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diff --git a/old/b154w10.txt b/old/b154w10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5f6ee70 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/b154w10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,28312 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Last Of The Barons, by Lytton, Complete +#154 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Last Of The Barons, Complete + +Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton + +Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7727] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 6, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST OF THE BARONS, COMPLETE *** + + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger, widger@cecomet.net + + + + + +THE LAST OF THE BARONS + +by Edward Bulwer Lytton + + + + +DEDICATORY EPISTLE. + +I dedicate to you, my indulgent Critic and long-tried Friend, the work +which owes its origin to your suggestion. Long since, you urged me to +attempt a fiction which might borrow its characters from our own +Records, and serve to illustrate some of those truths which History is +too often compelled to leave to the Tale-teller, the Dramatist, and +the Poet. Unquestionably, Fiction, when aspiring to something higher +than mere romance, does not pervert, but elucidate Facts. He who +employs it worthily must, like a biographer, study the time and the +characters he selects, with a minute and earnest diligence which the +general historian, whose range extends over centuries, can scarcely be +expected to bestow upon the things and the men of a single epoch. His +descriptions should fill up with colour and detail the cold outlines +of the rapid chronicler; and in spite of all that has been argued by +pseudo-critics, the very fancy which urged and animated his theme +should necessarily tend to increase the reader's practical and +familiar acquaintance with the habits, the motives, and the modes of +thought which constitute the true idiosyncrasy of an age. More than +all, to Fiction is permitted that liberal use of Analogical Hypothesis +which is denied to History, and which, if sobered by research, and +enlightened by that knowledge of mankind (without which Fiction can +neither harm nor profit, for it becomes unreadable), tends to clear up +much that were otherwise obscure, and to solve the disputes and +difficulties of contradictory evidence by the philosophy of the human +heart. + +My own impression of the greatness of the labour to which you invited +me made me the more diffident of success, inasmuch as the field of +English historical fiction had been so amply cultivated, not only by +the most brilliant of our many glorious Novelists, but by later +writers of high and merited reputation. But however the annals of our +History have been exhausted by the industry of romance, the subject +you finally pressed on my choice is unquestionably one which, whether +in the delineation of character, the expression of passion, or the +suggestion of historical truths, can hardly fail to direct the +Novelist to paths wholly untrodden by his predecessors in the Land of +Fiction. + +Encouraged by you, I commenced my task; encouraged by you, I venture, +on concluding it, to believe that, despite the partial adoption of +that established compromise between the modern and the elder diction, +which Sir Walter Scott so artistically improved from the more rugged +phraseology employed by Strutt, and which later writers have perhaps +somewhat overhackneyed, I may yet have avoided all material trespass +upon ground which others have already redeemed from the waste. +Whatever the produce of the soil I have selected, I claim, at least, +to have cleared it with my own labour, and ploughed it with my own +heifer. + +The reign of Edward IV. is in itself suggestive of new considerations +and unexhausted interest to those who accurately regard it. Then +commenced the policy consummated by Henry VII.; then were broken up +the great elements of the old feudal order; a new Nobility was called +into power, to aid the growing Middle Class in its struggles with the +ancient; and in the fate of the hero of the age, Richard Nevile, Earl +of Warwick, popularly called the King-maker, "the greatest as well as +the last of those mighty Barons who formerly overawed the Crown," +[Hume adds, "and rendered the people incapable of civil government,"-- +a sentence which, perhaps, judges too hastily the whole question at +issue in our earlier history, between the jealousy of the barons and +the authority of the king.] was involved the very principle of our +existing civilization. It adds to the wide scope of Fiction, which +ever loves to explore the twilight, that, as Hume has truly observed, +"No part of English history since the Conquest is so obscure, so +uncertain, so little authentic or consistent, as that of the Wars +between the two Roses." It adds also to the importance of that +conjectural research in which Fiction may be made so interesting and +so useful, that "this profound darkness falls upon us just on the eve +of the restoration of letters;" [Hume] while amidst the gloom, we +perceive the movement of those great and heroic passions in which +Fiction finds delineations everlastingly new, and are brought in +contact with characters sufficiently familiar for interest, +sufficiently remote for adaptation to romance, and above all, so +frequently obscured by contradictory evidence, that we lend ourselves +willingly to any one who seeks to help our judgment of the individual +by tests taken from the general knowledge of mankind. + +Round the great image of the "Last of the Barons" group Edward the +Fourth, at once frank and false; the brilliant but ominous boyhood of +Richard the Third; the accomplished Hastings, "a good knight and +gentle, but somewhat dissolute of living;" [Chronicle of Edward V., in +Stowe] the vehement and fiery Margaret of Anjou; the meek image of her +"holy Henry," and the pale shadow of their son. There may we see, +also, the gorgeous Prelate, refining in policy and wile, as the +enthusiasm and energy which had formerly upheld the Ancient Church +pass into the stern and persecuted votaries of the New; we behold, in +that social transition, the sober Trader--outgrowing the prejudices of +the rude retainer or rustic franklin, from whom he is sprung-- +recognizing sagaciously, and supporting sturdily, the sectarian +interests of his order, and preparing the way for the mighty Middle +Class, in which our Modern Civilization, with its faults and its +merits, has established its stronghold; while, in contrast to the +measured and thoughtful notions of liberty which prudent Commerce +entertains, we are reminded of the political fanaticism of the secret +Lollard,--of the jacquerie of the turbulent mob-leader; and perceive, +amidst the various tyrannies of the time, and often partially allied +with the warlike seignorie, [For it is noticeable that in nearly all +the popular risings--that of Cade, of Robin of Redesdale, and +afterwards of that which Perkin Warbeck made subservient to his +extraordinary enterprise--the proclamations of the rebels always +announced, among their popular grievances, the depression of the +ancient nobles and the elevation of new men.]--ever jealous against +all kingly despotism,--the restless and ignorant movement of a +democratic principle, ultimately suppressed, though not destroyed, +under the Tudors, by the strong union of a Middle Class, anxious for +security and order, with an Executive Authority determined upon +absolute sway. + +Nor should we obtain a complete and comprehensive view of that most +interesting Period of Transition, unless we saw something of the +influence which the sombre and sinister wisdom of Italian policy began +to exercise over the councils of the great,--a policy of refined +stratagem, of complicated intrigue, of systematic falsehood, of +ruthless, but secret violence; a policy which actuated the fell +statecraft of Louis XI.; which darkened, whenever he paused to think +and to scheme, the gaudy and jovial character of Edward IV.; which +appeared in its fullest combination of profound guile and resolute +will in Richard III.; and, softened down into more plausible and +specious purpose by the unimpassioned sagacity of Henry VII., finally +attained the object which justified all its villanies to the princes +of its native land,--namely, the tranquillity of a settled State, and +the establishment of a civilized but imperious despotism. + +Again, in that twilight time, upon which was dawning the great +invention that gave to Letters and to Science the precision and +durability of the printed page, it is interesting to conjecture what +would have been the fate of any scientific achievement for which the +world was less prepared. The reception of printing into England +chanced just at the happy period when Scholarship and Literature were +favoured by the great. The princes of York, with the exception of +Edward IV. himself, who had, however, the grace to lament his own want +of learning, and the taste to appreciate it in others, were highly +educated. The Lords Rivers and Hastings [The erudite Lord Worcester +had been one of Caxton's warmest patrons, but that nobleman was no +more at the time in which printing is said to have been actually +introduced into England.] were accomplished in all the "witte and +lere" of their age. Princes and peers vied with each other in their +patronage of Caxton, and Richard III., during his brief reign, spared +no pains to circulate to the utmost the invention destined to transmit +his own memory to the hatred and the horror of all succeeding time. +But when we look around us, we see, in contrast to the gracious and +fostering reception of the mere mechanism by which science is made +manifest, the utmost intolerance to science itself. The mathematics +in especial are deemed the very cabala of the black art. Accusations +of witchcraft were never more abundant; and yet, strange to say, those +who openly professed to practise the unhallowed science, [Nigromancy, +or Sorcery, even took its place amongst the regular callings. Thus, +"Thomas Vandyke, late of Cambridge," is styled (Rolls Parl. 6, p. 273) +Nigromancer as his profession.--Sharon Turner, "History of England," +vol iv. p. 6. Burke, "History of Richard III."] and contrived to make +their deceptions profitable to some unworthy political purpose, appear +to have enjoyed safety, and sometimes even honour, while those who, +occupied with some practical, useful, and noble pursuits +uncomprehended by prince or people, denied their sorcery were +despatched without mercy. The mathematician and astronomer +Bolingbroke (the greatest clerk of his age) is hanged and quartered as +a wizard, while not only impunity but reverence seems to have awaited +a certain Friar Bungey, for having raised mists and vapours, which +greatly befriended Edward IV. at the battle of Barnet. + +Our knowledge of the intellectual spirit of the age, therefore, only +becomes perfect when we contrast the success of the Impostor with the +fate of the true Genius. And as the prejudices of the populace ran +high against all mechanical contrivances for altering the settled +conditions of labour, [Even in the article of bonnets and hats, it +appears that certain wicked falling mills were deemed worthy of a +special anathema in the reign of Edward IV. These engines are accused +of having sought, "by subtle imagination," the destruction of the +original makers of hats and bonnets" by man's strength,--that is, with +hands and feet; "and an act of parliament was passed (22d of Edward +IV.) to put down the fabrication of the said hats and bonnets by +mechanical contrivance.] so probably, in the very instinct and destiny +of Genius which ever drive it to a war with popular prejudice, it +would be towards such contrivances that a man of great ingenuity and +intellect, if studying the physical sciences, would direct his +ambition. + +Whether the author, in the invention he has assigned to his +philosopher (Adam Warner), has too boldly assumed the possibility of a +conception so much in advance of the time, they who have examined such +of the works of Roger Bacon as are yet given to the world can best +decide; but the assumption in itself belongs strictly to the most +acknowledged prerogatives of Fiction; and the true and important +question will obviously be, not whether Adam Warner could have +constructed his model, but whether, having so constructed it, the fate +that befell him was probable and natural. + +Such characters as I have here alluded to seemed, then, to me, in +meditating the treatment of the high and brilliant subject which your +eloquence animated me to attempt, the proper Representatives of the +multiform Truths which the time of Warwick the King-maker affords to +our interests and suggests for our instruction; and I can only wish +that the powers of the author were worthier of the theme. + +It is necessary that I now state briefly the foundation of the +Historical portions of this narrative. The charming and popular +"History of Hume," which, however, in its treatment of the reign of +Edward IV. is more than ordinarily incorrect, has probably left upon +the minds of many of my readers, who may not have directed their +attention to more recent and accurate researches into that obscure +period, an erroneous impression of the causes which led to the breach +between Edward IV. and his great kinsman and subject, the Earl of +Warwick. The general notion is probably still strong that it was the +marriage of the young king to Elizabeth Gray, during Warwick's +negotiations in France for the alliance of Bona of Savoy (sister-in- +law to Louis XI.), which exasperated the fiery earl, and induced his +union with the House of Lancaster. All our more recent historians +have justly rejected this groundless fable, which even Hume (his +extreme penetration supplying the defects of his superficial research) +admits with reserve. ["There may even some doubt arise with regard to +the proposal of marriage made to Bona of Savoy," etc.--HUME, note to +p. 222, vol. iii. edit. 1825.] A short summary of the reasons for +this rejection is given by Dr. Lingard, and annexed below. ["Many +writers tell us that the enmity of Warwick arose from his +disappointment caused by Edward's clandestine marriage with Elizabeth. +If we may believe them, the earl was at the very time in France +negotiating on the part of the king a marriage with Bona of Savoy, +sister to the Queen of France; and having succeeded in his mission, +brought back with him the Count of Dampmartin as ambassador from +Louis. To me the whole story appears a fiction. 1. It is not to be +found in the more ancient historians. 2. Warwick was not at the time +in France. On the 20th of April, ten days before the marriage, he was +employed in negotiating a truce with the French envoys in London (Rym. +xi. 521), and on the 26th of May, about three weeks after it, was +appointed to treat of another truce with the King of Scots (Rym. xi. +424). 3. Nor could he bring Dampmartin with him to England; for that +nobleman was committed a prisoner to the Bastile in September, 1463, +and remained there till May, 1465 (Monstrel. iii. 97, 109). Three +contemporary and well-informed writers, the two continuators of the +History of Croyland and Wyrcester, attribute his discontent to the +marriages and honours granted to the Wydeviles, and the marriage of +the princess Margaret with the Duke of Burgundy."--LINGARD, vol. iii. +c. 24, pp. 5, 19, 4to ed.] And, indeed, it is a matter of wonder that +so many of our chroniclers could have gravely admitted a legend +contradicted by all the subsequent conduct of Warwick himself; for we +find the earl specially doing honour to the publication of Edward's +marriage, standing godfather to his first-born (the Princess +Elizabeth), employed as ambassador or acting as minister, and fighting +for Edward, and against the Lancastrians, during the five years that +elapsed between the coronation of Elizabeth and Warwick's rebellion. + +The real causes of this memorable quarrel, in which Warwick acquired +his title of King-maker, appear to have been these. + +It is probable enough, as Sharon Turner suggests, [Sharon Turner: +History of England, vol. iii. p. 269.] that Warwick was disappointed +that, since Edward chose a subject for his wife, he neglected the more +suitable marriage he might have formed with the earl's eldest +daughter; and it is impossible but that the earl should have been +greatly chafed, in common with all his order, by the promotion of the +queen's relations, [W. Wyr. 506, 7. Croyl. 542.] new men and apostate +Lancastrians. But it is clear that these causes for discontent never +weakened his zeal for Edward till the year 1467, when we chance upon +the true origin of the romance concerning Bona of Savoy, and the first +open dissension between Edward and the earl. + +In that year Warwick went to France, to conclude an alliance with +Louis XI., and to secure the hand of one of the French princes [Which +of the princes this was does not appear, and can scarcely be +conjectured. The "Pictorial History of England" (Book v. 102) in a +tone of easy decision says "it was one of the sons of Louis XI." But +Louis had no living sons at all at the time. The Dauphin was not born +till three years afterwards. The most probable person was the Duke of +Guienne, Louis's brother.] for Margaret, sister to Edward IV.; during +this period, Edward received the bastard brother of Charles, Count of +Charolois, afterwards Duke of Burgundy, and arranged a marriage +between Margaret and the count. + +Warwick's embassy was thus dishonoured, and the dishonour was +aggravated by personal enmity to the bridegroom Edward had preferred. +[The Croyland Historian, who, as far as his brief and meagre record +extends, is the best authority for the time of Edward IV., very +decidedly states the Burgundian alliance to be the original cause of +Warwick's displeasure, rather than the king's marriage with Elizabeth: +"Upon which (the marriage of Margaret with Charolois) Richard Nevile, +Earl of Warwick, who had for so many years taken party with the French +against the Burgundians, conceived great indignation; and I hold this +to be the truer cause of his resentment than the king's marriage with +Elizabeth, for he had rather have procured a husband for the aforesaid +princess Margaret in the kingdom of France." The Croyland Historian +also speaks emphatically of the strong animosity existing between +Charolois and Warwick.