--I would my nephew, Philip Sidney, were here;
+they are scarce ever out of his mouth--they are spoken in a mad
+tale of fairies, love-charms, and I wot not what besides; but
+beautiful they are, however short they may and must fall of the
+subject to which they bear a bold relation--and Philip murmurs
+them, I think, even in his dreams."
+
+"You tantalize us, my lord," said the Queen--"Master Philip
+Sidney is, we know, a minion of the Muses, and we are pleased it
+should be so.  Valour never shines to more advantage than when
+united with the true taste and love of letters.  But surely there
+are some others among our young courtiers who can recollect what
+your lordship has forgotten amid weightier affairs.--Master
+Tressilian, you are described to me as a worshipper of Minerva--
+remember you aught of these lines?"
+
+Tressilian's heart was too heavy, his prospects in life too
+fatally blighted, to profit by the opportunity which the Queen
+thus offered to him of attracting her attention; but he
+determined to transfer the advantage to his more ambitious young
+friend, and excusing himself on the score of want of
+recollection, he added that he believed the beautiful verses of
+which my Lord of Leicester had spoken were in the remembrance of
+Master Walter Raleigh.
+
+At the command of the Queen, that cavalier repeated, with accent
+and manner which even added to their exquisite delicacy of tact
+and beauty of description, the celebrated vision of Oberon:--
+
+  "That very time I saw (but thou couldst not),
+  Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
+  Cupid, allarm'd:  a certain aim he took
+  At a fair vestal, throned by the west;
+  And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
+  As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
+  But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
+  Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon;
+  And the imperial vot'ress passed on,
+  In maiden meditation, fancy free."
+
+The voice of Raleigh, as he repeated the last lines, became a
+little tremulous, as if diffident how the Sovereign to whom the
+homage was addressed might receive it, exquisite as it was.  If
+this diffidence was affected, it was good policy; but if real,
+there was little occasion for it.  The verses were not probably
+new to the Queen, for when was ever such elegant flattery long in
+reaching the royal ear to which it was addressed?  But they were
+not the less welcome when repeated by such a speaker as Raleigh.
+Alike delighted with the matter, the manner, and the graceful
+form and animated countenance of the gallant young reciter,
+Elizabeth kept time to every cadence with look and with finger.
+When the speaker had ceased, she murmured over the last lines as
+if scarce conscious that she was overheard, and as she uttered
+the words,
+
+"In maiden meditation, fancy free," she dropped into the Thames
+the supplication of Orson Pinnit, keeper of the royal bears, to
+find more favourable acceptance at Sheerness, or wherever the
+tide might waft it.
+
+Leicester was spurred to emulation by the success of the young
+courtier's exhibition, as the veteran racer is roused when a
+high-mettled colt passes him on the way.  He turned the discourse
+on shows, banquets, pageants, and on the character of those by
+whom these gay scenes were then frequented.  He mixed acute
+observation with light satire, in that just proportion which was
+free alike from malignant slander and insipid praise.  He
+mimicked with ready accent the manners of the affected or the
+clownish, and made his own graceful tone and manner seem doubly
+such when he resumed it.  Foreign countries--their customs, their
+manners, the rules of their courts---the fashions, and even the
+dress of their ladies-were equally his theme; and seldom did he
+conclude without conveying some compliment, always couched in
+delicacy, and expressed with propriety, to the Virgin Queen, her
+court, and her government.  Thus passed the conversation during
+this pleasure voyage, seconded by the rest of the attendants upon
+the royal person, in gay discourse, varied by remarks upon
+ancient classics and modern authors, and enriched by maxims of
+deep policy and sound morality, by the statesmen and sages who
+sat around and mixed wisdom with the lighter talk of a female
+court.
+
+When they returned to the Palace, Elizabeth accepted, or rather
+selected, the arm of Leicester to support her from the stairs
+where they landed to the great gate.  It even seemed to him
+(though that might arise from the flattery of his own
+imagination) that during this short passage she leaned on him
+somewhat more than the slippiness of the way necessarily
+demanded.  Certainly her actions and words combined to express a
+degree of favour which, even in his proudest day he had not till
+then attained.  His rival, indeed, was repeatedly graced by the
+Queen's notice; but it was in manner that seemed to flow less
+from spontaneous inclination than as extorted by a sense of his
+merit.  And in the opinion of many experienced courtiers, all the
+favour she showed him was overbalanced by her whispering in the
+ear of the Lady Derby that "now she saw sickness was a better
+alchemist than she before wotted of, seeing it had changed my
+Lord of Sussex's copper nose into a golden one."
+
+The jest transpired, and the Earl of Leicester enjoyed his
+triumph, as one to whom court-favour had been both the primary
+and the ultimate motive of life, while he forgot, in the
+intoxication of the moment, the perplexities and dangers of his
+own situation.  Indeed, strange as it may appear, he thought less
+at that moment of the perils arising from his secret union, than
+of the marks of grace which Elizabeth from time to time showed to
+young Raleigh.  They were indeed transient, but they were
+conferred on one accomplished in mind and body, with grace,
+gallantry, literature, and valour.  An accident occurred in the
+course of the evening which riveted Leicester's attention to this
+object.
+
+The nobles and courtiers who had attended the Queen on her
+pleasure expedition were invited, with royal hospitality, to a
+splendid banquet in the hall of the Palace.  The table was not,
+indeed, graced by the presence of the Sovereign; for, agreeable
+to her idea of what was at once modest and dignified, the Maiden
+Queen on such occasions was wont to take in private, or with one
+or two favourite ladies, her light and temperate meal.  After a
+moderate interval, the court again met in the splendid gardens of
+the Palace; and it was while thus engaged that the Queen suddenly
+asked a lady, who was near to her both in place and favour, what
+had become of the young Squire Lack-Cloak.
+
+The Lady Paget answered, "She had seen Master Raleigh but two or
+three minutes since standing at the window of a small pavilion or
+pleasure-house, which looked out on the Thames, and writing on
+the glass with a diamond ring."
+
+"That ring," said the Queen, "was a small token I gave him to
+make amends for his spoiled mantle.  Come, Paget, let us see what
+use he has made of it, for I can see through him already.  He is
+a marvellously sharp-witted spirit."  They went to the spot,
+within sight of which, but at some distance, the young cavalier
+still lingered, as the fowler watches the net which he has set.
+The Queen approached the window, on which Raleigh had used her
+gift, to inscribe the following line:--
+
+  "Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall."
+
+The Queen smiled, read it twice over, once with deliberation to
+Lady Paget, and once again to herself.  "It is a pretty
+beginning," she said, after the consideration of a moment or two;
+"but methinks the muse hath deserted the young wit at the very
+outset of his task.  It were good-natured--were it not, Lady
+Paget?--to complete it for him.  Try your rhyming faculties."
+
+Lady Paget, prosaic from her cradle upwards as ever any lady of
+the bedchamber before or after her, disclaimed all possibility of
+assisting the young poet.
+
+"Nay, then, we must sacrifice to the Muses ourselves," said
+Elizabeth.
+
+"The incense of no one can be more acceptable," said Lady Paget;
+"and your Highness will impose such obligation on the ladies of
+Parnassus--"
+
+"Hush, Paget," said the Queen, "you speak sacrilege against the
+immortal Nine--yet, virgins themselves, they should be exorable
+to a Virgin Queen--and therefore--let me see how runs his verse--
+
+  'Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.'
+
+Might not the answer (for fault of a better) run thus?--
+
+  'If thy mind fail thee, do not climb at all.'"
+
+The dame of honour uttered an exclamation of joy and surprise at
+so happy a termination; and certainly a worse has been applauded,
+even when coming from a less distinguished author.
+
+The Queen, thus encouraged, took off a diamond ring, and saying,
+"We will give this gallant some cause of marvel when he finds his
+couplet perfected without his own interference," she wrote her
+own line beneath that of Raleigh.
+
+The Queen left the pavilion; but retiring slowly, and often
+looking back, she could see the young cavalier steal, with the
+flight of a lapwing, towards the place where he had seen her make
+a pause.  "She stayed but to observe," as she said, "that her
+train had taken;" and then, laughing at the circumstance with the
+Lady Paget, she took the way slowly towards the Palace.
+Elizabeth, as they returned, cautioned her companion not to
+mention to any one the aid which she had given to the young poet,
+and Lady Paget promised scrupulous secrecy.  It is to be supposed
+that she made a mental reservation in favour of Leicester, to
+whom her ladyship transmitted without delay an anecdote so little
+calculated to give him pleasure.
+
+Raleigh, in the meanwhile, stole back to the window, and read,
+with a feeling of intoxication, the encouragement thus given him
+by the Queen in person to follow out his ambitious career, and
+returned to Sussex and his retinue, then on the point of
+embarking to go up the river, his heart beating high with
+gratified pride, and with hope of future distinction.
+
+The reverence due to the person of the Earl prevented any notice
+being taken of the reception he had met with at court, until they
+had landed, and the household were assembled in the great hall at
+Sayes Court; while that lord, exhausted by his late illness and
+the fatigues of the day, had retired to his chamber, demanding
+the attendance of Wayland, his successful physician.  Wayland,
+however, was nowhere to be found; and while some of the party
+were, with military impatience, seeking him and cursing his
+absence, the rest flocked around Raleigh to congratulate him on
+his prospects of court-favour.
+
+He had the good taste and judgment to conceal the decisive
+circumstance of the couplet to which Elizabeth had deigned to
+find a rhyme; but other indications had transpired, which plainly
+intimated that he had made some progress in the Queen's favour.
+All hastened to wish him joy on the mended appearance of his
+fortune--some from real regard, some, perhaps, from hopes that
+his preferment might hasten their own, and most from a mixture of
+these motives, and a sense that the countenance shown to any one
+of Sussex's household was, in fact, a triumph to the whole.
+Raleigh returned the kindest thanks to them all, disowning, with
+becoming modesty, that one day's fair reception made a favourite,
+any more than one swallow a summer.  But he observed that Blount
+did not join in the general congratulation, and, somewhat hurt at
+his apparent unkindness, he plainly asked him the reason.
+
+Blount replied with equal sincerity--"My good Walter, I wish thee
+as well as do any of these chattering gulls, who are whistling
+and whooping gratulations in thine ear because it seems fair
+weather with thee.  But I fear for thee, "Walter" (and he wiped
+his honest eye), "I fear for thee with all my heart.  These
+court-tricks, and gambols, and flashes of fine women's favour are
+the tricks and trinkets that bring fair fortunes to farthings,
+and fine faces and witty coxcombs to the acquaintance of dull
+block and sharp axes."
+
+So saying, Blount arose and left the hall, while Raleigh looked
+after him with an expression that blanked for a moment his bold
+and animated countenance.
+
+Stanley just then entered the hall, and said to Tressilian, "My
+lord is calling for your fellow Wayland, and your fellow Wayland
+is just come hither in a sculler, and is calling for you, nor
+will he go to my lord till he sees you.  The fellow looks as he
+were mazed, methinks; I would you would see him immediately."
+
+Tressilian instantly left the hall, and causing Wayland Smith to
+be shown into a withdrawing apartment, and lights placed, he
+conducted the artist thither, and was surprised when he observed
+the emotion of his countenance.
+
+"What is the matter with you, Smith?"  said Tressilian; "have you
+seen the devil?"
+
+"Worse, sir, worse," replied Wayland; "I have seen a basilisk.
+Thank God, I saw him first; for being so seen, and seeing not me,
+he will do the less harm."
+
+"In God's name, speak sense," said Tressilian, "and say what you
+mean."
+
+"I have seen my old master," said the artist.  "Last night a
+friend whom I had acquired took me to see the Palace clock,
+judging me to be curious in such works of art.  At the window of
+a turret next to the clock-house I saw my old master."
+
+"Thou must needs have been mistaken," said Tressilian.
+
+"I was not mistaken," said Wayland; "he that once hath his
+features by heart would know him amongst a million.  He was
+anticly habited; but he cannot disguise himself from me, God be
+praised!  as I can from him.  I will not, however, tempt
+Providence by remaining within his ken.  Tarleton the player
+himself could not so disguise himself but that, sooner or later,
+Doboobie would find him out.  I must away to-morrow; for, as we
+stand together, it were death to me to remain within reach of
+him."
+
+"But the Earl of Sussex?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"He is in little danger from what he has hitherto taken, provided
+he swallow the matter of a bean's size of the orvietan every
+morning fasting; but let him beware of a relapse."
+
+"And how is that to be guarded against?"  said Tressilian.
+
+"Only by such caution as you would use against the devil,"
+answered Wayland.  "Let my lord's clerk of the kitchen kill his
+lord's meat himself, and dress it himself, using no spice but
+what he procures from the surest hands.  Let the sewer serve it
+up himself, and let the master of my lord's household see that
+both clerk and sewer taste the dishes which the one dresses and
+the other serves.  Let my lord use no perfumes which come not
+from well accredited persons; no unguents--no pomades.  Let him,
+on no account, drink with strangers, or eat fruit with them,
+either in the way of nooning or otherwise.  Especially, let him
+observe such caution if he goes to Kenilworth--the excuse of his
+illness, and his being under diet, will, and must, cover the
+strangeness of such practice."
+
+"And thou," said Tressilian, "what dost thou think to make of
+thyself?"
+
+"France, Spain, either India, East or West, shall be my refuge,"
+said Wayland, "ere I venture my life by residing within ken of
+Doboobie, Demetrius, or whatever else he calls himself for the
+time."
+
+"Well," said Tressilian, "this happens not inopportunely.  I had
+business for you in Berkshire, but in the opposite extremity to
+the place where thou art known; and ere thou hadst found out this
+new reason for living private, I had settled to send thee thither
+upon a secret embassage."
+
+The artist expressed himself willing to receive his commands, and
+Tressilian, knowing he was well acquainted with the outline of
+his business at court, frankly explained to him the whole,
+mentioned the agreement which subsisted betwixt Giles Gosling and
+him, and told what had that day been averred in the presence-
+chamber by Varney, and supported by Leicester.
+
+"Thou seest," he added, "that, in the circumstances in which I am
+placed, it behoves me to keep a narrow watch on the motions of
+these unprincipled men, Varney and his complices, Foster and
+Lambourne, as well as on those of my Lord Leicester himself, who,
+I suspect, is partly a deceiver, and not altogether the deceived
+in that matter.  Here is my ring, as a pledge to Giles Gosling.
+Here is besides gold, which shall be trebled if thou serve me
+faithfully.  Away down to Cumnor, and see what happens there."
+
+"I go with double good-will," said the artist, "first, because I
+serve your honour, who has been so kind to me; and then, that I
+may escape my old master, who, if not an absolute incarnation of
+the devil, has, at least, as much of the demon about him, in
+will, word, and action; as ever polluted humanity.  And yet let
+him take care of me.  I fly him now, as heretofore; but if, like
+the Scottish wild cattle, I am vexed by frequent pursuit, I may
+turn on him in hate and desperation.  [A remnant of the wild
+cattle of Scotland are preserved at Chillingham Castle, near
+Wooler, in Northumberland, the seat of Lord Tankerville.  They
+fly before strangers; but if disturbed and followed, they turn
+with fury on those who persist in annoying them.]  Will your
+honour command my nag to be saddled?  I will but give the
+medicine to my lord, divided in its proper proportions, with a
+few instructions.  His safety will then depend on the care of his
+friends and domestics; for the past he is guarded, but let him
+beware of the future."
+
+Wayland Smith accordingly made his farewell visit to the Earl of
+Sussex, dictated instructions as to his regimen, and precautions
+concerning his diet, and left Sayes Court without waiting for
+morning.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+        The moment comes--
+  It is already come--when thou must write
+  The absolute total of thy life's vast sum.
+  The constellations stand victorious o'er thee,
+  The planets shoot good fortune in fair junctions,
+  And tell thee, "Now's the time."
+                          SCHILLER'S WALLENSTEIN, BY COLERIDGE.
+
+When Leicester returned to his lodging, alter a day so important
+and so harassing, in which, after riding out more than one gale,
+and touching on more than one shoal, his bark had finally gained
+the harbour with banner displayed, he seemed to experience as
+much fatigue as a mariner after a perilous storm.  He spoke not a
+word while his chamberlain exchanged his rich court-mantle for a
+furred night-robe, and when this officer signified that Master
+Varney desired to speak with his lordship, he replied only by a
+sullen nod.  Varney, however, entered, accepting this signal as a
+permission, and the chamberlain withdrew.
+
+The Earl remained silent and almost motionless in his chair, his
+head reclined on his hand, and his elbow resting upon the table
+which stood beside him, without seeming to be conscious of the
+entrance or of the presence of his confidant.  Varney waited for
+some minutes until he should speak, desirous to know what was the
+finally predominant mood of a mind through which so many powerful
+emotions had that day taken their course.  But he waited in vain,
+for Leicester continued still silent, and the confidant saw
+himself under the necessity of being the first to speak.  "May I
+congratulate your lordship," he said, "on the deserved
+superiority you have this day attained over your most formidable
+rival?"
+
+Leicester raised his head, and answered sadly, but without anger,
+"Thou, Varney, whose ready invention has involved me in a web of
+most mean and perilous falsehood, knowest best what small reason
+there is for gratulation on the subject."
+
+"Do you blame me, my lord," said Varney, "for not betraying, on
+the first push, the secret on which your fortunes depended, and
+which you have so oft and so earnestly recommended to my safe
+keeping?  Your lordship was present in person, and might have
+contradicted me and ruined yourself by an avowal of the truth;
+but surely it was no part of a faithful servant to have done so
+without your commands."
+
+"I cannot deny it, Varney," said the Earl, rising and walking
+across the room; "my own ambition has been traitor to my love."
+
+"Say rather, my lord, that your love has been traitor to your
+greatness, and barred you from such a prospect of honour and
+power as the world cannot offer to any other.  To make my
+honoured lady a countess, you have missed the chance of being
+yourself--"
+
+He paused, and seemed unwilling to complete the sentence.
+
+"Of being myself what?"  demanded Leicester; "speak out thy
+meaning, Varney."
+
+"Of being yourself a KING, my lord," replied Varney; "and King of
+England to boot!  It is no treason to our Queen to say so.  It
+would have chanced by her obtaining that which all true subjects
+wish her--a lusty, noble, and gallant husband."
+
+"Thou ravest, Varney," answered Leicester.  "Besides, our times
+have seen enough to make men loathe the Crown Matrimonial which
+men take from their wives' lap.  There was Darnley of Scotland."
+
+"He!"  said Varney; "a, gull, a fool, a thrice-sodden ass, who
+suffered himself to be fired off into the air like a rocket on a
+rejoicing day.  Had Mary had the hap to have wedded the noble
+Earl ONCE destined to share her throne, she had experienced a
+husband of different metal; and her husband had found in her a
+wife as complying and loving as the mate of the meanest squire
+who follows the hounds a-horseback, and holds her husband's
+bridle as he mounts."
+
+"It might have been as thou sayest, Varney," said Leicester, a
+brief smile of self-satisfaction passing over his anxious
+countenance.  "Henry Darnley knew little of women--with Mary, a
+man who knew her sex might have had some chance of holding his
+own.  But not with Elizabeth, Varney for I thank God, when he
+gave her the heart of a woman, gave her the head of a man to
+control its follies.  No, I know her.  She will accept love-
+tokens, ay, and requite them with the like--put sugared sonnets
+in her bosom, ay, and answer them too--push gallantry to the very
+verge where it becomes exchange of affection; but she writes NIL
+ULTRA to all which is to follow, and would not barter one iota of
+her own supreme power for all the alphabet of both Cupid and
+Hymen."
+
+"The better for you, my lord," said Varney--"that is, in the case
+supposed, if such be her disposition; since you think you cannot
+aspire to become her husband.  Her favourite you are, and may
+remain, if the lady at Cumnor place continues in her present
+obscurity."
+
+"Poor Amy!"  said Leicester, with a deep sigh; "she desires so
+earnestly to be acknowledged in presence of God and man!"
+
+"Ay, but, my lord," said Varney, "is her desire reasonable?  That
+is the question.  Her religious scruples are solved; she is an
+honoured and beloved wife, enjoying the society of her husband at
+such times as his weightier duties permit him to afford her his
+company.  What would she more?  I am right sure that a lady so
+gentle and so loving would consent to live her life through in a
+certain obscurity--which is, after all, not dimmer than when she
+was at Lidcote Hall--rather than diminish the least jot of her
+lord's honours and greatness by a premature attempt to share
+them."
+
+"There is something in what thou sayest," said Leicester, "and
+her appearance here were fatal.  Yet she must be seen at
+Kenilworth; Elizabeth will not forget that she has so appointed."
+
+"Let me sleep on that hard point," said Varney; "I cannot else
+perfect the device I have on the stithy, which I trust will
+satisfy the Queen and please my honoured lady, yet leave this
+fatal secret where it is now buried.  Has your lordship further
+commands for the night?"
+
+"I would be alone," said Leicester.  "Leave me, and place my
+steel casket on the table.  Be within summons."
+
+Varney retired, and the Earl, opening the window of his
+apartment, looked out long and anxiously upon the brilliant host
+of stars which glimmered in the splendour of a summer firmament.
+The words burst from him as at unawares, "I had never more need
+that the heavenly bodies should befriend me, for my earthly path
+is darkened and confused."
+
+It is well known that the age reposed a deep confidence in the
+vain predictions of judicial astrology, and Leicester, though
+exempt from the general control of superstition, was not in this
+respect superior to his time, but, on the contrary, was
+remarkable for the encouragement which he gave to the professors
+of this pretended science.  Indeed, the wish to pry into
+futurity, so general among the human race, is peculiarly to be
+found amongst those who trade in state mysteries and the
+dangerous intrigues and cabals of courts.  With heedful
+precaution to see that it had not been opened, or its locks
+tampered with, Leicester applied a key to the steel casket, and
+drew from it, first, a parcel of gold pieces, which he put into a
+silk purse; then a parchment inscribed with planetary signs, and
+the lines and calculations used in framing horoscopes, on which
+he gazed intently for a few moments; and, lastly, took forth a
+large key, which, lifting aside the tapestry, he applied to a
+little, concealed door in the corner of the apartment, and
+opening it, disclosed a stair constructed in the thickness of the
+wall.
+
+"Alasco," said the Earl, with a voice raised, yet no higher
+raised than to be heard by the inhabitant of the small turret to
+which the stair conducted--"Alasco, I say, descend."
+
+"I come, my lord," answered a voice from above.  The foot of an
+aged man was heard slowly descending the narrow stair, and Alasco
+entered the Earl's apartment.  The astrologer was a little man,
+and seemed much advanced in age, for his heard was long and
+white, and reached over his black doublet down to his silken
+girdle.  His hair was of the same venerable hue.  But his
+eyebrows were as dark as the keen and piercing black eyes which
+they shaded, and this peculiarity gave a wild and singular cast
+to the physiognomy of the old man.  His cheek was still fresh and
+ruddy, and the eyes we have mentioned resembled those of a rat in
+acuteness and even fierceness of expression.  His manner was not
+without a sort of dignity; and the interpreter of the stars,
+though respectful, seemed altogether at his ease, and even
+assumed a tone of instruction and command in conversing with the
+prime favourite of Elizabeth.
+
+"Your prognostications have failed, Alasco," said the Earl, when
+they had exchanged salutations--"he is recovering."
+
+"My son," replied the astrologer, "let me remind you I warranted
+not his death; nor is there any prognostication that can be
+derived from the heavenly bodies, their aspects and their
+conjunctions, which is not liable to be controlled by the will of
+Heaven.  ASTRA REGUNT HOMINES, SED REGIT ASTRA DEUS."
+
+"Of what avail, then, is your mystery?"  inquired the Earl.
+
+"Of much, my son," replied the old man, "since it can show the
+natural and probable course of events, although that course moves
+in subordination to an Higher Power.  Thus, in reviewing the
+horoscope which your Lordship subjected to my skill, you will
+observe that Saturn, being in the sixth House in opposition to
+Mars, retrograde in the House of Life, cannot but denote long and
+dangerous sickness, the issue whereof is in the will of Heaven,
+though death may probably be inferred.  Yet if I knew the name of
+the party I would erect another scheme."
+
+"His name is a secret," said the Earl; "yet, I must own, thy
+prognostication hath not been unfaithful.  He has been sick, and
+dangerously so, not, however, to death.  But hast thou again cast
+my horoscope as Varney directed thee, and art thou prepared to
+say what the stars tell of my present fortune?"
+
+"My art stands at your command," said the old man; "and here, my
+son, is the map of thy fortunes, brilliant in aspect as ever
+beamed from those blessed signs whereby our life is influenced,
+yet not unchequered with fears, difficulties, and dangers."
+
+"My lot were more than mortal were it otherwise," said the Earl.
+"Proceed, father, and believe you speak with one ready to undergo
+his destiny in action and in passion as may beseem a noble of
+England."
+
+"Thy courage to do and to suffer must be wound up yet a strain
+higher," said the old man.  "The stars intimate yet a prouder
+title, yet an higher rank.  It is for thee to guess their
+meaning, not for me to name it."
+
+"Name it, I conjure you--name it, I command you!"  said the Earl,
+his eyes brightening as he spoke.
+
+"I may not, and I will not," replied the old man.  "The ire of
+princes Is as the wrath of the lion.  But mark, and judge for
+thyself.  Here Venus, ascendant in the House of Life, and
+conjoined with Sol, showers down that flood of silver light,
+blent with gold, which promises power, wealth, dignity, all that
+the proud heart of man desires, and in such abundance that never
+the future Augustus of that old and mighty Rome heard from his
+HARUSPICES such a tale of glory, as from this rich text my lore
+might read to my favourite son."
+
+"Thou dost but jest with me, father," said the Earl, astonished
+at the strain of enthusiasm in which the astrologer delivered his
+prediction.
+
+"Is it for him to jest who hath his eye on heaven, who hath his
+foot in the grave?"  returned the old man solemnly.
+
+The Earl made two or three strides through the apartment, with
+his hand outstretched, as one who follows the beckoning signal of
+some phantom, waving him on to deeds of high import.  As he
+turned, however, he caught the eye of the astrologer fixed on
+him, while an observing glance of the most shrewd penetration
+shot from under the penthouse of his shaggy, dark eyebrows.
+Leicester's haughty and suspicious soul at once caught fire.  He
+darted towards the old man from the farther end of the lofty
+apartment, only standing still when his extended hand was within
+a foot of the astrologer's body.
+
+"Wretch!"  he said, "if you dare to palter with me, I will have
+your skin stripped from your living flesh!  Confess thou hast
+been hired to deceive and to betray me--that thou art a cheat,
+and I thy silly prey and booty!"
+
+The old man exhibited some symptoms of emotion, but not more than
+the furious deportment of his patron might have extorted from
+innocence itself.
+
+"What means this violence, my lord?"  he answered, "or in what
+can I have deserved it at your hand?"
+
+"Give me proof," said the Earl vehemently, "that you have not
+tampered with mine enemies."
+
+"My lord," replied the old man, with dignity, "you can have no
+better proof than that which you yourself elected.  In that
+turret I have spent the last twenty-four hours under the key
+which has been in your own custody.  The hours of darkness I have
+spent in gazing on the heavenly bodies with these dim eyes, and
+during those of light I have toiled this aged brain to complete
+the calculation arising from their combinations.  Earthly food I
+have not tasted--earthly voice I have not heard.  You are
+yourself aware I had no means of doing so; and yet I tell you--I
+who have been thus shut up in solitude and study--that within
+these twenty-four hours your star has become predominant in the
+horizon, and either the bright book of heaven speaks false, or
+there must have been a proportionate revolution in your fortunes
+upon earth.  If nothing has happened within that space to secure
+your power, or advance your favour, then am I indeed a cheat, and
+the divine art, which was first devised in the plains of Chaldea,
+is a foul imposture."
+
+"It is true," said Leicester, after a moment's reflection, "thou
+wert closely immured; and it is also true that the change has
+taken place in my situation which thou sayest the horoscope
+indicates."
+
+"Wherefore this distrust then, my son?"  said the astrologer,
+assuming a tone of admonition; "the celestial intelligences brook
+not diffidence, even in their favourites."
+
+"Peace, father," answered Leicester, "I have erred in doubting
+thee.  Not to mortal man, nor to celestial intelligence--under
+that which is supreme--will Dudley's lips say more in
+condescension or apology.  Speak rather to the present purpose.
+Amid these bright promises thou hast said there was a threatening
+aspect.  Can thy skill tell whence, or by whose means, such
+danger seems to impend?"
+
+"Thus far only," answered the astrologer, "does my art enable me
+to answer your query.  The infortune is threatened by the
+malignant and adverse aspect, through means of a youth, and, as I
+think, a rival; but whether in love or in prince's favour, I know
+not nor can I give further indication respecting him, save that
+he comes from the western quarter."
+
+"The western--ha!"  replied Leicester, "it is enough--the tempest
+does indeed brew in that quarter!  Cornwall and Devon--Raleigh
+and Tressilian--one of them is indicated-I must beware of both.
+Father, if I have done thy skill injustice, I will make thee a
+lordly recompense."
+
+He took a purse of gold from the strong casket which stood before
+him.  "Have thou double the recompense which Varney promised.  Be
+faithful--be secret--obey the directions thou shalt receive from
+my master of the horse, and grudge not a little seclusion or
+restraint in my cause--it shall be richly considered.--Here,
+Varney--conduct this venerable man to thine own lodging; tend him
+heedfully in all things, but see that he holds communication with
+no one.
+
+Varney bowed, and the astrologer kissed the Earl's hand in token
+of adieu, and followed the master of the horse to another
+apartment, in which were placed wine and refreshments for his
+use.
+
+The astrologer sat down to his repast, while Varney shut two
+doors with great precaution, examined the tapestry, lest any
+listener lurked behind it, and then sitting down opposite to the
+sage, began to question him.
+
+"Saw you my signal from the court beneath?"
+
+"I did," said Alasco, for by such name he was at present called,
+"and shaped the horoscope accordingly."
+
+"And it passed upon the patron without challenge?"  continued
+Varney.
+
+"Not without challenge," replied the old man, "but it did pass;
+and I added, as before agreed, danger from a discovered secret,
+and a western youth."
+
+"My lord's fear will stand sponsor to the one, and his conscience
+to the other, of these prognostications," replied Varney.  "Sure
+never man chose to run such a race as his, yet continued to
+retain those silly scruples!  I am fain to cheat him to his own
+profit.  But touching your matters, sage interpreter of the
+stars, I can tell you more of your own fortune than plan or
+figure can show.  You must be gone from hence forthwith."
+
+"I will not," said Alasco peevishly.  "I have been too much
+hurried up and down of late--immured for day and night in a
+desolate turret-chamber.  I must enjoy my liberty, and pursue my
+studies, which are of more import than the fate of fifty
+statesmen and favourites that rise and burst like bubbles in the
+atmosphere of a court."
+
+"At your pleasure," said Varney, with a sneer that habit had
+rendered familiar to his features, and which forms the principal
+characteristic which painters have assigned to that of Satan--"at
+your pleasure," he said; "you may enjoy your liberty and your
+studies until the daggers of Sussex's followers are clashing
+within your doublet and against your ribs."  The old man turned
+pale, and Varney proceeded.  "Wot you not he hath offered a
+reward for the arch-quack and poison-vender, Demetrius, who sold
+certain precious spices to his lordship's cook?  What!  turn you
+pale, old friend?  Does Hali already see an infortune in the
+House of Life?  Why, hark thee, we will have thee down to an old
+house of mine in the country, where thou shalt live with a
+hobnailed slave, whom thy alchemy may convert into ducats, for to
+such conversion alone is thy art serviceable."
+
+"It is false, thou foul-mouthed railer," said Alasco, shaking
+with impotent anger; "it is well known that I have approached
+more nearly to projection than any hermetic artist who now lives.
+There are not six chemists in the world who possess so near an
+approximation to the grand arcanum--"
+
+"Come, come," said Varney, interrupting him, "what means this, in
+the name of Heaven?  Do we not know one another?  I believe thee
+to be so perfect--so very perfect--in the mystery of cheating,
+that, having imposed upon all mankind, thou hast at length in
+some measure imposed upon thyself, and without ceasing to dupe
+others, hast become a species of dupe to thine own imagination.
+Blush not for it, man--thou art learned, and shalt have classical
+comfort:
+
+  'Ne quisquam Ajacem possit superare nisi Ajax.'
+
+No one but thyself could have gulled thee; and thou hast gulled
+the whole brotherhood of the Rosy Cross besides--none so deep in
+the mystery as thou.  But hark thee in thine ear:  had the
+seasoning which spiced Sussex's broth wrought more surely, I
+would have thought better of the chemical science thou dost boast
+so highly."
+
+"Thou art an hardened villain, Varney," replied Alasco; "many
+will do those things who dare not speak of them."
+
+"And many speak of them who dare not do them," answered Varney.
+"But be not wroth--I will not quarrel with thee.  If I did, I
+were fain to live on eggs for a month, that I might feed without
+fear.  Tell me at once, how came thine art to fail thee at this
+great emergency?"
+
+"The Earl of Sussex's horoscope intimates," replied the
+astrologer, "that the sign of the ascendant being in combustion
+--"
+
+"Away with your gibberish," replied Varney; "thinkest thou it is
+the patron thou speakest with?"
+
+"I crave your pardon," replied the old man, "and swear to you I
+know but one medicine that could have saved the Earl's life; and
+as no man living in England knows that antidote save myself--
+moreover, as the ingredients, one of them in particular, are
+scarce possible to be come by, I must needs suppose his escape
+was owing to such a constitution of lungs and vital parts as was
+never before bound up in a body of clay."
+
+"There was some talk of a quack who waited on him," said Varney,
+after a moment's reflection.  "Are you sure there is no one in
+England who has this secret of thine?"
+
+"One man there was," said the doctor, "once my servant, who might
+have stolen this of me, with one or two other secrets of art.
+But content you, Master Varney, it is no part of my policy to
+suffer such interlopers to interfere in my trade.  He pries into
+no mysteries more, I warrant you, for, as I well believe, he hath
+been wafted to heaven on the wing of a fiery dragon--peace be
+with him!  But in this retreat of mine shall I have the use of
+mine elaboratory?"
+
+"Of a whole workshop, man," said Varney; "for a reverend father
+abbot, who was fain to give place to bluff King Hal and some of
+his courtiers, a score of years since, had a chemist's complete
+apparatus, which he was obliged to leave behind him to his
+successors.  Thou shalt there occupy, and melt, and puff, and
+blaze, and multiply, until the Green Dragon become a golden
+goose, or whatever the newer phrase of the brotherhood may
+testify."
+
+"Thou art right, Master Varney," said the alchemist setting his
+teeth close and grinding them together--"thou art right even in
+thy very contempt of right and reason.  For what thou sayest in
+mockery may in sober verity chance to happen ere we meet again.
+If the most venerable sages of ancient days have spoken the
+truth--if the most learned of our own have rightly received it;
+if I have been accepted wherever I travelled in Germany, in
+Poland, in Italy, and in the farther Tartary, as one to whom
+nature has unveiled her darkest secrets; if I have acquired the
+most secret signs and passwords of the Jewish Cabala, so that the
+greyest beard in the synagogue would brush the steps to make them
+clean for me;--if all this is so, and if there remains but one
+step--one little step--betwixt my long, deep, and dark, and
+subterranean progress, and that blaze of light which shall show
+Nature watching her richest and her most glorious productions in
+the very cradle--one step betwixt dependence and the power of
+sovereignty--one step betwixt poverty and such a sum of wealth as
+earth, without that noble secret, cannot minister from all her
+mines in the old or the new-found world; if this be all so, is it
+not reasonable that to this I dedicate my future life, secure,
+for a brief period of studious patience, to rise above the mean
+dependence upon favourites, and THEIR favourites, by which I am
+now enthralled!"
+
+"Now, bravo!  bravo!  my good father," said Varney, with the
+usual sardonic expression of ridicule on his countenance; "yet
+all this approximation to the philosopher's stone wringeth not
+one single crown out of my Lord Leicester's pouch, and far less
+out of Richard Varney's.  WE must have earthly and substantial
+services, man, and care not whom else thou canst delude with thy
+philosophical charlatanry."
+
+"My son Varney," said the alchemist, "the unbelief, gathered
+around thee like a frost-fog, hath dimmed thine acute perception
+to that which is a stumbling-block to the wise, and which yet, to
+him who seeketh knowledge with humility, extends a lesson so
+clear that he who runs may read.  Hath not Art, thinkest thou,
+the means of completing Nature's imperfect concoctions in her
+attempts to form the precious metals, even as by art we can
+perfect those other operations of incubation, distillation,
+fermentation, and similar processes of an ordinary description,
+by which we extract life itself out of a senseless egg, summon
+purity and vitality out of muddy dregs, or call into vivacity the
+inert substance of a sluggish liquid?"
+
+"I have heard all this before," said Varney, "and my heart is
+proof against such cant ever since I sent twenty good gold pieces
+(marry, it was in the nonage of my wit) to advance the grand
+magisterium, all which, God help the while, vanished IN FUMO.
+Since that moment, when I paid for my freedom, I defy chemistry,
+astrology, palmistry, and every other occult art, were it as
+secret as hell itself, to unloose the stricture of my purse-
+strings.  Marry, I neither defy the manna of Saint Nicholas, nor
+can I dispense with it.  The first task must be to prepare some
+when thou gett'st down to my little sequestered retreat yonder,
+and then make as much gold as thou wilt."
+
+"I will make no more of that dose," said the alchemist,
+resolutely.
+
+"Then," said the master of the horse, "thou shalt be hanged for
+what thou hast made already, and so were the great secret for
+ever lost to mankind.  Do not humanity this injustice, good
+father, but e'en bend to thy destiny, and make us an ounce or two
+of this same stuff; which cannot prejudice above one or two
+individuals, in order to gain lifetime to discover the universal
+medicine, which shall clear away all mortal diseases at once.
+But cheer up, thou grave, learned, and most melancholy jackanape!
+Hast thou not told me that a moderate portion of thy drug hath
+mild effects, no ways ultimately dangerous to the human frame,
+but which produces depression of spirits, nausea, headache, an
+unwillingness to change of place--even such a state of temper as
+would keep a bird from flying out of a cage were the door left
+open?"
+
+"I have said so, and it is true," said the alchemist.  "This
+effect will it produce, and the bird who partakes of it in such
+proportion shall sit for a season drooping on her perch, without
+thinking either of the free blue sky, or of the fair greenwood,
+though the one be lighted by the rays of the rising sun, and the
+other ringing with the newly-awakened song of all the feathered
+inhabitants of the forest."
+
+"And this without danger to life?"  said Varney, somewhat
+anxiously.
+
+"Ay, so that proportion and measure be not exceeded; and so that
+one who knows the nature of the manna be ever near to watch the
+symptoms, and succour in case of need."
+
+"Thou shalt regulate the whole," said Varney.  "Thy reward shall
+be princely, if thou keepest time and touch, and exceedest not
+the due proportion, to the prejudice of her health; otherwise thy
+punishment shall be as signal."
+
+"The prejudice of HER health!"  repeated Alasco; "it is, then, a
+woman I am to use my skill upon?"
+
+"No, thou fool," replied Varney, "said I not it was a bird--a
+reclaimed linnet, whose pipe might soothe a hawk when in mid
+stoop?  I see thine eye sparkle, and I know thy beard is not
+altogether so white as art has made it--THAT, at least, thou hast
+been able to transmute to silver.  But mark me, this is no mate
+for thee.  This caged bird is dear to one who brooks no rivalry,
+and far less such rivalry as thine, and her health must over all
+things be cared for.  But she is in the case of being commanded
+down to yonder Kenilworth revels, and it is most expedient--most
+needful--most necessary that she fly not thither.  Of these
+necessities and their causes, it is not needful that she should
+know aught; and it is to be thought that her own wish may lead
+her to combat all ordinary reasons which can be urged for her
+remaining a housekeeper."
+
+"That is but natural," said the alchemist with a strange smile,
+which yet bore a greater reference to the human character than
+the uninterested and abstracted gaze which his physiognomy had
+hitherto expressed, where all seemed to refer to some world
+distant from that which was existing around him.
+
+"It is so," answered Varney; "you understand women well, though
+it may have been long since you were conversant amongst them.
+Well, then, she is not to be contradicted; yet she is not to be
+humoured.  Understand me--a slight illness, sufficient to take
+away the desire of removing from thence, and to make such of your
+wise fraternity as may be called in to aid, recommend a quiet
+residence at home, will, in one word, be esteemed good service,
+and remunerated as such."
+
+"I am not to be asked to affect the House of Life?"  said the
+chemist.
+
+"On the contrary, we will have thee hanged if thou dost," replied
+Varney.
+
+"And I must," added Alasco, "have opportunity to do my turn, and
+all facilities for concealment or escape, should there be
+detection?"
+
+"All, all, and everything, thou infidel in all but the
+impossibilities of alchemy.  Why, man, for what dost thou take
+me?"
+
+The old man rose, and taking a light walked towards the end of
+the apartment, where was a door that led to the small sleeping-
+room destined for his reception during the night.  At the door he
+turned round, and slowly repeated Varney's question ere he
+answered it.  "For what do I take thee, Richard Varney?  Why, for
+a worse devil than I have been myself.  But I am in your toils,
+and I must serve you till my term be out."
+
+"Well, well," answered Varney hastily, "be stirring with grey
+light.  It may be we shall not need thy medicine--do nought till
+I myself come down.  Michael Lambourne shall guide you to the
+place of your destination."  [See Note 7.  Dr. Julio.]
+
+When Varney heard the adept's door shut and carefully bolted
+within, he stepped towards it, and with similar precaution
+carefully locked it on the outside, and took the key from the
+lock, muttering to himself, "Worse than THEE, thou poisoning
+quacksalver and witch-monger, who, if thou art not a bounden
+slave to the devil, it is only because he disdains such an
+apprentice!  I am a mortal man, and seek by mortal means the
+gratification of my passions and advancement of my prospects;
+thou art a vassal of hell itself--So ho, Lambourne!"  he called
+at another door, and Michael made his appearance with a flushed
+cheek and an unsteady step.
+
+"Thou art drunk, thou villain!"  said Varney to him.
+
+"Doubtless, noble sir," replied the unabashed Michael; "We have
+been drinking all even to the glories of the day, and to my noble
+Lord of Leicester and his valiant master of the horse.  Drunk!
+odds blades and poniards, he that would refuse to swallow a dozen
+healths on such an evening is a base besognio, and a puckfoist,
+and shall swallow six inches of my dagger!"
+
+"Hark ye, scoundrel," said Varney, "be sober on the instant--I
+command thee.  I know thou canst throw off thy drunken folly,
+like a fool's coat, at pleasure; and if not, it were the worse
+for thee."
+
+Lambourne drooped his head, left the apartment, and returned in
+two or three minutes with his face composed, his hair adjusted,
+his dress in order, and exhibiting as great a difference from his
+former self as if the whole man had been changed.
+
+"Art thou sober now, and dost thou comprehend me?"  said Varney
+sternly.
+
+Lambourne bowed in acquiescence.
+
+"Thou must presently down to Cumnor Place with the reverend man
+of art who sleeps yonder in the little vaulted chamber.  Here is
+the key, that thou mayest call him by times.  Take another trusty
+fellow with you.  Use him well on the journey, but let him not
+escape you--pistol him if he attempt it, and I will be your
+warrant.  I will give thee letters to Foster.  The doctor is to
+occupy the lower apartments of the eastern quadrangle, with
+freedom to use the old elaboratory and its implements.  He is to
+have no access to the lady, but such as I shall point out--only
+she may be amused to see his philosophical jugglery.  Thou wilt
+await at Cumnor Place my further orders; and, as thou livest,
+beware of the ale-bench and the aqua vitae flask.  Each breath
+drawn in Cumnor Place must be kept severed from common air."
+
+"Enough, my lord--I mean my worshipful master, soon, I trust, to
+be my worshipful knightly master.  You have given me my lesson
+and my license; I will execute the one, and not abuse the other.
+I will be in the saddle by daybreak."
+
+"Do so, and deserve favour.  Stay--ere thou goest fill me a cup
+of wine--not out of that flask, sirrah," as Lambourne was pouring
+out from that which Alasco had left half finished, "fetch me a
+fresh one."
+
+Lambourne obeyed, and Varney, after rinsing his mouth with the
+liquor, drank a full cup, and said, as he took up a lamp to
+retreat to his sleeping apartment, "It is strange--I am as little
+the slave of fancy as any one, yet I never speak for a few
+minutes with this fellow Alasco, but my mouth and lungs feel as
+if soiled with the fumes of calcined arsenic--pah!"
+
+So saying, he left the apartment.  Lambourne lingered, to drink a
+cup of the freshly-opened flask.  "It is from Saint John's-Berg,"
+he said, as he paused on the draught to enjoy its flavour, "and
+has the true relish of the violet.  But I must forbear it now,
+that I may one day drink it at my own pleasure."  And he quaffed
+a goblet of water to quench the fumes of the Rhenish wine,
+retired slowly towards the door, made a pause, and then, finding
+the temptation irresistible, walked hastily back, and took
+another long pull at the wine flask, without the formality of a
+cup.
+
+"Were it not for this accursed custom," he said, "I might climb
+as high as Varney himself.  But who can climb when the room turns
+round with him like a parish-top?  I would the distance were
+greater, or the road rougher, betwixt my hand and mouth!  But I
+will drink nothing to-morrow save water--nothing save fair
+water."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ PISTOL.  And tidings do I bring, and lucky joys,
+    And happy news of price.
+ FALSTAFF.  I prithee now deliver them like to men of this world.
+ PISTOL.  A foutra for the world, and worldlings base!
+    I speak of Africa, and golden joys.        HENRY IV. PART II.
+
+The public room of the Black Bear at Cumnor, to which the scene
+of our story now returns, boasted, on the evening which we treat
+of, no ordinary assemblage of guests.  There had been a fair in
+the neighbourhood, and the cutting mercer of Abingdon, with some
+of the other personages whom the reader has already been made
+acquainted with, as friends and customers of Giles Gosling, had
+already formed their wonted circle around the evening fire, and
+were talking over the news of the day.
+
+A lively, bustling, arch fellow, whose pack, and oaken ellwand
+studded duly with brass points, denoted him to be of Autolycus's
+profession, occupied a good deal of the attention, and furnished
+much of the amusement, of the evening.  The pedlars of those
+days, it must be remembered, were men of far greater importance
+than the degenerate and degraded hawkers of our modern times.  It
+was by means of these peripatetic venders that the country trade,
+in the finer manufactures used in female dress particularly, was
+almost entirely carried on; and if a merchant of this description
+arrived at the dignity of travelling with a pack-horse, he was a
+person of no small consequence, and company for the most
+substantial yeoman or franklin whom he might meet in his
+wanderings.
+
+The pedlar of whom we speak bore, accordingly, an active and
+unrebuked share in the merriment to which the rafters of the
+bonny Black Bear of Cumnor resounded.  He had his smile with
+pretty Mistress Cicely, his broad laugh with mine host, and his
+jest upon dashing Master Goldthred, who, though indeed without
+any such benevolent intention on his own part, was the general
+butt of the evening.  The pedlar and he were closely engaged in a
+dispute upon the preference due to the Spanish nether-stock over
+the black Gascoigne hose, and mine host had just winked to the
+guests around him, as who should say, "You will have mirth
+presently, my masters," when the trampling of horses was heard in
+the courtyard, and the hostler was loudly summoned, with a few of
+the newest oaths then in vogue to add force to the invocation.
+Out tumbled Will Hostler, John Tapster, and all the militia of
+the inn, who had slunk from their posts in order to collect some
+scattered crumbs of the mirth which was flying about among the
+customers.  Out into the yard sallied mine host himself also, to
+do fitting salutation to his new guests; and presently returned,
+ushering into the apartment his own worthy nephew, Michael
+Lambourne, pretty tolerably drunk, and having under his escort
+the astrologer.  Alasco, though still a little old man, had, by
+altering his gown to a riding-dress, trimming his beard and
+eyebrows, and so forth, struck at least a score of years from his
+apparent age, and might now seem an active man of sixty, or
+little upwards.  He appeared at present exceedingly anxious, and
+had insisted much with Lambourne that they should not enter the
+inn, but go straight forward to the place of their destination.
+But Lambourne would not be controlled.  "By Cancer and
+Capricorn," he vociferated, "and the whole heavenly host, besides
+all the stars that these blessed eyes of mine have seen sparkle
+in the southern heavens, to which these northern blinkers are but
+farthing candles, I will be unkindly for no one's humour--I will
+stay and salute my worthy uncle here.  Chesu!  that good blood
+should ever be forgotten betwixt friends!--A gallon of your best,
+uncle, and let it go round to the health of the noble Earl of
+Leicester!  What!  shall we not collogue together, and warm the
+cockles of our ancient kindness?--shall we not collogue, I say?"
+
+"With all my heart, kinsman," said mine host, who obviously
+wished to be rid of him; "but are you to stand shot to all this
+good liquor?"
+
+This is a question has quelled many a jovial toper, but it moved
+not the purpose of Lambourne's soul, "Question my means, nuncle?"
+he said, producing a handful of mixed gold and silver pieces;
+"question Mexico and Peru--question the Queen's exchequer--God
+save her Majesty!--she is my good Lord's good mistress."
+
+"Well, kinsman," said mine host, "it is my business to sell wine
+to those who can buy it--so, Jack Tapster, do me thine office.
+But I would I knew how to come by money as lightly as thou dost,
+Mike."
+
+"Why, uncle," said Lambourne, "I will tell thee a secret.  Dost
+see this little old fellow here?  as old and withered a chip as
+ever the devil put into his porridge--and yet, uncle, between you
+and me--he hath Potosi in that brain of his--'sblood!  he can
+coin ducats faster than I can vent oaths."
+
+"I will have none of his coinage in my purse, though, Michael,"
+said mine host; "I know what belongs to falsifying the Queen's
+coin."
+
+"Thou art an ass, uncle, for as old as thou art.--Pull me not by
+the skirts, doctor, thou art an ass thyself to boot--so, being
+both asses, I tell ye I spoke but metaphorically."
+
+"Are you mad?' said the old man; "is the devil in you?  Can you
+not let us begone without drawing all men's eyes on us?"
+
+"Sayest thou?"  said Lambourne.  "Thou art deceived now--no man
+shall see you, an I give the word.--By heavens, masters, an any
+one dare to look on this old gentleman, I will slash the eyes out
+of his head with my poniard!--So sit down, old friend, and be
+merry; these are mine ingles--mine ancient inmates, and will
+betray no man."
+
+"Had you not better withdraw to a private apartment, nephew?"
+said Giles Gosling.  "You speak strange matter," he added, "and
+there be intelligencers everywhere."
+
+"I care not for them," said the magnanimous Michael--
+"intelligencers?  pshaw!  I serve the noble Earl of Leicester.
+--Here comes the wine.--Fill round, Master Skinker, a carouse to
+the health of the flower of England, the noble Earl of Leicester!
+I say, the noble Earl of Leicester!  He that does me not reason
+is a swine of Sussex, and I'll make him kneel to the pledge, if I
+should cut his hams and smoke them for bacon."
+
+None disputed a pledge given under such formidable penalties; and
+Michael Lambourne, whose drunken humour was not of course
+diminished by this new potation, went on in the same wild way,
+renewing his acquaintance with such of the guests as he had
+formerly known, and experiencing a reception in which there was
+now something of deference mingled with a good deal of fear; for
+the least servitor of the favourite Earl, especially such a man
+as Lambourne, was, for very sufficient reasons, an object both of
+the one and of the other.
+
+In the meanwhile, the old man, seeing his guide in this
+uncontrollable humour, ceased to remonstrate with him, and
+sitting down in the most obscure corner of the room, called for a
+small measure of sack, over which he seemed, as it were, to
+slumber, withdrawing himself as much as possible from general
+observation, and doing nothing which could recall his existence
+to the recollection of his fellow-traveller, who by this time had
+got into close intimacy with his ancient comrade, Goldthred of
+Abingdon.
+
+"Never believe me, bully Mike," said the mercer, "if I am not as
+glad to see thee as ever I was to see a customer's money!  Why,
+thou canst give a friend a sly place at a mask or a revel now,
+Mike; ay, or, I warrant thee, thou canst say in my lord's ear,
+when my honourable lord is down in these parts, and wants a
+Spanish ruff or the like--thou canst say in his ear, There is
+mine old friend, young Lawrence Goldthred of Abingdon, has as
+good wares, lawn, tiffany, cambric, and so forth--ay, and is as
+pretty a piece of man's flesh, too, as is in Berkshire, and will
+ruffle it for your lordship with any man of his inches; and thou
+mayest say--"
+
+"I can say a hundred d--d lies besides, mercer," answered
+Lambourne; "what, one must not stand upon a good word for a
+friend!"
+
+"Here is to thee, Mike, with all my heart," said the mercer; "and
+thou canst tell one the reality of the new fashions too.  Here
+was a rogue pedlar but now was crying up the old-fashioned
+Spanish nether-stock over the Gascoigne hose, although thou seest
+how well the French hose set off the leg and knee, being adorned
+with parti-coloured garters and garniture in conformity."
+
+"Excellent, excellent," replied Lambourne; "why, thy limber bit
+of a thigh, thrust through that bunch of slashed buckram and
+tiffany, shows like a housewife's distaff when the flax is half
+spun off!"
+
+"Said I not so?"  said the mercer, whose shallow brain was now
+overflowed in his turn; "where, then, where be this rascal
+pedlar?--there was a pedlar here but now, methinks.--Mine host,
+where the foul fiend is this pedlar?"
+
+"Where wise men should be, Master Goldthred," replied Giles
+Gosling; "even shut up in his private chamber, telling over the
+sales of to-day, and preparing for the custom of to-morrow."
+
+"Hang him, a mechanical chuff!"  said the mercer; "but for shame,
+it were a good deed to ease him of his wares--a set of peddling
+knaves, who stroll through the land, and hurt the established
+trader.  There are good fellows in Berkshire yet, mine host--your
+pedlar may be met withal on Maiden Castle."
+
+"Ay," replied mine host, laughing, "and he who meets him may meet
+his match--the pedlar is a tall man."
+
+"Is he?"  said Goldthred.
+
+"Is he?"  replied the host; "ay, by cock and pie is he--the very
+pedlar he who raddled Robin Hood so tightly, as the song says,--
+
+'Now Robin Hood drew his sword so good,
+ The pedlar drew his brand,
+And he hath raddled him, Robin Hood,
+ Till he neither could see nor stand.'"
+
+"Hang him, foul scroyle, let him pass," said the mercer; "if he
+be such a one, there were small worship to be won upon him.--And
+now tell me, Mike--my honest Mike, how wears the Hollands you won
+of me?"
+
+"Why, well, as you may see, Master Goldthred," answered Mike; "I
+will bestow a pot on thee for the handsel.--Fill the flagon,
+Master Tapster."
+
+"Thou wilt win no more Hollands, think, on such wager, friend
+Mike," said the mercer; "for the sulky swain, Tony Foster, rails
+at thee all to nought, and swears you shall ne'er darken his
+doors again, for that your oaths are enough to blow the roof off
+a Christian man's dwelling."
+
+"Doth he say so, the mincing, hypocritical miser?"  vociferated
+Lambourne.  "Why, then, he shall come down and receive my
+commands here, this blessed night, under my uncle's roof!  And I
+will ring him such a black sanctus, that he shall think the devil
+hath him by the skirts for a month to come, for barely hearing
+me."
+
+"Nay, now the pottle-pot is uppermost, with a witness!"  said the
+mercer.  "Tony Foster obey thy whistle!  Alas!  good Mike, go
+sleep--go sleep."
+
+"I tell thee what, thou thin-faced gull," said Michael Lambourne,
+in high chafe, "I will wager thee fifty angels against the first
+five shelves of thy shop, numbering upward from the false light,
+with all that is on them, that I make Tony Foster come down to
+this public-house before we have finished three rounds."
+
+"I will lay no bet to that amount," said the mercer, something
+sobered by an offer which intimated rather too private a
+knowledge on Lambourne's part of the secret recesses of his shop.
+"I will lay no such wager," he said; "but I will stake five
+angels against thy five, if thou wilt, that Tony Foster will not
+leave his own roof, or come to ale-house after prayer time, for
+thee, or any man."
+
+"Content," said Lambourne.--"Here, uncle, hold stakes, and let
+one of your young bleed-barrels there--one of your infant
+tapsters--trip presently up to The Place, and give this letter to
+Master Foster, and say that I, his ingle, Michael Lambourne, pray
+to speak with him at mine uncle's castle here, upon business of
+grave import.--Away with thee, child, for it is now sundown, and
+the wretch goeth to bed with the birds to save mutton-suet--
+faugh!"
+
+Shortly after this messenger was dispatched--an interval which
+was spent in drinking and buffoonery--he returned with the answer
+that Master Foster was coming presently.
+
+"Won, won!"  said Lambourne, darting on the stakes.
+
+"Not till he comes, if you please," said the mercer, interfering.
+
+"Why, 'sblood, he is at the threshold," replied Michael.--"What
+said he, boy?"
+
+"If it please your worship," answered the messenger, "he looked
+out of window, with a musquetoon in his hand, and when I
+delivered your errand, which I did with fear and trembling, he
+said, with a vinegar aspect, that your worship might be gone to
+the infernal regions."
+
+"Or to hell, I suppose," said Lambourne--"it is there he disposes
+of all that are not of the congregation."
+
+"Even so," said the boy; "I used the other phrase as being the
+more poetical."
+
+"An ingenious youth," said Michael; "shalt have a drop to whet
+thy poetical whistle.  And what said Foster next?"
+
+"He called me back," answered the boy, "and bid me say you might
+come to him if you had aught to say to him."
+
+"And what next?"  said Lambourne.
+
+"He read the letter, and seemed in a fluster, and asked if your
+worship was in drink; and I said you were speaking a little
+Spanish, as one who had been in the Canaries."
+
+"Out, you diminutive pint-pot, whelped of an overgrown
+reckoning!"  replied Lambourne--"out!  But what said he then?"
+
+"Why," said the boy, "he muttered that if he came not your
+worship would bolt out what were better kept in; and so he took
+his old flat cap, and threadbare blue cloak, and, as I said
+before, he will be here incontinent."
+
+"There is truth in what he said," replied Lambourne, as if
+speaking to himself--"my brain has played me its old dog's trick.
+But corragio--let him approach!--I have not rolled about in the
+world for many a day to fear Tony Foster, be I drunk or sober.--
+Bring me a flagon of cold water to christen my sack withal."
+
+While Lambourne, whom the approach of Foster seemed to have
+recalled to a sense of his own condition, was busied in preparing
+to receive him, Giles Gosling stole up to the apartment of the
+pedlar, whom he found traversing the room in much agitation.
+
+"You withdrew yourself suddenly from the company," said the
+landlord to the guest.
+
+"It was time, when the devil became one among you," replied the
+pedlar.
+
+"It is not courteous in you to term my nephew by such a name,"
+said Gosling, "nor is it kindly in me to reply to it; and yet, in
+some sort, Mike may be considered as a limb of Satan."
+
+"Pooh--I talk not of the swaggering ruffian," replied the pedlar;
+"it is of the other, who, for aught I know--But when go they?  or
+wherefore come they?"
+
+"Marry, these are questions I cannot answer," replied the host.
+"But look you, sir, you have brought me a token from worthy
+Master Tressilian--a pretty stone it is."  He took out the ring,
+and looked at it, adding, as he put it into his purse again, that
+it was too rich a guerdon for anything he could do for the worthy
+donor.  He was, he said, in the public line, and it ill became
+him to be too inquisitive into other folk's concerns.  He had
+already said that he could hear nothing but that the lady lived
+still at Cumnor Place in the closest seclusion, and, to such as
+by chance had a view of her, seemed pensive and discontented with
+her solitude.  "But here," he said, "if you are desirous to
+gratify your master, is the rarest chance that hath occurred for
+this many a day.  Tony Foster is coming down hither, and it is
+but letting Mike Lambourne smell another wine-flask, and the
+Queen's command would not move him from the ale-bench.  So they
+are fast for an hour or so.  Now, if you will don your pack,
+which will be your best excuse, you may, perchance, win the ear
+of the old servant, being assured of the master's absence, to let
+you try to get some custom of the lady; and then you may learn
+more of her condition than I or any other can tell you."
+
+"True--very true," answered Wayland, for he it was; "an excellent
+device, but methinks something dangerous--for, say Foster should
+return?"
+
+"Very possible indeed," replied the host.
+
+"Or say," continued Way]and, "the lady should render me cold
+thanks for my exertions?"
+
+"As is not unlikely," replied Giles Gosling.  "I marvel Master
+Tressilian will take such heed of her that cares not for him."
+
+"In either case I were foully sped," said Wayland, "and therefore
+I do not, on the whole, much relish your device."
+
+"Nay, but take me with you, good master serving-man," replied
+mine host.  "This is your master's business, and not mine:, you
+best know the risk to be encountered, or how far you are willing
+to brave it.  But that which you will not yourself hazard, you
+cannot expect others to risk."
+
+"Hold, hold," said Wayland; "tell me but one thing--goes yonder
+old man up to Cumnor?"
+
+"Surely, I think so?"  said the landlord; "their servant said he
+was to take their baggage thither.  But the ale-tap has been as
+potent for him as the sack-spigot has been for Michael."
+
+"It is enough," said Wayland, assuming an air of resolution.  "I
+will thwart that old villain's projects; my affright at his
+baleful aspect begins to abate, and my hatred to arise.  Help me
+on with my pack, good mine host.--And look to thyself, old
+Albumazar; there is a malignant influence in thy horoscope, and
+it gleams from the constellation Ursa Major."
+
+So saying, he assumed his burden, and, guided by the landlord
+through the postern gate of the Black Bear, took the most private
+way from thence up to Cumnor Place.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+  CLOWN. You have of these pedlars, that have more in'em than
+         you'd think, sister.--WINTER'S TALE, ACT IV., SCENE 3.
+
+In his anxiety to obey the Earl's repeated charges of secrecy, as
+well as from his own unsocial and miserly habits, Anthony Foster
+was more desirous, by his mode of housekeeping, to escape
+observation than to resist intrusive curiosity.  Thus, instead of
+a numerous household, to secure his charge, and defend his house,
+he studied as much as possible to elude notice by diminishing his
+attendants; so that, unless when there were followers of the
+Earl, or of Varney, in the mansion, one old male domestic, and
+two aged crones, who assisted in keeping the Countess's
+apartments in order, were the only servants of the family.
+
+It was one of these old women who opened the door when Wayland
+knocked, and answered his petition, to be admitted to exhibit his
+wares to the ladies of the family, with a volley of vituperation,
+couched in what is there called the JOWRING dialect.  The pedlar
+found the means of checking this vociferation by slipping a
+silver groat into her hand, and intimating the present of some
+stuff for a coif, if the lady would buy of his wares.
+
+"God ield thee, for mine is aw in littocks.  Slocket with thy
+pack into gharn, mon--her walks in gharn."  Into the garden she
+ushered the pedlar accordingly, and pointing to an old, ruinous
+garden house, said, "Yonder be's her, mon--yonder be's her.  Zhe
+will buy changes an zhe loikes stuffs."
+
+"She has left me to come off as I may," thought Wayland, as he
+heard the hag shut the garden-door behind him.  "But they shall
+not beat me, and they dare not murder me, for so little trespass,
+and by this fair twilight.  Hang it, I will on--a brave general
+never thought of his retreat till he was defeated.  I see two
+females in the old garden-house yonder--but how to address them?
+Stay--Will Shakespeare, be my friend in need.  I will give them a
+taste of Autolycus."  He then sung, with a good voice, and
+becoming audacity, the popular playhouse ditty,--
+
+  "Lawn as white as driven snow,
+  Cyprus black as e'er was crow,
+  Gloves as sweet as damask roses,
+  Masks for faces and for noses."
+
+"What hath fortune sent us here for an unwonted sight, Janet?"
+said the lady.
+
+"One of those merchants of vanity, called pedlars," answered
+Janet, demurely, "who utters his light wares in lighter measures.
+I marvel old Dorcas let him pass."
+
+"It is a lucky chance, girl," said the Countess; "we lead a heavy
+life here, and this may while off a weary hour."
+
+"Ay, my gracious lady," said Janet; "but my father?"
+
+"He is not my father, Janet, nor I hope my master," answered the
+lady.  "I say, call the man hither--I want some things."
+
+"Nay," replied Janet, "your ladyship has but to say so in the
+next packet, and if England can furnish them they will be sent.
+There will come mischief on't--pray, dearest lady, let me bid the
+man begone!"
+
+"I will have thee bid him come hither," said the Countess;--"or
+stay, thou terrified fool, I will bid him myself, and spare thee
+a chiding."
+
+"Ah!  well-a-day, dearest lady, if that were the worst," said
+Janet sadly; while the lady called to the pedlar, "Good fellow,
+step forward--undo thy pack; if thou hast good wares, chance has
+sent thee hither for my convenience and thy profit."
+
+"What may your ladyship please to lack?"  said Wayland,
+unstrapping his pack, and displaying its contents with as much
+dexterity as if he had been bred to the trade.  Indeed he had
+occasionally pursued it in the course of his roving life, and now
+commended his wares with all the volubility of a trader, and
+showed some skill in the main art of placing prices upon them.
+
+"What do I please to lack?"  said the lady, "why, considering I
+have not for six long months bought one yard of lawn or cambric,
+or one trinket, the most inconsiderable, for my own use, and at
+my own choice, the better question is, What hast thou got to
+sell?  Lay aside for me that cambric partlet and pair of sleeves
+--and those roundells of gold fringe, drawn out with cyprus--and
+that short cloak of cherry-coloured fine cloth, garnished with
+gold buttons and loops;--is it not of an absolute fancy, Janet?"
+
+"Nay, my lady," replied Janet, "if you consult my poor judgment,
+it is, methinks, over-gaudy for a graceful habit."
+
+"Now, out upon thy judgment, if it be no brighter, wench," said
+the Countess.  "Thou shalt wear it thyself for penance' sake; and
+I promise thee the gold buttons, being somewhat massive, will
+comfort thy father, and reconcile him to the cherry-coloured
+body.  See that he snap them not away, Janet, and send them to
+bear company with the imprisoned angels which he keeps captive in
+his strong-box."
+
+"May I pray your ladyship to spare my poor father?"  said Janet.
+
+"Nay, but why should any one spare him that is so sparing of his
+own nature?"  replied the lady.--"Well, but to our gear.  That
+head garniture for myself, and that silver bodkin mounted with
+pearl; and take off two gowns of that russet cloth for Dorcas and
+Alison, Janet, to keep the old wretches warm against winter
+comes.--And stay--hast thou no perfumes and sweet bags, or any
+handsome casting bottles of the newest mode?"
+
+"Were I a pedlar in earnest, I were a made merchant," thought
+Wayland, as he busied himself to answer the demands which she
+thronged one on another, with the eagerness of a young lady who
+has been long secluded from such a pleasing occupation.  "But how
+to bring her to a moment's serious reflection?"  Then as he
+exhibited his choicest collection of essences and perfumes, he at
+once arrested her attention by observing that these articles had
+almost risen to double value since the magnificent preparations
+made by the Earl of Leicester to entertain the Queen and court at
+his princely Castle of Kenilworth.