--Cont. Croyl. 551.] The earl retired in +disgust to his castle. But Warwick's nature, which Hume has happily +described as one of "undesigning frankness and openness," [Hume, +"Henry VI.," vol. iii. p. 172, edit. 1825.] does not seem to have long +harboured this resentment. By the intercession of the Archbishop of +York and others, a reconciliation was effected, and the next year, +1468, we find Warwick again in favour, and even so far forgetting his +own former cause of complaint as to accompany the procession in honour +of Margaret's nuptials with his private foe. [Lingard.] In the +following year, however, arose the second dissension between the king +and his minister,--namely, in the king's refusal to sanction the +marriage of his brother Clarence with the earl's daughter Isabel,--a +refusal which was attended with a resolute opposition that must +greatly have galled the pride of the earl, since Edward even went so +far as to solicit the Pope to refuse his sanction, on the ground of +relationship. [Carte. Wm. Wyr.] The Pope, nevertheless, grants the +dispensation, and the marriage takes place at Calais. A popular +rebellion then breaks out in England. Some of Warwick's kinsmen-- +those, however, belonging to the branch of the Nevile family that had +always been Lancastrians, and at variance with the earl's party--are +found at its head. The king, who is in imminent danger, writes a +supplicating letter to Warwick to come to his aid. ["Paston Letters," +cxcviii. vol. ii., Knight's ed. See Lingard, c. 24, for the true date +of Edward's letters to Warwick, Clarence, and the Archbishop of York.] +The earl again forgets former causes for resentment, hastens from +Calais, rescues the king, and quells the rebellion by the influence of +his popular name. + +We next find Edward at Warwick's castle of Middleham, where, according +to some historians, he is forcibly detained,--an assertion treated by +others as a contemptible invention. This question will be examined in +the course of this work; [See Note II.] but whatever the true +construction of the story, we find that Warwick and the king are still +on such friendly terms, that the earl marches in person against a +rebellion on the borders, obtains a signal victory, and that the rebel +leader (the earl's own kinsman) is beheaded by Edward at York. We +find that, immediately after this supposed detention, Edward speaks of +Warwick and his brothers "as his best friends;" ["Paston Letters," +cciv. vol. ii., Knight's ed. The date of this letter, which puzzled +the worthy annotator, is clearly to be referred to Edward's return +from York, after his visit to Middleham in 1469. No mention is +therein made by the gossiping contemporary of any rumour that Edward +had suffered imprisonment. He enters the city in state, as having +returned safe and victorious from a formidable rebellion. The letter +goes on to say: "The king himself hath (that is, holds) good language +of the Lords Clarence, of Warwick, etc., saying 'they be his best +friends.'" Would he say this if just escaped from a prison? Sir John +Paston, the writer of the letter, adds, it is true, "But his household +men have (hold) other language." very probably, for the household men +were the court creatures always at variance with Warwick, and held, no +doubt, the same language they had been in the habit of holding +before.] that he betroths his eldest daughter to Warwick's nephew, the +male heir of the family. And then suddenly, only three months +afterwards (in February, 1470), and without any clear and apparent +cause, we find Warwick in open rebellion, animated by a deadly hatred +to the king, refusing, from first to last, all overtures of +conciliation; and so determined is his vengeance, that he bows a +pride, hitherto morbidly susceptible, to the vehement insolence of +Margaret of Anjou, and forms the closest alliance with the Lancastrian +party, in the destruction of which his whole life had previously been +employed. + +Here, then, where History leaves us in the dark, where our curiosity +is the most excited, Fiction gropes amidst the ancient chronicles, and +seeks to detect and to guess the truth. And then Fiction, accustomed +to deal with the human heart, seizes upon the paramount importance of +a Fact which the modern historian has been contented to place amongst +dubious and collateral causes of dissension. We find it broadly and +strongly stated by Hall and others, that Edward had coarsely attempted +the virtue of one of the earl's female relations. "And farther it +erreth not from the truth," says Hall, "that the king did attempt a +thing once in the earl's house, which was much against the earl's +honesty; but whether it was the daughter or the niece," adds the +chronicler, "was not, for both their honours, openly known; but surely +such a thing WAS attempted by King Edward," etc. + +Any one at all familiar with Hall (and, indeed, with all our principal +chroniclers, except Fabyan), will not expect any accurate precision as +to the date he assigns for the outrage. He awards to it, therefore, +the same date he erroneously gives to Warwick's other grudges (namely, +a period brought some years lower by all judicious historians) a date +at which Warwick was still Edward's fastest friend. + +Once grant the probability of this insult to the earl (the probability +is conceded at once by the more recent historians, and received +without scruple as a fact by Rapia, Habington, and Carte), and the +whole obscurity which involves this memorable quarrel vanishes at +once. Here was, indeed, a wrong never to be forgiven, and yet never +to be proclaimed. As Hall implies, the honour of the earl was +implicated in hushing the scandal, and the honour of Edward in +concealing the offence. That if ever the insult were attempted, it +must have been just previous to the earl's declared hostility is +clear. Offences of that kind hurry men to immediate action at the +first, or else, if they stoop to dissimulation the more effectually to +avenge afterwards, the outbreak bides its seasonable time. But the +time selected by the earl for his outbreak was the very worst he could +have chosen, and attests the influence of a sudden passion,--a new and +uncalculated cause of resentment. He had no forces collected; he had +not even sounded his own brother-in-law, Lord Stanley (since he was +uncertain of his intentions); while, but a few months before, had he +felt any desire to dethrone the king, he could either have suffered +him to be crushed by the popular rebellion the earl himself had +quelled, or have disposed of his person as he pleased when a guest at +his own castle of Middleham. His evident want of all preparation and +forethought--a want which drove into rapid and compulsory flight from +England the baron to whose banner, a few months afterwards, flocked +sixty thousand men--proves that the cause of his alienation was fresh +and recent. + +If, then, the cause we have referred to, as mentioned by Hall and +others, seems the most probable we can find (no other cause for such +abrupt hostility being discernible), the date for it must be placed +where it is in this work,--namely, just prior to the earl's revolt. +The next question is, who could have been the lady thus offended, +whether a niece or daughter. Scarcely a niece, for Warwick had one +married brother, Lord Montagu, and several sisters; but the sisters +were married to lords who remained friendly to Edward, [Except the +sisters married to Lord Fitzhugh and Lord Oxford. But though +Fitzhugh, or rather his son, broke into rebellion, it was for some +cause in which Warwick did not sympathize, for by Warwick himself was +that rebellion put down; nor could the aggrieved lady have been a +daughter of Lord Oxford, for he was a stanch, though not avowed, +Lancastrian, and seems to have carefully kept aloof from the court.] +and Montagu seems to have had no daughter out of childhood, [Montagu's +wife could have been little more than thirty at the time of his death. +She married again, and had a family by her second husband.] while that +nobleman himself did not share Warwick's rebellion at the first, but +continued to enjoy the confidence of Edward. We cannot reasonably, +then, conceive the uncle to have been so much more revengeful than the +parents,--the legitimate guardians of the honour of a daughter. It +is, therefore, more probable that the insulted maiden should have been +one of Lord Warwick's daughters; and this is the general belief. +Carte plainly declares it was Isabel. But Isabel it could hardly have +been. She was then married to Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, +and within a month of her confinement. The earl had only one other +daughter, Anne, then in the flower of her youth; and though Isabel +appears to have possessed a more striking character of beauty, Anne +must have had no inconsiderable charms to have won the love of the +Lancastrian Prince Edward, and to have inspired a tender and human +affection in Richard Duke of Gloucester. [Not only does Majerus, the +Flemish annalist, speak of Richard's early affection to Anne, but +Richard's pertinacity in marrying her, at a time when her family was +crushed and fallen, seems to sanction the assertion. True, that +Richard received with her a considerable portion of the estates of her +parents. But both Anne herself and her parents were attainted, and +the whole property at the disposal of the Crown. Richard at that time +had conferred the most important services on Edward. He had remained +faithful to him during the rebellion of Clarence; he had been the hero +of the day both at Barnet and Tewksbury. His reputation was then +exceedingly high, and if he had demanded, as a legitimate reward, the +lands of Middleham, without the bride, Edward could not well have +refused them. He certainly had a much better claim than the only +other competitor for the confiscated estates,--namely, the perjured +and despicable Clarence. For Anne's reluctance to marry Richard, and +the disguise she assumed, see Miss Strickland's "Life of Anne of +Warwick." For the honour of Anne, rather than of Richard, to whose +memory one crime more or less matters but little, it may here be +observed that so far from there being any ground to suppose that +Gloucester was an accomplice in the assassination of the young prince +Edward of Lancaster, there is some ground to believe that that prince +was not assassinated at all, but died (as we would fain hope the +grandson of Henry V. did die) fighting manfully in the field.-- +"Harleian Manuscripts;" Stowe, "Chronicle of Tewksbury;" Sharon +Turner, vol. iii. p. 335.] It is also noticeable, that when, not as +Shakspeare represents, but after long solicitation, and apparently by +positive coercion, Anne formed her second marriage, she seems to have +been kept carefully by Richard from his gay brother's court, and +rarely, if ever, to have appeared in London till Edward was no more. + +That considerable obscurity should always rest upon the facts +connected with Edward's meditated crime,--that they should never be +published amongst the grievances of the haughty rebel is natural from +the very dignity of the parties, and the character of the offence; +that in such obscurity sober History should not venture too far on the +hypothesis suggested by the chronicler, is right and laudable. But +probably it will be conceded by all, that here Fiction finds its +lawful province, and that it may reasonably help, by no improbable nor +groundless conjecture, to render connected and clear the most broken +and the darkest fragments of our annals. + +I have judged it better partially to forestall the interest of the +reader in my narrative, by stating thus openly what he may expect, +than to encounter the far less favourable impression (if he had been +hitherto a believer in the old romance of Bona of Savoy), [I say the +old romance of Bona of Savoy, so far as Edward's rejection of her hand +for that of Elizabeth Gray is stated to have made the cause of his +quarrel with Warwick. But I do not deny the possibility that such a +marriage had been contemplated and advised by Warwick, though he +neither sought to negotiate it, nor was wronged by Edward's preference +of his fair subject.] that the author was taking an unwarrantable +liberty with the real facts, when, in truth, it is upon the real +facts, as far as they can be ascertained, that the author has built +his tale, and his boldest inventions are but deductions from the +amplest evidence he could collect. Nay, he even ventures to believe, +that whoever hereafter shall write the history of Edward IV. will not +disdain to avail himself of some suggestions scattered throughout +these volumes, and tending to throw new light upon the events of that +intricate but important period. + +It is probable that this work will prove more popular in its nature +than my last fiction of "Zanoni," which could only be relished by +those interested in the examinations of the various problems in human +life which it attempts to solve. But both fictions, however different +and distinct their treatment, are constructed on those principles of +art to which, in all my later works, however imperfect my success, I +have sought at least steadily to adhere. + +To my mind, a writer should sit down to compose a fiction as a painter +prepares to compose a picture. His first care should be the +conception of a whole as lofty as his intellect can grasp, as +harmonious and complete as his art can accomplish; his second care, +the character of the interest which the details are intended to +sustain. + +It is when we compare works of imagination in writing with works of +imagination on the canvas, that we can best form a critical idea of +the different schools which exist in each; for common both to the +author and the painter are those styles which we call the Familiar, +the Picturesque, and the Intellectual. By recurring to this +comparison we can, without much difficulty, classify works of Fiction +in their proper order, and estimate the rank they should severally +hold. The Intellectual will probably never be the most widely popular +for the moment. He who prefers to study in this school must be +prepared for much depreciation, for its greatest excellences, even if +he achieve them, are not the most obvious to the many. In discussing, +for instance, a modern work, we hear it praised, perhaps, for some +striking passage, some prominent character; but when do we ever hear +any comment on its harmony of construction, on its fulness of design, +on its ideal character,--on its essentials, in short, as a work of +art? What we hear most valued in the picture, we often find the most +neglected in the book,--namely, the composition; and this, simply +because in England painting is recognized as an art, and estimated +according to definite theories; but in literature we judge from a +taste never formed, from a thousand prejudices and ignorant +predilections. We do not yet comprehend that the author is an artist, +and that the true rules of art by which he should be tested are +precise and immutable. Hence the singular and fantastic caprices of +the popular opinion,--its exaggerations of praise or censure, its +passion and reaction. At one while, its solemn contempt for +Wordsworth; at another, its absurd idolatry. At one while we are +stunned by the noisy celebrity of Byron, at another we are calmly told +that he can scarcely be called a poet. Each of these variations in +the public is implicitly followed by the vulgar criticism; and as a +few years back our journals vied with each other in ridiculing +Wordsworth for the faults which he did not possess, they vie now with +each other in eulogiums upon the merits which he has never displayed. + +These violent fluctuations betray both a public and a criticism +utterly unschooled in the elementary principles of literary art, and +entitle the humblest author to dispute the censure of the hour, while +they ought to render the greatest suspicious of its praise. + +It is, then, in conformity, not with any presumptuous conviction of +his own superiority, but with his common experience and common-sense, +that every author who addresses an English audience in serious earnest +is permitted to feel that his final sentence rests not with the jury +before which he is first heard. The literary history of the day +consists of a series of judgments set aside. + +But this uncertainty must more essentially betide every student, +however lowly, in the school I have called the Intellectual, which +must ever be more or less at variance with the popular canons. It is +its hard necessity to vex and disturb the lazy quietude of vulgar +taste; for unless it did so, it could neither elevate nor move. He +who resigns the Dutch art for the Italian must continue through the +dark to explore the principles upon which he founds his design, to +which he adapts his execution; in hope or in despondence still +faithful to the theory which cares less for the amount of interest +created than for the sources from which the interest is to be drawn; +seeking in action the movement of the grander passions or the subtler +springs of conduct, seeking in repose the colouring of intellectual +beauty. + +The Low and the High of Art are not very readily comprehended. They +depend not upon the worldly degree or the physical condition of the +characters delineated; they depend entirely upon the quality of the +emotion which the characters are intended to excite,--namely, whether +of sympathy for something low, or of admiration for something high. +There is nothing high in a boor's head by Teniers, there is nothing +low in a boor's head by Guido. What makes the difference between the +two? The absence or presence of the Ideal! But every one can judge +of the merit of the first, for it is of the Familiar school; it +requires a connoisseur to see the merit of the last, for it is of the +Intellectual. + +I have the less scrupled to leave these remarks to cavil or to +sarcasm, because this fiction is probably the last with which I shall +trespass upon the Public, and I am desirous that it shall contain, at +least, my avowal of the principles upon which it