+
+"Ha!"  said the Countess hastily; "that rumour, then, is true,
+Janet."
+
+"Surely, madam," answered Wayland; "and I marvel it hath not
+reached your noble ladyship's ears.  The Queen of England feasts
+with the noble Earl for a week during the Summer's Progress; and
+there are many who will tell you England will have a king, and
+England's Elizabeth--God save her!--a husband, ere the Progress
+be over."
+
+"They lie like villains!"  said the Countess, bursting forth
+impatiently.
+
+"For God's sake, madam, consider," said Janet, trembling with
+apprehension; "who would cumber themselves about pedlar's
+tidings?"
+
+"Yes, Janet!"  exclaimed the Countess; "right, thou hast
+corrected me justly.  Such reports, blighting the reputation of
+England's brightest and noblest peer, can only find currency
+amongst the mean, the abject, and the infamous!"
+
+"May I perish, lady," said Wayland Smith, observing that her
+violence directed itself towards him, "if I have done anything to
+merit this strange passion!  I have said but what many men say."
+
+By this time the Countess had recovered her composure, and
+endeavoured, alarmed by the anxious hints of Janet, to suppress
+all appearance of displeasure.  "I were loath," she said, "good
+fellow, that our Queen should change the virgin style so dear to
+us her people--think not of it."  And then, as if desirous to
+change the subject, she added, "And what is this paste, so
+carefully put up in the silver box?"  as she examined the
+contents of a casket in which drugs and perfumes were contained
+in separate drawers.
+
+"It is a remedy, Madam, for a disorder of which I trust your
+ladyship will never have reason to complain.  The amount of a
+small turkey-bean, swallowed daily for a week, fortifies the
+heart against those black vapours which arise from solitude,
+melancholy, unrequited affection, disappointed hope--"
+
+"Are you a fool, friend?"  said the Countess sharply; "or do you
+think, because I have good-naturedly purchased your trumpery
+goods at your roguish prices, that you may put any gullery you
+will on me?  Who ever heard that affections of the heart were
+cured by medicines given to the body?"
+
+"Under your honourable favour," said Wayland, "I am an honest
+man, and I have sold my goods at an honest price.  As to this
+most precious medicine, when I told its qualities, I asked you
+not to purchase it, so why should I lie to you?  I say not it
+will cure a rooted affection of the mind, which only God and time
+can do; but I say that this restorative relieves the black
+vapours which are engendered in the body of that melancholy which
+broodeth on the mind.  I have relieved many with it, both in
+court and city, and of late one Master Edmund Tressilian, a
+worshipful gentleman in Cornwall, who, on some slight received,
+it was told me, where he had set his affections, was brought into
+that state of melancholy which made his friends alarmed for his
+life."
+
+He paused, and the lady remained silent for some time, and then
+asked, with a voice which she strove in vain to render firm and
+indifferent in its tone, "Is the gentleman you have mentioned
+perfectly recovered?"
+
+"Passably, madam," answered Wayland; "he hath at least no bodily
+complaint."
+
+"I will take some of the medicine, Janet," said the Countess.  "I
+too have sometimes that dark melancholy which overclouds the
+brain."
+
+"You shall not do so, madam," said Janet; "who shall answer that
+this fellow vends what is wholesome?"
+
+"I will myself warrant my good faith," said Wayland; and taking a
+part of the medicine, he swallowed it before them.  The Countess
+now bought what remained, a step to which Janet, by further
+objections, only determined her the more obstinately.  She even
+took the first dose upon the instant, and professed to feel her
+heart lightened and her spirits augmented--a consequence which,
+in all probability, existed only in her own imagination.  The
+lady then piled the purchases she had made together, flung her
+purse to Janet, and desired her to compute the amount, and to pay
+the pedlar; while she herself, as if tired of the amusement she
+at first found in conversing with him, wished him good evening,
+and walked carelessly into the house, thus depriving Wayland of
+every opportunity to speak with her in private.  He hastened,
+however, to attempt an explanation with Janet.
+
+"Maiden," he said, "thou hast the face of one who should love her
+mistress.  She hath much need of faithful service."
+
+"And well deserves it at my hands," replied Janet; "but
+what of that?"
+
+"Maiden, I am not altogether what I seem," said the pedlar,
+lowering his voice.
+
+"The less like to be an honest man," said Janet.
+
+"The more so," answered Wayland, "since I am no pedlar."
+
+"Get thee gone then instantly, or I will call for assistance,"
+said Janet; "my father must ere this be returned."
+
+"Do not be so rash," said Wayland; "you will do what you may
+repent of.  I am one of your mistress's friends; and she had need
+of more, not that thou shouldst ruin those she hath."
+
+"How shall I know that?"  said Janet.
+
+"Look me in the face," said Wayland Smith, "and see if thou dost
+not read honesty in my looks."
+
+And in truth, though by no means handsome, there was in his
+physiognomy the sharp, keen expression of inventive genius and
+prompt intellect, which, joined to quick and brilliant eyes, a
+well-formed mouth, and an intelligent smile, often gives grace
+and interest to features which are both homely and irregular.
+Janet looked at him with the sly simplicity of her sect, and
+replied, "Notwithstanding thy boasted honesty, friend, and
+although I am not accustomed to read and pass judgment on such
+volumes as thou hast submitted to my perusal, I think I see in
+thy countenance something of the pedlar-something of the
+picaroon."
+
+"On a small scale, perhaps," said Wayland Smith, laughing.  "But
+this evening, or to-morrow, will an old man come hither with thy
+father, who has the stealthy step of the cat, the shrewd and
+vindictive eye of the rat, the fawning wile of the spaniel, the
+determined snatch of the mastiff--of him beware, for your own
+sake and that of your distress.  See you, fair Janet, he brings
+the venom of the aspic under the assumed innocence of the dove.
+What precise mischief he meditates towards you I cannot guess,
+but death and disease have ever dogged his footsteps.  Say nought
+of this to thy mistress; my art suggests to me that in her state
+the fear of evil may be as dangerous as its operation.  But see
+that she take my specific, for" (he lowered his voice, and spoke
+low but impressively in her ear) "it is an antidote against
+poison.--Hark, they enter the garden!"
+
+In effect, a sound of noisy mirth and loud talking approached the
+garden door, alarmed by which Wayland Smith sprung into the midst
+of a thicket of overgrown shrubs, while Janet withdrew to the
+garden-house that she might not incur observation, and that she
+might at the same time conceal, at least for the present, the
+purchases made from the supposed pedlar, which lay scattered on
+the floor of the summer-house.
+
+Janet, however, had no occasion for anxiety.  Her father, his old
+attendant, Lord Leicester's domestic, and the astrologer, entered
+the garden in tumult and in extreme perplexity, endeavouring to
+quiet Lambourne, whose brain had now become completely fired with
+liquor, and who was one of those unfortunate persons who, being
+once stirred with the vinous stimulus, do not fall asleep like
+other drunkards, but remain partially influenced by it for many
+hours, until at length, by successive draughts, they are elevated
+into a state of uncontrollable frenzy.  Like many men in this
+state also, Lambourne neither lost the power of motion, speech,
+or expression; but, on the contrary, spoke with unwonted emphasis
+and readiness, and told all that at another time he would have
+been most desirous to keep secret.
+
+"What!"  ejaculated Michael, at the full extent of his voice, "am
+I to have no welcome, no carouse, when I have brought fortune to
+your old, ruinous dog-house in the shape of a devil's ally, that
+can change slate-shivers into Spanish dollars?--Here, you, Tony
+Fire-the-Fagot, Papist, Puritan, hypocrite, miser, profligate,
+devil, compounded of all men's sins, bow down and reverence him
+who has brought into thy house the very mammon thou worshippest."
+
+"For God's sake," said Foster, "speak low--come into the house--
+thou shalt have wine, or whatever thou wilt."
+
+"No, old puckfoist, I will have it here," thundered the
+inebriated ruffian--"here, AL FRESCO, as the Italian hath it. No,
+no, I will not drink with that poisoning devil within doors, to
+be choked with the fumes of arsenic and quick-silver; I learned
+from villain Varney to beware of that."
+
+"Fetch him wine, in the name of all the fiends!"  said the
+alchemist.
+
+"Aha!  and thou wouldst spice it for me, old Truepenny, wouldst
+thou not?  Ay, I should have copperas, and hellebore, and
+vitriol, and aqua fortis, and twenty devilish materials bubbling
+in my brain-pan like a charm to raise the devil in a witch's
+cauldron. Hand me the flask thyself, old Tony Fire-the-Fagot--and
+let it be cool--I will have no wine mulled at the pile of the old
+burnt bishops.  Or stay, let Leicester be king if he will--good--
+and Varney, villain Varney, grand vizier--why, excellent!--and
+what shall I be, then?--why, emperor--Emperor Lambourne!  I will
+see this choice piece of beauty that they have walled up here for
+their private pleasures; I will have her this very night to serve
+my wine-cup and put on my nightcap.  What should a fellow do with
+two wives, were he twenty times an Earl?  Answer me that, Tony
+boy, you old reprobate, hypocritical dog, whom God struck out of
+the book of life, but tormented with the constant wish to be
+restored to it--you old bishop-burning, blasphemous fanatic,
+answer me that."
+
+"I will stick my knife to the haft in him," said Foster, in a low
+tone, which trembled with passion.
+
+"For the love of Heaven, no violence!"  said the astrologer.  "It
+cannot but be looked closely into.--Here, honest Lambourne, wilt
+thou pledge me to the health of the noble Earl of Leicester and
+Master Richard Varney?"
+
+"I will, mine old Albumazar--I will, my trusty vender of
+ratsbane.  I would kiss thee, mine honest infractor of the Lex
+Julia (as they said at Leyden), didst thou not flavour so
+damnably of sulphur, and such fiendish apothecary's stuff.--Here
+goes it, up seyes--to Varney and Leicester two more noble
+mounting spirits--and more dark-seeking, deep-diving, high-
+flying, malicious, ambitious miscreants--well, I say no more, but
+I will whet my dagger on his heart-spone that refuses to pledge
+me!  And so, my masters--"
+
+Thus speaking, Lambourne exhausted the cup which the astrologer
+had handed to him, and which contained not wine, but distilled
+spirits.  He swore half an oath, dropped the empty cup from his
+grasp, laid his hand on his sword without being able to draw it,
+reeled, and fell without sense or motion into the arms of the
+domestic, who dragged him off to his chamber, and put him to bed.
+
+In the general confusion, Janet regained her lady's chamber
+unobserved, trembling like an aspen leaf, but determined to keep
+secret from the Countess the dreadful surmises which she could
+not help entertaining from the drunken ravings of Lambourne.  Her
+fears, however, though they assumed no certain shape, kept pace
+with the advice of the pedlar; and she confirmed her mistress in
+her purpose of taking the medicine which he had recommended, from
+which it is probable she would otherwise have dissuaded her.
+Neither had these intimations escaped the ears of Wayland, who
+knew much better how to interpret them.  He felt much compassion
+at beholding so lovely a creature as the Countess, and whom he
+had first seen in the bosom of domestic happiness, exposed to the
+machinations of such a gang of villains.  His indignation, too,
+had been highly excited by hearing the voice of his old master,
+against whom he felt, in equal degree, the passions of hatred and
+fear.  He nourished also a pride in his own art and resources;
+and, dangerous as the task was, he that night formed a
+determination to attain the bottom of the mystery, and to aid the
+distressed lady, if it were yet possible.  From some words which
+Lambourne had dropped among his ravings, Wayland now, for the
+first time, felt inclined to doubt that Varney had acted entirely
+on his own account in wooing and winning the affections of this
+beautiful creature.  Fame asserted of this zealous retainer that
+he had accommodated his lord in former love intrigues; and it
+occurred to Wayland Smith that Leicester himself might be the
+party chiefly interested.  Her marriage with the Earl he could
+not suspect; but even the discovery of such a passing intrigue
+with a lady of Mistress Amy Robsart's rank was a secret of the
+deepest importance to the stability of the favourite's power over
+Elizabeth.  "If Leicester himself should hesitate to stifle such
+a rumour by very strange means," said he to himself, "he has
+those about him who would do him that favour without waiting for
+his consent.  If I would meddle in this business, it must be in
+such guise as my old master uses when he compounds his manna of
+Satan, and that is with a close mask on my face.  So I will quit
+Giles Gosling to-morrow, and change my course and place of
+residence as often as a hunted fox.  I should like to see this
+little Puritan, too, once more.  She looks both pretty and
+intelligent to have come of such a caitiff as Anthony Fire-the-
+Fagot."
+
+Giles Gosling received the adieus of Wayland rather joyfully than
+otherwise.  The honest publican saw so much peril in crossing the
+course of the Earl of Leicester's favourite that his virtue was
+scarce able to support him in the task, and he was well pleased
+when it was likely to be removed from his shoulders still,
+however, professing his good-will, and readiness, in case of
+need, to do Mr. Tressilian or his emissary any service, in so far
+as consisted with his character of a publican.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+  Vaulting ambition, that o'erleaps itself,
+  And falls on t'other side.                MACBETH.
+
+The splendour of the approaching revels at Kenilworth was now the
+conversation through all England; and everything was collected at
+home, or from abroad, which could add to the gaiety or glory of
+the prepared reception of Elizabeth at the house of her most
+distinguished favourite, Meantime Leicester appeared daily to
+advance in the Queen's favour.  He was perpetually by her side in
+council--willingly listened to in the moments of courtly
+recreation--favoured with approaches even to familiar intimacy--
+looked up to by all who had aught to hope at court--courted by
+foreign ministers with the most flattering testimonies of respect
+from their sovereigns,--the ALTER EGO, as it seemed, of the
+stately Elizabeth, who was now very generally supposed to be
+studying the time and opportunity for associating him, by
+marriage, into her sovereign power.
+
+Amid such a tide of prosperity, this minion of fortune and of the
+Queen's favour was probably the most unhappy man in the realm
+which seemed at his devotion.  He had the Fairy King's
+superiority over his friends and dependants, and saw much which
+they could not.  The character of his mistress was intimately
+known to him.  It was his minute and studied acquaintance with
+her humours, as well as her noble faculties, which, joined to his
+powerful mental qualities, and his eminent external
+accomplishments, had raised him so high in her favour; and it was
+that very knowledge of her disposition which led him to apprehend
+at every turn some sudden and overwhelming disgrace.  Leicester
+was like a pilot possessed of a chart which points out to him all
+the peculiarities of his navigation, but which exhibits so many
+shoals, breakers, and reefs of rocks, that his anxious eye reaps
+little more from observing them than to be convinced that his
+final escape can be little else than miraculous.
+
+In fact, Queen Elizabeth had a character strangely compounded of
+the strongest masculine sense, with those foibles which are
+chiefly supposed proper to the female sex.  Her subjects had the
+full benefit of her virtues, which far predominated over her
+weaknesses; but her courtiers, and those about her person, had
+often to sustain sudden and embarrassing turns of caprice, and
+the sallies of a temper which was both jealous and despotic.  She
+was the nursing-mother of her people, but she was also the true
+daughter of Henry VIII.; and though early sufferings and an
+excellent education had repressed and modified, they had not
+altogether destroyed, the hereditary temper of that "hard-ruled
+king."  "Her mind," says her witty godson, Sir John Harrington,
+who had experienced both the smiles and the frowns which he
+describes, "was ofttime like the gentle air that cometh from the
+western point in a summer's morn--'twas sweet and refreshing to
+all around her.  Her speech did win all affections.  And again,
+she could put forth such alterations, when obedience was lacking,
+as left no doubting WHOSE daughter she was.  When she smiled, it
+was a pure sunshine, that every one did choose to bask in, if
+they could; but anon came a storm from a sudden gathering of
+clouds, and the thunder fell in a wondrous manner on all alike."
+[Nugae Antiquae, vol.i., pp.355, 356-362.]
+
+This variability of disposition, as Leicester well knew, was
+chiefly formidable to those who had a share in the Queen's
+affections, and who depended rather on her personal regard than
+on the indispensable services which they could render to her
+councils and her crown.  The favour of Burleigh or of Walsingham,
+of a description far less striking than that by which he was
+himself upheld, was founded, as Leicester was well aware, on
+Elizabeth's solid judgment, not on her partiality, and was,
+therefore, free from all those principles of change and decay
+necessarily incident to that which chiefly arose from personal
+accomplishments and female predilection.  These great and sage
+statesmen were judged of by the Queen only with reference to the
+measures they suggested, and the reasons by which they supported
+their opinions in council; whereas the success of Leicester's
+course depended on all those light and changeable gales of
+caprice and humour which thwart or favour the progress of a lover
+in the favour of his mistress, and she, too, a mistress who was
+ever and anon becoming fearful lest she should forget the
+dignity, or compromise the authority, of the Queen, while she
+indulged the affections of the woman.  Of the difficulties which
+surrounded his power, "too great to keep or to resign," Leicester
+was fully sensible; and as he looked anxiously round for the
+means of maintaining himself in his precarious situation, and
+sometimes contemplated those of descending from it in safety, he
+saw but little hope of either.  At such moments his thoughts
+turned to dwell upon his secret marriage and its consequences;
+and it was in bitterness against himself, if not against his
+unfortunate Countess, that he ascribed to that hasty measure,
+adopted in the ardour of what he now called inconsiderate
+passion, at once the impossibility of placing his power on a
+solid basis, and the immediate prospect of its precipitate
+downfall.
+
+"Men say," thus ran his thoughts, in these anxious and repentant
+moments, "that I might marry Elizabeth, and become King of
+England.  All things suggest this.  The match is carolled in
+ballads, while the rabble throw their caps up.  It has been
+touched upon in the schools--whispered in the presence-chamber--
+recommended from the pulpit--prayed for in the Calvinistic
+churches abroad--touched on by statists in the very council at
+home.  These bold insinuations have been rebutted by no rebuke,
+no resentment, no chiding, scarce even by the usual female
+protestation that she would live and die a virgin princess.  Her
+words have been more courteous than ever, though she knows such
+rumours are abroad--her actions more gracious, her looks more
+kind--nought seems wanting to make me King of England, and place
+me beyond the storms of court-favour, excepting the putting forth
+of mine own hand to take that crown imperial which is the glory
+of the universe!  And when I might stretch that hand out most
+boldly, it is fettered down by a secret and inextricable bond!
+And here I have letters from Amy," he would say, catching them up
+with a movement of peevishness, "persecuting me to acknowledge
+her openly--to do justice to her and to myself--and I wot not
+what.  Methinks I have done less than justice to myself already.
+And she speaks as if Elizabeth were to receive the knowledge of
+this matter with the glee of a mother hearing of the happy
+marriage of a hopeful son!  She, the daughter of Henry, who
+spared neither man in his anger nor woman in his desire--she to
+find herself tricked, drawn on with toys of passion to the verge
+of acknowledging her love to a subject, and he discovered to be a
+married man!--Elizabeth to learn that she had been dallied with
+in such fashion, as a gay courtier might trifle with a country
+wench--we should then see, to our ruin, FURENS QUID FAEMINA!"
+
+He would then pause, and call for Varney, whose advice was now
+more frequently resorted to than ever, because the Earl
+remembered the remonstrances which he had made against his secret
+contract.  And their consultation usually terminated in anxious
+deliberation how, or in what manner, the Countess was to be
+produced at Kenilworth.  These communings had for some time ended
+always in a resolution to delay the Progress from day to day.
+But at length a peremptory decision became necessary.
+
+"Elizabeth will not be satisfied without her presence," said the
+Earl.  "Whether any suspicion hath entered her mind, as my own
+apprehensions suggest, or whether the petition of Tressilian is
+kept in her memory by Sussex or some other secret enemy, I know
+not; but amongst all the favourable expressions which she uses to
+me, she often recurs to the story of Amy Robsart.  I think that
+Amy is the slave in the chariot, who is placed there by my evil
+fortune to dash and to confound my triumph, even when at the
+highest.  Show me thy device, Varney, for solving the
+inextricable difficulty.  I have thrown every such impediment in
+the way of these accursed revels as I could propound even with a
+shade of decency, but to-day's interview has put all to a hazard.
+She said to me kindly, but peremptorily, 'We will give you no
+further time for preparations, my lord, lest you should
+altogether ruin yourself.  On Saturday, the 9th of July, we will
+be with you at Kenilworth.  We pray you to forget none of our
+appointed guests and suitors, and in especial this light-o'-love,
+Amy Robsart.  We would wish to see the woman who could postpone
+yonder poetical gentleman, Master Tressilian, to your man,
+Richard Varney.'--Now, Varney, ply thine invention, whose forge
+hath availed us so often for sure as my name is Dudley, the
+danger menaced by my horoscope is now darkening around me."
+
+"Can my lady be by no means persuaded to bear for a brief space
+the obscure character which circumstances impose on her?"  Said
+Varney after some hesitation.
+
+"How, sirrah?  my Countess term herself thy wife!--that may
+neither stand with my honour nor with hers."
+
+"Alas!  my lord," answered Varney, "and yet such is the quality
+in which Elizabeth now holds her; and to contradict this opinion
+is to discover all."
+
+"Think of something else, Varney," said the Earl, in great
+agitation; "this invention is nought.  If I could give way to it,
+she would not; for I tell thee, Varney, if thou knowest it not,
+that not Elizabeth on the throne has more pride than the daughter
+of this obscure gentleman of Devon.  She is flexible in many
+things, but where she holds her honour brought in question she
+hath a spirit and temper as apprehensive as lightning, and as
+swift in execution."
+
+"We have experienced that, my lord, else had we not been thus
+circumstanced," said Varney.  "But what else to suggest I know
+not.  Methinks she whose good fortune in becoming your lordship's
+bride, and who gives rise to the danger, should do somewhat
+towards parrying it."
+
+"It is impossible," said the Earl, waving his hand; "I know
+neither authority nor entreaties would make her endure thy name
+for an hour.
+
+"It is somewhat hard, though," said Varney, in a dry tone; and,
+without pausing on that topic, he added, "Suppose some one were
+found to represent her?  Such feats have been performed in the
+courts of as sharp-eyed monarchs as Queen Elizabeth."
+
+"Utter madness, Varney," answered the Earl; "the counterfeit
+would be confronted with Tressilian, and discovery become
+inevitable,"
+
+"Tressilian might be removed from court," said the unhesitating
+Varney.
+
+"And by what means?"
+
+"There are many," said Varney, "by which a statesman in your
+situation, my lord, may remove from the scene one who pries into
+your affairs, and places himself in perilous opposition to you."
+
+"Speak not to me of such policy, Varney," said the Earl hastily,
+"which, besides, would avail nothing in the present case.  Many
+others there be at court to whom Amy may be known; and besides,
+on the absence of Tressilian, her father or some of her friends
+would be instantly summoned hither.  Urge thine invention once
+more."
+
+"My lord, I know not what to say," answered Varney; "but were I
+myself in such perplexity, I would ride post down to Cumnor
+Place, and compel my wife to give her consent to such measures as
+her safety and mine required."
+
+"Varney," said Leicester, "I cannot urge her to aught so
+repugnant to her noble nature as a share in this stratagem; it
+would be a base requital to the love she bears me."
+
+"Well, my lord," said Varney, "your lordship is a wise and an
+honourable man, and skilled in those high points of romantic
+scruple which are current in Arcadia perhaps, as your nephew,
+Philip Sidney, writes.  I am your humble servitor--a man of this
+world, and only happy that my knowledge of it, and its ways, is
+such as your lordship has not scorned to avail yourself of.  Now
+I would fain know whether the obligation lies on my lady or on
+you in this fortunate union, and which has most reason to show
+complaisance to the other, and to consider that other's wishes,
+conveniences, and safety?"
+
+"I tell thee, Varney," said the Earl, "that all it was in my
+power to bestow upon her was not merely deserved, but a thousand
+times overpaid, by her own virtue and beauty; for never did
+greatness descend upon a creature so formed by nature to grace
+and adorn it."
+
+"It is well, my lord, you are so satisfied," answered Varney,
+with his usual sardonic smile, which even respect to his patron
+could not at all times subdue; "you will have time enough to
+enjoy undisturbed the society of one so gracious and beautiful--
+that is, so soon as such confinement in the Tower be over as may
+correspond to the crime of deceiving the affections of Elizabeth
+Tudor.  A cheaper penalty, I presume, you do not expect."
+
+"Malicious fiend!"  answered Leicester, "do you mock me in my
+misfortune?--Manage it as thou wilt."
+
+"If you are serious, my lord," said Varney, "you must set forth
+instantly and post for Cumnor Place."
+
+"Do thou go thyself, Varney; the devil has given thee that sort
+of eloquence which is most powerful in the worst cause.  I should
+stand self-convicted of villainy, were I to urge such a deceit.
+Begone, I tell thee; must I entreat thee to mine own dishonour?"
+
+"No, my lord," said Varney; "but if you are serious in entrusting
+me with the task of urging this most necessary measure, you must
+give me a letter to my lady, as my credentials, and trust to me
+for backing the advice it contains with all the force in my
+power.  And such is my opinion of my lady's love for your
+lordship, and of her willingness to do that which is at once to
+contribute to your pleasure and your safety, that I am sure she
+will condescend to bear for a few brief days the name of so
+humble a man as myself, especially since it is not inferior in
+antiquity to that of her own paternal house."
+
+Leicester seized on writing materials, and twice or thrice
+commenced a letter to the Countess, which he afterwards tore into
+fragments.  At length he finished a few distracted lines, in
+which he conjured her, for reasons nearly concerning his life and
+honour, to consent to bear the name of Varney for a few days,
+during the revels at Kenilworth.  He added that Varney would
+communicate all the reasons which rendered this deception
+indispensable; and having signed and sealed these credentials, he
+flung them over the table to Varney with a motion that he should
+depart, which his adviser was not slow to comprehend and to obey.
+
+Leicester remained like one stupefied, till he heard the
+trampling of the horses, as Varney, who took no time even to
+change his dress, threw himself into the saddle, and, followed by
+a single servant, set off for Berkshire.  At the sound the Earl
+started from his seat, and ran to the window, with the momentary
+purpose of recalling the unworthy commission with which he had
+entrusted one of whom he used to say he knew no virtuous property
+save affection to his patron.  But Varney was already beyond
+call; and the bright, starry firmament, which the age considered
+as the Book of Fate, lying spread before Leicester when he opened
+the casement, diverted him from his better and more manly
+purpose.
+
+"There they roll, on their silent but potential course," said the
+Earl, looking around him, "without a voice which speaks to our
+ear, but not without influences which affect, at every change,
+the indwellers of this vile, earthly planet.  This, if
+astrologers fable not, is the very crisis of my fate!  The hour
+approaches of which I was taught to beware--the hour, too, which
+I was encouraged to hope for.  A King was the word--but how?--the
+crown matrimonial.  All hopes of that are gone--let them go.  The
+rich Netherlands have demanded me for their leader, and, would
+Elizabeth consent, would yield to me THEIR crown.  And have I not
+such a claim even in this kingdom?  That of York, descending from
+George of Clarence to the House of Huntingdon, which, this lady
+failing, may have a fair chance--Huntingdon is of my house.--But
+I will plunge no deeper in these high mysteries.  Let me hold my
+course in silence for a while, and in obscurity, like a
+subterranean river; the time shall come that I will burst forth
+in my strength, and bear all opposition before me."
+
+While Leicester was thus stupefying the remonstrances of his own
+conscience, by appealing to political necessity for his apology,
+or losing himself amidst the wild dreams of ambition, his agent
+left town and tower behind him on his hasty journey to Berkshire.
+HE also nourished high hope.  He had brought Lord Leicester to
+the point which he had desired, of committing to him the most
+intimate recesses of his breast, and of using him as the channel
+of his most confidential intercourse with his lady.  Henceforward
+it would, he foresaw, be difficult for his patron either to
+dispense with his services, or refuse his requests, however
+unreasonable.  And if this disdainful dame, as he termed the
+Countess, should comply with the request of her husband, Varney,
+her pretended husband, must needs become so situated with respect
+to her, that there was no knowing where his audacity might be
+bounded perhaps not till circumstances enabled him to obtain a
+triumph, which he thought of with a mixture of fiendish feelings,
+in which revenge for her previous scorn was foremost and
+predominant.  Again he contemplated the possibility of her being
+totally intractable, and refusing obstinately to play the part
+assigned to her in the drama at Kenilworth.
+
+"Alasco must then do his part," he said.  "Sickness must serve
+her Majesty as an excuse for not receiving the homage of Mrs.
+Varney--ay, and a sore and wasting sickness it may prove, should
+Elizabeth continue to cast so favourable an eye on my Lord of
+Leicester.  I will not forego the chance of being favourite of a
+monarch for want of determined measures, should these be
+necessary.  Forward, good horse, forward--ambition and haughty
+hope of power, pleasure, and revenge strike their stings as deep
+through my bosom as I plunge the rowels in thy flanks.  On, good
+horse, on--the devil urges us both forward!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+  Say that my beauty was but small,
+   Among court ladies all despised,
+  Why didst thou rend it from that hall
+   Where, scornful Earl, 'twas dearly prized?
+
+  No more thou com'st with wonted speed,
+   Thy once beloved bride to see;
+  But be she alive, or be she dead,
+   I fear, stern Earl, 's the same to thee.
+                       CUMNOR HALL, by WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE.
+
+The ladies of fashion of the present, or of any other period,
+must have allowed that the young and lovely Countess of Leicester
+had, besides her youth and beauty, two qualities which entitled
+her to a place amongst women of rank and distinction.  She
+displayed, as we have seen in her interview with the pedlar, a
+liberal promptitude to make unnecessary purchases, solely for the
+pleasure of acquiring useless and showy trifles which ceased to
+please as soon as they were possessed; and she was, besides, apt
+to spend a considerable space of time every day in adorning her
+person, although the varied splendour of her attire could only
+attract the half satirical praise of the precise Janet, or an
+approving glance from the bright eyes which witnessed their own
+beams of triumph reflected from the mirror.
+
+The Countess Amy had, indeed, to plead for indulgence in those
+frivolous tastes, that the education of the times had done little
+or nothing for a mind naturally gay and averse to study.  If she
+had not loved to collect finery and to wear it, she might have
+woven tapestry or sewed embroidery, till her labours spread in
+gay profusion all over the walls and seats at Lidcote Hall; or
+she might have varied Minerva's labours with the task of
+preparing a mighty pudding against the time that Sir Hugh Robsart
+returned from the greenwood.  But Amy had no natural genius
+either for the loom, the needle, or the receipt-book.  Her mother
+had died in infancy; her father contradicted her in nothing; and
+Tressilian, the only one that approached her who was able or
+desirous to attend to the cultivation of her mind, had much hurt
+his interest with her by assuming too eagerly the task of a
+preceptor, so that he was regarded by the lively, indulged, and
+idle girl with some fear and much respect, but with little or
+nothing of that softer emotion which it had been his hope and his
+ambition to inspire.  And thus her heart lay readily open, and
+her fancy became easily captivated by the noble exterior and
+graceful deportment and complacent flattery of Leicester, even
+before he was known to her as the dazzling minion of wealth and
+power.
+
+The frequent visits of Leicester at Cumnor, during the earlier
+part of their union, had reconciled the Countess to the solitude
+and privacy to which she was condemned; but when these visits
+became rarer and more rare, and when the void was filled up with
+letters of excuse, not always very warmly expressed, and
+generally extremely brief, discontent and suspicion began to
+haunt those splendid apartments which love had fitted up for
+beauty.  Her answers to Leicester conveyed these feelings too
+bluntly, and pressed more naturally than prudently that she might
+be relieved from this obscure and secluded residence, by the
+Earl's acknowledgment of their marriage; and in arranging her
+arguments with all the skill she was mistress of, she trusted
+chiefly to the warmth of the entreaties with which she urged
+them.  Sometimes she even ventured to mingle reproaches, of which
+Leicester conceived he had good reason to complain.
+
+"I have made her Countess," he said to Varney; "surely she might
+wait till it consisted with my pleasure that she should put on
+the coronet?"
+
+The Countess Amy viewed the subject in directly an opposite
+light.
+
+"What signifies," she said, "that I have rank and honour in
+reality, if I am to live an obscure prisoner, without either
+society or observance, and suffering in my character, as one of
+dubious or disgraced reputation?  I care not for all those
+strings of pearl, which you fret me by warping into my tresses,
+Janet.  I tell you that at Lidcote Hall, if I put but a fresh
+rosebud among my hair, my good father would call me to him, that
+he might see it more closely; and the kind old curate would
+smile, and Master Mumblazen would say something about roses
+gules.  And now I sit here, decked out like an image with gold
+and gems, and no one to see my finery but you, Janet.  There was
+the poor Tressilian, too--but it avails not speaking of him."
+
+"It doth not indeed, madam," said her prudent attendant; "and
+verily you make me sometimes wish you would not speak of him so
+often, or so rashly."
+
+"It signifies nothing to warn me, Janet," said the impatient and
+incorrigible Countess; "I was born free, though I am now mewed up
+like some fine foreign slave, rather than the wife of an English
+noble.  I bore it all with pleasure while I was sure he loved me;
+but now my tongue and heart shall be free, let them fetter these
+limbs as they will.  I tell thee, Janet, I love my husband--I
+will love him till my latest breath--I cannot cease to love him,
+even if I would, or if he--which, God knows, may chance--should
+cease to love me.  But I will say, and loudly, I would have been
+happier than I now am to have remained in Lidcote Hall, even
+although I must have married poor Tressilian, with his melancholy
+look and his head full of learning, which I cared not for.  He
+said, if I would read his favourite volumes, there would come a
+time that I should be glad of having done so.  I think it is come
+now."
+
+"I bought you some books, madam," said Janet, "from a lame fellow
+who sold them in the Market-place--and who stared something
+boldly, at me, I promise you."
+
+"Let me see them, Janet," said the Countess; "but let them not be
+of your own precise cast,--How is this, most righteous damsel?--
+'A PAIR OF SNUFFERS FOR THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK'--'HANDFULL OF
+MYRRH AND HYSSOP TO PUT A SICK SOUL TO PURGATION'--'A DRAUGHT OF
+WATER FROM THE VALLEY OF BACA'--'FOXES AND FIREBRANDS'--what gear
+call you this, maiden?"
+
+"Nay, madam," said Janet, "it was but fitting and seemly to put
+grace in your ladyship's way; but an you will none of it, there
+are play-books, and poet-books, I trow."
+
+The Countess proceeded carelessly in her examination, turning
+over such rare volumes as would now make the fortune of twenty
+retail booksellers.  Here was a "BOKE OF COOKERY, IMPRINTED BY
+RICHARD LANT," and "SKELTON'S BOOKS"--"THE PASSTIME OF THE
+PEOPLE"--"THE CASTLE OF KNOWLEDGE," etc.  But neither to this
+lore did the Countess's heart incline, and joyfully did she start
+up from the listless task of turning over the leaves of the
+pamphlets, and hastily did she scatter them through the floor,
+when the hasty clatter of horses' feet, heard in the courtyard,
+called her to the window, exclaiming, "It is Leicester!--it is my
+noble Earl!--it is my Dudley!--every stroke of his horse's hoof
+sounds like a note of lordly music!"
+
+There was a brief bustle in the mansion, and Foster, with his
+downward look and sullen manner, entered the apartment to say,
+"That Master Richard Varney was arrived from my lord, having
+ridden all night, and craved to speak with her ladyship
+instantly."
+
+"Varney?"  said the disappointed Countess; "and to speak with me?
+--pshaw!  But he comes with news from Leicester, so admit him
+instantly."
+
+Varney entered her dressing apartment, where she sat arrayed in
+her native loveliness, adorned with all that Janet's art and a
+rich and tasteful undress could bestow.  But the most beautiful
+part of her attire was her profuse and luxuriant light-brown
+locks, which floated in such rich abundance around a neck that
+resembled a swan's, and over a bosom heaving with anxious
+expectation, which communicated a hurried tinge of red to her
+whole countenance.
+
+Varney entered the room in the dress in which he had waited on
+his master that morning to court, the splendour of which made a
+strange contrast with the disorder arising from hasty riding
+during a dark night and foul ways.  His brow bore an anxious and
+hurried expression, as one who has that to say of which he doubts
+the reception, and who hath yet posted on from the necessity of
+communicating his tidings.  The Countess's anxious eye at once
+caught the alarm, as she exclaimed, "You bring news from my lord,
+Master Varney--Gracious Heaven!  is he ill?"
+
+"No, madam, thank Heaven!"  said Varney.  "Compose yourself, and
+permit me to take breath ere I communicate my tidings."
+
+"No breath, sir," replied the lady impatiently; "I know your
+theatrical arts.  Since your breath hath sufficed to bring you
+hither, it may suffice to tell your tale--at least briefly, and
+in the gross."
+
+"Madam," answered Varney, "we are not alone, and my lord's
+message was for your ear only."
+
+"Leave us, Janet, and Master Foster," said the lady; "but remain
+in the next apartment, and within call."
+
+Foster and his daughter retired, agreeably to the Lady
+Leicester's commands, into the next apartment, which was the
+withdrawing-room.  The door which led from the sleeping-chamber
+was then carefully shut and bolted, and the father and daughter
+remained both in a posture of anxious attention, the first with a
+stern, suspicious, anxious cast of countenance, and Janet with
+folded hands, and looks which seemed divided betwixt her desire
+to know the fortunes of her mistress, and her prayers to Heaven
+for her safety.  Anthony Foster seemed himself to have some idea
+of what was passing through his daughter's mind, for he crossed
+the apartment and took her anxiously by the hand, saying, "That
+is right--pray, Janet, pray; we have all need of prayers, and
+some of us more than others.  Pray, Janet--I would pray myself,
+but I must listen to what goes on within--evil has been brewing,
+love--evil has been brewing.  God forgive our sins, but Varney's
+sudden and strange arrival bodes us no good."
+
+Janet had never before heard her father excite or even permit her
+attention to anything which passed in their mysterious family;
+and now that he did so, his voice sounded in her ear--she knew
+not why--like that of a screech-owl denouncing some deed of
+terror and of woe.  She turned her eyes fearfully towards the
+door, almost as if she expected some sounds of horror to be
+heard, or some sight of fear to display itself.
+
+All, however, was as still as death, and the voices of those who
+spoke in the inner chamber were, if they spoke at all, carefully
+subdued to a tone which could not be heard in the next.  At once,
+however, they were heard to speak fast, thick, and hastily; and
+presently after the voice of the Countess was heard exclaiming,
+at the highest pitch to which indignation could raise it, "Undo
+the door, sir, I command you!--undo the door!--I will have no
+other reply!"  she continued, drowning with her vehement accents
+the low and muttered sounds which Varney was heard to utter
+betwixt whiles.  "What ho!  without there!"  she persisted,
+accompanying her words with shrieks, "Janet, alarm the house!--
+Foster, break open the door--I am detained here by a traitor!
+Use axe and lever, Master Foster--I will be your warrant!"
+
+"It shall not need, madam," Varney was at length distinctly heard
+to say.  "If you please to expose my lord's important concerns
+and your own to the general ear, I will not be your hindrance."
+
+The door was unlocked and thrown open, and Janet and her father
+rushed in, anxious to learn the cause of these reiterated
+exclamations.
+
+When they entered the apartment Varney stood by the door grinding
+his teeth, with an expression in which rage, and shame, and fear
+had each their share.  The Countess stood in the midst of her
+apartment like a juvenile Pythoness under the influence of the
+prophetic fury.  The veins in her beautiful forehead started into
+swoln blue lines through the hurried impulse of her articulation
+--her cheek and neck glowed like scarlet--her eyes were like
+those of an imprisoned eagle, flashing red lightning on the foes
+which it cannot reach with its talons.  Were it possible for one
+of the Graces to have been animated by a Fury, the countenance
+could not have united such beauty with so much hatred, scorn,
+defiance, and resentment.  The gesture and attitude corresponded
+with the voice and looks, and altogether presented a spectacle
+which was at once beautiful and fearful; so much of the sublime
+had the energy of passion united with the Countess Amy's natural
+loveliness.  Janet, as soon as the door was open, ran to her
+mistress; and more slowly, yet with more haste than he was wont,
+Anthony Foster went to Richard Varney.
+
+"In the Truth's name, what ails your ladyship?"  said the former.
+
+"What, in the name of Satan, have you done to her?"  said Foster
+to his friend.
+
+"Who, I?--nothing," answered Varney, but with sunken head and
+sullen voice; "nothing but communicated to her her lord's
+commands, which, if the lady list not to obey, she knows better
+how to answer it than I may pretend to do."
+
+"Now, by Heaven, Janet!"  said the Countess, "the false traitor
+lies in his throat!  He must needs lie, for he speaks to the
+dishonour of my noble lord; he must needs lie doubly, for he
+speaks to gain ends of his own, equally execrable and
+unattainable."
+
+"You have misapprehended me, lady," said Varney, with a sulky
+species of submission and apology; "let this matter rest till
+your passion be abated, and I will explain all."
+
+"Thou shalt never have an opportunity to do so," said the
+Countess.--"Look at him, Janet.  He is fairly dressed, hath the
+outside of a gentleman, and hither he came to persuade me it was
+my lord's pleasure--nay, more, my wedded lord's commands--that I
+should go with him to Kenilworth, and before the Queen and
+nobles, and in presence of my own wedded lord, that I should
+acknowledge him--HIM there--that very cloak-brushing, shoe-
+cleaning fellow--HIM there, my lord's lackey, for my liege lord
+and husband; furnishing against myself, Great God!  whenever I
+was to vindicate my right and my rank, such weapons as would hew
+my just claim from the root, and destroy my character to be
+regarded as an honourable matron of the English nobility!"
+
+"You hear her, Foster, and you, young maiden, hear this lady,"
+answered Varney, taking advantage of the pause which the Countess
+had made in her charge, more for lack of breath than for lack of
+matter--"you hear that her heat only objects to me the course
+which our good lord, for the purpose to keep certain matters
+secret, suggests in the very letter which she holds in her
+hands."
+
+Foster here attempted to interfere with a face of authority,
+which he thought became the charge entrusted to him, "Nay, lady,
+I must needs say you are over-hasty in this.  Such deceit is not
+utterly to be condemned when practised for a righteous end I and
+thus even the patriarch Abraham feigned Sarah to be his sister
+when they went down to Egypt."
+
+"Ay, sir," answered the Countess; "but God rebuked that deceit
+even in the father of His chosen people, by the mouth of the
+heathen Pharaoh.  Out upon you, that will read Scripture only to
+copy those things which are held out to us as warnings, not as
+examples!"
+
+"But Sarah disputed not the will of her husband, an it be your
+pleasure," said Foster, in reply, "but did as Abraham commanded,
+calling herself his sister, that it might be well with her
+husband for her sake, and that his soul might live because of her
+beauty."
+
+"Now, so Heaven pardon me my useless anger," answered the
+Countess, "thou art as daring a hypocrite as yonder fellow is an
+impudent deceiver!  Never will I believe that the noble Dudley
+gave countenance to so dastardly, so dishonourable a plan.  Thus
+I tread on his infamy, if indeed it be, and thus destroy its
+remembrance for ever!"
+
+So saying, she tore in pieces Leicester's letter, and stamped, in
+the extremity of impatience, as if she would have annihilated the
+minute fragments into which she had rent it.
+
+"Bear witness," said Varney, collecting himself, "she hath torn
+my lord's letter, in order to burden me with the scheme of his
+devising; and although it promises nought but danger and trouble
+to me, she would lay it to my charge, as if I had any purpose of
+mine own in it."
+
+"Thou liest, thou treacherous slave!"  said the Countess in spite
+of Janet's attempts to keep her silent, in the sad foresight that
+her vehemence might only furnish arms against herself--"thou
+liest," she continued.--"Let me go, Janet--were it the last word
+I have to speak, he lies.  He had his own foul ends to seek; and
+broader he would have displayed them had my passion permitted me
+to preserve the silence which at first encouraged him to unfold
+his vile projects."
+
+"Madam," said Varney, overwhelmed in spite of his effrontery, "I
+entreat you to believe yourself mistaken."
+
+"As soon will I believe light darkness," said the enraged
+Countess.  "Have I drunk of oblivion?  Do I not remember former
+passages, which, known to Leicester, had given thee the
+preferment of a gallows, instead of the honour of his intimacy.
+I would I were a man but for five minutes!  It were space enough
+to make a craven like thee confess his villainy.  But go--begone!
+Tell thy master that when I take the foul course to which such
+scandalous deceits as thou hast recommended on his behalf must
+necessarily lead me, I will give him a rival something worthy of
+the name.  He shall not be supplanted by an ignominious lackey,
+whose best fortune is to catch a gift of his master's last suit
+of clothes ere it is threadbare, and who is only fit to seduce a
+suburb-wench by the bravery of new roses in his master's old
+pantoufles.  Go, begone, sir!  I scorn thee so much that I am
+ashamed to have been angry with thee."
+
+Varney left the room with a mute expression of rage, and was
+followed by Foster, whose apprehension, naturally slow, was
+overpowered by the eager and abundant discharge of indignation
+which, for the first time, he had heard burst from the lips of a
+being who had seemed, till that moment, too languid and too
+gentle to nurse an angry thought or utter an intemperate
+expression.  Foster, therefore, pursued Varney from place to
+place, persecuting him with interrogatories, to which the other
+replied not, until they were in the opposite side of the
+quadrangle, and in the old library, with which the reader has
+already been made acquainted.  Here he turned round on his
+persevering follower, and thus addressed him, in a tone tolerably
+equal, that brief walk having been sufficient to give one so
+habituated to command his temper time to rally and recover his
+presence of mind.
+
+"Tony," he said, with his usual sneering laugh, "it avails not to
+deny it.  The Woman and the Devil, who, as thine oracle Holdforth
+will confirm to thee, cheated man at the beginning, have this day
+proved more powerful than my discretion.  Yon termagant looked so
+tempting, and had the art to preserve her countenance so
+naturally, while I communicated my lord's message, that, by my
+faith, I thought I might say some little thing for myself.  She
+thinks she hath my head under her girdle now, but she is
+deceived.  Where is Doctor Alasco?"
+
+"In his laboratory," answered Foster.  "It is the hour he is
+spoken not withal.  We must wait till noon is past, or spoil his
+important--what said I?  important!--I would say interrupt his
+divine studies."
+
+"Ay, he studies the devil's divinity," said Varney; "but when I
+want him, one hour must suffice as well as another.  Lead the way
+to his pandemonium."
+
+So spoke Varney, and with hasty and perturbed steps followed
+Foster, who conducted him through private passages, many of which
+were well-nigh ruinous, to the opposite side of the quadrangle,
+where, in a subterranean apartment, now occupied by the chemist
+Alasco, one of the Abbots of Abingdon, who had a turn for the
+occult sciences, had, much to the scandal of his convent,
+established a laboratory, in which, like other fools of the
+period, he spent much precious time, and money besides, in the
+pursuit of the grand arcanum.
+
+Anthony Foster paused before the door, which was scrupulously
+secured within, and again showed a marked hesitation to disturb
+the sage in his operations.  But Varney, less scrupulous, roused
+him by knocking and voice, until at length, slowly and
+reluctantly, the inmate of the apartment undid the door.  The
+chemist appeared, with his eyes bleared with the heat and vapours
+of the stove or alembic over which he brooded and the interior of
+his cell displayed the confused assemblage of heterogeneous
+substances and extraordinary implements belonging to his
+profession.  The old man was muttering, with spiteful impatience,
+"Am I for ever to be recalled to the affairs of earth from those
+of heaven?"
+
+"To the affairs of hell," answered Varney, "for that is thy
+proper element.--Foster, we need thee at our conference."
+
+"Foster slowly entered the room.  Varney, following, barred the
+door, and they betook themselves to secret council.
+
+In the meanwhile, the Countess traversed the apartment, with
+shame and anger contending on her lovely cheek.
+
+"The villain," she said--"the cold-blooded, calculating slave!--
+But I unmasked him, Janet--I made the snake uncoil all his folds
+before me, and crawl abroad in his naked deformity; I suspended
+my resentment, at the danger of suffocating under the effort,
+until he had let me see the very bottom of a heart more foul than
+hell's darkest corner.--And thou, Leicester, is it possible thou
+couldst bid me for a moment deny my wedded right in thee, or
+thyself yield it to another?--But it is impossible--the villain
+has lied in all.--Janet, I will not remain here longer--I fear
+him--I fear thy father.  I grieve to say it, Janet--but I fear
+thy father, and, worst of all, this odious Varney, I will escape
+from Cumnor."
+
+"Alas!  madam, whither would you fly, or by what means will you
+escape from these walls?"
+
+"I know not, Janet," said the unfortunate young lady, looking
+upwards!  and clasping her hands together, "I know not where I
+shall fly, or by what means; but I am certain the God I have
+served will not abandon me in this dreadful crisis, for I am in
+the hands of wicked men."
+
+"Do not think so, dear lady," said Janet; "my father is stern and
+strict in his temper, and severely true to his trust--but yet--"
+
+At this moment Anthony Foster entered the apartment, bearing in
+his hand a glass cup and a small flask.  His manner was singular;
+for, while approaching the Countess with the respect due to her
+rank, he had till this time suffered to become visible, or had
+been unable to suppress, the obdurate sulkiness of his natural
+disposition, which, as is usual with those of his unhappy temper,
+was chiefly exerted towards those over whom circumstances gave
+him control.  But at present he showed nothing of that sullen
+consciousness of authority which he was wont to conceal under a
+clumsy affectation of civility and deference, as a ruffian hides
+his pistols and bludgeon under his ill-fashioned gaberdine.  And
+yet it seemed as if his smile was more in fear than courtesy, and
+as if, while he pressed the Countess to taste of the choice
+cordial, which should refresh her spirits after her late alarm,
+he was conscious of meditating some further injury.  His hand
+trembled also, his voice faltered, and his whole outward
+behaviour exhibited so much that was suspicious, that his
+daughter Janet, after she had stood looking at him in
+astonishment for some seconds, seemed at once to collect herself
+to execute some hardy resolution, raised her head, assumed an
+attitude and gait of determination and authority, and walking
+slowly betwixt her father and her mistress, took the salver from
+the hand of the former, and said in a low but marked and decided
+tone, "Father, I will fill for my noble mistress, when such is
+her pleasure."
+
+"Thou, my child?"  said Foster, eagerly and apprehensively; "no,
+my child--it is not THOU shalt render the lady this service."
+
+"And why, I pray you," said Janet, "if it be fitting that the
+noble lady should partake of the cup at all?"
+
+"Why--why?"  said the seneschal, hesitating, and then bursting
+into passion as the readiest mode of supplying the lack of all
+other reason--"why, because it is my pleasure, minion, that you
+should not!  Get you gone to the evening lecture."
+
+"Now, as I hope to hear lecture again," replied Janet, "I will
+not go thither this night, unless I am better assured of my
+mistress's safety.  Give me that flask, father"--and she took it
+from his reluctant hand, while he resigned it as if conscience-
+struck.  "And now," she said, "father, that which shall benefit
+my mistress, cannot do ME prejudice.  Father, I drink to you."
+
+Foster, without speaking a word, rushed on his daughter and
+wrested the flask from her hand; then, as if embarrassed by what
+he had done, and totally unable to resolve what he should do
+next, he stood with it in his hand, one foot advanced and the
+other drawn back, glaring on his daughter with a countenance in
+which rage, fear, and convicted villainy formed a hideous
+combination.
+
+"This is strange, my father," said Janet, keeping her eye fixed
+on his, in the manner in which those who have the charge of
+lunatics are said to overawe their unhappy patients; "will you
+neither let me serve my lady, nor drink to her myself?"
+
+The courage of the Countess sustained her through this dreadful
+scene, of which the import was not the less obvious that it was
+not even hinted at.  She preserved even the rash carelessness of
+her temper, and though her cheek had grown pale at the first
+alarm, her eye was calm and almost scornful.  "Will YOU taste
+this rare cordial, Master Foster?  Perhaps you will not yourself
+refuse to pledge us, though you permit not Janet to do so.
+Drink, sir, I pray you."
+
+"I will not," answered Foster.
+
+"And for whom, then, is the precious beverage reserved, sir?"
+said the Countess.
+
+"For the devil, who brewed it!"  answered Foster; and, turning on
+his heel, he left the chamber.
+
+Janet looked at her mistress with a countenance expressive in the
+highest degree of shame, dismay, and sorrow.
+
+"Do not weep for me, Janet," said the Countess kindly.
+
+"No, madam," replied her attendant, in a voice broken by sobs,
+"it is not for you I weep; it is for myself--it is for that
+unhappy man.  Those who are dishonoured before man--those who are
+condemned by God--have cause to mourn; not those who are
+innocent!  Farewell, madam!"  she said hastily assuming the
+mantle in which she was wont to go abroad.
+
+"Do you leave me, Janet?"  said her mistress--"desert me in such
+an evil strait?"
+
+"Desert you, madam!"  exclaimed Janet; and running back to her
+mistress, she imprinted a thousand kisses on her hand--"desert
+you I--may the Hope of my trust desert me when I do so!  No,
+madam; well you said the God you serve will open you a path for
+deliverance.  There is a way of escape.  I have prayed night and
+day for light, that I might see how to act betwixt my duty to
+yonder unhappy man and that which I owe to you.  Sternly and
+fearfully that light has now dawned, and I must not shut the door
+which God opens.  Ask me no more.  I will return in brief space."
+
+So speaking, she wrapped herself in her mantle, and saying to the
+old woman whom she passed in the outer room that she was going to
+evening prayer, she left the house.
+
+Meanwhile her father had reached once more the laboratory, where
+he found the accomplices of his intended guilt.  "Has the sweet
+bird sipped?"  said Varney, with half a smile; while the
+astrologer put the same question with his eyes, but spoke not a
+word.
+
+"She has not, nor she shall not from my hands," replied Foster;
+"would you have me do murder in my daughter's presence?"
+
+"Wert thou not told, thou sullen and yet faint-hearted slave,"
+answered Varney, with bitterness, "that no MURDER as thou callest
+it, with that staring look and stammering tone, is designed in
+the matter?  Wert thou not told that a brief illness, such as
+woman puts on in very wantonness, that she may wear her night-
+gear at noon, and lie on a settle when she should mind her
+domestic business, is all here aimed at?  Here is a learned man
+will swear it to thee by the key of the Castle of Wisdom."
+
+"I swear it," said Alasco, "that the elixir thou hast there in
+the flask will not prejudice life!  I swear it by that immortal
+and indestructible quintessence of gold, which pervades every
+substance in nature, though its secret existence can be traced by
+him only to whom Trismegistus renders the key of the Cabala."
+
+"An oath of force," said Varney.  "Foster, thou wert worse than a
+pagan to disbelieve it.  Believe me, moreover, who swear by
+nothing but by my own word, that if you be not conformable, there
+is no hope, no, not a glimpse of hope, that this thy leasehold
+may be transmuted into a copyhold.  Thus, Alasco will leave your
+pewter artillery untransmigrated, and I, honest Anthony, will
+still have thee for my tenant."
+
+"I know not, gentlemen," said Foster, "where your designs tend
+to; but in one thing I am bound up,--that, fall back fall edge, I
+will have one in this place that may pray for me, and that one
+shall be my daughter.  I have lived ill, and the world has been
+too weighty with me; but she is as innocent as ever she was when
+on her mother's lap, and she, at least, shall have her portion in
+that happy City, whose walls are of pure gold, and the
+foundations garnished with all manner of precious stones."
+
+"Ay, Tony," said Varney, "that were a paradise to thy heart's
+content.--Debate the matter with him, Doctor Alasco; I will be
+with you anon."
+
+So speaking, Varney arose, and taking the flask from the table,
+he left the room.
+
+"I tell thee, my son," said Alasco to Foster, as soon as Varney
+had left them, "that whatever this bold and profligate railer may
+say of the mighty science, in which, by Heaven's blessing, I have
+advanced so far that I would not call the wisest of living
+artists my better or my teacher--I say, howsoever yonder
+reprobate may scoff at things too holy to be apprehended by men
+merely of carnal and evil thoughts, yet believe that the city
+beheld by St. John, in that bright vision of the Christian
+Apocalypse, that new Jerusalem, of which all Christian men hope
+to partake, sets forth typically the discovery of the GRAND
+SECRET, whereby the most precious and perfect of nature's works
+are elicited out of her basest and most crude productions; just
+as the light and gaudy butterfly, the most beautiful child of the
+summer's breeze, breaks forth from the dungeon of a sordid
+chrysalis."
+
+"Master Holdforth said nought of this exposition," said Foster
+doubtfully; "and moreover, Doctor Alasco, the Holy Writ says that
+the gold and precious stones of the Holy City are in no sort for
+those who work abomination, or who frame lies."
+
+"Well, my son," said the Doctor, "and what is your inference from
+thence?"
+
+"That those," said Foster, "who distil poisons, and administer
+them in secrecy, can have no portion in those unspeakable
+riches."
+
+"You are to distinguish, my son," replied the alchemist, "betwixt
+that which is necessarily evil in its progress and in its end
+also, and that which, being evil, is, nevertheless, capable of
+working forth good.  If, by the death of one person, the happy
+period shall be brought nearer to us, in which all that is good
+shall be attained, by wishing its presence--all that is evil
+escaped, by desiring its absence--in which sickness, and pain,
+and sorrow shall be the obedient servants of human wisdom, and
+made to fly at the slightest signal of a sage--in which that
+which is now richest and rarest shall be within the compass of
+every one who shall be obedient to the voice of wisdom--when the
+art of healing shall be lost and absorbed in the one universal
+medicine when sages shall become monarchs of the earth, and death
+itself retreat before their frown,--if this blessed consummation
+of all things can be hastened by the slight circumstance that a
+frail, earthly body, which must needs partake corruption, shall
+be consigned to the grave a short space earlier than in the
+course of nature, what is such a sacrifice to the advancement of
+the holy Millennium?"
+
+"Millennium is the reign of the Saints," said Foster, somewhat
+doubtfully.
+
+"Say it is the reign of the Sages, my son," answered Alasco; "or
+rather the reign of Wisdom itself."
+
+"I touched on the question with Master Holdforth last exercising
+night," said Foster; "but he says your doctrine is heterodox, and
+a damnable and false exposition."
+
+"He is in the bonds of ignorance, my son," answered Alasco, "and
+as yet burning bricks in Egypt; or, at best, wandering in the dry
+desert of Sinai.  Thou didst ill to speak to such a man of such
+matters.  I will, however, give thee proof, and that shortly,
+which I will defy that peevish divine to confute, though he
+should strive with me as the magicians strove with Moses before
+King Pharaoh.  I will do projection in thy presence, my son,--in
+thy very presence--and thine eyes shall witness the truth."
+
+"Stick to that, learned sage," said Varney, who at this moment
+entered the apartment; "if he refuse the testimony of thy tongue,
+yet how shall he deny that of his own eyes?"
+
+"Varney!"  said the adept--"Varney already returned!  Hast thou
+--" he stopped short.
+
+"Have I done mine errand, thou wouldst say?"  replied Varney.  "I
+have!  And thou," he added, showing more symptoms of interest
+than he had hitherto exhibited, "art thou sure thou hast poured
+forth neither more nor less than the just measure?"
+
+"Ay," replied the alchemist, "as sure as men can be in these nice
+proportions, for there is diversity of constitutions."
+
+"Nay, then," said Varney, "I fear nothing.  I know thou wilt not
+go a step farther to the devil than thou art justly considered
+for--thou wert paid to create illness, and wouldst esteem it
+thriftless prodigality to do murder at the same price.  Come, let
+us each to our chamber we shall see the event to-morrow."
+
+"What didst thou do to make her swallow it?"  said Foster,
+shuddering.
+
+"Nothing," answered Varney, "but looked on her with that aspect
+which governs madmen, women, and children.  They told me in St.
+Luke's Hospital that I have the right look for overpowering a
+refractory patient.  The keepers made me their compliments on't;
+so I know how to win my bread when my court-favour fails me."
+
+"And art thou not afraid," said Foster, "lest the dose be
+disproportioned?"
+
+"If so," replied Varney, "she will but sleep the sounder, and the
+fear of that shall not break my rest.  Good night, my masters."
+
+Anthony Foster groaned heavily, and lifted up his hands and eyes.
+The alchemist intimated his purpose to continue some experiment
+of high import during the greater part of the night, and the
+others separated to their places of repose.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+  Now God be good to me in this wild pilgrimage!
+  All hope in human aid I cast behind me.
+  Oh, who would be a woman?--who that fool,
+  A weeping, pining, faithful, loving woman?
+  She hath hard measure still where she hopes kindest,
+  And all her bounties only make ingrates.     LOVE'S PILGRIMAGE.
+
+The summer evening was closed, and Janet, just when her longer
+stay might have occasioned suspicion and inquiry in that zealous
+household, returned to Cumnor Place, and hastened to the
+apartment in which she had left her lady.  She found her with her
+head resting on her arms, and these crossed upon a table which
+stood before her.  As Janet came in, she neither looked up nor
+stirred.
+
+Her faithful attendant ran to her mistress with the speed of
+lightning, and rousing her at the same time with her hand,
+conjured the Countess, in the most earnest manner, to look up and
+say what thus affected her.  The unhappy lady raised her head
+accordingly, and looking on her attendant with a ghastly eye, and
+cheek as pale as clay--"Janet," she said, "I have drunk it."
+
+"God be praised!"  said Janet hastily--"I mean, God be praised
+that it is no worse; the potion will not harm you.  Rise, shake
+this lethargy from your limbs, and this despair from your mind."
+
+"Janet," repeated the Countess again, "disturb me not--leave me
+at peace--let life pass quietly.  I am poisoned."
+
+"You are not, my dearest lady," answered the maiden eagerly.
+"What you have swallowed cannot injure you, for the antidote has
+been taken before it, and I hastened hither to tell you that the
+means of escape are open to you."
+
+"Escape!"  exclaimed the lady, as she raised herself hastily in
+her chair, while light returned to her eye and life to her cheek;
+"but ah!  Janet, it comes too late."
+
+"Not so, dearest lady.  Rise, take mine arm, walk through the
+apartment; let not fancy do the work of poison!  So; feel you not
+now that you are possessed of the full use of your limbs?"
+
+"The torpor seems to diminish," said the Countess, as, supported
+by Janet, she walked to and fro in the apartment; "but is it then
+so, and have I not swallowed a deadly draught?  Varney was here
+since thou wert gone, and commanded me, with eyes in which I read
+my fate, to swallow yon horrible drug.  O Janet!  it must be
+fatal; never was harmless draught served by such a cup-bearer!"
+
+"He did not deem it harmless, I fear," replied the maiden; "but
+God confounds the devices of the wicked.  Believe me, as I swear
+by the dear Gospel in which we trust, your life is safe from his
+practice.  Did you not debate with him?"
+
+"The house was silent," answered the lady--"thou gone--no other
+but he in the chamber--and he capable of every crime.  I did but
+stipulate he would remove his hateful presence, and I drank
+whatever he offered.--But you spoke of escape, Janet; can I be so
+happy?"
+
+"Are you strong enough to bear the tidings, and make the effort?"
+said the maiden.
+
+"Strong!"  answered the Countess.  "Ask the hind, when the fangs
+of the deerhound are stretched to gripe her, if she is strong
+enough to spring over a chasm.  I am equal to every effort that
+may relieve me from this place."
+
+"Hear me, then," said Janet.  "One whom I deem an assured friend
+of yours has shown himself to me in various disguises, and sought
+speech of me, which--for my mind was not clear on the matter
+until this evening--I have ever declined.  He was the pedlar who
+brought you goods--the itinerant hawker who sold me books;
+whenever I stirred abroad I was sure to see him.  The event of
+this night determined me to speak with him.  He awaits even now
+at the postern gate of the park with means for your flight.--But
+have you strength of body?--have you courage of mind?--can you
+undertake the enterprise?"
+
+"She that flies from death," said the lady, "finds strength of
+body--she that would escape from shame lacks no strength of mind.
+The thoughts of leaving behind me the villain who menaces both my
+life and honour would give me strength to rise from my deathbed."
+
+"In God's name, then, lady," said Janet, "I must bid you adieu,
+and to God's charge I must commit you!"
+
+"Will you not fly with me, then, Janet?"  said the Countess,
+anxiously.  "Am I to lose thee?  Is this thy faithful service?"
+
+"Lady, I would fly with you as willingly as bird ever fled from
+cage, but my doing so would occasion instant discovery and
+pursuit.  I must remain, and use means to disguise the truth for
+some time.  May Heaven pardon the falsehood, because of the
+necessity!"
+
+"And am I then to travel alone with this stranger?"  said the
+lady.  "Bethink thee, Janet, may not this prove some deeper and
+darker scheme to separate me perhaps from you, who are my only
+friend?"
+
+"No, madam, do not suppose it," answered Janet readily; "the
+youth is an honest youth in his purpose to you, and a friend to
+Master Tressilian, under whose direction he is come hither."
+
+"If he be a friend of Tressilian," said the Countess, "I will
+commit myself to his charge as to that of an angel sent from
+heaven; for than Tressilian never breathed mortal man more free
+of whatever was base, false, or selfish.  He forgot himself
+whenever he could be of use to others.  Alas!  and how was he
+requited?"
+
+With eager haste they collected the few necessaries which it was
+thought proper the Countess should take with her, and which
+Janet, with speed and dexterity, formed into a small bundle, not
+forgetting to add such ornaments of intrinsic value as came most
+readily in her way, and particularly a casket of jewels, which
+she wisely judged might prove of service in some future
+emergency.  The Countess of Leicester next changed her dress for
+one which Janet usually wore upon any brief journey, for they
+judged it necessary to avoid every external distinction which
+might attract attention.  Ere these preparations were fully made,
+the moon had arisen in the summer heaven, and all in the mansion
+had betaken themselves to rest, or at least to the silence and
+retirement of their chambers.
+
+There was no difficulty anticipated in escaping, whether from the
+house or garden, provided only they could elude observation.
+Anthony Foster had accustomed himself to consider his daughter as
+a conscious sinner might regard a visible guardian angel, which,
+notwithstanding his guilt, continued to hover around him; and
+therefore his trust in her knew no bounds.  Janet commanded her
+own motions during the daytime, and had a master-key which opened
+the postern door of the park, so that she could go to the village
+at pleasure, either upon the household affairs, which were
+entirely confided to her management, or to attend her devotions
+at the meeting-house of her sect.  It is true the daughter of
+Foster was thus liberally entrusted under the solemn condition
+that she should not avail herself of these privileges to do
+anything inconsistent with the safe-keeping of the Countess; for
+so her residence at Cumnor Place had been termed, since she began
+of late to exhibit impatience of the restrictions to which she
+was subjected.  Nor is there reason to suppose that anything
+short of the dreadful suspicions which the scene of that evening
+had excited could have induced Janet to violate her word or
+deceive her father's confidence.  But from what she had
+witnessed, she now conceived herself not only justified, but
+imperatively called upon, to make her lady's safety the principal
+object of her care, setting all other considerations aside.
+
+The fugitive Countess with her guide traversed with hasty steps
+the broken and interrupted path, which had once been an avenue,
+now totally darkened by the boughs of spreading trees which met
+above their head, and now receiving a doubtful and deceiving
+light from the beams of the moon, which penetrated where the axe
+had made openings in the wood.  Their path was repeatedly
+interrupted by felled trees, or the large boughs which had been
+left on the ground till time served to make them into fagots and
+billets.  The inconvenience and difficulty attending these
+interruptions, the breathless haste of the first part of their
+route, the exhausting sensations of hope and fear, so much
+affected the Countess's strength, that Janet was forced to
+propose that they should pause for a few minutes to recover
+breath and spirits.  Both therefore stood still beneath the
+shadow of a huge old gnarled oak-tree, and both naturally looked
+back to the mansion which they had left behind them, whose long,
+dark front was seen in the gloomy distance, with its huge stacks
+of chimneys, turrets, and clock-house, rising above the line of
+the roof, and definedly visible against the pure azure blue of
+the summer sky.  One light only twinkled from the extended and
+shadowy mass, and it was placed so low that it rather seemed to
+glimmer from the ground in front of the mansion than from one of
+the windows.  The Countess's terror was awakened.  "They follow
+us!"  she said, pointing out to Janet the light which thus
+alarmed her.
+
+Less agitated than her mistress, Janet perceived that the gleam
+was stationary, and informed the Countess, in a whisper, that the
+light proceeded from the solitary cell in which the alchemist
+pursued his occult experiments.  "He is of those," she added,
+"who sit up and watch by night that they may commit iniquity.
+Evil was the chance which sent hither a man whose mixed speech of
+earthly wealth and unearthly or superhuman knowledge hath in it
+what does so especially captivate my poor father.  Well spoke the
+good Master Holdforth--and, methought, not without meaning that
+those of our household should find therein a practical use.
+'There be those,' he said, 'and their number is legion, who will
+rather, like the wicked Ahab, listen to the dreams of the false
+prophet Zedekiah, than to the words of him by whom the Lord has
+spoken.' And he further insisted--'Ah, my brethren, there be many
+Zedekiahs among you--men that promise you the light of their
+carnal knowledge, so you will surrender to them that of your
+heavenly understanding.  What are they better than the tyrant
+Naas, who demanded the right eye of those who were subjected to
+him?' And further he insisted--"
+
+It is uncertain how long the fair Puritan's memory might have
+supported her in the recapitulation of Master Holdforth's
+discourse; but the Countess now interrupted her, and assured her
+she was so much recovered that she could now reach the postern
+without the necessity of a second delay.
+
+They set out accordingly, and performed the second part of their
+journey with more deliberation, and of course more easily, than
+the first hasty commencement.  This gave them leisure for
+reflection; and Janet now, for the first time, ventured to ask
+her lady which way she proposed to direct her flight.  Receiving
+no immediate answer--for, perhaps, in the confusion of her mind
+this very obvious subject of deliberation had not occurred to the
+Countess---Janet ventured to add, "Probably to your father's
+house, where you are sure of safety and protection?"
+
+"No, Janet," said the lady mournfully; "I left Lidcote Hall while
+my heart was light and my name was honourable, and I will not
+return thither till my lord's permission and public
+acknowledgment of our marriage restore me to my native home with
+all the rank and honour which he has bestowed on me."
+
+"And whither will you, then, madam?"  said Janet.
+
+"To Kenilworth, girl," said the Countess, boldly and freely.  "I
+will see these revels--these princely revels--the preparation for
+which makes the land ring from side to side.  Methinks, when the
+Queen of England feasts within my husband's halls, the Countess
+of Leicester should be no unbeseeming guest."
+
+"I pray God you may be a welcome one!"  said Janet hastily.
+
+"You abuse my situation, Janet," said the Countess, angrily, "and
+you forget your own."
+
+"I do neither, dearest madam," said the sorrowful maiden; "but
+have you forgotten that the noble Earl has given such strict
+charges to keep your marriage secret, that he may preserve his
+court-favour?  and can you think that your sudden appearance at
+his castle, at such a juncture, and in such a presence, will be
+acceptable to him?"
+
+"Thou thinkest I would disgrace him," said the Countess; "nay,
+let go my arm, I can walk without aid and work without counsel."
+
+"Be not angry with me, lady," said Janet meekly, "and let me
+still support you; the road is rough, and you are little
+accustomed to walk in darkness."
+
+"If you deem me not so mean as may disgrace my husband," said the
+Countess, in the same resentful tone, "you suppose my Lord of
+Leicester capable of abetting, perhaps of giving aim and
+authority to, the base proceedings of your father and Varney,
+whose errand I will do to the good Earl."
+
+"For God's sake, madam, spare my father in your report," said
+Janet; "let my services, however poor, be some atonement for his
+errors!"
+
+"I were most unjust, dearest Janet, were it otherwise," said the
+Countess, resuming at once the fondness and confidence of her
+manner towards her faithful attendant, "No, Janet, not a word of
+mine shall do your father prejudice.  But thou seest, my love, I
+have no desire but to throw my self on my husband's protection.
+I have left the abode he assigned for me, because of the villainy
+of the persons by whom I was surrounded; but I will disobey his
+commands in no other particular.  I will appeal to him alone--I
+will be protected by him alone; to no other, than at his
+pleasure, have I or will I communicate the secret union which
+combines our hearts and our destinies.  I will see him, and
+receive from his own lips the directions for my future conduct.
+Do not argue against my resolution, Janet; you will only confirm
+me in it.  And to own the truth, I am resolved to know my fate at
+once, and from my husband's own mouth; and to seek him at
+Kenilworth is the surest way to attain my purpose."
+
+While Janet hastily revolved in her mind the difficulties and
+uncertainties attendant on the unfortunate lady's situation, she
+was inclined to alter her first opinion, and to think, upon the
+whole, that since the Countess had withdrawn herself from the
+retreat in which she had been placed by her husband, it was her
+first duty to repair to his presence, and possess him with the
+reasons for such conduct.  She knew what importance the Earl
+attached to the concealment of their marriage, and could not but
+own, that by taking any step to make it public without his
+permission, the Countess would incur, in a high degree, the
+indignation of her husband.  If she retired to her father's house
+without an explicit avowal of her rank, her situation was likely
+greatly to prejudice her character; and if she made such an
+avowal, it might occasion an irreconcilable breach with her
+husband.  At Kenilworth, again, she might plead her cause with
+her husband himself, whom Janet, though distrusting him more than
+the Countess did, believed incapable of being accessory to the
+base and desperate means which his dependants, from whose power
+the lady was now escaping, might resort to, in order to stifle
+her complaints of the treatment she had received at their hands.
+But at the worst, and were the Earl himself to deny her justice
+and protection, still at Kenilworth, if she chose to make her
+wrongs public, the Countess might have Tressilian for her
+advocate, and the Queen for her judge; for so much Janet had
+learned in her short conference with Wayland.  She was,
+therefore, on the whole, reconciled to her lady's proposal of
+going towards Kenilworth, and so expressed herself; recommending,
+however, to the Countess the utmost caution in making her arrival
+known to her husband,
+
+"Hast thou thyself been cautious, Janet?"  said the Countess;
+"this guide, in whom I must put my confidence, hast thou not
+entrusted to him the secret of my condition?"
+
+"From me he has learned nothing," said Janet; "nor do I think
+that he knows more than what the public in general believe of
+your situation."
+
+"And what is that?"  said the lady.
+
+"That you left your father's house--but I shall offend you again
+if I go on," said Janet, interrupting herself.
+
+"Nay, go on," said the Countess; "I must learn to endure the evil
+report which my folly has brought upon me.  They think, I
+suppose, that I have left my father's house to follow lawless
+pleasure.  It is an error which will soon be removed--indeed it
+shall, for I will live with spotless fame, or I shall cease to
+live.--I am accounted, then, the paramour of my Leicester?"
+
+"Most men say of Varney," said Janet; "yet some call him only the
+convenient cloak of his master's pleasures; for reports of the
+profuse expense in garnishing yonder apartments have secretly
+gone abroad, and such doings far surpass the means of Varney.
+But this latter opinion is little prevalent; for men dare hardly
+even hint suspicion when so high a name is concerned, lest the
+Star Chamber should punish them for scandal of the nobility."
+
+"They do well to speak low," said the Countess, "who would
+mention the illustrious Dudley as the accomplice of such a wretch
+as Varney.--We have reached the postern.  Ah!  Janet, I must bid
+thee farewell!  Weep not, my good girl," said she, endeavouring
+to cover her own reluctance to part with her faithful attendant
+under an attempt at playfulness; "and against we meet again,
+reform me, Janet, that precise ruff of thine for an open rabatine
+of lace and cut work, that will let men see thou hast a fair
+neck; and that kirtle of Philippine chency, with that bugle lace
+which befits only a chambermaid, into three-piled velvet and
+cloth of gold--thou wilt find plenty of stuffs in my chamber, and
+I freely bestow them on you.  Thou must be brave, Janet; for
+though thou art now but the attendant of a distressed and errant
+lady, who is both nameless and fameless, yet, when we meet again,
+thou must be dressed as becomes the gentlewoman nearest in love
+and in service to the first Countess in England."
+
+"Now, may God grant it, dear lady!"  said Janet--"not that I may
+go with gayer apparel, but that we may both wear our kirtles over
+lighter hearts."
+
+By this time the lock of the postern door had, after some hard
+wrenching, yielded to the master-key; and the Countess, not
+without internal shuddering, saw herself beyond the walls which
+her husband's strict commands had assigned to her as the boundary
+of her walks.  Waiting with much anxiety for their appearance,
+Wayland Smith stood at some distance, shrouding himself behind a
+hedge which bordered the high-road.
+
+"Is all safe?"  said Janet to him anxiously, as he approached
+them with caution.
+
+"All," he replied; "but I have been unable to procure a horse for
+the lady.  Giles Gosling, the cowardly hilding, refused me one on
+any terms whatever, lest, forsooth, he should suffer.  But no
+matter; she must ride on my palfrey, and I must walk by her side
+until I come by another horse.  There will be no pursuit, if you,
+pretty Mistress Janet, forget not thy lesson."
+
+"No more than the wise widow of Tekoa forgot the words which Joab
+put into her mouth," answered Janet.  "Tomorrow, I say that my
+lady is unable to rise."
+
+"Ay; and that she hath aching and heaviness of the head a
+throbbing at the heart, and lists not to be disturbed.  Fear not;
+they will take the hint, and trouble thee with few questions--
+they understand the disease,"
+
+"But," said the lady, "My absence must be soon discovered, and
+they will murder her in revenge.  I will rather return than
+expose her to such danger."
+
+"Be at ease on my account, madam," said Janet; "I would you were
+as sure of receiving the favour you desire from those to whom you
+must make appeal, as I am that my father, however angry, will
+suffer no harm to befall me."
+
+The Countess was now placed by Wayland upon his horse, around the
+saddle of which he had placed his cloak, so folded as to make her
+a commodious seat.
+
+"Adieu, and may the blessing of God wend with you!"  said Janet,
+again kissing her mistress's hand, who returned her benediction
+with a mute caress.  They then tore themselves asunder, and
+Janet, addressing Wayland, exclaimed, "May Heaven deal with you
+at your need, as you are true or false to this most injured and
+most helpless lady!"
+
+"Amen!  dearest Janet," replied Way]and; "and believe me, I will
+so acquit myself of my trust as may tempt even your pretty eyes,
+saintlike as they are, to look less scornfully on me when we next
+meet."
+
+The latter part of this adieu was whispered into Janet's ear and
+although she made no reply to it directly, yet her manner,
+influenced, no doubt, by her desire to leave every motive in
+force which could operate towards her mistress's safety, did not
+discourage the hope which Wayland's words expressed.  She
+re-entered the postern door, and locked it behind her; while,
+Wayland taking the horse's bridle in his hand, and walking close
+by its head, they began in silence their dubious and moonlight
+journey.
+
+Although Wayland Smith used the utmost dispatch which he could
+make, yet this mode of travelling was so slow, that when morning
+began to dawn through the eastern mist, he found himself no
+farther than about ten miles distant from Cumnor.  "Now, a plague
+upon all smooth-spoken hosts!"  said Wayland, unable longer to
+suppress his mortification and uneasiness.  "Had the false loon,
+Giles Gosling, but told me plainly two days since that I was to
+reckon nought upon him, I had shifted better for myself.  But
+your hosts have such a custom of promising whatever is called for
+that it is not till the steed is to be shod you find they are out
+of iron.  Had I but known, I could have made twenty shifts; nay,
+for that matter, and in so good a cause, I would have thought
+little to have prigged a prancer from the next common--it had but
+been sending back the brute to the headborough.  The farcy and
+the founders confound every horse in the stables of the Black
+Bear!"
+
+The lady endeavoured to comfort her guide, observing that the
+dawn would enable him to make more speed.
+
+"True, madam," he replied; "but then it will enable other folk to
+take note of us, and that may prove an ill beginning of our
+journey.  I had not cared a spark from anvil about the matter had
+we been further advanced on our way.  But this Berkshire has been
+notoriously haunted, ever since I knew the country, with that
+sort of malicious elves who sit up late and rise early for no
+other purpose than to pry into other folk's affairs.  I have been
+endangered by them ere now.  But do not fear," he added, "good
+madam; for wit, meeting with opportunity, will not miss to find a
+salve for every sore."
+
+The alarms of her guide made more impression on the Countess's
+mind than the comfort which he judged fit to administer along
+with it.  She looked anxiously around her.  and as the shadows
+withdrew from the landscape, and the heightening glow of the
+eastern sky promised the speedy rise of the sun, expected at
+every turn that the increasing light would expose them to the
+view of the vengeful pursuers, or present some dangerous and
+insurmountable obstacle to the prosecution of their journey.
+Wayland Smith perceived her uneasiness, and, displeased with
+himself for having given her cause of alarm, strode on with
+affected alacrity, now talking to the horse as one expert in the
+language of the stable, now whistling to himself low and
+interrupted snatches of tunes, and now assuring the lady there
+was no danger, while at the same time he looked sharply around to
+see that there was nothing in sight which might give the lie to
+his words while they were issuing from his mouth.  Thus did they
+journey on, until an unexpected incident gave them the means of
+continuing their pilgrimage with more speed and convenience.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+  RICHARD. A horse!--A horse!--my kingdom for a horse!
+  CATESBY. .....My lord, I'll help you to a horse.   RICHARD III.
+
+
+Our travellers were in the act of passing a small thicket of
+trees close by the roadside, when the first living being
+presented himself whom they had seen since their departure from
+Cumnor Place.  This was a stupid lout, seemingly a farmer's boy,
+in a grey jerkin, with his head bare, his hose about his heels,
+and huge startups upon his feet.  He held by the bridle what of
+all things they most wanted--a palfrey, namely, with a side-
+saddle, and all other garniture for a woman's mounting; and he
+hailed Wayland Smith with, "Zur, be ye zure the party?"
+
+"Ay, that I be, my lad," answered Wayland, without an instant's
+hesitation; and it must be owned that consciences trained in a
+stricter school of morality might have given way to an occasion
+so tempting.  While he spoke, he caught the rein out of the boy's
+hand, and almost at the same time helped down the Countess from
+his own horse, and aided her to mount on that which chance had
+thus presented for her acceptance.  Indeed, so naturally did the
+whole take place, that the Countess, as it afterwards appeared,
+never suspected but that the horse had been placed there to meet
+them by the precaution of the guide or some of his friends.
+
+The lad, however, who was thus hastily dispossessed of his
+charge, began to stare hard, and scratch his head, as if seized
+with some qualms of conscience for delivering up the animal on
+such brief explanation.  "I be right zure thou be'st the party,"
+said he, muttering to himself, "but thou shouldst ha zaid BEANS,
+thou knawest."
+
+"Ay, ay," said Wayland, speaking at a venture; "and thou BACON,
+thou knowest."
+
+"Noa, noa," said the lad; "bide ye--bide ye--it was PEAS a should
+ha said."
+
+"Well, well," answered Wayland, "Peas be it, a God's name!
+though Bacon were the better password."
+
+And being by this time mounted on his own horse, he caught the
+rein of the palfrey from the uncertain hold of the hesitating
+young boor, flung him a small piece of money, and made amends for
+lost time by riding briskly off without further parley.  The lad
+was still visible from the hill up which they were riding, and
+Wayland, as he looked back, beheld him standing with his fingers
+in his hair as immovable as a guide-post, and his head turned in
+the direction in which they were escaping from him.  At length,
+just as they topped the hill, he saw the clown stoop to lift up
+the silver groat which his benevolence had imparted.  "Now this
+is what I call a Godsend," said Wayland; "this is a bonny, well-
+ridden bit of a going thing, and it will carry us so far till we
+get you as well mounted, and then we will send it back time
+enough to satisfy the Hue and Cry."
+
+But he was deceived in his expectations; and fate, which seemed
+at first to promise so fairly, soon threatened to turn the
+incident which he thus gloried in into the cause of their utter
+ruin.
+
+They had not ridden a short mile from the place where they left
+the lad before they heard a man's voice shouting on the wind
+behind them, "Robbery!  robbery!--Stop thief!"  and similar
+exclamations, which Wayland's conscience readily assured him must
+arise out of the transaction to which he had been just accessory.
+
+"I had better have gone barefoot all my life," he said; "it is
+the Hue and Cry, and I am a lost man.  Ah!  Wayland, Wayland,
+many a time thy father said horse-flesh would be the death of
+thee. Were I once safe among the horse-coursers in Smithfield, or
+Turnbull Street, they should have leave to hang me as high as St.
+Paul's if I e'er meddled more with nobles, knights, or
+gentlewomen."
+
+Amidst these dismal reflections, he turned his head repeatedly to
+see by whom he was chased, and was much comforted when he could
+only discover a single rider, who was, however, well mounted, and
+came after them at a speed which left them no chance of escaping,
+even had the lady's strength permitted her to ride as fast as her
+palfrey might have been able to gallop.
+
+"There may be fair play betwixt us, sure," thought Wayland,
+"where there is but one man on each side, and yonder fellow sits
+on his horse more like a monkey than a cavalier.  Pshaw!  if it
+come to the worse, it will be easy unhorsing him.  Nay, 'snails!
+I think his horse will take the matter in his own hand, for he
+has the bridle betwixt his teeth.  Oons, what care I for him?"
+said he, as the pursuer drew yet nearer; "it is but the little
+animal of a mercer from Abingdon, when all is over."
+
+Even so it was, as the experienced eye of Wayland had descried at
+a distance.  For the valiant mercer's horse, which was a beast of
+mettle, feeling himself put to his speed, and discerning a couple
+of horses riding fast at some hundred yards' distance before him,
+betook himself to the road with such alacrity as totally deranged
+the seat of his rider, who not only came up with, but passed at
+full gallop, those whom he had been pursuing, pulling the reins
+with all his might, and ejaculating, "Stop!  stop!"  an
+interjection which seemed rather to regard his own palfrey than
+what seamen call "the chase."  With the same involuntary speed,
+he shot ahead (to use another nautical phrase) about a furlong
+ere he was able to stop and turn his horse, and then rode back
+towards our travellers, adjusting, as well as he could, his
+disordered dress, resettling himself in the saddle, and
+endeavouring to substitute a bold and martial frown for the
+confusion and dismay which sat upon his visage during his
+involuntary career.
+
+Wayland had just time to caution the lady not to be alarmed,
+adding, "This fellow is a gull, and I will use him as such."
+
+When the mercer had recovered breath and audacity enough to
+confront them, he ordered Wayland, in a menacing tone, to deliver
+up his palfrey.
+
+"How?"  said the smith, in King Cambyses' vein, "are we commanded
+to stand and deliver on the king's highway?  Then out, Excalibur,
+and tell this knight of prowess that dire blows must decide
+between us!"
+
+"Haro and help, and hue and cry, every true man!"  said the
+mercer.  "I am withstood in seeking to recover mine own."
+
+"Thou swearest thy gods in vain, foul paynim," said Wayland, "for
+I will through with mine purpose were death at the end on't.
+Nevertheless, know, thou false man of frail cambric and
+ferrateen, that I am he, even the pedlar, whom thou didst boast
+to meet on Maiden Castle moor, and despoil of his pack;
+wherefore betake thee to thy weapons presently."
+
+"I spoke but in jest, man," said Goldthred; "I am an honest
+shopkeeper and citizen, who scorns to leap forth on any man from
+behind a hedge."
+
+"Then, by my faith, most puissant mercer," answered Wayland, "I
+am sorry for my vow, which was, that wherever I met thee I would
+despoil thee of thy palfrey, and bestow it upon my leman, unless
+thou couldst defend it by blows of force.  But the vow is passed
+and registered, and all I can do for thee is to leave the horse
+at Donnington, in the nearest hostelry."
+
+"But I tell thee, friend," said the mercer, "it is the very horse
+on which I was this day to carry Jane Thackham, of Shottesbrok,
+as far as the parish church yonder, to become Dame Goldthred.
+She hath jumped out of the shot-window of old Gaffer Thackham's
+grange; and lo ye, yonder she stands at the place where she
+should have met the palfrey, with her camlet riding-cloak and
+ivory-handled whip, like a picture of Lot's wife.  I pray you, in
+good terms, let me have back the palfrey."
+
+"Grieved am I," said Wayland, "as much for the fair damsel as for
+thee, most noble imp of muslin.  But vows must have their course;
+thou wilt find the palfrey at the Angel yonder at Donnington.  It
+is all I may do for thee with a safe conscience."
+
+"To the devil with thy conscience!"  said the dismayed mercer.
+"Wouldst thou have a bride walk to church on foot?"
+
+"Thou mayest take her on thy crupper, Sir Goldthred," answered
+Wayland; "it will take down thy steed's mettle."
+
+"And how if you--if you forget to leave my horse, as you
+propose?"  said Goldthred, not without hesitation, for his soul
+was afraid within him.
+
+"My pack shall be pledged for it--yonder it lies with Giles
+Gosling, in his chamber with the damasked leathern hangings,
+stuffed full with velvet, single, double, treble-piled--rash-
+taffeta, and parapa--shag, damask, and mocado, plush, and
+grogram--"
+
+"Hold!  hold!"  exclaimed the mercer; "nay, if there be, in truth
+and sincerity, but the half of these wares--but if ever I trust
+bumpkin with bonny Bayard again!"
+
+"As you list for that, good Master Goldthred, and so good morrow
+to you--and well parted," he added, riding on cheerfully with the
+lady, while the discountenanced mercer rode back much slower than
+he came, pondering what excuse he should make to the disappointed
+bride, who stood waiting for her gallant groom in the midst of
+the king's highway.
+
+"Methought," said the lady, as they rode on, "yonder fool stared
+at me as if he had some remembrance of me; yet I kept my muffler
+as high as I might."
+
+"If I thought so," said Wayland, "I would ride back and cut him
+over the pate; there would be no fear of harming his brains, for
+he never had so much as would make pap to a sucking gosling.  We
+must now push on, however, and at Donnington we will leave the
+oaf's horse, that he may have no further temptation to pursue us,
+and endeavour to assume such a change of shape as may baffle his
+pursuit if he should persevere in it."
+
+The travellers reached Donnington without further alarm, where it
+became matter of necessity that the Countess should enjoy two or
+three hours' repose, during which Wayland disposed himself, with
+equal address and alacrity, to carry through those measures on
+which the safety of their future journey seemed to depend.
+
+Exchanging his pedlar's gaberdine for a smock-frock, he carried
+the palfrey of Goldthred to the Angel Inn, which was at the other
+end of the village from that where our travellers had taken up
+their quarters.  In the progress of the morning, as he travelled
+about his other business, he saw the steed brought forth and
+delivered to the cutting mercer himself, who, at the head of a
+valorous posse of the Hue and Cry, came to rescue, by force of
+arms, what was delivered to him without any other ransom than the
+price of a huge quantity of ale, drunk out by his assistants,
+thirsty, it would seem, with their walk, and concerning the price
+of which Master Goldthred had a fierce dispute with the
+headborough, whom he had summoned to aid him in raising the
+country.
+
+Having made this act of prudent as well as just restitution,
+Wayland procured such change of apparel for the lady, as well as
+himself, as gave them both the appearance of country people of
+the better class; it being further resolved, that in order to
+attract the less observation, she should pass upon the road for
+the sister of her guide.  A good but not a gay horse, fit to keep
+pace with his own, and gentle enough for a lady's use, completed
+the preparations for the journey; for making which, and for other
+expenses, he had been furnished with sufficient funds by
+Tressilian.  And thus, about noon, after the Countess had been
+refreshed by the sound repose of several hours, they resumed
+their journey, with the purpose of making the best of their way
+to Kenilworth, by Coventry and Warwick.  They were not, however,
+destined to travel far without meeting some cause of
+apprehension.
+
+It is necessary to premise that the landlord of the inn had
+informed them that a jovial party, intended, as he understood, to
+present some of the masques or mummeries which made a part of the
+entertainment with which the Queen was usually welcomed on the
+royal Progresses, had left the village of Donnington an hour or
+two before them in order to proceed to Kenilworth.  Now it had
+occurred to Wayland that, by attaching themselves in some sort to
+this group as soon as they should overtake them on the road, they
+would be less likely to attract notice than if they continued to
+travel entirely by themselves.  He communicated his idea to the
+Countess, who, only anxious to arrive at Kenilworth without
+interruption, left him free to choose the manner in which this
+was to be accomplished.  They pressed forward their horses,
+therefore, with the purpose of overtaking the party of intended
+revellers, and making the journey in their company; and had just
+seen the little party, consisting partly of riders, partly of
+people on foot, crossing the summit of a gentle hill, at about
+half a mile's distance, and disappearing on the other side, when
+Wayland, who maintained the most circumspect observation of all
+that met his eye in every direction, was aware that a rider was
+coming up behind them on a horse of uncommon action, accompanied
+by a serving-man, whose utmost efforts were unable to keep up
+with his master's trotting hackney, and who, therefore, was fain
+to follow him at a hand gallop.  Wayland looked anxiously back at
+these horsemen, became considerably disturbed in his manner,
+looked back again, and became pale, as he said to the lady, "That
+is Richard Varney's trotting gelding; I would know him among a
+thousand nags.  This is a worse business than meeting the
+mercer."
+
+"Draw your sword," answered the lady, "and pierce my bosom with
+it, rather than I should fall into his hands!"
+
+"I would rather by a thousand times," answered Wayland, "pass it
+through his body, or even mine own.  But to say truth, fighting
+is not my best point, though I can look on cold iron like another
+when needs must be.  And indeed, as for my sword--(put on, I pray
+you)--it is a poor Provant rapier, and I warrant you he has a
+special Toledo.  He has a serving-man, too, and I think it is the
+drunken ruffian Lambourne!  upon the horse on which men say--(I
+pray you heartily to put on)--he did the great robbery of the
+west country grazier.  It is not that I fear either Varney or
+Lambourne in a good cause--(your palfrey will go yet faster if
+you urge him)--but yet--(nay, I pray you let him not break off
+into a gallop, lest they should see we fear them, and give chase
+--keep him only at the full trot)--but yet, though I fear them
+not, I would we were well rid of them, and that rather by policy
+than by violence.  Could we once reach the party before us, we
+may herd among them, and pass unobserved, unless Varney be really
+come in express pursuit of us, and then, happy man be his dole!"
+
+While he thus spoke, he alternately urged and restrained his
+horse, desirous to maintain the fleetest pace that was consistent
+with the idea of an ordinary journey on the road, but to avoid
+such rapidity of movement as might give rise to suspicion that
+they were flying.
+
+At such a pace they ascended the gentle hill we have mentioned,
+and looking from the top, had the pleasure to see that the party
+which had left Donnington before them were in the little valley
+or bottom on the other side, where the road was traversed by a
+rivulet, beside which was a cottage or two.  In this place they
+seemed to have made a pause, which gave Wayland the hope of
+joining them, and becoming a part of their company, ere Varney
+should overtake them.  He was the more anxious, as his companion,
+though she made no complaints, and expressed no fear, began to
+look so deadly pale that he was afraid she might drop from her
+horse.  Notwithstanding this symptom of decaying strength, she
+pushed on her palfrey so briskly that they joined the party in
+the bottom of the valley ere Varney appeared on the top of the
+gentle eminence which they had descended.
+
+They found the company to which they meant to associate
+themselves in great disorder.  The women with dishevelled locks,
+and looks of great importance, ran in and out of one of the
+cottages, and the men stood around holding the horses, and
+looking silly enough, as is usual in cases where their assistance
+is not wanted.
+
+Wayland and his charge paused, as if out of curiosity, and then
+gradually, without making any inquiries, or being asked any
+questions, they mingled with the group, as if they had always
+made part of it.
+
+They had not stood there above five minutes, anxiously keeping as
+much to the side of the road as possible, so as to place the
+other travellers betwixt them and Varney, when Lord Leicester's
+master of the horse, followed by Lambourne, came riding fiercely
+down the hill, their horses' flanks and the rowels of their spurs
+showing bloody tokens of the rate at which they travelled.  The
+appearance of the stationary group around the cottages, wearing
+their buckram suits in order to protect their masking dresses,
+having their light cart for transporting their scenery, and
+carrying various fantastic properties in their hands for the more
+easy conveyance, let the riders at once into the character and
+purpose of the company.
+
+"You are revelIers," said Varney, "designing for Kenilworth?"
+
+"RECTE QUIDEM, DOMINE SPECTATISSIME," answered one of the party.
+
+"And why the devil stand you here?"  said Varney, "when your
+utmost dispatch will but bring you to Kenilworth in time?  The
+Queen dines at Warwick to-morrow, and you loiter here, ye
+knaves."
+
+"I very truth, sir," said a little, diminutive urchin, wearing a
+vizard with a couple of sprouting horns of an elegant scarlet
+hue, having, moreover, a black serge jerkin drawn close to his
+body by lacing, garnished with red stockings, and shoes so shaped
+as to resemble cloven feet--"in very truth, sir, and you are in
+the right on't.  It is my father the Devil, who, being taken in
+labour, has delayed our present purpose, by increasing our
+company with an imp too many,"
+
+"The devil he has!"  answered Varney, whose laugh, however, never
+exceeded a sarcastic smile.
+
+"It is even as the juvenal hath said," added the masker who spoke
+first; "Our major devil--for this is but our minor one--is even
+now at LUCINA, FER OPEM, within that very TUGURIUM."
+
+"By Saint George, or rather by the Dragon, who may be a kinsman
+of the fiend in the straw, a most comical chance!"  said Varney.
+"How sayest thou, Lambourne, wilt thou stand godfather for the
+nonce?  If the devil were to choose a gossip, I know no one more
+fit for the office."
+
+"Saving always when my betters are in presence," said Lambourne,
+with the civil impudence of a servant who knows his services to
+be so indispensable that his jest will be permitted to pass
+muster.
+
+"And what is the name of this devil, or devil's dam, who has
+timed her turns so strangely?"  said Varney.  "We can ill afford
+to spare any of our actors."
+
+"GAUDET NOMINE SIBYLLAE," said the first speaker; "she is called
+Sibyl Laneham, wife of Master Robert Laneham--"
+
+"Clerk to the Council-chamber door," said Varney; "why, she is
+inexcusable, having had experience how to have ordered her
+matters better.  But who were those, a man and a woman, I think,
+who rode so hastily up the hill before me even now?  Do they
+belong to your company?"
+
+Wayland was about to hazard a reply to this alarming inquiry,
+when the little diablotin again thrust in his oar.
+
+"So please you," he said, coming close up to Varney, and speaking
+so as not to be overheard by his companions, "the man was our
+devil major, who has tricks enough to supply the lack of a
+hundred such as Dame Laneham; and the woman, if you please, is
+the sage person whose assistance is most particularly necessary
+to our distressed comrade."
+
+"Oh, what!  you have got the wise woman, then?"  said Varney.
+"Why, truly, she rode like one bound to a place where she was
+needed.  And you have a spare limb of Satan, besides, to supply
+the place of Mistress Laneham?"
+
+"Ay, sir," said the boy; "they are not so scarce in this world as
+your honour's virtuous eminence would suppose.  This master-fiend
+shall spit a few flashes of fire, and eruct a volume or two of
+smoke on the spot, if it will do you pleasure--you would think he
+had AEtna in his abdomen."
+
+"I lack time just now, most hopeful imp of darkness, to witness
+his performance," said Varney; "but here is something for you all
+to drink the lucky hour--and so, as the play says, 'God be with
+Your labour!'"
+
+Thus speaking, he struck his horse with the spurs, and rode on
+his way.
+
+Lambourne tarried a moment or two behind his master, and rummaged
+his pouch for a piece of silver, which he bestowed on the
+communicative imp, as he said, for his encouragement on his path
+to the infernal regions, some sparks of whose fire, he said, he
+could discover flashing from him already.  Then having received
+the boy's thanks for his generosity he also spurred his horse,
+and rode after his master as fast as the fire flashes from flint.
+
+"And now," said the wily imp, sidling close up to Wayland's
+horse, and cutting a gambol in the air which seemed to vindicate
+his title to relationship with the prince of that element, "I
+have told them who YOU are, do you in return tell me who I am?"
+
+"Either Flibbertigibbet," answered Wayland Smith, "or else an imp
+of the devil in good earnest."
+
+"Thou hast hit it," answered Dickie Sludge.  "I am thine own
+Flibbertigibbet, man; and I have broken forth of bounds, along
+with my learned preceptor, as I told thee I would do, whether he
+would or not.  But what lady hast thou got with thee?  I saw thou
+wert at fault the first question was asked, and so I drew up for
+thy assistance.  But I must know all who she is, dear Wayland."
+
+"Thou shalt know fifty finer things, my dear ingle," said
+Wayland; "but a truce to thine inquiries just now.  And since you
+are bound for Kenilworth, thither will I too, even for the love
+of thy sweet face and waggish company."
+
+"Thou shouldst have said my waggish face and sweet company," said
+Dickie;" but how wilt thou travel with us--I mean in what
+character?"
+
+"E'en in that thou hast assigned me, to be sure--as a juggler;
+thou knowest I am used to the craft," answered Wayland.
+
+"Ay, but the lady?"  answered Flibbertigibbet.  "Credit me, I
+think she IS one and thou art in a sea of troubles about her at
+this moment, as I can perceive by thy fidgeting."
+
+"Oh, she, man!--she is a poor sister of mine," said Wayland; "she
+can sing and play o' the lute would win the fish out o' the
+stream."
+
+"Let me hear her instantly," said the boy, "I love the lute
+rarely; I love it of all things, though I never heard it."
+
+"Then how canst thou love it, Flibbertigibbet?"  said Wayland.
+
+"As knights love ladies in old tales," answered Dickie--"on
+hearsay."
+
+"Then love it on hearsay a little longer, till my sister is
+recovered from the fatigue of her journey," said Wayland;
+muttering afterwards betwixt his teeth, "The devil take the imp's
+curiosity!  I must keep fair weather with him, or we shall fare
+the worse."
+
+He then proceeded to state to Master Holiday his own talents as a
+juggler, with those of his sister as a musician.  Some proof of
+his dexterity was demanded, which he gave in such a style of
+excellence, that, delighted at obtaining such an accession to
+their party, they readily acquiesced in the apology which he
+offered when a display of his sister's talents was required.  The
+new-comers were invited to partake of the refreshments with which
+the party were provided; and it was with some difficulty that
+Wayland Smith obtained an opportunity of being apart with his
+supposed sister during the meal, of which interval he availed
+himself to entreat her to forget for the present both her rank
+and her sorrows, and condescend, as the most probable chance of
+remaining concealed, to mix in the society of those with whom she
+was to travel.
+
+The Countess allowed the necessity of the case, and when they
+resumed their journey, endeavoured to comply with her guide's
+advice, by addressing herself to a female near her, and
+expressing her concern for the woman whom they were thus obliged
+to leave behind them.
+
+"Oh, she is well attended, madam," replied the dame whom she
+addressed, who, from her jolly and laughter-loving demeanour,
+might have been the very emblem of the Wife of Bath; "and my
+gossip Laneham thinks as little of these matters as any one.  By
+the ninth day, an the revels last so long, we shall have her with
+us at Kenilworth, even if she should travel with her bantling on
+her back."
+
+There was something in this speech which took away all desire on
+the Countess of Leicester's part to continue the conversation.
+But having broken the charm by speaking to her fellow-traveller
+first, the good dame, who was to play Rare Gillian of Croydon in
+one of the interludes, took care that silence did not again
+settle on the journey, but entertained her mute companion with a
+thousand anecdotes of revels, from the days of King Harry
+downwards, with the reception given them by the great folk, and
+all the names of those who played the principal characters; but
+ever concluding with "they would be nothing to the princely
+pleasures of Kenilworth."
+
+"And when shall we reach Kenilworth?  said the Countess, with an
+agitation which she in vain attempted to conceal.
+
+"We that have horses may, with late riding, get to Warwick to-
+night, and Kenilworth may be distant some four or five miles.
+But then we must wait till the foot-people come up; although it
+is like my good Lord of Leicester will have horses or light
+carriages to meet them, and bring them up without being travel-
+toiled, which last is no good preparation, as you may suppose,
+for dancing before your betters.  And yet, Lord help me, I have
+seen the day I would have tramped five leagues of lea-land, and
+turned an my toe the whole evening after, as a juggler spins a
+pewter platter on the point of a needle.  But age has clawed me
+somewhat in his clutch, as the song says; though, if I like the
+tune and like my partner, I'll dance the hays yet with any merry
+lass in Warwickshire that writes that unhappy figure four with a
+round O after it."
+
+If the Countess was overwhelmed with the garrulity of this good
+dame, Wayland Smith, on his part, had enough to do to sustain and
+parry,the constant attacks made upon him by the indefatigable
+curiosity of his old acquaintance Richard Sludge.  Nature had
+given that arch youngster a prying cast of disposition, which
+matched admirably with his sharp wit; the former inducing him to
+plant himself as a spy on other people's affairs, and the latter
+quality leading him perpetually to interfere, after he had made
+himself master of that which concerned him not.  He spent the
+livelong day in attempting to peer under the Countess's muffler,
+and apparently what he could there discern greatly sharpened his
+curiosity.
+
+"That sister of thine, Wayland," he said, "has a fair neck to
+have been born in a smithy, and a pretty taper hand to have been
+used for twirling a spindle--faith, I'll believe in your
+relationship when the crow's egg is hatched into a cygnet."
+
+"Go to," said Wayland, "thou art a prating boy, and should be
+breeched for thine assurance."
+
+"Well," said the imp, drawing off, "all I say is--remember you
+have kept a secret from me, and if I give thee not a Roland for
+thine Oliver, my name is not Dickon Sludge!"
+
+This threat, and the distance at which Hobgoblin kept from him
+for the rest of the way, alarmed Wayland very much, and he
+suggested to his pretended sister that, on pretext of weariness,
+she should express a desire to stop two or three miles short of
+the fair town of Warwick, promising to rejoin the troop in the
+morning.  A small village inn afforded them a resting-place, and
+it was with secret pleasure that Wayland saw the whole party,
+including Dickon, pass on, after a courteous farewell, and leave
+them behind.
+
+"To-morrow, madam," he said to his charge, "we will, with your
+leave, again start early, and reach Kenilworth before the rout
+which are to assemble there."
+
+The Countess gave assent to the proposal of her faithful guide;
+but, somewhat to his surprise, said nothing further on the
+subject, which left Wayland under the disagreeable uncertainty
+whether or no she had formed any plan for her own future
+proceedings, as he knew her situation demanded circumspection,
+although he was but imperfectly acquainted with all its
+peculiarities.  Concluding, however, that she must have friends
+within the castle, whose advice and assistance she could safely
+trust, he supposed his task would be best accomplished by
+conducting her thither in safety, agreeably to her repeated
+commands.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+  Hark, the bells summon, and the bugle calls,
+  But she the fairest answers not--the tide
+  Of nobles and of ladies throngs the halls,
+  But she the loveliest must in secret hide.
+  What eyes were thine, proud Prince, which in the gleam
+  Of yon gay meteors lost that better sense,
+  That o'er the glow-worm doth the star esteem,
+  And merit's modest blush o'er courtly insolence?
+                                         THE GLASS SLIPPER.
+
+The unfortunate Countess of Leicester had, from her infancy
+upwards, been treated by those around her with indulgence as
+unbounded as injudicious.  The natural sweetness of her
+disposition had saved her from becoming insolent and ill-
+humoured; but the caprice which preferred the handsome and
+insinuating Leicester before Tressilian, of whose high honour and
+unalterable affection she herself entertained so firm an opinion
+--that fatal error, which ruined the happiness of her life, had
+its origin in the mistaken kindness; that had spared her
+childhood the painful but most necessary lesson of submission and
+self-command.  From the same indulgence it followed that she had
+only been accustomed to form and to express her wishes, leaving
+to others the task of fulfilling them; and thus, at the most
+momentous period of her life, she was alike destitute of presence
+of mind, and of ability to form for herself any reasonable or
+prudent plan of conduct.
+
+These difficulties pressed on the unfortunate lady with
+overwhelming force on the morning which seemed to be the crisis
+of her fate.  Overlooking every intermediate consideration, she
+had only desired to be at Kenilworth, and to approach her
+husband's presence; and now, when she was in the vicinity of
+both, a thousand considerations arose at once upon her mind,
+startling her with accumulated doubts and dangers, some real,
+some imaginary, and all exalted and exaggerated by a situation
+alike helpless and destitute of aid and counsel.
+
+A sleepless night rendered her so weak in the morning that she
+was altogether unable to attend Wayland's early summons.  The
+trusty guide became extremely distressed on the lady's account,
+and somewhat alarmed on his own, and was on the point of going
+alone to Kenilworth, in the hope of discovering Tressilian, and
+intimating to him the lady's approach, when about nine in the
+morning he was summoned to attend her.  He found her dressed, and
+ready for resuming her journey, but with a paleness of
+countenance which alarmed him for her health.  She intimated her
+desire that the horses might be got instantly ready, and resisted
+with impatience her guide's request that she would take some
+refreshment before setting forward.  "I have had," she said, "a
+cup of water--the wretch who is dragged to execution needs no
+stronger cordial, and that may serve me which suffices for him.
+Do as I command you."   Wayland Smith still hesitated.  "What
+would you have?"  said she.  "Have I not spoken plainly?"
+
+"Yes, madam," answered Wayland; "but may I ask what is your
+further purpose? I only wish to know, that I may guide myself by
+your wishes.  The whole country is afloat, and streaming towards
+the Castle of Kenilworth.  It will be difficult travelling
+thither, even if we had the necessary passports for safe-conduct
+and free admittance; unknown and unfriended, we may come by
+mishap.  Your ladyship will forgive my speaking my poor mind--
+were we not better try to find out the maskers, and again join
+ourselves with them?"  The Countess shook her head, and her guide
+proceeded, "Then I see but one other remedy."
+
+"Speak out, then," said the lady, not displeased, perhaps, that
+he should thus offer the advice which she was ashamed to ask; "I
+believe thee faithful--what wouldst thou counsel?"
+
+"That I should warn Master Tressilian," said Wayland, "that you
+are in this place.  I am right certain he would get to horse with
+a few of Lord Sussex's followers, and ensure your personal
+safety."
+
+"And is it to ME you advise," said the Countess, "to put myself
+under the protection of Sussex, the unworthy rival of the noble
+Leicester?"  Then, seeing the surprise with which Wayland stared
+upon her, and afraid of having too strongly intimated her
+interest in Leicester, she added, "And for Tressilian, it must
+not be--mention not to him, I charge you, my unhappy name; it
+would but double MY misfortunes, and involve HIM in dangers
+beyond the power of rescue."  She paused; but when she observed
+that Wayland continued to look on her with that anxious and
+uncertain gaze which indicated a doubt whether her brain was
+settled, she assumed an air of composure, and added, "Do thou but
+guide me to Kenilworth Castle, good fellow, and thy task is
+ended, since I will then judge what further is to be done.  Thou
+hast yet been true to me--here is something that will make thee
+rich amends."
+
+She offered the artist a ring containing a valuable stone.
+Wayland looked at it, hesitated a moment, and then returned it.
+"Not," he said, "that I am above your kindness, madam, being but
+a poor fellow, who have been forced, God help me!  to live by
+worse shifts than the bounty of such a person as you.  But, as my
+old master the farrier used to say to his customers, 'No cure, no
+pay.' We are not yet in Kenilworth Castle, and it is time enough
+to discharge your guide, as they say, when you take your boots
+off.  I trust in God your ladyship is as well assured of fitting
+reception when you arrive, as you may hold yourself certain of my
+best endeavours to conduct you thither safely.  I go to get the
+horses; meantime, let me pray you once more, as your poor
+physician as well as guide, to take some sustenance."
+
+"I will--I will," said the lady hastily.  "Begone, begone
+instantly!--It is in vain I assume audacity," said she, when he
+left the room; "even this poor groom sees through my affectation
+of courage, and fathoms the very ground of my fears."
+
+She then attempted to follow her guide's advice by taking some
+food, but was compelled to desist, as the effort to swallow even
+a single morsel gave her so much uneasiness as amounted well-nigh
+to suffocation.  A moment afterwards the horses appeared at the
+latticed window.  The lady mounted, and found that relief from
+the free air and change of place which is frequently experienced
+in similar circumstances.
+
+It chanced well for the Countess's purpose that Wayland Smith,
+whose previous wandering and unsettled life had made him
+acquainted with almost all England, was intimate with all the by-
+roads, as well as direct communications, through the beautiful
+county of Warwick.  For such and so great was the throng which
+flocked in all directions towards Kenilworth, to see the entry of
+Elizabeth into that splendid mansion of her prime favourite, that
+the principal roads were actually blocked up and interrupted, and
+it was only by circuitous by-paths that the travellers could
+proceed on their journey.
+
+The Queen's purveyors had been abroad, sweeping the farms and
+villages of those articles usually exacted during a royal
+Progress, and for which the owners were afterwards to obtain a
+tardy payment from the Board of Green Cloth.  The Earl of
+Leicester's household officers had been scouring the country for
+the same purpose; and many of his friends and allies, both near
+and remote, took this opportunity of ingratiating themselves by
+sending large quantities of provisions and delicacies of all
+kinds, with game in huge numbers, and whole tuns of the best
+liquors, foreign and domestic.  Thus the highroads were filled
+with droves of bullocks, sheep, calves, and hogs, and choked with
+loaded wains, whose axle-trees cracked under their burdens of
+wine-casks and hogsheads of ale, and huge hampers of grocery
+goods, and slaughtered game, and salted provisions, and sacks of
+flour.  Perpetual stoppages took place as these wains became
+entangled; and their rude drivers, swearing and brawling till
+their wild passions were fully raised, began to debate precedence
+with their wagon-whips and quarterstaves, which occasional riots
+were usually quieted by a purveyor, deputy-marshal's man, or some
+other person in authority, breaking the heads of both parties.
+
+Here were, besides, players and mummers, jugglers and showmen, of
+every description, traversing in joyous bands the paths which led
+to the Palace of Princely Pleasure; for so the travelling
+minstrels had termed Kenilworth in the songs which already had
+come forth in anticipation of the revels which were there
+expected.  In the midst of this motley show, mendicants were
+exhibiting their real or pretended miseries, forming a strange
+though common contrast betwixt the vanities and the sorrows of
+human existence.  All these floated along with the immense tide
+of population whom mere curiosity had drawn together; and where
+the mechanic, in his leathern apron, elbowed the dink and dainty
+dame, his city mistress; where clowns, with hobnailed shoes, were
+treading on the kibes of substantial burghers and gentlemen of
+worship; and where Joan of the dairy, with robust pace, and red,
+sturdy arms, rowed her way unward, amongst those prim and pretty
+moppets whose sires were knights and squires.
+
+The throng and confusion was, however, of a gay and cheerful
+character.  All came forth to see and to enjoy, and all laughed
+at the trifling inconveniences which at another time might have
+chafed their temper.  Excepting the occasional brawls which we
+have mentioned among that irritable race the carmen, the mingled
+sounds which arose from the multitude were those of light-hearted
+mirth and tiptoe jollity.  The musicians preluded on their
+instruments--the minstrels hummed their songs--the licensed
+jester whooped betwixt mirth and madness, as he brandished his
+bauble--the morrice-dancers jangled their bells--the rustics
+hallooed and whistled-men laughed loud, and maidens giggled
+shrill; while many a broad jest flew like a shuttlecock from one
+party, to be caught in the air and returned from the opposite
+side of the road by another, at which it was aimed.
+
+No infliction can be so distressing to a mind absorbed in
+melancholy, as being plunged into a scene of mirth and revelry,
+forming an accompaniment so dissonant from its own feelings.
+Yet, in the case of the Countess of Leicester, the noise and
+tumult of this giddy scene distracted her thoughts, and rendered
+her this sad service, that it became impossible for her to brood
+on her own misery, or to form terrible anticipations of her
+approaching fate.  She travelled on like one in a dream,
+following implicitly the guidance of Wayland, who, with great
+address, now threaded his way through the general throng of
+passengers, now stood still until a favourable opportunity
+occurred of again moving forward, and frequently turning
+altogether out of the direct road, followed some circuitous by-
+path, which brought them into the highway again, after having
+given them the opportunity of traversing a considerable way with
+greater ease and rapidity.
+
+It was thus he avoided Warwick, within whose Castle (that fairest
+monument of ancient and chivalrous splendour which yet remains
+uninjured by time) Elizabeth had passed the previous night, and
+where she was to tarry until past noon, at that time the general
+hour of dinner throughout England, after which repast she was to
+proceed to Kenilworth, In the meanwhile, each passing group had
+something to say in the Sovereign's praise, though not absolutely
+without the usual mixture of satire which qualifies more or less
+our estimate of our neighbours, especially if they chance to be
+also our betters.
+
+"Heard you," said.  one, "how graciously she spoke to Master
+Bailiff and the Recorder, and to good Master Griffin the
+preacher, as they kneeled down at her coach-window?"
+
+"Ay, and how she said to little Aglionby, 'Master Recorder, men
+would have persuaded me that you were afraid of me, but truly I
+think, so well did you reckon up to me the virtues of a
+sovereign, that I have more reason to be afraid of you.' and then
+with what grace she took the fair-wrought purse with the twenty
+gold sovereigns, seeming as though she would not willingly handle
+it, and yet taking it withal."
+
+"Ay, ay," said another, "her fingers closed on it pretty
+willingly methought, when all was done; and methought, too, she
+weighed them for a second in her hand, as she would say, I hope
+they be avoirdupois."
+
+"She needed not, neighbour," said a third; "it is only when the
+corporation pay the accounts of a poor handicraft like me, that
+they put him off with clipped coin.  Well, there is a God above
+all--little Master Recorder, since that is the word, will be
+greater now than ever."
+
+"Come, good neighbour," said the first speaker "be not envious.
+She is a good Queen, and a generous; she gave the purse to the
+Earl of Leicester."
+
+"I envious?--beshrew thy heart for the word!"  replied the
+handicraft.  "But she will give all to the Earl of Leicester
+anon, methinks."
+
+"You are turning ill, lady," said Wayland Smith to the Countess
+of Leicester, and proposed that she should draw off from the
+road, and halt till she recovered.  But, subduing her feelings at
+this and different speeches to the same purpose, which caught her
+ear as they passed on, she insisted that her guide should proceed
+to Kenilworth with all the haste which the numerous impediments
+of their journey permitted.  Meanwhile, Wayland's anxiety at her
+repeated fits of indisposition, and her obvious distraction of
+mind, was hourly increasing, and he became extremely desirous
+that, according to her reiterated requests, she should be safely
+introduced into the Castle, where, he doubted not, she was secure
+of a kind reception, though she seemed unwilling to reveal on
+whom she reposed her hopes.
+
+"An I were once rid of this peril," thought he, "and if any man
+shall find me playing squire of the body to a damosel-errant, he
+shall have leave to beat my brains out with my own sledge-
+hammer!"
+
+At length the princely Castle appeared, upon improving which, and
+the domains around, the Earl of Leicester had, it is said,
+expended sixty thousand pounds sterling, a sum equal to half a
+million of our present money.
+
+The outer wall of this splendid and gigantic structure enclosed
+seven acres, a part of which was occupied by extensive stables,
+and by a pleasure garden, with its trim arbours and parterres,
+and the rest formed the large base-court or outer yard of the
+noble Castle.  The lordly structure itself, which rose near the
+centre of this spacious enclosure, was composed of a huge pile of
+magnificent castellated buildings, apparently of different ages,
+surrounding an inner court, and bearing in the names attached to
+each portion of the magnificent mass, and in the armorial
+bearings which were there blazoned, the emblems of mighty chiefs
+who had long passed away, and whose history, could Ambition have
+lent ear to it, might have read a lesson to the haughty favourite
+who had now acquired and was augmenting the fair domain.  A large
+and massive Keep, which formed the citadel of the Castle, was of
+uncertain though great antiquity.  It bore the name of Caesar,
+perhaps from its resemblance to that in the Tower of London so
+called.  Some antiquaries ascribe its foundation to the time of
+Kenelph, from whom the Castle had its name, a Saxon King of
+Mercia, and others to an early era after the Norman Conquest.  On
+the exterior walls frowned the scutcheon of the Clintons, by whom
+they were founded in the reign of Henry I.; and of the yet more
+redoubted Simon de Montfort, by whom, during the Barons' wars,
+Kenilworth was long held out against Henry III.  Here Mortimer,
+Earl of March, famous alike for his rise and his fall, had once
+gaily revelled in Kenilworth, while his dethroned sovereign,
+Edward II., languished in its dungeons.  Old John of Gaunt,
+"time-honoured Lancaster," had widely extended the Castle,
+erecting that noble and massive pile which yet bears the name of
+Lancaster's Buildings; and Leicester himself had outdone the
+former possessors, princely and powerful as they were, by
+erecting another immense structure, which now lies crushed under
+its own ruins, the monument of its owner's ambition.  The
+external wall of this royal Castle was, on the south and west
+sides, adorned and defended by a lake partly artificial, across
+which Leicester had constructed a stately bridge, that Elizabeth
+might enter the Castle by a path hitherto untrodden, instead of
+the usual entrance to the northward, over which he had erected a
+gatehouse or barbican, which still exists, and is equal in
+extent, and superior in architecture, to the baronial castle of
+many a northern chief.
+
+Beyond the lake lay an extensive chase, full of red deer, fallow
+deer, roes, and every species of game, and abounding with lofty
+trees, from amongst which the extended front and massive towers
+of the Castle were seen to rise in majesty and beauty.  We cannot
+but add, that of this lordly palace, where princes feasted and
+heroes fought, now in the bloody earnest of storm and siege, and
+now in the games of chivalry, where beauty dealt the prize which
+valour won, all is now desolate.  The bed of the lake is but a
+rushy swamp; and the massive ruins of the Castle only serve to
+show what their splendour once was, and to impress on the musing
+visitor the transitory value of human possessions, and the
+happiness of those who enjoy a humble lot in virtuous
+contentment.
+
+It was with far different feelings that the unfortunate Countess
+of Leicester viewed those grey and massive towers, when she first
+beheld them rise above the embowering and richly-shaded woods,
+over which they seemed to preside.  She, the undoubted wife of
+the great Earl, of Elizabeth's minion, and England's mighty
+favourite, was approaching the presence of her husband, and that
+husband's sovereign, under the protection, rather than the
+guidance, of a poor juggler; and though unquestioned Mistress of
+that proud Castle, whose lightest word ought to have had force
+sufficient to make its gates leap from their massive hinges to
+receive her, yet she could not conceal from herself the
+difficulty and peril which she must experience in gaining
+admission into her own halls.
+
+The risk and difficulty, indeed, seemed to increase every moment,
+and at length threatened altogether to put a stop to her further
+progress at the great gate leading to a broad and fair road,
+which, traversing the breadth of the chase for the space of two
+miles, and commanding several most beautiful views of the Castle
+and lake, terminated at the newly constructed bridge, to which it
+was an appendage, and which was destined to form the Queen's
+approach to the Castle on that memorable occasion.
+
+Here the Countess and Wayland found the gate at the end of this
+avenue, which opened on the Warwick road, guarded by a body of
+the Queen's mounted yeomen of the guard, armed in corselets
+richly carved and gilded, and wearing morions instead of bonnets,
+having their carabines resting with the butt-end on their thighs.
+These guards, distinguished for strength and stature, who did
+duty wherever the Queen went in person, were here stationed under
+the direction of a pursuivant, graced with the Bear and Ragged
+Staff on his arm, as belonging to the Earl of Leicester, and
+peremptorily refused all admittance, excepting to such as were
+guests invited to the festival, or persons who were to perform
+some part in the mirthful exhibitions which were proposed.
+
+The press was of consequence great around the entrance, and
+persons of all kinds presented every sort of plea for admittance;
+to which the guards turned an inexorable ear, pleading, in return
+to fair words, and even to fair offers, the strictness of their
+orders, founded on the Queen's well-known dislike to the rude
+pressing of a multitude.  With those whom such reasons did not
+serve,they dealt more rudely, repelling them without ceremony by
+the pressure of their powerful, barbed horses, and good round
+blows from the stock of their carabines.  These last manoeuvres
+produced undulations amongst the crowd, which rendered Wayland
+much afraid that he might perforce be separated from his charge
+in the throng.  Neither did he know what excuse to make in order
+to obtain admittance, and he was debating the matter in his head
+with great uncertainty, when the Earl's pursuivant, having cast
+an eye upon him, exclaimed, to his no small surprise, "Yeomen,
+make room for the fellow in the orange-tawny cloak.--Come
+forward, Sir Coxcomb, and make haste.  What, in the fiend's name,
+has kept you waiting? Come forward with your bale of woman's
+gear."
+
+While the pursuivant gave Wayland this pressing yet uncourteous
+invitation, which, for a minute or two, he could not imagine was
+applied to him, the yeomen speedily made a free passage for him,
+while, only cautioning his companion to keep the muffler close
+around her face, he entered the gate leading her palfrey, but
+with such a drooping crest, and such a look of conscious fear and
+anxiety, that the crowd, not greatly pleased at any rate with the
+preference bestowed upon them, accompanied their admission with
+hooting and a loud laugh of derision.
+
+Admitted thus within the chase, though with no very flattering
+notice or distinction, Wayland and his charge rode forward,
+musing what difficulties it would be next their lot to encounter,
+through the broad avenue, which was sentinelled on either side by
+a long line of retainers, armed with swords, and partisans richly
+dressed in the Earl of Leicester's liveries, and bearing his
+cognizance of the Bear and Ragged Staff, each placed within three
+paces of each other, so as to line the whole road from the
+entrance into the park to the bridge.  And, indeed, when the lady
+obtained the first commanding view of the Castle, with its
+stately towers rising from within a long, sweeping line of
+outward walls, ornamented with battlements and turrets and
+platforms at every point of defence, with many a banner streaming
+from its walls, and such a bustle of gay crests and waving plumes
+disposed on the terraces and battlements, and all the gay and
+gorgeous scene, her heart, unaccustomed to such splendour, sank
+as if it died within her, and for a moment she asked herself what
+she had offered up to Leicester to deserve to become the partner
+of this princely splendour.  But her pride and generous spirit
+resisted the whisper which bade her despair.
+
+"I have given him," she said, "all that woman has to give.  Name
+and fame, heart and hand, have I given the lord of all this
+magnificence at the altar, and England's Queen could give him no
+more.  He is my husband--I am his wife--whom God hath joined, man
+cannot sunder.  I will be bold in claiming my right; even the
+bolder, that I come thus unexpected, and thus forlorn.  I know my
+noble Dudley well!  He will be something impatient at my
+disobeying him, but Amy will weep, and Dudley will forgive her."
+
+These meditations were interrupted by a cry of surprise from her
+guide Wayland, who suddenly felt himself grasped firmly round the
+body by a pair of long, thin black arms, belonging to some one
+who had dropped himself out of an oak tree upon the croup of his
+horse, amidst the shouts of laughter which burst from the
+sentinels.
+
+"This must be the devil, or Flibbertigibbet again!"  said
+Wayland, after a vain struggle to disengage himself, and unhorse
+the urchin who clung to him; "do Kenilworth oaks bear such
+acorns?"
+
+"In sooth do they, Master Wayland," said his unexpected adjunct,
+"and many others, too hard for you to crack, for as old as you
+are, without my teaching you.  How would you have passed the
+pursuivant at the upper gate yonder, had not I warned him our
+principal juggler was to follow us? And here have I waited for
+you, having clambered up into the tree from the top of the wain;
+and I suppose they are all mad for want of me by this time,"
+
+"Nay, then, thou art a limb of the devil in good earnest," said
+Wayland.  "I give thee way, good imp, and will walk by thy
+counsel; only, as thou art powerful be merciful."
+
+As he spoke, they approached a strong tower, at the south
+extremity of the long bridge we have mentioned, which served to
+protect the outer gateway of the Castle of Kenilworth.
+
+Under such disastrous circumstances, and in such singular
+company, did the unfortunate Countess of Leicester approach, for
+the first time, the magnificent abode of her almost princely
+husband.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+SNUG.   Have you the lion's part written?  pray, if it be, give
+        it me, for I am slow of study.
+QUINCE. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
+                                 MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.
+
+When the Countess of Leicester arrived at the outer gate of the
+Castle of Kenilworth, she found the tower, beneath which its
+ample portal arch opened, guarded in a singular manner.  Upon the
+battlements were placed gigantic warders, with clubs, battle-
+axes, and other implements of ancient warfare, designed to
+represent the soldiers of King Arthur; those primitive Britons,
+by whom, according to romantic tradition, the Castle had been
+first tenanted, though history carried back its antiquity only to
+the times of the Heptarchy.
+
+Some of these tremendous figures were real men, dressed up with
+vizards and buskins; others were mere pageants composed of
+pasteboard and buckram, which, viewed from beneath, and mingled
+with those that were real, formed a sufficiently striking
+representation of what was intended.  But the gigantic porter who
+waited at the gate beneath, and actually discharged the duties of
+warder, owed none of his terrors to fictitious means.  We was a
+man whose huge stature, thews, sinews, and bulk in proportion,
+would have enabled him to enact Colbrand, Ascapart, or any other
+giant of romance, without raising himself nearer to heaven even
+by the altitude of a chopin.  The legs and knees of this son of
+Anak were bare, as were his arms from a span below the shoulder;
+but his feet were defended with sandals, fastened with cross
+straps of scarlet leather studded with brazen knobs.  A close
+jerkin of scarlet velvet looped with gold, with short breeches of
+the same, covered his body and a part of his limbs; and he wore
+on his shoulders, instead of a cloak, the skin of a black bear.
+The head of this formidable person was uncovered, except by his
+shaggy, black hair, which descended on either side around
+features of that huge, lumpish, and heavy cast which are often
+annexed to men of very uncommon size, and which, notwithstanding
+some distinguished exceptions, have created a general prejudice
+against giants, as being a dull and sullen kind of persons.  This
+tremendous warder was appropriately armed with a heavy club
+spiked with steel.  In fine, he represented excellently one of
+those giants of popular romance, who figure in every fairy tale
+or legend of knight-errantry.
+
+The demeanour of this modern Titan, when Wayland Smith bent his
+attention to him, had in it something arguing much mental
+embarrassment and vexation; for sometimes he sat down for an
+instant on a massive stone bench, which seemed placed for his
+accommodation beside the gateway, and then ever and anon he
+started up, scratching his huge head, and striding to and fro on
+his post, like one under a fit of impatience and anxiety.  It was
+while the porter was pacing before the gate in this agitated
+manner, that Wayland, modestly, yet as a matter of course (not,
+however, without some mental misgiving), was about to pass him,
+and enter the portal arch.  The porter, however, stopped his
+progress, bidding him, in a thundering voice, "Stand back!"  and
+enforcing his injunction by heaving up his steel-shod mace, and
+dashing it on the ground before Wayland's horse's nose with such
+vehemence that the pavement flashed fire, and the archway rang to
+the clamour.  Wayland, availing himself of Dickie's hints, began
+to state that he belonged to a band of performers to which his
+presence was indispensable, that he had been accidentally
+detained behind, and much to the same purpose.  But the warder
+was inexorable, and kept muttering and murmuring something
+betwixt his teeth, which Wayland could make little of; and
+addressing betwixt whiles a refusal of admittance, couched in
+language which was but too intelligible.  A specimen of his
+speech might run thus:--"What, how now, my masters?"  (to
+himself)--"Here's a stir--here's a coil."--(Then to Wayland)--
+"You are a loitering knave, and shall have no entrance."--(Again
+to himself)--"Here's a throng--here's a thrusting.--I shall ne'er
+get through with it--Here's a--humph--ha."--(To Wayland)--"Back
+from the gate, or I'll break the pate of thee."--(Once more to
+himself)--"Here's a--no--I shall never get through it."
+
+"Stand still," whispered Flibbertigibbet into Wayland's ear, "I
+know where the shoe pinches, and will tame him in an instant."
+
+He dropped down from the horse, and skipping up to the porter,
+plucked him by the tail of the bearskin, so as to induce him to
+decline his huge head, and whispered something in his ear.  Not
+at the command of the lord of some Eastern talisman did ever
+Afrite change his horrid frown into a look of smooth submission
+more suddenly than the gigantic porter of Kenilworth relaxed the
+terrors of his looks at the instant Flibbertigibbet's whisper
+reached his ears.  He flung his club upon the ground, and caught
+up Dickie Sludge, raising him to such a distance from the earth
+as might have proved perilous had he chanced to let him slip.
+
+"It is even so," he said, with a thundering sound of exultation
+--"it is even so, my little dandieprat.  But who the devil could
+teach it thee?"
+
+"Do not thou care about that," said Flibbertigibbet--"but--" he
+looked at Wayland and the lady, and then sunk what he had to say
+in a whisper, which needed not be a loud one, as the giant held
+him for his convenience close to his ear.  The porter then gave
+Dickie a warm caress, and set him on the ground with the same
+care which a careful housewife uses in replacing a cracked china
+cup upon her mantelpiece, calling out at the same time to Wayland
+and the lady, "In with you--in with you!  and take heed how you
+come too late another day when I chance to be porter."
+
+"Ay, ay, in with you," added Flibbertigibbet; "I must stay a
+short space with mine honest Philistine, my Goliath of Gath here;
+but I will be with you anon, and at the bottom of all your
+secrets, were they as deep and dark as the Castle dungeon."
+
+"I do believe thou wouldst," said Wayland; "but I trust the
+secret will be soon out of my keeping, and then I shall care the
+less whether thou or any one knows it."
+
+They now crossed the entrance tower, which obtained the name of
+the Gallery-tower, from the following circumstance: The whole
+bridge, extending from the entrance to another tower on the
+opposite side of the lake, called Mortimer's Tower, was so
+disposed as to make a spacious tilt-yard, about one hundred and
+thirty yards in length, and ten in breadth, strewed with the
+finest sand, and defended on either side by strong and high
+palisades.  The broad and fair gallery, destined for the ladies
+who were to witness the feats of chivalry presented on this area,
+was erected on the northern side of the outer tower, to which it
+gave name.  Our travellers passed slowly along the bridge or
+tilt-yard, and arrived at Mortimer's Tower, at its farthest
+extremity, through which the approach led into the outer or base-
+court of the Castle.  Mortimer's Tower bore on its front the
+scutcheon of the Earl of March, whose daring ambition overthrew
+the throne of Edward II., and aspired to share his power with the
+"She-wolf of France," to whom the unhappy monarch was wedded.