and its later +predecessors have been composed. You know well, however others may +dispute the fact, the earnestness with which those principles have +been meditated and pursued,--with high desire, if but with poor +results. + +It is a pleasure to feel that the aim, which I value more than the +success, is comprehended by one whose exquisite taste as a critic is +only impaired by that far rarer quality,--the disposition to over- +estimate the person you profess to esteem! Adieu, my sincere and +valued friend; and accept, as a mute token of gratitude and regard, +these flowers gathered in the Garden where we have so often roved +together. E. L. B. + + LONDON, January, 1843. + + +PREFACE TO THE LAST OF THE BARONS + +This was the first attempt of the author in Historical Romance upon +English ground. Nor would he have risked the disadvantage of +comparison with the genius of Sir Walter Scott, had he not believed +that that great writer and his numerous imitators had left altogether +unoccupied the peculiar field in Historical Romance which the Author +has here sought to bring into cultivation. In "The Last of the +Barons," as in "Harold," the aim has been to illustrate the actual +history of the period, and to bring into fuller display than general +History itself has done the characters of the principal personages of +the time, the motives by which they were probably actuated, the state +of parties, the condition of the people, and the great social +interests which were involved in what, regarded imperfectly, appear +but the feuds of rival factions. + +"The Last of the Barons" has been by many esteemed the best of the +Author's romances; and perhaps in the portraiture of actual character, +and the grouping of the various interests and agencies of the time, it +may have produced effects which render it more vigorous and lifelike +than any of the other attempts in romance by the same hand. + +It will be observed that the purely imaginary characters introduced +are very few; and, however prominent they may appear, still, in order +not to interfere with the genuine passions and events of history, they +are represented as the passive sufferers, not the active agents, of +the real events. Of these imaginary characters, the most successful +is Adam Warner, the philosopher in advance of his age; indeed, as an +ideal portrait, I look upon it as the most original in conception, and +the most finished in execution, of any to be found in my numerous +prose works, "Zanoni" alone excepted. + +For the rest, I venture to think that the general reader will obtain +from these pages a better notion of the important age, characterized +by the decline of the feudal system, and immediately preceding that +great change in society which we usually date from the accession of +Henry VII., than he could otherwise gather, without wading through a +vast mass of neglected chronicles and antiquarian dissertations. + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + BOOK I + + THE ADVENTURES OF MASTER MARMADUKE NEVILE + + CHAPTER + + I The Pastime-ground of old Cockaigne + II The Broken Gittern + III The Trader and the Gentle; or, the Changing Generation + IV Ill fares the Country Mouse in the Traps of Town + V Weal to the Idler, Woe to the Workman + VI Master Marmaduke Nevile fears for the Spiritual Weal of his + Host and Hostess + VII There is a Rod for the Back of every Fool who would be Wiser + than his Generation + + BOOK II + + THE KING'S COURT + + CHAPTER + + I Earl Warwick the King-maker + II King Edward the Fourth + III The Antechamber + + BOOK III + + IN WHICH THE HISTORY PASSES FROM THE KING'S COURT TO THE STUDENT'S + CELL, AND RELATES THE PERILS THAT BEFELL A PHILOSOPHER FOR + MEDDLING WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD + + CHAPTER + + I The Solitary Sage and the Solitary Maid + II Master Adam Warner grows a Miser, and behaves Shamefully + III A Strange Visitor--All Ages of the World breed World- + Betters + IV Lord Hastings + V Master Adam Warner and King Henry the Sixth + VI How, on leaving King Log, Foolish Wisdom runs a-muck on + King Stork + VII My Lady Duchess's Opinion of the Utility of Master Warner's + Invention, and her esteem for its Explosion + VIII The Old Woman talks of Sorrows, the Young Woman dreams + of Love; the Courtier flies from Present Power to + Remembrances of Past Hopes, and the World-Bettered opens + Utopia, with a View of the Gibbet for the Silly Sage he + has seduced into his Schemes,--so, ever and evermore, + runs the World away + IX How the Destructive Organ of Prince Richard promises Goodly + Development + + BOOK IV + + INTRIGUES OF THE COURT OF EDWARD IV + + CHAPTER + + I Margaret of Anjou + II In which are laid Open to the Reader the Character of Edward + the Fourth and that of his Court, with the Machinations of + the Woodvilles against the Earl of Warwick + III Wherein Master Nicholas Alwyn visits the Court, and there + learns Matter of which the Acute Reader will judge for + himself + IV Exhibiting the Benefits which Royal Patronage confers on + Genius,--also the Early Loves of the Lord Hastings; with + other Matters Edifying and Delectable + V The Woodville Intrigue prospers--Montagu confers with + Hastings, visits the Archbishop of York, and is met on the + Road by a strange Personage + VI The Arrival of the Count de la Roche, and the various + Excitement produced on many Personages by that Event + VII The Renowned Combat between Sir Anthony Woodville and the + Bastard of Burgundy + VIII How the Bastard of Burgundy prospered more in his Policy than + With the Pole-axe--and how King Edward holds his Summer + Chase in the Fair Groves of Shene + IX The Great Actor returns to fill the Stage + X How the Great Lords come to the King-maker, and with what + Proffers + + BOOK V + + THE LAST OF THE BARONS IN HIS FATHERS HALLS + + CHAPTER + + I Rural England in the Middle Ages--Noble Visitors seek the + Castle + Of Middleham + II Councils and Musings + III The Sisters + IV The Destrier + + BOOK VI + + WHEREIN ARE OPENED SOME GLIMPSES OF THE FATE BELOW THAT ATTENDS THOSE + WHO ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, AND THOSE WHO DESIRE TO MAKE OTHERS + BETTER. LOVE, DEMAGOGY, AND SCIENCE ALL EQUALLY OFF-SPRING OF THE + SAME PROLIFIC DELUSION,--NAMELY, THAT MEAN SOULS (THE EARTH'S + MAJORITY) ARE WORTH THE HOPE AND THE AGONY OF NOBLE SOULS, THE + EVERLASTING SUFFERING AND ASPIRING FEW. + + CHAPTER + I New Dissentions + II The Would-be Improvers of Jove's Football, Earth--The Sad + Father and the Sad Child--The Fair Rivals + III Wherein the Demagogue seeks the Courtier + IV Sibyll + V Katherine + VI Joy for Adam, and Hope for Sibyll--and Popular Friar Bungey! + VII A Love Scene + + BOOK VII + + THE POPULAR REBELLION + + CHAPTER + + I The White Lion of March shakes his Mane + II The Camp at Olney + III The Camp of the Rebels + IV The Norman Earl and the Saxon Demagogue confer + V What Faith Edward IV purposeth to keep with Earl and People + VI What befalls King Edward on his Escape from Olney + VII How King Edward arrives at the Castle of Middleham + VIII The Ancients rightly gave to the Goddess of Eloquence a Crown + IX Wedded Confidence and Love--the Earl and the Prelate--the + Prelate and the King--Schemes--Wiles--and the Birth of a + Dark Thought destined to eclipse a Sun + + BOOK VIII + + IN WHICH THE LAST LINK BETWEEN KING-MAKER AND KING SNAPS ASUNDER + + CHAPTER + + I The Lady Anne visits the Court + II The Sleeping Innocence--the Wakeful Crime + III New Dangers to the House of York--and the King's Heart + allies itself with Rebellion against the King's Throne + IV The Foster-brothers + V The Lover and the Gallant--Woman's Choice + VI Warwick returns-appeases a Discontented Prince-and confers + with a Revengeful Conspirator + VII The Fear and the Flight + VIII The Group round the Death-bed of the Lancastrian Widow + + BOOK IX. + + THE WANDERERS AND THE EXILES + + CHAPTER + + I How the Great Baron becomes as Great a Rebel + II Many Things briefly told + III The Plot of the Hostelry--the Maid and the Scholar in + their Home + IV The World's Justice, and the Wisdom of our Ancestors + V The Fugitives are captured--the Tymbesteres reappear-- + Moonlight on the Revel of the Living--Moonlight on the + Slumber of the Dead + + VI The Subtle Craft of Richard of Gloucester + VII Warwick and his Family in Exile + VIII How the Heir of Lancaster meets the King-maker + IX The Interview of Earl Warwick and Queen Margaret + X Love and Marriage--Doubts of Conscience--Domestic Jealousy-- + and Household Treason + + BOOK X. + + THE RETURN OF THE KING-MAKER + + CHAPTER + + I The Maid's Hope, the Courtier's Love, and the Sage's Comfort + II The Man awakes in the Sage, and the She-wolf again hath + tracked the Lamb + III Virtuous Resolves submitted to the Test of Vanity and the + World + IV The Strife which Sibyll had courted, between Katherine and + herself, commences in Serious Earnest + V The Meeting of Hastings and Katherine + VI Hastings learns what has befallen Sibyll, repairs to the + King, and encounters an old Rival + VII The Landing of Lord Warwick, and the Events that ensue + thereon + VIII What befell Adam Warner and Sibyll when made subject to the + Great Friar Bungey + IX The Deliberations of Mayor and Council, while Lord Warwick + marches upon London + X The Triumphal Entry of the Earl--the Royal Captive in the + Tower--the Meeting between King-maker and King + XI The Tower in Commotion + + BOOK XI + + THE NEW POSITION OF THE KING-MAKER + + CHAPTER + + I Wherein Master Adam Warner is notably commended and + advanced--and Greatness says to Wisdom, "Thy Destiny + be mine, Amen" + II The Prosperity of the Outer Show--the Cares of the Inner Man + III Further Views into the Heart of Man, and the Conditions + of Power + IV The Return of Edward of York + V The Progress of the Plantagenet + VI Lord Warwick, with the Foe in the field and the Traitor at + The Hearth + + BOOK XII + + THE BATTLE OF BARNET + + CHAPTER + + I A King in his City hopes to recover his Realm--A Woman in + her Chamber fears to forfeit her own + II Sharp is the Kiss of the Falcon's Bear + III A Pause + IV-VI The Battle + VII The last Pilgrims in the long Procession to the Common Bourne + + + + + +BOOK I. + +THE ADVENTURES OF MASTER MARMADUKE NEVILE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE PASTIME-GROUND OF OLD COCKAIGNE. + +Westward, beyond the still pleasant, but even then no longer solitary, +hamlet of Charing, a broad space, broken here and there by scattered +houses and venerable pollards, in the early spring of 1467, presented +the rural scene for the sports and pastimes of the inhabitants of +Westminster and London. Scarcely need we say that open spaces for the +popular games and diversions were then numerous in the suburbs of the +metropolis,--grateful to some the fresh pools of Islington; to others, +the grass-bare fields of Finsbury; to all, the hedgeless plains of +vast Mile-end. But the site to which we are now summoned was a new +and maiden holiday-ground, lately bestowed upon the townsfolk of +Westminster by the powerful Earl of Warwick. + +Raised by a verdant slope above the low, marsh-grown soil of +Westminster, the ground communicated to the left with the Brook- +fields, through which stole the peaceful Ty-bourne, and commanded +prospects, on all sides fair, and on each side varied. Behind, rose +the twin green hills of Hampstead and Highgate, with the upland park +and chase of Marybone,--its stately manor-house half hid in woods. In +front might be seen the Convent of the Lepers, dedicated to Saint +James, now a palace; then to the left, York House, [The residence of +the Archbishops of York] now Whitehall; farther on, the spires of +Westminster Abbey and the gloomy tower of the Sanctuary; next, the +Palace, with its bulwark and vawmure, soaring from the river; while +eastward, and nearer to the scene, stretched the long, bush-grown +passage of the Strand, picturesquely varied with bridges, and flanked +to the right by the embattled halls of feudal nobles, or the inns of +the no less powerful prelates; while sombre and huge amidst hall and +inn, loomed the gigantic ruins of the Savoy, demolished in the +insurrection of Wat Tyler. Farther on, and farther yet, the eye +wandered over tower and gate, and arch and spire, with frequent +glimpses of the broad sunlit river, and the opposite shore crowned by +the palace of Lambeth, and the Church of St. Mary Overies, till the +indistinct cluster of battlements around the Fortress-Palatine bounded +the curious gaze. As whatever is new is for a while popular, so to +this pastime-ground, on the day we treat of, flocked, not only the +idlers of Westminster, but the lordly dwellers of Ludgate and the +Flete, and the wealthy citizens of tumultuous Chepe. + +The ground was well suited to the purpose to which it was devoted. +About the outskirts, indeed, there were swamps and fish-pools; but a +considerable plot towards the centre presented a level sward, already +worn bare and brown by the feet of the multitude. From this, towards +the left, extended alleys, some recently planted, intended to afford, +in summer, cool and shady places for the favourite game of bowls; +while scattered clumps, chiefly of old pollards, to the right broke +the space agreeably enough into detached portions, each of which +afforded its separate pastime or diversion. Around were ranged many +carts, or wagons; horses of all sorts and value were led to and fro, +while their owners were at sport. Tents, awnings, hostelries, +temporary buildings, stages for showmen and jugglers, abounded, and +gave the scene the appearance of a fair; but what particularly now +demands our attention was a broad plot in the ground, dedicated to the +noble diversion of archery. The reigning House of York owed much of +its military success to the superiority of the bowmen under its +banners, and the Londoners themselves were jealous of their reputation +in this martial accomplishment. For the last fifty years, +notwithstanding the warlike nature of the times, the practice of the +bow, in the intervals of peace, had been more neglected than seemed +wise to the rulers. Both the king and his loyal city had of late +taken much pains to enforce the due exercise of "Goddes instrumente," +[So called emphatically by Bishop Latimer, in his celebrated Sixth +Sermon.] upon which an edict had declared that "the liberties and +honour of England principally rested!" + +And numerous now was the attendance, not only of the citizens, the +burghers, and the idle populace, but of the gallant nobles who +surrounded the court of Edward IV., then in the prime of his youth,-- +the handsomest, the gayest, and the bravest prince in Christendom. + +The royal tournaments (which were, however, waning from their ancient +lustre to kindle afresh, and to expire in the reigns of the succeeding +Tudors), restricted to the amusements of knight and noble, no doubt +presented more of pomp and splendour than the motley and mixed +assembly of all ranks that now grouped around the competitors for the +silver arrow, or listened to the itinerant jongleur, dissour, or +minstrel, or, seated under the stunted shade of the old trees, +indulged, with eager looks and hands often wandering to their dagger- +hilts, in the absorbing passion of the dice; but no later and earlier +scenes of revelry ever, perhaps, exhibited that heartiness of +enjoyment, that universal holiday, which attended this mixture of +every class, that established a rude equality for the hour between the +knight and the retainer, the burgess and the courtier. + +The revolution that placed Edward IV. upon the throne had, in fact, +been a popular one. Not only had the valour and moderation of his +father, Richard, Duke of York, bequeathed a heritage of affection to +his brave and accomplished son; not only were the most beloved of the +great barons the leaders of his party; but the king himself, partly +from inclination, partly from policy, spared no pains to win the good +graces of that slowly rising, but even then important part of the +population,--the Middle Class. He was the first king who descended, +without loss of dignity and respect, from the society of his peers and +princes, to join familiarly in the feasts and diversions of the +merchant and the trader. The lord mayor and council of London were +admitted, on more than one solemn occasion, into the deliberations of +the court; and Edward had not long since, on the coronation of his +queen, much to the discontent of certain of his barons, conferred the +Knighthood of the hath upon four of the citizens. On the other hand, +though Edward's gallantries--the only vice which tended to diminish +his popularity with the sober burgesses--were little worthy of his +station, his frank, joyous familiarity with his inferiors was not +debased by the buffooneries that had led to the reverses and the awful +fate of two of his royal predecessors. There must have been a popular +principle, indeed, as well as a popular fancy, involved in the steady +and ardent adherence which the population of London in particular, and +most of the great cities, exhibited to the person and the cause of +Edward IV. There was a feeling that his reign was an advance in +civilization upon the monastic virtues of Henry VI., and the stern +ferocity which accompanied the great qualities of "The Foreign Woman," +as the people styled and regarded Henry's consort, Margaret of Anjou. +While thus the gifts, the courtesy, and the policy of the young +sovereign made him popular with the middle classes, he owed the +allegiance of the more powerful barons and the favour of the rural +population to a man who stood colossal amidst the iron images of the +Age,--the greatest and the last of the old Norman chivalry, kinglier +in pride, in state, in possessions, and in renown than the king +himself, Richard Nevile, Earl of Salisbury and Warwick. + +This princely personage, in the full vigour of his age, possessed all +the attributes that endear the noble to the commons. His valour in +the field was accompanied with a generosity rare in the captains of +the time. He valued himself on sharing the perils and the hardships +of his meanest soldier. His haughtiness to the great was not +incompatible with frank affability to the lowly. His wealth was +enormous, but it was equalled by his magnificence, and rendered +popular by his lavish hospitality. No less than thirty thousand +persons are said to have feasted daily at the open tables with which +he allured to his countless castles the strong hands and grateful +hearts of a martial and unsettled population. More haughty than +ambitious, he was feared because he avenged all affront; and yet not +envied, because he seemed above all favour. + +The holiday on the archery-ground was more than usually gay, for the +rumour had spread from the court to the city that Edward was about to +increase his power abroad, and to repair what he had lost in the eyes +of Europe through his marriage with Elizabeth Gray, by allying his +sister Margaret with the brother of Louis XI., and that no less a +person than the Earl of Warwick had been the day before selected as +ambassador on the important occasion. + +Various opinions were entertained upon the preference given to France +in this alliance over the rival candidate for the hand of the +princess,--namely, the Count de Charolois, afterwards Charles the +Bold, Duke of Burgundy. + +"By 'r Lady," said a stout citizen about the age of fifty, "but I am +not over pleased with this French marriage-making! I would liefer the +stout earl were going to France with bows and bills than sarcenets and +satins. What will become of our trade with Flanders,--answer me that, +Master Stokton? The House of York is a good House, and the king is a +good king, but trade is trade. Every man must draw water to his own +mill." + +"Hush, Master Heyford!" said a small lean man in a light-gray surcoat. +"The king loves not talk about what the king does. 