+The gate, which opened under this ominous memorial, was guarded
+by many warders in rich liveries; but they offered no opposition
+to the entrance of the Countess and her guide, who, having passed
+by license of the principal porter at the Gallery-tower, were
+not, it may be supposed, liable to interruption from his
+deputies.  They entered accordingly, in silence, the great
+outward court of the Castle, having then full before them that
+vast and lordly pile, with all its stately towers, each gate
+open, as if in sign of unlimited hospitality, and the apartments
+filled with noble guests of every degree, besides dependants,
+retainers, domestics of every description, and all the appendages
+and promoters of mirth and revelry.
+
+Amid this stately and busy scene Wayland halted his horse, and
+looked upon the lady, as if waiting her commands what was next to
+be done, since they had safely reached the place of destination.
+As she remained silent, Wayland, after waiting a minute or two,
+ventured to ask her, in direct terms, what were her next
+commands.  She raised her hand to her forehead, as if in the act
+of collecting her thoughts and resolution, while she answered him
+in a low and suppressed voice, like the murmurs of one who speaks
+in a dream--"Commands?  I may indeed claim right to command, but
+who is there will obey me!"
+
+Then suddenly raising her head, like one who has formed a
+decisive resolution, she addressed a gaily-dressed domestic, who
+was crossing the court with importance and bustle in his
+countenance, "Stop, sir," she said; "I desire to speak with, the
+Earl of Leicester."
+
+"With whom, an it please you?"  said the man, surprised at the
+demand; and then looking upon the mean equipage of her who used
+towards him such a tone of authority, he added, with insolence,
+"Why, what Bess of Bedlam is this would ask to see my lord on
+such a day as the present?"
+
+"Friend," said the Countess, "be not insolent--my business with
+the Earl is most urgent."
+
+"You must get some one else to do it, were it thrice as urgent,"
+said the fellow.  "I should summon my lord from the Queen's royal
+presence to do YOUR business, should I?--I were like to be
+thanked with a horse-whip.  I marvel our old porter took not
+measure of such ware with his club, instead of giving them
+passage; but his brain is addled with getting his speech by
+heart."
+
+Two or three persons stopped, attracted by the fleering way in
+which the serving-man expressed himself; and Wayland, alarmed
+both for himself and the lady, hastily addressed himself to one
+who appeared the most civil, and thrusting a piece of money into
+his hand, held a moment's counsel with him on the subject of
+finding a place of temporary retreat for the lady.  The person to
+whom he spoke, being one in some authority, rebuked the others
+for their incivility, and commanding one fellow to take care of
+the strangers' horses, he desired them to follow him.  The
+Countess retained presence of mind sufficient to see that it was
+absolutely necessary she should comply with his request; and
+leaving the rude lackeys and grooms to crack their brutal jests
+about light heads, light heels, and so forth, Wayland and she
+followed in silence the deputy-usher, who undertook to be their
+conductor.
+
+They entered the inner court of the Castle by the great gateway,
+which extended betwixt the principal Keep, or Donjon, called
+Caesar's Tower, and a stately building which passed by the name
+of King Henry's Lodging, and were thus placed in the centre of
+the noble pile, which presented on its different fronts
+magnificent specimens of every species of castellated
+architecture, from the Conquest to the reign of Elizabeth, with
+the appropriate style and ornaments of each.
+
+Across this inner court also they were conducted by their guide
+to a small but strong tower, occupying the north-east angle of
+the building, adjacent to the great hall, and filling up a space
+betwixt the immense range of kitchens and the end of the great
+hall itself.  The lower part of this tower was occupied by some
+of the household officers of Leicester, owing to its convenient
+vicinity to the places where their duty lay; but in the upper
+story, which was reached by a narrow, winding stair, was a small
+octangular chamber, which, in the great demand for lodgings, had
+been on the present occasion fitted up for the reception of
+guests, though generally said to have been used as a place of
+confinement for some unhappy person who had been there murdered.
+Tradition called this prisoner Mervyn, and transferred his name
+to the tower.  That it had been used as a prison was not
+improbable; for the floor of each story was arched, the walls of
+tremendous thickness, while the space of the chamber did not
+exceed fifteen feet in diameter.  The window, however, was
+pleasant, though narrow, and commanded a delightful view of what
+was called the Pleasance; a space of ground enclosed and
+decorated with arches, trophies, statues, fountains, and other
+architectural monuments, which formed one access from the Castle
+itself into the garden.  There was a bed in the apartment, and
+other preparations for the reception of a guest, to which the
+Countess paid but slight attention, her notice being instantly
+arrested by the sight of writing materials placed on the table
+(not very commonly to be found in the bedrooms of those days),
+which instantly suggested the idea of writing to Leicester, and
+remaining private until she had received his answer.
+
+The deputy-usher having introduced them into this commodious
+apartment, courteously asked Wayland, whose generosity he had
+experienced, whether he could do anything further for his
+service.  Upon receiving a gentle hint that some refreshment
+would not be unacceptable, he presently conveyed the smith to the
+buttery-hatch, where dressed provisions of all sorts were
+distributed, with hospitable profusion, to all who asked for
+them.  Wayland was readily supplied with some light provisions,
+such as he thought would best suit the faded appetite of the
+lady, and did not omit the opportunity of himself making a hasty
+but hearty meal on more substantial fare.  He then returned to
+the apartment in the turret, where he found the Countess, who had
+finished her letter to Leicester, and in lieu of a seal and
+silken thread, had secured it with a braid of her own beautiful
+tresses, fastened by what is called a true-love knot.
+
+"Good friend," said she to Wayland, "whom God hath sent to aid me
+at my utmost need, I do beseech thee, as the last trouble you
+shall take for an unfortunate lady, to deliver this letter to the
+noble Earl of Leicester.  Be it received as it may," she said,
+with features agitated betwixt hope and fear, "thou, good fellow,
+shalt have no more cumber with me.  But I hope the best; and if
+ever lady made a poor man rich, thou hast surely deserved it at
+my hand, should my happy days ever come round again.  Give it, I
+pray you, into Lord Leicester's own hand, and mark how he looks
+on receiving it."
+
+Wayland, on his part, readily undertook the commission, but
+anxiously prayed the lady, in his turn, to partake of some
+refreshment; in which he at length prevailed, more through
+importunity and her desire to see him begone on his errand than
+from any inclination the Countess felt to comply with his
+request.  He then left her, advising her to lock her door on the
+inside, and not to stir from her little apartment; and went to
+seek an opportunity of discharging her errand, as well as of
+carrying into effect a purpose of his own, which circumstances
+had induced him to form.
+
+In fact, from the conduct of the lady during the journey--her
+long fits of profound silence, the irresolution and uncertainty
+which seemed to pervade all her movements, and the obvious
+incapacity of thinking and acting for herself under which she
+seemed to labour--Wayland had formed the not improbable opinion
+that the difficulties of her situation had in some degree
+affected her understanding.
+
+When she had escaped from the seclusion of Cumnor Place, and the
+dangers to which she was there exposed, it would have seemed her
+most rational course to retire to her father's, or elsewhere at a
+distance from the power of those by whom these dangers had been
+created.  When, instead of doing so, she demanded to be conveyed
+to Kenilworth, Wayland had been only able to account for her
+conduct by supposing that she meant to put herself under the
+tutelage of Tressilian, and to appeal to the protection of the
+Queen.  But now, instead of following this natural course, she
+entrusted him with a letter to Leicester, the patron of Varney,
+and within whose jurisdiction at least, if not under his express
+authority, all the evils she had already suffered were inflicted
+upon her.  This seemed an unsafe and even a desperate measure,
+and Wayland felt anxiety for his own safety, as well as that of
+the lady, should he execute her commission before he had secured
+the advice and countenance of a protector.
+
+He therefore resolved, before delivering the letter to Leicester,
+that he would seek out Tressilian, and communicate to him the
+arrival of the lady at Kenilworth, and thus at once rid himself
+of all further responsibility, and devolve the task of guiding
+and protecting this unfortunate lady upon the patron who had at
+first employed him in her service.
+
+"He will be a better judge than I am," said Wayland, "whether she
+is to be gratified in this humour of appeal to my Lord of
+Leicester, which seems like an act of insanity; and, therefore, I
+will turn the matter over on his hands, deliver him the letter,
+receive what they list to give me by way of guerdon, and then
+show the Castle of Kenilworth a pair of light heels; for, after
+the work I have been engaged in, it will be, I fear, neither a
+safe nor wholesome place of residence, and I would rather shoe
+colts an the coldest common in England than share in their gayest
+revels."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+In my time I have seen a boy do wonders.
+Robin, the red tinker, had a boy
+Would ha run through a cat-hole.    THE COXCOMB.
+
+Amid the universal bustle which filled the Castle and its
+environs, it was no easy matter to find out any individual; and
+Wayland was still less likely to light upon Tressilian, whom he
+sought so anxiously, because, sensible of the danger of
+attracting attention in the circumstances in which he was placed,
+he dared not make general inquiries among the retainers or
+domestics of Leicester.  He learned, however, by indirect
+questions, that in all probability Tressilian must have been one
+of a large party of gentlemen in attendance on the Earl of
+Sussex, who had accompanied their patron that morning to
+Kenilworth, when Leicester had received them with marks of the
+most formal respect and distinction.  He further learned that
+both Earls, with their followers, and many other nobles, knights,
+and gentlemen, had taken horse, and gone towards Warwick several
+hours since, for the purpose of escorting the Queen to
+Kenilworth.
+
+Her Majesty's arrival, like other great events, was delayed from
+hour to hour; and it was now announced by a breathless post that
+her Majesty, being detained by her gracious desire to receive the
+homage of her lieges who had thronged to wait upon her at
+Warwick, it would be the hour of twilight ere she entered the
+Castle.  The intelligence released for a time those who were upon
+duty, in the immediate expectation of the Queen's appearance, and
+ready to play their part in the solemnities with which it was to
+be accompanied; and Wayland, seeing several horsemen enter the
+Castle, was not without hopes that Tressilian might be of the
+number.  That he might not lose an opportunity of meeting his
+patron in the event of this being the case, Wayland placed
+himself in the base-court of the Castle, near Mortimer's Tower,
+and watched every one who went or came by the bridge, the
+extremity of which was protected by that building.  Thus
+stationed, nobody could enter or leave the Castle without his
+observation, and most anxiously did he study the garb and
+countenance of every horseman, as, passing from under the
+opposite Gallery-tower, they paced slowly, or curveted, along the
+tilt-yard, and approached the entrance of the base-court.
+
+But while Wayland gazed thus eagerly to discover him whom he saw
+not, he was pulled by the sleeve by one by whom he himself would
+not willingly have been seen.
+
+This was Dickie Sludge, or Flibbertigibbet, who, like the imp
+whose name he bore, and whom he had been accoutred in order to
+resemble, seemed to be ever at the ear of those who thought least
+of him.  Whatever were Wayland's internal feelings, he judged it
+necessary to express pleasure at their unexpected meeting.
+
+"Ha!  is it thou, my minikin--my miller's thumb--my prince of
+cacodemons--my little mouse?"
+
+"Ay," said Dickie, "the mouse which gnawed asunder the toils,
+just when the lion who was caught in them began to look
+wonderfully like an ass."
+
+"Thy, thou little hop-the-gutter, thou art as sharp as vinegar
+this afternoon!  But tell me, how didst thou come off with yonder
+jolterheaded giant whom I left thee with?  I was afraid he would
+have stripped thy clothes, and so swallowed thee, as men peel and
+eat a roasted chestnut."
+
+"Had he done so," replied the boy, "he would have had more brains
+in his guts than ever he had in his noddle.  But the giant is a
+courteous monster, and more grateful than many other folk whom I
+have helped at a pinch, Master Wayland Smith."
+
+"Beshrew me, Flibbertigibbet," replied Wayland, "but thou art
+sharper than a Sheffield whittle!  I would I knew by what charm
+you muzzled yonder old bear."
+
+"Ay, that is in your own manner," answered Dickie; "you think
+fine speeches will pass muster instead of good-will.  However, as
+to this honest porter, you must know that when we presented
+ourselves at the gate yonder, his brain was over-burdened with a
+speech that had been penned for him, and which proved rather an
+overmatch for his gigantic faculties.  Now this same pithy
+oration had been indited, like sundry others, by my learned
+magister, Erasmus Holiday, so I had heard it often enough to
+remember every line.  As soon as I heard him blundering and
+floundering like a fish upon dry land, through the first verse,
+and perceived him at a stand, I knew where the shoe pinched, and
+helped him to the next word, when he caught me up in an ecstasy,
+even as you saw but now.  I promised, as the price of your
+admission, to hide me under his bearish gaberdine, and prompt him
+in the hour of need.  I have just now been getting some food in
+the Castle, and am about to return to him."
+
+"That's right--that's right, my dear Dickie," replied Wayland;
+"haste thee, for Heaven's sake!  else the poor giant will be
+utterly disconsolate for want of his dwarfish auxiliary.  Away
+with thee, Dickie!"
+
+"Ay, ay!"  answered the boy--"away with Dickie, when we have got
+what good of him we can.  You will not let me know the story of
+this lady, then, who is as much sister of thine as I am?"
+
+"Why, what good would it do thee, thou silly elf?"  said Wayland.
+
+"Oh, stand ye on these terms?"  said the boy.  "Well, I care not
+greatly about the matter--only, I never smell out a secret but I
+try to be either at the right or the wrong end of it, and so good
+evening to ye."
+
+"Nay, but, Dickie," said Wayland, who knew the boy's restless and
+intriguing disposition too well not to fear his enmity--"stay, my
+dear Dickie--part not with old friends so shortly!  Thou shalt
+know all I know of the lady one day."
+
+"Ay!"  said Dickie; "and that day may prove a nigh one.  Fare
+thee well, Wayland--I will to my large-limbed friend, who, if he
+have not so sharp a wit as some folk, is at least more grateful
+for the service which other folk render him.  And so again, good
+evening to ye."
+
+So saying, he cast a somerset through the gateway, and lighting
+on the bridge, ran with the extraordinary agility which was one
+of his distinguishing attributes towards the Gallery-tower, and
+was out of sight in an instant.
+
+"I would to God I were safe out of this Castle again!"  prayed
+Wayland internally; "for now that this mischievous imp has put
+his finger in the pie, it cannot but prove a mess fit for the
+devil's eating.  I would to Heaven Master Tressilian would
+appear!"
+
+Tressilian, whom he was thus anxiously expecting in one
+direction, had returned to Kenilworth by another access.  It was
+indeed true, as Wayland had conjectured, that in the earlier part
+of the day he had accompanied the Earls on their cavalcade
+towards Warwick, not without hope that he might in that town hear
+some tidings of his emissary.  Being disappointed in this
+expectation, and observing Varney amongst Leicester's attendants,
+seeming as if he had some purpose of advancing to and addressing
+him, he conceived, in the present circumstances, it was wisest to
+avoid the interview.  He, therefore, left the presence-chamber
+when the High-Sheriff of the county was in the very midst of his
+dutiful address to her Majesty; and mounting his horse, rode back
+to Kenilworth by a remote and circuitous road, and entered the
+Castle by a small sallyport in the western wall, at which he was
+readily admitted as one of the followers of the Earl of Sussex,
+towards whom Leicester had commanded the utmost courtesy to be
+exercised.  It was thus that he met not Wayland, who was
+impatiently watching his arrival, and whom he himself would have
+been at least equally desirous to see.
+
+Having delivered his horse to the charge of his attendant, he
+walked for a space in the Pleasance and in the garden, rather to
+indulge in comparative solitude his own reflections, than to
+admire those singular beauties of nature and art which the
+magnificence of Leicester had there assembled.  The greater part
+of the persons of condition had left the Castle for the present,
+to form part of the Earl's cavalcade; others, who remained
+behind, were on the battlements, outer walls, and towers, eager
+to view the splendid spectacle of the royal entry.  The garden,
+therefore, while every other part of the Castle resounded with
+the human voice, was silent but for the whispering of the leaves,
+the emulous warbling of the tenants of a large aviary with their
+happier companions who remained denizens of the free air, and the
+plashing of the fountains, which, forced into the air from
+sculptures of fatastic and grotesque forms, fell down with
+ceaseless sound into the great basins of Italian marble.
+
+The melancholy thoughts of Tressilian cast a gloomy shade on all
+the objects with which he was surrounded.  He compared the
+magnificent scenes which he here traversed with the deep woodland
+and wild moorland which surrounded Lidcote Hall, and the image of
+Amy Robsart glided like a phantom through every landscape which
+his imagination summoned up.  Nothing is perhaps more dangerous
+to the future happiness of men of deep thought and retired habits
+than the entertaining an early, long, and unfortunate attachment.
+It frequently sinks so deep into the mind that it becomes their
+dream by night and their vision by day--mixes itself with every
+source of interest and enjoyment; and when blighted and withered
+by final disappointment, it seems as if the springs of the heart
+were dried up along with it.  This aching of the heart, this
+languishing after a shadow which has lost all the gaiety of its
+colouring, this dwelling on the remembrance of a dream from which
+we have been long roughly awakened, is the weakness of a gentle
+and generous heart, and it was that of Tressilian.
+
+He himself at length became sensible of the necessity of forcing
+other objects upon his mind; and for this purpose he left the
+Pleasance, in order to mingle with the noisy crowd upon the
+walls, and view the preparation for the pageants.  But as he left
+the garden, and heard the busy hum, mixed with music and
+laughter, which floated around him, he felt an uncontrollable
+reluctance to mix with society whose feelings were in a tone so
+different from his own, and resolved, instead of doing so, to
+retire to the chamber assigned him, and employ himself in study
+until the tolling of the great Castle bell should announce the
+arrival of Elizabeth.
+
+Tressilian crossed accordingly by the passage betwixt the immense
+range of kitchens and the great hall, and ascended to the third
+story of Mervyn's Tower, and applying himself to the door of the
+small apartment which had been allotted to him, was surprised to
+find it was locked.  He then recollected that the deputy-
+chamberlain had given him a master-key, advising him, in the
+present confused state of the Castle, to keep his door as much
+shut as possible.  He applied this key to the lock, the bolt
+revolved, he entered, and in the same instant saw a female form
+seated in the apartment, and recognized that form to be, Amy
+Robsart.  His first idea was that a heated imagination had raised
+the image on which it doted into visible existence; his second,
+that he beheld an apparition; the third and abiding conviction,
+that it was Amy herself, paler, indeed, and thinner, than in the
+days of heedless happiness, when she possessed the form and hue
+of a wood-nymph, with the beauty of a sylph--but still Amy,
+unequalled in loveliness by aught which had ever visited his
+eyes.
+
+The astonishment of the Countess was scarce less than that of
+Tressilian, although it was of shorter duration, because she had
+heard from Wayland that he was in the Castle.  She had started up
+at his first entrance, and now stood facing him, the paleness of
+her cheeks having given way to a deep blush.
+
+"Tressilian," she said, at length, "why come you here?"
+
+"Nay, why come you here, Amy," returned Tressilian, "unless it be
+at length to claim that aid, which, as far as one man's heart and
+arm can extend, shall instantly be rendered to you?"
+
+She was silent a moment, and then answered in a sorrowful rather
+than an angry tone, "I require no aid, Tressilian, and would
+rather be injured than benefited by any which your kindness can
+offer me.  Believe me, I am near one whom law and love oblige to
+protect me."
+
+"The villain, then, hath done you the poor justice which remained
+in his power," said Tressilian, "and I behold before me the wife
+of Varney!"
+
+"The wife of Varney!"  she replied, with all the emphasis of
+scorn.  "With what base name, sir, does your boldness stigmatize
+the--the--the--" She hesitated, dropped her tone of scorn, looked
+down, and was confused and silent; for she recollected what fatal
+consequences might attend her completing the sentence with "the
+Countess of Leicester," which were the words that had naturally
+suggested themselves.  It would have been a betrayal of the
+secret, on which her husband had assured her that his fortunes
+depended, to Tressilian, to Sussex, to the Queen, and to the
+whole assembled court.  "Never," she thought, "will I break my
+promised silence.  I will submit to every suspicion rather than
+that."
+
+The tears rose to her eyes, as she stood silent before
+Tressilian; while, looking on her with mingled grief and pity, he
+said, "Alas!  Amy, your eyes contradict your tongue.  That
+speaks of a protector, willing and able to watch over you; but
+these tell me you are ruined, and deserted by the wretch to whom
+you have attached yourself."
+
+She looked on him with eyes in which anger sparkled through her
+tears, but only repeated the word "wretch!"  with a scornful
+emphasis.
+
+"Yes, WRETCH!"  said Tressilian; "for were he aught better, why
+are you here, and alone, in my apartment?  why was not fitting
+provision made for your honourable reception?"
+
+"In your apartment?"  repeated Amy--"in YOUR apartment?  It shall
+instantly be relieved of my presence."  She hastened towards the
+door; but the sad recollection of her deserted state at once
+pressed on her mind, and pausing on the threshold, she added, in
+a tone unutterably pathetic, "Alas!  I had forgot--I know not
+where to go--"
+
+"I see--I see it all," said Tressilian, springing to her side,
+and leading her back to the seat, on which she sunk down.  "You
+DO need aid--you do need protection, though you will not own it;
+and you shall not need it long.  Leaning on my arm, as the
+representative of your excellent and broken-hearted father, on
+the very threshold of the Castle gate, you shall meet Elizabeth;
+and the first deed she shall do in the halls of Kenilworth shall
+be an act of justice to her sex and her subjects.  Strong in my
+good cause, and in the Queen's justice, the power of her minion
+shall not shake my resolution.  I will instantly seek Sussex."
+
+"Not for all that is under heaven!"  said the Countess, much
+alarmed, and feeling the absolute necessity of obtaining time, at
+least, for consideration.  "Tressilian, you were wont to be
+generous.  Grant me one request, and believe, if it be your wish
+to save me from misery and from madness, you will do more by
+making me the promise I ask of you, than Elizabeth can do for me
+with all her power."
+
+"Ask me anything for which you can allege reason," said
+Tressilian; "but demand not of me--"
+
+"Oh, limit not your boon, dear Edmund!"  exclaimed the Countess
+--"you once loved that I should call you so--limit not your boon
+to reason; for my case is all madness, and frenzy must guide the
+counsels which alone can aid me."
+
+"If you speak thus wildly," said Tressilian, astonishment again
+overpowering both his grief and his resolution, "I must believe
+you indeed incapable of thinking or acting for yourself."
+
+"Oh, no!"  she exclaimed, sinking on one knee before him, "I am
+not mad--I am but a creature unutterably miserable, and, from
+circumstances the most singular, dragged on to a precipice by the
+arm of him who thinks he is keeping me from it--even by yours,
+Tressilian--by yours, whom I have honoured, respected--all but
+loved--and yet loved, too--loved, too, Tressilian--though not as
+you wished to be."
+
+There was an energy, a self-possession, an abandonment in her
+voice and manner, a total resignation of herself to his
+generosity, which, together with the kindness of her expressions
+to himself, moved him deeply.  He raised her, and, in broken
+accents, entreated her to be comforted.
+
+"I cannot," she said, "I will not be comforted, till you grant me
+my request!  I will speak as plainly as I dare.  I am now
+awaiting the commands of one who has a right to issue them.  The
+interference of a third person--of you in especial, Tressilian--
+will be ruin--utter ruin to me.  Wait but four-and-twenty hours,
+and it may be that the poor Amy may have the means to show that
+she values, and can reward, your disinterested friendship--that
+she is happy herself, and has the means to make you so.  It is
+surely worth your patience, for so short a space?"
+
+Tressilian paused, and weighing in his mind the various
+probabilities which might render a violent interference on his
+part more prejudicial than advantageous, both to the happiness
+and reputation of Amy; considering also that she was within the
+walls of Kenilworth, and could suffer no injury in a castle
+honoured with the Queen's residence, and filled with her guards
+and attendants--he conceived, upon the whole, that he might
+render her more evil than good service by intruding upon her his
+appeal to Elizabeth in her behalf.  He expressed his resolution
+cautiously, however, doubting naturally whether Amy's hopes of
+extricating herself from her difficulties rested on anything
+stronger than a blinded attachment to Varney, whom he supposed to
+be her seducer.
+
+"Amy," he said, while he fixed his sad and expressive eyes on
+hers, which, in her ecstasy of doubt, terror, and perplexity, she
+cast up towards him, "I have ever remarked that when others
+called thee girlish and wilful, there lay under that external
+semblance of youthful and self-willed folly deep feeling and
+strong sense.  In this I will confide, trusting your own fate in
+your own hands for the space of twenty-four hours, without my
+interference by word or act."
+
+"Do you promise me this, Tressilian?"  said the Countess.  "Is it
+possible you can yet repose so much confidence in me?  Do you
+promise, as you are a gentleman and a man of honour, to intrude
+in my matters neither by speech nor action, whatever you may see
+or hear that seems to you to demand your interference?  Will you
+so far trust me?"
+
+"I will upon my honour," said Tressilian; "but when that space is
+expired--"
+
+"Then that space is expired," she said, interrupting him, "you
+are free to act as your judgment shall determine."
+
+"Is there nought besides which I can do for you, Amy?"  said
+Tressilian.
+
+"Nothing," said she, "save to leave me,--that is, if--I blush to
+acknowledge my helplessness by asking it--if you can spare me the
+use of this apartment for the next twenty-four hours."
+
+"This is most wonderful!"  said Tressilian; "what hope or
+interest can you have in a Castle where you cannot command even
+an apartment?"
+
+"Argue not, but leave me," she said; and added, as he slowly and
+unwillingly retired, "Generous Edmund!  the time may come when
+Amy may show she deserved thy noble attachment."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+  What, man, ne'er lack a draught, when the full can
+  Stands at thine elbow, and craves emptying!--
+  Nay, fear not me, for I have no delight
+  To watch men's vices, since I have myself
+  Of virtue nought to boast of--I'm a striker,
+  Would have the world strike with me, pell-mell, all.
+                                            PANDEMONIUM.
+
+Tressilian, in strange agitation of mind, had hardly stepped down
+the first two or three steps of the winding staircase, when,
+greatly to his surprise and displeasure, he met Michael
+Lambourne, wearing an impudent familiarity of visage, for which
+Tressilian felt much disposed to throw him down-stairs; until he
+remembered the prejudice which Amy, the only object of his
+solicitude, was likely to receive from his engaging in any act of
+violence at that time and in that place.
+
+He therefore contented himself with looking sternly upon
+Lambourne, as upon one whom he deemed unworthy of notice, and
+attempted to pass him in his way downstairs, without any symptom
+of recognition.  But Lambourne, who, amidst the profusion of that
+day's hospitality, had not failed to take a deep though not an
+overpowering cup of sack, was not in the humour of humbling
+himself before any man's looks.  He stopped Tressilian upon the
+staircase without the least bashfulness or embarrassment, and
+addressed him as if he had been on kind and intimate terms:--
+"What, no grudge between us, I hope, upon old scores, Master
+Tressilian?--nay, I am one who remembers former kindness rather
+than latter feud.  I'll convince you that I meant honestly and
+kindly, ay, and comfortably by you."
+
+"I desire none of your intimacy," said Tressilian--"keep company
+with your mates."
+
+"Now, see how hasty he is!"  said Lambourne; "and how these
+gentles, that are made questionless out of the porcelain clay of
+the earth, look down upon poor Michael Lambourne!  You would take
+Master Tressilian now for the most maid-like, modest, simpering
+squire of dames that ever made love when candles were long i' the
+stuff--snuff; call you it?  Why, you would play the saint on us,
+Master Tressilian, and forget that even now thou hast a commodity
+in thy very bedchamber, to the shame of my lord's castle, ha!
+ha!  ha!  Have I touched you, Master Tressilian?"
+
+"I know not what you mean," said Tressilian, inferring, however,
+too surely, that this licentious ruffian must have been sensible
+of Amy's presence in his apartment; 'i but if," he continued,
+"thou art varlet of the chambers, and lackest a fee, there is one
+to leave mine unmolested."
+
+Lambourne looked at the piece of gold, and put it in his pocket
+saying, "Now, I know not but you might have done more with me by
+a kind word than by this chiming rogue.  But after all he pays
+well that pays with gold; and Mike Lambourne was never a
+makebate, or a spoil-sport, or the like.  E'en live, and let
+others live, that is my motto-only, I would not let some folks
+cock their beaver at me neither, as if they were made of silver
+ore, and I of Dutch pewter.  So if I keep your secret, Master
+Tressilian, you may look sweet on me at least; and were I to want
+a little backing or countenance, being caught, as you see the
+best of us may be, in a sort of peccadillo--why, you owe it me--
+and so e'en make your chamber serve you and that same bird in
+bower beside--it's all one to Mike Lambourne."
+
+"Make way, sir," said Tressilian, unable to bridle his
+indignation, "you have had your fee."
+
+"Um!"  said Lambourne, giving place, however, while he sulkily
+muttered between his teeth, repeating Tressilian's words, "Make
+way--and you have had your fee; but it matters not, I will spoil
+no sport, as I said before.  I am no dog in the manger--mind
+that."
+
+He spoke louder and louder, as Tressilian, by whom he felt
+himself overawed, got farther and farther out of hearing.
+
+"I am no dog in the manger; but I will not carry coals neither--
+mind that, Master Tressilian; and I will have a peep at this
+wench whom you have quartered so commodiously in your old haunted
+room--afraid of ghosts, belike, and not too willing to sleep
+alone.  If I had done this now in a strange lord's castle, the
+word had been, The porter's lodge for the knave!  and, have him
+flogged--trundle him downstairs like a turnip!  Ay, but your
+virtuous gentlemen take strange privileges over us, who are
+downright servants of our senses.  Well--I have my Master
+Tressilian's head under my belt by this lucky discovery, that is
+one thing certain; and I will try to get a sight of this
+Lindabrides of his, that is another."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+  Now fare thee well, my master--if true service
+  Be guerdon'd with hard looks, e'en cut the tow-line,
+  And let our barks across the pathless flood
+  Hold different courses--        THE SHIPWRECK.
+
+Tressilian walked into the outer yard of the Castle scarce
+knowing what to think of his late strange and most unexpected
+interview with Amy Robsart, and dubious if he had done well,
+being entrusted with the delegated authority of her father, to
+pass his word so solemnly to leave her to her own guidance for so
+many hours.  Yet how could he have denied her request--dependent
+as she had too probably rendered herself upon Varney?  Such was
+his natural reasoning.  The happiness of her future life might
+depend upon his not driving her to extremities; and since no
+authority of Tressilian's could extricate her from the power of
+Varney, supposing he was to acknowledge Amy to be his wife, what
+title had he to destroy the hope of domestic peace, which might
+yet remain to her, by setting enmity betwixt them?  Tressilian
+resolved, therefore, scrupulously to observe his word pledged to
+Amy, both because it had been given, and because, as he still
+thought, while he considered and reconsidered that extraordinary
+interview, it could not with justice or propriety have been
+refused.
+
+In one respect, he had gained much towards securing effectual
+protection for this unhappy and still beloved object of his early
+affection.  Amy was no longer mewed up in a distant and solitary
+retreat under the charge of persons of doubtful reputation.  She
+was in the Castle of Kenilworth, within the verge of the Royal
+Court for the time, free from all risk of violence, and liable to
+be produced before Elizabeth on the first summons.  These were
+circumstances which could not but assist greatly the efforts
+which he might have occasion to use in her behalf.
+
+While he was thus balancing the advantages and perils which
+attended her unexpected presence in Kenilworth, Tressilian was
+hastily and anxiously accosted by Wayland, who, after
+ejaculating, "Thank God, your worship is found at last!"
+proceeded with breathless caution to pour into his ear the
+intelligence that the lady had escaped from Cumnor Place.
+
+"And is at present in this Castle," said Tressilian.  "I know it,
+and I have seen her.  Was it by her own choice she found refuge
+in my apartment?"
+
+"No," answered Wayland; "but I could think of no other way of
+safely bestowing her, and was but too happy to find a deputy-
+usher who knew where you were quartered--in jolly society truly,
+the hall on the one hand, and the kitchen on the other!"
+
+"Peace, this is no time for jesting," answered Tressilian
+sternly.
+
+"I wot that but too well," said the artist, "for I have felt
+these three days as if I had a halter round my neck.  This lady
+knows not her own mind--she will have none of your aid--commands
+you not to be named to her--and is about to put herself into the
+hands of my Lord Leicester.  I had never got her safe into your
+chamber, had she known the owner of it."
+
+"Is it possible"" said Tressilian.  "But she may have hopes the
+Earl will exert his influence in her favour over his villainous
+dependant."
+
+"I know nothing of that," said Wayland; "but I believe, if she is
+to reconcile herself with either Leicester or Varney, the side of
+the Castle of Kenilworth which will be safest for us will be the
+outside, from which we can fastest fly away.  It is not my
+purpose to abide an instant after delivery of the letter to
+Leicester, which waits but your commands to find its way to him.
+See, here it is--but no--a plague on it--I must have left it in
+my dog-hole, in the hay-loft yonder, where I am to sleep."
+
+"Death and fury!"  said Tressilian, transported beyond his usual
+patience; "thou hast not lost that on which may depend a stake
+more important than a thousand such lives as thine?"
+
+"Lost it!"  answered Wayland readily; "that were a jest indeed!
+No, sir, I have it carefully put up with my night-sack, and some
+matters I have occasion to use; I will fetch it in an instant."
+
+"Do so," said Tressilian; "be faithful, and thou shalt be well
+rewarded.  But if I have reason to suspect thee, a dead dog were
+in better case than thou!"
+
+Wayland bowed, and took his leave with seeming confidence and
+alacrity, but, in fact, filled with the utmost dread and
+confusion.  The letter was lost, that was certain,
+notwithstanding the apology which he had made to appease the
+impatient displeasure of Tressilian.  It was lost--it might fall
+into wrong hands--it would then certainly occasion a discovery of
+the whole intrigue in which he had been engaged; nor, indeed, did
+Wayland see much prospect of its remaining concealed, in any
+event.  He felt much hurt, besides, at Tressilian's burst of
+impatience.
+
+"Nay, if I am to be paid in this coin for services where my neck
+is concerned, it is time I should look to myself.  Here have I
+offended, for aught I know, to the death, the lord of this
+stately castle, whose word were as powerful to take away my life
+as the breath which speaks it to blow out a farthing candle.  And
+all this for a mad lady, and a melancholy gallant, who, on the
+loss of a four-nooked bit of paper, has his hand on his poignado,
+and swears death and fury!--Then there is the Doctor and Varney.
+--I will save myself from the whole mess of them.  Life is dearer
+than gold.  I will fly this instant, though I leave my reward
+behind me."
+
+These reflections naturally enough occurred to a mind like
+Wayland's, who found himself engaged far deeper than he had
+expected in a train of mysterious and unintelligible intrigues,
+in which the actors seemed hardly to know their own course.  And
+yet, to do him justice, his personal fears were, in some degree,
+counterbalanced by his compassion for the deserted state of the
+lady.
+
+"I care not a groat for Master Tressilian," he said; "I have done
+more than bargain by him, and I have brought his errant-damosel
+within his reach, so that he may look after her himself.  But I
+fear the poor thing is in much danger amongst these stormy
+spirits.  I will to her chamber, and tell her the fate which has
+befallen her letter, that she may write another if she list.  She
+cannot lack a messenger, I trow, where there are so many lackeys
+that can carry a letter to their lord.  And I will tell her also
+that I leave the Castle, trusting her to God, her own guidance,
+and Master Tressilian's care and looking after.  Perhaps she may
+remember the ring she offered me--it was well earned, I trow; but
+she is a lovely creature, and--marry hang the ring!  I will not
+bear a base spirit for the matter.  If I fare ill in this world
+for my good-nature, I shall have better chance in the next.  So
+now for the lady, and then for the road."
+
+With the stealthy step and jealous eye of the cat that steals on
+her prey, Wayland resumed the way to the Countess's chamber,
+sliding along by the side of the courts and passages, alike
+observant of all around him, and studious himself to escape
+observation.  In this manner he crossed the outward and inward
+Castle yard, and the great arched passage, which, running betwixt
+the range of kitchen offices and the hall, led to the bottom of
+the little winding-stair that gave access to the chambers of
+Mervyn's Tower.
+
+The artist congratulated himself on having escaped the various
+perils of his journey, and was in the act of ascending by two
+steps at once, when he observed that the shadow of a man, thrown
+from a door which stood ajar, darkened the opposite wall of the
+staircase.  Wayland drew back cautiously, went down to the inner
+courtyard, spent about a quarter of an hour, which seemed at
+least quadruple its usual duration, in walking from place to
+place, and then returned to the tower, in hopes to find that the
+lurker had disappeared.  He ascended as high as the suspicious
+spot--there was no shadow on the wall; he ascended a few yards
+farther--the door was still ajar, and he was doubtful whether to
+advance or retreat, when it was suddenly thrown wide open, and
+Michael Lambourne bolted out upon the astonished Wayland.  "Who
+the devil art thou?  and what seekest thou in this part of the
+Castle?  march into that chamber, and be hanged to thee!"
+
+"I am no dog, to go at every man's whistle," said the artist,
+affecting a confidence which was belied by a timid shake in his
+voice.
+
+"Sayest thou me so?--Come hither, Lawrence Staples."
+
+A huge, ill-made and ill-looked fellow, upwards of six feet high,
+appeared at the door, and Lambourne proceeded:  "If thou be'st so
+fond of this tower, my friend, thou shalt see its foundations,
+good twelve feet below the bed of the lake, and tenanted by
+certain jolly toads, snakes, and so forth, which thou wilt find
+mighty good company.  Therefore, once more I ask you in fair
+play, who thou art, and what thou seekest here?"
+
+"If the dungeon-grate once clashes behind me," thought Wayland,
+"I am a gone man." He therefore answered submissively, "He was
+the poor juggler whom his honour had met yesterday in Weatherly
+Bottom."
+
+"And what juggling trick art thou playing in this tower?  Thy
+gang," said Lambourne, "lie over against Clinton's buildings."
+
+"I came here to see my sister," said the juggler, "who is in
+Master Tressilian's chamber, just above."
+
+"Aha!"  said Lambourne, smiling, "here be truths!  Upon my
+honour, for a stranger, this same Master Tressilian makes himself
+at home among us, and furnishes out his cell handsomely, with all
+sorts of commodities.  This will be a precious tale of the
+sainted Master Tressilian, and will be welcome to some folks, as
+a purse of broad pieces to me.--Hark ye, fellow," he continued,
+addressing Wayland, "thou shalt not give Puss a hint to steal
+away we must catch her in her form.  So, back with that pitiful
+sheep-biting visage of thine, or I will fling thee from the
+window of the tower, and try if your juggling skill can save your
+bones."
+
+"Your worship will not be so hardhearted, I trust," said Wayland;
+"poor folk must live.  I trust your honour will allow me to speak
+with my sister?"
+
+"Sister on Adam's side, I warrant," said Lambourne; "or, if
+otherwise, the more knave thou.  But sister or no sister.  thou
+diest on point of fox, if thou comest a-prying to this tower once
+more.  And now I think of it--uds daggers and death!--I will see
+thee out of the Castle, for this is a more main concern than thy
+jugglery."
+
+"But, please your worship," said Wayland, "I am to enact Arion in
+the pageant upon the lake this very evening."
+
+"I will act it myself by Saint Christopher!"  said Lambourne.
+"Orion, callest thou him?--I will act Orion, his belt and his
+seven stars to boot.  Come along, for a rascal knave as thou art
+--follow me!  Or stay--Lawrence, do thou bring him along."
+
+Lawrence seized by the collar of the cloak the unresisting
+juggler; while Lambourne, with hasty steps, led the way to that
+same sallyport, or secret postern, by which Tressilian had
+returned to the Castle, and which opened in the western wall at
+no great distance from Mervyn's Tower.
+
+While traversing with a rapid foot the space betwixt the tower
+and the sallyport, Wayland in vain racked his brain for some
+device which might avail the poor lady, for whom, notwithstanding
+his own imminent danger, he felt deep interest.  But when he was
+thrust out of the Castle, and informed by Lambourne, with a
+tremendous oath, that instant death would be the consequence of
+his again approaching it, he cast up his hands and eyes to
+heaven, as if to call God to witness he had stood to the
+uttermost in defence of the oppressed; then turned his back on
+the proud towers of Kenilworth, and went his way to seek a
+humbler and safer place of refuge.
+
+Lawrence and Lambourne gazed a little while after Wayland, and
+then turned to go back to their tower, when the former thus
+addressed his companion:  "Never credit me, Master Lambourne, if
+I can guess why thou hast driven this poor caitiff from the
+Castle, just when he was to bear a part in the show that was
+beginning, and all this about a wench,"
+
+"Ah, Lawrence," replied Lambourne, "thou art thinking of Black
+Joan Jugges of Slingdon, and hast sympathy with human frailty.
+But, corragio, most noble Duke of the Dungeon and Lord of Limbo,
+for thou art as dark in this matter as thine own dominions of
+Little-ease.  My most reverend Signior of the Low Countries of
+Kenilworth, know that our most notable master, Richard Varney,
+would give as much to have a hole in this same Tressilian's coat,
+as would make us some fifty midnight carousals, with the full
+leave of bidding the steward go snick up, if he came to startle
+us too soon from our goblets."
+
+"Nay, an that be the case, thou hast right," said Lawrence
+Staples, the upper-warder, or, in common phrase, the first
+jailer, of Kenilworth Castle, and of the Liberty and Honour
+belonging thereto.  "But how will you manage when you are absent
+at the Queen's entrance, Master Lambourne; for methinks thou must
+attend thy master there?"
+
+"Why thou, mine honest prince of prisons, must keep ward in my
+absence.  Let Tressilian enter if he will, but see thou let no
+one come out.  If the damsel herself would make a break, as 'tis
+not unlike she may, scare her back with rough words; she is but a
+paltry player's wench after all."
+
+"Nay for that matter," said Lawrence, "I might shut the iron
+wicket upon her that stands without the double door, and so force
+per force she will be bound to her answer without more trouble."
+
+"Then Tressilian will not get access to her," said Lambourne,
+reflecting a moment.  "But 'tis no matter; she will be detected
+in his chamber, and that is all one.  But confess, thou old
+bat's-eyed dungeon-keeper, that you fear to keep awake by
+yourself in that Mervyn's Tower of thine?"
+
+"Why, as to fear, Master Lambourne," said the fellow, "I mind it
+not the turning of a key; but strange things have been heard and
+seen in that tower.  You must have heard, for as short time as
+you have been in Kenilworth, that it is haunted by the spirit of
+Arthur ap Mervyn, a wild chief taken by fierce Lord Mortimer when
+he was one of the Lords Marchers of Wales, and murdered, as they
+say, in that same tower which bears his name."
+
+"Oh, I have heard the tale five hundred times," said Lambourne,
+"and how the ghost is always most vociferous when they boil leeks
+and stirabout, or fry toasted cheese, in the culinary regions.
+Santo Diavolo, man, hold thy tongue, I know all about it!"
+
+"Ay, but thou dost not, though," said the turnkey, " for as wise
+as thou wouldst make thyself.  Ah, it is an awful thing to murder
+a prisoner in his ward!--you that may have given a man a stab in
+a dark street know nothing of it.  To give a mutinous fellow a
+knock on the head with the keys, and bid him be quiet, that's
+what I call keeping order in the ward; but to draw weapon and
+slay him, as was done to this Welsh lord, THAT raises you a ghost
+that will render your prison-house untenantable by any decent
+captive for some hundred years.  And I have that regard for my
+prisoners, poor things, that I have put good squires and men of
+worship, that have taken a ride on the highway, or slandered my
+Lord of Leicester, or the like, fifty feet under ground, rather
+than I would put them into that upper chamber yonder that they
+call Mervyn's Bower.  Indeed, by good Saint Peter of the Fetters,
+I marvel my noble lord, or Master Varney, could think of lodging
+guests there; and if this Master Tressilian could get any one to
+keep him company, and in especial a pretty wench, why, truly, I
+think he was in the right on't."
+
+"I tell thee," said Lambourne, leading the way into the turnkey's
+apartment, "thou art an ass.  Go bolt the wicket on the stair,
+and trouble not thy noddle about ghosts.  Give me the wine stoup,
+man; I am somewhat heated with chafing with yonder rascal."
+
+While Lambourne drew a long draught from a pitcher of claret,
+which he made use of without any cup, the warder went on,
+vindicating his own belief in the supernatural.
+
+"Thou hast been few hours in this Castle, and hast been for the
+whole space so drunk, Lambourne, that thou art deaf, dumb, and
+blind.  But we should hear less of your bragging were you to pass
+a night with us at full moon; for then the ghost is busiest, and
+more especially when a rattling wind sets in from the north-west,
+with some sprinkling of rain, and now and then a growl of
+thunder.  Body o' me, what crackings and clashings, what
+groanings and what howlings, will there be at such times in
+Mervyn's Bower, right as it were over our heads, till the matter
+of two quarts of distilled waters has not been enough to keep my
+lads and me in some heart!"
+
+"Pshaw, man!"  replied Lambourne, on whom his last draught,
+joined to repeated visitations of the pitcher upon former
+occasions, began to make some innovation, "thou speakest thou
+knowest not what about spirits.  No one knows justly what to say
+about them; and, in short, least said may in that matter be
+soonest amended. Some men believe in one thing, some in another
+--it is all matter of fancy.  I have known them of all sorts, my
+dear Lawrence Lock-the-door, and sensible men too.  There's a
+great lord--we'll pass his name, Lawrence--he believes in the
+stars and the moon, the planets and their courses, and so forth,
+and that they twinkle exclusively for his benefit, when in sober,
+or rather in drunken truth, Lawrence, they are only shining to
+keep honest fellows like me out of the kennel.  Well, sir, let
+his humour pass; he is great enough to indulge it.  Then, look
+ye, there is another--a very learned man, I promise you, and can
+vent Greek and Hebrew as fast as I can Thieves' Latin he has an
+humour of sympathies and antipathies--of changing lead into gold,
+and the like; why, via, let that pass too, and let him pay those
+in transmigrated coin who are fools enough to let it be current
+with them.  Then here comest thou thyself, another great man,
+though neither learned nor noble, yet full six feet high, and
+thou, like a purblind mole, must needs believe in ghosts and
+goblins, and such like.  Now, there is, besides, a great man--
+that is, a great little man, or a little great man, my dear
+Lawrence--and his name begins with V, and what believes he?  Why,
+nothing, honest Lawrence--nothing in earth, heaven, or hell; and
+for my part, if I believe there is a devil, it is only because I
+think there must be some one to catch our aforesaid friend by the
+back 'when soul and body sever,' as the ballad says; for your
+antecedent will have a consequent--RARO ANTECEDENTEM, as Doctor
+Bircham was wont to say.  But this is Greek to you now, honest
+Lawrence, and in sooth learning is dry work.  Hand me the pitcher
+once more."
+
+"In faith, if you drink more, Michael," said the warder, "you
+will be in sorry case either to play Arion or to wait on your
+master on such a solemn night; and I expect each moment to hear
+the great bell toll for the muster at Mortimer's Tower, to
+receive the Queen."
+
+While Staples remonstrated, Lambourne drank; and then setting
+down the pitcher, which was nearly emptied, with a deep sigh, he
+said, in an undertone, which soon rose to a high one as his
+speech proceeded, "Never mind, Lawrence; if I be drunk, I know
+that shall make Varney uphold me sober.  But, as I said, never
+mind; I can carry my drink discreetly.  Moreover, I am to go on
+the water as Orion, and shall take cold unless I take something
+comfortable beforehand.  Not play Orion?  Let us see the best
+roarer that ever strained his lungs for twelve pence out-mouth
+me!  What if they see me a little disguised?  Wherefore should
+any man be sober to-night?  answer me that.  It is matter of
+loyalty to be merry; and I tell thee there are those in the
+Castle who, if they are not merry when drunk, have little chance
+to be merry when sober--I name no names, Lawrence.  But your
+pottle of sack is a fine shoeing-horn to pull on a loyal humour,
+and a merry one.  Huzza for Queen Elizabeth!--for the noble
+Leicester!--for the worshipful Master Varney!--and for Michael
+Lambourne, that can turn them all round his finger!"
+
+So saying, he walked downstairs, and across the inner court.
+
+The warder looked after him, shook his head, and while he drew
+close and locked a wicket, which, crossing the staircase,
+rendered it impossible for any one to ascend higher than the
+story immediately beneath Mervyn's Bower, as Tressilian's chamber
+was named, he thus soliloquized with himself--"It's a good thing
+to be a favourite.  I well-nigh lost mine office, because one
+frosty morning Master Varney thought I smelled of aqua vitae; and
+this fellow can appear before him drunk as a wineskin, and yet
+meet no rebuke.  But then he is a pestilent clever fellow withal,
+and no one can understand above one half of what he says."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+  Now bid the steeple rock--she comes, she comes!--
+  Speak for us, bells--speak for us, shrill-tongued tuckets.
+  Stand to thy linstock, gunner; let thy cannon
+  Play such a peal, as if a paynim foe
+  Came stretch'd in turban'd ranks to storm the ramparts.
+  We will have pageants too--but that craves wit,
+  And I'm a rough-hewn soldier.  THE VIRGIN QUEEN--A TRAGI-COMEDY.
+
+Tressilian, when Wayland had left him, as mentioned in the last
+chapter, remained uncertain what he ought next to do, when
+Raleigh and Blount came up to him arm in arm, yet, according to
+their wont, very eagerly disputing together.  Tressilian had no
+great desire for their society in the present state of his
+feelings, but there was no possibility of avoiding them; and
+indeed he felt that, bound by his promise not to approach Amy, or
+take any step in her behalf, it would be his best course at once
+to mix with general society, and to exhibit on his brow as little
+as he could of the anguish and uncertainty which sat heavy at his
+heart.  He therefore made a virtue of necessity, and hailed his
+comrades with, "All mirth to you, gentlemen!  Whence come ye?"
+
+"From Warwick, to be sure," said Blount; "we must needs home to
+change our habits, like poor players, who are fain to multiply
+their persons to outward appearance by change of suits; and you
+had better do the like, Tressilian."
+
+"Blount is right," said Raleigh; "the Queen loves such marks of
+deference, and notices, as wanting in respect, those who, not
+arriving in her immediate attendance, may appear in their soiled
+and ruffled riding-dress.  But look at Blount himself,
+Tressilian, for the love of laughter, and see how his villainous
+tailor hath apparelled him--in blue, green, and crimson, with
+carnation ribbons, and yellow roses in his shoes!"
+
+"Why, what wouldst thou have?"  said Blount.  "I told the cross-
+legged thief to do his best, and spare no cost; and methinks
+these things are gay enough--gayer than thine own.  I'll be
+judged by Tressilian."
+
+"I agree--I agree," said Walter Raleigh.  "Judge betwixt us,
+Tressilian, for the love of heaven!"
+
+Tressilian, thus appealed to, looked at them both, and was
+immediately sensible at a single glance that honest Blount had
+taken upon the tailor's warrant the pied garments which he had
+chosen to make, and was as much embarrassed by the quantity of
+points and ribbons which garnished his dress, as a clown is in
+his holiday clothes; while the dress of Raleigh was a well-
+fancied and rich suit, which the wearer bore as a garb too well
+adapted to his elegant person to attract particular attention.
+Tressilian said, therefore, "That Blount's dress was finest, but
+Raleigh's the best fancied."
+
+Blount was satisfied with his decision.  "I knew mine was
+finest," he said; "if that knave Doublestitch had brought me home
+such a simple doublet as that of Raleigh's, I would have beat his
+brains out with his own pressing-iron.  Nay, if we must be fools,
+ever let us be fools of the first head, say I."
+
+"But why gettest thou not on thy braveries, Tressilian?"  said
+Raleigh.
+
+"I am excluded from my apartment by a silly mistake," said
+Tressilian, "and separated for the time from my baggage.  I was
+about to seek thee, to beseech a share of thy lodging."
+
+"And welcome," said Raleigh; "it is a noble one.  My Lord of
+Leicester has done us that kindness, and lodged us in princely
+fashion.  If his courtesy be extorted reluctantly, it is at least
+extended far.  I would advise you to tell your strait to the
+Earl's chamberlain--you will have instant redress."
+
+"Nay, it is not worth while, since you can spare me room,"
+replied Tressilian--"I would not be troublesome.  Has any one
+come hither with you?"
+
+"Oh, ay," said Blount; "Varney and a whole tribe of Leicestrians,
+besides about a score of us honest Sussex folk.  We are all, it
+seems, to receive the Queen at what they call the Gallery-tower,
+and witness some fooleries there; and then we're to remain in
+attendance upon the Queen in the Great Hall--God bless the mark!
+--while those who are now waiting upon her Grace get rid of their
+slough, and doff their riding-suits.  Heaven help me, if her
+Grace should speak to me, I shall never know what to answer!"
+
+"And what has detained them so long at Warwick?"  said
+Tressilian, unwilling that their conversation should return to
+his own affairs.
+
+"Such a succession of fooleries," said Blount, "as were never
+seen at Bartholomew-fair.  We have had speeches and players, and
+dogs and bears, and men making monkeys and women moppets of
+themselves--I marvel the Queen could endure it.  But ever and
+anon came in something of 'the lovely light of her gracious
+countenance,' or some such trash.  Ah!  vanity makes a fool of
+the wisest.  But come, let us on to this same Gallery-tower--
+though I see not what thou Tressilian, canst do with thy riding-
+dress and boots."
+
+"I will take my station behind thee, Blount," said Tressilian,
+who saw that his friend's unusual finery had taken a strong hold
+of his imagination; "thy goodly size and gay dress will cover my
+defects."
+
+"And so thou shalt, Edmund," said Blount.  "In faith I am glad
+thou thinkest my garb well-fancied, for all Mr. Wittypate here;
+for when one does a foolish thing, it is right to do it
+handsomely."
+
+So saying, Blount cocked his beaver, threw out his leg, and
+marched manfully forward, as if at the head of his brigade of
+pikemen, ever and anon looking with complaisance on his crimson
+stockings, and the huge yellow roses which blossomed on his
+shoes.  Tressilian followed, wrapt in his own sad thoughts, and
+scarce minding Raleigh, whose quick fancy, amused by the awkward
+vanity of his respectable friend, vented itself in jests, which
+he whispered into Tressilian's ear.
+
+In this manner they crossed the long bridge, or tilt-yard, and
+took their station, with other gentlemen of quality, before the
+outer gate of the Gallery, or Entrance-tower.  The whole amounted
+to about forty persons, all selected as of the first rank under
+that of knighthood, and were disposed in double rows on either
+side of the gate, like a guard of honour, within the close hedge
+of pikes and partisans which was formed by Leicester's retainers,
+wearing his liveries.  The gentlemen carried no arms save their
+swords and daggers.  These gallants were as gaily dressed as
+imagination could devise; and as the garb of the time permitted a
+great display of expensive magnificence, nought was to be seen
+but velvet and cloth of gold and silver, ribbons, leathers, gems,
+and golden chains.  In spite of his more serious subjects of
+distress, Tressilian could not help feeling that he, with his
+riding-suit, however handsome it might be, made rather an
+unworthy figure among these "fierce vanities," and the rather
+because he saw that his deshabille was the subject of wonder
+among his own friends, and of scorn among the partisans of
+Leicester.
+
+We could not suppress this fact, though it may seem something at
+variance with the gravity of Tressilian's character; but the
+truth is, that a regard for personal appearance is a species of
+self-love, from which the wisest are not exempt, and to which the
+mind clings so instinctively that not only the soldier advancing
+to almost inevitable death, but even the doomed criminal who goes
+to certain execution, shows an anxiety to array his person to the
+best advantage.  But this is a digression.
+
+It was the twilight of a summer night (9th July, 1575), the sun
+having for some time set, and all were in anxious expectation of
+the Queen's immediate approach.  The multitude had remained
+assembled for many hours, and their numbers were still rather on
+the increase.  A profuse distribution of refreshments, together
+with roasted oxen, and barrels of ale set a-broach in different
+places of the road, had kept the populace in perfect love and
+loyalty towards the Queen and her favourite, which might have
+somewhat abated had fasting been added to watching.  They passed
+away the time, therefore, with the usual popular amusements of
+whooping, hallooing, shrieking, and playing rude tricks upon each
+other, forming the chorus of discordant sounds usual on such
+occasions.  These prevailed all through the crowded roads and
+fields, and especially beyond the gate of the Chase, where the
+greater number of the common sort were stationed; when, all of a
+sudden, a single rocket was seen to shoot into the atmosphere,
+and, at the instant, far heard over flood and field, the great
+bell of the Castle tolled.
+
+Immediately there was a pause of dead silence, succeeded by a
+deep hum of expectation, the united voice of many thousands, none
+of whom spoke above their breath--or, to use a singular
+expression, the whisper of an immense multitude.
+
+"They come now, for certain," said Raleigh.  "Tressilian, that
+sound is grand.  We hear it from this distance as mariners, after
+a long voyage, hear, upon their night-watch, the tide rush upon
+some distant and unknown shore."
+
+"Mass!"  answered Blount, "I hear it rather as I used to hear
+mine own kine lowing from the close of Wittenswestlowe."
+
+"He will assuredly graze presently," said Raleigh to Tressilian;
+"his thought is all of fat oxen and fertile meadows.  He grows
+little better than one of his own beeves, and only becomes grand
+when he is provoked to pushing and goring."
+
+"We shall have him at that presently," said Tressilian, "if you
+spare not your wit."
+
+"Tush, I care not," answered Raleigh; "but thou too, Tressilian,
+hast turned a kind of owl, that flies only by night--hast
+exchanged thy songs for screechings, and good company for an ivy-
+tod."
+
+"But what manner of animal art thou thyself, Raleigh," said
+Tressilian, "that thou holdest us all so lightly?"
+
+"Who--I?"  replied Raleigh.  "An eagle am I, that never will
+think of dull earth while there is a heaven to soar in, and a sun
+to gaze upon."
+
+"Well bragged, by Saint Barnaby!"  said Blount; "but, good Master
+Eagle, beware the cage, and beware the fowler.  Many birds have
+flown as high that I have seen stuffed with straw and hung up to
+scare kites.--But hark, what a dead silence hath fallen on them
+at once!"
+
+"The procession pauses," said Raleigh, "at the gate of the Chase,
+where a sibyl, one of the FATIDICAE, meets the Queen, to tell her
+fortune.  I saw the verses; there is little savour in them, and
+her Grace has been already crammed full with such poetical
+compliments.  She whispered to me, during the Recorder's speech
+yonder, at Ford-mill, as she entered the liberties of Warwick,
+how she was 'PERTAESA BARBARAE LOQUELAE.'"
+
+"The Queen whispered to HIM!"  said Blount, in a kind of
+soliloquy; "Good God, to what will this world come!"
+
+His further meditations were interrupted by a shout of applause
+from the multitude, so tremendously vociferous that the country
+echoed for miles round.  The guards, thickly stationed upon the
+road by which the Queen was to advance, caught up the
+acclamation, which ran like wildfire to the Castle, and announced
+to all within that Queen Elizabeth had entered the Royal Chase of
+Kenilworth.  The whole music of the Castle sounded at once, and a
+round of artillery, with a salvo of small arms, was discharged
+from the battlements; but the noise of drums and trumpets, and
+even of the cannon themselves, was but faintly heard amidst the
+roaring and reiterated welcomes of the multitude.
+
+As the noise began to abate, a broad glare of light was seen to
+appear from the gate of the Park, and broadening and brightening
+as it came nearer, advanced along the open and fair avenue that
+led towards the Gallery-tower; and which, as we have already
+noticed, was lined on either hand by the retainers of the Earl of
+Leicester.  The word was passed along the line, "The Queen!  The
+Queen!  Silence, and stand fast!"  Onward came the cavalcade,
+illuminated by two hundred thick waxen torches, in the hands of
+as many horsemen, which cast a light like that of broad day all
+around the procession, but especially on the principal group, of
+which the Queen herself, arrayed in the most splendid manner, and
+blazing with jewels, formed the central figure.  She was mounted
+on a milk-white horse, which she reined with peculiar grace and
+dignity; and in the whole of her stately and noble carriage you
+saw the daughter of an hundred kings.
+
+The ladies of the court, who rode beside her Majesty, had taken
+especial care that their own external appearance should not be
+more glorious than their rank and the occasion altogether
+demanded, so that no inferior luminary might appear to approach
+the orbit of royalty.  But their personal charms, and the
+magnificence by which, under every prudential restraint, they
+were necessarily distinguished, exhibited them as the very flower
+of a realm so far famed for splendour and beauty.  The
+magnificence of the courtiers, free from such restraints as
+prudence imposed on the ladies, was yet more unbounded.
+
+Leicester, who glittered like a golden image with jewels and
+cloth of gold, rode on her Majesty's right hand, as well in
+quality of her host as of her master of the horse.  The black
+steed which he mounted had not a single white hair on his body,
+and was one of the most renowned chargers in Europe, having been
+purchased by the Earl at large expense for this royal occasion.
+As the noble animal chafed at the slow pace of the procession,
+and, arching his stately neck, champed on the silver bits which
+restrained him, the foam flew from his mouth, and speckled his
+well-formed limbs as if with spots of snow.  The rider well
+became the high place which he held, and the proud steed which he
+bestrode; for no man in England, or perhaps in Europe, was more
+perfect than Dudley in horsemanship, and all other exercises
+belonging to his quality.  He was bareheaded as were all the
+courtiers in the train; and the red torchlight shone upon his
+long, curled tresses of dark hair, and on his noble features, to
+the beauty of which even the severest criticism could only object
+the lordly fault, as it may be termed, of a forehead somewhat too
+high.  On that proud evening those features wore all the grateful
+solicitude of a subject, to show himself sensible of the high
+honour which the Queen was conferring on him, and all the pride
+and satisfaction which became so glorious a moment.  Yet, though
+neither eye nor feature betrayed aught but feelings which suited
+the occasion, some of the Earl's personal attendants remarked
+that he was unusually pale, and they expressed to each other
+their fear that he was taking more fatigue than consisted with
+his health.
+
+Varney followed close behind his master, as the principal esquire
+in waiting, and had charge of his lordship's black velvet bonnet,
+garnished with a clasp of diamonds and surmounted by a white
+plume.  He kept his eye constantly on his master, and, for
+reasons with which the reader is not unacquainted, was, among
+Leicester's numerous dependants, the one who was most anxious
+that his lord's strength and resolution should carry him
+successfully through a day so agitating.  For although Varney was
+one of the few, the very few moral monsters who contrive to lull
+to sleep the remorse of their own bosoms, and are drugged into
+moral insensibility by atheism, as men in extreme agony are
+lulled by opium, yet he knew that in the breast of his patron
+there was already awakened the fire that is never quenched, and
+that his lord felt, amid all the pomp and magnificence we have
+described, the gnawing of the worm that dieth not.  Still,
+however, assured as Lord Leicester stood, by Varney's own
+intelligence, that his Countess laboured under an indisposition
+which formed an unanswerable apology to the Queen for her not
+appearing at Kenilworth, there was little danger, his wily
+retainer thought, that a man so ambitious would betray himself by
+giving way to any external weakness.
+
+The train, male and female, who attended immediately upon the
+Queen's person, were, of course, of the bravest and the fairest
+--the highest born nobles, and the wisest counsellors, of that
+distinguished reign, to repeat whose names were but to weary the
+reader.  Behind came a long crowd of knights and gentlemen, whose
+rank and birth, however distinguished, were thrown into shade, as
+their persons into the rear of a procession whose front was of
+such august majesty.
+
+Thus marshalled, the cavalcade approached the Gallery-tower,
+which formed, as we have often observed, the extreme barrier of
+the Castle.
+
+It was now the part of the huge porter to step forward; but the
+lubbard was so overwhelmed with confusion of spirit--the contents
+of one immense black jack of double ale, which he had just drunk
+to quicken his memory, having treacherously confused the brain it
+was intended to clear--that he only groaned piteously, and
+remained sitting on his stone seat; and the Queen would have
+passed on without greeting, had not the gigantic warder's secret
+ally, Flibbertigibbet, who lay perdue behind him, thrust a pin
+into the rear of the short femoral garment which we elsewhere
+described.
+
+The porter uttered a sort of yell, which came not amiss into his
+part, started up with his club, and dealt a sound douse or two on
+each side of him; and then, like a coach-horse pricked by the
+spur, started off at once into the full career of his address,
+and by dint of active prompting on the part of Dickie Sludge,
+delivered, in sounds of gigantic intonation, a speech which may
+be thus abridged--the reader being to suppose that the first
+lines were addressed to the throng who approached the gateway;
+the conclusion, at the approach of the Queen, upon sight of whom,
+as struck by some heavenly vision, the gigantic warder dropped
+his club, resigned his keys, and gave open way to the Goddess of
+the night, and all her magnificent train.
+
+  "What stir, what turmoil, have we for the nones?
+  Stand back, my masters, or beware your bones!
+  Sirs, I'm a warder, and no man of straw,
+  My voice keeps order, and my club gives law.
+
+  Yet soft--nay, stay--what vision have we here?
+  What dainty darling's this--what peerless peer?
+  What loveliest face, that loving ranks unfold,
+  Like brightest diamond chased in purest gold?
+  Dazzled and blind, mine office I forsake,
+  My club, my key, my knee, my homage take.
+  Bright paragon, pass on in joy and bliss;--
+  Beshrew the gate that opes not wide at such a sight as this!"
+
+[This is an imitation of Gascoigne's verses spoken by the
+Herculean porter, as mentioned in the text.  The original may be
+found in the republication of the Princely Pleasures of
+Kenilworth, by the same author, in the History of Kenilworth
+already quoted.  Chiswick, 1821.]
+
+Elizabeth received most graciously the homage of the Herculean
+porter, and, bending her head to him in requital, passed through
+his guarded tower, from the top of which was poured a clamorous
+blast of warlike music, which was replied to by other bands of
+minstrelsy placed at different points on the Castle walls, and by
+others again stationed in the Chase; while the tones of the one,
+as they yet vibrated on the echoes, were caught up and answered
+by new harmony from different quarters.
+
+Amidst these bursts of music, which, as if the work of
+enchantment, seemed now close at hand, now softened by distant
+space, now wailing so low and sweet as if that distance were
+gradually prolonged until only the last lingering strains could
+reach the ear, Queen Elizabeth crossed the Gallery-tower, and
+came upon the long bridge, which extended from thence to
+Mortimer's Tower, and which was already as light as day, so many
+torches had been fastened to the palisades on either side.  Most
+of the nobles here alighted, and sent their horses to the
+neighbouring village of Kenilworth, following the Queen on foot,
+as did the gentlemen who had stood in array to receive her at the
+Gallery-tower.
+
+On this occasion, as at different times during the evening,
+Raleigh addressed himself to Tressilian, and was not a little
+surprised at his vague and unsatisfactory answers; which, joined
+to his leaving his apartment without any assigned reason,
+appearing in an undress when it was likely to be offensive to the
+Queen, and some other symptoms of irregularity which he thought
+he discovered, led him to doubt whether his friend did not labour
+under some temporary derangement.