'T is ill jesting +with lions. Remember William Walker, hanged for saying his son should +be heir to the crown." + +"Troth," answered Master Heyford, nothing daunted, for he belonged to +one of the most powerful corporations of London,--it was but a scurvy +Pepperer [old name for Grocer] who made that joke; but a joke from a +worshipful goldsmith, who has moneys and influence, and a fair wife of +his own, whom the king himself has been pleased to commend, is another +guess sort of matter. But here is my grave-visaged headman, who +always contrives to pick up the last gossip astir, and has a deep eye +into millstones. Why, ho, there! Alwyn--I say, Nicholas Alwyn!--who +would have thought to see thee with that bow, a good half-ell taller +than thyself? Methought thou wert too sober and studious for such +man-at-arms sort of devilry." + +"An' it please you, Master Heyford," answered the person thus +addressed,--a young man, pale and lean, though sinewy and large-boned, +with a countenance of great intelligence, but a slow and somewhat +formal manner of speech, and a strong provincial accent,--"an' it +please you, King Edward's edict ordains every Englishman to have a bow +of his own height; and he who neglects the shaft on a holiday +forfeiteth one halfpenny and some honour. For the rest, methinks that +the citizens of London will become of more worth and potency every +year; and it shall not be my fault if I do not, though but a humble +headman to your worshipful mastership, help to make them so." + +"Why, that's well said, lad; but if the Londoners prosper, it is +because they have nobles in their gipsires, [a kind of pouch worn at +the girdle] not bows in their hands." + +"Thinkest thou then, Master Heyford, that any king at a pinch would +leave them the gipsire, if they could not protect it with the bow? +That Age may have gold, let not Youth despise iron." + +"Body o' me!" cried Master Heyford, "but thou hadst better curb in thy +tongue. Though I have my jest,--as a rich man and a corpulent,--a lad +who has his way to make good should be silent and--But he's gone." + +"Where hooked you up that young jack fish?" said Master Stokton, the +thin mercer, who had reminded the goldsmith of the fate of the grocer. + +"Why, he was meant for the cowl, but his mother, a widow, at his own +wish, let him make choice of the flat cap. He was the best 'prentice +ever I had. By the blood of Saint Thomas, he will push his way in +good time; he has a head, Master Stokton,--a head, and an ear; and a +great big pair of eyes always looking out for something to his proper +advantage." + +In the mean while, the goldsmith's headman had walked leisurely up to +the archery-ground; and even in his gait and walk, as he thus repaired +to a pastime, there was something steady, staid, and business-like. + +The youths of his class and calling were at that day very different +from their equals in this. Many of them the sons of provincial +retainers, some even of franklins and gentlemen, their childhood had +made them familiar with the splendour and the sports of knighthood; +they had learned to wrestle, to cudgel, to pitch the bar or the quoit, +to draw the bow, and to practise the sword and buckler, before +transplanted from the village green to the city stall. And even then, +the constant broils and wars of the time, the example of their +betters, the holiday spectacle of mimic strife, and, above all, the +powerful and corporate association they formed amongst themselves, +tended to make them as wild, as jovial, and as dissolute a set of +young fellows as their posterity are now sober, careful, and discreet. +And as Nicholas Alwyn, with a slight inclination of his head, passed +by, two or three loud, swaggering, bold-looking groups of apprentices +--their shaggy hair streaming over their shoulders, their caps on one +side, their short cloaks of blue torn or patched, though still +passably new, their bludgeons under their arms, and their whole +appearance and manner not very dissimilar from the German collegians +in the last century--notably contrasted Alwyn's prim dress, his +precise walk, and the feline care with which he stepped aside from any +patches of mire that might sully the soles of his square-toed shoes. + +The idle apprentices winked and whispered, and lolled out their +tongues at him as he passed. "Oh, but that must be as good as a May- +Fair day,--sober Nick Alwyn's maiden flight of the shaft! Hollo, +puissant archer, take care of the goslings yonder! Look this way when +thou pull'st, and then woe to the other side!" Venting these and many +similar specimens of the humour of Cockaigne, the apprentices, +however, followed their quondam colleague, and elbowed their way into +the crowd gathered around the competitors at the butt; and it was at +this spot, commanding a view of the whole space, that the spectator +might well have formed some notion of the vast following of the House +of Nevile. For everywhere along the front lines, everywhere in the +scattered groups, might be seen, glistening in the sunlight, the +armourial badges of that mighty family. The Pied Bull, which was the +proper cognizance [Pied Bull the cognizance, the Dun Bull's head the +crest] of the Neviles, was principally borne by the numerous kinsmen +of Earl Warwick, who rejoiced in the Nevile name. The Lord Montagu, +Warwick's brother, to whom the king had granted the forfeit title and +estates of the earls of Northumberland, distinguished his own +retainers, however, by the special request of the ancient Montagus.--a +Gryphon issuant from a ducal crown. But far more numerous than Bull +or Gryphon (numerous as either seemed) were the badges worn by those +who ranked themselves among the peculiar followers of the great Earl +of Warwick. The cognizance of the Bear and Ragged Staff, which he +assumed in right of the Beauchamps, whom he represented through his +wife, the heiress of the lords of Warwick, was worn in the hats of the +more gentle and well-born clansmen and followers, while the Ragged +Staff alone was worked front and back on the scarlet jackets of his +more humble and personal retainers. It was a matter of popular notice +and admiration that in those who wore these badges, as in the wearers +of the hat and staff of the ancient Spartans, might be traced a grave +loftiness of bearing, as if they belonged to another caste, another +race, than the herd of men. Near the place where the rivals for the +silver arrow were collected, a lordly party had reined in their +palfreys, and conversed with each other, as the judges of the field +were marshalling the competitors. + +"Who," said one of these gallants, "who is that comely young fellow +just below us, with the Nevile cognizance of the Bull on his hat? He +has the air of one I should know." + +"I never saw him before, my Lord of Northumberland," answered one of +the gentlemen thus addressed; "but, pardieu, he who knows all the +Neviles by eye must know half England." The Lord Montagu--for though +at that moment invested with the titles of the Percy, by that name +Earl Warwick's brother is known to history, and by that, his rightful +name, he shall therefore be designated in these pages--the Lord +Montagu smiled graciously at this remark, and a murmur through the +crowd announced that the competition for the silver arrow was about to +commence. The butts, formed of turf, with a small white mark fastened +to the centre by a very minute peg, were placed apart, one at each +end, at the distance of eleven score yards. At the extremity where +the shooting commenced, the crowd assembled, taking care to keep clear +from the opposite butt, as the warning word of "Fast" was thundered +forth; but eager was the general murmur, and many were the wagers +given and accepted, as some well-known archer tried his chance. Near +the butt that now formed the target, stood the marker with his white +wand; and the rapidity with which archer after archer discharged his +shaft, and then, if it missed, hurried across the ground to pick it up +(for arrows were dear enough not to be lightly lost), amidst the jeers +and laughter of the bystanders, was highly animated and diverting. As +yet, however, no marksman had hit the white, though many had gone +close to it, when Nicholas Alwyn stepped forward; and there was +something so unwarlike in his whole air, so prim in his gait, so +careful in his deliberate survey of the shaft and his precise +adjustment of the leathern gauntlet that protected the arm from the +painful twang of the string, that a general burst of laughter from the +bystanders attested their anticipation of a signal failure. + +"'Fore Heaven!" said Montagu, "he handles his bow an' it were a yard- +measure. One would think he were about to bargain for the bow-string, +he eyes it so closely." + +"And now," said Nicholas, slowly adjusting the arrow, "a shot for the +honour of old Westmoreland!" And as he spoke, the arrow sprang +gallantly forth, and quivered in the very heart of the white. There +was a general movement of surprise among the spectators, as the marker +thrice shook his wand over his head. But Alwyn, as indifferent to +their respect as he had been to their ridicule, turned round and said, +with a significant glance at the silent nobles, "We springals of +London can take care of our own, if need be." + +"These fellows wax insolent. Our good king spoils them," said +Montagu, with a curl of his lip. "I wish some young squire of gentle +blood would not disdain a shot for the Nevile against the craftsman. +How say you, fair sir?" And with a princely courtesy of mien and +smile, Lord Montagu turned to the young man he had noticed as wearing +the cognizance of the First House in England. The bow was not the +customary weapon of the well-born; but still, in youth, its exercise +formed one of the accomplishments of the future knight; and even +princes did not disdain, on a popular holiday, to match a shaft +against the yeoman's cloth-yard. [At a later period, Henry VIII. was +a match for the best bowman in his kingdom. His accomplishment was +hereditary, and distinguished alike his wise father and his pious +son.] The young man thus addressed, and whose honest, open, handsome, +hardy face augured a frank and fearless nature, bowed his head in +silence, and then slowly advancing to the umpires, craved permission +to essay his skill, and to borrow the loan of a shaft and bow. Leave +given and the weapons lent, as the young gentleman took his stand, his +comely person, his dress, of a better quality than that of the +competitors hitherto, and, above all, the Nevile badge worked in +silver on his hat, diverted the general attention from Nicholas Alwyn. +A mob is usually inclined to aristocratic predilections, and a murmur +of goodwill and expectation greeted him, when he put aside the +gauntlet offered to him, and said, "In my youth I was taught so to +brace the bow that the string should not touch the arm; and though +eleven score yards be but a boy's distance, a good archer will lay his +body into his bow ["My father taught me to lay my body in my bow," +etc., said Latimer, in his well-known sermon before Edward VI.,--1549. +The bishop also herein observes that "it is best to give the bow so +much bending that the string need never touch the arm. This," he +adds, "is practised by many good archers with whom I am acquainted."] +as much as if he were to hit the blanc four hundred yards away." + +"A tall fellow this!" said Montagu; "and one I wot from the North," as +the young gallant fitted the shaft to the bow. And graceful and +artistic was the attitude he assumed,--the head slightly inclined, the +feet firmly planted, the left a little in advance, and the stretched +sinews of the bow-hand alone evincing that into that grasp was pressed +the whole strength of the easy and careless frame. The public +expectation was not disappointed,--the youth performed the feat +considered of all the most dexterous; his arrow, disdaining the white +mark, struck the small peg which fastened it to the butts, and which +seemed literally invisible to the bystanders. + +"Holy Saint Dunstan! there's but one man who can beat me in that sort +that I know of," muttered Nicholas, "and I little expected to see him +take a bite out of his own hip." With that he approached his +successful rival. + +"Well, Master Marmaduke," said he, "it is many a year since you showed +me that trick at your father, Sir Guy's--God rest him! But I scarce +take it kind in you to beat your own countryman!" + +"Beshrew me!" cried the youth, and his cheerful features brightened +into hearty and cordial pleasure, "but if I see in thee, as it seems +to me, my old friend and foster-brother, Nick Alwyn, this is the +happiest hour I have known for many a day. But stand back and let me +look at thee, man. Thou! thou a tame London trader! Ha! ha! is it +possible?" + +"Hout, Master Marmaduke," answered Nicholas, "every crow thinks his +own baird bonniest, as they say in the North. We will talk of this +anon an' thou wilt honour me. I suspect the archery is over now. Few +will think to mend that shot." + +And here, indeed, the umpires advanced, and their chief--an old +mercer, who had once borne arms, and indeed been a volunteer at the +battle of Towton--declared that the contest was over,--"unless," he +added, in the spirit of a lingering fellow-feeling with the Londoner, +"this young fellow, whom I hope to see an alderman one of these days, +will demand another shot, for as yet there hath been but one prick +each at the butts." + +"Nay, master," returned Alwyn, "I have met with my betters,--and, +after all," he added indifferently, "the silver arrow, though a pretty +bauble enough, is over light in its weight." + +"Worshipful sir," said the young Nevile, with equal generosity, "I +cannot accept the prize for a mere trick of the craft,--the blanc was +already disposed of by Master Alwyn's arrow. Moreover; the contest +was intended for the Londoners, and I am but an interloper, beholden +to their courtesy for a practice of skill, and even the loan of a bow; +wherefore the silver arrow be given to Nicholas Alwyn." + +"That may not be, gentle sir," said the umpire, extending the prize. +"Sith Alwyn vails of himself, it is thine, by might and by right." + +The Lord Montagu had not been inattentive to this dialogue, and he now +said, in a loud tone that silenced the crowd, "Young Badgeman, thy +gallantry pleases me no less than thy skill. Take the arrow, for thou +hast won it; but as thou seemest a new comer, it is right thou +shouldst pay thy tax upon entry,--this be my task. Come hither, I +pray thee, good sir," and the nobleman graciously beckoned to the +mercer; "be these five nobles the prize of whatever Londoner shall +acquit himself best in the bold English combat of quarter-staff, and +the prize be given in this young archer's name. Thy name, youth?" + +"Marmaduke Nevile, good my lord." + +Montagu smiled, and the umpire withdrew to make the announcement to +the bystanders. The proclamation was received with a shout that +traversed from group to group and line to line, more hearty from the +love and honour attached to the name of Nevile than even from a sense +of the gracious generosity of Earl Warwick's brother. One man alone, +a sturdy, well-knit fellow, in a franklin's Lincoln broadcloth, and +with a hood half-drawn over his features, did not join the popular +applause. "These Yorkists," he muttered, "know well how to fool the +people." + +Meanwhile the young Nevile still stood by the gilded stirrup of the +great noble who had thus honoured him, and contemplated him with that +respect and interest which a youth's ambition ever feels for those who +have won a name. + +The Lord Montagu bore a very different character from his puissant +brother. Though so skilful a captain that he had never been known to +lose a battle, his fame as a warrior was, strange to say, below that +of the great earl, whose prodigious strength had accomplished those +personal feats that dazzled the populace, and revived the legendary +renown of the earlier Norman knighthood. The caution and wariness, +indeed, which Montagu displayed in battle probably caused his success +as a general, and the injustice done to him (at least by the vulgar) +as a soldier. Rarely had Lord Montagu, though his courage was +indisputable, been known to mix personally in the affray. Like the +captains of modern times, he contented himself with directing the +manoeuvres of his men, and hence preserved that inestimable advantage +of coolness and calculation, which was not always characteristic of +the eager hardihood of his brother. The character of Montagu differed +yet more from that of the earl in peace than in war. He was supposed +to excel in all those supple arts of the courtier which Warwick +neglected or despised; and if the last was on great occasions the +adviser, the other in ordinary life was the companion of his +sovereign. Warwick owed his popularity to his own large, open, +daring, and lavish nature. The subtler Montagu sought to win, by care +and pains, what the other obtained without an effort. He attended the +various holiday meetings of the citizens, where Warwick was rarely +seen. He was smooth-spoken and courteous to his equals, and generally +affable, though with constraint, to his inferiors. He was a close +observer, and not without that genius for intrigue, which in rude ages +passes for the talent of a statesman. And yet in that thorough +knowledge of the habits and tastes of the great mass, which gives +wisdom to a ruler, he was far inferior to the earl. In common with +his brother, he was gifted with the majesty of mien which imposes on +the eye; and his port and countenance were such as became the prodigal +expense of velvet, minever, gold, and jewels, by which the gorgeous +magnates of the day communicated to their appearance the arrogant +splendour of their power. + +"Young gentleman," said the earl, after eying with some attention the +comely archer, "I am pleased that you bear the name of Nevile. +Vouchsafe to inform me to what scion of our House we are this day +indebted for the credit with which you have upborne its cognizance?" + +"I fear," answered the youth, with a slight but not ungraceful +hesitation, "that my lord of Montagu and Northumberland will hardly +forgive the presumption with which I have intruded upon this assembly +a name borne by nobles so illustrious, especially if it belong to +those less fortunate branches of his family which have taken a +different side from himself in the late unhappy commotions. My father +was Sir Guy Nevile, of Arsdale, in Westmoreland." + +Lord Montagu's lip lost its gracious smile; he glanced quickly at the +courtiers round him, and said gravely, "I grieve to hear it. Had I +known this, certes my gipsire had still been five nobles the richer. +It becomes not one fresh from the favour of King Edward IV. to show +countenance to the son of a man, kinsman though he was, who bore arms +for the usurpers of Lancaster. I pray thee, sir, to doff, henceforth, +a badge dedicated only to the service of Royal York. No more, young +man; we may not listen to the son of Sir Guy Nevile.