+
+Meanwhile, the Queen had no sooner stepped on the bridge than a
+new spectacle was provided; for as soon as the music gave signal
+that she was so far advanced, a raft, so disposed as to resemble
+a small floating island, illuminated by a great variety of
+torches, and surrounded by floating pageants formed to represent
+sea-horses, on which sat Tritons, Nereids, and other fabulous
+deities of the seas and rivers, made its appearance upon the
+lake, and issuing from behind a small heronry where it had been
+concealed, floated gently towards the farther end of the bridge.
+
+On the islet appeared a beautiful woman, clad in a watchet-
+coloured silken mantle, bound with a broad girdle inscribed with
+characters like the phylacteries of the Hebrews.  Her feet and
+arms were bare, but her wrists and ankles were adorned with gold
+bracelets of uncommon size.  Amidst her long, silky black hair
+she wore a crown or chaplet of artificial mistletoe, and bore in
+her hand a rod of ebony tipped with silver.  Two Nymphs attended
+on her, dressed in the same antique and mystical guise.
+
+The pageant was so well managed that this Lady of the Floating
+Island, having performed her voyage with much picturesque effect,
+landed at Mortimer's Tower with her two attendants just as
+Elizabeth presented herself before that outwork.  The stranger
+then, in a well-penned speech, announced herself as that famous
+Lady of the Lake renowned in the stories of King Arthur, who had
+nursed the youth of the redoubted Sir Lancelot, and whose beauty
+'had proved too powerful both for the wisdom and the spells of
+the mighty Merlin.  Since that early period she had remained
+possessed of her crystal dominions, she said, despite the various
+men of fame and might by whom Kenilworth had been successively
+tenanted.  'The Saxons, the Danes, the Normans, the Saintlowes,
+the Clintons, the Montforts, the Mortimers, the Plantagenets,
+great though they were in arms and magnificence, had never, she
+said, caused her to raise her head from the waters which hid her
+crystal palace.  But a greater than all these great names had now
+appeared, and she came in homage and duty to welcome the peerless
+Elizabeth to all sport which the Castle and its environs, which
+lake or land, could afford.
+
+The Queen received this address also with great courtesy, and
+made answer in raillery, "We thought this lake had belonged to
+our own dominions, fair dame; but since so famed a lady claims it
+for hers, we will be glad at some other time to have further
+communing with you touching our joint interests."
+
+With this gracious answer the Lady of the Lake vanished, and
+Arion, who was amongst the maritime deities, appeared upon his
+dolphin.  But Lambourne, who had taken upon him the part in the
+absence of Wayland, being chilled with remaining immersed in an
+element to which he was not friendly, having never got his speech
+by heart, and not having, like the porter, the advantage of a
+prompter, paid it off with impudence, tearing off his vizard, and
+swearing, "Cogs bones!  he was none of Arion or Orion either, but
+honest Mike Lambourne, that had been drinking her Majesty's
+health from morning till midnight, and was come to bid her
+heartily welcome to Kenilworth Castle."
+
+This unpremeditated buffoonery answered the purpose probably
+better than the set speech would have done.  The Queen laughed
+heartily, and swore (in her turn) that he had made the best
+speech she had heard that day.  Lambourne, who instantly saw his
+jest had saved his bones, jumped on shore, gave his dolphin a
+kick, and declared he would never meddle with fish again, except
+at dinner.
+
+At the same time that the Queen was about to enter the Castle,
+that memorable discharge of fireworks by water and land took
+place, which Master Laneham, formerly introduced to the reader,
+has strained all his eloquence to describe.
+
+"Such," says the Clerk of the Council-chamber door "was the blaze
+of burning darts, the gleams of stars coruscant, the streams and
+hail of fiery sparks, lightnings of wildfire, and flight-shot of
+thunderbolts, with continuance, terror, and vehemency, that the
+heavens thundered, the waters surged, and the earth shook; and
+for my part, hardy as I am, it made me very vengeably afraid."
+
+[See Laneham's Account of the Queen's Entertainment at
+Killingworth Castle, in 1575, a very diverting tract, written by
+as great a coxcomb as ever blotted paper.  [See Note 6]  The
+original is extremely rare, but it has been twice reprinted; once
+in Mr. Nichols's very curious and interesting collection of the
+Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, vol.i.  and
+more lately in a beautiful antiquarian publication, termed
+KENILWORTH ILLUSTRATED, printed at Chiswick, for Meridew of
+Coventry and Radcliffe of Birmingham.  It contains reprints of
+Laneham's Letter, Gascoigne's PrinceIy Progress, and other scarce
+pieces, annotated with accuracy and ability.  The author takes
+the liberty to refer to this work as his authority for the
+account of the festivities.
+
+I am indebted for a curious ground-plan of the Castle of
+Kenilworth, as it existed in Queen Elizabeth's time, to the
+voluntary kindness of Richard Badnall Esq. of Olivebank, near
+Liverpool.  From his obliging communication, I learn that the
+original sketch was found among the manuscripts of the celebrated
+J. J. Rousseau, when he left  England.  These were entrusted by
+the philosopher to the care of his friend Mr. Davenport, and
+passed from his legatee into the possession of Mr. Badnall.]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+  Nay, this is matter for the month of March,
+  When hares are maddest.  Either speak in reason,
+  Giving cold argument the wall of passion,
+  Or I break up the court.      BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+It is by no means our purpose to detail minutely all the princely
+festivities of Kenilworth, after the fashion of Master Robert
+Laneham, whom we quoted in the conclusion of the last chapter.
+It is sufficient to say that under discharge of the splendid
+fireworks, which we have borrowed Laneham's eloquence to
+describe, the Queen entered the base-court of Kenilworth, through
+Mortimer's Tower, and moving on through pageants of heathen gods
+and heroes of antiquity, who offered gifts and compliments on the
+bended knee, at length found her way to the Great Hall of the
+Castle, gorgeously hung for her reception with the richest silken
+tapestry, misty with perfumes, and sounding to strains of soft
+and delicious music.  From the highly-carved oaken roof hung a
+superb chandelier of gilt bronze, formed like a spread eagle,
+whose outstretched wings supported three male and three female
+figures, grasping a pair of branches in each hand.  The Hall was
+thus illuminated by twenty-four torches of wax.  At the upper end
+of the splendid apartment was a state canopy, overshadowing a
+royal throne, and beside it was a door, which opened to a long
+suite of apartments, decorated with the utmost magnificence for
+the Queen and her ladies, whenever it should be her pleasure to
+be private.
+
+The Earl of Leicester having handed the Queen up to her throne,
+and seated her there, knelt down before her, and kissing the hand
+which she held out, with an air in which romantic and respectful
+gallantry was happily mingled with the air of loyal devotion, he
+thanked her, in terms of the deepest gratitude, for the highest
+honour which a sovereign could render to a subject.  So handsome
+did he look when kneeling before her, that Elizabeth was tempted
+to prolong the scene a little longer than there was, strictly
+speaking, necessity for; and ere she raised him, she passed her
+hand over his head, so near as almost to touch his long, curled,
+and perfumed hair, and with a movement of fondness that seemed to
+intimate she would, if she dared, have made the motion a slight
+caress.
+
+[To justify what may be considered as a high-coloured picture,
+the author quotes the original of the courtly and shrewd Sir
+James Melville, being then Queen Mary's envoy at the court of
+London.
+
+"I was required," says Sir James, "to stay till I had seen him
+made Earle of Leicester, and Baron of Denbigh, with great
+solemnity; herself (Elizabeth) helping to put on his ceremonial,
+he sitting on his knees before her, keeping a great gravity and a
+discreet behaviour; but she could not refrain from putting her
+hand to his neck to kittle (i.e., tickle) him, smilingly, the
+French Ambassador and I standing beside her."--MELVILLE'S
+MEMOIRS, BANNATYNE EDITION, p. 120.]
+
+She at length raised him, and standing beside the throne, he
+explained to her the various preparations which had been made for
+her amusement and accommodation, all of which received her prompt
+and gracious approbation.  The Earl then prayed her Majesty for
+permission that he himself, and the nobles who had been in
+attendance upon her during the journey, might retire for a few
+minutes, and put themselves into a guise more fitting for dutiful
+attendance, during which space those gentlemen of worship
+(pointing to Varney, Blount, Tressilian, and others), who had
+already put themselves into fresh attire, would have the honour
+of keeping her presence-chamber.
+
+"Be it so, my lord," answered the Queen; "you could manage a
+theatre well, who can thus command a double set of actors.  For
+ourselves, we will receive your courtesies this evening but
+clownishly, since it is not our purpose to change our riding
+attire, being in effect something fatigued with a journey which
+the concourse of our good people hath rendered slow, though the
+love they have shown our person hath, at the same time, made it
+delightful."
+
+Leicester, having received this permission, retired accordingly,
+and was followed by those nobles who had attended the Queen to
+Kenilworth in person.  The gentlemen who had preceded them, and
+were, of course, dressed for the solemnity, remained in
+attendance.  But being most of them of rather inferior rank, they
+remained at an awful distance from the throne which Elizabeth
+occupied.  The Queen's sharp eye soon distinguished Raleigh
+amongst them, with one or two others who were personally known to
+her, and she instantly made them a sign to approach, and accosted
+them very graciously.  Raleigh, in particular, the adventure of
+whose cloak, as well as the incident of the verses, remained on
+her mind, was very graciously received; and to him she most
+frequently applied for information concerning the names and rank
+of those who were in presence.  These he communicated concisely,
+and not without some traits of humorous satire, by which
+Elizabeth seemed much amused.  "And who is yonder clownish
+fellow?"  she said, looking at Tressilian, whose soiled dress on
+this occasion greatly obscured his good mien.
+
+"A poet, if it please your Grace," replied Raleigh.
+
+"I might have guessed that from his careless garb," said
+Elizabeth.  "I have known some poets so thoughtless as to throw
+their cloaks into gutters."
+
+"It must have been when the sun dazzled both their eyes and their
+judgment," answered Raleigh.
+
+Elizabeth smiled, and proceeded, "I asked that slovenly fellow's
+name, and you only told me his profession."
+
+"Tressilian is his name," said Raleigh, with internal reluctance,
+for he foresaw nothing favourable to his friend from the manner
+in which she took notice of him.
+
+"Tressilian!"  answered Elizabeth.  "Oh, the Menelaus of our
+romance.  Why, he has dressed himself in a guise that will go far
+to exculpate his fair and false Helen.  And where is Farnham, or
+whatever his name is--my Lord of Leicester's man, I mean--the
+Paris of this Devonshire tale?"
+
+With still greater reluctance Raleigh named and pointed out to
+her Varney, for whom the tailor had done all that art could
+perform in making his exterior agreeable; and who, if he had not
+grace, had a sort of tact and habitual knowledge of breeding,
+which came in place of it.
+
+The Queen turned her eyes from the one to the other.  "I doubt,"
+she said, "this same poetical Master Tressilian, who is too
+learned, I warrant me, to remember whose presence he was to
+appear in, may be one of those of whom Geoffrey Chaucer says
+wittily, the wisest clerks are not the wisest men.  I remember
+that Varney is a smooth-tongued varlet.  I doubt this fair
+runaway hath had reasons for breaking her faith."
+
+To this Raleigh durst make no answer, aware how little he should
+benefit Tressilian by contradicting the Queen's sentiments, and
+not at all certain, on the whole, whether the best thing that
+could befall him would not be that she should put an end at once
+by her authority to this affair, upon which it seemed to him
+Tressilian's thoughts were fixed with unavailing and distressing
+pertinacity.  As these reflections passed through his active
+brain, the lower door of the hall opened, and Leicester,
+accompanied by several of his kinsmen, and of the nobles who had
+embraced his faction, re-entered the Castle Hall.
+
+The favourite Earl was now apparelled all in white, his shoes
+being of white velvet; his under-stocks (or stockings) of knit
+silk; his upper stocks of white velvet, lined with cloth of
+silver, which was shown at the slashed part of the middle thigh;
+his doublet of cloth of silver, the close jerkin of white velvet,
+embroidered with silver and seed-pearl, his girdle and the
+scabbard of his sword of white velvet with golden buckles; his
+poniard and sword hilted and mounted with gold; and over all a
+rich, loose robe of white satin, with a border of golden
+embroidery a foot in breadth.  The collar of the Garter, and the
+azure garter itself around his knee, completed the appointments
+of the Earl of Leicester; which were so well matched by his fair
+stature, graceful gesture, fine proportion of body, and handsome
+countenance, that at that moment he was admitted by all who saw
+him as the goodliest person whom they had ever looked upon.
+Sussex and the other nobles were also richly attired, but in
+point of splendour and gracefulness of mien Leicester far
+exceeded them all.
+
+Elizabeth received him with great complacency.  "We have one
+piece of royal justice," she said, "to attend to.  It is a piece
+of justice, too, which interests us as a woman, as well as in the
+character of mother and guardian of the English people."
+
+An involuntary shudder came over Leicester as he bowed low,
+expressive of his readiness to receive her royal commands; and a
+similar cold fit came over Varney, whose eyes (seldom during that
+evening removed from his patron) instantly perceived from the
+change in his looks, slight as that was, of what the Queen was
+speaking.  But Leicester had wrought his resolution up to the
+point which, in his crooked policy, he judged necessary; and when
+Elizabeth added, "it is of the matter of Varney and Tressilian we
+speak--is the lady here, my lord?"  his answer was ready--
+"Gracious madam, she is not."
+
+Elizabeth bent her brews and compressed her lips.  "Our orders
+were strict and positive, my lord," was her answer--
+
+"And should have been obeyed, good my liege," replied Leicester,
+"had they been expressed in the form of the lightest wish.  But
+--Varney, step forward--this gentleman will inform your Grace of
+the cause why the lady" (he could not force his rebellious tongue
+to utter the words--HIS WIFE) "cannot attend on your royal
+presence."
+
+Varney advanced, and pleaded with readiness, what indeed he
+firmly believed, the absolute incapacity of the party (for
+neither did he dare, in Leicester's presence, term her his wife)
+to wait on her Grace.
+
+"Here," said he, "are attestations from a most learned physician,
+whose skill and honour are well known to my good Lord of
+Leicester, and from an honest and devout Protestant, a man of
+credit and substance, one Anthony Foster, the gentleman in whose
+house she is at present bestowed, that she now labours under an
+illness which altogether unfits her for such a journey as betwixt
+this Castle and the neighbourhood of Oxford."
+
+"This alters the matter," said the Queen, taking the certificates
+in her hand, and glancing at their contents.--"Let Tressilian
+come forward.--Master Tressilian, we have much sympathy for your
+situation, the rather that you seem to have set your heart deeply
+on this Amy Robsart, or Varney.  Our power, thanks to God, and
+the willing obedience of a loving people, is worth much, but
+there are some things which it cannot compass.  We cannot, for
+example, command the affections of a giddy young girl, or make
+her love sense and learning better than a courtier's fine
+doublet; and we cannot control sickness, with which it seems this
+lady is afflicted, who may not, by reason of such infirmity,
+attend our court here, as we had required her to do.  Here are
+the testimonials of the physician who hath her under his charge,
+and the gentleman in whose house she resides, so setting forth."
+
+"Under your Majesty's favour," said Tressilian hastily, and in
+his alarm for the consequence of the imposition practised on the
+Queen forgetting in part at least his own promise to Amy, "these
+certificates speak not the truth."
+
+"How, sir!"  said the Queen--"impeach my Lord of Leicester's
+veracity!  But you shall have a fair hearing.  In our presence
+the meanest of our subjects shall be heard against the proudest,
+and the least known against the most favoured; therefore you
+shall be heard fairly, but beware you speak not without a
+warrant!  Take these certificates in your own hand, look at them
+carefully, and say manfully if you impugn the truth of them, and
+upon what evidence."
+
+As the Queen spoke, his promise and all its consequences rushed
+on the mind of the unfortunate Tressilian, and while it
+controlled his natural inclination to pronounce that a falsehood
+which he knew from the evidence of his senses to be untrue, gave
+an indecision and irresolution to his appearance and utterance
+which made strongly against him in the mind of Elizabeth, as well
+as of all who beheld him.  He turned the papers over and over, as
+if he had been an idiot, incapable of comprehending their
+contents.  The Queen's impatience began to become visible.  "You
+are a scholar, sir," she said, "and of some note, as I have
+heard; yet you seem wondrous slow in reading text hand.  How say
+you, are these certificates true or no?"
+
+"Madam," said Tressilian, with obvious embarrassment and
+hesitation, anxious to avoid admitting evidence which he might
+afterwards have reason to confute, yet equally desirous to keep
+his word to Amy, and to give her, as he had promised, space to
+plead her own cause in her own way--"Madam--Madam, your Grace
+calls on me to admit evidence which ought to be proved valid by
+those who found their defence upon them."
+
+"Why, Tressilian, thou art critical as well as poetical," said
+the Queen, bending on him a brow of displeasure; "methinks these
+writings, being produced in the presence of the noble Earl to
+whom this Castle pertains, and his honour being appealed to as
+the guarantee of their authenticity, might be evidence enough for
+thee.  But since thou listest to be so formal--Varney, or rather
+my Lord of Leicester, for the affair becomes yours" (these words,
+though spoken at random, thrilled through the Earl's marrow and
+bones), "what evidence have you as touching these certificates?"
+
+Varney hastened to reply, preventing Leicester--"So please your
+Majesty, my young Lord of Oxford, who is here in presence, knows
+Master Anthony Foster's hand and his character."
+
+The Earl of Oxford, a young unthrift, whom Foster had more than
+once accommodated with loans on usurious interest, acknowledged,
+on this appeal, that he knew him as a wealthy and independent
+franklin, supposed to be worth much money, and verified the
+certificate produced to be his handwriting.
+
+"And who speaks to the Doctor's certificate?"  said the Queen.
+"Alasco, methinks, is his name."
+
+Masters, her Majesty's physician (not the less willingly that he
+remembered his repulse from Sayes Court, and thought that his
+present testimony might gratify Leicester, and mortify the Earl
+of Sussex and his faction), acknowledged he had more than once
+consulted with Doctor Alasco, and spoke of him as a man of
+extraordinary learning and hidden acquirements, though not
+altogether in the regular course of practice.  The Earl of
+Huntingdon, Lord Leicester's brother-in-law, and the old Countess
+of Rutland, next sang his praises, and both remembered the thin,
+beautiful Italian hand in which he was wont to write his
+receipts, and which corresponded to the certificate produced as
+his.
+
+"And now, I trust, Master Tressilian, this matter is ended," said
+the Queen.  "We will do something ere the night is older to
+reconcile old Sir Hugh Robsart to the match.  You have done your
+duty something more than boldly; but we were no woman had we not
+compassion for the wounds which true love deals, so we forgive
+your audacity, and your uncleansed boots withal, which have well-
+nigh overpowered my Lord of Leicester's perfumes."
+
+So spoke Elizabeth, whose nicety of scent was one of the
+characteristics of her organization, as appeared long afterwards
+when she expelled Essex from her presence, on a charge against
+his boots similar to that which she now expressed against those
+of Tressilian
+
+But Tressilian had by this time collected himself, astonished as
+he had at first been by the audacity of the falsehood so feasibly
+supported, and placed in array against the evidence of his own
+eyes.  He rushed forward, kneeled down, and caught the Queen by
+the skirt of her robe.  "As you are Christian woman," he said,
+"madam, as you are crowned Queen, to do equal justice among your
+subjects--as you hope yourself to have fair hearing (which God
+grant you) at that last bar at which we must all plead, grant me
+one small request!  Decide not this matter so hastily.  Give me
+but twenty-four hours' interval, and I will, at the end of that
+brief space, produce evidence which will show to demonstration
+that these certificates, which state this unhappy lady to be now
+ill at ease in Oxfordshire, are false as hell!"
+
+"Let go my train, sir!"  said Elizabeth, who was startled at his
+vehemence, though she had too much of the lion in her to fear;
+"the fellow must be distraught.  That witty knave, my godson
+Harrington, must have him into his rhymes of Orlando Furioso!
+And yet, by this light, there is something strange in the
+vehemence of his demand.--Speak, Tressilian, what wilt thou do
+if, at the end of these four-and-twenty hours, thou canst not
+confute a fact so solemnly proved as this lady's illness?"
+
+"I will lay down my head on the block," answered Tressilian.
+
+"Pshaw!"  replied the Queen, "God's light!  thou speakest like a
+fool.  What head falls in England but by just sentence of English
+law?  I ask thee, man--if thou hast sense to understand me--wilt
+thou, if thou shalt fail in this improbable attempt of thine,
+render me a good and sufficient reason why thou dost undertake
+it?"
+
+Tressilian paused, and again hesitated; because he felt convinced
+that if, within the interval demanded, Amy should become
+reconciled to her husband, he would in that case do her the worst
+of offices by again ripping up the whole circumstances before
+Elizabeth, and showing how that wise and jealous princess had
+been imposed upon by false testimonials.  The consciousness of
+this dilemma renewed his extreme embarrassment of look, voice,
+and manner; he hesitated, looked down, and on the Queen repeating
+her question with a stern voice and flashing eye, he admitted
+with faltering words, "That it might be--he could not positively
+--that is, in certain events--explain the reasons and grounds on
+which he acted."
+
+"Now, by the soul of King Henry," said the Queen, "this is either
+moonstruck madness or very knavery!--Seest thou, Raleigh, thy
+friend is far too Pindaric for this presence.  Have him away, and
+make us quit of him, or it shall be the worse for him; for his
+flights are too unbridled for any place but Parnassus, or Saint
+Luke's Hospital.  But come back instantly thyself, when he is
+placed under fitting restraint.--We wish we had seen the beauty
+which could make such havoc in a wise man's brain."
+
+Tressilian was again endeavouring to address the Queen, when
+Raleigh, in obedience to the orders he had received, interfered,
+and with Blount's assistance, half led, half forced him out of
+the presence-chamber, where he himself indeed began to think his
+appearance did his cause more harm than good.
+
+When they had attained the antechamber, Raleigh entreated Blount
+to see Tressilian safely conducted into the apartments allotted
+to the Earl of Sussex's followers, and, if necessary, recommended
+that a guard should be mounted on him.
+
+"This extravagant passion," he said, "and, as it would seem, the
+news of the lady's illness, has utterly wrecked his excellent
+judgment.  But it will pass away if he be kept quiet.  Only let
+him break forth again at no rate; for he is already far in her
+Highness's displeasure, and should she be again provoked, she
+will find for him a worse place of confinement, and sterner
+keepers."
+
+"I judged as much as that he was mad," said Nicholas Blount,
+looking down upon his own crimson stockings and yellow roses,
+"whenever I saw him wearing yonder damned boots, which stunk so
+in her nostrils.  I will but see him stowed, and be back with you
+presently.  But, Walter, did the Queen ask who I was?--methought
+she glanced an eye at me."
+
+"Twenty--twenty eye-glances she sent!  and I told her all--how
+thou wert a brave soldier, and a-- But for God's sake, get off
+Tressilian!"
+
+"I will--I will," said Blount; "but methinks this court-haunting
+is no such bad pastime, after all.  We shall rise by it, Walter,
+my brave lad.  Thou saidst I was a good soldier, and a-- what
+besides, dearest Walter?"
+
+"An all unutterable-codshead.  For God's sake, begone!"
+
+Tressilian, without further resistance or expostulation followed,
+or rather suffered himself to be conducted by Blount to Raleigh's
+lodging, where he was formally installed into a small truckle-bed
+placed in a wardrobe, and designed for a domestic.  He saw but
+too plainly that no remonstrances would avail to procure the help
+or sympathy of his friends, until the lapse of the time for which
+he had pledged himself to remain inactive should enable him
+either to explain the whole circumstances to them, or remove from
+him every pretext or desire of further interference with the
+fortunes of Amy, by her having found means to place herself in a
+state of reconciliation with her husband.
+
+With great difficulty, and only by the most patient and mild
+remonstrances with Blount, he escaped the disgrace and
+mortification of having two of Sussex's stoutest yeomen quartered
+in his apartment.  At last, however, when Nicholas had seen him
+fairly deposited in his truckle-bed, and had bestowed one or two
+hearty kicks, and as hearty curses, on the boots, which, in his
+lately acquired spirit of foppery, he considered as a strong
+symptom, if not the cause, of his friend's malady, he contented
+himself with the modified measure of locking the door on the
+unfortunate Tressilian, whose gallant and disinterested efforts
+to save a female who had treated him with ingratitude thus
+terminated for the present in the displeasure of his Sovereign
+and the conviction of his friends that he was little better than
+a madman.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+  The wisest Sovereigns err like private men,
+  And royal hand has sometimes laid the sword
+  Of chivalry upon a worthless shoulder,
+  Which better had been branded by the hangman.
+  What then?--Kings do their best; and they and we
+  Must answer for the intent, and not the event.    OLD PLAY.
+
+"It is a melancholy matter," said the Queen, when Tressilian was
+withdrawn, "to see a wise and learned man's wit thus pitifully
+unsettled.  Yet this public display of his imperfection of brain
+plainly shows us that his supposed injury and accusation were
+fruitless; and therefore, my Lord of Leicester, we remember your
+suit formerly made to us in behalf of your faithful servant
+Varney, whose good gifts and fidelity, as they are useful to you,
+ought to have due reward from us, knowing well that your
+lordship, and all you have, are so earnestly devoted to our
+service.  And we render Varney the honour more especially that we
+are a guest, and, we fear, a chargeable and troublesome one,
+under your lordship's roof; and also for the satisfaction of the
+good old Knight of Devon, Sir Hugh Robsart, whose daughter he
+hath married, and we trust the especial mark of grace which we
+are about to confer may reconcile him to his son-in-law.--Your
+sword, my Lord of Leicester."
+
+The Earl unbuckled his sword, and taking it by the point,
+presented on bended knee the hilt to Elizabeth.
+
+She took it slowly drew it from the scabbard, and while the
+ladies who stood around turned away their eyes with real or
+affected shuddering, she noted with a curious eye the high polish
+and rich, damasked ornaments upon the glittering blade.
+
+"Had I been a man," she said, "methinks none of my ancestors
+would have loved a good sword better.  As it is with me, I like
+to look on one, and could, like the Fairy of whom I have read in
+some Italian rhymes--were my godson Harrington here, he could
+tell me the passage--even trim my hair, and arrange my head-gear,
+in such a steel mirror as this is.--Richard Varney, come forth,
+and kneel down.  In the name of God and Saint George, we dub thee
+knight!  Be Faithful, Brave, and Fortunate.  Arise, Sir Richard
+Varney."
+
+[The incident alluded to occurs in the poem of Orlando Innamorato
+of Boiardo, libro ii. canto 4, stanza 25.
+
+  "Non era per ventura," etc.
+
+It may be rendered thus:--
+
+  As then, perchance, unguarded was the tower,
+   So enter'd free Anglante's dauntless knight.
+  No monster and no giant guard the bower
+   In whose recess reclined the fairy light,
+  Robed in a loose cymar of lily white,
+   And on her lap a sword of breadth and might,
+  In whose broad blade, as in a mirror bright,
+   Like maid that trims her for a festal night,
+  The fairy deck'd her hair, and placed her coronet aright.
+
+Elizabeth's attachment to the Italian school of poetry was
+singularly manifested on a well-known occasion.  Her godson, Sir
+John Harrington, having offended her delicacy by translating some
+of the licentious passages of the Orlando Furioso, she imposed on
+him, as a penance, the task of rendering the WHOLE poem into
+English.]
+
+Varney arose and retired, making a deep obeisance to the
+Sovereign who had done him so much honour.
+
+"The buckling of the spur, and what other rites remain," said the
+Queen, "may be finished to-morrow in the chapel; for we intend
+Sir Richard Varney a companion in his honours.  And as we must
+not be partial in conferring such distinction, we mean on this
+matter to confer with our cousin of Sussex."
+
+That noble Earl, who since his arrival at Kenilworth, and indeed
+since the commencement of this Progress, had found himself in a
+subordinate situation to Leicester, was now wearing a heavy cloud
+on his brow; a circumstance which had not escaped the Queen, who
+hoped to appease his discontent, and to follow out her system of
+balancing policy by a mark of peculiar favour, the more
+gratifying as it was tendered at a moment when his rival's
+triumph appeared to be complete.
+
+At the summons of Queen Elizabeth, Sussex hastily approached her
+person; and being asked on which of his followers, being a
+gentleman and of merit, he would wish the honour of knighthood to
+be conferred, he answered, with more sincerity than policy, that
+he would have ventured to speak for Tressilian, to whom he
+conceived he owed his own life, and who was a distinguished
+soldier and scholar, besides a man of unstained lineage, "only,"
+he said, "he feared the events of that night--" And then he
+stopped.
+
+"I am glad your lordship is thus considerate," said Elizabeth.
+"The events of this night would make us, in the eyes of our
+subjects, as mad as this poor brain-sick gentleman himself--for
+we ascribe his conduct to no malice--should we choose this moment
+to do him grace."
+
+"In that case," said the Earl of Sussex, somewhat
+discountenanced, your Majesty will allow me to name my master of
+the horse, Master Nicholas Blount, a gentleman of fair estate and
+ancient name, who has served your Majesty both in Scotland and
+Ireland, and brought away bloody marks on his person, all
+honourably taken and requited."
+
+The Queen could not help shrugging her shoulders slightly even at
+this second suggestion; and the Duchess of Rutland, who read in
+the Queen's manner that she had expected that Sussex would have
+named Raleigh, and thus would have enabled her to gratify her own
+wish while she honoured his recommendation, only waited the
+Queen's assent to what he had proposed, and then said that she
+hoped, since these two high nobles had been each permitted to
+suggest a candidate for the honours of chivalry, she, in behalf
+of the ladies in presence, might have a similar indulgence.
+
+"I were no woman to refuse you such a boon," said the Queen,
+smiling.
+
+"Then," pursued the Duchess, "in the name of these fair ladies
+present, I request your Majesty to confer the rank of knighthood
+on Walter Raleigh, whose birth, deeds of arms, and promptitude to
+serve our sex with sword or pen, deserve such distinction from us
+all."
+
+"Gramercy, fair ladies," said Elizabeth, smiling, "your boon is
+granted, and the gentle squire Lack-Cloak shall become the good
+knight Lack-Cloak, at your desire.  Let the two aspirants for the
+honour of chivalry step forward."
+
+Blount was not as yet returned from seeing Tressilian, as he
+conceived, safely disposed of; but Raleigh came forth, and
+kneeling down, received at the hand of the Virgin Queen that
+title of honour, which was never conferred on a more
+distinguished or more illustrious object.
+
+Shortly afterwards Nicholas Blount entered, and hastily apprised
+by Sussex, who met him at the door of the hall, of the Queen's
+gracious purpose regarding him, he was desired to advance towards
+the throne.  It is a sight sometimes seen, and it is both
+ludicrous and pitiable; when an honest man of plain common sense
+is surprised, by the coquetry of a pretty woman, or any other
+cause, into those frivolous fopperies which only sit well upon
+the youthful, the gay, and those to whom long practice has
+rendered them a second nature.  Poor Blount was in this
+situation.  His head was already giddy from a consciousness of
+unusual finery, and the supposed necessity of suiting his manners
+to the gaiety of his dress; and now this sudden view of promotion
+altogether completed the conquest of the newly inhaled spirit of
+foppery over his natural disposition, and converted a plain,
+honest, awkward man into a coxcomb of a new and most ridiculous
+kind.
+
+The knight-expectant advanced up the hall, the whole length of
+which he had unfortunately to traverse, turning out his toes with
+so much zeal that he presented his leg at every step with its
+broadside foremost, so that it greatly resembled an old-fashioned
+table-knife with a curved point, when seen sideways.  The rest of
+his gait was in proportion to this unhappy amble; and the implied
+mixture of bashful rear and self-satisfaction was so unutterably
+ridiculous that Leicester's friends did not suppress a titter, in
+which many of Sussex's partisans were unable to resist joining,
+though ready to eat their nails with mortification.  Sussex
+himself lost all patience, and could not forbear whispering into
+the ear of his friend, "Curse thee!  canst thou not walk like a
+man and a soldier?"  an interjection which only made honest
+Blount start and stop, until a glance at his yellow roses and
+crimson stockings restored his self-confidence, when on he went
+at the same pace as before.
+
+The Queen conferred on poor Blount the honour of knighthood with
+a marked sense of reluctance.  That wise Princess was fully aware
+of the propriety of using great circumspection and economy in
+bestowing those titles of honour, which the Stewarts, who
+succeeded to her throne, distributed with an imprudent liberality
+which greatly diminished their value.  Blount had no sooner
+arisen and retired than she turned to the Duchess of Rutland.
+"Our woman wit," she said, "dear Rutland, is sharper than that of
+those proud things in doublet and hose.  Seest thou, out of these
+three knights, thine is the only true metal to stamp chivalry's
+imprint upon?"
+
+"Sir Richard Varney, surely--the friend of my Lord of Leicester
+--surely he has merit," replied the Duchess.
+
+"Varney has a sly countenance and a smooth tongue," replied the
+Queen; "I fear me he will prove a knave.  But the promise was of
+ancient standing.  My Lord of Sussex must have lost his own wits,
+I think, to recommend to us first a madman like Tressilian, and
+then a clownish fool like this other fellow.  I protest, Rutland,
+that while he sat on his knees before me, mopping and mowing as
+if he had scalding porridge in his mouth, I had much ado to
+forbear cutting him over the pate, instead of striking his
+shoulder."
+
+"Your Majesty gave him a smart ACCOLADE," said the Duchess; "we
+who stood behind heard the blade clatter on his collar-bone, and
+the poor man fidgeted too as if he felt it."
+
+"I could not help it, wench," said the Queen, laughing.  "But we
+will have this same Sir Nicholas sent to Ireland or Scotland, or
+somewhere, to rid our court of so antic a chevalier; he may be a
+good soldier in the field, though a preposterous ass in a
+banqueting-hall."
+
+The discourse became then more general, and soon after there was
+a summons to the banquet.
+
+In order to obey this signal, the company were under the
+necessity of crossing the inner court of the Castle, that they
+might reach the new buildings containing the large banqueting-
+room, in which preparations for supper were made upon a scale of
+profuse magnificence, corresponding to the occasion.
+
+The livery cupboards were loaded with plate of the richest
+description, and the most varied--some articles tasteful, some
+perhaps grotesque, in the invention and decoration, but all
+gorgeously magnificent, both from the richness of the work and
+value of the materials.  Thus the chief table was adorned by a
+salt, ship-fashion, made of mother-of-pearl, garnished with
+silver and divers warlike ensigns and other ornaments, anchors,
+sails, and sixteen pieces of ordnance.  It bore a figure of
+Fortune, placed on a globe, with a flag in her hand.  Another
+salt was fashioned of silver, in form of a swan in full sail.
+That chivalry might not be omitted amid this splendour, a silver
+Saint George was presented, mounted and equipped in the usual
+fashion in which he bestrides the dragon.  The figures were
+moulded to be in some sort useful.  The horse's tail was managed
+to hold a case of knives, while the breast of the dragon
+presented a similar accommodation for oyster knives,
+
+In the course of the passage from the hall of reception to the
+banqueting-room, and especially in the courtyard, the new-made
+knights were assailed by the heralds, pursuivants, minstrels,
+etc., with the usual cry of LARGESSE, LARGESSE, CHEVALIERS TRES
+HARDIS!  an ancient invocation, intended to awaken the bounty of
+the acolytes of chivalry towards those whose business it was to
+register their armorial bearings, and celebrate the deeds by
+which they were illustrated.  The call was, of course, liberally
+and courteously answered by those to whom it was addressed.
+Varney gave his largesse with an affectation of complaisance and
+humility.  Raleigh bestowed his with the graceful ease peculiar
+to one who has attained his own place, and is familiar with its
+dignity.  Honest Blount gave what his tailor had left him of his
+half-year's rent, dropping some pieces in his hurry, then
+stooping down to look for them, and then distributing them
+amongst the various claimants, with the anxious face and mien of
+the parish beadle dividing a dole among paupers.
+
+The donations were accepted with the usual clamour and VIVATS of
+applause common on such occasions; but as the parties gratified
+were chiefly dependants of Lord Leicester, it was Varney whose
+name was repeated with the loudest acclamations.  Lambourne,
+especially, distinguished himself by his vociferations of "Long
+life to Sir Richard Varney!--Health and honour to Sir Richard!--
+Never was a more worthy knight dubbed!"--then, suddenly sinking
+his voice, he added--"since the valiant Sir Pandarus of Troy,"--a
+winding-up of his clamorous applause which set all men a-laughing
+who were within hearing of it.
+
+It is unnecessary to say anything further of the festivities of
+the evening, which were so brilliant in themselves, and received
+with such obvious and willing satisfaction by the Queen, that
+Leicester retired to his own apartment with all the giddy
+raptures of successful ambition.  Varney, who had changed his
+splendid attire, and now waited on his patron in a very modest
+and plain undress, attended to do the honours of the Earl's
+COUCHER.
+
+"How!  Sir Richard," said Leicester, smiling, "your new rank
+scarce suits the humility of this attendance."
+
+"I would disown that rank, my Lord," said Varney, "could I think
+it was to remove me to a distance from your lordship's person."
+
+"Thou art a grateful fellow," said Leicester; "but I must not
+allow you to do what would abate you in the opinion of others."
+
+While thus speaking, he still accepted without hesitation the
+offices about his person, which the new-made knight seemed to
+render as eagerly as if he had really felt, in discharging the
+task, that pleasure which his words expressed.
+
+"I am not afraid of men's misconstruction," he said, in answer to
+Leicester's remark, "since there is not--(permit me to undo the
+collar)--a man within the Castle who does not expect very soon to
+see persons of a rank far superior to that which, by your
+goodness, I now hold, rendering the duties of the bedchamber to
+you, and accounting it an honour."
+
+"It might, indeed, so have been"--said the Earl, with an
+involuntary sigh; and then presently added, "My gown, Varney; I
+will look out on the night.  Is not the moon near to the full?"
+
+"I think so, my lord, according to the calendar," answered
+Varney.
+
+There was an abutting window, which opened on a small projecting
+balcony of stone, battlemented as is usual in Gothic castles.
+The Earl undid the lattice, and stepped out into the open air.
+The station he had chosen commanded an extensive view of the lake
+and woodlands beyond, where the bright moonlight rested on the
+clear blue waters and the distant masses of oak and elm trees.
+The moon rode high in the heavens, attended by thousands and
+thousands of inferior luminaries.  All seemed already to be
+hushed in the nether world, excepting occasionally the voice of
+the watch (for the yeomen of the guard performed that duty
+wherever the Queen was present in person) and the distant baying
+of the hounds, disturbed by the preparations amongst the grooms
+and prickers for a magnificent hunt, which was to be the
+amusement of the next day.
+
+Leicester looked out on the blue arch of heaven, with gestures
+and a countenance expressive of anxious exultation, while Varney,
+who remained within the darkened apartment, could (himself
+unnoticed), with a secret satisfaction, see his patron stretch
+his hands with earnest gesticulation towards the heavenly bodies.
+
+"Ye distant orbs of living fire," so ran the muttered invocation
+of the ambitious Earl, "ye are silent while you wheel your mystic
+rounds; but Wisdom has given to you a voice.  Tell me, then, to
+what end is my high course destined?  Shall the greatness to
+which I have aspired be bright, pre-eminent, and stable as your
+own; or am I but doomed to draw a brief and glittering train
+along the nightly darkness, and then to sink down to earth, like
+the base refuse of those artificial fires with which men emulate
+your rays?"
+
+He looked on the heavens in profound silence for a minute or two
+longer, and then again stepped into the apartment, where Varney
+seemed to have been engaged in putting the Earl's jewels into a
+casket.
+
+"What said Alasco of my horoscope?"  demanded Leicester.  "You
+already told me; but it has escaped me, for I think but lightly
+of that art."
+
+"Many learned and great men have thought otherwise," said Varney;
+"and, not to flatter your lordship, my own opinion leans that
+way."
+
+"Ay, Saul among the prophets?"  said Leicester.  "I thought thou
+wert sceptical in all such matters as thou couldst neither see,
+hear, smell, taste, or touch, and that thy belief was limited by
+thy senses."
+
+"Perhaps, my lord," said Varney, "I may be misled on the present
+occasion by my wish to find the predictions of astrology true.
+Alasco says that your favourite planet is culminating, and that
+the adverse influence--he would not use a plainer term--though
+not overcome, was evidently combust, I think he said, or
+retrograde."
+
+"It is even so," said Leicester, looking at an abstract of
+astrological calculations which he had in his hand; "the stronger
+influence will prevail, and, as I think, the evil hour pass away.
+Lend me your hand, Sir Richard, to doff my gown; and remain an
+instant, if it is not too burdensome to your knighthood, while I
+compose myself to sleep.  I believe the bustle of this day has
+fevered my blood, for it streams through my veins like a current
+of molten lead.  Remain an instant, I pray you--I would fain feel
+my eyes heavy ere I closed them."
+
+Varney officiously assisted his lord to bed, and placed a massive
+silver night-lamp, with a short sword, on a marble table which
+stood close by the head of the couch.  Either in order to avoid
+the light of the lamp, or to hide his countenance from Varney,
+Leicester drew the curtain, heavy with entwined silk and gold, so
+as completely to shade his face.  Varney took a seat near the
+bed, but with his back towards his master, as if to intimate that
+he was not watching him, and quietly waited till Leicester
+himself led the way to the topic by which his mind was engrossed.
+
+"And so, Varney," said the Earl, after waiting in vain till his
+dependant should commence the conversation, "men talk of the
+Queen's favour towards me?"
+
+"Ay, my good lord," said Varney; "of what can they else, since it
+is so strongly manifested?"
+
+"She is indeed my good and gracious mistress," said Leicester,
+after another pause; "but it is written, 'Put not thy trust in
+princes.'"
+
+"A good sentence and a true," said Varney, "unless you can unite
+their interest with yours so absolutely that they must needs sit
+on your wrist like hooded hawks."
+
+"I know what thou meanest," said Leicester impatiently, "though
+thou art to-night so prudentially careful of what thou sayest to
+me.  Thou wouldst intimate I might marry the Queen if I would?"
+
+"It is your speech, my lord, not mine," answered Varney; "but
+whosesoever be the speech, it is the thought of ninety-nine out
+of an hundred men throughout broad England."
+
+"Ay, but," said Leicester, turning himself in his bed, "the
+hundredth man knows better.  Thou, for example, knowest the
+obstacle that cannot be overleaped."
+
+"It must, my lord, if the stars speak true," said Varney
+composedly.
+
+"What, talkest thou of them," said Leicester, "that believest not
+in them or in aught else?"
+
+"You mistake, my lord, under your gracious pardon," said Varney;
+"I believe in many things that predict the future.  I believe, if
+showers fall in April, that we shall have flowers in May; that if
+the sun shines, grain will ripen; and I believe in much natural
+philosophy to the same effect, which, if the stars swear to me, I
+will say the stars speak the truth.  And in like manner, I will
+not disbelieve that which I see wished for and expected on earth,
+solely because the astrologers have read it in the heavens."
+
+"Thou art right," said Leicester, again tossing himself on his
+couch "Earth does wish for it.  I have had advices from the
+reformed churches of Germany--from the Low Countries--from
+Switzerland--urging this as a point on which Europe's safety
+depends.  France will not oppose it.  The ruling party in
+Scotland look to it as their best security.  Spain fears it, but
+cannot prevent it.  And yet thou knowest it is impossible."
+
+"I know not that, my lord," said Varney; "the Countess is
+indisposed."
+
+"Villain!"  said Leicester, starting up on his couch, and seizing
+the sword which lay on the table beside him, "go thy thoughts
+that way?--thou wouldst not do murder?"
+
+"For whom, or what, do you hold me, my lord?"  said Varney,
+assuming the superiority of an innocent man subjected to unjust
+suspicion.  "I said nothing to deserve such a horrid imputation
+as your violence infers.  I said but that the Countess was ill.
+And Countess though she be--lovely and beloved as she is--surely
+your lordship must hold her to be mortal?  She may die, and your
+lordship's hand become once more your own."
+
+"Away!  away!"  said Leicester; "let me have no more of this."
+
+"Good night, my lord," said Varney, seeming to understand this as
+a command to depart; but Leicester's voice interrupted his
+purpose.
+
+"Thou 'scapest me not thus, Sir Fool," said he; "I think thy
+knighthood has addled thy brains.  Confess thou hast talked of
+impossibilities as of things which may come to pass."
+
+"My lord, long live your fair Countess," said Varney; "but
+neither your love nor my good wishes can make her immortal.  But
+God grant she live long to be happy herself, and to render you
+so!  I see not but you may be King of England notwithstanding."
+
+"Nay, now, Varney, thou art stark mad," said Leicester.
+
+"I would I were myself within the same nearness to a good estate
+of freehold," said Varney.  "Have we not known in other countries
+how a left-handed marriage might subsist betwixt persons of
+differing degree?--ay, and be no hindrance to prevent the husband
+from conjoining himself afterwards with a more suitable partner?"
+
+"I have heard of such things in Germany," said Leicester.
+
+"Ay, and the most learned doctors in foreign universities justify
+the practice from the Old Testament," said Varney.  "And after
+all, where is the harm?  The beautiful partner whom you have
+chosen for true love has your secret hours of relaxation and
+affection.  Her fame is safe her conscience may slumber securely.
+You have wealth to provide royally for your issue, should Heaven
+bless you with offspring.  Meanwhile you may give to Elizabeth
+ten times the leisure, and ten thousand times the affection, that
+ever Don Philip of Spain spared to her sister Mary; yet you know
+how she doted on him though so cold and neglectful.  It requires
+but a close mouth and an open brow, and you keep your Eleanor and
+your fair Rosamond far enough separate.  Leave me to build you a
+bower to which no jealous Queen shall find a clew."
+
+Leicester was silent for a moment, then sighed, and said, "It is
+impossible.  Good night, Sir Richard Varney--yet stay.  Can you
+guess what meant Tressilian by showing himself in such careless
+guise before the Queen to-day?--to strike her tender heart, I
+should guess, with all the sympathies due to a lover abandoned by
+his mistress and abandoning himself."
+
+Varney, smothering a sneering laugh, answered, "He believed
+Master Tressilian had no such matter in his head."
+
+"How!"  said Leicester; "what meanest thou?  There is ever
+knavery in that laugh of thine, Varney."
+
+"I only meant, my lord," said Varney, "that Tressilian has taken
+the sure way to avoid heart-breaking.  He hath had a companion--a
+female companion--a mistress--a sort of player's wife or sister,
+as I believe--with him in Mervyn's Bower, where I quartered him
+for certain reasons of my own."
+
+"A mistress!--meanest thou a paramour?"
+
+"Ay, my lord; what female else waits for hours in a gentleman's
+chamber?"
+
+"By my faith, time and space fitting, this were a good tale to
+tell," said Leicester.  "I ever distrusted those bookish,
+hypocritical, seeming-virtuous scholars.  Well--Master Tressilian
+makes somewhat familiar with my house; if I look it over, he is
+indebted to it for certain recollections.  I would not harm him
+more than I can help.  Keep eye on him, however, Varney."
+
+"I lodged him for that reason," said Varney, "in Mervyn's Tower,
+where he is under the eye of my very vigilant, if he were not
+also my very drunken, servant, Michael Lambourne, whom I have
+told your Grace of."
+
+"Grace!"  said Leicester; "what meanest thou by that epithet?"
+
+"It came unawares, my lord; and yet it sounds so very natural
+that I cannot recall it."
+
+"It is thine own preferment that hath turned thy brain," said
+Leicester, laughing; "new honours are as heady as new wine."
+
+"May your lordship soon have cause to say so from experience,"
+said Varney; and wishing his patron good night, he withdrew."
+[See Note 8. Furniture of Kenilworth.]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+  Here stands the victim--there the proud betrayer,
+  E'en as the hind pull'd down by strangling dogs
+  Lies at the hunter's feet--who courteous proffers
+  To some high dame, the Dian of the chase,
+  To whom he looks for guerdon, his sharp blade,
+  To gash the sobbing throat.           THE WOODSMAN.
+
+We are now to return to Mervyn's Bower, the apartment, or rather
+the prison, of the unfortunate Countess of Leicester, who for
+some time kept within bounds her uncertainty and her impatience.
+She was aware that, in the tumult of the day, there might be some
+delay ere her letter could be safely conveyed to the hands of
+Leicester, and that some time more might elapse ere he could
+extricate himself from the necessary attendance on Elizabeth, to
+come and visit her in her secret bower.  "I will not expect him,"
+she said, "till night; he cannot be absent from his royal guest,
+even to see me.  He will, I know, come earlier if it be possible,
+but I will not expect him before night."  And yet all the while
+she did expect him; and while she tried to argue herself into a
+contrary belief, each hasty noise of the hundred which she heard
+sounded like the hurried step of Leicester on the staircase,
+hasting to fold her in his arms.
+
+The fatigue of body which Amy had lately undergone, with the
+agitation of mind natural to so cruel a state of uncertainty,
+began by degrees strongly to affect her nerves, and she almost
+feared her total inability to maintain the necessary self-command
+through the scenes which might lie before her.  But although
+spoiled by an over-indulgent system of education, Amy had
+naturally a mind of great power, united with a frame which her
+share in her father's woodland exercises had rendered uncommonly
+healthy.  She summoned to her aid such mental and bodily
+resources; and not unconscious how much the issue of her fate
+might depend on her own self-possession, she prayed internally
+for strength of body and for mental fortitude, and resolved at
+the same time to yield to no nervous impulse which might weaken
+either.
+
+Yet when the great bell of the Castle, which was placed in
+Caesar's Tower, at no great distance from that called Mervyn's,
+began to send its pealing clamour abroad, in signal of the
+arrival of the royal procession, the din was so painfully acute
+to ears rendered nervously sensitive by anxiety, that she could
+hardly forbear shrieking with anguish, in answer to every
+stunning clash of the relentless peal.
+
+Shortly afterwards, when the small apartment was at once
+enlightened by the shower of artificial fires with which the air
+was suddenly filled, and which crossed each other like fiery
+spirits, each bent on his own separate mission, or like
+salamanders executing a frolic dance in the region of the Sylphs,
+the Countess felt at first as if each rocket shot close by her
+eyes, and discharged its sparks and flashes so nigh that she
+could feel a sense of the heat.  But she struggled against these
+fantastic terrors, and compelled herself to arise, stand by the
+window, look out, and gaze upon a sight which at another time
+would have appeared to her at once captivating and fearful.  The
+magnificent towers of the Castle were enveloped in garlands of
+artificial fire, or shrouded with tiaras of pale smoke.  The
+surface of the lake glowed like molten iron, while many fireworks
+(then thought extremely wonderful, though now common), whose
+flame continued to exist in the opposing element, dived and rose,
+hissed and roared, and spouted fire, like so many dragons of
+enchantment sporting upon a burning lake.
+
+Even Amy was for a moment interested by what was to her so new a
+scene.  "I had thought it magical art," she said, "but poor
+Tressilian taught me to judge of such things as they are.  Great
+God!  and may not these idle splendours resemble my own hoped-for
+happiness--a single spark, which is instantly swallowed up by
+surrounding darkness--a precarious glow, which rises but for a
+brief space into the air, that its fall may be the lower?  O
+Leicester!  after all--all that thou hast said--hast sworn--that
+Amy was thy love, thy life, can it be that thou art the magician
+at whose nod these enchantments arise, and that she sees them as
+an outcast, if not a captive?"
+
+The sustained, prolonged, and repeated bursts of music, from so
+many different quarters, and at so many varying points of
+distance, which sounded as if not the Castle of Kenilworth only,
+but the whole country around, had been at once the scene of
+solemnizing some high national festival, carried the same
+oppressive thought still closer to her heart, while some notes
+would melt in distant and falling tones, as if in compassion for
+her sorrows, and some burst close and near upon her, as if
+mocking her misery, with all the insolence of unlimited mirth.
+"These sounds," she said, "are mine--mine, because they are HIS;
+but I cannot say, Be still, these loud strains suit me not; and
+the voice of the meanest peasant that mingles in the dance would
+have more power to modulate the music than the command of her who
+is mistress of all."
+
+By degrees the sounds of revelry died away, and the Countess
+withdrew from the window at which she had sat listening to them.
+It was night, but the moon afforded considerable light in the
+room, so that Amy was able to make the arrangement which she
+judged necessary.  There was hope that Leicester might come to
+her apartment as soon as the revel in the Castle had subsided;
+but there was also risk she might be disturbed by some
+unauthorized intruder.  She had lost confidence in the key since
+Tressilian had entered so easily, though the door was locked on
+the inside; yet all the additional security she could think of
+was to place the table across the door, that she might be warned
+by the noise should any one attempt to enter.  Having taken these
+necessary precautions, the unfortunate lady withdrew to her
+couch, stretched herself down on it, mused in anxious
+expectation, and counted more than one hour after midnight, till
+exhausted nature proved too strong for love, for grief, for fear,
+nay, even for uncertainty, and she slept.
+
+Yes, she slept.  The Indian sleeps at the stake in the intervals
+between his tortures; and mental torments, in like manner,
+exhaust by long continuance the sensibility of the sufferer, so
+that an interval of lethargic repose must necessarily ensue, ere
+the pangs which they inflict can again be renewed.
+
+The Countess slept, then, for several hours, and dreamed that she
+was in the ancient house at Cumnor Place, listening for the low
+whistle with which Leicester often used to announce his presence
+in the courtyard when arriving suddenly on one of his stolen
+visits.  But on this occasion, instead of a whistle, she heard
+the peculiar blast of a bugle-horn, such as her father used to
+wind on the fall of the stag, and which huntsmen then called a
+MORT.  She ran, as she thought, to a window that looked into the
+courtyard, which she saw filled with men in mourning garments.
+The old Curate seemed about to read the funeral service.
+Mumblazen, tricked out in an antique dress, like an ancient
+herald, held aloft a scutcheon, with its usual decorations of
+skulls, cross-bones, and hour-glasses, surrounding a coat-of-
+arms, of which she could only distinguish that it was surmounted
+with an Earl's coronet.  The old man looked at her with a ghastly
+smile, and said, "Amy, are they not rightly quartered?"  Just as
+he spoke, the horns again poured on her ear the melancholy yet
+wild strain of the MORT, or death-note, and she awoke.
+
+The Countess awoke to hear a real bugle-note, or rather the
+combined breath of many bugles, sounding not the MORT.  but the
+jolly REVEILLE, to remind the inmates of the Castle of Kenilworth
+that the pleasures of the day were to commence with a magnificent
+stag-hunting in the neighbouring Chase.  Amy started up from her
+couch, listened to the sound, saw the first beams of the summer
+morning already twinkle through the lattice of her window, and
+recollected, with feelings of giddy agony, where she was, and how
+circumstanced.
+
+"He thinks not of me," she said; "he will not come nigh me!  A
+Queen is his guest, and what cares he in what corner of his huge
+Castle a wretch like me pines in doubt, which is fast fading into
+despair?"  At once a sound at the door, as of some one attempting
+to open it softly, filled her with an ineffable mixture of joy
+and fear; and hastening to remove the obstacle she had placed
+against the door, and to unlock it, she had the precaution to
+ask!  "Is it thou, my love?"
+
+"Yes, my Countess," murmured a whisper in reply.
+
+She threw open the door, and exclaiming, "Leicester!"  flung her
+arms around the neck of the man who stood without, muffled in his
+cloak.
+
+"No--not quite Leicester," answered Michael Lambourne, for he it
+was, returning the caress with vehemence--"not quite Leicester,
+my lovely and most loving duchess, but as good a man."
+
+With an exertion of force, of which she would at another time
+have thought herself incapable, the Countess freed herself from
+the profane and profaning grasp of the drunken debauchee, and
+retreated into the midst of her apartment.  where despair gave
+her courage to make a stand.
+
+As Lambourne, on entering, dropped the lap of his cloak from his
+face, she knew Varney's profligate servant, the very last person,
+excepting his detested master, by whom she would have wished to
+be discovered.  But she was still closely muffled in her
+travelling dress, and as Lambourne had scarce ever been admitted
+to her presence at Cumnor Place, her person, she hoped, might not
+be so well known to him as his was to her, owing to Janet's
+pointing him frequently out as he crossed the court, and telling
+stories of his wickedness.  She might have had still greater
+confidence in her disguise had her experience enabled her to
+discover that he was much intoxicated; but this could scarce have
+consoled her for the risk which she might incur from such a
+character in such a time, place, and circumstances.
+
+Lambourne flung the door behind him as he entered, and folding
+his arms, as if in mockery of the attitude of distraction into
+which Amy had thrown herself, he proceeded thus:  "Hark ye, most
+fair Calipolis--or most lovely Countess of clouts, and divine
+Duchess of dark corners--if thou takest all that trouble of
+skewering thyself together, like a trussed fowl, that there may
+be more pleasure in the carving, even save thyself the labour.  I
+love thy first frank manner the best---like thy present as
+little"--(he made a step towards her, and staggered)--"as little
+as--such a damned uneven floor as this, where a gentleman may
+break his neck if he does not walk as upright as a posture-master
+on the tight-rope."
+
+"Stand back!"  said the Countess; "do not approach nearer to me
+on thy peril!"
+
+"My peril!--and stand back!  Why, how now, madam?  Must you have
+a better mate than honest Mike Lambourne?  I have been in
+America, girl, where the gold grows, and have brought off such a
+load on't--"
+
+"Good friend," said the Countess, in great terror at the
+ruffian's determined and audacious manner, "I prithee begone, and
+leave me."
+
+"And so I will, pretty one, when we are tired of each other's
+company--not a jot sooner."  He seized her by the arm, while,
+incapable of further defence, she uttered shriek upon shriek.
+"Nay, scream away if you like it," said he, still holding her
+fast; "I have heard the sea at the loudest, and I mind a
+squalling woman no more than a miauling kitten.  Damn me!  I have
+heard fifty or a hundred screaming at once, when there was a town
+stormed."
+
+The cries of the Countess, however, brought unexpected aid in the
+person of Lawrence Staples, who had heard her exclamations from
+his apartment below, and entered in good time to save her from
+being discovered, if not from more atrocious violence.  Lawrence
+was drunk also from the debauch of the preceding night, but
+fortunately his intoxication had taken a different turn from that
+of Lambourne.
+
+"What the devil's noise is this in the ward?"  he said.  "What!
+man and woman together in the same cell?--that is against rule.
+I will have decency under my rule, by Saint Peter of the
+Fetters!"
+
+"Get thee downstairs, thou drunken beast," said Lambourne; "seest
+thou not the lady and I would be private?"
+
+"Good sir, worthy sir!"  said the Countess, addressing the
+jailer, "do but save me from him, for the sake of mercy!"
+
+"She speaks fairly," said the jailer, "and I will take her part.
+I love my prisoners; and I have had as good prisoners under my
+key as they have had in Newgate or the Compter.  And so, being
+one of my lambkins, as I say, no one shall disturb her in her
+pen-fold.  So let go the woman:  or I'll knock your brains out
+with my keys."
+
+"I'll make a blood-pudding of thy midriff first," answered
+Lambourne, laying his left hand on his dagger, but still
+detaining the Countess by the arm with his right.  "So have at
+thee, thou old ostrich, whose only living is upon a bunch of iron
+keys."
+
+Lawrence raised the arm of Michael, and prevented him from
+drawing his dagger; and as Lambourne struggled and strove to
+shake him off; the Countess made a sudden exertion on her side,
+and slipping her hand out of the glove on which the ruffian still
+kept hold, she gained her liberty, and escaping from the
+apartment, ran downstairs; while at the same moment she heard the
+two combatants fall on the floor with a noise which increased her
+terror.  The outer wicket offered no impediment to her flight,
+having been opened for Lambourne's admittance; so that she
+succeeded in escaping down the stair, and fled into the
+Pleasance, which seemed to her hasty glance the direction in
+which she was most likely to avoid pursuit.
+
+Meanwhile, Lawrence and Lambourne rolled on the floor of the
+apartment, closely grappled together.  Neither had, happily,
+opportunity to draw their daggers; but Lawrence found space
+enough to clash his heavy keys across Michael's face, and Michael
+in return grasped the turnkey so felly by the throat that the
+blood gushed from nose and mouth, so that they were both gory and
+filthy spectacles when one of the other officers of the
+household, attracted by the noise of the fray, entered the room,
+and with some difficulty effected the separation of the
+combatants.
+
+"A murrain on you both," said the charitable mediator, "and
+especially on you, Master Lambourne!  What the fiend lie you here
+for, fighting on the floor like two butchers' curs in the kennel
+of the shambles?"
+
+Lambourne arose, and somewhat sobered by the interposition of a
+third party, looked with something less than his usual brazen
+impudence of visage.  "We fought for a wench, an thou must know,"
+was his reply.
+
+"A wench!  Where is she?"  said the officer.
+
+"Why, vanished, I think," said Lambourne, looking around him,
+"unless Lawrence hath swallowed her, That filthy paunch of his
+devours as many distressed damsels and oppressed orphans as e'er
+a giant in King Arthur's history.  They are his prime food; he
+worries them body, soul, and substance."
+
+"Ay, ay!  It's no matter," said Lawrence, gathering up his huge,
+ungainly form from the floor; "but I have had your betters,
+Master Michael Lambourne, under the little turn of my forefinger
+and thumb, and I shall have thee, before all's done, under my
+hatches.  The impudence of thy brow will not always save thy
+shin-bones from iron, and thy foul, thirsty gullet from a hempen
+cord."  The words were no sooner out of his mouth, when Lambourne
+again made at him.
+
+"Nay, go not to it again," said the sewer, "or I will call for
+him shall tame you both, and that is Master Varney--Sir Richard,
+I mean.  He is stirring, I promise you; I saw him cross the court
+just now."
+
+"Didst thou, by G--!"  said Lambourne, seizing on the basin and
+ewer which stood in the apartment.  "Nay, then, element, do thy
+work.  I thought I had enough of thee last night, when I floated
+about for Orion, like a cork on a fermenting cask of ale."
+
+So saying, he fell to work to cleanse from his face and hands the
+signs of the fray, and get his apparel into some order.
+
+"What hast thou done to him?"  said the sewer, speaking aside to
+the jailer; "his face is fearfully swelled."
+
+"It is but the imprint of the key of my cabinet--too good a mark
+for his gallows-face.  No man shall abuse or insult my prisoners;
+they are my jewels, and I lock them in safe casket accordingly.
+--And so, mistress, leave off your wailing.--Why!  why, surely,
+there was a woman here!"
+
+"I think you are all mad this morning," said the sewer.  "I saw
+no woman here, nor no man neither in a proper sense, but only two
+beasts rolling on the floor."
+
+"Nay, then I am undone," said the jailer; "the prison's broken,
+that is all.  Kenilworth prison is broken," he continued, in a
+tone of maudlin lamentation, "which was the strongest jail
+betwixt this and the Welsh Marches--ay, and a house that has had
+knights, and earls, and kings sleeping in it, as secure as if
+they had been in the Tower of London.  It is broken, the
+prisoners fled, and the jailer in much danger of being hanged!"
+
+So saying, he retreated down to his own den to conclude his
+lamentations, or to sleep himself sober.  Lambourne and the sewer
+followed him close; and it was well for them, since the jailer,
+out of mere habit, was about to lock the wicket after him, and
+had they not been within the reach of interfering, they would
+have had the pleasure of being shut up in the turret-chamber,
+from which the Countess had been just delivered.
+
+That unhappy lady, as soon as she found herself at liberty, fled,
+as we have already mentioned, into the Pleasance.  She had seen
+this richly-ornamented space of ground from the window of
+Mervyn's Tower; and it occurred to her, at the moment of her
+escape, that among its numerous arbours, bowers, fountains,
+statues, and grottoes, she might find some recess in which she
+could lie concealed until she had an opportunity of addressing
+herself to a protector, to whom she might communicate as much as
+she dared of her forlorn situation, and through whose means she
+might supplicate an interview with her husband.
+
+"If I could see my guide," she thought, "I would learn if he had
+delivered my letter.  Even did I but see Tressilian, it were
+better to risk Dudley's anger, by confiding my whole situation to
+one who is the very soul of honour, than to run the hazard of
+further insult among the insolent menials of this ill-ruled
+place.  I will not again venture into an enclosed apartment.  I
+will wait, I will watch; amidst so many human beings there must
+be some kind heart which can judge and compassionate what mine
+endures."
+
+In truth, more than one party entered and traversed the
+Pleasance.  But they were in joyous groups of four or five
+persons together, laughing and jesting in their own fullness of
+mirth and lightness of heart.
+
+The retreat which she had chosen gave her the easy alternative of
+avoiding observation.  It was but stepping back to the farthest
+recess of a grotto, ornamented with rustic work and moss-seats,
+and terminated by a fountain, and she might easily remain
+concealed, or at her pleasure discover herself to any solitary
+wanderer whose curiosity might lead him to that romantic
+retirement.  Anticipating such an opportunity, she looked into
+the clear basin which the silent fountain held up to her like a
+mirror, and felt shocked at her own appearance, and doubtful at;
+the same time, muffled and disfigured as her disguise made her
+seem to herself, whether any female (and it was from the
+compassion of her own sex that she chiefly expected sympathy)
+would engage in conference with so suspicious an object.
+Reasoning thus like a woman, to whom external appearance is
+scarcely in any circumstances a matter of unimportance, and like
+a beauty, who had some confidence in the power of her own charms,
+she laid aside her travelling cloak and capotaine hat, and placed
+them beside her, so that she could assume them in an instant, ere
+one could penetrate from the entrance of the grotto to its
+extremity, in case the intrusion of Varney or of Lambourne should
+render such disguise necessary.  The dress which she wore under
+these vestments was somewhat of a theatrical cast, so as to suit
+the assumed personage of one of the females who was to act in the
+pageant, Wayland had found the means of arranging it thus upon
+the second day of their journey, having experienced the service
+arising from the assumption of such a character on the preceding
+day.  The fountain, acting both as a mirror and ewer, afforded
+Amy the means of a brief toilette, of which she availed herself
+as hastily as possible; then took in her hand her small casket of
+jewels, in case she might find them useful intercessors, and
+retiring to the darkest and most sequestered nook, sat down on a
+seat of moss, and awaited till fate should give her some chance
+of rescue, or of propitiating an intercessor.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+  Have you not seen the partridge quake,
+  Viewing the hawk approaching nigh?
+  She cuddles close beneath the brake,
+  Afraid to sit, afraid to fly,          PRIOR.
+
+It chanced, upon that memorable morning, that one of the earliest
+of the huntress train, who appeared from her chamber in full
+array for the chase, was the Princess for whom all these
+pleasures were instituted, England's Maiden Queen.  I know not if
+it were by chance, or out of the befitting courtesy due to a
+mistress by whom he was so much honoured, that she had scarcely
+made one step beyond the threshold of her chamber ere Leicester
+was by her side, and proposed to her, until the preparations for
+the chase had been completed, to view the Pleasance, and the
+gardens which it connected with the Castle yard.
+
+To this new scene of pleasures they walked, the Earl's arm
+affording his Sovereign the occasional support which she
+required, where flights of steps, then a favourite ornament in a
+garden, conducted them from terrace to terrace, and from parterre
+to parterre.  The ladies in attendance, gifted with prudence, or
+endowed perhaps with the amiable desire of acting as they would
+be done by, did not conceive their duty to the Queen's person
+required them, though they lost not sight of her, to approach so
+near as to share, or perhaps disturb, the conversation betwixt
+the Queen and the Earl, who was not only her host, but also her
+most trusted, esteemed, and favoured servant.  They contented
+themselves with admiring the grace of this illustrious couple,
+whose robes of state were now exchanged for hunting suits, almost
+equally magnificent.
+
+Elizabeth's silvan dress, which was of a pale blue silk, with
+silver lace and AIGUILLETTES, approached in form to that of the
+ancient Amazons, and was therefore well suited at once to her
+height and to the dignity of her mien, which her conscious rank
+and long habits of authority had rendered in some degree too
+masculine to be seen to the best advantage in ordinary female
+weeds.  Leicester's hunting suit of Lincoln green, richly
+embroidered with gold, and crossed by the gay baldric which
+sustained a bugle-horn, and a wood-knife instead of a sword,
+became its master, as did his other vestments of court or of war.
+For such were the perfections of his form and mien, that
+Leicester was always supposed to be seen to the greatest
+advantage in the character and dress which for the time he
+represented or wore.
+
+The conversation of Elizabeth and the favourite Earl has not
+reached us in detail.  But those who watched at some distance
+(and the eyes of courtiers and court ladies are right sharp) were
+of opinion that on no occasion did the dignity of Elizabeth, in
+gesture and motion, seem so decidedly to soften away into a mien
+expressive of indecision and tenderness.  Her step was not only
+slow, but even unequal, a thing most unwonted in her carriage;
+her looks seemed bent on the ground; and there was a timid
+disposition to withdraw from her companion, which external
+gesture in females often indicates exactly the opposite tendency
+in the secret mind.  The Duchess of Rutland, who ventured
+nearest, was even heard to aver that she discerned a tear in
+Elizabeth's eye and a blush on her cheek; and still further, "She
+bent her looks on the ground to avoid mine," said the Duchess,
+"she who, in her ordinary mood, could look down a lion."  To what
+conclusion these symptoms led is sufficiently evident; nor were
+they probably entirely groundless.  The progress of a private
+conversation betwixt two persons of different sexes is often
+decisive of their fate, and gives it a turn very different
+perhaps from what they themselves anticipated.  Gallantry becomes
+mingled with conversation, and affection and passion come
+gradually to mix with gallantry.  Nobles, as well as shepherd
+swains, will, in such a trying moment, say more than they
+intended; and Queens, like village maidens, will listen longer
+than they should.
+
+Horses in the meanwhile neighed and champed the bits with
+impatience in the base-court; hounds yelled in their couples; and
+yeomen, rangers, and prickers lamented the exhaling of the dew,
+which would prevent the scent from lying.  But Leicester had
+another chase in view--or, to speak more justly towards him, had
+become engaged in it without premeditation, as the high-spirited
+hunter which follows the cry of the hounds that have crossed his
+path by accident.  The Queen, an accomplished and handsome woman,
+the pride of England, the hope of France and Holland, and the
+dread of Spain, had probably listened with more than usual favour
+to that mixture of romantic gallantry with which she always loved
+to be addressed; and the Earl had, in vanity, in ambition, or in
+both, thrown in more and more of that delicious ingredient, until
+his importunity became the language of love itself.
+
+"No, Dudley," said Elizabeth, yet it was with broken accents--
+"no, I must be the mother of my people.  Other ties, that make
+the lowly maiden happy, are denied to her Sovereign.  No,
+Leicester, urge it no more.  Were I as others, free to seek my
+own happiness, then, indeed--but it cannot--cannot be.  Delay the
+chase--delay it for half an hour--and leave me, my lord."
+
+"How!  leave you, madam?"  said Leicester,--"has my madness
+offended you?"
+
+"No, Leicester, not so!"  answered the Queen hastily; "but it is
+madness, and must not be repeated.  Go--but go not far from
+hence; and meantime let no one intrude on my privacy."
+
+While she spoke thus, Dudley bowed deeply, and retired with a
+slow and melancholy air.  The Queen stood gazing after him, and
+murmured to herself, "Were it possible--were it BUT possible!--
+but no--no; Elizabeth must be the wife and mother of England
+alone."
+
+As she spoke thus, and in order to avoid some one whose step she
+heard approaching, the Queen turned into the grotto in which her
+hapless, and yet but too successful, rival lay concealed.
+
+The mind of England's Elizabeth, if somewhat shaken by the
+agitating interview to which she had just put a period, was of
+that firm and decided character which soon recovers its natural
+tone.  It was like one of those ancient Druidical monuments
+called Rocking-stones.  The finger of Cupid, boy as he is
+painted, could put her feelings in motion; but the power of
+Hercules could not have destroyed their equilibrium.  As she
+advanced with a slow pace towards the inmost extremity of the
+grotto, her countenance, ere she had proceeded half the length,
+had recovered its dignity of look, and her mien its air of
+command.
+
+It was then the Queen became aware that a female figure was
+placed beside, or rather partly behind, an alabaster column, at
+the foot of which arose the pellucid fountain which occupied the
+inmost recess of the twilight grotto.  The classical mind of
+Elizabeth suggested the story of Numa and Egeria, and she doubted
+not that some Italian sculptor had here represented the Naiad
+whose inspirations gave laws to Rome.  As she advanced, she
+became doubtful whether she beheld a statue, or a form of flesh
+and blood.  The unfortunate Amy, indeed, remained motionless,
+betwixt the desire which she had to make her condition known to
+one of her own sex, and her awe for the stately form which
+approached her, and which, though her eyes had never before
+beheld, her fears instantly suspected to be the personage she
+really was.  Amy had arisen from her seat with the purpose of
+addressing the lady who entered the grotto alone, and, as she at
+first thought, so opportunely.  But when she recollected the
+alarm which Leicester had expressed at the Queen's knowing aught
+of their union, and became more and more satisfied that the
+person whom she now beheld was Elizabeth herself, she stood with
+one foot advanced and one withdrawn, her arms, head, and hands
+perfectly motionless, and her cheek as pallid as the alabaster
+pedestal against which she leaned.  Her dress was of pale sea-
+green silk, little distinguished in that imperfect light, and
+somewhat resembled the drapery of a Grecian Nymph, such an
+antique disguise having been thought the most secure, where so
+many maskers and revellers were assembled; so that the Queen's
+doubt of her being a living form was well justified by all
+contingent circumstances, as well as by the bloodless cheek and
+the fixed eye.
+
+Elizabeth remained in doubt, even after she had approached within
+a few paces, whether she did not gaze on a statue so cunningly
+fashioned that by the doubtful light it could not be
+distinguished from reality.  She stopped, therefore, and fixed
+upon this interesting object her princely look with so much
+keenness that the astonishment which had kept Amy immovable gave
+way to awe, and she gradually cast down her eyes, and drooped her
+head under the commanding gaze of the Sovereign.  Still, however,
+she remained in all respects, saving this slow and profound
+inclination of the head, motionless and silent.
+
+From her dress, and the casket which she instinctively held in
+her hand, Elizabeth naturally conjectured that the beautiful but
+mute figure which she beheld was a performer in one of the
+various theatrical pageants which had been placed in different
+situations to surprise her with their homage; and that the poor
+player, overcome with awe at her presence, had either forgot the
+part assigned her, or lacked courage to go through it.  It was
+natural and courteous to give her some encouragement; and
+Elizabeth accordingly said, in a, tone of condescending kindness,
+"How now, fair Nymph of this lovely grotto, art thou spell-bound
+and struck with dumbness by the charms of the wicked enchanter
+whom men term Fear?  We are his sworn enemy, maiden, and can
+reverse his charm.  Speak, we command thee."
+
+Instead of answering her by speech, the unfortunate Countess
+dropped on her knee before the Queen, let her casket fall from
+her hand, and clasping her palms together, looked up in the
+Queen's face with such a mixed agony of fear and supplication,
+that Elizabeth was considerably affected.
+
+"What may this mean?"  she said; "this is a stronger passion than
+befits the occasion.  Stand up, damsel--what wouldst thou have
+with us?"
+
+"Your protection, madam," faltered forth the unhappy petitioner.
+
+"Each daughter of England has it while she is worthy of it,"
+replied the Queen; "but your distress seems to have a deeper root
+than a forgotten task.  Why, and in what, do you crave our
+protection?"
+
+Amy hastily endeavoured to recall what she were best to say,
+which might secure herself from the imminent dangers that
+surrounded her, without endangering her husband; and plunging
+from one thought to another, amidst the chaos which filled her
+mind, she could at length, in answer to the Queen's repeated
+inquiries in what she sought protection, only falter out, "Alas!
+I know not."
+
+"This is folly, maiden," said Elizabeth impatiently; for there
+was something in the extreme confusion of the suppliant which
+irritated her curiosity, as well as interested her feelings.
+"The sick man must tell his malady to the physician; nor are WE
+accustomed to ask questions so oft without receiving an answer."
+
+"I request--I implore," stammered forth the unfortunate Countess
+--"I beseech your gracious protection--against--against one
+Varney."  She choked well-nigh as she uttered the fatal word,
+which was instantly caught up by the Queen.
+
+"What, Varney--Sir Richard Varney--the servant of Lord Leicester!
+what, damsel, are you to him, or he to you?"
+
+"I--I--was his prisoner--and he practised on my life--and I broke
+forth to--to--"
+
+"To throw thyself on my protection, doubtless," said Elizabeth.
+"Thou shalt have it--that is, if thou art worthy; for we will
+sift this matter to the uttermost.  Thou art," she said, bending
+on the Countess an eye which seemed designed to pierce her very
+inmost soul--"thou art Amy, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart of
+Lidcote Hall?"
+
+"Forgive me--forgive me, most gracious Princess!"  said Amy,
+dropping once more on her knee, from which she had arisen.
+
+"For what should I forgive thee, silly wench?"  said Elizabeth;
+"for being the daughter of thine own father?  Thou art brain-
+sick, surely.  Well I see I must wring the story from thee by
+inches. Thou didst deceive thine old and honoured father--thy
+look confesses it--cheated Master Tressilian--thy blush avouches
+it--and married this same Varney."
+
+Amy sprung on her feet, and interrupted the Queen eagerly with,
+"No, madam, no!  as there is a God above us, I am not the sordid
+wretch you would make me!  I am not the wife of that contemptible
+slave--of that most deliberate villain!  I am not the wife of
+Varney!  I would rather be the bride of Destruction!"
+
+The Queen, overwhelmed in her turn by Amy's vehemence, stood
+silent for an instant, and then replied, "Why, God ha' mercy,
+woman!  I see thou canst talk fast enough when the theme likes
+thee.  Nay, tell me, woman," she continued, for to the impulse of
+curiosity was now added that of an undefined jealousy that some
+deception had been practised on her--"tell me, woman--for, by
+God's day, I WILL know--whose wife, or whose paramour, art thou!
+Speak out, and be speedy.  Thou wert better daily with a lioness
+than with Elizabeth."
+
+Urged to this extremity, dragged as it were by irresistible force
+to the verge of the precipice which she saw, but could not avoid
+--permitted not a moment's respite by the eager words and
+menacing gestures of the offended Queen, Amy at length uttered in
+despair, "The Earl of Leicester knows it all."
+
+"The Earl of Leicester!"  said Elizabeth, in utter astonishment.
+"The Earl of Leicester!"  she repeated with kindling anger.
+"Woman, thou art set on to this--thou dost belie him--he takes no
+keep of such things as thou art.  Thou art suborned to slander
+the noblest lord and the truest-hearted gentleman in England!
+But were he the right hand of our trust, or something yet dearer
+to us, thou shalt have thy hearing, and that in his presence.
+Come with me--come with me instantly!"
+
+As Amy shrunk back with terror, which the incensed Queen
+interpreted as that of conscious guilt, Elizabeth rapidly
+advanced, seized on her arm, and hastened with swift and long
+steps out of the grotto, and along the principal alley of the
+Pleasance, dragging with her the terrified Countess, whom she
+still held by the arm, and whose utmost exertions could but just
+keep pace with those of the indignant Queen.
+
+Leicester was at this moment the centre of a splendid group of
+lords and ladies, assembled together under an arcade, or portico,
+which closed the alley.  The company had drawn together in that
+place, to attend the commands of her Majesty when the hunting-
+party should go forward, and their astonishment may be imagined
+when, instead of seeing Elizabeth advance towards them with her
+usual measured dignity of motion, they beheld her walking so
+rapidly that she was in the midst of them ere they were aware;
+and then observed, with fear and surprise, that her features were
+flushed betwixt anger and agitation, that her hair was loosened
+by her haste of motion, and that her eyes sparkled as they were
+wont when the spirit of Henry VIII.  mounted highest in his
+daughter.  Nor were they less astonished at the appearance of the
+pale, attenuated, half-dead, yet still lovely female, whom the
+Queen upheld by main strength with one hand, while with the other
+she waved aside the ladies and nobles who pressed towards her,
+under the idea that she was taken suddenly ill.  "Where is my
+Lord of Leicester?"  she said, in a tone that thrilled with
+astonishment all the courtiers who stood around.  "Stand forth,
+my Lord of Leicester!"
+
+If, in the midst of the most serene day of summer, when all is
+light and laughing around, a thunderbolt were to fall from the
+clear blue vault of heaven, and rend the earth at the very feet
+of some careless traveller, he could not gaze upon the
+smouldering chasm, which so unexpectedly yawned before him, with
+half the astonishment and fear which Leicester felt at the sight
+that so suddenly presented itself.  He had that instant been
+receiving, with a political affectation of disavowing and
+misunderstanding their meaning, the half-uttered, half-intimated
+congratulations of the courtiers upon the favour of the Queen,
+carried apparently to its highest pitch during the interview of
+that morning, from which most of them seemed to augur that he
+might soon arise from their equal in rank to become their master.
+And now, while the subdued yet proud smile with which he
+disclaimed those inferences was yet curling his cheek, the Queen
+shot into the circle, her passions excited to the uttermost; and
+supporting with one hand, and apparently without an effort, the
+pale and sinking form of his almost expiring wife, and pointing
+with the finger of the other to her half-dead features, demanded
+in a voice that sounded to the ears of the astounded statesman
+like the last dread trumpet-call that is to summon body and
+spirit to the judgment-seat, "Knowest thou this woman?"
+
+As, at the blast of that last trumpet, the guilty shall call upon
+the mountains to cover them, Leicester's inward thoughts invoked
+the stately arch which he had built in his pride to burst its
+strong conjunction, and overwhelm them in its ruins.  But the
+cemented stones, architrave and battlement, stood fast; and it
+was the proud master himself who, as if some actual pressure had
+bent him to the earth, kneeled down before Elizabeth, and
+prostrated his brow to the marble flag-stones on which she stood.
+
+"Leicester," said Elizabeth, in a voice which trembled with
+passion, "could I think thou hast practised on me--on me thy
+Sovereign--on me thy confiding, thy too partial mistress, the
+base and ungrateful deception which thy present confusion
+surmises--by all that is holy, false lord, that head of thine
+were in as great peril as ever was thy father's!"
+
+Leicester had not conscious innocence, but he had pride to
+support him.  He raised slowly his brow and features, which were
+black and swoln with contending emotions, and only replied, "My
+head cannot fall but by the sentence of my peers.  To them I will
+plead, and not to a princess who thus requites my faithful
+service."
+
+"What!  my lords," said Elizabeth, looking around, "we are
+defied, I think--defied in the Castle we have ourselves bestowed
+on this proud man!--My Lord Shrewsbury, you are Marshal of
+England, attach him of high treason."
+
+"Whom does your Grace mean?"  said Shrewsbury, much surprised,
+for he had that instant joined the astonished circle.
+
+"Whom should I mean, but that traitor Dudley, Earl of Leicester!
+--Cousin of Hunsdon, order out your band of gentlemen pensioners,
+and take him into instant custody.  I say, villain, make haste!"
+
+Hunsdon, a rough old noble, who, from his relationship to the
+Boleyns, was accustomed to use more freedom with the Queen than
+almost any other dared to do, replied bluntly, "And it is like
+your Grace might order me to the Tower to-morrow for making too
+much haste.  I do beseech you to be patient."
+
+"Patient--God's life!"  exclaimed the Queen--"name not the word
+to me; thou knowest not of what he is guilty!"
+
+Amy, who had by this time in some degree recovered herself, and
+who saw her husband, as she conceived, in the utmost danger from
+the rage of an offended Sovereign, instantly (and alas!  how
+many women have done the same) forgot her own wrongs and her own
+danger in her apprehensions for him, and throwing herself before
+the Queen, embraced her knees, while she exclaimed, "He is
+guiltless, madam--he is guiltless; no one can lay aught to the
+charge of the noble Leicester!"
+
+"Why, minion," answered the Queen, "didst not thou thyself say
+that the Earl of Leicester was privy to thy whole history?"
+
+"Did I say so?"  repeated the unhappy Amy, laying aside every
+consideration of consistency and of self-interest.  "Oh, if I
+did, I foully belied him.  May God so judge me, as I believe he
+was never privy to a thought that would harm me!"
+
+"Woman!"  said Elizabeth, "I will know who has moved thee to
+this; or my wrath--and the wrath of kings is a flaming fire--
+shall wither and consume thee like a weed in the furnace!"
+
+As the Queen uttered this threat, Leicester's better angel called
+his pride to his aid, and reproached him with the utter extremity
+of meanness which would overwhelm him for ever if he stooped to
+take shelter under the generous interposition of his wife, and
+abandoned her, in return for her kindness, to the resentment of
+the Queen.  He had already raised his head with the dignity of a
+man of honour to avow his marriage, and proclaim himself the
+protector of his Countess, when Varney, born, as it appeared, to
+be his master's evil genius, rushed into the presence with every
+mark of disorder on his face and apparel.
+
+"What means this saucy intrusion?"  said Elizabeth.
+
+Varney, with the air of a man altogether overwhelmed with grief
+and confusion, prostrated himself before her feet, exclaiming,
+"Pardon, my Liege, pardon!--or at least let your justice avenge
+itself on me, where it is due; but spare my noble, my generous,
+my innocent patron and master!"
+
+Amy, who was yet kneeling, started up as she saw the man whom she
+deemed most odious place himself so near her, and was about to
+fly towards Leicester, when, checked at once by the uncertainty
+and even timidity which his looks had reassumed as soon as the
+appearance of his confidant seemed to open a new scene, she hung
+back, and uttering a faint scream, besought of her Majesty to
+cause her to be imprisoned in the lowest dungeon of the Castle--
+to deal with her as the worst of criminals--"but spare," she
+exclaimed, "my sight and hearing what will destroy the little
+judgment I have left--the sight of that unutterable and most
+shameless villain!"
+
+"And why, sweetheart?"  said the Queen, moved by a new impulse;
+"what hath he, this false knight, since such thou accountest him,
+done to thee?"
+
+"Oh, worse than sorrow, madam, and worse than injury--he has sown
+dissension where most there should be peace.  I shall go mad if I
+look longer on him!"
+
+"Beshrew me, but I think thou art distraught already," answered
+the Queen.--"My Lord Hunsdon, look to this poor distressed young
+woman, and let her be safely bestowed, and in honest keeping,
+till we require her to be forthcoming."
+
+Two or three of the ladies in attendance, either moved by
+compassion for a creature so interesting, or by some other
+motive, offered their services to look after her; but the Queen
+briefly answered, "Ladies, under favour, no.  You have all (give
+God thanks) sharp ears and nimble tongues; our kinsman Hunsdon
+has ears of the dullest, and a tongue somewhat rough, but yet of
+the slowest.--Hunsdon, look to it that none have speech of her."
+
+"By Our Lady," said Hunsdon, taking in his strong, sinewy arms
+the fading and almost swooning form of Amy, "she is a lovely
+child!  and though a rough nurse, your Grace hath given her a
+kind one.  She is safe with me as one of my own ladybirds of
+daughters."
+
+So saying, he carried her off; unresistingly and almost
+unconsciously, his war-worn locks and long, grey beard mingling
+with her light-brown tresses, as her head reclined on his strong,
+square shoulder.  The Queen followed him with her eye.  She had
+already, with that self-command which forms so necessary a part
+of a Sovereign's accomplishments, suppressed every appearance of
+agitation, and seemed as if she desired to banish all traces of
+her burst of passion from the recollection of those who had
+witnessed it.  "My Lord of Hunsdon says well," she observed, "he
+is indeed but a rough nurse for so tender a babe."
+
+"My Lord of Hunsdon," said the Dean of St. Asaph--"I speak it not
+in defamation of his more noble qualities--hath a broad license
+in speech, and garnishes his discourse somewhat too freely with
+the cruel and superstitious oaths which savour both of
+profaneness and of old Papistrie."
+
+"It is the fault of his blood, Mr. Dean," said the Queen, turning
+sharply round upon the reverend dignitary as she spoke; "and you
+may blame mine for the same distemperature.  The Boleyns were
+ever a hot and plain-spoken race, more hasty to speak their mind
+than careful to choose their expressions.  And by my word--I hope
+there is no sin in that affirmation--I question if it were much
+cooled by mixing with that of Tudor."
+
+As she made this last observation she smiled graciously, and
+stole her eyes almost insensibly round to seek those of the Earl
+of Leicester, to whom she now began to think she had spoken with
+hasty harshness upon the unfounded suspicion of a moment.
+
+The Queen's eye found the Earl in no mood to accept the implied
+offer of conciliation.  His own looks had followed, with late and
+rueful repentance, the faded form which Hunsdon had just borne
+from the presence.  They now reposed gloomily on the ground, but
+more--so at least it seemed to Elizabeth--with the expression of
+one who has received an unjust affront, than of him who is
+conscious of guilt.  She turned her face angrily from him, and
+said to Varney, "Speak, Sir Richard, and explain these riddles--
+thou hast sense and the use of speech, at least, which elsewhere
+we look for in vain."
+
+As she said this, she darted another resentful glance towards
+Leicester, while the wily Varney hastened to tell his own story.
+
+"Your Majesty's piercing eye," he said, "has already detected the
+cruel malady of my beloved lady, which, unhappy that I am, I
+would not suffer to be expressed in the certificate of her
+physician, seeking to conceal what has now broken out with so
+much the more scandal."
+
+"She is then distraught?"  said the Queen.  "Indeed we doubted
+not of it; her whole demeanour bears it out.  I found her moping
+in a corner of yonder grotto; and every word she spoke--which
+indeed I dragged from her as by the rack--she instantly recalled
+and forswore.  But how came she hither?  Why had you her not in
+safe-keeping?"
+
+"My gracious Liege," said Varney, "the worthy gentleman under
+whose charge I left her, Master Anthony Foster, has come hither
+but now, as fast as man and horse can travel, to show me of her
+escape, which she managed with the art peculiar to many who are
+afflicted with this malady.  He is at hand for examination."
+
+"Let it be for another time," said the Queen.  "But, Sir Richard,
+we envy you not your domestic felicity; your lady railed on you
+bitterly, and seemed ready to swoon at beholding you."
+
+"It is the nature of persons in her disorder, so please your
+Grace," answered Varney, "to be ever most inveterate in their
+spleen against those whom, in their better moments, they hold
+nearest and dearest."
+
+"We have heard so, indeed," said Elizabeth, "and give faith to
+the saying."
+
+"May your Grace then be pleased," said Varney, " to command my
+unfortunate wife to be delivered into the custody of her
+friends?"
+
+Leicester partly started; but making a strong effort, he subdued
+his emotion, while Elizabeth answered sharply, "You are something
+too hasty, Master Varney.  We will have first a report of the
+lady's health and state of mind from Masters, our own physician,
+and then determine what shall be thought just.  You shall have
+license, however, to see her, that if there be any matrimonial
+quarrel betwixt you--such things we have heard do occur, even
+betwixt a loving couple--you may make it up, without further
+scandal to our court or trouble to ourselves."
+
+Varney bowed low, and made no other answer.
+
+Elizabeth again looked towards Leicester, and said, with a degree
+of condescension which could only arise out of the most heartfelt
+interest, "Discord, as the Italian poet says, will find her way
+into peaceful convents, as well as into the privacy of families;
+and we fear our own guards and ushers will hardly exclude her
+from courts.  My Lord of Leicester, you are offended with us, and
+we have right to be offended with you.  We will take the lion's
+part upon us, and be the first to forgive."
+
+Leicester smoothed his brow, as by an effort; but the trouble was
+too deep-seated that its placidity should at once return.  He
+said, however, that which fitted the occasion, "That he could not
+have the happiness of forgiving, because she who commanded him to
+do so could commit no injury towards him."
+
+Elizabeth seemed content with this reply, and intimated her
+pleasure that the sports of the morning should proceed.  The
+bugles sounded, the hounds bayed, the horses pranced --but the
+courtiers and ladies sought the amusement to which they were
+summoned with hearts very different from those which had leaped
+to the morning's REVIELLE.  There was doubt, and fear, and
+expectation on every brow, and surmise and intrigue in every
+whisper.
+
+Blount took an opportunity to whisper into Raleigh's ear, "This
+storm came like a levanter in the Mediterranean."
+
+"VARIUM ET MUTABILE," answered Raleigh, in a similar tone.
+
+"Nay, I know nought of your Latin," said Blount; "but I thank God
+Tressilian took not the sea during that hurricane.  He could
+scarce have missed shipwreck, knowing as he does so little how to
+trim his sails to a court gale."
+
+"Thou wouldst have instructed him!"  said Raleigh.
+
+"Why, I have profited by my time as well as thou, Sir Walter,"
+replied honest Blount.  "I am knight as well as thou, and of the
+earlier creation."
+
+"Now, God further thy wit," said Raleigh.  "But for Tressilian, I
+would I knew what were the matter with him.  He told me this
+morning he would not leave his chamber for the space of twelve
+hours or thereby, being bound by a promise.  This lady's madness,
+when he shall learn it, will not, I fear, cure his infirmity.
+The moon is at the fullest, and men's brains are working like
+yeast.  But hark!  they sound to mount.  Let us to horse, Blount;
+we young knights must deserve our spurs."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+        Sincerity,
+   Thou first of virtues!  let no mortal leave
+   Thy onward path, although the earth should gape,
+   And from the gulf of hell destruction cry,
+   To take dissimulation's winding way.        DOUGLAS.
+
+It was not till after a long and successful morning's sport, and
+a prolonged repast which followed the return of the Queen to the
+Castle, that Leicester at length found himself alone with Varney,
+from whom he now learned the whole particulars of the Countess's
+escape, as they had been brought to Kenilworth by Foster, who, in
+his terror for the consequences, had himself posted thither with
+the tidings.  As Varney, in his narrative, took especial care to
+be silent concerning those practices on the Countess's health
+which had driven her to so desperate a resolution, Leicester, who
+could only suppose that she had adopted it out of jealous
+impatience to attain the avowed state and appearance belonging to
+her rank, was not a little offended at the levity with which his
+wife had broken his strict commands, and exposed him to the
+resentment of Elizabeth.
+
+"I have given," he said, "to this daughter of an obscure
+Devonshire gentleman the proudest name in England.  I have made
+her sharer of my bed and of my fortunes.  I ask but of her a
+little patience, ere she launches forth upon the full current of
+her grandeur; and the infatuated woman will rather hazard her own
+shipwreck and mine--will rather involve me in a thousand
+whirlpools, shoals, and quicksands, and compel me to a thousand
+devices which shame me in mine own eyes--than tarry for a little
+space longer in the obscurity to which she was born.  So lovely,
+so delicate, so fond, so faithful, yet to lack in so grave a
+matter the prudence which one might hope from the veriest fool--
+it puts me beyond my patience."
+
+"We may post it over yet well enough," said Varney, "if my lady
+will be but ruled, and take on her the character which the time
+commands."
+
+"It is but too true, Sir Richard," said Leicester; "there is
+indeed no other remedy.  I have heard her termed thy wife in my
+presence, without contradiction.  She must bear the title until
+she is far from Kenilworth."
+
+"And long afterwards, I trust," said Varney; then instantly
+added, "For I cannot but hope it will be long after ere she bear
+the title of Lady Leicester--I fear me it may scarce be with
+safety during the life of this Queen.  But your lordship is best
+judge, you alone knowing what passages have taken place betwixt
+Elizabeth and you."
+
+"You are right, Varney," said Leicester.  "I have this morning
+been both fool and villain; and when Elizabeth hears of my
+unhappy marriage, she cannot but think herself treated with that
+premeditated slight which women never forgive.  We have once this
+day stood upon terms little short of defiance; and to those, I
+fear, we must again return."
+
+"Is her resentment, then, so implacable?" said Varney.
+
+"Far from it," replied the Earl; "for, being what she is in
+spirit and in station, she has even this day been but too
+condescending, in giving me opportunities to repair what she
+thinks my faulty heat of temper."
+
+"Ay," answered Varney; "the Italians say right--in lovers'
+quarrels, the party that loves most is always most willing to
+acknowledge the greater fault.  So then, my lord, if this union
+with the lady could be concealed, you stand with Elizabeth as you
+did?"
+
+Leicester sighed, and was silent for a moment, ere he replied.
+
+"Varney, I think thou art true to me, and I will tell thee all.
+I do NOT stand where I did.  I have spoken to Elizabeth--under
+what mad impulse I know not--on a theme which cannot be abandoned
+without touching every female feeling to the quick, and which yet
+I dare not and cannot prosecute.  She can never, never forgive me
+for having caused and witnessed those yieldings to human
+passion."
+
+"We must do something, my lord," said Varney, "and that
+speedily."
+
+"There is nought to be done," answered Leicester, despondingly.
+"I am like one that has long toiled up a dangerous precipice, and
+when he is within one perilous stride of the top, finds his
+progress arrested when retreat has become impossible.  I see
+above me the pinnacle which I cannot reach--beneath me the abyss
+into which I must fall, as soon as my relaxing grasp and dizzy
+brain join to hurl me from my present precarious stance."
+
+"Think better of your situation, my lord," said Varney; "let us
+try the experiment in which you have but now acquiesced.  Keep we
+your marriage from Elizabeth's knowledge, and all may yet be
+well.  I will instantly go to the lady myself.  She hates me,
+because I have been earnest with your lordship, as she truly
+suspects, in opposition to what she terms her rights.  I care not
+for her prejudices--she SHALL listen to me; and I will show her
+such reasons for yielding to the pressure of the times that I
+doubt not to bring back her consent to whatever measures these
+exigencies may require."
+
+"No, Varney," said Leicester; "I have thought upon what is to be
+done, and I will myself speak with Amy."
+
+It was now Varney's turn to feel upon his own account the terrors
+which he affected to participate solely on account of his patron.
+"Your lordship will not yourself speak with the lady?"
+
+"It is my fixed purpose," said Leicester.  "Fetch me one of the
+livery-cloaks; I will pass the sentinel as thy servant.  Thou art
+to have free access to her."
+
+"But, my lord--"
+
+"I will have no BUTS," replied Leicester; "it shall be even thus,
+and not otherwise.  Hunsdon sleeps, I think, in Saintlowe's
+Tower.  We can go thither from these apartments by the private
+passage, without risk of meeting any one.  Or what if I do meet
+Hunsdon?  he is more my friend than enemy, and thick-witted
+enough to adopt any belief that is thrust on him.  Fetch me the
+cloak instantly."
+
+Varney had no alternative save obedience.  In a few minutes
+Leicester was muffled in the mantle, pulled his bonnet over his
+brows, and followed Varney along the secret passage of the Castle
+which communicated with Hunsdon's apartments, in which there was
+scarce a chance of meeting any inquisitive person, and hardly
+light enough for any such to have satisfied their curiosity.
+They emerged at a door where Lord Hunsdon had, with military
+precaution, placed a sentinel, one of his own northern retainers
+as it fortuned, who readily admitted Sir Richard Varney and his
+attendant, saying only, in his northern dialect, "I would, man,
+thou couldst make the mad lady be still yonder; for her moans do
+sae dirl through my head that I would rather keep watch on a
+snowdrift, in the wastes of Catlowdie."
+
+They hastily entered, and shut the door behind them.
+
+"Now, good devil, if there be one," said Varney, within himself,
+"for once help a votary at a dead pinch, for my boat is amongst
+the breakers!"
+
+The Countess Amy, with her hair and her garments dishevelled, was
+seated upon a sort of couch, in an attitude of the deepest
+affliction, out of which she was startled by the opening of the
+door.  Size turned hastily round, and fixing her eye on Varney,
+exclaimed, "Wretch!  art thou come to frame some new plan of
+villainy?"
+
+Leicester cut short her reproaches by stepping forward and
+dropping his cloak, while he said, in a voice rather of authority
+than of affection, "It is with me, madam, you have to commune,
+not with Sir Richard Varney."
+
+The change effected on the Countess's look and manner was like
+magic.  "Dudley!"  she exclaimed, "Dudley!  and art thou come at
+last?" And with the speed of lightning she flew to her husband,
+clung round his neck, and unheeding the presence of Varney,
+overwhelmed him with caresses, while she bathed his face in a
+flood of tears, muttering, at the same time, but in broken and
+disjointed monosyllables, the fondest expressions which Love
+teaches his votaries.
+
+Leicester, as it seemed to him, had reason to be angry with his
+lady for transgressing his commands, and thus placing him in the
+perilous situation in which he had that morning stood.  But what
+displeasure could keep its ground before these testimonies of
+affection from a being so lovely, that even the negligence of
+dress, and the withering effects of fear, grief, and fatigue,
+which would have impaired the beauty of others, rendered hers but
+the more interesting.  He received and repaid her caresses with
+fondness mingled with melancholy, the last of which she seemed
+scarcely to observe, until the first transport of her own joy was
+over, when, looking anxiously in his face, she asked if he was
+ill.
+
+"Not in my body, Amy," was his answer.
+
+"Then I will be well too.  O Dudley!  I have been ill!--very ill,
+since we last met!--for I call not this morning's horrible vision
+a meeting.  I have been in sickness, in grief, and in danger.
+But thou art come, and all is joy, and health, and safety!"
+
+"Alas, Amy," said Leicester, "thou hast undone me!"
+
+"I, my lord?" said Amy, her cheek at once losing its transient
+flush of joy--"how could I injure that which I love better than
+myself?"
+
+"I would not upbraid you, Amy," replied the Earl; "but are you
+not here contrary to my express commands--and does not your
+presence here endanger both yourself and me?"
+
+"Does it, does it indeed?" she exclaimed eagerly; "then why am I
+here a moment longer?  Oh, if you knew by what fears I was urged
+to quit Cumnor Place!  But I will say nothing of myself--only
+that if it might be otherwise, I would not willingly return
+THITHER; yet if it concern your safety--"
+
+"We will think, Amy, of some other retreat," said Leicester; "and
+you shall go to one of my northern castles, under the personage--
+it will be but needful, I trust, for a very few days--of Varney's
+wife."
+
+"How, my Lord of Leicester!"  said the lady, disengaging herself
+from his embraces; "is it to your wife you give the dishonourable
+counsel to acknowledge herself the bride of another--and of all
+men, the bride of that Varney?"
+
+"Madam, I speak it in earnest--Varney is my true and faithful
+servant, trusted in my deepest secrets.  I had better lose my
+right hand than his service at this moment.  You have no cause to
+scorn him as you do."
+
+"I could assign one, my lord," replied the Countess; "and I see
+he shakes even under that assured look of his.  But he that is
+necessary as your right hand to your safety is free from any
+accusation of mine.  May he be true to you; and that he may be
+true, trust him not too much or too far.  But it is enough to say
+that I will not go with him unless by violence, nor would I
+acknowledge him as my husband were all--"
+
+"It is a temporary deception, madam," said Leicester, irritated
+by her opposition, "necessary for both our safeties, endangered
+by you through female caprice, or the premature desire to seize
+on a rank to which I gave you title only under condition that our
+marriage, for a time, should continue secret.  If my proposal
+disgust you, it is yourself has brought it on both of us.  There
+is no other remedy--you must do what your own impatient folly
+hath rendered necessary--I command you."
+
+"I cannot put your commands, my lord," said Amy, "in balance with
+those of honour and conscience.  I will NOT, in this instance,
+obey you.  You may achieve your own dishonour, to which these
+crooked policies naturally tend, but I will do nought that can
+blemish mine.  How could you again, my lord, acknowledge me as a
+pure and chaste matron, worthy to share your fortunes, when,
+holding that high character, I had strolled the country the
+acknowledged wife of such a profligate fellow as your servant
+Varney?"
+
+"My lord," said Varney interposing, "my lady is too much
+prejudiced against me, unhappily, to listen to what I can offer,
+yet it may please her better than what she proposes.  She has
+good interest with Master Edmund Tressilian, and could doubtless
+prevail on him to consent to be her companion to Lidcote Hall,
+and there she might remain in safety until time permitted the
+development of this mystery."
+
+Leicester was silent, but stood looking eagerly on Amy, with eyes
+which seemed suddenly to glow as much with suspicion as
+displeasure.
+
+The Countess only said, "Would to God I were in my father's
+house!  When I left it, I little thought I was leaving peace of
+mind and honour behind me."
+
+Varney proceeded with a tone of deliberation.  "Doubtless this
+will make it necessary to take strangers into my lord's counsels;
+but surely the Countess will be warrant for the honour of Master
+Tressilian, and such of her father's family--"
+
+"Peace, Varney," said Leicester; "by Heaven I will strike my
+dagger into thee if again thou namest Tressilian as a partner of
+my counsels!"
+
+"And wherefore not!"  said the Countess; "unless they be counsels
+fitter for such as Varney, than for a man of stainless honour and
+integrity.  My lord, my lord, bend no angry brows on me; it is
+the truth, and it is I who speak it.  I once did Tressilian wrong
+for your sake; I will not do him the further injustice of being
+silent when his honour is brought in question.  I can forbear,"
+she said, looking at Varney, "to pull the mask off hypocrisy, but
+I will not permit virtue to be slandered in my hearing."
+
+There was a dead pause.  Leicester stood displeased, yet
+undetermined, and too conscious of the weakness of his cause;
+while Varney, with a deep and hypocritical affectation of sorrow,
+mingled with humility, bent his eyes on the ground.
+
+It was then that the Countess Amy displayed, in the midst of
+distress and difficulty, the natural energy of character which
+would have rendered her, had fate allowed, a distinguished
+ornament of the rank which she held.  She walked up to Leicester
+with a composed step, a dignified air, and looks in which strong
+affection essayed in vain to shake the firmness of conscious,
+truth and rectitude of principle.  "You have spoken your mind, my
+lord," she said, "in these difficulties, with which, unhappily, I
+have found myself unable to comply.  This gentleman--this person
+I would say--has hinted at another scheme, to which I object not
+but as it displeases you.  Will your lordship be pleased to hear
+what a young and timid woman, but your most affectionate wife,
+can suggest in the present extremity?"
+
+Leicester was silent, but bent his head towards the Countess, as
+an intimation that she was at liberty to proceed.
+
+"There hath been but one cause for all these evils, my lord," she
+proceeded, "and it resolves itself into the mysterious duplicity
+with which you, have been induced to surround yourself.
+Extricate yourself at once, my lord, from the tyranny of these
+disgraceful trammels.  Be like a true English gentleman, knight,
+and earl, who holds that truth is the foundation of honour, and
+that honour is dear to him as the breath of his nostrils.  Take
+your ill-fated wife by the hand, lead her to the footstool of
+Elizabeth's throne--say that in a moment of infatuation, moved by
+supposed beauty, of which none perhaps can now trace even the
+remains, I gave my hand to this Amy Robsart.  You will then have
+done justice to me, my lord, and to your own honour and should
+law or power require you to part from me, I will oppose no
+objection, since I may then with honour hide a grieved and broken
+heart in those shades from which your love withdrew me.  Then--
+have but a little patience, and Amy's life will not long darken
+your brighter prospects."
+
+There was so much of dignity, so much of tenderness, in the
+Countess's remonstrance, that it moved all that was noble and
+generous in the soul of her husband.  The scales seemed to fall
+from his eyes, and the duplicity and tergiversation of which he
+had been guilty stung him at once with remorse and shame.
+
+"I am not worthy of you, Amy," he said, "that could weigh aught
+which ambition has to give against such a heart as thine.  I have
+a bitter penance to perform, in disentangling, before sneering
+foes and astounded friends, all the meshes of my own deceitful
+policy.  And the Queen--but let her take my head, as she has
+threatened."
+
+"Take your head, my lord!"  said the Countess, "because you used
+the freedom and liberty of an English subject in choosing a wife?
+For shame!  it is this distrust of the Queen's justice, this
+apprehension of danger, which cannot but be imaginary, that, like
+scarecrows, have induced you to forsake the straightforward path,
+which, as it is the best, is also the safest."
+
+"Ah, Amy, thou little knowest!"  said Dudley but instantly
+checking himself, he added, "Yet she shall not find in me a safe
+or easy victim of arbitrary vengeance.  I have friends--I have
+allies--I will not, like Norfolk, be dragged to the block as a
+victim to sacrifice.  Fear not, Amy; thou shalt see Dudley bear
+himself worthy of his name.  I must instantly communicate with
+some of those friends on whom I can best rely; for, as things
+stand, I may be made prisoner in my own Castle."
+
+"Oh, my good lord," said Amy, "make no faction in a peaceful
+state!  There is no friend can help us so well as our own candid
+truth and honour.  Bring but these to our assistance, and you are
+safe amidst a whole army of the envious and malignant.  Leave
+these behind you, and all other defence will be fruitless.
+Truth, my noble lord, is well painted unarmed."
+
+"But Wisdom, Amy," answered Leicester, is arrayed in panoply of
+proof.  Argue not with me on the means I shall use to render my
+confession--since it must be called so--as safe as may be; it
+will be fraught with enough of danger, do what we will.--Varney,
+we must hence.--Farewell, Amy, whom I am to vindicate as mine
+own, at an expense and risk of which thou alone couldst be
+worthy.  You shall soon hear further from me."
+
+He embraced her fervently, muffled himself as before, and
+accompanied Varney from the apartment.  The latter, as he left
+the room, bowed low, and as he raised his body, regarded Amy with
+a peculiar expression, as if he desired to know how far his own
+pardon was included in the reconciliation which had taken place
+betwixt her and her lord.  The Countess looked upon him with a
+fixed eye, but seemed no more conscious of his presence than if
+there had been nothing but vacant air on the spot where he stood.
+
+"She has brought me to the crisis," he muttered--"she or I am
+lost.  There was something--I wot not if it was fear or pity--
+that prompted me to avoid this fatal crisis.  It is now decided
+--she or I must PERISH."
+
+While he thus spoke, he observed, with surprise, that a boy,
+repulsed by the sentinel, made up to Leicester, and spoke with
+him.  Varney was one of those politicians whom not the slightest
+appearances escape without inquiry.  He asked the sentinel what
+the lad wanted with him, and received for answer that the boy had
+wished him to transmit a parcel to the mad lady; but that he
+cared not to take charge of it, such communication being beyond
+his commission, His curiosity satisfied in that particular, he
+approached his patron, and heard him say, "Well, boy, the packet
+shall be delivered."
+
+"Thanks, good Master Serving-man," said the boy, and was out of
+sight in an instant.
+
+Leicester and Varney returned with hasty steps to the Earl's
+private apartment, by the same passage which had conducted them
+to Saintlowe's Tower.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+  I have said
+  This is an adulteress--I have said with whom:
+  More, she's a traitor, and Camillo is
+  A federary with her, and one that knows
+  What she should shame to know herself.      WINTER'S TALE.
+
+They were no sooner in the Earl's cabinet than, taking his
+tablets from his pocket, he began to write, speaking partly to
+Varney, and partly to himself--"There are many of them close
+bounden to me, and especially those in good estate and high
+office--many who, if they look back towards my benefits, or
+forward towards the perils which may befall themselves, will not,
+I think, be disposed to see me stagger unsupported.  Let me see
+--Knollis is sure, and through his means Guernsey and Jersey.
+Horsey commands in the Isle of Wight.  My brother-in-law,
+Huntingdon, and Pembroke, have authority in Wales.  Through
+Bedford I lead the Puritans, with their interest, so powerful in
+all the boroughs.  My brother of Warwick is equal, well-nigh, to
+myself, in wealth, followers, and dependencies.  Sir Owen Hopton
+is at my devotion; he commands the Tower of London, and the
+national treasure deposited there.  My father and grand-father
+needed never to have stooped their heads to the block had they
+thus forecast their enterprises.--Why look you so sad, Varney?  I
+tell thee, a tree so deep-rooted is not so easily to be torn up
+by the tempest."
+
+"Alas!  my lord," said Varney, with well-acted passion, and then
+resumed the same look of despondency which Leicester had before
+noted.
+
+"Alas!"  repeated Leicester; "and wherefore alas, Sir Richard?
+Doth your new spirit of chivalry supply no more vigorous
+ejaculation when a noble struggle is impending?  Or, if ALAS
+means thou wilt flinch from the conflict, thou mayest leave the
+Castle, or go join mine enemies, whichever thou thinkest best."
+
+"Not so, my lord," answered his confidant; "Varney will be found
+fighting or dying by your side.  Forgive me, if, in love to you,
+I see more fully than your noble heart permits you to do, the
+inextricable difficulties with which you are surrounded.  You are
+strong, my lord, and powerful; yet, let me say it without
+offence, you are so only by the reflected light of the Queen's
+favour.  While you are Elizabeth's favourite, you are all, save
+in name, like an actual sovereign.  But let her call back the
+honours she has bestowed, and the prophet's gourd did not wither
+more suddenly.  Declare against the Queen, and I do not say that
+in the wide nation, or in this province alone, you would find
+yourself instantly deserted and outnumbered; but I will say, that
+even in this very Castle, and in the midst of your vassals,
+kinsmen, and dependants, you would be a captive, nay, a sentenced
+captive, should she please to say the word.  Think upon Norfolk,
+my lord--upon the powerful Northumberland--the splendid
+Westmoreland;--think on all who have made head against this sage
+Princess.  They are dead, captive, or fugitive.  This is not like
+other thrones, which can be overturned by a combination of
+powerful nobles; the broad foundations which support it are in
+the extended love and affections of the people.  You might share
+it with Elizabeth if you would; but neither yours, nor any other
+power, foreign or domestic, will avail to overthrow, or even to
+shake it."
+
+He paused, and Leicester threw his tablets from him with an air
+of reckless despite.  "It may be as thou sayest," he said?  "and,
+in sooth, I care not whether truth or cowardice dictate thy
+forebodings.  But it shall not be said I fell without a struggle.
+
+Give orders that those of my retainers who served under me in
+Ireland be gradually drawn into the main Keep, and let our
+gentlemen and friends stand on their guard, and go armed, as if
+they expected arm onset from the followers of Sussex.  Possess
+the townspeople with some apprehension; let them take arms, and
+be ready, at a given signal, to overpower the Pensioners and
+Yeomen of the Guard."
+
+"Let me remind you, my lord," said Varney, with the same
+appearance of deep and melancholy interest, "that you have given
+me orders to prepare for disarming the Queen's guard.  It is an
+act of high treason, but you shall nevertheless be obeyed."
+
+"I care not," said Leicester desperately--"I care not.  Shame is
+behind me, ruin before me; I must on."
+
+Here there was another pause, which Varney at length broke with
+the following words:  "It is come to the point I have long
+dreaded.  I must either witness, like an ungrateful beast, the
+downfall of the best and kindest of masters, or I must speak what
+I would have buried in the deepest oblivion, or told by any other
+mouth than mine."
+
+"What is that thou sayest, or wouldst say?"  replied the Earl;
+"we have no time to waste on words when the times call us to
+action."
+
+"My speech is soon made, my lord-would to God it were as soon
+answered!  Your marriage is the sole cause of the threatened
+breach with your Sovereign, my lord, is it not?"
+
+"Thou knowest it is!"  replied Leicester.  "What needs so
+fruitless a question?"
+
+"Pardon me, my lord," said Varney; "the use lies here.  Men will
+wager their lands and lives in defence of a rich diamond, my
+lord; but were it not first prudent to look if there is no flaw
+in it?"
+
+"What means this?"  said Leicester, with eyes sternly fixed on
+his dependant; "of whom dost thou dare to speak?"
+
+"It is--of the Countess Amy, my lord, of whom I am unhappily
+bound to speak; and of whom I WILL speak, were your lordship to
+kill me for my zeal."
+
+"Thou mayest happen to deserve it at my hand," said the Earl;
+"but speak on, I will hear thee."
+
+"Nay, then, my lord, I will be bold.  I speak for my own life as
+well as for your lordship's.  I like not this lady's tampering
+and trickstering with this same Edmund Tressilian.  You know him,
+my lord.  You know he had formerly an interest in her, which it
+cost your lordship some pains to supersede.  You know the
+eagerness with which he has pressed on the suit against me in
+behalf of this lady, the open object of which is to drive your
+lordship to an avowal of what I must ever call your most unhappy
+marriage, the point to which my lady also is willing, at any
+risk, to urge you."
+
+Leicester smiled constrainedly.  "Thou meanest well, good Sir
+Richard, and wouldst, I think, sacrifice thine own honour, as
+well as that of any other person, to save me from what thou
+thinkest a step so terrible.  But remember"--he spoke these words
+with the most stern decision--"you speak of the Countess of
+Leicester."
+
+"I do, my lord," said Varney; "but it is for the welfare of the
+Earl of Leicester.  My tale is but begun.  I do most strongly
+believe that this Tressilian has, from the beginning of his
+moving in her cause, been in connivance with her ladyship the
+Countess."
+
+"Thou speakest wild madness, Varney, with the sober face of a
+preacher.  Where, or how, could they communicate together?"
+
+"My lord," said Varney, "unfortunately I can show that but too
+well.  It was just before the supplication was presented to the
+Queen, in Tressilian's name, that I met him, to my utter
+astonishment, at the postern gate which leads from the demesne at
+Cumnor Place."
+
+"Thou met'st him, villain!  and why didst thou not strike him
+dead?"  exclaimed Leicester.
+
+"I drew on him, my lord, and he on me; and had not my foot
+slipped, he would not, perhaps, have been again a stumbling-block
+in your lordship's path."
+
+Leicester seemed struck dumb with surprise.  At length he
+answered, "What other evidence hast thou of this, Varney, save
+thine own assertion?--for, as I will punish deeply, I will
+examine coolly and warily.  Sacred Heaven!--but no--I will
+examine coldly and warily-coldly and warily."  He repeated these
+words more than once to himself, as if in the very sound there
+was a sedative quality; and again compressing his lips, as if he
+feared some violent expression might escape from them, he asked
+again, "What further proof?"
+
+"Enough, my lord," said Varney, "and to spare.  I would it rested
+with me alone, for with me it might have been silenced for ever.
+But my servant, Michael Lambourne, witnessed the whole, and was,
+indeed, the means of first introducing Tressilian into Cumnor
+Place; and therefore I took him into my service, and retained him
+in it, though something of a debauched fellow, that I might have
+his tongue always under my own command."  He then acquainted Lord
+Leicester how easy it was to prove the circumstance of their
+interview true, by evidence of Anthony Foster, with the
+corroborative testimonies of the various persons at Cumnor, who
+had heard the wager laid, and had seen Lambourne and Tressilian
+set off together.  In the whole narrative, Varney hazarded
+nothing fabulous, excepting that, not indeed by direct assertion,
+but by inference, he led his patron to suppose that the interview
+betwixt Amy and Tressilian at Cumnor Place had been longer than
+the few minutes to which it was in reality limited.
+
+"And wherefore was I not told of all this?"  said Leicester
+sternly.  "Why did all of ye--and in particular thou, Varney--
+keep back from me such material information?"
+
+"Because, my lord," replied Varney, "the Countess pretended to
+Foster and to me that Tressilian had intruded himself upon her;
+and I concluded their interview had been in all honour, and that
+she would at her own time tell it to your lordship.  Your
+lordship knows with what unwilling ears we listen to evil
+surmises against those whom we love; and I thank Heaven I am no
+makebate or informer, to be the first to sow them."
+
+"You are but too ready to receive them, however, Sir Richard,"
+replied his patron.  "How knowest thou that this interview was
+not in all honour, as thou hast said?  Methinks the wife of the
+Earl of Leicester might speak for a short time with such a person
+as Tressilian without injury to me or suspicion to herself."
+
+"Questionless, my lord," answered Varney, "Had I thought
+otherwise, I had been no keeper of the secret.  But here lies the
+rub--Tressilian leaves not the place without establishing a
+correspondence with a poor man, the landlord of an inn in Cumnor,
+for the purpose of carrying off the lady.  He sent down an
+emissary of his, whom I trust soon to have in right sure keeping
+under Mervyn's Tower--Killigrew and Lambsbey are scouring the
+country in quest of him.  The host is rewarded with a ring for
+keeping counsel--your lordship may have noted it on Tressilian's
+hand--here it is.  This fellow, this agent, makes his way to the
+place as a pedlar; holds conferences with the lady, and they make
+their escape together by night; rob a poor fellow of a horse by
+the way, such was their guilty haste, and at length reach this
+Castle, where the Countess of Leicester finds refuge--I dare not
+say in what place."
+
+"Speak, I command thee," said Leicester--"speak, while I retain
+sense enough to hear thee."
+
+"Since it must be so," answered Varney, "the lady resorted
+immediately to the apartment of Tressilian, where she remained
+many hours, partly in company with him, and partly alone.  I told
+you Tressilian had a paramour in his chamber; I little dreamed
+that paramour was--"
+
+"Amy, thou wouldst say," answered Leicester; "but it is false,
+false as the smoke of hell!  Ambitious she may be--fickle and
+impatient--'tis a woman's fault; but false to me!--never, never.
+The proof--the proof of this!"  he exclaimed hastily.
+
+"Carrol, the Deputy Marshal, ushered her thither by her own
+desire, on yesterday afternoon; Lambourne and the Warder both
+found her there at an early hour this morning,"
+
+"Was Tressilian there with her?"  said Leicester, in the same
+hurried tone.
+
+"No, my lord.  You may remember," answered Varney, "that he was
+that night placed with Sir Nicholas Blount, under a species of
+arrest."
+
+"Did Carrol, or the other fellows, know who she was?"  demanded
+Leicester.
+
+"No, my lord," replied Varney; "Carrol and the Warder had never
+seen the Countess, and Lambourne knew her not in her disguise.
+But in seeking to prevent her leaving the cell, he obtained
+possession of one of her gloves, which, I think, your lordship
+may know."
+
+He gave the glove, which had the Bear and Ragged Staff, the
+Earl's impress, embroidered upon it in seed-pearls.
+
+"I do--I do recognize it," said Leicester.  "They were my own
+gift.  The fellow of it was on the arm which she threw this very
+day around my neck!"  He spoke this with violent agitation.
+
+"Your lordship," said Varney, "might yet further inquire of the
+lady herself respecting the truth of these passages."
+
+"It needs not--it needs not," said the tortured Earl; "it is
+written in characters of burning light, as if they were branded
+on my very eyeballs!  I see her infamy-I can see nought else;
+and--gracious Heaven!--for this vile woman was I about to commit
+to danger the lives of so many noble friends, shake the
+foundation of a lawful throne, carry the sword and torch through
+the bosom of a peaceful land, wrong the kind mistress who made me
+what I am, and would, but for that hell-framed marriage, have
+made me all that man can be!  All this I was ready to do for a
+woman who trinkets and traffics with my worst foes!--And thou,
+villain, why didst thou not speak sooner?"
+
+"My lord," said Varney, "a tear from my lady would have blotted
+out all I could have said.  Besides, I had not these proofs until
+this very morning, when Anthony Foster's sudden arrival with the
+examinations and declarations, which he had extorted from the
+innkeeper Gosling and others, explained the manner of her flight
+from Cumnor Place, and my own researches discovered the steps
+which she had taken here."
+
+"Now, may God be praised for the light He has given!  so full, so
+satisfactory, that there breathes not a man in England who shall
+call my proceeding rash, or my revenge unjust.--And yet, Varney,
+so young, so fair, so fawning, and so false!  Hence, then, her
+hatred to thee, my trusty, my well-beloved servant, because you
+withstood her plots, and endangered her paramour's life!"
+
+"I never gave her any other cause of dislike, my lord," replied
+Varney.  "But she knew that my counsels went directly to diminish
+her influence with your lordship; and that I was, and have been,
+ever ready to peril my life against your enemies."
+
+"It is too, too apparent," replied Leicester "yet with what an
+air of magnanimity she exhorted me to commit my head to the
+Queen's mercy, rather than wear the veil of falsehood a moment
+longer!  Methinks the angel of truth himself can have no such
+tones of high-souled impulse.  Can it be so, Varney?--can
+falsehood use thus boldly the language of truth?--can infamy thus
+assume the guise of purity?  Varney, thou hast been my servant
+from a child.  I have raised thee high--can raise thee higher.
+Think, think for me!--thy brain was ever shrewd and piercing--
+may she not be innocent?  Prove her so, and all I have yet done
+for thee shall be as nothing--nothing, in comparison of thy
+recompense!"
+
+The agony with which his master spoke had some effect even on the
+hardened Varney, who, in the midst of his own wicked and
+ambitious designs, really loved his patron as well as such a
+wretch was capable of loving anything.  But he comforted himself,
+and subdued his self-reproaches, with the reflection that if he
+inflicted upon the Earl some immediate and transitory pain, it
+was in order to pave his way to the throne, which, were this
+marriage dissolved by death or otherwise, he deemed Elizabeth
+would willingly share with his benefactor.  He therefore
+persevered in his diabolical policy; and after a moment's
+consideration, answered the anxious queries of the Earl with a
+melancholy look, as if he had in vain sought some exculpation for
+the Countess; then suddenly raising his head, he said, with an
+expression of hope, which instantly communicated itself to the
+countenance of his patron--"Yet wherefore, if guilty, should she
+have perilled herself by coming hither?  Why not rather have fled
+to her father's, or elsewhere?--though that, indeed, might have
+interfered with her desire to be acknowledged as Countess of
+Leicester."
+
+"True, true, true!"  exclaimed Leicester, his transient gleam of
+hope giving way to the utmost bitterness of feeling and
+expression; "thou art not fit to fathom a woman's depth of wit,
+Varney.  I see it all.  She would not quit the estate and title
+of the wittol who had wedded her.  Ay, and if in my madness I had
+started into rebellion, or if the angry Queen had taken my head,
+as she this morning threatened, the wealthy dower which law would
+have assigned to the Countess Dowager of Leicester had been no
+bad windfall to the beggarly Tressilian.  Well might she goad me
+on to danger, which could not end otherwise than profitably to
+her,--Speak not for her, Varney!  I will have her blood!"
+
+"My lord," replied Varney, "the wildness of your distress breaks
+forth in the wildness of your language,"
+
+"I say, speak not for her!"  replied Leicester; "she has
+dishonoured me--she would have murdered me--all ties are burst
+between us.  She shall die the death of a traitress and
+adulteress, well merited both by the laws of God and man!  And--
+what is this casket," he said, "which was even now thrust into my
+hand by a boy, with the desire I would convey it to Tressilian,
+as he could not give it to the Countess?  By Heaven! the words
+surprised me as he spoke them, though other matters chased them
+from my brain; but now they return with double force. It is her
+casket of jewels!--Force it open, Varney--force the hinges open
+with thy poniard!"
+
+"She refused the aid of my dagger once," thought Varney, as he
+unsheathed the weapon, "to cut the string which bound a letter,
+but now it shall work a mightier ministry in her fortunes."
+
+With this reflection, by using the three-cornered stiletto-blade
+as a wedge, he forced open the slender silver hinges of the
+casket.  The Earl no sooner saw them give way than he snatched
+the casket from Sir Richard's hand, wrenched off the cover, and
+tearing out the splendid contents, flung them on the floor in a
+transport of rage, while he eagerly searched for some letter or
+billet which should make the fancied guilt of his innocent
+Countess yet more apparent.  Then stamping furiously on the gems,
+he exclaimed, "Thus I annihilate the miserable toys for which
+thou hast sold thyself, body and soul--consigned thyself to an
+early and timeless death, and me to misery and remorse for ever!
+--Tell me not of forgiveness, Varney--she is doomed!"
+
+So saying, he left the room, and rushed into an adjacent closet,
+the door of which he locked and bolted.
+
+Varney looked after him, while something of a more human feeling
+seemed to contend with his habitual sneer.  "I am sorry for his
+weakness," he said, "but love has made him a child.  He throws
+down and treads on these costly toys-with the same vehemence
+would he dash to pieces this frailest toy of all, of which he
+used to rave so fondly.  But that taste also will be forgotten
+when its object is no more.  Well, he has no eye to value things
+as they deserve, and that nature has given to Varney.  When
+Leicester shall be a sovereign, he will think as little of the
+gales of passion through which he gained that royal port, as ever
+did sailor in harbour of the perils of a voyage.  But these tell-
+tale articles must not remain here--they are rather too rich
+vails for the drudges who dress the chamber."
+
+While Varney was employed in gathering together and putting them
+into a secret drawer of a cabinet that chanced to be open, he saw
+the door of Leicester's closet open, the tapestry pushed aside,
+and the Earl's face thrust out, but with eyes so dead, and lips
+and cheeks so bloodless and pale, that he started at the sudden
+change.  No sooner did his eyes encounter the Earl's, than the
+latter withdrew his head and shut the door of the closet.  This
+manoeuvre Leicester repeated twice, without speaking a word, so
+that Varney began to doubt whether his brain was not actually
+affected by his mental agony.  The third time, however, he
+beckoned, and Varney obeyed the signal.  When he entered, he soon
+found his patron's perturbation was not caused by insanity, but
+by the fullness of purpose which he entertained contending with
+various contrary passions.  They passed a full hour in close
+consultation; after which the Earl of Leicester, with an
+incredible exertion, dressed himself, and went to attend his
+royal guest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+  You have displaced the mirth, broke the good meeting
+  With most admired disorder.           MACBETH.
+
+It was afterwards remembered that during the banquets and revels
+which occupied the remainder of this eventful day the bearing of
+Leicester and of Varney were totally different from their usual
+demeanour.  Sir Richard Varney had been held rather a man of
+counsel and of action than a votary of pleasure.  Business,
+whether civil or military, seemed always to be his proper sphere;
+and while in festivals and revels, although he well understood
+how to trick them up and present them, his own part was that of a
+mere spectator; or if he exercised his wit, it was in a rough,
+caustic, and severe manner, rather as if he scoffed at the
+exhibition and the guests than shared the common pleasure.
+
+But upon the present day his character seemed changed.  He mixed
+among the younger courtiers and ladies, and appeared for the
+moment to be actuated by a spirit of light-hearted gaiety, which
+rendered him a match for the liveliest.  Those who had looked
+upon him as a man given up to graver and more ambitious pursuits,
+a bitter sneerer and passer of sarcasms at the expense of those
+who, taking life as they find it, were disposed to snatch at
+each pastime it presents, now perceived with astonishment that
+his wit could carry as smooth an edge as their own, his laugh be
+as lively, and his brow as unclouded.  By what art of damnable
+hypocrisy he could draw this veil of gaiety over the black
+thoughts of one of the worst of human bosoms must remain
+unintelligible to all but his compeers, if any such ever existed;
+but he was a man of extraordinary powers, and those powers were
+unhappily dedicated in all their energy to the very worst of
+purposes.
+
+It was entirely different with Leicester.  However habituated his
+mind usually was to play the part of a good courtier, and appear
+gay, assiduous, and free from all care but that of enhancing the
+pleasure of the moment, while his bosom internally throbbed with
+the pangs of unsatisfied ambition, jealousy, or resentment, his
+heart had now a yet more dreadful guest, whose workings could not
+be overshadowed or suppressed; and you might read in his vacant
+eye and troubled brow that his thoughts were far absent from the
+scenes in which he was compelling himself to play a part.  He
+looked, moved, and spoke as if by a succession of continued
+efforts; and it seemed as if his will had in some degree lost the
+promptitude of command over the acute mind and goodly form of
+which it was the regent.  His actions and gestures, instead of
+appearing the consequence of simple volition, seemed, like those
+of an automaton, to wait the revolution of some internal
+machinery ere they could be performed; and his words fell from
+him piecemeal, interrupted, as if he had first to think what he
+was to say, then how it was to be said, and as if, after all, it
+was only by an effort of continued attention that he completed a
+sentence without forgetting both the one and the other.
+
+The singular effects which these distractions of mind produced
+upon the behaviour and conversation of the most accomplished
+courtier of England, as they were visible to the lowest and
+dullest menial who approached his person, could not escape the
+notice of the most intelligent Princess of the age.  Nor is there
+the least doubt that the alternate negligence and irregularity of
+his manner would have called down Elizabeth's severe displeasure
+on the Earl of Leicester, had it not occurred to her to account
+for it by supposing that the apprehension of that displeasure
+which she had expressed towards him with such vivacity that very
+morning was dwelling upon the spirits of her favourite, and,
+spite of his efforts to the contrary, distracted the usual
+graceful tenor of his mien and the charms of his conversation.
+When this idea, so flattering to female vanity, had once obtained
+possession of her mind, it proved a full and satisfactory apology
+for the numerous errors and mistakes of the Earl of Leicester;
+and the watchful circle around observed with astonishment, that,
+instead of resenting his repeated negligence, and want of even
+ordinary attention (although these were points on which she was
+usually extremely punctilious), the Queen sought, on the
+contrary, to afford him time and means to recollect himself, and
+deigned to assist him in doing so, with an indulgence which
+seemed altogether inconsistent with her usual character.  It was
+clear, however, that this could not last much longer, and that
+Elizabeth must finally put another and more severe construction
+on Leicester's uncourteous conduct, when the Earl was summoned by
+Varney to speak with him in a different apartment.
+
+After having had the message twice delivered to him, he rose, and
+was about to withdraw, as it were, by instinct; then stopped, and
+turning round, entreated permission of the Queen to absent
+himself for a brief space upon matters of pressing importance.
+
+"Go, my lord," said the Queen.  "We are aware our presence must
+occasion sudden and unexpected occurrences, which require to be
+provided for on the instant.  Yet, my lord, as you would have us
+believe ourself your welcome and honoured guest, we entreat you
+to think less of our good cheer, and favour us with more of your
+good countenance than we have this day enjoyed; for whether
+prince or peasant be the guest, the welcome of the host will
+always be the better part of the entertainment.  Go, my lord; and
+we trust to see you return with an unwrinkled brow, and those
+free thoughts which you are wont to have at the disposal of your
+friends."
+
+Leicester only bowed low in answer to this rebuke, and retired.
+At the door of the apartment he was met by Varney, who eagerly
+drew him apart, and whispered in his ear, "All is well!"
+
+"Has Masters seen her?"  said the Earl.
+
+"He has, my lord; and as she would neither answer his queries,
+nor allege any reason for her refusal, he will give full
+testimony that she labours under a mental disorder, and may be
+best committed to the charge of her friends.  The opportunity is
+therefore free to remove her as we proposed."
+
+"But Tressilian?"  said Leicester.
+
+"He will not know of her departure for some time," replied
+Varney; "it shall take place this very evening, and to-morrow he
+shall be cared for."
+
+"No, by my soul," answered Leicester; "I will take vengeance on
+him with mine own hand!"
+
+"You, my lord, and on so inconsiderable a man as Tressilian!  No,
+my lord, he hath long wished to visit foreign parts.  Trust him
+to me--I will take care he returns not hither to tell tales."