--Sirs, shall we +ride to see how the Londoners thrive at quarter-staff?" + +With that, Montagu, deigning no further regard at Nevile, wheeled his, +palfrey towards a distant part of the ground, to which the multitude +was already pressing its turbulent and noisy way. + +"Thou art hard on thy namesake, fair my lord," said a young noble, in +whose dark-auburn hair, aquiline, haughty features, spare but powerful +frame, and inexpressible air of authority and command, were found all +the attributes of the purest and eldest Norman race,--the Patricians +of the World. + +"Dear Raoul de Fulke," returned Montagu, coldly, "when thou hast +reached my age of thirty and four, thou wilt learn that no man's +fortune casts so broad a shadow as to shelter from the storm the +victims of a fallen cause." + +"Not so would say thy bold brother," answered Raoul de Fulke, with a +slight curl of his proud lip. "And I hold, with him, that no king is +so sacred that we should render to his resentments our own kith and +kin. God's wot, whosoever wears the badge and springs from the stem +of Raoul de Fulke shall never find me question over much whether his +father fought for York or Lancaster." + +"Hush, rash babbler!" said Montagu, laughing gently; "what would King +Edward say if this speech reached his ears? Our friend," added the +courtier, turning to the rest, "in vain would bar the tide of change; +and in this our New England, begirt with new men and new fashions, +affect the feudal baronage of the worn-out Norman. But thou art a +gallant knight, De Fulke, though a poor courtier." + +"The saints keep me so!" returned De Fulke. "From overgluttony, from +over wine-bibbing, from cringing to a king's leman, from quaking at a +king's frown, from unbonneting to a greasy mob, from marrying an old +crone for vile gold, may the saints ever keep Raoul de Fulke and his +sons! Amen!" This speech, in which every sentence struck its +stinging satire into one or other of the listeners, was succeeded by +an awkward silence, which Montagu was the first to break. + +"Pardieu!" he said, "when did Lord Hastings leave us, and what fair +face can have lured the truant?" + +"He left us suddenly on the archery-ground," answered the young +Lovell. "But as well might we track the breeze to the rose as Lord +William's sigh to maid or matron." + +While thus conversed the cavaliers, and their plumes waved, and their +mantles glittered along the broken ground, Marmaduke Nevile's eye +pursued the horsemen with all that bitter feeling of wounded pride and +impotent resentment with which Youth regards the first insult it +receives from Power. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE BROKEN GITTERN. + +Rousing himself from his indignant revery, Marmaduke Nevile followed +one of the smaller streams into which the crowd divided itself on +dispersing from the archery-ground, and soon found himself in a part +of the holiday scene appropriated to diversions less manly, but no +less characteristic of the period than those of the staff and arrow. +Beneath an awning, under which an itinerant landlord dispensed cakes +and ale, the humorous Bourdour (the most vulgar degree of minstrel, or +rather tale-teller) collected his clownish audience; while seated by +themselves--apart, but within hearing--two harpers, in the king's +livery, consoled each other for the popularity of their ribald rival, +by wise reflections on the base nature of common folk. Farther on, +Marmaduke started to behold what seemed to him the heads of giants at +least six yards high; but on a nearer approach these formidable +apparitions resolved themselves to a company of dancers upon stilts. +There, one joculator exhibited the antics of his well-tutored ape; +there, another eclipsed the attractions of the baboon by a marvellous +horse that beat a tabor with his forefeet; there, the more sombre +Tregetour, before a table raised upon a lofty stage, promised to cut +off and refix the head of a sad-faced little boy, who in the mean time +was preparing his mortal frame for the operation by apparently larding +himself with sharp knives and bodkins. Each of these wonder-dealers +found his separate group of admirers, and great was the delight and +loud the laughter in the pastime-ground of old Cockaigne. + +While Marmaduke, bewildered by this various bustle, stared around him, +his eye was caught by a young maiden, in evident distress, struggling +in vain to extricate herself from a troop of timbrel-girls, or +tymbesteres (as they were popularly called), who surrounded her with +mocking gestures, striking their instruments to drown her +remonstrances, and dancing about her in a ring at every effort towards +escape. The girl was modestly attired as one of the humbler ranks, +and her wimple in much concealed her countenance; but there was, +despite her strange and undignified situation and evident alarm, a +sort of quiet, earnest self-possession,--an effort to hide her terror, +and to appeal to the better and more womanly feelings of her +persecutors. In the intervals of silence from the clamour, her voice, +though low, clear, well-tuned, and impressive, forcibly arrested the +attention of young Nevile; for at that day, even more than this +(sufficiently apparent as it now is), there was a marked distinction +in the intonation, the accent, the modulation of voice, between the +better bred and better educated and the inferior classes. But this +difference, so ill according with her dress and position, only served +to heighten more the bold insolence of the musical Bacchantes, who, +indeed, in the eyes of the sober, formed the most immoral nuisance +attendant on the sports of the time, and whose hardy license and +peculiar sisterhood might tempt the antiquary to search for their +origin amongst the relics of ancient Paganism. And now, to increase +the girl's distress, some half-score of dissolute apprentices and +journeymen suddenly broke into the ring of the Maenads, and were +accosting her with yet more alarming insults, when Marmaduke, pushing +them aside, strode to her assistance. "How now, ye lewd varlets! ye +make me blush for my countrymen in the face of day! Are these the +sports of merry England,--these your manly contests,--to strive which +can best affront a poor maid? Out on ye, cullions and bezonians! +Cling to me, gentle donzel, and fear not. Whither shall I lead thee?" +The apprentices were not, however, so easily daunted. Two of them +approached to the rescue, flourishing their bludgeons about their +heads with formidable gestures. "Ho, ho!" cried one, "what right hast +thou to step between the hunters and the doe? The young quean is too +much honoured by a kiss from a bold 'prentice of London." + +Marmaduke stepped back, and drew the small dagger which then formed +the only habitual weapon of a gentleman. [Swords were not worn, in +peace, at that period.] This movement, discomposing his mantle, +brought the silver arrow he had won (which was placed in his girdle) +in full view of the assailants. At the same time they caught sight of +the badge on his hat. These intimidated their ardour more than the +drawn poniard. + +"A Nevile!" said one, retreating. "And the jolly marksman who beat +Nick Alwyn," said the other, lowering his bludgeon, and doffing his +cap. "Gentle sir, forgive us, we knew not your quality. But as for +the girl--your gallantry misleads you." + +"The Wizard's daughter! ha, ha! the Imp of Darkness!" screeched the +timbrel-girls, tossing up their instruments, and catching them again +on the points of their fingers. "She has enchanted him with her +glamour. Foul is fair! Foul fair thee, young springal, if thou go to +the nets. Shadow and goblin to goblin and shadow! Flesh and blood to +blood and flesh!"--and dancing round him, with wanton looks and bare +arms, and gossamer robes that brushed him as they circled, they +chanted,-- + + "Come, kiss me, my darling, + Warm kisses I trade for; + Wine, music, and kisses + What else was life made for?" + +With some difficulty, and with a disgust which was not altogether +without a superstitious fear of the strange words and the outlandish +appearance of these loathsome Delilahs, Marmaduke broke from the ring +with his new charge; and in a few moments the Nevile and the maiden +found themselves, unmolested and unpursued, in a deserted quarter of +the ground; but still the scream of the timbrel-girls, as they +hurried, wheeling and dancing, into the distance, was borne ominously +to the young man's ear. "Ha, ha! the witch and her lover! Foul is +fair! foul is fair! Shadow to goblin, goblin to shadow,--and the +devil will have his own!" + +"And what mischance, my poor girl," asked the Nevile, soothingly, +"brought thee into such evil company?" + +"I know not, fair sir," said the girl, slowly recovering her self; +"but my father is poor, and I had heard that on these holiday +occasions one who had some slight skill on the gittern might win a few +groats from the courtesy of the bystanders. So I stole out with my +serving-woman, and had already got more than I dared hope, when those +wicked timbrel-players came round me, and accused me of taking the +money from them. And then they called an officer of the ground, who +asked me my name and holding; so when I answered, they called my +father a wizard, and the man broke my poor gittern,--see!"--and she +held it up, with innocent sorrow in her eyes, yet a half-smile on her +lips,--"and they soon drove poor old Madge from my side, and I knew no +more till you, worshipful sir, took pity on me." + +"But why," asked the Nevile, "did they give to your father so unholy a +name?" + +"Alas, sir! he is a great scholar, who has spent his means in studying +what he says will one day be of good to the people." + +"Humph!" said Marmaduke, who had all the superstitions of his time, +who looked upon a scholar, unless in the Church, with mingled awe and +abhorrence, and who, therefore, was but ill-satisfied with the girl's +artless answer, + +"Humph! your father--but--" checking what he was about, perhaps +harshly, to say, as he caught the bright eyes and arch, intelligent +face lifted to his own--"but it is hard to punish the child for the +father's errors." + +"Errors, sir!" repeated the damsel, proudly, and with a slight disdain +in her face and voice. "But yes, wisdom is ever, perhaps, the saddest +error!" + +This remark was of an order superior in intellect to those which had +preceded it: it contrasted with the sternness of experience the +simplicity of the child; and of such contrasts, indeed, was that +character made up. For with a sweet, an infantine change of tone and +countenance, she added, after a short pause, "They took the money! +The gittern--see, they left that, when they had made it useless." + +"I cannot mend the gittern, but I can refill the gipsire," said +Marmaduke. + +The girl coloured deeply. "Nay, sir, to earn is not to beg." +Marmaduke did not heed this answer; for as they were now passing by +the stunted trees, under which sat several revellers, who looked up at +him from their cups and tankards, some with sneering, some with grave +looks, he began, more seriously than in his kindly impulse he had +hitherto done, to consider the appearance it must have to be thus seen +walking in public with a girl of inferior degree, and perhaps doubtful +repute. Even in our own day such an exhibition would be, to say the +least, suspicious; and in that day, when ranks and classes were +divided with iron demarcations, a young gallant, whose dress bespoke +him of gentle quality, with one of opposite sex, and belonging to the +humbler orders, in broad day too, was far more open to censure. The +blood mounted to his brow, and halting abruptly, he said, in a dry and +altered voice: "My good damsel, you are now, I think, out of danger; +it would ill beseem you, so young and so comely, to go farther with +one not old enough to be your protector; so, in God's name, depart +quickly, and remember me when you buy your new gittern, poor child!" +So saying, he attempted to place a piece of money in her hand. She +put it back, and the coin fell on the ground. "Nay, this is foolish," +said he. + +"Alas, sir!" said the girl, gravely, "I see well that you are ashamed +of your goodness. But my father begs not. And once--but that matters +not." + +"Once what?" persisted Marmaduke, interested in her manner, in spite +of himself. + +"Once," said the girl, drawing herself up, and with an expression that +altered the whole character of her face--"the beggar ate at my +father's gate. He is a born gentleman and a knight's son." + +"And what reduced him thus?" + +"I have said," answered the girl, simply, yet with the same half-scorn +on her lip that it had before betrayed; "he is a scholar, and thought +more of others than himself." + +"I never saw any good come to a gentleman from those accursed books," +said the Nevile,--"fit only for monks and shavelings. But still, for +your father's sake, though I am ashamed of the poorness of the gift--" + +"No; God be with you, sir, and reward you." She stopped short, drew +her wimple round her face, and was gone. Nevile felt an uncomfortable +sensation of remorse and disapproval at having suffered her to quit +him while there was yet any chance of molestation or annoyance, and +his eye followed her till a group of trees veiled her from his view. + +The young maiden slackened her pace as she found herself alone under +the leafless boughs of the dreary pollards,--a desolate spot, made +melancholy by dull swamps, half overgrown with rank verdure, through +which forced its clogged way the shallow brook that now gives its name +(though its waves are seen no more) to one of the main streets in the +most polished quarters of the metropolis. Upon a mound formed by the +gnarled roots of the dwarfed and gnome-like oak, she sat down and +wept. In our earlier years, most of us may remember that there was +one day which made an epoch in life,--that day that separated +Childhood from Youth; for that day seems not to come gradually, but to +be a sudden crisis, an abrupt revelation. The buds of the heart open +to close no more. Such a day was this in that girl's fate. But the +day was not yet gone! That morning, when she dressed for her +enterprise of filial love, perhaps for the first time Sibyll Warner +felt that she was fair--who shall say whether some innocent, natural +vanity had not blended with the deep, devoted earnestness, which saw +no shame in the act by which the child could aid the father? Perhaps +she might have smiled to listen to old Madge's praises of her winsome +face, old Madge's predictions that the face and the gittern would not +lack admirers on the gay ground; perhaps some indistinct, vague +forethoughts of the Future to which the sex will deem itself to be +born might have caused the cheek--no, not to blush, but to take a +rosier hue, and the pulse to beat quicker, she knew not why. At all +events, to that ground went the young Sibyll, cheerful, and almost +happy, in her inexperience of actual life, and sure, at least, that +youth and innocence sufficed to protect from insult. And now she sat +down under the leafless tree to weep; and in those bitter tears, +childhood itself was laved from her soul forever. + +"What ailest thou, maiden?" asked a deep voice; and she felt a hand +laid lightly on her shoulder. She looked up in terror and confusion, +but it was no form or face to inspire alarm that met her eye. It was +a cavalier, holding by the rein a horse richly caparisoned; and though +his dress was plainer and less exaggerated than that usually worn by +men of rank, its materials were those which the sumptuary laws +(constantly broken, indeed, as such laws ever must be) confined to +nobles. Though his surcoat was but of cloth, and the colour dark and +sober, it was woven in foreign looms,--an unpatriotic luxury, above +the degree of knight,--and edged deep with the costliest sables. The +hilt of the dagger, suspended round his breast, was but of ivory, +curiously wrought, but the scabbard was sown with large pearls. For +the rest, the stranger was of ordinary stature, well knit and active +rather than powerful, and of that age (about thirty-five) which may be +called the second prime of man. His face was far less handsome than +Marmaduke Nevile's, but infinitely more expressive, both of +intelligence and command,--the features straight and sharp, the +complexion clear and pale, and under the bright gray eyes a dark shade +spoke either of dissipation or of thought. + +"What ailest thou, maiden,--weepest thou some faithless lover? Tush! +love renews itself in youth, as flower succeeds flower in spring." + +Sibyll made no reply; she rose and moved a few paces, then arrested +her steps, and looked around her. She had lost all clew to her way +homeward, and she saw with horror, in the distance, the hateful +timbrel-girls, followed by the rabble, and weaving their strange +dances towards the spot. + +"Dost thou fear me, child? There is no cause," said the stranger, +following her. "Again I say, What ailest thou?" This time his voice +was that of command, and the poor girl involuntarily obeyed it. She +related her misfortunes, her persecution by the tymbesteres, her +escape,--thanks to the Nevile's courtesy,--her separation from her +attendant, and her uncertainty as to the way she should pursue. + +The nobleman listened with interest: he was a man sated and wearied by +pleasure and the world, and the evident innocence of Sibyll was a +novelty to his experience, while the contrast between her language and +her dress moved his curiosity. "And," said he, "thy protector left +thee, his work half done; fie on his chivalry! But I, donzel, wear +the spurs of knighthood, and to succour the distressed is a duty my +oath will not let me swerve from. I will guide thee home, for I know +well all the purlieus of this evil den of London. Thou hast but to +name the suburb in which thy father dwells." + +Sibyll involuntarily raised her wimple, lifted her beautiful eyes to +the stranger, in bewildered gratitude and surprise. Her childhood had +passed in a court, her eye, accustomed to rank, at once perceived the +high degree of the speaker. The contrast between this unexpected and +delicate gallantry and the condescending tone and abrupt desertion of +Marmaduke affected her again to tears. + +"Ah, worshipful sir!" she said falteringly, "what can reward thee for +this unlooked-for goodness?" + +"One innocent smile, sweet virgin!--for such I'll be sworn thou art." + +He did not offer her his hand, but hanging the gold-enamelled rein +over his arm, walked by her side; and a few words sufficing for his +guidance, led her across the ground, through the very midst of the +throng. He felt none of the young shame, the ingenious scruples of +Marmaduke, at the gaze he encountered, thus companioned. But Sibyll +noted that ever and anon bonnet and cap were raised as they passed +along, and the respectful murmur of the vulgar, who had so lately +jeered her anguish, taught her the immeasurable distance in men's +esteem between poverty shielded by virtue, and poverty protected by +power. + +But suddenly a gaudy tinsel group broke through the crowd, and +wheeling round their path, the foremost of them daringly approached +the nobleman, and looking full into his disdainful face, exclaimed, +"Tradest thou, too, for kisses? Ha, ha! life is short,--the witch is +outwitched by thee! But witchcraft and death go together, as +peradventure thou mayest learn at the last, sleek wooer." Then +darting off, and heading her painted, tawdry throng, the timbrel-girl +sprang into the crowd and vanished. + +This incident produced no effect upon the strong and cynical intellect +of the stranger. Without allusion to it, he continued to converse +with his young companion, and artfully to draw out her own singular +but energetic and gifted mind. He grew more than interested,--he was +both touched and surprised. His manner became yet more respectful, +his voice more subdued and soft. + +On what hazards turns our fate! On that day, a little, and Sibyll's +pure but sensitive heart had, perhaps, been given to the young Nevile. +He had defended and saved her; he was fairer than the stranger, he was +more of her own years and nearer to her in station; but in showing +himself ashamed to be seen with her, he had galled her heart, and +moved the bitter tears of her pride. What had the stranger done? +Nothing but reconciled the wounded delicacy to itself; and suddenly he +became to her one ever to be remembered, wondered at,--perhaps more. +They reached an obscure suburb, and parted at the threshold of a +large, gloomy, ruinous house, which Sibyll indicated as her father's +home. + +The girl lingered before the porch; and the stranger gazed, with the +passionless admiration which some fair object of art produces on one +who has refined his taste, but who has survived enthusiasm, upon the +downcast cheek that blushed beneath his gaze. "Farewell!" he said; +and the girl looked up wistfully. He might, without vanity, have +supposed that look to imply what the lip did not dare to say,--"And +shall we meet no more?" + +But he turned away, with formal though courteous salutation; and as he +remounted his steed, and rode slowly towards the interior of the city, +he muttered to himself, with a melancholy smile upon his lips, "Now +might the grown infant make to himself a new toy; but an innocent +heart is a brittle thing, and one false vow can break it. Pretty +maiden! I like thee well eno' not to love thee. So, as my young +Scotch minstrel sings and plays,-- + + 'Christ keep these birdis bright in bowers, + Sic peril lies in paramours!'" + +[A Scotch poet, in Lord Hailes's Collection, has the following lines +in the very pretty poem called "Peril in Paramours:"-- + + "Wherefore I pray, in termys short, + Christ keep these birdis bright in bowers, + Fra false lovers and their disport, + Sic peril lies in paramours."] + +We must now return to Marmaduke. On leaving Sibyll, and retracing his +steps towards the more crowded quarter of the space, he was agreeably +surprised by encountering Nicholas Alwyn, escorted in triumph by a +legion of roaring apprentices from the victory he had just obtained +over six competitors at the quarter-staff. + +When the cortege came up to Marmaduke, Nicholas halted, and fronting +his attendants, said, with the same cold and formal stiffness that had +characterized him from the beginning, "I thank you, lads, for your +kindness. It is your own triumph. All I cared for was to show that +you London boys are able to keep up your credit in these days, when +there's little luck in a yard-measure, if the same hand cannot bend a +bow, or handle cold steel. But the less we think of the strife when +we are in the stall, the better for our pouches. And so I hope we +shall hear no more about it, until I get a ware of my own, when the +more of ye that like to talk of such matters the better ye will be +welcome,--always provided ye be civil customers, who pay on the nail, +for as the saw saith, 'Ell and tell makes the crypt swell.' For the +rest, thanks are due to this brave gentleman, Marmaduke Nevile, who, +though the son of a knight-banneret who never furnished less to the +battle-field than fifty men-at-arms, has condescended to take part and +parcel in the sports of us peaceful London traders; and if ever you +can do him a kind turn--for turn and turn is fair play--why, you will, +I answer for it. And so one cheer for old London, and another for +Marmaduke Nevile. Here goes! Hurrah, my lads!" And with this pithy +address Nicholas Alwyn took off his cap and gave the signal for the +shouts, which, being duly performed, he bowed stiffly to his +companions, who departed with a hearty laugh, and coming to the side +of Nevile, the two walked on to a neighbouring booth, where, under a +rude awning, and over a flagon of clary, they were soon immersed in +the confidential communications each had to give and receive. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE TRADER AND THE GENTLE; OR, THE CHANGING GENERATION. + +"No, my dear foster-brother," said the Nevile, "I do not yet +comprehend the choice you have made. You were reared and brought up +with such careful book-lere, not only to read and to write--the which, +save the mark! I hold to be labour eno'--but chop Latin and logic and +theology with Saint Aristotle (is not that his hard name?) into the +bargain, and all because you had an uncle of high note in Holy Church. +I cannot say I would be a shaveling myself; but surely a monk with the +hope of preferment is a nobler calling to a lad of spirit and ambition +than to stand out at a door and cry, 'Buy, buy,' 'What d'ye lack?' to +spend youth as a Flat-cap, and drone out manhood in measuring cloth, +hammering metals, or weighing out spices?" + +"Fair and softly, Master Marmaduke," said Alwyn, "you will understand +me better anon. My uncle, the sub-prior, died,--some say of +austerities, others of ale,--that matters not; he was a learned man +and a cunning. 'Nephew Nicholas,' said he on his death-bed, 'think +twice before you tie yourself up to the cloister; it's ill leaping +nowadays in a sackcloth bag. If a pious man be moved to the cowl by +holy devotion, there is nothing to be said on the subject; but if he +take to the Church as a calling, and wish to march ahead like his +fellows, these times show him a prettier path to distinction. The +nobles begin to get the best things for themselves; and a learned +monk, if he is the son of a yeoman, cannot hope, without a specialty +of grace, to become abbot or bishop. The king, whoever he be, must be +so drained by his wars, that he has little land or gold to bestow on +his favourites; but his gentry turn an eye to the temporalities of the +Church, and the Church and the king wish to strengthen themselves by +the gentry. This is not all; there are free opinions afloat. The +House of Lancaster has lost ground, by its persecutions and burnings. +Men dare not openly resist, but they treasure up recollections of a +fried grandfather, or a roasted cousin,--recollections which have done +much damage to the Henries, and will shake Holy Church itself one of +these days. The Lollards lie hid, but Lollardism will never die. +There is a new class rising amain, where a little learning goes a +great way, if mixed with spirit and sense. Thou likest broad pieces +and a creditable name,--go to London and be a trader. London begins +to decide who shall wear the crown, and the traders to decide what +king London shall befriend. Wherefore, cut thy trace from the +cloister, and take thy road to the shop.' The next day my uncle gave +up the ghost.--They had better clary than this at the convent, I must +own; but every stone has its flaw." + +"Yet," said Marmaduke, "if you took distaste to the cowl, from reasons +that I pretend not to judge of, but which seem to my poor head very +bad ones, seeing that the Church is as mighty as ever, and King Edward +is no friend to the Lollards, and that your uncle himself was at least +a sub-prior--" + +"Had he been son to a baron, he had been a cardinal," interrupted +Nicholas, "for his head was the longest that ever came out of the +north country. But go on; you would say my father was a sturdy +yeoman, and I might have followed his calling?" + +"You hit the mark, Master Nicholas." + +"Hout, man. I crave pardon of your rank, Master Nevile. But a yeoman +is born a yeoman, and he dies a yeoman--I think it better to die Lord +Mayor of London; and so I craved my mother's blessing and leave, and a +part of the old hyde has been sold to pay for the first step to the +red gown, which I need not say must be that of the Flat-cap. I have +already taken my degrees, and no longer wear blue. I am headman to my +master, and my master will be sheriff of London." + +"It is a pity," said the Nevile, shaking his head; "you were ever a +tall, brave lad, and would have made a very pretty soldier." + +"Thank you, Master Marmaduke, but I leave cut and thrust to the +gentles. I have seen eno' of the life of a retainer. He goes out on +foot with his shield and his sword, or his bow and his quiver, while +Sir Knight sits on horseback, armed from the crown to the toe, and the +arrow slants off from rider and horse, as a stone from a tree. If the +retainer is not sliced and carved into mincemeat, he comes home to a +heap of ashes, and a handful of acres, harried and rivelled into a +common; Sir Knight thanks him for his valour, but he does not build up +his house; Sir Knight gets a grant from the king, or an heiress for +his son, and Hob Yeoman turns gisarme and bill into ploughshares. +Tut, tut, there's no liberty, no safety, no getting on, for a man who +has no right to the gold spurs, but in the guild of his fellows; and +London is the place for a born Saxon like Nicholas Alwyn." + +As the young aspirant thus uttered the sentiments, which though others +might not so plainly avow and shrewdly enforce them, tended towards +that slow revolution, which, under all the stormy events that the +superficial record we call HISTORY alone deigns to enumerate, was +working that great change in the thoughts and habits of the people, +--that impulsion of the provincial citywards, that gradual formation +of a class between knight and vassal,--which became first +constitutionally visible and distinct in the reign of Henry VII., +Marmaduke Nevile, inly half-regretting and half-despising the +reasonings of his foster-brother, was playing with his dagger, and +glancing at his silver arrow. + +"Yet you could still have eno' of the tall yeoman and the stout +retainer about you to try for this bauble, and to break half a dozen +thick heads with your quarter-staff!" + +"True," said Nicholas; "you must recollect we are only, as yet, +between the skin and the selle,--half-trader, half-retainer. The old +leaven will out,--'Eith to learn the cat to the kirn,' as they say in +the North. But that's not all; a man, to get on, must win respect +from those who are to jostle him hereafter, and it's good policy to +show those roystering youngsters that Nick Alwyn, stiff and steady +though he be, has the old English metal in him, if it comes to a +pinch; it's a lesson to yon lords too, save your quality, if they ever +wish to ride roughshod over our guilds and companies. But eno' of +me.--Drawer, another stoup of the clary--Now, gentle sir, may I make +bold to ask news of yourself? I saw, though I spake not before of it, +that my Lord Montagu showed a cold face to his kinsman. I know +something of these great men, though I be but a small one,--a dog is +no bad guide in the city he trots through." + +"My dear foster-brother," said the Nevile, "you had ever more brains +than myself, as is meet that you should have, since you lay by the +steel casque,--which, I take it, is meant as a substitute for us +gentlemen and soldiers who have not so many brains to spare; and I +will willingly profit by your counsels. You must know," he said, +drawing nearer to the table, and his frank, hardy face assuming a more +earnest expression, "that though my father, Sir Guy, at the +instigation of his chief, the Earl of Westmoreland, and of the Lord +Nevile, bore arms at the first for King Henry--" + +"Hush! hush! for Henry of Windsor!" + +"Henry of Windsor!--so be it! yet being connected, like the nobles I +have spoken of, with the blood of Warwick and Salisbury, it was ever +with doubt and misgiving, and rather in the hope of ultimate +compromise between both parties (which the Duke of York's moderation +rendered probable) than of the extermination of either. But when, at +the battle of York, Margaret of Anjou and her generals stained their +victory by cruelties which could not fail to close the door on all +conciliation; when the infant son of the duke himself was murdered, +though a prisoner, in cold blood; when my father's kinsman, the Earl +of Salisbury, was beheaded without trial; when the head of the brave +and good duke, who had fallen in the field, was, against all knightly +and king-like generosity, mockingly exposed, like a dishonoured +robber, on the gates of York, my father, shocked and revolted, +withdrew at once from the army, and slacked not bit or spur till he +found himself in his hall at Arsdale. His death, caused partly by his +travail and vexation of spirit, together with his timely withdrawal +from the enemy, preserved his name from the attainder passed on the +Lords Westmoreland and Nevile; and my eldest brother, Sir John, +accepted the king's proffer of pardon, took the oaths of allegiance to +Edward, and lives safe, if obscure, in his father's halls. Thou +knowest, my friend, that a younger brother has but small honour at +home. Peradventure, in calmer times, I might have bowed my pride to +my calling, hunted my brother's dogs, flown his hawks, rented his +keeper's lodge, and gone to my grave contented. But to a young man, +who from his childhood had heard the stirring talk of knights and +captains, who had seen valour and fortune make the way to distinction, +and whose ears of late had been filled by the tales of wandering +minstrels and dissours, with all the gay wonders of Edward's court, +such a life soon grew distasteful. My father, on his death-bed (like +thy uncle, the sub-prior), encouraged me little to follow his own +footsteps. 'I see,' said he, 'that King Henry is too soft to rule his +barons, and Margaret too fierce to conciliate the commons; the only +hope of peace is in the settlement of the House of York. Wherefore, +let not thy father's errors stand in the way of thy advancement;' and +therewith he made his confessor--for he was no penman himself, the +worthy old knight!--indite a letter to his great kinsman, the Earl of +Warwick, commending me to his protection. He signed his mark, and set +his seal to this missive, which I now have at mine hostelrie, and died +the same day. My brother judged me too young then to quit his roof; +and condemned me to bear his humours till, at the age of twenty-three, +I could bear no more! So having sold him my scant share in the +heritage, and turned, like thee, bad land into good nobles, I joined a +party of horse in their journey to London, and arrived yesterday at +Master Sackbut's hostelrie in Eastchepe. I went this morning to my +Lord of Warwick; but he was gone to the king's, and hearing of the +merry-makings here, I came hither for kill-time. A chance word of my +Lord of Montagu--whom Saint Dunstan confound!