+
+"Not so, by Heaven, Varney!"  exclaimed Leicester.
+"Inconsiderable do you call an enemy that hath had power to wound
+me so deeply that my whole after-life must be one scene of
+remorse and misery?--No; rather than forego the right of doing
+myself justice with my own hand on that accursed villain, I will
+unfold the whole truth at Elizabeth's footstool, and let her
+vengeance descend at once on them and on myself."
+
+Varney saw with great alarm that his lord was wrought up to such
+a pitch of agitation, that if he gave not way to him he was
+perfectly capable of adopting the desperate resolution which he
+had announced, and which was instant ruin to all the schemes of
+ambition which Varney had formed for his patron and for himself.
+But the Earl's rage seemed at once uncontrollable and deeply
+concentrated, and while he spoke his eyes shot fire, his voice
+trembled with excess of passion, and the light foam stood on his
+lip.
+
+His confidant made a bold and successful effort to obtain the
+mastery of him even in this hour of emotion.  "My lord," he said,
+leading him to a mirror, "behold your reflection in that glass,
+and think if these agitated features belong to one who, in a
+condition so extreme, is capable of forming a resolution for
+himself"
+
+"What, then, wouldst thou make me?"  said Leicester, struck at
+the change in his own physiognomy, though offended at the freedom
+with which Varney made the appeal.  "Am I to be thy ward, thy
+vassal,--the property and subject of my servant?"
+
+"No, my lord," said Varney firmly, "but be master of yourself,
+and of your own passion.  My lord, I, your born servant, am
+ashamed to see how poorly you bear yourself in the storm of fury.
+Go to Elizabeth's feet, confess your marriage--impeach your wife
+and her paramour of adultery--and avow yourself, amongst all your
+peers, the wittol who married a country girl, and was cozened by
+her and her book-learned gallant.  Go, my lord--but first take
+farewell of Richard Varney, with all the benefits you ever
+conferred on him.  He served the noble, the lofty, the high-
+minded Leicester, and was more proud of depending on him than he
+would be of commanding thousands.  But the abject lord who stoops
+to every adverse circumstance, whose judicious resolves are
+scattered like chaff before every wind of passion, him Richard
+Varney serves not.  He is as much above him in constancy of mind
+as beneath him in rank and fortune."
+
+Varney spoke thus without hypocrisy, for though the firmness of
+mind which he boasted was hardness and impenetrability, yet he
+really felt the ascendency which he vaunted; while the interest
+which he actually felt in the fortunes of Leicester gave unusual
+emotion to his voice and manner.
+
+Leicester was overpowered by his assumed superiority it seemed to
+the unfortunate Earl as if his last friend was about to abandon
+him.  He stretched his hand towards Varney as he uttered the
+words, "Do not leave me.  What wouldst thou have me do?"
+
+"Be thyself, my noble master," said Varney, touching the Earl's
+hand with his lips, after having respectfully grasped it in his
+own; "be yourself, superior to those storms of passion which
+wreck inferior minds.  Are you the first who has been cozened in
+love--the first whom a vain and licentious woman has cheated into
+an affection, which she has afterwards scorned and misused?  And
+will you suffer yourself to be driven frantic because you have
+not been wiser than the wisest men whom the world has seen?  Let
+her be as if she had not been--let her pass from your memory, as
+unworthy of ever having held a place there.  Let your strong
+resolve of this morning, which I have both courage, zeal, and
+means enough to execute, be like the fiat of a superior being, a
+passionless act of justice.  She hath deserved death--let her
+die!"
+
+While he was speaking, the Earl held his hand fast, compressed
+his lips hard, and frowned, as if he laboured to catch from
+Varney a portion of the cold, ruthless, and dispassionate
+firmness which he recommended.  When he was silent, the Earl
+still continued to rasp his hand, until, with an effort at calm
+decision, he was able to articulate, "Be it so--she dies!  But
+one tear might be permitted."
+
+"Not one, my lord," interrupted Varney, who saw by the quivering
+eye and convulsed cheek of his patron that he was about to give
+way to a burst of emotion--"not a tear--the time permits it not.
+Tressilian must be thought of--"
+
+"That indeed is a name," said the Earl, "to convert tears into
+blood.  Varney, I have thought on this, and I have determined--
+neither entreaty nor argument shall move me--Tressilian shall be
+my own victim."
+
+"It is madness, my lord; but you are too mighty for me to bar
+your way to your revenge.  Yet resolve at least to choose fitting
+time and opportunity, and to forbear him until these shall be
+found."
+
+"Thou shalt order me in what thou wilt," said Leicester, "only
+thwart me not in this."
+
+"Then, my lord," said Varney, "I first request of you to lay
+aside the wild, suspected, and half-frenzied demeanour which hath
+this day drawn the eyes of all the court upon you, and which, but
+for the Queen's partial indulgence, which she hath extended
+towards you in a degree far beyond her nature, she had never
+given you the opportunity to atone for."
+
+"Have I indeed been so negligent?"  said Leicester, as one who
+awakes from a dream.  "I thought I had coloured it well.  But
+fear nothing, my mind is now eased--I am calm.  My horoscope
+shall be fulfilled; and that it may be fulfilled, I will tax to
+the highest every faculty of my mind.  Fear me not, I say.  I
+will to the Queen instantly--not thine own looks and language
+shall be more impenetrable than mine.  Hast thou aught else to
+say?"
+
+"I must crave your signet-ring," said Varney gravely, "in token
+to those of your servants whom I must employ, that I possess your
+full authority in commanding their aid."
+
+Leicester drew off the signet-ring which he commonly used, and
+gave it to Varney, with a haggard and stern expression of
+countenance, adding only, in a low, half-whispered tone, but with
+terrific emphasis, the words, "What thou dost, do quickly."
+
+Some anxiety and wonder took place, meanwhile, in the presence-
+hall, at the prolonged absence of the noble Lord of the Castle,
+and great was the delight of his friends when they saw him enter
+as a man from whose bosom, to all human seeming, a weight of care
+had been just removed.  Amply did Leicester that day redeem the
+pledge he had given to Varney, who soon saw himself no longer
+under the necessity of maintaining a character so different from
+his own as that which he had assumed in the earlier part of the
+day, and gradually relapsed into the same grave, shrewd, caustic
+observer of conversation and incident which constituted his usual
+part in society.
+
+With Elizabeth, Leicester played his game as one to whom her
+natural strength of talent and her weakness in one or two
+particular points were well known.  He was too wary to exchange
+on a sudden the sullen personage which he had played before he
+retired with Varney; but on approaching her it seemed softened
+into a melancholy, which had a touch of tenderness in it, and
+which, in the course of conversing with Elizabeth, and as she
+dropped in compassion one mark of favour after another to console
+him, passed into a flow of affectionate gallantry, the most
+assiduous, the most delicate, the most insinuating, yet at the
+same time the most respectful, with which a Queen was ever
+addressed by a subject.  Elizabeth listened as in a sort of
+enchantment.  Her jealousy of power was lulled asleep; her
+resolution to forsake all social or domestic ties, and dedicate
+herself exclusively to the care of her people, began to be
+shaken; and once more the star of Dudley culminated in the court
+horizon.
+
+But Leicester did not enjoy this triumph over nature, and over
+conscience, without its being embittered to him, not only by the
+internal rebellion of his feelings against the violence which he
+exercised over them, but by many accidental circumstances, which,
+in the course of the banquet, and during the subsequent
+amusements of the evening, jarred upon that nerve, the least
+vibration of which was agony.
+
+The courtiers were, for example, in the Great Hall, after having
+left the banqueting-room, awaiting the appearance of a splendid
+masque, which was the expected entertainment of this evening,
+when the Queen interrupted a wild career of wit which the Earl of
+Leicester was running against Lord Willoughby, Raleigh, and some
+other courtiers, by saying, "We will impeach you of high treason,
+my lord, if you proceed in this attempt to slay us with laughter.
+And here comes a thing may make us all grave at his pleasure, our
+learned physician Masters, with news belike of our poor
+suppliant, Lady Varney;--nay, my lord, we will not have you leave
+us, for this being a dispute betwixt married persons, we do not
+hold our own experience deep enough to decide thereon without
+good counsel.--How now, Masters, what thinkest thou of the
+runaway bride?"
+
+The smile with which Leicester had been speaking, when the Queen
+interrupted him, remained arrested on his lips, as if it had been
+carved there by the chisel of Michael Angelo or of Chantrey; and
+he listened to the speech of the physician with the same
+immovable cast of countenance.
+
+"The Lady Varney, gracious Sovereign," said the court physician
+Masters, "is sullen, and would hold little conference with me
+touching the state of her health, talking wildly of being soon to
+plead her own cause before your own presence, and of answering no
+meaner person's inquiries."
+
+"Now the heavens forfend!"  said the Queen; "we have already
+suffered from the misconstructions and broils which seem to
+follow this poor brain-sick lady wherever she comes.--Think you
+not so, my lord?"  she added, appealing to Leicester with
+something in her look that indicated regret, even tenderly
+expressed, for their disagreement of that morning.  Leicester
+compelled himself to bow low.  The utmost force he could exert
+was inadequate to the further effort of expressing in words his
+acquiescence in the Queen's sentiment.
+
+"You are vindictive," she said, "my lord; but we will find time
+and place to punish you.  But once more to this same trouble-
+mirth, this Lady Varney.  What of her health, Masters?"
+
+"She is sullen, madam, as I already said," replied Masters, "and
+refuses to answer interrogatories, or be amenable to the
+authority of the mediciner.  I conceive her to be possessed with
+a delirium, which I incline to term rather HYPOCHONDRIA than
+PHRENESIS; and I think she were best cared for by her husband in
+his own house, and removed from all this bustle of pageants,
+which disturbs her weak brain with the most fantastic phantoms.
+She drops hints as if she were some great person in disguise--
+some Countess or Princess perchance.  God help them, such are
+often the hallucinations of these infirm persons!"
+
+"Nay, then," said the Queen, "away with her with all speed.  Let
+Varney care for her with fitting humanity; but let them rid the
+Castle of her forthwith she will think herself lady of all, I
+warrant you.  It is pity so fair a form, however, should have an
+infirm understanding.--What think you, my lord?"
+
+"It is pity indeed," said the Earl, repeating the words like a
+task which was set him.
+
+"But, perhaps," said Elizabeth, "you do not join with us in our
+opinion of her beauty; and indeed we have known men prefer a
+statelier and more Juno-like form to that drooping fragile one
+that hung its head like a broken lily.  Ay, men are tyrants, my
+lord, who esteem the animation of the strife above the triumph of
+an unresisting conquest, and, like sturdy champions, love best
+those women who can wage contest with them.--I could think with
+you, Rutland, that give my Lord of Leicester such a piece of
+painted wax for a bride, he would have wished her dead ere the
+end of the honeymoon."
+
+As she said this, she looked on Leicester so expressively that,
+while his heart revolted against the egregious falsehood, he did
+himself so much violence as to reply in a whisper that
+Leicester's love was more lowly than her Majesty deemed, since it
+was settled where he could never command, but must ever obey.
+
+The Queen blushed, and bid him be silent; yet looked as of she
+expected that he would not obey her commands.  But at that moment
+the flourish of trumpets and kettle-drums from a high balcony
+which overlooked the hall announced the entrance of the maskers,
+and relieved Leicester from the horrible state of constraint and
+dissimulation in which the result of his own duplicity had placed
+him.
+
+The masque which entered consisted of four separate bands, which
+followed each other at brief intervals, each consisting of six
+principal persons and as many torch-bearers, and each
+representing one of the various nations by which England had at
+different times been occupied.
+
+The aboriginal Britons, who first entered, were ushered in by two
+ancient Druids, whose hoary hair was crowned with a chaplet of
+oak, and who bore in their hands branches of mistletoe.  The
+maskers who followed these venerable figures were succeeded by
+two Bards, arrayed in white, and bearing harps, which they
+occasionally touched, singing at the same time certain stanzas of
+an ancient hymn to Belus, or the Sun.  The aboriginal Britons had
+been selected from amongst the tallest and most robust young
+gentlemen in attendance on the court.  Their masks were
+accommodated with long, shaggy beards and hair; their vestments
+were of the hides of wolves and bears; while their legs, arms,
+and the upper parts of their bodies, being sheathed in flesh-
+coloured silk, on which were traced in grotesque lines
+representations of the heavenly bodies, and of animals and other
+terrestrial objects, gave them the lively appearance of our
+painted ancestors, whose freedom was first trenched upon by the
+Romans.
+
+The sons of Rome, who came to civilize as well as to conquer,
+were next produced before the princely assembly; and the manager
+of the revels had correctly imitated the high crest and military
+habits of that celebrated people, accommodating them with the
+light yet strong buckler and the short two-edged sword, the use
+of which had made them victors of the world.  The Roman eagles
+were borne before them by two standard-bearers, who recited a
+hymn to Mars, and the classical warriors followed with the grave
+and haughty step of men who aspired at universal conquest.
+
+The third quadrille represented the Saxons, clad in the bearskins
+which they had brought with them from the German forests, and
+bearing in their hands the redoubtable battle-axes which made
+such havoc among the natives of Britain.  They were preceded by
+two Scalds, who chanted the praises of Odin.
+
+Last came the knightly Normans, in their mail-shirts and hoods of
+steel, with all the panoply of chivalry, and marshalled by two
+Minstrels, who sang of war and ladies' love.
+
+These four bands entered the spacious hall with the utmost order,
+a short pause being made, that the spectators might satisfy their
+curiosity as to each quadrille before the appearance of the next.
+They then marched completely round the hall, in order the more
+fully to display themselves, regulating their steps to organs,
+shalms, hautboys, and virginals, the music of the Lord
+Leicester's household.  At length the four quadrilles of maskers,
+ranging their torch-bearers behind them, drew up in their several
+ranks on the two opposite sides of the hall, so that the Romans
+confronting the Britons, and the Saxons the Normans, seemed to
+look on each other with eyes of wonder, which presently appeared
+to kindle into anger, expressed by menacing gestures.  At the
+burst of a strain of martial music from the gallery the maskers
+drew their swords on all sides, and advanced against each other
+in the measured steps of a sort of Pyrrhic or military dance,
+clashing their swords against their adversaries' shields, and
+clattering them against their blades as they passed each other in
+the progress of the dance.  It was a very pleasant spectacle to
+see how the various bands, preserving regularity amid motions
+which seemed to be totally irregular, mixed together, and then
+disengaging themselves, resumed each their own original rank as
+the music varied.
+
+In this symbolical dance were represented the conflicts which had
+taken place among the various nations which had anciently
+inhabited Britain.
+
+At length, after many mazy evolutions, which afforded great
+pleasure to the spectators, the sound of a loud-voiced trumpet
+was heard, as if it blew for instant battle, or for victory won.
+The maskers instantly ceased their mimic strife, and collecting
+themselves under their original leaders, or presenters, for such
+was the appropriate phrase, seemed to share the anxious
+expectation which the spectators experienced concerning what was
+next to appear.
+
+The doors of the hall were thrown wide, and no less a person
+entered than the fiend-born Merlin, dressed in a strange and
+mystical attire, suited to his ambiguous birth and magical power.
+
+About him and behind him fluttered or gambolled many
+extraordinary forms, intended to represent the spirits who waited
+to do his powerful bidding; and so much did this part of the
+pageant interest the menials and others of the lower class then
+in the Castle, that many of them forgot even the reverence due to
+the Queen's presence, so far as to thrust themselves into the
+lower part of the hall.
+
+The Earl of Leicester, seeing his officers had some difficulty to
+repel these intruders, without more disturbance than was fitting
+where the Queen was in presence, arose and went himself to the
+bottom of the hall; Elizabeth, at the same time, with her usual
+feeling for the common people, requesting that they might be
+permitted to remain undisturbed to witness the pageant.
+Leicester went under this pretext; but his real motive was to
+gain a moment to himself, and to relieve his mind, were it but
+for one instant, from the dreadful task of hiding, under the
+guise of gaiety and gallantry, the lacerating pangs of shame,
+anger, remorse, and thirst for vengeance.  He imposed silence by
+his look and sign upon the vulgar crowd at the lower end of the
+apartment; but instead of instantly returning to wait on her
+Majesty, he wrapped his cloak around him, and mixing with the
+crowd, stood in some degree an undistinguished spectator of the
+progress of the masque.
+
+Merlin having entered, and advanced into the midst of the hall,
+summoned the presenters of the contending bands around him by a
+wave of his magical rod, and announced to them, in a poetical
+speech, that the isle of Britain was now commanded by a Royal
+Maiden, to whom it was the will of fate that they should all do
+homage, and request of her to pronounce on the various
+pretensions which each set forth to be esteemed the pre-eminent
+stock, from which the present natives, the happy subjects of that
+angelical Princess, derived their lineage.
+
+In obedience to this mandate, the bands, each moving to solemn
+music, passed in succession before Elizabeth, doing her, as they
+passed, each after the fashion of the people whom they
+represented, the lowest and most devotional homage, which she
+returned with the same gracious courtesy that had marked her
+whole conduct since she came to Kenilworth.
+
+The presenters of the several masques or quadrilles then alleged,
+each in behalf of his own troop, the reasons which they had for
+claiming pre-eminence over the rest; and when they had been all
+heard in turn, she returned them this gracious answer:  "That she
+was sorry she was not better qualified to decide upon the
+doubtful question which had been propounded to her by the
+direction of the famous Merlin, but that it seemed to her that no
+single one of these celebrated nations could claim pre-eminence
+over the others, as having most contributed to form the
+Englishman of her own time, who unquestionably derived from each
+of them some worthy attribute of his character.  Thus," she said,
+"the Englishman had from the ancient Briton his bold and tameless
+spirit of freedom; from the Roman his disciplined courage in war,
+with his love of letters and civilization in time of peace; from
+the Saxon his wise and equitable laws; and from the chivalrous
+Norman his love of honour and courtesy, with his generous desire
+for glory."
+
+Merlin answered with readiness that it did indeed require that so
+many choice qualities should meet in the English, as might render
+them in some measure the muster of the perfections of other
+nations, since that alone could render them in some degree
+deserving of the blessings they enjoyed under the reign of
+England's Elizabeth.
+
+The music then sounded, and the quadrilles, together with Merlin
+and his assistants, had begun to remove from the crowded hall,
+when Leicester, who was, as we have mentioned, stationed for the
+moment near the bottom of the hall, and consequently engaged in
+some degree in the crowd, felt himself pulled by the cloak, while
+a voice whispered in his ear, "My Lord, I do desire some instant
+conference with you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+  How is't with me, when every noise appals me?     MACBETH.
+
+"I desire some conference with you."  The words were simple in
+themselves, but Lord Leicester was in that alarmed and feverish
+state of mind when the most ordinary occurrences seem fraught
+with alarming import; and he turned hastily round to survey the
+person by whom they had been spoken.  There was nothing
+remarkable in the speaker's appearance, which consisted of a
+black silk doublet and short mantle, with a black vizard on his
+face; for it appeared he had been among the crowd of masks who
+had thronged into the hall in the retinue of Merlin, though he
+did not wear any of the extravagant disguises by which most of
+them were distinguished.
+
+"Who are you, or what do you want with me?"  said Leicester, not
+without betraying, by his accents, the hurried state of his
+spirits.
+
+"No evil, my lord," answered the mask, "but much good and honour,
+if you will rightly understand my purpose.  But I must speak with
+you more privately."
+
+"I can speak with no nameless stranger," answered Leicester,
+dreading he knew not precisely what from the request of the
+stranger; "and those who are known to me must seek another and a
+fitter time to ask an interview."
+
+He would have hurried away, but the mask still detained him.
+
+"Those who talk to your lordship of what your own honour demands
+have a right over your time, whatever occupations you may lay
+aside in order to indulge them."
+
+"How!  my honour?  Who dare impeach it?"  said Leicester.
+
+"Your own conduct alone can furnish grounds for accusing it, my
+lord, and it is that topic on which I would speak with you."
+
+"You are insolent," said Leicester, "and abuse the hospitable
+license of the time, which prevents me from having you punished.
+I demand your name!"
+
+"Edmund Tressilian of Cornwall," answered the mask.  "My tongue
+has been bound by a promise for four-and-twenty hours.  The space
+is passed,--I now speak, and do your lordship the justice to
+address myself first to you."
+
+The thrill of astonishment which had penetrated to Leicester's
+very heart at hearing that name pronounced by the voice of the
+man he most detested, and by whom he conceived himself so deeply
+injured, at first rendered him immovable, but instantly gave way
+to such a thirst for revenge as the pilgrim in the desert feels
+for the water-brooks.  He had but sense and self-government
+enough left to prevent his stabbing to the heart the audacious
+villain, who, after the ruin he had brought upon him, dared, with
+such unmoved assurance, thus to practise upon him further.
+Determined to suppress for the moment every symptom of agitation,
+in order to perceive the full scope of Tressilian's purpose, as
+well as to secure his own vengeance, he answered in a tone so
+altered by restrained passion as scarce to be intelligible, "And
+what does Master Edmund Tressilian require at my hand?"
+
+"Justice, my lord," answered Tressilian, calmly but firmly.
+
+"Justice," said Leicester, "all men are entitled to.  YOU, Master
+Tressilian, are peculiarly so, and be assured you shall have it."
+
+"I expect nothing less from your nobleness," answered Tressilian;
+"but time presses, and I must speak with you to-night.  May I
+wait on you in your chamber?"
+
+"No," answered Leicester sternly, "not under a roof, and that
+roof mine own.  We will meet under the free cope of heaven."
+
+"You are discomposed or displeased, my lord," replied Tressilian;
+"yet there is no occasion for distemperature.  The place is equal
+to me, so you allow me one half-hour of your time uninterrupted."
+
+"A shorter time will, I trust, suffice," answered Leicester.
+"Meet me in the Pleasance when the Queen has retired to her
+chamber."
+
+"Enough," said Tressilian, and withdrew; while a sort of rapture
+seemed for the moment to occupy the mind of Leicester.
+
+"Heaven," he said, "is at last favourable to me, and has put
+within my reach the wretch who has branded me with this deep
+ignominy--who has inflicted on me this cruel agony.  I will blame
+fate no more, since I am afforded the means of tracing the wiles
+by which he means still further to practise on me, and then of at
+once convicting and punishing his villainy.  To my task--to my
+task!  I will not sink under it now, since midnight, at farthest,
+will bring me vengeance."
+
+While these reflections thronged through Leicester's mind, he
+again made his way amid the obsequious crowd, which divided to
+give him passage, and resumed his place, envied and admired,
+beside the person of his Sovereign.  But could the bosom of him
+thus admired and envied have been laid open before the
+inhabitants of that crowded hall, with all its dark thoughts of
+guilty ambition, blighted affection, deep vengeance, and
+conscious sense of meditated cruelty, crossing each other like
+spectres in the circle of some foul enchantress, which of them,
+from the most ambitious noble in the courtly circle down to the
+most wretched menial who lived by shifting of trenchers, would
+have desired to change characters with the favourite of
+Elizabeth, and the Lord of Kenilworth?
+
+New tortures awaited him as soon as he had rejoined Elizabeth.
+
+"You come in time, my lord," she said, "to decide a dispute
+between us ladies.  Here has Sir Richard Varney asked our
+permission to depart from the Castle with his infirm lady,
+having, as he tells us, your lordship's consent to his absence,
+so he can obtain ours.  Certes, we have no will to withhold him
+from the affectionate charge of this poor young person; but you
+are to know that Sir Richard Varney hath this day shown himself
+so much captivated with these ladies of ours, that here is our
+Duchess of Rutland says he will carry his poor insane wife no
+farther than the lake, plunge her in to tenant the crystal
+palaces that the enchanted nymph told us of, and return a jolly
+widower, to dry his tears and to make up the loss among our
+train.  How say you, my lord?  We have seen Varney under two or
+three different guises--you know what are his proper attributes
+--think you he is capable of playing his lady such a knave's
+trick?"
+
+Leicester was confounded, but the danger was urgent, and a reply
+absolutely necessary.  "The ladies," he said, "think too lightly
+of one of their own sex, in supposing she could deserve such a
+fate; or too ill of ours, to think it could be inflicted upon an
+innocent female."
+
+"Hear him, my ladies," said Elizabeth; "like all his sex, he
+would excuse their cruelty by imputing fickleness to us."
+
+"Say not US, madam," replied the Earl.  "We say that meaner
+women, like the lesser lights of heaven, have revolutions and
+phases; but who shall impute mutability to the sun, or to
+Elizabeth?"
+
+The discourse presently afterwards assumed a less perilous
+tendency, and Leicester continued to support his part in it with
+spirit, at whatever expense of mental agony.  So pleasing did it
+seem to Elizabeth, that the Castle bell had sounded midnight ere
+she retired from the company, a circumstance unusual in her quiet
+and regular habits of disposing of time.  Her departure was, of
+course, the signal for breaking up the company, who dispersed to
+their several places of repose, to dream over the pastimes of the
+day, or to anticipate those of the morrow.
+
+The unfortunate Lord of the Castle, and founder of the proud
+festival, retired to far different thoughts.  His direction to
+the valet who attended him was to send Varney instantly to his
+apartment.  The messenger returned after some delay, and informed
+him that an hour had elapsed since Sir Richard Varney had left
+the Castle by the postern gate with three other persons, one of
+whom was transported in a horse-litter.
+
+"How came he to leave the Castle after the watch was set?"  said
+Leicester.  "I thought he went not till daybreak."
+
+"He gave satisfactory reasons, as I understand," said the
+domestic, "to the guard, and, as I hear, showed your lordship's
+signet--"
+
+"True--true," said the Earl; "yet he has been hasty.  Do any of
+his attendants remain behind?"
+
+"Michael Lambourne, my lord," said the valet, "was not to be
+found when Sir Richard Varney departed, and his master was much
+incensed at his absence.  I saw him but now saddling his horse to
+gallop after his master."
+
+"Bid him come hither instantly," said Leicester; "I have a
+message to his master."
+
+The servant left the apartment, and Leicester traversed it for
+some time in deep meditation.  "Varney is over-zealous," he said,
+"over-pressing.  He loves me, I think; but he hath his own ends
+to serve, and he is inexorable in pursuit of them.  If I rise, he
+rises; and he hath shown himself already but too, eager to rid me
+of this obstacle which seems to stand betwixt me and sovereignty.
+Yet I will not stoop to bear this disgrace.  She shall be
+punished, but it shall be more advisedly.  I already feel, even
+in anticipation, that over-haste would light the flames of hell
+in my bosom.  No--one victim is enough at once, and that victim
+already waits me."
+
+He seized upon writing materials, and hastily traced these
+words:--
+"Sir Richard Varney, we have resolved to defer the matter
+entrusted to your care, and strictly command you to proceed no
+further in relation to our Countess until our further order.  We
+also command your instant return to Kenilworth as soon as you
+have safely bestowed that with which you are entrusted.  But if
+the safe-placing of your present charge shall detain you longer
+than we think for, we command you in that case to send back our
+signet-ring by a trusty and speedy messenger, we having present
+need of the same.  And requiring your strict obedience in these
+things, and commending you to God's keeping, we rest your assured
+good friend and master,         R. LEICESTER.
+
+"Given at our Castle of Kenilworth, the tenth of July, in the
+year of Salvation one thousand five hundred and seventy-five."
+
+As Leicester had finished and sealed this mandate, Michael
+Lambourne, booted up to mid-thigh, having his riding-cloak
+girthed around him with a broad belt, and a felt cap on his head,
+like that of a courier, entered his apartment, ushered in by the
+valet.
+
+"What is thy capacity of service?"  said the Earl.
+
+"Equerry to your lordship's master of the horse," answered
+Lambourne, with his customary assurance.
+
+"Tie up thy saucy tongue, sir," said Leicester; "the jests that
+may suit Sir Richard Varney's presence suit not mine.  How soon
+wilt thou overtake thy master?"
+
+"In one hour's riding, my lord, if man and horse hold good," said
+Lambourne, with an instant alteration of demeanour, from an
+approach to familiarity to the deepest respect.  The Earl
+measured him with his eye from top to toe.
+
+"I have heard of thee," he said "men say thou art a prompt fellow
+in thy service, but too much given to brawling and to wassail to
+be trusted with things of moment."
+
+"My lord," said Lambourne, "I have been soldier, sailor,
+traveller, and adventurer; and these are all trades in which men
+enjoy to-day, because they have no surety of to-morrow.  But
+though I may misuse mine own leisure, I have never neglected the
+duty I owe my master."
+
+"See that it be so in this instance," said Leicester, "and it
+shall do thee good.  Deliver this letter speedily and carefully
+into Sir Richard Varney's hands."
+
+"Does my commission reach no further?"  said Lambourne.
+
+"No," answered Leicester; "but it deeply concerns me that it be
+carefully as well as hastily executed."
+
+"I will spare neither care nor horse-flesh," answered Lambourne,
+and immediately took his leave.
+
+"So, this is the end of my private audience, from which I hoped
+so much!"  he muttered to himself, as he went through the long
+gallery, and down the back staircase.  Cogs bones!  I thought the
+Earl had wanted a cast of mine office in some secret intrigue,
+and it all ends in carrying a letter!  Well, his pleasure shall
+be done, however; and as his lordship well says, it may do me
+good another time.  The child must creep ere he walk, and so must
+your infant courtier.  I will have a look into this letter,
+however, which he hath sealed so sloven-like."  Having
+accomplished this, he clapped his hands together in ecstasy,
+exclaiming, "The Countess the Countess!  I have the secret that
+shall make or mar me.--But come forth, Bayard," he added, leading
+his horse into the courtyard, "for your flanks and my spurs must
+be presently acquainted."
+
+Lambourne mounted, accordingly, and left the Castle by the
+postern gate, where his free passage was permitted, in
+consequence of a message to that effect left by Sir Richard
+Varney.
+
+As soon as Lambourne and the valet had left the apartment,
+Leicester proceeded to change his dress for a very plain one,
+threw his mantle around him, and taking a lamp in his hand, went
+by the private passage of communication to a small secret postern
+door which opened into the courtyard, near to the entrance of the
+Pleasance.  His reflections were of a more calm and determined
+character than they had been at any late period, and he
+endeavoured to claim, even in his own eyes, the character of a
+man more sinned against than sinning.
+
+"I have suffered the deepest injury," such was the tenor of his
+meditations, "yet I have restricted the instant revenge which was
+in my power, and have limited it to that which is manly and
+noble.  But shall the union which this false woman has this day
+disgraced remain an abiding fetter on me, to check me in the
+noble career to which my destinies invite me?  No; there are
+other means of disengaging such ties, without unloosing the cords
+of life.  In the sight of God, I am no longer bound by the union
+she has broken.  Kingdoms shall divide us, oceans roll betwixt
+us, and their waves, whose abysses have swallowed whole navies,
+shall be the sole depositories of the deadly mystery."
+
+By such a train of argument did Leicester labour to reconcile his
+conscience to the prosecution of plans of vengeance, so hastily
+adopted, and of schemes of ambition, which had become so woven in
+with every purpose and action of his life that he was incapable
+of the effort of relinquishing them, until his revenge appeared
+to him to wear a face of justice, and even of generous
+moderation.
+
+In this mood the vindictive and ambitious Earl entered the superb
+precincts of the Pleasance, then illumined by the full moon.  The
+broad, yellow light was reflected on all sides from the white
+freestone, of which the pavement, balustrades, and architectural
+ornaments of the place were constructed; and not a single fleecy
+cloud was visible in the azure sky, so that the scene was nearly
+as light as if the sun had but just left the horizon.  The
+numerous statues of white marble glimmered in the pale light like
+so many sheeted ghosts just arisen from their sepulchres, and the
+fountains threw their jets into the air as if they sought that
+their waters should be brightened by the moonbeams ere they fell
+down again upon their basins in showers of sparkling silver.  The
+day had been sultry, and the gentle night-breeze which sighed
+along the terrace of the Pleasance raised not a deeper breath
+than the fan in the hand of youthful beauty.  The bird of summer
+night had built many a nest in the bowers of the adjacent garden,
+and the tenants now indemnified themselves for silence during the
+day by a full chorus of their own unrivalled warblings, now
+joyous, now pathetic, now united, now responsive to each other,
+as if to express their delight in the placid and delicious scene
+to which they poured their melody.
+
+Musing on matters far different from the fall of waters, the
+gleam of moonlight, or the song of the nightingale, the stately
+Leicester walked slowly from the one end of the terrace to the
+other, his cloak wrapped around him, and his sword under his arm,
+without seeing anything resembling the human form.
+
+"I have been fooled by my own generosity," he said, "if I have
+suffered the villain to escape me--ay, and perhaps to go to the
+rescue of the adulteress, who is so poorly guarded."
+
+These were his thoughts, which were instantly dispelled when,
+turning to look back towards the entrance, he saw a human form
+advancing slowly from the portico, and darkening the various
+objects with its shadow, as passing them successively, in its
+approach towards him.
+
+"Shall I strike ere I again hear his detested voice?"  was
+Leicester's thought, as he grasped the hilt of the sword.  "But
+no!  I will see which way his vile practice tends.  I will watch,
+disgusting as it is, the coils and mazes of the loathsome snake,
+ere I put forth my strength and crush him."
+
+His hand quitted the sword-hilt, and he advanced slowly towards
+Tressilian, collecting, for their meeting, all the self-
+possession he could command, until they came front to front with
+each other.
+
+Tressilian made a profound reverence, to which the Earl replied
+with a haughty inclination of the head, and the words, "You
+sought secret conference with me, sir; I am here, and attentive."
+
+"My lord," said Tressilian, "I am so earnest in that which I have
+to say, and so desirous to find a patient, nay, a favourable
+hearing, that I will stoop to exculpate myself from whatever
+might prejudice your lordship against me.  You think me your
+enemy?"
+
+"Have I not some apparent cause?"  answered Leicester, perceiving
+that Tressilian paused for a reply.
+
+"You do me wrong, my lord.  I am a friend, but neither a
+dependant nor partisan, of the Earl of Sussex, whom courtiers
+call your rival; and it is some considerable time since I ceased
+to consider either courts or court intrigues as suited to my
+temper or genius."
+
+"No doubt, sir," answered Leicester "there are other occupations
+more worthy a scholar, and for such the world holds Master
+Tressilian.  Love has his intrigues as well as ambition."
+
+"I perceive, my lord," replied Tressilian, "you give much weight
+to my early attachment for the unfortunate young person of whom I
+am about to speak, and perhaps think I am prosecuting her cause
+out of rivalry, more than a sense of justice."
+
+"No matter for my thoughts, sir," said the Earl; "proceed.  You
+have as yet spoken of yourself only--an important and worthy
+subject doubtless, but which, perhaps, does not altogether so
+deeply concern me that I should postpone my repose to hear it.
+Spare me further prelude, sir, and speak to the purpose if indeed
+you have aught to say that concerns me.  When you have done, I,
+in my turn, have something to communicate."
+
+"I will speak, then, without further prelude, my lord," answered
+Tressilian, "having to say that which, as it concerns your
+lordship's honour, I am confident you will not think your time
+wasted in listening to.  I have to request an account from your
+lordship of the unhappy Amy Robsart, whose history is too well
+known to you.  I regret deeply that I did not at once take this
+course, and make yourself judge between me and the villain by
+whom she is injured.  My lord, she extricated herself from an
+unlawful and most perilous state of confinement, trusting to the
+effects of her own remonstrance upon her unworthy husband, and
+extorted from me a promise that I would not interfere in her
+behalf until she had used her own efforts to have her rights
+acknowledged by him."
+
+"Ha," said Leicester, "remember you to whom you speak?"
+
+"I speak of her unworthy husband, my lord," repeated Tressilian,
+"and my respect can find no softer language.  The unhappy young
+woman is withdrawn from my knowledge, and sequestered in some
+secret place of this Castle--if she be not transferred to some
+place of seclusion better fitted for bad designs.  This must be
+reformed, my lord--I speak it as authorized by her father--and
+this ill-fated marriage must be avouched and proved in the
+Queen's presence, and the lady placed without restraint and at
+her own free disposal.  And permit me to say it concerns no one's
+honour that these most just demands of mine should be complied
+with so much as it does that of your lordship."
+
+The Earl stood as if he had been petrified at the extreme
+coolness with which the man, whom he considered as having injured
+him so deeply, pleaded the cause of his criminal paramour, as if
+she had been an innocent woman and he a disinterested advocate;
+nor was his wonder lessened by the warmth with which Tressilian
+seemed to demand for her the rank and situation which she had
+disgraced, and the advantages of which she was doubtless to share
+with the lover who advocated her cause with such effrontery.
+Tressilian had been silent for more than a minute ere the Earl
+recovered from the excess of his astonishment; and considering
+the prepossessions with which his mind was occupied, there is
+little wonder that his passion gained the mastery of every other
+consideration.  "I have heard you, Master Tressilian," said he,
+"without interruption, and I bless God that my ears were never
+before made to tingle by the words of so frontless a villain.
+The task of chastising you is fitter for the hangman's scourge
+than the sword of a nobleman, but yet--Villain, draw and defend
+thyself!"
+
+As he spoke the last words, he dropped his mantle on the ground,
+struck Tressilian smartly with his sheathed sword, and instantly
+drawing his rapier, put himself into a posture of assault.  The
+vehement fury of his language at first filled Tressilian, in his
+turn, with surprise equal to what Leicester had felt when he
+addressed him.  But astonishment gave place to resentment when
+the unmerited insults of his language were followed by a blow
+which immediately put to flight every thought save that of
+instant combat.  Tressilian's sword was instantly drawn; and
+though perhaps somewhat inferior to Leicester in the use of the
+weapon, he understood it well enough to maintain the contest with
+great spirit, the rather that of the two he was for the time the
+more cool, since he could not help imputing Leicester's conduct
+either to actual frenzy or to the influence of some strong
+delusion.
+
+The rencontre had continued for several minutes, without either
+party receiving a wound, when of a sudden voices were heard
+beneath the portico which formed the entrance of the terrace,
+mingled with the steps of men advancing hastily.  "We are
+interrupted," said Leicester to his antagonist; "follow me."
+
+At the same time a voice from the portico said, "The jackanape is
+right--they are tilting here."
+
+Leicester, meanwhile, drew off Tressilian into a sort of recess
+behind one of the fountains, which served to conceal them, while
+six of the yeomen of the Queen's guard passed along the middle
+walk of the Pleasance, and they could hear one say to the rest,
+"We shall never find them to-night among all these squirting
+funnels, squirrel cages, and rabbit-holes; but if we light not on
+them before we reach the farther end, we will return, and mount a
+guard at the entrance, and so secure them till morning."
+
+"A proper matter," said another, "the drawing of swords so near
+the Queen's presence, ay, and in her very palace as 'twere!  Hang
+it, they must be some poor drunken game-cocks fallen to sparring
+--'twere pity almost we should find them--the penalty is chopping
+off a hand, is it not?--'twere hard to lose hand for handling a
+bit of steel, that comes so natural to one's gripe."
+
+"Thou art a brawler thyself, George," said another; "but take
+heed, for the law stands as thou sayest."
+
+"Ay," said the first, "an the act be not mildly construed; for
+thou knowest 'tis not the Queen's palace, but my Lord of
+Leicester's."
+
+"Why, for that matter, the penalty may be as severe," said
+another "for an our gracious Mistress be Queen, as she is, God
+save her, my Lord of Leicester is as good as King."
+
+"Hush, thou knave!"  said a third; "how knowest thou who may be
+within hearing?"
+
+They passed on, making a kind of careless search, but seemingly
+more intent on their own conversation than bent on discovering
+the persons who had created the nocturnal disturbance.
+
+They had no sooner passed forward along the terrace, than
+Leicester, making a sign to Tressilian to follow him, glided away
+in an opposite direction, and escaped through the portico
+undiscovered.  He conducted Tressilian to Mervyn's Tower, in
+which he was now again lodged; and then, ere parting with him,
+said these words, "If thou hast courage to continue and bring to
+an end what is thus broken off, be near me when the court goes
+forth to-morrow; we shall find a time, and I will give you a
+signal when it is fitting."
+
+"My lord," said Tressilian, "at another time I might have
+inquired the meaning of this strange and furious inveteracy
+against me.  But you have laid that on my shoulder which only
+blood can wash away; and were you as high as your proudest wishes
+ever carried you, I would have from you satisfaction for my
+wounded honour."
+
+On these terms they parted, but the adventures of the night were
+not yet ended with Leicester.  He was compelled to pass by
+Saintlowe's Tower, in order to gain the private passage which led
+to his own chamber; and in the entrance thereof he met Lord
+Hunsdon half clothed, and with a naked sword under his arm.
+
+"Are you awakened, too, with this 'larum, my Lord of Leicester?"
+said the old soldier.  "'Tis well.  By gog's nails, the nights
+are as noisy as the day in this Castle of yours.  Some two hours
+since I was waked by the screams of that poor brain-sick Lady
+Varney, whom her husband was forcing away.  I promise you it
+required both your warrant and the Queen's to keep me from
+entering into the game, and cutting that Varney of yours over the
+head.  And now there is a brawl down in the Pleasance, or what
+call you the stone terrace-walk where all yonder gimcracks
+stand?"
+
+The first part of the old man's speech went through the Earl's
+heart like a knife; to the last he answered that he himself had
+heard the clash of swords, and had come down to take order with
+those who had been so insolent so near the Queen's presence.
+
+"Nay, then," said Hunsdon, "I will be glad of your lordship's
+company."
+
+Leicester was thus compelled to turn back with the rough old Lord
+to the Pleasance, where Hunsdon heard from the yeomen of the
+guard, who were under his immediate command, the unsuccessful
+search they had made for the authors of the disturbance; and
+bestowed for their pains some round dozen of curses on them, as
+lazy knaves and blind whoresons.  Leicester also thought it
+necessary to seem angry that no discovery had been effected; but
+at length suggested to Lord Hunsdon, that after all it could only
+be some foolish young men who had been drinking healths pottle-
+deep, and who should be sufficiently scared by the search which
+had taken place after them.  Hunsdon, who was himself attached to
+his cup, allowed that a pint-flagon might cover many of the
+follies which it had caused, "But," added he, "unless your
+lordship will be less liberal in your housekeeping, and restrain
+the overflow of ale, and wine, and wassail, I foresee it will end
+in my having some of these good fellows into the guard-house, and
+treating them to a dose of the strappado.  And with this warning,
+good night to you."
+
+Joyful at being rid of his company, Leicester took leave of him
+at the entrance of his lodging, where they had first met, and
+entering the private passage, took up the lamp which he had left
+there, and by its expiring light found the way to his own
+apartment.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+  Room!  room!  for my horse will wince
+  If he comes within so many yards of a prince;
+  For to tell you true, and in rhyme,
+  He was foal'd in Queen Elizabeth's time;
+  When the great Earl of Lester
+  In his castle did feast her.
+                                BEN JONSON, MASQUE OF OWLS.
+
+The amusement with which Elizabeth and her court were next day to
+be regaled was an exhibition by the true-hearted men of Coventry,
+who were to represent the strife between the English and the
+Danes, agreeably to a custom long preserved in their ancient
+borough, and warranted for truth by old histories and chronicles.
+In this pageant one party of the townsfolk presented the Saxons
+and the other the Danes, and set forth, both in rude rhymes and
+with hard blows, the contentions of these two fierce nations, and
+the Amazonian courage of the English women, who, according to the
+story, were the principal agents in the general massacre of the
+Danes, which took place at Hocktide, in the year of God 1012.
+This sport, which had been long a favourite pastime with the men
+of Coventry, had, it seems, been put down by the influence of
+some zealous clergymen of the more precise cast, who chanced to
+have considerable influence with the magistrates.  But the
+generality of the inhabitants had petitioned the Queen that they
+might have their play again, and be honoured with permission to
+represent it before her Highness.  And when the matter was
+canvassed in the little council which usually attended the Queen
+for dispatch of business, the proposal, although opposed by some
+of the stricter sort, found favour in the eyes of Elizabeth, who
+said that such toys occupied, without offence, the minds of many
+who, lacking them, might find worse subjects of pastime; and that
+their pastors, however commendable for learning and godliness,
+were somewhat too sour in preaching against the pastimes of their
+flocks and so the pageant was permitted to proceed.
+
+Accordingly, after a morning repast, which Master Laneham calls
+an ambrosial breakfast, the principal persons of the court in
+attendance upon her Majesty pressed to the Gallery-tower, to
+witness the approach of the two contending parties of English and
+Danes; and after a signal had been given, the gate which opened
+in the circuit of the Chase was thrown wide to admit them.  On
+they came, foot and horse; for some of the more ambitious
+burghers and yeomen had put themselves into fantastic dresses,
+imitating knights, in order to resemble the chivalry of the two
+different nations.  However, to prevent fatal accidents, they
+were not permitted to appear on real horses, but had only license
+to accoutre themselves with those hobby-horses, as they are
+called, which anciently formed the chief delight of a morrice-
+dance, and which still are exhibited on the stage, in the grand
+battle fought at the conclusion of Mr. Bayes's tragedy.  The
+infantry followed in similar disguises.  The whole exhibition was
+to be considered as a sort of anti-masque, or burlesque of the
+more stately pageants in which the nobility and gentry bore part
+in the show, and, to the best of their knowledge, imitated with
+accuracy the personages whom they represented.  The Hocktide play
+was of a different character, the actors being persons of
+inferior degree, and their habits the better fitted for the
+occasion, the more incongruous and ridiculous that they were in
+themselves.  Accordingly their array, which the progress of our
+tale allows us no time to describe, was ludicrous enough; and
+their weapons, though sufficiently formidable to deal sound
+blows, were long alder-poles instead of lances, and sound cudgels
+for swords; and for fence, both cavalry and infantry were well
+equipped with stout headpieces and targets, both made of thick
+leather.
+
+Captain Coxe, that celebrated humorist of Coventry, whose library
+of ballads, almanacs, and penny histories, fairly wrapped up in
+parchment, and tied round for security with a piece of whipcord,
+remains still the envy of antiquaries, being himself the
+ingenious person under whose direction the pageant had been set
+forth, rode valiantly on his hobby-horse before the bands of
+English, high-trussed, saith Laneham, and brandishing his long
+sword, as became an experienced man of war, who had fought under
+the Queen's father, bluff King Henry, at the siege of Boulogne.
+This chieftain was, as right and reason craved, the first to
+enter the lists, and passing the Gallery at the head of his
+myrmidons, kissed the hilt of his sword to the Queen, and
+executed at the same time a gambade, the like whereof had never
+been practised by two-legged hobby-horse.  Then passing on with
+all his followers of cavaliers and infantry, he drew them up with
+martial skill at the opposite extremity of the bridge, or tilt-
+yard, until his antagonist should be fairly prepared for the
+onset.
+
+This was no long interval; for the Danish cavalry and infantry,
+no way inferior to the English in number, valour, and equipment,
+instantly arrived, with the northern bagpipe blowing before them
+in token of their country, and headed by a cunning master of
+defence, only inferior to the renowned Captain Coxe, if to him,
+in the discipline of war.  The Danes, as invaders, took their
+station under the Gallery-tower, and opposite to that of
+Mortimer; and when their arrangements were completely made, a
+signal was given for the encounter.
+
+Their first charge upon each other was rather moderate, for
+either party had some dread of being forced into the lake.  But
+as reinforcements came up on either side, the encounter grew from
+a skirmish into a blazing battle.  They rushed upon one another,
+as Master Laneham testifies, like rams inflamed by jealousy, with
+such furious encounter that both parties were often overthrown,
+and the clubs and targets made a most horrible clatter.  In many
+instances that happened which had been dreaded by the more
+experienced warriors who began the day of strife.  The rails
+which defended the ledges of the bridge had been, perhaps on
+purpose, left but slightly fastened, and gave way under the
+pressure of those who thronged to the combat, so that the hot
+courage of many of the combatants received a sufficient cooling.
+These incidents might have occasioned more serious damage than
+became such an affray, for many of the champions who met with
+this mischance could not swim, and those who could were
+encumbered with their suits of leathern and of paper armour; but
+the case had been provided for, and there were several boats in
+readiness to pick up the unfortunate warriors and convey them to
+the dry land, where, dripping and dejected, they comforted
+themselves with the hot ale and strong waters which were
+liberally allowed to them, without showing any desire to re-enter
+so desperate a conflict.
+
+Captain Coxe alone, that paragon of Black-Letter antiquaries,
+after twice experiencing, horse and man, the perilous leap from
+the bridge into the lake, equal to any extremity to which the
+favourite heroes of chivalry, whose exploits he studied in an
+abridged form, whether Amadis, Belianis, Bevis, or his own Guy of
+Warwick, had ever been subjected to--Captain Coxe, we repeat, did
+alone, after two such mischances, rush again into the heat of
+conflict, his bases and the footcloth of his hobby-horse dropping
+water, and twice reanimated by voice and example the drooping
+spirits of the English; so that at last their victory over the
+Danish invaders became, as was just and reasonable, complete and
+decisive.  Worthy he was to be rendered immortal by the pen of
+Ben Jonson, who, fifty years afterwards, deemed that a masque,
+exhibited at Kenilworth, could be ushered in by none with so much
+propriety as by the ghost of Captain Coxe, mounted upon his
+redoubted hobby-horse.
+
+These rough, rural gambols may not altogether agree with the
+reader's preconceived idea of an entertainment presented before
+Elizabeth, in whose reign letters revived with such brilliancy,
+and whose court, governed by a female whose sense of propriety
+was equal to her strength of mind, was no less distinguished for
+delicacy and refinement than her councils for wisdom and
+fortitude.  But whether from the political wish to seem
+interested in popular sports, or whether from a spark of old
+Henry's rough, masculine spirit, which Elizabeth sometimes
+displayed, it is certain the Queen laughed heartily at the
+imitation, or rather burlesque, of chivalry which was presented
+in the Coventry play.  She called near her person the Earl of
+Sussex and Lord Hunsdon, partly perhaps to make amends to the
+former for the long and private audiences with which she had
+indulged the Earl of Leicester, by engaging him in conversation
+upon a pastime which better suited his taste than those pageants
+that were furnished forth from the stores of antiquity.  The
+disposition which the Queen showed to laugh and jest with her
+military leaders gave the Earl of Leicester the opportunity he
+had been watching for withdrawing from the royal presence, which
+to the court around, so well had he chosen his time, had the
+graceful appearance of leaving his rival free access to the
+Queen's person, instead of availing himself of his right as her
+landlord to stand perpetually betwixt others and the light of her
+countenance.
+
+Leicester's thoughts, however, had a far different object from
+mere courtesy; for no sooner did he see the Queen fairly engaged
+in conversation with Sussex and Hunsdon, behind whose back stood
+Sir Nicholas Blount, grinning from ear to ear at each word which
+was spoken, than, making a sign to Tressilian, who, according to
+appointment, watched his motions at a little distance, he
+extricated himself from the press, and walking towards the Chase,
+made his way through the crowds of ordinary spectators, who, with
+open mouth, stood gazing on the battle of the English and the
+Danes.  When he had accomplished this, which was a work of some
+difficulty, he shot another glance behind him to see that
+Tressilian had been equally successful; and as soon as he saw him
+also free from the crowd, he led the way to a small thicket,
+behind which stood a lackey, with two horses ready saddled.  He
+flung himself on the one, and made signs to Tressilian to mount
+the other, who obeyed without speaking a single word.
+
+Leicester then spurred his horse, and galloped without stopping
+until he reached a sequestered spot, environed by lofty oaks,
+about a mile's distance from the Castle, and in an opposite
+direction from the scene to which curiosity was drawing every
+spectator.  He there dismounted, bound his horse to a tree, and
+only pronouncing the words, "Here there is no risk of
+interruption," laid his cloak across his saddle, and drew his
+sword.
+
+Tressilian imitated his example punctually, yet could not forbear
+saying, as he drew his weapon, "My lord, as I have been known to
+many as one who does not fear death when placed in balance with
+honour, methinks I may, without derogation, ask wherefore, in the
+name of all that is honourable, your lordship has dared to offer
+me such a mark of disgrace as places us on these terms with
+respect to each other?"
+
+"If you like not such marks of my scorn," replied the Earl,
+"betake yourself instantly to your weapon, lest I repeat the
+usage you complain of."
+
+"It shall not need, my lord," said Tressilian.  "God judge
+betwixt us!  and your blood, if you fall, be on your own head."
+
+He had scarce completed the sentence when they instantly closed
+in combat.
+
+But Leicester, who was a perfect master of defence among all
+other exterior accomplishments of the time, had seen on the
+preceding night enough of Tressilian's strength and skill to make
+him fight with more caution than heretofore, and prefer a secure
+revenge to a hasty one.  For some minutes they fought with equal
+skill and fortune, till, in a desperate lunge which Leicester
+successfully put aside, Tressilian exposed himself at
+disadvantage; and in a subsequent attempt to close, the Earl
+forced his sword from his hand, and stretched him on the ground.
+With a grim smile he held the point of his rapier within two
+inches of the throat of his fallen adversary, and placing his
+foot at the same time upon his breast, bid him confess his
+villainous wrongs towards him, and prepare for death.
+
+"I have no villainy nor wrong towards thee to confess," answered
+Tressilian, "and am better prepared for death than thou.  Use
+thine advantage as thou wilt, and may God forgive you!  I have
+given you no cause for this."
+
+"No cause!"  exclaimed the Earl, "no cause!--but why parley with
+such a slave?  Die a liar, as thou hast lived!"
+
+He had withdrawn his arm for the purpose of striking the fatal
+blow, when it was suddenly seized from behind.
+
+The Earl turned in wrath to shake off the unexpected obstacle,
+but was surprised to find that a strange-looking boy had hold of
+his sword-arm, and clung to it with such tenacity of grasp that
+he could not shake him of without a considerable struggle, in the
+course of which Tressilian had opportunity to rise and possess
+himself once more of his weapon.  Leicester again turned towards
+him with looks of unabated ferocity, and the combat would have
+recommenced with still more desperation on both sides, had not
+the boy clung to Lord Leicester's knees, and in a shrill tone
+implored him to listen one moment ere he prosecuted this quarrel.
+
+"Stand up, and let me go," said Leicester, "or, by Heaven, I will
+pierce thee with my rapier!  What hast thou to do to bar my way
+to revenge?"
+
+"Much--much!"  exclaimed the undaunted boy, "since my folly has
+been the cause of these bloody quarrels between you, and
+perchance of worse evils.  Oh, if you would ever again enjoy the
+peace of an innocent mind, if you hope again to sleep in peace
+and unhaunted by remorse, take so much leisure as to peruse this
+letter, and then do as you list."
+
+While he spoke in this eager and earnest manner, to which his
+singular features and voice gave a goblin-like effect, he held up
+to Leicester a packet, secured with a long tress of woman's hair
+of a beautiful light-brown colour.  Enraged as he was, nay,
+almost blinded with fury to see his destined revenge so strangely
+frustrated, the Earl of Leicester could not resist this
+extraordinary supplicant.  He snatched the letter from his hand--
+changed colour as he looked on the superscription--undid with
+faltering hand the knot which secured it--glanced over the
+contents, and staggering back, would have fallen, had he not
+rested against the trunk of a tree, where he stood for an
+instant, his eyes bent on the letter, and his sword-point turned
+to the ground, without seeming to be conscious of the presence of
+an antagonist towards whom he had shown little mercy, and who
+might in turn have taken him at advantage.  But for such revenge
+Tressilian was too noble-minded.  He also stood still in
+surprise, waiting the issue of this strange fit of passion, but
+holding his weapon ready to defend himself in case of need
+against some new and sudden attack on the part of Leicester, whom
+he again suspected to be under the influence of actual frenzy.
+The boy, indeed, he easily recognized as his old acquaintance
+Dickon, whose face, once seen, was scarcely to be forgotten; but
+how he came hither at so critical a moment, why his interference
+was so energetic, and, above all, how it came to produce so
+powerful an effect upon Leicester, were questions which he could
+not solve.
+
+But the letter was of itself powerful enough to work effects yet
+more wonderful.  It was that which the unfortunate Amy had
+written to her husband, in which she alleged the reasons and
+manner of her flight from Cumnor Place, informed him of her
+having made her way to Kenilworth to enjoy his protection, and
+mentioned the circumstances which had compelled her to take
+refuge in Tressilian's apartment, earnestly requesting he would,
+without delay, assign her a more suitable asylum.  The letter
+concluded with the most earnest expressions of devoted attachment
+and submission to his will in all things, and particularly
+respecting her situation and place of residence, conjuring him
+only that she might not be placed under the guardianship or
+restraint of Varney.  The letter dropped from Leicester's hand
+when he had perused it.  "Take my sword," he said, "Tressilian,
+and pierce my heart, as I would but now have pierced yours!"
+
+"My lord," said Tressilian, "you have done me great wrong, but
+something within my breast ever whispered that it was by
+egregious error."
+
+"Error, indeed!"  said Leicester, and handed him the letter; "I
+have been made to believe a man of honour a villain, and the best
+and purest of creatures a false profligate.--Wretched boy, why
+comes this letter now, and where has the bearer lingered?"
+
+"I dare not tell you, my lord," said the boy, withdrawing, as if
+to keep beyond his reach; "but here comes one who was the
+messenger."
+
+Wayland at the same moment came up; and interrogated by
+Leicester, hastily detailed all the circumstances of his escape
+with Amy, the fatal practices which had driven her to flight, and
+her anxious desire to throw herself under the instant protection
+of her husband--pointing out the evidence of the domestics of
+Kenilworth, "who could not," he observed, "but remember her eager
+inquiries after the Earl of Leicester on her first arrival."
+
+"The villains!"  exclaimed Leicester; "but oh, that worst of
+villains, Varney!--and she is even now in his power!"
+
+"But not, I trust in God," said Tressilian, "with any commands of
+fatal import?"
+
+"No, no, no!"  exclaimed the Earl hastily.  "I said something in
+madness; but it was recalled, fully recalled, by a hasty
+messenger, and she is now--she must now be safe."
+
+"Yes," said Tressilian," she MUST be safe, and I MUST be assured
+of her safety.  My own quarrel with you is ended, my lord; but
+there is another to begin with the seducer of Amy Robsart, who
+has screened his guilt under the cloak of the infamous Varney."
+
+"The SEDUCER of Amy!"  replied Leicester, with a voice like
+thunder; "say her husband!--her misguided, blinded, most unworthy
+husband!  She is as surely Countess of Leicester as I am belted
+Earl.  Nor can you, sir, point out that manner of justice which I
+will not render her at my own free will.  I need scarce say I
+fear not your compulsion."
+
+The generous nature of Tressilian was instantly turned from
+consideration of anything personal to himself, and centred at
+once upon Amy's welfare.  He had by no means undoubting
+confidence in the fluctuating resolutions of Leicester, whose
+mind seemed to him agitated beyond the government of calm reason;
+neither did he, notwithstanding the assurances he had received,
+think Amy safe in the hands of his dependants.  "My lord," he
+said calmly, "I mean you no offence, and am far from seeking a
+quarrel.  But my duty to Sir Hugh Robsart compels me to carry
+this matter instantly to the Queen, that the Countess's rank may
+be acknowledged in her person."
+
+"You shall not need, sir," replied the Earl haughtily; "do not
+dare to interfere.  No voice but Dudley's shall proclaim Dudley's
+infamy.  To Elizabeth herself will I tell it; and then for Cumnor
+Place with the speed of life and death!"
+
+So saying, he unbound his horse from the tree, threw himself into
+the saddle, and rode at full gallop towards the Castle.
+
+"Take me before you, Master Tressilian," said the boy, seeing
+Tressilian mount in the same haste; "my tale is not all told out,
+and I need your protection."
+
+Tressilian complied, and followed the Earl, though at a less
+furious rate.  By the way the boy confessed, with much
+contrition, that in resentment at Wayland's evading all his
+inquiries concerning the lady, after Dickon conceived he had in
+various ways merited his confidence, he had purloined from him in
+revenge the letter with which Amy had entrusted him for the Earl
+of Leicester.  His purpose was to have restored it to him that
+evening, as he reckoned himself sure of meeting with him, in
+consequence of Wayland's having to perform the part of Arion in
+the pageant.  He was indeed something alarmed when he saw to whom
+the letter was addressed; but he argued that, as Leicester did
+not return to Kenilworth until that evening, it would be again in
+the possession of the proper messenger as soon as, in the nature
+of things, it could possibly be delivered.  But Wayland came not
+to the pageant, having been in the interim expelled by Lambourne
+from the Castle; and the boy, not being able to find him, or to
+get speech of Tressilian, and finding himself in possession of a
+letter addressed to no less a person than the Earl of Leicester,
+became much afraid of the consequences of his frolic.  The
+caution, and indeed the alarm, which Wayland had expressed
+respecting Varney and Lambourne, led him to judge that the letter
+must be designed for the Earl's own hand, and that he might
+prejudice the lady by giving it to any of the domestics.  He made
+an attempt or two to obtain an audience of Leicester; but the
+singularity of his features and the meanness of his appearance
+occasioned his being always repulsed by the insolent menials whom
+he applied to for that purpose.  Once, indeed, he had nearly
+succeeded, when, in prowling about, he found in the grotto the
+casket, which he knew to belong to the unlucky Countess, having
+seen it on her journey; for nothing escaped his prying eye.
+Having striven in vain to restore it either to Tressilian or the
+Countess, he put it into the hands, as we have seen, of Leicester
+himself, but unfortunately he did not recognize him in his
+disguise.
+
+At length the boy thought he was on the point of succeeding when
+the Earl came down to the lower part of the hall; but just as he
+was about to accost him, he was prevented by Tressilian.  As
+sharp in ear as in wit, the boy heard the appointment settled
+betwixt them, to take place in the Pleasance, and resolved to add
+a third to the party, in hope that, either in coming or
+returning, he might find an opportunity of delivering the letter
+to Leicester; for strange stories began to flit among the
+domestics, which alarmed him for the lady's safety.  Accident,
+however, detained Dickon a little behind the Earl, and as he
+reached the arcade he saw them engaged in combat; in consequence
+of which he hastened to alarm the guard, having little doubt that
+what bloodshed took place betwixt them might arise out of his own
+frolic.  Continuing to lurk in the portico, he heard the second
+appointment which Leicester at parting assigned to Tressilian;
+and was keeping them in view during the encounter of the Coventry
+men, when, to his surprise, he recognized Wayland in the crowd,
+much disguised, indeed, but not sufficiently so to escape the
+prying glance of his old comrade.  They drew aside out of the
+crowd to explain their situation to each other.  The boy
+confessed to Wayland what we have above told; and the artist, in
+return, informed him that his deep anxiety for the fate of the
+unfortunate lady had brought him back to the neighbourhood of the
+Castle, upon his learning that morning, at a village about ten
+miles distant, that Varney and Lambourne, whose violence he
+dreaded, had both left Kenilworth over-night.
+
+While they spoke, they saw Leicester and Tressilian separate
+themselves from the crowd, dogged them until they mounted their
+horses, when the boy, whose speed of foot has been before
+mentioned, though he could not possibly keep up with them, yet
+arrived, as we have seen, soon enough to save Tressilian's life.
+The boy had just finished his tale when they arrived at the
+Gallery-tower.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL.
+
+  High o'er the eastern steep the sun is beaming,
+  And darkness flies with her deceitful shadows;--
+  So truth prevails o'er falsehood.       OLD PLAY.
+
+As Tressilian rode along the bridge, lately the scene of so much
+riotous sport, he could not but observe that men's countenances
+had singularly changed during the space of his brief absence.
+The mock fight was over, but the men, still habited in their
+masking suits, stood together in groups, like the inhabitants of
+a city who have been just startled by some strange and alarming
+news.
+
+When he reached the base-court, appearances were the same--
+domestics, retainers, and under-officers stood together and
+whispered, bending their eyes towards the windows of the Great
+Hall, with looks which seemed at once alarmed and mysterious.
+
+Sir Nicholas Blount was the first person of his own particular
+acquaintance Tressilian saw, who left him no time to make
+inquiries, but greeted him with, "God help thy heart, Tressilian!
+thou art fitter for a clown than a courtier thou canst not
+attend, as becomes one who follows her Majesty.  Here you are
+called for, wished for, waited for--no man but you will serve the
+turn; and hither you come with a misbegotten brat on thy horse's
+neck, as if thou wert dry nurse to some sucking devil, and wert
+just returned from airing."
+
+"Why, what is the matter?"  said Tressilian, letting go the boy,
+who sprung to ground like a feather, and himself dismounting at
+the same time.
+
+"Why, no one knows the matter," replied Blount; "I cannot smell
+it out myself, though I have a nose like other courtiers.  Only,
+my Lord of Leicester has galloped along the bridge as if he would
+have rode over all in his passage, demanded an audience of the
+Queen, and is closeted even now with her, and Burleigh and
+Walsingham--and you are called for; but whether the matter be
+treason or worse, no one knows."
+
+"He speaks true, by Heaven!"  said Raleigh, who that instant
+appeared; "you must immediately to the Queen's presence."
+
+"Be not rash, Raleigh," said Blount, "remember his boots.--For
+Heaven's sake, go to my chamber, dear Tressilian, and don my new
+bloom-coloured silken hose; I have worn them but twice."
+
+"Pshaw!"  answered Tressilian; "do thou take care of this boy,
+Blount; be kind to him, and look he escapes you not--much depends
+on him."
+
+So saying, he followed Raleigh hastily, leaving honest Blount
+with the bridle of his horse in one hand, and the boy in the
+other.  Blount gave a long look after him.
+
+"Nobody," he said, "calls me to these mysteries--and he leaves me
+here to play horse-keeper and child-keeper at once.  I could
+excuse the one, for I love a good horse naturally; but to be
+plagued with a bratchet whelp.--Whence come ye, my fair-favoured
+little gossip?"
+
+"From the Fens," answered the boy.
+
+"And what didst thou learn there, forward imp?"
+
+"To catch gulls, with their webbed feet and yellow stockings,"
+said the boy.
+
+"Umph!"  said Blount, looking down on his own immense roses.
+"Nay, then, the devil take him asks thee more questions."
+
+Meantime Tressilian traversed the full length of the Great Hall,
+in which the astonished courtiers formed various groups, and were
+whispering mysteriously together, while all kept their eyes fixed
+on the door which led from the upper end of the hall into the
+Queen's withdrawing apartment.  Raleigh pointed to the door.
+Tressilian knocked, and was instantly admitted.  Many a neck was
+stretched to gain a view into the interior of the apartment; but
+the tapestry which covered the door on the inside was dropped too
+suddenly to admit the slightest gratification of curiosity.
+
+Upon entrance, Tressilian found himself, not without a strong
+palpitation of heart, in the presence of Elizabeth, who was
+walking to and fro in a violent agitation, which she seemed to
+scorn to conceal, while two or three of her most sage and
+confidential counsellors exchanged anxious looks with each other,
+but delayed speaking till her wrath abated.  Before the empty
+chair of state in which she had been seated, and which was half
+pushed aside by the violence with which she had started from it,
+knelt Leicester, his arms crossed, and his brows bent on the
+ground, still and motionless as the effigies upon a sepulchre.
+Beside him stood the Lord Shrewsbury, then Earl Marshal of
+England, holding his baton of office.  The Earl's sword was
+unbuckled, and lay before him on the floor.
+
+"Ho, sir!"  said the Queen, coming close up to Tressilian, and
+stamping on the floor with the action and manner of Henry
+himself; "you knew of this fair work--you are an accomplice in
+this deception which has been practised on us--you have been a
+main cause of our doing injustice?"  Tressilian dropped on his
+knee before the Queen, his good sense showing him the risk of
+attempting any defence at that moment of irritation.  "Art dumb,
+sirrah?"  she continued; "thou knowest of this affair dost thou
+not?"
+
+"Not, gracious madam, that this poor lady was Countess of
+Leicester."
+
+"Nor shall any one know her for such," said Elizabeth.  "Death of
+my life!  Countess of Leicester!--I say Dame Amy Dudley; and well
+if she have not cause to write herself widow of the traitor
+Robert Dudley."
+
+"Madam," said Leicester, "do with me what it may be your will to
+do, but work no injury on this gentleman; he hath in no way
+deserved it."
+
+"And will he be the better for thy intercession," said the Queen,
+leaving Tressilian, who slowly arose, and rushing to Leicester,
+who continued kneeling--"the better for thy intercession, thou
+doubly false--thou doubly forsworn;--of thy intercession, whose
+villainy hath made me ridiculous to my subjects and odious to
+myself?  I could tear out mine eyes for their blindness!"
+
+Burleigh here ventured to interpose.
+
+"Madam," he said, "remember that you are a Queen--Queen of
+England--mother of your people.  Give not way to this wild storm
+of passion."
+
+Elizabeth turned round to him, while a tear actually twinkled in
+her proud and angry eye.  "Burleigh," she said, "thou art a
+statesman--thou dost not, thou canst not, comprehend half the
+scorn, half the misery, that man has poured on me!"
+
+With the utmost caution--with the deepest reverence--Burleigh
+took her hand at the moment he saw her heart was at the fullest,
+and led her aside to an oriel window, apart from the others.
+
+"Madam," he said, "I am a statesman, but I am also a man--a man
+already grown old in your councils--who have not and cannot have
+a wish on earth but your glory and happiness; I pray you to be
+composed."
+
+"Ah!  Burleigh," said Elizabeth, "thou little knowest--" here her
+tears fell over her cheeks in despite of her.
+
+"I do--I do know, my honoured sovereign.  Oh, beware that you
+lead not others to guess that which they know not!"
+
+"Ha!"  said Elizabeth, pausing as if a new train of thought had
+suddenly shot across her brain.  "Burleigh, thou art right--thou
+art right--anything but disgrace--anything but a confession of
+weakness--anything rather than seem the cheated, slighted--
+'sdeath!  to think on it is distraction!"
+
+"Be but yourself, my Queen," said Burleigh; "and soar far above a
+weakness which no Englishman will ever believe his Elizabeth
+could have entertained, unless the violence of her disappointment
+carries a sad conviction to his bosom."
+
+"What weakness, my lord?"  said Elizabeth haughtily; "would you
+too insinuate that the favour in which I held yonder proud
+traitor derived its source from aught--"  But here she could no
+longer sustain the proud tone which she had assumed, and again
+softened as she said, "But why should I strive to deceive even
+thee, my good and wise servant?"
+
+Burleigh stooped to kiss her hand with affection, and--rare in
+the annals of courts--a tear of true sympathy dropped from the
+eye of the minister on the hand of his Sovereign.
+
+It is probable that the consciousness of possessing this sympathy
+aided Elizabeth in supporting her mortification, and suppressing
+her extreme resentment; but she was still more moved by fear that
+her passion should betray to the public the affront and the
+disappointment, which, alike as a woman and a Queen, she was so
+anxious to conceal.  She turned from Burleigh, and sternly paced
+the hall till her features had recovered their usual dignity, and
+her mien its wonted stateliness of regular motion.
+
+"Our Sovereign is her noble self once more," whispered Burleigh
+to Walsingham; "mark what she does, and take heed you thwart her
+not."
+
+She then approached Leicester, and said with calmness, "My Lord
+Shrewsbury, we discharge you of your prisoner.--My Lord of
+Leicester, rise and take up your sword; a quarter of an hour's
+restraint under the custody of our Marshal, my lord, is, we
+think, no high penance for months of falsehood practised upon us.
+We will now hear the progress of this affair."  She then seated
+herself in her chair, and said, "You, Tressilian, step forward,
+and say what you know."
+
+Tressilian told his story generously, suppressing as much as he
+could what affected Leicester, and saying nothing of their having
+twice actually fought together.  It is very probable that, in
+doing so, he did the Earl good service; for had the Queen at that
+instant found anything on account of which she could vent her
+wrath upon him, without laying open sentiments of which she was
+ashamed, it might have fared hard with him.  She paused when
+Tressilian had finished his tale.
+
+"We will take that Wayland," she said, "into our own service, and
+place the boy in our Secretary office for instruction, that he
+may in future use discretion towards letters.  For you,
+Tressilian, you did wrong in not communicating the whole truth to
+us, and your promise not to do so was both imprudent and
+undutiful.  Yet, having given your word to this unhappy lady, it
+was the part of a man and a gentleman to keep it; and on the
+whole, we esteem you for the character you have sustained in this
+matter.--My Lord of Leicester, it is now your turn to tell us the
+truth, an exercise to which you seem of late to have been too
+much a stranger."
+
+Accordingly, she extorted, by successive questions, the whole
+history of his first acquaintance with Amy Robsart--their
+marriage--his jealousy--the causes on which it was founded, and
+many particulars besides.  Leicester's confession, for such it
+might be called, was wrenched from him piecemeal, yet was upon
+the whole accurate, excepting that he totally omitted to mention
+that he had, by implication or otherwise, assented to Varney's
+designs upon the life of his Countess.  Yet the consciousness of
+this was what at that moment lay nearest to his heart; and
+although he trusted in great measure to the very positive
+counter-orders which he had sent by Lambourne, it was his purpose
+to set out for Cumnor Place in person as soon as he should be
+dismissed from the presence of the Queen, who, he concluded,
+would presently leave Kenilworth.
+
+But the Earl reckoned without his host.  It is true his presence
+and his communications were gall and wormwood to his once partial
+mistress.  But barred from every other and more direct mode of
+revenge, the Queen perceived that she gave her false suitor
+torture by these inquiries, and dwelt on them for that reason, no
+more regarding the pain which she herself experienced, than the
+savage cares for the searing of his own hands by grasping the hot
+pincers with which he tears the flesh of his captive enemy.
+
+At length, however, the haughty lord, like a deer that turns to
+bay, gave intimation that his patience was failing.  "Madam," he
+said, "I have been much to blame--more than even your just
+resentment has expressed.  Yet, madam, let me say that my guilt,
+if it be unpardonable, was not unprovoked, and that if beauty and
+condescending dignity could seduce the frail heart of a human
+being, I might plead both as the causes of my concealing this
+secret from your Majesty."
+
+The Queen was so much struck with this reply, which Leicester
+took care should be heard by no one but herself, that she was for
+the moment silenced, and the Earl had the temerity to pursue his
+advantage.  "Your Grace, who has pardoned so much, will excuse my
+throwing myself on your royal mercy for those expressions which
+were yester-morning accounted but a light offence."
+
+The Queen fixed her eyes on him while she replied, "Now, by
+Heaven, my lord, thy effrontery passes the bounds of belief, as
+well as patience!  But it shall avail thee nothing.--What ho!  my
+lords, come all and hear the news-my Lord of Leicester's stolen
+marriage has cost me a husband, and England a king.  His lordship
+is patriarchal in his tastes--one wife at a time was
+insufficient, and he designed US the honour of his left hand.
+Now, is not this too insolent--that I could not grace him with a
+few marks of court-favour, but he must presume to think my hand
+and crown at his disposal?  You, however, think better of me; and
+I can pity this ambitious man, as I could a child, whose bubble
+of soap has burst between his hands.  We go to the presence-
+chamber.--My Lord of Leicester, we command your close attendance
+on us."
+
+All was eager expectation in the hall, and what was the universal
+astonishment when the Queen said to those next her, "The revels
+of Kenilworth are not yet exhausted, my lords and ladies--we are
+to solemnize the noble owner's marriage."
+
+There was an universal expression of surprise.
+
+"It is true, on our royal word," said the Queen; "he hath kept
+this a secret even from us, that he might surprise us with it at
+this very place and time.  I see you are dying of curiosity to
+know the happy bride.  It is Amy Robsart, the same who, to make
+up the May-game yesterday, figured in the pageant as the wife of
+his servant Varney."
+
+"For God's sake, madam," said the Earl, approaching her with a
+mixture of humility, vexation, and shame in his countenance, and
+speaking so low as to be heard by no one else, "take my head, as
+you threatened in your anger, and spare me these taunts!  Urge
+not a falling man--tread not on a crushed worm."
+
+"A worm, my lord?"  said the Queen, in the same tone; "nay, a
+snake is the nobler reptile, and the more exact similitude--the
+frozen snake you wot of, which was warmed in a certain bosom--"
+
+"For your own sake--for mine, madam," said the Earl--"while there
+is yet some reason left in me--"
+
+"Speak aloud, my lord," said Elizabeth, "and at farther distance,
+so please you--your breath thaws our ruff.  What have you to ask
+of us?"
+
+"Permission," said the unfortunate Earl humbly, "to travel to
+Cumnor Place."
+
+"To fetch home your bride belike?--Why, ay--that is but right,
+for, as we have heard, she is indifferently cared for there.
+But, my lord, you go not in person; we have counted upon passing
+certain days in this Castle of Kenilworth, and it were slight
+courtesy to leave us without a landlord during our residence
+here.  Under your favour, we cannot think to incur such disgrace
+in the eyes of our subjects.  Tressilian shall go to Cumnor Place
+instead of you, and with him some gentleman who hath been sworn
+of our chamber, lest my Lord of Leicester should be again jealous
+of his old rival.--Whom wouldst thou have to be in commission
+with thee, Tressilian?"
+
+Tressilian, with humble deference, suggested the name of Raleigh.
+
+"Why, ay," said the Queen; "so God ha' me, thou hast made a good
+choice.  He is a young knight besides, and to deliver a lady from
+prison is an appropriate first adventure.--Cumnor Place is little
+better than a prison, you are to know, my lords and ladies.
+Besides, there are certain faitours there whom we would willingly
+have in safe keeping.  You will furnish them, Master Secretary,
+with the warrant necessary to secure the bodies of Richard Varney
+and the foreign Alasco, dead or alive.  Take a sufficient force
+with you, gentlemen--bring the lady here in all honour--lose no
+time, and God be with you!"
+
+They bowed, and left the presence,
+
+Who shall describe how the rest of that day was spent at
+Kenilworth?  The Queen, who seemed to have remained there for the
+sole purpose of mortifying and taunting the Earl of Leicester,
+showed herself as skilful in that female art of vengeance, as she
+was in the science of wisely governing her people.  The train of
+state soon caught the signal, and as he walked among his own
+splendid preparations, the Lord of Kenilworth, in his own Castle,
+already experienced the lot of a disgraced courtier, in the
+slight regard and cold manners of alienated friends, and the ill-
+concealed triumph of avowed and open enemies.  Sussex, from his
+natural military frankness of disposition, Burleigh and
+Walsingham, from their penetrating and prospective sagacity, and
+some of the ladies, from the compassion of their sex, were the
+only persons in the crowded court who retained towards him the
+countenance they had borne in the morning.
+
+So much had Leicester been accustomed to consider court favour as
+the principal object of his life, that all other sensations were,
+for the time, lost in the agony which his haughty spirit felt at
+the succession of petty insults and studied neglects to which he
+had been subjected; but when he retired to his own chamber for
+the night, that long, fair tress of hair which had once secured
+Amy's letter fell under his observation, and, with the influence
+of a counter-charm, awakened his heart to nobler and more natural
+feelings.  He kissed it a thousand times; and while he
+recollected that he had it always in his power to shun the
+mortifications which he had that day undergone, by retiring into
+a dignified and even prince-like seclusion with the beautiful and
+beloved partner of his future life, he felt that he could rise
+above the revenge which Elizabeth had condescended to take.
+
+Accordingly, on the following day the whole conduct of the Earl
+displayed so much dignified equanimity--he seemed so solicitous
+about the accommodations and amusements of his guests, yet so
+indifferent to their personal demeanour towards him--so
+respectfully distant to the Queen, yet so patient of her
+harassing displeasure--that Elizabeth changed her manner to him,
+and, though cold and distant, ceased to offer him any direct
+affront.  She intimated also with some sharpness to others around
+her, who thought they were consulting her pleasure in showing a
+neglectful conduct to the Earl, that while they remained at
+Kenilworth they ought to show the civility due from guests to the
+Lord of the Castle.  In short, matters were so far changed in
+twenty-four hours that some of the more experienced and sagacious
+courtiers foresaw a strong possibility of Leicester's restoration
+to favour, and regulated their demeanour towards him, as those
+who might one day claim merit for not having deserted him in
+adversity.  It is time, however, to leave these intrigues, and
+follow Tressilian and Raleigh on their journey.
+
+The troop consisted of six persons; for, besides Wayland, they
+had in company a royal pursuivant and two stout serving-men.  All
+were well-armed, and travelled as fast as it was possible with
+justice to their horses, which had a long journey before them.
+They endeavoured to procure some tidings as they rode along of
+Varney and his party, but could hear none, as they had travelled
+in the dark.  At a small village about twelve miles from
+Kenilworth, where they gave some refreshment to their horses, a
+poor clergyman, the curate of the place, came out of a small
+cottage, and entreated any of the company who might know aught of
+surgery to look in for an instant on a dying man.
+
+The empiric Wayland undertook to do his best, and as the curate
+conducted him to the spot, he learned that the man had been found
+on the highroad, about a mile from the village, by labourers, as
+they were going to their work on the preceding morning, and the
+curate had given him shelter in his house.  He had received a
+gun-shot wound, which seemed to be obviously mortal; but whether
+in a brawl or from robbers they could not learn, as he was in a
+fever, and spoke nothing connectedly.  Wayland entered the dark
+and lowly apartment, and no sooner had the curate drawn aside the
+curtain than he knew, in the distorted features of the patient,
+the countenance of Michael Lambourne.  Under pretence of seeking
+something which he wanted, Wayland hastily apprised his fellow-
+travellers of this extraordinary circumstance; and both
+Tressilian and Raleigh, full of boding apprehensions, hastened to
+the curate's house to see the dying man.
+
+The wretch was by this time in the agonies of death, from which a
+much better surgeon than Wayland could not have rescued him, for
+the bullet had passed clear through his body.  He was sensible,
+however, at least in part, for he knew Tressilian, and made signs
+that he wished him to stoop over his bed.  Tressilian did so, and
+after some inarticulate murmurs, in which the names of Varney and
+Lady Leicester were alone distinguishable, Lambourne bade him
+"make haste, or he would come too late."  It was in vain
+Tressilian urged the patient for further information; he seemed
+to become in some degree delirious, and when he again made a
+signal to attract Tressilian's attention, it was only for the
+purpose of desiring him to inform his uncle, Giles Gosling of the
+Black Bear, that "he had died without his shoes after all."  A
+convulsion verified his words a few minutes after, and the
+travellers derived nothing from having met with him, saving the
+obscure fears concerning the fate of the Countess, which his
+dying words were calculated to convey, and which induced them to
+urge their journey with the utmost speed, pressing horses in the
+Queen's name when those which they rode became unfit for service.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.
+
+  The death-bell thrice was heard to ring,
+   An aerial voice was heard to call,
+  And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing
+   Around the towers of Cumnor Hall.     MICKLE.
+
+We are now to return to that part of our story where we intimated
+that Varney, possessed of the authority of the Earl of Leicester,
+and of the Queen's permission to the same effect, hastened to
+secure himself against discovery of his perfidy by removing the
+Countess from Kenilworth Castle.  He had proposed to set forth
+early in the morning; but reflecting that the Earl might relent
+in the interim, and seek another interview with the Countess, he
+resolved to prevent, by immediate departure, all chance of what
+would probably have ended in his detection and ruin.  For this
+purpose he called for Lambourne, and was exceedingly incensed to
+find that his trusty attendant was abroad on some ramble in the
+neighbouring village, or elsewhere.  As his return was expected,
+Sir Richard commanded that he should prepare himself for
+attending him on an immediate journey, and follow him in case he
+returned after his departure.
+
+In the meanwhile, Varney used the ministry of a servant called
+Robin Tider, one to whom the mysteries of Cumnor Place were
+already in some degree known, as he had been there more than once
+in attendance on the Earl.  To this man, whose character
+resembled that of Lambourne, though he was neither quite so
+prompt nor altogether so profligate, Varney gave command to have
+three horses saddled, and to prepare a horse-litter, and have
+them in readiness at the postern gate.  The natural enough excuse
+of his lady's insanity, which was now universally believed,
+accounted for the secrecy with which she was to be removed from
+the Castle, and he reckoned on the same apology in case the
+unfortunate Amy's resistance or screams should render such
+necessary.  The agency of Anthony Foster was indispensable, and
+that Varney now went to secure.
+
+This person, naturally of a sour, unsocial disposition, and
+somewhat tired, besides, with his journey from Cumnor to
+Warwickshire, in order to bring the news of the Countess's
+escape, had early extricated himself from the crowd of
+wassailers, and betaken himself to his chamber, where he lay
+asleep, when Varney, completely equipped for travelling, and with
+a dark lantern in his hand, entered his apartment.  He paused an
+instant to listen to what his associate was murmuring in his
+sleep, and could plainly distinguish the words, "AVE MARIA--ORA
+PRO NOBIS.  No, it runs not so--deliver us from evil--ay, so it
+goes."
+
+"Praying in his sleep," said Varney, "and confounding his old and
+new devotions.  He must have more need of prayer ere I am done
+with him.--What ho!  holy man, most blessed penitent!--awake--
+awake!  The devil has not discharged you from service yet."
+
+As Varney at the same time shook the sleeper by the arm, it
+changed the current of his ideas, and he roared out, "Thieves!--
+thieves!  I will die in defence of my gold--my hard-won gold--
+that has cost me so dear.  Where is Janet?--Is Janet safe?"
+
+"Safe enough, thou bellowing fool!"  said Varney; "art thou not
+ashamed of thy clamour?"
+
+Foster by this time was broad awake, and sitting up in his bed,
+asked Varney the meaning of so untimely a visit.  "It augurs
+nothing good," he added.
+
+"A false prophecy, most sainted Anthony," returned Varney; "it
+augurs that the hour is come for converting thy leasehold into
+copyhold.  What sayest thou to that?"
+
+"Hadst thou told me this in broad day," said Foster, "I had
+rejoiced; but at this dead hour, and by this dim light, and
+looking on thy pale face, which is a ghastly contradiction to thy
+light words, I cannot but rather think of the work that is to be
+done, than the guerdon to be gained by it."
+
+"Why, thou fool, it is but to escort thy charge back to Cumnor
+Place."
+
+"Is that indeed all?"  said Foster; "thou lookest deadly pale,
+and thou art not moved by trifles--is that indeed all?"
+
+"Ay, that--and maybe a trifle more," said Varney.
+
+"Ah, that trifle more!"  said Foster; "still thou lookest paler
+and paler."
+
+"Heed not my countenance," said Varney; "you see it by this
+wretched light.  Up and be doing, man.  Think of Cumnor Place--
+thine own proper copyhold.  Why, thou mayest found a weekly
+lectureship, besides endowing Janet like a baron's daughter.
+Seventy pounds and odd."
+
+"Seventy-nine pounds, five shillings and fivepence half-penny,
+besides the value of the wood," said Foster; "and I am to have it
+all as copyhold?"
+
+"All, man--squirrels and all.  No gipsy shall cut the value of a
+broom--no boy so much as take a bird's nest--without paying thee
+a quittance.--Ay, that is right--don thy matters as fast as
+possible; horses and everything are ready, all save that accursed
+villain Lambourne, who is out on some infernal gambol."
+
+"Ay, Sir Richard," said Foster, "you would take no advice.  I
+ever told you that drunken profligate would fail you at need.
+Now I could have helped you to a sober young man."
+
+"What, some slow-spoken, long-breathed brother of the
+congregation?  Why, we shall have use for such also, man.  Heaven
+be praised, we shall lack labourers of every kind.--Ay, that is
+right--forget not your pistols.  Come now, and let us away."
+
+"Whither?"  said Anthony.
+
+"To my lady's chamber; and, mind, she MUST along with us.  Thou
+art not a fellow to be startled by a shriek?"
+
+"Not if Scripture reason can be rendered for it; and it is
+written, 'Wives obey your husbands.' But will my lord's commands
+bear us out if we use violence?"
+
+"Tush, man!  here is his signet," answered Varney; and having
+thus silenced the objections of his associate, they went together
+to Lord Hunsdon's apartments, and acquainting the sentinel with
+their purpose, as a matter sanctioned by the Queen and the Earl
+of Leicester, they entered the chamber of the unfortunate
+Countess.
+
+The horror of Amy may be conceived when, starting from a broken
+slumber, she saw at her bedside Varney, the man on earth she most
+feared and hated.  It was even a consolation to see that he was
+not alone, though she had so much reason to dread his sullen
+companion.
+
+"Madam," said Varney, "there is no time for ceremony.  My Lord of
+Leicester, having fully considered the exigencies of the time,
+sends you his orders immediately to accompany us on our return to
+Cumnor Place.  See, here is his signet, in token of his instant
+and pressing commands."
+
+"It is false!"  said the Countess; "thou hast stolen the warrant
+--thou, who art capable of every villainy, from the blackest to
+the basest!"
+
+"It is TRUE, madam," replied Varney; "so true, that if you do not
+instantly arise, and prepare to attend us, we must compel you to
+obey our orders."
+
+"Compel!  Thou darest not put it to that issue, base as thou
+art!"  exclaimed the unhappy Countess.
+
+"That remains to be proved, madam," said Varney, who had
+determined on intimidation as the only means of subduing her high
+spirit; "if you put me to it, you will find me a rough groom of
+the chambers."
+
+It was at this threat that Amy screamed so fearfully that, had it
+not been for the received opinion of her insanity, she would
+quickly have had Lord Hunsdon and others to her aid.  Perceiving,
+however, that her cries were vain, she appealed to Foster in the
+most affecting terms, conjuring him, as his daughter Janet's
+honour and purity were dear to him, not to permit her to be
+treated with unwomanly violence.
+
+"Why, madam, wives must obey their husbands---there's Scripture
+warrant for it," said Foster; "and if you will dress yourself,
+and come with us patiently, there's no one shall lay finger on
+you while I can draw a pistol-trigger."
+
+Seeing no help arrive, and comforted even by the dogged language
+of Foster, the Countess promised to arise and dress herself, if
+they would agree to retire from the room.  Varney at the same
+time assured her of all safety and honour while in their hands,
+and promised that he himself would not approach her, since his
+presence was so displeasing.  Her husband, he added, would be at
+Cumnor Place within twenty-four hours after they had reached it.
+
+Somewhat comforted by this assurance, upon which, however, she
+saw little reason to rely, the unhappy Amy made her toilette by
+the assistance of the lantern, which they left with her when they
+quitted the apartment.
+
+Weeping, trembling, and praying, the unfortunate lady dressed
+herself with sensations how different from the days in which she
+was wont to decorate herself in all the pride of conscious
+beauty!  She endeavoured to delay the completing her dress as
+long as she could, until, terrified by the impatience of Varney,
+she was obliged to declare herself ready to attend them.
+
+When they were about to move, the Countess clung to Foster with
+such an appearance of terror at Varney's approach that the latter
+protested to her, with a deep oath, that he had no intention
+whatever of even coming near her.  "If you do but consent to
+execute your husband's will in quietness, you shall," he said,
+"see but little of me.  I will leave you undisturbed to the care
+of the usher whom your good taste prefers."
+
+"My husband's will!"  she exclaimed.  "But it is the will of God,
+and let that be sufficient to me.  I will go with Master Foster
+as unresistingly as ever did a literal sacrifice.  He is a father
+at least; and will have decency, if not humanity.  For thee,
+Varney, were it my latest word, thou art an equal stranger to
+both."
+
+Varney replied only she was at liberty to choose, and walked some
+paces before them to show the way; while, half leaning on Foster,
+and half carried by him, the Countess was transported from
+Saintlowe's Tower to the postern gate, where Tider waited with
+the litter and horses.
+
+The Countess was placed in the former without resistance.  She
+saw with some satisfaction that, while Foster and Tider rode
+close by the litter, which the latter conducted, the dreaded
+Varney lingered behind, and was soon lost in darkness.  A little
+while she strove, as the road winded round the verge of the lake,
+to keep sight of those stately towers which called her husband
+lord, and which still, in some places, sparkled with lights,
+where wassailers were yet revelling.  But when the direction of
+the road rendered this no longer possible, she drew back her
+head, and sinking down in the litter, recommended herself to the
+care of Providence.
+
+Besides the desire of inducing the Countess to proceed quietly on
+her journey, Varney had it also in view to have an interview with
+Lambourne, by whom he every moment expected to be joined, without
+the presence of any witnesses.  He knew the character of this
+man, prompt, bloody, resolute, and greedy, and judged him the
+most fit agent he could employ in his further designs.  But ten
+miles of their journey had been measured ere he heard the hasty
+clatter of horse's hoofs behind him, and was overtaken by Michael
+Lambourne.
+
+Fretted as he was with his absence, Varney received his
+profligate servant with a rebuke of unusual bitterness.  "Drunken
+villain," he said, "thy idleness and debauched folly will stretch
+a halter ere it be long, and, for me, I care not how soon!"
+
+This style of objurgation Lambourne, who was elated to an unusual
+degree, not only by an extraordinary cup of wine, but by the sort
+of confidential interview he had just had with the Earl, and the
+secret of which he had made himself master, did not receive with
+his wonted humility.  "He would take no insolence of language,"
+he said, "from the best knight that ever wore spurs.  Lord
+Leicester had detained him on some business of import, and that
+was enough for Varney, who was but a servant like himself."
+
+Varney was not a little surprised at his unusual tone of
+insolence; but ascribing it to liquor, suffered it to pass as if
+unnoticed, and then began to tamper with Lambourne touching his
+willingness to aid in removing out of the Earl of Leicester's way
+an obstacle to a rise, which would put it in his power to reward
+his trusty followers to their utmost wish.  And upon Michael
+Lambourne's seeming ignorant what was meant, he plainly indicated
+"the litter-load, yonder," as the impediment which he desired
+should be removed.
+
+"Look you, Sir Richard, and so forth," said Michael, "some are
+wiser than some, that is one thing, and some are worse than some,
+that's another.  I know my lord's mind on this matter better than
+thou, for he hath trusted me fully in the matter.  Here are his
+mandates, and his last words were, Michael Lambourne--for his
+lordship speaks to me as a gentleman of the sword, and useth not
+the words drunken villain, or such like phrase, of those who know
+not how to bear new dignities--Varney, says he, must pay the
+utmost respect to my Countess.  I trust to you for looking to it,
+Lambourne, says his lordship, and you must bring back my signet
+from him peremptorily."
+
+"Ay," replied Varney, "said he so, indeed?  You know all, then?"
+
+"All--all; and you were as wise to make a friend of me while the
+weather is fair betwixt us."
+
+"And was there no one present," said Varney, "when my lord so
+spoke?"
+
+"Not a breathing creature," replied Lambourne.  "Think you my
+lord would trust any one with such matters, save an approved man
+of action like myself?"
+
+"Most true," said Varney; and making a pause, he looked forward
+on the moonlight road.  They were traversing a wide and open
+heath.  The litter being at least a mile before them, was both
+out of sight and hearing.  He looked behind, and there was an
+expanse, lighted by the moonbeams, without one human being in
+sight.  He resumed his speech to Lambourne:  "And will you turn
+upon your master, who has introduced you to this career of court-
+like favour--whose apprentice you have been, Michael--who has
+taught you the depths and shallows of court intrigue?"
+
+"Michael not me!"  said Lambourne; "I have a name will brook a
+MASTER before it as well as another; and as to the rest, if I
+have been an apprentice, my indenture is out, and I am resolute
+to set up for myself."
+
+"Take thy quittance first, thou fool!"  said Varney; and with a
+pistol, which he had for some time held in his hand, shot
+Lambourne through the body.
+
+The wretch fell from his horse without a single groan; and
+Varney, dismounting, rifled his pockets, turning out the lining,
+that it might appear he had fallen by robbers.  He secured the
+Earl's packet, which was his chief object; but he also took
+Lambourne"s purse, containing some gold pieces, the relics of
+what his debauchery had left him, and from a singular combination
+of feelings, carried it in his hand only the length of a small
+river, which crossed the road, into which he threw it as far as
+he could fling.  Such are the strange remnants of conscience
+which remain after she seems totally subdued, that this cruel and
+remorseless man would have felt himself degraded had he pocketed
+the few pieces belonging to the wretch whom he had thus
+ruthlessly slain.
+
+The murderer reloaded his pistol after cleansing the lock and
+barrel from the appearances of late explosion, and rode calmly
+after the litter, satisfying himself that he had so adroitly
+removed a troublesome witness to many of his intrigues, and the
+bearer of mandates which he had no intentions to obey, and which,
+therefore, he was desirous it should be thought had never reached
+his hand.
+
+The remainder of the journey was made with a degree of speed
+which showed the little care they had for the health of the
+unhappy Countess.  They paused only at places where all was under
+their command, and where the tale they were prepared to tell of
+the insane Lady Varney would have obtained ready credit had she
+made an attempt to appeal to the compassion of the few persons
+admitted to see her.  But Amy saw no chance of obtaining a
+hearing from any to whom she had an opportunity of addressing
+herself; and besides, was too terrified for the presence of
+Varney to violate the implied condition under which she was to
+travel free from his company.  The authority of Varney, often so
+used during the Earl's private journeys to Cumnor, readily
+procured relays of horses where wanted, so that they approached
+Cumnor Place upon the night after they left Kenilworth.
+
+At this period of the journey Varney came up to the rear of the
+litter, as he had done before repeatedly during their progress,
+and asked, "How does she?"
+
+"She sleeps," said Foster.  "I would we were home--her strength
+is exhausted."
+
+"Rest will restore her," answered Varney.  "She shall soon sleep
+sound and long.  We must consider how to lodge her in safety."
+
+"In her own apartments, to be sure," said Foster.  "I have sent
+Janet to her aunt's with a proper rebuke, and the old women are
+truth itself--for they hate this lady cordially."
+
+"We will not trust them, however, friend Anthony," said Varney;
+"We must secure her in that stronghold where you keep your gold."
+
+"My gold!"  said Anthony, much alarmed; "why, what gold have I?
+God help me, I have no gold--I would I had!"
+
+"Now, marry hang thee, thou stupid brute, who thinks of or cares
+for thy gold?  If I did, could I not find an hundred better ways
+to come at it?  In one word, thy bedchamber, which thou hast
+fenced so curiously, must be her place of seclusion; and thou,
+thou hind, shalt press her pillows of down.  I dare to say the
+Earl will never ask after the rich furniture of these four
+rooms."
+
+This last consideration rendered Foster tractable; he only asked
+permission to ride before, to make matters ready, and spurring
+his horse, he posted before the litter, while Varney falling
+about threescore paces behind it, it remained only attended by
+Tider.
+
+When they had arrived at Cumnor Place, the Countess asked eagerly
+for Janet, and showed much alarm when informed that she was no
+longer to have the attendance of that amiable girl.
+
+"My daughter is dear to me, madam," said Foster gruffly; "and I
+desire not that she should get the court-tricks of lying and
+'scaping--somewhat too much of that has she learned already, an
+it please your ladyship."
+
+The Countess, much fatigued and greatly terrified by the
+circumstances of her journey, made no answer to this insolence,
+but mildly expressed a wish to retire to her chamber,
+
+"Ay, ay," muttered Foster, "'tis but reasonable; but, under
+favour, you go not to your gew-gaw toy-house yonder--you will
+sleep to-night in better security."
+
+"I would it were in my grave," said the Countess; "but that
+mortal feelings shiver at the idea of soul and body parting."
+
+"You, I guess, have no chance to shiver at that," replied Foster.
+"My lord comes hither to-morrow, and doubtless you will make your
+own ways good with him."
+
+"But does he come hither?--does he indeed, good Foster?"
+
+"Oh, ay, good Foster!"  replied the other.  "But what Foster
+shall I be to-morrow when you speak of me to my lord--though all
+I have done was to obey his own orders?"
+
+"You shall be my protector--a rough one indeed--but still a
+protector," answered the Countess.  "Oh that Janet were but
+here!"
+
+"She is better where she is," answered Foster--"one of you is
+enough to perplex a plain head.  But will you taste any
+refreshment?"
+
+"Oh no, no--my chamber--my chamber!  I trust," she said
+apprehensively, "I may secure it on the inside?"
+
+"With all my heart," answered Foster, "so I may secure it on the
+outside;" and taking a light, he led the way to a part of the
+building where Amy had never been, and conducted her up a stair
+of great height, preceded by one of the old women with a lamp.
+At the head of the stair, which seemed of almost immeasurable
+height, they crossed a short wooden gallery, formed of black oak,
+and very narrow, at the farther end of which was a strong oaken
+door, which opened and admitted them into the miser's apartment,
+homely in its accommodations in the very last degree, and, except
+in name, little different from a prison-room.
+
+Foster stopped at the door, and gave the lamp to the Countess,
+without either offering or permitting the attendance of the old
+woman who had carried it.  The lady stood not on ceremony, but
+taking it hastily, barred the door, and secured it with the ample
+means provided on the inside for that purpose.
+
+Varney, meanwhile, had lurked behind on the stairs; but hearing
+the door barred, he now came up on tiptoe, and Foster, winking to
+him, pointed with self-complacence to a piece of concealed
+machinery in the wall, which, playing with much ease and little
+noise, dropped a part of the wooden gallery, after the manner of
+a drawbridge, so as to cut off all communication between the door
+of the bedroom, which he usually inhabited, and the landing-place
+of the high, winding stair which ascended to it.  The rope by
+which this machinery was wrought was generally carried within the
+bedchamber, it being Foster's object to provide against invasion
+from without; but now that it was intended to secure the prisoner
+within, the cord had been brought over to the landing-place, and
+was there made fast, when Foster with much complacency had
+dropped the unsuspected trap-door.
+
+Varney looked with great attention at the machinery, and peeped
+more than once down the abyss which was opened by the fall of the
+trap-door.  It was dark as pitch, and seemed profoundly deep,
+going, as Foster informed his confederate in a whisper, nigh to
+the lowest vault of the Castle.  Varney cast once more a fixed
+and long look down into this sable gulf, and then followed Foster
+to the part of the manor-house most usually inhabited.
+
+When they arrived in the parlour which we have mentioned, Varney
+requested Foster to get them supper, and some of the choicest
+wine.  "I will seek Alasco," he added; "we have work for him to
+do, and we must put him in good heart."
+
+Foster groaned at this intimation, but made no remonstrance.  The
+old woman assured Varney that Alasco had scarce eaten or drunken
+since her master's departure, living perpetually shut up in the
+laboratory, and talking as if the world's continuance depended on
+what he was doing there.
+
+"I will teach him that the world hath other claims on him," said
+Varney, seizing a light, and going in quest of the alchemist.  He
+returned, after a considerable absence, very pale, but yet with
+his habitual sneer on his cheek and nostril.  "Our friend," he
+said, "has exhaled."
+
+"How!--what mean you?"  said Foster--"run away--fled with my
+forty pounds, that should have been multiplied a thousand-fold?
+I will have Hue and Cry!"
+
+"I will tell thee a surer way," said Varney.
+
+"How!--which way?"  exclaimed Foster; "I will have back my forty
+pounds--I deemed them as surely a thousand times multiplied--I
+will have back my in-put, at the least."
+
+"Go hang thyself, then, and sue Alasco in the Devil's Court of
+Chancery, for thither he has carried the cause."
+
+"How!--what dost thou mean is he dead?"
+
+"Ay, truly is he," said Varney; "and properly swollen already in
+the face and body.  He had been mixing some of his devil's
+medicines, and the glass mask which he used constantly had fallen
+from his face, so that the subtle poison entered the brain, and
+did its work."
+
+"SANCTA MARIA!"  said Foster--"I mean, God in His mercy preserve
+us from covetousness and deadly sin!--Had he not had projection,
+think you?  Saw you no ingots in the crucibles?"
+
+"Nay, I looked not but at the dead carrion," answered Varney; "an
+ugly spectacle--he was swollen like a corpse three days exposed
+on the wheel.  Pah!  give me a cup of wine."
+
+"I will go," said Foster, "I will examine myself--" He took the
+lamp, and hastened to the door, but there hesitated and paused.
+"Will you not go with me?"  said he to Varney.
+
+"To what purpose?"  said Varney; "I have seen and smelled enough
+to spoil my appetite.  I broke the window, however, and let in
+the air; it reeked of sulphur, and such like suffocating steams,
+as if the very devil had been there."
+
+"And might it not be the act of the demon himself?"  said Foster,
+still hesitating; "I have heard he is powerful at such times, and
+with such people."
+
+"Still, if it were that Satan of thine," answered Varney, "who
+thus jades thy imagination, thou art in perfect safety, unless he
+is a most unconscionable devil indeed.  He hath had two good sops
+of late."
+
+"How TWO sops--what mean you?"  said Foster--"what mean you?"
+
+"You will know in time," said Varney;--"and then this other
+banquet--but thou wilt esteem Her too choice a morsel for the
+fiend's tooth--she must have her psalms, and harps, and seraphs."
+
+Anthony Foster heard, and came slowly back to the table.  "God!
+Sir Richard, and must that then be done?"
+
+"Ay, in very truth, Anthony, or there comes no copyhold in thy
+way," replied his inflexible associate.
+
+"I always foresaw it would land there!"  said Foster.  "But how,
+Sir Richard, how?--for not to win the world would I put hands on
+her."
+
+"I cannot blame thee," said Varney; "I should be reluctant to do
+that myself.  We miss Alasco and his manna sorely--ay, and the
+dog Lambourne."
+
+"Why, where tarries Lambourne?"  said Anthony.
+
+"Ask no questions," said Varney, "thou wilt see him one day if
+thy creed is true.  But to our graver matter.  I will teach thee
+a spring, Tony, to catch a pewit.  Yonder trap-door--yonder
+gimcrack of thine, will remain secure in appearance, will it not,
+though the supports are withdrawn beneath?"
+
+"Ay, marry, will it," said Foster; "so long as it is not trodden
+on."
+
+"But were the lady to attempt an escape over it," replied Varney,
+"her weight would carry it down?"
+
+"A mouse's weight would do it," said Foster.
+
+"Why, then, she dies in attempting her escape, and what could you
+or I help it, honest Tony?  Let us to bed, we will adjust our
+project to-morrow."
+
+On the next day, when evening approached, Varney summoned Foster
+to the execution of their plan.  Tider and Foster's old man-
+servant were sent on a feigned errand down to the village, and
+Anthony himself, as if anxious to see that the Countess suffered
+no want of accommodation, visited her place of confinement.  He
+was so much staggered at the mildness and patience with which she
+seemed to endure her confinement, that he could not help
+earnestly recommending to her not to cross the threshold of her
+room on any account whatever, until Lord Leicester should come,
+"which," he added, "I trust in God, will be very soon."  Amy
+patiently promised that she would resign herself to her fate.
+and Foster returned to his hardened companion with his conscience
+half-eased of the perilous load that weighed on it.  "I have
+warned her," he said; "surely in vain is the snare set in the
+sight of any bird!"
+
+He left, therefore, the Countess's door unsecured on the outside,
+and, under the eye of Varney, withdrew the supports which
+sustained the falling trap, which, therefore, kept its level
+position merely by a slight adhesion.  They withdrew to wait the
+issue on the ground-floor adjoining; but they waited long in
+vain.  At length Varney, after walking long to and fro, with his
+face muffled in his cloak, threw it suddenly back and exclaimed,
+"Surely never was a woman fool enough to neglect so fair an
+opportunity of escape!"
+
+"Perhaps she is resolved," said Foster, "to await her husband's
+return,"
+
+"True!--most true!"  said Varney, rushing out; "I had not thought
+of that before."
+
+In less than two minutes, Foster, who remained behind, heard the
+tread of a horse in the courtyard, and then a whistle similar to
+that which was the Earl's usual signal.  The instant after the
+door of the Countess's chamber opened, and in the same moment the
+trap-door gave way.  There was a rushing sound--a heavy fall--a
+faint groan--and all was over.
+
+At the same instant, Varney called in at the window, in an accent
+and tone which was an indescribable mixture betwixt horror and
+raillery, "Is the bird caught?--is the deed done?"
+
+"O God, forgive us!"  replied Anthony Foster.
+
+"Why, thou fool," said Varney, "thy toil is ended, and thy reward
+secure.  Look down into the vault--what seest thou?"
+
+"I see only a heap of white clothes, like a snowdrift," said
+Foster.  "O God, she moves her arm!"
+
+"Hurl something down on her--thy gold chest, Tony--it is an heavy
+one."
+
+"Varney, thou art an incarnate fiend!"  replied Foster.
+
+"There needs nothing more--she is gone!"
+
+"So pass our troubles," said Varney, entering the room; "I
+dreamed not I could have mimicked the Earl's call so well."
+
+"Oh, if there be judgment in heaven, thou hast deserved it," said
+Foster, "and wilt meet it!  Thou hast destroyed her by means of
+her best affections--it is a seething of the kid in the mother's
+milk!"
+
+"Thou art a fanatical ass," replied Varney; "let us now think how
+the alarm should be given--the body is to remain where it is."
+
+But their wickedness was to be permitted no longer; for even
+while they were at this consultation, Tressilian and Raleigh
+broke in upon them, having obtained admittance by means of Tider
+and Foster's servant, whom they had secured at the village.
+
+Anthony Foster fled on their entrance, and knowing each corner
+and pass of the intricate old house, escaped all search.  But
+Varney was taken on the spot; and instead of expressing
+compunction for what he had done, seemed to take a fiendish
+pleasure in pointing out to them the remains of the murdered
+Countess, while at the same time he defied them to show that he
+had any share in her death.  The despairing grief of Tressilian,
+on viewing the mangled and yet warm remains of what had lately
+been so lovely and so beloved, was such that Raleigh was
+compelled to have him removed from the place by force, while he
+himself assumed the direction of what was to be done.
+
+Varney, upon a second examination, made very little mystery
+either of the crime or of its motives---alleging, as a reason for
+his frankness, that though much of what he confessed could only
+have attached to him by suspicion, yet such suspicion would have
+been sufficient to deprive him of Leicester's confidence, and to
+destroy all his towering plans of ambition.  "I was not born," he
+said, "to drag on the remainder of life a degraded outcast; nor
+will I so die that my fate shall make a holiday to the vulgar
+herd."
+
+From these words it was apprehended he had some design upon
+himself, and he was carefully deprived of all means by which such
+could be carried into execution.  But like some of the heroes of
+antiquity, he carried about his person a small quantity of strong
+poison, prepared probably by the celebrated Demetrius Alasco.
+Having swallowed this potion over-night, he was found next
+morning dead in his cell; nor did he appear to have suffered much
+agony, his countenance presenting, even in death, the habitual
+expression of sneering sarcasm which was predominant while he
+lived.  "The wicked man," saith Scripture, "hath no bands in his
+death."
+
+The fate of his colleague in wickedness was long unknown.  Cumnor
+Place was deserted immediately after the murder; for in the
+vicinity of what was called the Lady Dudley's Chamber, the
+domestics pretended to hear groans, and screams, and other
+supernatural noises.  After a certain length of time, Janet,
+hearing no tidings of her father, became the uncontrolled
+mistress of his property, and conferred it with her hand upon
+Wayland, now a man of settled character, and holding a place in
+Elizabeth's household.  But it was after they had been both dead
+for some years that their eldest son and heir, in making some
+researches about Cumnor Hall, discovered a secret passage, closed
+by an iron door, which, opening from behind the bed in the Lady
+Dudley's Chamber, descended to a sort of cell, in which they
+found an iron chest containing a quantity of gold, and a human
+skeleton stretched above it.  The fate of Anthony Foster was now
+manifest.  He had fled to this place of concealment, forgetting
+the key of the spring-lock; and being barred from escape by the
+means he had used for preservation of that gold, for which he had
+sold his salvation, he had there perished miserably.
+Unquestionably the groans and screams heard by the domestics were
+not entirely imaginary, but were those of this wretch, who, in
+his agony, was crying for relief and succour.
+
+The news of the Countess's dreadful fate put a sudden period to
+the pleasures of Kenilworth.  Leicester retired from court, and
+for a considerable time abandoned himself to his remorse.  But as
+Varney in his last declaration had been studious to spare the
+character of his patron, the Earl was the object rather of
+compassion than resentment.  The Queen at length recalled him to
+court; he was once more distinguished as a statesman and
+favourite; and the rest of his career is well known to history.
+But there was something retributive in his death, if, according
+to an account very generally received, it took place from his
+swallowing a draught of poison which was designed by him for
+another person.  [See Note 9.  Death of the Earl of Leicester.]
+
+Sir Hugh Robsart died very soon after his daughter, having
+settled his estate on Tressilian.  But neither the prospect of
+rural independence, nor the promises of favour which Elizabeth
+held out to induce him to follow the court, could remove his
+profound melancholy.  Wherever he went he seemed to see before
+him the disfigured corpse of the early and only object of his
+affection.  At length, having made provision for the maintenance
+of the old friends and old servants who formed Sir Hugh's family
+at Lidcote Hall, he himself embarked with his friend Raleigh for
+the Virginia expedition, and, young in years but old in grief,
+died before his day in that foreign land.
+
+Of inferior persons it is only necessary to say that Blount's wit
+grew brighter as his yellow roses faded; that, doing his part as
+a brave commander in the wars, he was much more in his element
+than during the short period of his following the court; and that
+Flibbertigibbet's acute genius raised him to favour and
+distinction in the employment both of Burleigh and Walsingham.
+
+
+
+
+NOTES.
+
+
+Note 1. Ch. III.--FOSTER, LAMBOURNE, AND THE BLACK BEAR.
+
+If faith is to be put in epitaphs, Anthony Foster was something
+the very reverse of the character represented in the novel.
+Ashmole gives this description of his tomb.  I copy from the
+ANTIQUITIES OF BERKSHIRE, vol.i., p.143.
+
+"In the north wall of the chancel at Cumnor church is a monument
+of grey marble, whereon, in brass plates, are engraved a man in
+armour, and his wife in the habit of her times, both kneeling
+before a fald-stoole, together with the figures of three sons
+kneeling behind their mother.  Under the figure of the man is
+this inscription:--
+
+ "ANTONIUS FORSTER, generis generosa propago,
+   Cumnerae Dominus, Bercheriensis erat.
+ Armiger, Armigero prognatus patre Ricardo,
+   Qui quondam Iphlethae Salopiensis erat.
+ Quatuor ex isto fluxerunt stemmate nati,
+  Ex isto Antonius stemmate quartus erat.
+ Mente sagax, animo precellens, corpore promptus,
+  Eloquii dulcis, ore disertus erat.
+ In factis probitas; fuit in sermone venustas,
+  In vultu gravitas, relligione fides,
+ In patriam pietas, in egenos grata voluntas,
+  Accedunt reliquis annumeranda bonis.
+ Si quod cuncta rapit, rapuit non omnia Lethum,
+  Si quod Mors rapuit, vivida fama dedit.
+
+"These verses following are writ at length, two by two, in praise
+of him:--
+
+  "Argute resonas Cithare pretendere chordas
+      Novit, et Aonia concrepuisse Lyra.
+  Gaudebat terre teneras defigere plantas;
+      Et mira pulchras construere arte domos
+  Composita varias lingua formare loquelas
+      Doctus, et edocta scribere multa manu.
+
+"The arms over it thus:--
+
+Quart.  I. 3 HUNTER'S HORNS stringed.
+       II. 3 PINIONS with their points upwards.
+
+"The crest is a STAG couchant, vulnerated through the neck by a
+broad arrow; on his side is a MARTLETT for a difference."
+
+From this monumental inscription it appears that Anthony Foster,
+instead of being a vulgar, low-bred, puritanical churl, was, in
+fact, a gentleman of birth and consideration, distinguished for
+his skill in the arts of music and horticulture, as also in
+languages.  In so far, therefore, the Anthony Foster of the
+romance has nothing but the name in common with the real
+individual.  But notwithstanding the charity, benevolence, and
+religious faith imputed by the monument of grey marble to its
+tenant, tradition, as well as secret history, names him as the
+active agent in the death of the Countess; and it is added that,
+from being a jovial and convivial gallant, as we may infer from
+some expressions in the epitaph, he sunk, after the fatal deed,
+into a man of gloomy and retired habits, whose looks and manners
+indicated that he suffered under the pressure of some atrocious
+secret.
+
+The name of Lambourne is still known in the vicinity, and it is
+said some of the clan partake the habits, as well as name, of the
+Michael Lambourne of the romance.  A man of this name lately
+murdered his wife, outdoing Michael in this respect, who only was
+concerned in the murder of the wife of another man.
+
+I have only to add that the jolly Black Bear has been restored to
+his predominance over bowl and bottle in the village of Cumnor.
+
+*
+
+Note 2. Ch. XIII.--LEGEND OF WAYLAND SMITH.
+
+The great defeat given by Alfred to the Danish invaders is said
+by Mr. Gough to have taken place near Ashdown, in Berkshire. "The
+burial place of Baereg, the Danish chief, who was slain in this
+fight, is distinguished by a parcel of stones, less than a mile
+from the hill, set on edge, enclosing a piece of ground somewhat
+raised.  On the east side of the southern extremity stand three
+squarish flat stones, of about four or five feet over either way,
+supporting a fourth, and now called by the vulgar WAYLAND SMITH,
+from an idle tradition about an invisible smith replacing lost
+horse-shoes there."--GOUGH'S edition of CAMDEN'S BRITANNIA,
+vol.i., p. 221.
+
+The popular belief still retains memory of this wild legend,
+which, connected as it is with the site of a Danish sepulchre,
+may have arisen from some legend concerning the northern Duergar,
+who resided in the rocks, and were cunning workers in steel and
+iron.  It was believed that Wayland Smith's fee was sixpence, and
+that, unlike other workmen, he was offended if more was offered.
+Of late his offices have been again called to memory; but fiction
+has in this, as in other cases, taken the liberty to pillage the
+stores of oral tradition.  This monument must be very ancient,
+for it has been kindly pointed out to me that it is referred to
+in an ancient Saxon charter as a landmark.  The monument has been
+of late cleared out, and made considerably more conspicuous.
+
+*
+
+Note 3. Ch. XIV.--LEICESTER AND SUSSEX.
+
+Naunton gives us numerous and curious particulars of the jealous
+struggle which took place between Ratcliffe, Earl of Sussex, and
+the rising favourite Leicester.  The former, when on his
+deathbed, predicted to his followers that after his death the
+gipsy (so he called Leicester, from his dark complexion) would
+prove too many for them.
+
+*
+
+Note 4. Ch. XIV.--SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
+
+Among the attendants and adherents of Sussex, we have ventured to
+introduce the celebrated Raleigh, in the dawn of his court
+favour.
+
+In Aubrey's Correspondence there are some curious particulars of
+Sir Walter Raleigh.  "He was a tall, handsome, bold man; but his
+naeve was that he was damnably proud.  Old Sir Robert Harley of
+Brampton Brian Castle, who knew him, would say it was a great
+question who was the proudest, Sir Walter or Sir Thomas Overbury;
+but the difference that was, was judged in Sir Thomas's side.  In
+the great parlour at Downton, at Mr. Raleigh's, is a good piece,
+an original of Sir Walter, in a white satin doublet, all
+embroidered with rich pearls, and a mighty rich chain of great
+pearls about his neck.  The old servants have told me that the
+real pearls were near as big as the painted ones.  He had a most
+remarkable aspect, an exceeding high forehead, long-faced, and
+sour-eyelidded.  "A rebus is added to this purpose:--
+
+  The enemy to the stomach, and the word of disgrace,
+  Is the name of the gentleman with the bold face.
+
+Sir Walter Raleigh's beard turned up naturally, which gave him an
+advantage over the gallants of the time, whose moustaches
+received a touch of the barber's art to give them the air then
+most admired.--See AUBREY'S CORRESPONDENCE, vol.ii., part ii.,
+p.500.
+
+*
+
+Note 5. Ch. XV.--COURT FAVOUR OF SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
+
+The gallant incident of the cloak is the traditional account of
+this celebrated statesman's rise at court.  None of Elizabeth's
+courtiers knew better than he how to make his court to her
+personal vanity, or could more justly estimate the quantity of
+flattery which she could condescend to swallow.  Being confined
+in the Tower for some offence, and understanding the Queen was
+about to pass to Greenwich in her barge, he insisted on
+approaching the window, that he might see, at whatever distance,
+the Queen of his Affections, the most beautiful object which the
+earth bore on its surface.  The Lieutenant of the Tower (his own
+particular friend) threw himself between his prisoner and the
+window; while Sir Waiter, apparently influenced by a fit of
+unrestrainable passion, swore he would not be debarred from
+seeing his light, his life, his goddess!  A scuffle ensued, got
+up for effect's sake, in which the Lieutenant and his captive
+grappled and struggled with fury, tore each other's hair, and at
+length drew daggers, and were only separated by force.  The Queen
+being informed of this scene exhibited by her frantic adorer, it
+wrought, as was to be expected, much in favour of the captive
+Paladin.  There is little doubt that his quarrel with the
+Lieutenant was entirely contrived for the purpose which it
+produced.
+
+*
+
+Note 6. Ch. XVII.--ROBERT LANEHAM.
+
+Little is known of Robert Laneham, save in his curious letter to
+a friend in London, giving an account of Queen Elizabeth's
+entertainments at Kenilworth, written in a style of the most
+intolerable affectation, both in point of composition and
+orthography.  He describes himself as a BON VIVANT, who was wont
+to be jolly and dry in the morning, and by his good-will would be
+chiefly in the company of the ladies.  He was, by the interest of
+Lord Leicester, Clerk of the Council Chamber door, and also
+keeper of the same.  "When Council sits," says he, "I am at hand.
+If any makes a babbling, PEACE, say I.  If I see a listener or a
+pryer in at the chinks or lockhole, I am presently on the bones
+of him.  If a friend comes, I make him sit down by me on a form
+or chest.  The rest may walk, a God's name!"  There has been
+seldom a better portrait of the pragmatic conceit and self-
+importance of a small man in office.
+
+*
+
+Note 7. Ch. XVIII.--DR. JULIO.
+
+The Earl of Leicester's Italian physician, Julio, was affirmed by
+his contemporaries to be a skilful compounder of poisons, which
+he applied with such frequency, that the Jesuit Parsons extols
+ironically the marvellous good luck of this great favourite in
+the opportune deaths of those who stood in the way of his wishes.
+There is a curious passage on the subject:--
+
+"Long after this, he fell in love with the Lady Sheffield, whom I
+signified before, and then also had he the same fortune to have
+her husband dye quickly, with an extreame rheume in his head (as
+it was given out), but as others say, of an artificiall catarre
+that stopped his breath.
+
+"The like good chance had he in the death of my Lord of Essex (as
+I have said before), and that at a time most fortunate for his
+purpose; for when he was coming home from Ireland, with intent to
+revenge himselfe upon my Lord of Leicester for begetting his wife
+with childe in his absence (the childe was a daughter, and
+brought up by the Lady Shandoes, W. Knooles, his wife), my Lord
+of Leicester hearing thereof, wanted not a friend or two to
+accompany the deputy, as among other a couple of the Earles own
+servants, Crompton (if I misse not his name), yeoman of his
+bottles, and Lloid his secretary, entertained afterward by my
+Lord of Leicester, and so he dyed in the way of an extreame flux,
+caused by an Italian receipe, as all his friends are well
+assured, the maker whereof was a chyrurgeon (as it is beleeved)
+that then was newly come to my Lord from Italy---a cunning man
+and sure in operation, with whom, if the good Lady had been
+sooner acquainted, and used his help, she should not have needed
+to sitten so pensive at home, and fearefull of her husband's
+former returne out of the same country......Neither must you
+marvaile though all these died in divers manners of outward
+diseases, for this is the excellency of the Italian art, for
+which this chyrurgeon and Dr. Julio were entertained so
+carefully, who can make a man dye in what manner or show of
+sickness you will--by whose instructions, no doubt; but his
+lordship is now cunning, especially adding also to these the
+counsell of his Doctor Bayly, a man also not a little studied (as
+he seemeth) in his art; for I heard him once myselfe, in a
+publique act in Oxford, and that in presence of my Lord of
+Leicester (if I be not deceived), maintain that poyson might be
+so tempered and given as it should not appear presently, and yet
+should kill the party afterward, at what time should be
+appointed; which argument belike pleased well his lordship, and
+therefore was chosen to be discussed in his audience, if I be not
+deceived of his being that day present.  So, though one dye of a
+flux, and another of a catarre, yet this importeth little to the
+matter, but showeth rather the great cunning and skill of the
+artificer."--PARSONS' LEICESTER'S COMMONWEALTH, p.23.
+
+It is unnecessary to state the numerous reasons why the Earl is
+stated in the tale to be rather the dupe of villains than the
+unprincipled author of their atrocities.  In the latter capacity,
+which a part at least of his contemporaries imputed to him, he
+would have made a character too disgustingly wicked to be useful
+for the purposes of fiction.
+
+I have only to add that the union of the poisoner, the
+quacksalver, the alchemist, and the astrologer in the same person
+was familiar to the pretenders to the mystic sciences.
+
+*
+
+Note 8. Ch. XXXII.--FURNITURE OF KENILWORTH.
+
+In revising this work, I have had the means of making some
+accurate additions to my attempt to describe the princely
+pleasures of Kenilworth, by the kindness of my friend William
+Hamper, Esq., who had the goodness to communicate to me an
+inventory of the furniture of Kenilworth in the days of the
+magnificent Earl of Leicester.  I have adorned the text with some
+of the splendid articles mentioned in the inventory, but
+antiquaries especially will be desirous to see a more full
+specimen than the story leaves room for.
+
+EXTRACTS FROM KENILWORTH INVENTORY, A.D. 1584.
+
+A Salte, ship-fashion, of the mother of perle, garnished with
+silver and divers workes, warlike ensignes, and ornaments, with
+xvj peeces of ordinance whereof ij on wheles, two anckers on the
+foreparte, and on the stearne the image of Dame Fortune standing
+on a globe with a flag in her hand.  Pois xxxij oz.
+
+A gilte salte like a swann, mother of perle.  Pois xxx oz. iij
+quarters.
+
+A George on horseback, of wood, painted and gilt, with a case for
+knives in the tayle of the horse, and a case for oyster knives in
+the brest of the Dragon.
+
+A green barge-cloth, embrother'd with white lions and beares.
+
+A perfuming pann, of silver.  Pois xix oz.
+
+In the halle.  Tabells, long and short, vj. Formes, long and
+short, xiiij.
+
+HANGINGS.
+(These are minutely specified, and consisted of the following
+subjects, in tapestry, and gilt, and red leather.)
+
+Flowers, beasts, and pillars arched.  Forest worke.  Historie.
+Storie of Susanna, the Prodigall Childe, Saule, Tobie, Hercules,
+Lady Fame, Hawking and Hunting, Jezabell, Judith and Holofernes,
+David, Abraham, Sampson, Hippolitus, Alexander the Great, Naaman
+the Assyrian, Jacob, etc.
+
+BEDSTEADS, WITH THEIR FURNITURE.
+(These are magnificent and numerous.  I shall copy VERBATIM the
+description of what appears to have been one of the best.)
+
+A bedsted of wallnut-tree, toppe fashion, the pillers redd and
+varnished, the ceelor, tester, and single vallance of crimson
+sattin, paned with a broad border of bone lace of golde and
+silver.  The tester richlie embrothered with my Lo. armes in a
+garland of hoppes, roses, and pomegranetts, and lyned with
+buckerom.  Fyve curteins of crimson sattin to the same bedsted,
+striped downe with a bone lace of gold and silver, garnished with
+buttons and loops of crimson silk and golde, containing xiiij
+bredths of sattin, and one yarde iij quarters deepe.  The ceelor,
+vallance, and curteins lyned with crymson taffata sarsenet.
+
+A crymson sattin counterpointe, quilted and embr.  with a golde
+twiste, and lyned with redd sarsenet, being in length iij yards
+good, and in breadth iij scant.
+
+A chaise of crymson sattin, suteable.
+
+A fayre quilte of crymson sattin, vj breadths, iij yardes 3
+quarters naile deepe, all lozenged over with silver twiste, in
+the midst a cinquefoile within a garland of ragged staves,
+fringed rounde aboute with a small fringe of crymson silke, lyned
+throughe with white fustian.
+
+Fyve plumes of coolered feathers, garnished with bone lace and
+spangells of goulde and silver, standing in cups knitt all over
+with goulde, silver, and crymson silk.  [Probably on the centre
+and four corners of the bedstead.  Four bears and ragged staves
+occupied a similar position on another of these sumptuous pieces
+of furniture.]
+
+A carpett for a cupboarde of crymson sattin, embrothered with a
+border of goulde twiste, about iij parts of it fringed with silk
+and goulde, lyned with bridges [That is, Bruges.] sattin, in
+length ij yards, and ij bredths of sattin.
+
+(There were eleven down beds and ninety feather beds, besides
+thirty-seven mattresses.)
+
+CHYRES, STOOLES, AND CUSHENS.
+(These were equally splendid with the beds, etc.  I shall here
+copy that which stands at the head of the list.)
+
+A chaier of crimson velvet, the seate and backe partlie
+embrothered, with R. L. in cloth of goulde, the beare and ragged
+staffe in clothe of silver, garnished with lace and fringe of
+goulde, silver, and crimson silck.  The frame covered with
+velvet, bounde aboute the edge with goulde lace, and studded with
+gilte nailes.
+
+A square stoole and a foote stoole, of crimson velvet, fringed
+and garnished suteable.
+
+A long cushen of crimson velvet, embr.  with the ragged staffe in
+a wreathe of goulde, with my Lo. posie "DROYTE ET LOYALL" written
+in the same, and the letters R. L. in clothe of goulde, being
+garnished with lace, fringe, buttons, and tassels of gold,
+silver, and crimson silck, lyned with crimson taff., being in
+length 1 yard quarter.
+
+A square cushen, of the like velvet, embr. suteable to the long
+cushen.
+
+CARPETS.
+(There were 10 velvet carpets for tables and windows, 49 Turkey
+carpets for floors, and 32 cloth carpets.  One of each I will now
+specify.)
+
+A carpett of crimson velvet, richlie embr.  with my Lo. posie,
+beares and ragged staves, etc., of clothe of goulde and silver,
+garnished upon the seames and aboute with golde lace, fringed
+accordinglie, lyned with crimson taffata sarsenett, being 3
+breadths of velvet, one yard 3 quarters long.
+
+A great Turquoy carpett, the grounde blew, with a list of yelloe
+at each end, being in length x yards, in bredthe iiij yards and
+quarter
+
+A long carpett of blew clothe, lyned with bridges sattin, fringed
+with blew silck and goulde, in length vj yards lack a quarter,
+the whole bredth of the clothe.
+
+PICTURES.
+(Chiefly described as having curtains.)
+
+The Queene's Majestie (2 great tables).  3 of my Lord.  St.
+Jerome.  Lo. of Arundell.  Lord Mathevers.  Lord of Pembroke.
+Counte Egmondt.  The Queene of Scotts.  King Philip.  The Baker's
+Daughters.  The Duke of Feria.  Alexander Magnus.  Two Yonge
+Ladies.  Pompaea Sabina.  Fred. D. of Saxony.  Emp. Charles.
+K. Philip's Wife.  Prince of Orange and his Wife.  Marq.  of
+Berges and his Wife.  Counte de Home.  Count Holstrate.  Monsr.
+Brederode.  Duke Alva.  Cardinal Grandville.  Duches of Parma.
+Henrie E. of Pembrooke and his young Countess.  Countis of Essex.
+Occacion and Repentance.  Lord Mowntacute.  Sir Jas. Crofts.  Sir
+Wr. Mildmay.  Sr. Wm. Pickering.  Edwin Abp. of York.
+
+A tabell of an historie of men, women, and children, moulden in
+wax.
+
+A little foulding table of ebanie, garnished with white bone,
+wherein are written verses with lres.  of goulde.
+
+A table of my Lord's armes.
+
+Fyve of the plannetts, painted in frames.
+
+Twentie-three cardes, [That is charts.] or maps of countries.
+
+INSTRUMENTS.
+(I shall give two specimens.)
+
+An instrument of organs, regall, and virginalls, covered with
+crimson velvet, and garnished with goulde lace.
+
+A fair pair of double virginalls.
+
+CABONETTS.
+
+A cabonett of crimson sattin, richlie embr.  with a device of
+hunting the stagg, in goulde, silver, and silck, with iiij
+glasses in the topp thereof, xvj cupps of flowers made of goulde,
+silver, and silck, in a case of leather, lyned with greene sattin
+of bridges.
+
+(Another of purple velvet.  A desk of red leather.)
+
+A CHESS BOARDE of ebanie, with checkars of christall and other
+stones, layed with silver, garnished with beares and ragged
+staves, and cinquefoiles of silver.  The xxxij men likewyse of
+christall and other stones sett, the one sort in silver white,
+the other gilte, in a case gilded and lyned with green cotton.
+
+(Another of bone and ebanie.  A pair of tabells of bone.)
+
+A great BRASON CANDLESTICK to hang in the roofe of the howse,
+verie fayer and curiouslye wrought, with xxiiij branches, xij
+greate and xij of lesser size, 6 rowlers and ij wings for the
+spreade eagle, xxiiij socketts for candells, xij greater and xij
+of a lesser sorte, xxiiij sawcers, or candlecups, of like
+proporcion to put under the socketts, iij images of men and iij
+of weomen, of brass, verie finely and artificiallie done.
+
+These specimens of Leicester's magnificence may serve to assure
+the reader that it scarce lay in the power of a modern author to
+exaggerate the lavish style of expense displayed in the princely
+pleasures of Kenilworth.
+
+*
+
+Note to Ch. XLI.--DEATH OF THE EARL OF LEICESTER.
+
+In a curious manuscript copy of the information given by Ben
+Jonson to Drummond of Hawthornden, as transcribed by Sir Robert
+Sibbald, Leicester's death is ascribed to poison administered as
+a cordial by his countess, to whom he had given it, representing
+it to be a restorative in any faintness, in the hope that she
+herself might be cut off by using it.  We have already quoted
+Jonson's account of this merited stroke of retribution in a note
+of the Introduction to this volume.  It may be here added that
+the following satirical epitaph on Leicester occurs in Drummond's
+Collection, but is evidently not of his composition:--
+
+EPITAPH ON THE ERLE OF LEISTER.
+
+  Here lies a valiant warriour,
+   Who never drew a sword;
+  Here lies a noble courtier,
+   Who never kept his word;
+  Here lies the Erle of Leister,
+   Who governed the Estates,
+  Whom the earth could never living love,
+   And the just Heaven now hates.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Kenilworth, by Walter Scott
+