--made me conceit that a +feat of skill with the cloth-yard might not ill preface my letter to +the great earl. But, pardie! it seems I reckoned without my host, and +in seeking to make my fortunes too rashly, I have helped to mar them." +Wherewith he related the particulars of his interview with Montagu. + +Nicholas Alwyn listened to him with friendly and thoughtful interest, +and, when he had done, spoke thus,-- + +"The Earl of Warwick is a generous man, and though hot, bears little +malice, except against those whom he deems misthink or insult him; he +is proud of being looked up to as a protector, especially by those of +his own kith and name. Your father's letter will touch the right +string, and you cannot do better than deliver it with a plain story. +A young partisan like thee is not to be despised. Thou must trust to +Lord Warwick to set matters right with his brother; and now, before I +say further, let me ask thee, plainly, and without offence, Dost thou +so love the House of York that no chance could ever make thee turn +sword against it? Answer as I ask,--under thy breath; those drawers +are parlous spies!" + +And here, in justice to Marmaduke Nevile and to his betters, it is +necessary to preface his reply by some brief remarks, to which we must +crave the earnest attention of the reader. What we call PATRIOTISM, +in the high and catholic acceptation of the word, was little if at all +understood in days when passion, pride, and interest were motives +little softened by reflection and education, and softened still less +by the fusion of classes that characterized the small States of old, +and marks the civilization of a modern age. Though the right by +descent of the House of York, if genealogy alone were consulted, was +indisputably prior to that of Lancaster, yet the long exercise of +power in the latter House, the genius of the Fourth Henry, and the +victories of the Fifth, would no doubt have completely superseded the +obsolete claims of the Yorkists, had Henry VI. possessed any of the +qualities necessary for the time. As it was, men had got puzzled by +genealogies and cavils; the sanctity attached to the king's name was +weakened by his doubtful right to his throne, and the Wars of the +rival Roses were at last (with two exceptions, presently to be noted) +the mere contests of exasperated factions, in which public +considerations were scarcely even made the blind to individual +interest, prejudice, or passion. + +Thus, instances of desertion, from the one to the other party, even by +the highest nobles, and on the very eve of battle, had grown so common +that little if any disgrace was attached to them; and any knight or +captain held an affront to himself an amply sufficient cause for the +transfer of his allegiance. It would be obviously absurd to expect in +any of the actors of that age the more elevated doctrines of party +faith and public honour, which clearer notions of national morality, +and the salutary exercise of a large general opinion, free from the +passions of single individuals, have brought into practice in our more +enlightened days. The individual feelings of the individual MAN, +strong in himself, became his guide, and he was free in much from the +regular and thoughtful virtues, as well as from the mean and plausible +vices, of those who act only in bodies and corporations. The two +exceptions to this idiosyncrasy of motive and conduct were, first, in +the general disposition of the rising middle class, especially in +London, to connect great political interests with the more popular +House of York. The commons in parliament had acted in opposition to +Henry the Sixth, as the laws they wrung from him tended to show, and +it was a popular and trading party that came, as it were, into power +under King Edward. It is true that Edward was sufficiently arbitrary +in himself; but a popular party will stretch as much as its +antagonists in favour of despotism,--exercised, on its enemies. And +Edward did his best to consult the interests of commerce, though the +prejudices of the merchants interpreted those interests in a way +opposite to that in which political economy now understands them. The +second exception to the mere hostilities of individual chiefs and +feudal factions has, not less than the former, been too much +overlooked by historians. But this was a still more powerful element +in the success of the House of York. The hostility against the Roman +Church and the tenets of the Lollards were shared by an immense part +of the population. In the previous century an ancient writer computes +that one half the population were Lollards; and though the sect were +diminished and silenced by fear, they still ceased not to exist, and +their doctrines not only shook the Church under Henry VIII., but +destroyed the throne by the strong arm of their children, the +Puritans, under Charles I. It was impossible that these men should +not have felt the deepest resentment at the fierce and steadfast +persecution they endured under the House of Lancaster; and without +pausing to consider how far they would benefit under the dynasty of +York, they had all those motives of revenge which are mistaken so +often for the counsels of policy, to rally round any standard raised +against their oppressors. These two great exceptions to merely +selfish policy, which it remains for the historian clearly and at +length to enforce, these: and these alone will always, to a sagacious +observer, elevate the Wars of the Roses above those bloody contests +for badges which we are at first sight tempted to regard them. But +these deeper motives animated very little the nobles and the knightly +gentry; [Amongst many instances of the self-seeking of the time, not +the least striking is the subservience of John Mowbray, the great Duke +of Norfolk, to his old political enemy, the Earl of Oxford, the moment +the last comes into power, during the brief restoration of Henry VI. +John Paston, whose family had been sufficiently harassed by this great +duke, says, with some glee, "The Duke and Duchess (of Norfolk) sue to +him (Lord Oxford) as humbly as ever I did to them."--Paston Letters, +cccii.] and with them the governing principles were, as we have just +said, interest, ambition, and the zeal for the honour and advancement +of Houses and chiefs. + +"Truly," said Marmaduke, after a short and rather embarrassed pause, +"I am little beholden as yet to the House of York. There where I see +a noble benefactor, or a brave and wise leader, shall I think my sword +and heart may best proffer allegiance." + +"Wisely said," returned Alwyn, with a slight but half sarcastic smile; +"I asked thee the question because--draw closer--there are wise men in +our city who think the ties between Warwick and the king less strong +than a ship's cable; and if thou attachest thyself to Warwick, he will +be better pleased, it may be, with talk of devotion to himself than +professions of exclusive loyalty to King Edward. He who has little +silver in his pouch must have the more silk on his tongue. A word to +a Westmoreland or a Yorkshire man is as good as a sermon to men not +born so far north. One word more, and I have done. Thou art kind and +affable and gentle, my dear foster-brother, but it will not do for +thee to be seen again with the goldsmith's headman. If thou wantest +me, send for me at nightfall; I shall be found at Master Heyford's, in +the Chepe. And if," added Nicholas, with a prudent reminiscence, +"thou succeedest at court, and canst recommend my master,--there is no +better goldsmith,--it may serve me when I set up for myself, which I +look to do shortly." + +"But to send for thee, my own foster-brother, at nightfall, as if I +were ashamed!" + +"Hout, Master Marmaduke, if thou wert not ashamed of me, I should be +ashamed to be seen with a gay springal like thee. Why, they would say +in the Chepe that Nick Alwyn was going to ruin. No, no. Birds of a +feather must keep shy of those that moult other colours; and so, my +dear young master, this is my last shake of the hand. But hold: dost +thou know thy way back?" + +"Oh, yes,--never fear!" answered Marmaduke; "though I see not why so +far, at least, we may not be companions." + +"No, better as it is; after this day's work they will gossip about +both of us, and we shall meet many who know my long visage on the way +back. God keep thee; avise me how thou prosperest." + +So saying, Nicholas Alwyn walked off, too delicate to propose to pay +his share of the reckoning with a superior; but when he had gone a few +paces he turned back, and accosting the Nevile, as the latter was +rebuckling his mantle, said,-- + +"I have been thinking, Master Nevile, that these gold nobles, which it +has been my luck to bear off, would be more useful in thy gipsire than +mine. I have sure gains and small expenses; but a gentleman gains +nothing, and his hand must be ever in his pouch, so--" + +"Foster-brother," said Marmaduke, haughtily, "a gentleman never +borrows,--except of the Jews, and with due interest. Moreover, I too +have my calling; and as thy stall to thee, so to me my good sword. +Saints keep thee! Be sure I will serve thee when I can." + +"The devil's in these young strips of the herald's tree," muttered +Alwyn, as he strode off; "as if it were dishonest to borrow a broad +piece without cutting a throat for it! Howbeit, money is a prolific +mother: and here is eno' to buy me a gold chain against I am alderman +of London. Hout, thus goes the world,--the knight's baubles become +the alderman's badges--so much the better!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ILL FARES THE COUNTRY MOUSE IN THE TRAPS OF TOWN. + +We trust we shall not be deemed discourteous, either, on the one hand, +to those who value themselves on their powers of reflection, or, on +the other, to those who lay claim to what, in modern phrenological +jargon, is called the Organ of Locality, when we venture to surmise +that the two are rarely found in combination; nay, that it seems to us +a very evident truism, that in proportion to the general activity of +the intellect upon subjects of pith and weight, the mind will be +indifferent to those minute external objects by which a less +contemplative understanding will note, and map out, and impress upon +the memory, the chart of the road its owner has once taken. Master +Marmaduke Nevile, a hardy and acute forester from childhood, possessed +to perfection the useful faculty of looking well and closely before +him as he walked the earth; and ordinarily, therefore, the path he had +once taken, however intricate and obscure, he was tolerably sure to +retrace with accuracy, even at no inconsiderable distance of time,-- +the outward senses of men are usually thus alert and attentive in the +savage or the semi-civilized state. He had not, therefore, over- +valued his general acuteness in the note and memory of localities, +when he boasted of his power to refind his way to his hostelrie +without the guidance of Alwyn. But it so happened that the events of +this day, so memorable to him, withdrew his attention from external +objects, to concentrate it within. And in marvelling and musing over +the new course upon which his destiny had entered, he forgot to take +heed of that which his feet should pursue; so that, after wandering +unconsciously onward for some time, he suddenly halted in perplexity +and amaze to find himself entangled in a labyrinth of scattered +suburbs, presenting features wholly different from the road that had +conducted him to the archery-ground in the forenoon. The darkness of +the night had set in; but it was relieved by a somewhat faint and +mist-clad moon, and some few and scattered stars, over which rolled, +fleetly, thick clouds, portending rain. No lamps at that time cheered +the steps of the belated wanderer; the houses were shut up, and their +inmates, for the most part, already retired to rest, and the suburbs +did not rejoice, as the city, in the round of the watchman with his +drowsy call to the inhabitants, "Hang out your lights!" The +passengers, who at first, in various small groups and parties, had +enlivened the stranger's way, seemed to him, unconscious as he was of +the lapse of time, to have suddenly vanished from the thoroughfares; +and he found himself alone in places thoroughly unknown to him, waking +to the displeasing recollection that the approaches to the city were +said to be beset by brawlers and ruffians of desperate characters, +whom the cessation of the civil wars had flung loose upon the skirts +of society, to maintain themselves by deeds of rapine and plunder. As +might naturally be expected, most of these had belonged to the +defeated party, who had no claim to the good offices or charity of +those in power. And although some of the Neviles had sided with the +Lancastrians, yet the badge worn by Marmaduke was considered a pledge +of devotion to the reigning House, and added a new danger to those +which beset his path. Conscious of this--for he now called to mind +the admonitions of his host in parting from the hostelrie--he deemed +it but discreet to draw the hood of his mantle over the silver +ornament; and while thus occupied, he heard not a step emerging from a +lane at his rear, when suddenly a heavy hand was placed on his +shoulder. He started, turned, and before him stood a man, whose +aspect and dress betokened little to lessen the alarm of the +uncourteous salutation. Marmaduke's dagger was bare on the instant. + +"And what wouldst thou with me?" he asked. + +"Thy purse and thy dagger!" answered the stranger. + +"Come and take them," said the Nevile, unconscious that he uttered a +reply famous in classic history, as he sprang backward a step or so, +and threw himself into an attitude of defence. The stranger slowly +raised a rude kind of mace, or rather club, with a ball of iron at the +end, garnished with long spikes, as he replied, "Art thou mad eno' to +fight for such trifles?" + +"Art thou in the habit of meeting one Englishman who yields his goods +without a blow to another?" retorted Marmaduke. "Go to! thy club does +not daunt me." The stranger warily drew back a step, and applied a +whistle to his mouth. The Nevile sprang at him, but the stranger +warded off the thrust of the poniard with a light flourish of his +heavy weapon; and had not the youth drawn back on the instant, it had +been good-night and a long day to Marmaduke Nevile. Even as it was, +his heart beat quick, as the whirl of the huge weapon sent the air +like a strong wind against his face. Ere he had time to renew his +attack, he was suddenly seized from behind, and found himself +struggling in the arms of two men. From these he broke, and his +dagger glanced harmless against the tough jerkin of his first +assailant. The next moment his right arm fell to his side, useless +and deeply gashed. A heavy blow on the head--the moon, the stars +reeled in his eyes--and then darkness,--he knew no more. His +assailants very deliberately proceeded to rifle the inanimate body, +when one of them, perceiving the silver badge, exclaimed, with an +oath, "One of the rampant Neviles! This cock at least shall crow no +more." And laying the young man's head across his lap, while he +stretched back the throat with one hand, with the other he drew forth +a long sharp knife, like those used by huntsmen in despatching the +hart. Suddenly, and in the very moment when the blade was about to +inflict the fatal gash, his hand was forcibly arrested, and a man, who +had silently and unnoticed joined the ruffians, said in a stern +whisper, "Rise and depart from thy brotherhood forever. We admit no +murderer." + +The ruffian looked up in bewilderment. "Robin--captain--thou here!" +he said falteringly. + +"I must needs be everywhere, I see, if I would keep such fellows as +thou and these from the gallows. What is this?--a silver arrow--the +young archer--Um." + +"A Nevile!" growled the would-be murderer. + +"And for that very reason his life should be safe. Knowest thou not +that Richard of Warwick, the great Nevile, ever spares the commons? +Begone! I say." The captain's low voice grew terrible as he uttered +the last words. The savage rose, and without a word stalked away. + +"Look you, my masters," said Robin, turning to the rest, "soldiers +must plunder a hostile country. While York is on the throne, England +is a hostile country to us Lancastrians. Rob, then, rifle, if ye +will; but he who takes life shall lose it. Ye know me!" The robbers +looked down, silent and abashed. Robin bent a moment over the youth. +"He will live," he muttered. "So! he already begins to awaken. One +of these houses will give him shelter. Off, fellows, and take care of +your necks!" + +When Marmaduke, a few minutes after this colloquy, began to revive, it +was with a sensation of dizziness, pain, and extreme cold. He strove +to lift himself from the ground, and at length succeeded. He was +alone; the place where he had lain was damp and red with stiffening +blood. He tottered on for several paces, and perceived from a +lattice, at a little distance, a light still burning. Now reeling, +now falling, he still dragged on his limbs as the instinct attracted +him to that sign of refuge. He gained the doorway of a detached and +gloomy house, and sank on the stone before it to cry aloud; but his +voice soon sank into deep groans, and once more, as his efforts +increased the rapid gush of the blood, became insensible. The man +styled Robin, who had so opportunely saved his life, now approached +from the shadow of a wall, beneath which he had watched Marmaduke's +movements. He neared the door of the house, and cried, in a sharp, +clear voice, "Open, for the love of Christ!" + +A head was now thrust from the lattice, the light vanished; a minute +more, the door opened; and Robin, as if satisfied, drew hastily back, +and vanished, saying to himself, as he strode along, "A young man's +life must needs be dear to him; yet had the lad been a lord, methinks +I should have cared little to have saved for the people one tyrant +more." + +After a long interval, Marmaduke again recovered, and his eyes turned +with pain from the glare of a light held to his face. + +"He wakes, Father,--he will live!" cried a sweet voice. "Ay, he will +live, child!" answered a deeper tone; and the young man muttered to +himself, half audibly, as in a dream, "Holy Mother be blessed! it is +sweet to live." The room in which the sufferer lay rather exhibited +the remains of better fortunes than testified to the solid means of +the present possessor. The ceiling was high and groined, and some +tints of faded but once gaudy painting blazoned its compartments and +hanging pendants. The walls had been rudely painted (for arras [Mr. +Hallam ("History of the Middle Ages," chap. ix. part 2) implies a +doubt whether great houses were furnished with hangings so soon as the +reign of Edward IV.; but there is abundant evidence to satisfy our +learned historian upon that head. The Narrative of the "Lord of +Grauthuse," edited by Sir F. Madden, specifies the hangings of cloth +of gold in the apartments in which that lord was received by Edward +IV.; also the hangings of white silk and linen in the chamber +appropriated to himself at Windsor. But long before this period (to +say nothing of the Bayeux Tapestry),--namely, in the reign of Edward +III. (in 1344),--a writ was issued to inquire into the mystery of +working tapestry; and in 1398 Mr. Britton observes that the celebrated +arras hangings at Warwick Castle are mentioned. (See Britton's +"Dictionary of Architecture and Archaelogy," art. "Tapestry.")] then +was rare, even among the wealthiest); but the colours were half +obliterated by time and damp. The bedstead on which the wounded man +reclined was curiously carved, with a figure of the Virgin at the +head, and adorned with draperies, in which were wrought huge figures +from scriptural subjects, but in the dress of the date of Richard +II.,--Solomon in pointed upturned shoes, and Goliath, in the armour of +a crusader, frowning grimly upon the sufferer. By the bedside stood a +personage, who, in reality, was but little past the middle age, but +whose pale visage, intersected with deep furrows, whose long beard and +hair, partially gray, gave him the appearance of advanced age: +nevertheless there was something peculiarly striking in the aspect of +the man. His forehead was singularly high and massive; but the back +of the head was disproportionately small, as if the intellect too much +preponderated over all the animal qualities for strength in character +and success in life. The eyes were soft, dark, and brilliant, but +dreamlike and vague; the features in youth must have been regular and +beautiful, but their contour was now sharpened by the hollowness of +the cheeks and temples. The form, in the upper part, was nobly +shaped, sufficiently muscular, if not powerful, and with the long +throat and falling shoulders which always gives something of grace and +dignity to the carriage; but it was prematurely bent, and the lower +limbs were thin and weak, as is common with men who have sparely used +them; they seemed disproportioned to that broad chest, and still more +to that magnificent and spacious brow. The dress of this personage +corresponded with the aspect of his abode. The materials were those +worn by the gentry, but they were old, threadbare, and discoloured +with innumerable spots and stains. His hands were small and delicate, +with large blue veins, that spoke of relaxed fibres; but their natural +whiteness was smudged with smoke-stains, and his beard--a masculine +ornament utterly out of fashion among the younger race in King +Edward's reign, but when worn by the elder gentry carefully trimmed +and perfumed--was dishevelled into all the spiral and tangled curls +displayed in the sculptured head of some old Grecian sage or poet. + +On the other side of the bed knelt a young girl of about sixteen, with +a face exquisitely lovely in its delicacy and expression. She seemed +about the middle stature, and her arms and neck, as displayed by the +close-fitting vest, had already the smooth and rounded contour of +dawning womanhood, while the face had still the softness, innocence, +and inexpressible bloom of a child. There was a strong likeness +between her and her father (for such the relationship, despite the +difference of sex and years),--the same beautiful form of lip and +brow, the same rare colour of the eyes, dark-blue, with black fringing +lashes; and perhaps the common expression, at that moment, of gentle +pity and benevolent anxiety contributed to render the resemblance +stronger. + +"Father, he sinks again!" said the girl. + +"Sibyll," answered the man, putting his finger upon a line in a +manuscript book that he held, "the authority saith, that a patient so +contused should lose blood, and then the arm must be tightly bandaged. +Verily we lack the wherewithal." + +"Not so, Father!" said the girl, and blushing, she turned aside, and +took off the partelet of lawn, upon which holiday finery her young +eyes perhaps that morning had turned with pleasure, and white as snow +was the neck which was thus displayed; "this will suffice to bind his +arm." + +"But the book," said the father, in great perplexity--"the book +telleth us not how the lancet should be applied. It is easy to say, +'Do this and do that;' but to do it once, it should have been done +before. This is not among my experiments." + +Luckily, perhaps, for Marmaduke, at this moment there entered an old +woman, the solitary servant of the house, whose life, in those warlike +times, had made her pretty well acquainted with the simpler modes of +dealing with a wounded arm and a broken head. She treated with great +disdain the learned authority referred to by her master; she bound the +arm, plastered the head, and taking upon herself the responsibility to +promise a rapid cure, insisted upon the retirement of father and +child, and took her solitary watch beside the bed. + +"If it had been any other mechanism than that of the vile human body!" +muttered the philosopher, as if apologizing to himself; and with that +he recovered his self-complacency and looked round him proudly. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WEAL TO THE IDLER, WOE TO THE WORKMAN. + +As Providence tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, so it possibly might +conform the heads of that day to a thickness suitable for the blows +and knocks to which they were variously subjected; yet it was not +without considerable effort and much struggling that Marmaduke's +senses recovered the shock received, less by his flesh-wound and the +loss of blood, than a blow on the seat of reason that might have +despatched a passable ox of these degenerate days. Nature, to say +nothing of Madge's leechcraft, ultimately triumphed, and Marmaduke +woke one morning in full possession of such understanding as Nature +had endowed him with. He was then alone, and it was with much simple +surprise that he turned his large hazel eyes from corner to corner of +the unfamiliar room. He began to retrace and weave together sundry +disordered and vague reminiscences: he commenced with the +commencement, and clearly satisfied himself that he had been +grievously wounded and sorely bruised; he then recalled the solitary +light at the high lattice, and his memory found itself at the porch of +the large, lonely, ruinous old house; then all became a bewildered and +feverish dream. He caught at the vision of an old man with a long +beard, whom he associated, displeasingly, with recollections of pain; +he glanced off to a fair face, with eyes that looked tender pity +whenever he writhed or groaned under the tortures that, no doubt, that +old accursed carle had inflicted upon him. But even this face did not +dwell with pleasure in his memory,--it woke up confused and labouring +associations of something weird and witchlike, of sorceresses and +tymbesteres, of wild warnings screeched in his ear, of incantations +and devilries and doom. Impatient of these musings, he sought to leap +from his bed, and was amazed that the leap subsided into a tottering +crawl. He found an ewer and basin, and his ablutions refreshed and +invigorated him. He searched for his raiment, and discovered it all +except the mantle, dagger, hat, and girdle; and while looking for +these, his eye fell on an old tarnished steel mirror. He started as +if he had seen his ghost; was it possible that his hardy face could +have waned into that pale and almost femininely delicate visage? With +the pride (call it not coxcombry) that then made the care of person +the distinction of gentle birth, he strove to reduce into order the +tangled locks of the long hair, of which a considerable portion above +a part that seemed peculiarly sensitive to the touch had been +mercilessly clipped; and as he had just completed this task, with +little satisfaction and much inward chafing at the lack of all +befitting essences and perfumes, the door gently opened, and the fair +face he had dreamed of appeared at the aperture. + +The girl uttered a cry of astonishment and alarm at seeing the patient +thus arrayed and convalescent, and would suddenly have retreated; but +the Nevile advanced, and courteously taking her hand-- + +"Fair maiden," said he, "if, as I trow, I owe to thy cares my tending +and cure--nay, it may be a life hitherto of little worth, save to +myself--do not fly from my thanks. May Our Lady of Walsingham bless +and reward thee!" + +"Sir," answered Sibyll, gently withdrawing her hands from his clasp, +"our poor cares have been a slight return for thy generous protection +to myself." + +"To thee! ah, forgive me--how could I be so dull? I remember thy face +now; and, perchance, I deserve the disaster I met with in leaving thee +so discourteously. My heart smote me for it as my light footfall +passed from thy side." + +A slight blush, succeeded by a thoughtful smile--the smile of one who +recalls and caresses some not displeasing remembrance--passed over +Sibyll's charming countenance, as the sufferer said this with +something of the grace of a well-born man, whose boyhood had been +taught to serve God and the Ladies. + +There was a short pause before she answered, looking down, "Nay, sir, +I was sufficiently beholden to you; and for the rest, all molestation +was over. But I will now call your nurse--for it is to our servant, +not us, that your thanks are due--to see to your state, and administer +the proper medicaments." + +"Truly, fair damsel, it is not precisely medicaments that I hunger and +thirst for; and if your hospitality could spare me from the larder a +manchet, or a corner of a pasty, and from the cellar a stoup of wine +or a cup of ale, methinks it would tend more to restore me than those +potions which are so strange to my taste that they rather offend than +tempt it; and, pardie, it seemeth to my poor senses as if I had not +broken bread for a week!" + +"I am glad to hear you of such good cheer," answered Sibyll; "wait but +a moment or so, till I consult your physician." + +And, so saying, she closed the door, slowly descended the steps, and +pursued her way into what seemed more like a vault than a habitable +room, where she found the single servant of the household. Time, +which makes changes so fantastic in the dress of the better classes, +has a greater respect for the costume of the humbler; and though the +garments were of a very coarse sort of serge, there was not so great a +difference, in point of comfort and sufficiency, as might be supposed, +between the dress of old Madge and that of some primitive servant in +the North during the last century. The old woman's face was thin and +pinched; but its sharp expression brightened into a smile as she +caught sight, through the damps and darkness, of the gracious form of +her young mistress. "Ah, Madge," said Sibyll, with a sigh, "it is a +sad thing to be poor!" + +"For such as thou, Mistress Sibyll, it is indeed. It does not matter +for the like of us. But it goes to my old heart when I see you shut +up here, or worse, going out in that old courtpie and wimple,--you, a +knight's grandchild; you, who have played round a queen's knees, and +who might have been so well-to-do, an' my master had thought a little +more of the gear of this world. But patience is a good palfrey, and +will carry us a long day. And when the master has done what he looks +for, why, the king--sith we must so call the new man on the throne-- +will be sure to reward him; but, sweetheart, tarry not here; it's an +ill air for your young lips to drink in. What brings you to old +Madge?" + +"The stranger is recovered, and--" + +"Ay, I warrant me, I have cured worse than he. He must have a +spoonful of broth,--I have not forgot it. You see I wanted no dinner +myself--what is dinner to old folks!--so I e'en put it all in the pot +for him. The broth will be brave and strong." + +"My poor Madge, God requite you for what you suffer for us! But he +has asked"--here was another sigh, and a downcast look that did not +dare to face the consternation of Madge, as she repeated, with a half- +smile--"he has asked--for meat, and a stoup of wine, Madge!" + +"Eh, sirs! And where is he to get them? Not that it will be bad for +the lad, either. Wine! There's Master Sancroft of the Oak will not +trust us a penny, the seely hilding, and--" + +"Oh, Madge, I forgot!--we can still sell the gittern for something. +Get on your wimple, Madge--quick,--while I go for it." + +"Why, Mistress Sibyll, that's your only pleasure when you sit all +alone, the long summer days." + +"It will be more pleasure to remember that it supplied the wants of my +father's guest," said Sibyll; and retracing the way up the stairs, she +returned with the broken instrument, and despatched Madge with it, +laden with instructions that the wine should be of the best. She then +once more mounted the rugged steps, and halting a moment at +Marmaduke's door, as she heard his feeble step walking impatiently to +and fro, she ascended higher, where the flight, winding up a square, +dilapidated turret, became rougher, narrower, and darker, and opened +the door of her father's retreat. + +It was a room so bare of ornament and furniture that it seemed merely +wrought out of the mingled rubble and rough stones which composed the +walls of the mansion, and was lighted towards the street by a narrow +slit, glazed, it is true,--which all the windows of the house were +not,--but the sun scarcely pierced the dull panes and the deep walls +in which they were sunk. The room contained a strong furnace and a +rude laboratory. There were several strange-looking mechanical +contrivances scattered about, several manuscripts upon some oaken +shelves, and a large pannier of wood and charcoal in the corner. In +that poverty-stricken house, the money spent on fuel alone, in the +height of summer, would have comfortably maintained the inmates; but +neither Sibyll nor Madge ever thought to murmur at this waste, +dedicated to what had become the vital want of a man who drew air in a +world of his own. This was the first thing to be provided for; and +Science was of more imperative necessity than even Hunger. + +Adam Warner was indeed a creature of remarkable genius,--and genius, +in an age where it is not appreciated, is the greatest curse the iron +Fates can inflict on man. If not wholly without the fond fancies +which led the wisdom of the darker ages to the philosopher's stone and +the elixir, he had been deterred from the chase of a chimera by want +of means to pursue it! for it required the resources or the patronage +of a prince or noble to obtain the costly ingredients consumed in the +alchemist's crucible. In early life, therefore, and while yet in +possession of a competence derived from a line of distinguished and +knightly ancestors, Adam Warner had devoted himself to the surer and +less costly study of the mathematics, which then had begun to attract +the attention of the learned, but which was still looked upon by the +vulgar as a branch of the black art. This pursuit had opened to him +the insight into discoveries equally useful and sublime. They +necessitated a still more various knowledge; and in an age when there +was no division of labour and rare and precarious communication among +students, it became necessary for each discoverer to acquire +sufficient science for his own collateral experiments. + +In applying mathematics to the practical purposes of life, in +recognizing its mighty utilities to commerce and civilization, Adam +Warner was driven to conjoin with it, not only an extensive knowledge +of languages, but many of the rudest tasks of the mechanist's art; and +chemistry was, in some of his researches, summoned to his aid. By +degrees, the tyranny that a man's genius exercises over his life, +abstracted him from all external objects. He had loved his wife +tenderly, but his rapid waste of his fortune in the purchase of +instruments and books, then enormously dear, and the neglect of all +things not centred in the hope to be the benefactor of the world, had +ruined her health and broken her heart. Happily Warner perceived not +her decay till just before her death; happily he never conceived its +cause, for her soul was wrapped in his. She revered, and loved, and +never upbraided him. Her heart was the martyr to his mind. Had she +foreseen the future destinies of her daughter, it might have been +otherwise. She could have remonstrated with the father, though not +with the husband. But, fortunately, as it seemed to her, she (a +Frenchwoman by birth) had passed her youth in the service of Margaret +of Anjou, and that haughty queen, who was equally warm to friends and +inexorable to enemies, had, on her attendant's marriage, promised to +ensure the fortunes of her offspring. Sibyll at the age of nine-- +between seven and eight years before the date the story enters on, and +two years prior to the fatal field of Towton, which gave to Edward the +throne of England--had been admitted among the young girls whom the +custom of the day ranked amidst the attendants of the queen; and in +the interval that elapsed before Margaret was obliged to dismiss her +to her home, her mother died. She died without foreseeing the +reverses that were to ensue, in the hope that her child, at least, was +nobly provided for, and not without the belief (for there is so much +faith in love!) that her husband's researches, which in his youth had +won favour of the Protector Duke of Gloucester, the most enlightened +prince of his time, would be crowned at last with the rewards and +favours of his king. That precise period was, indeed, the fairest +that had yet dawned upon the philosopher. Henry VI., slowly +recovering from one of those attacks which passed for imbecility, had +condescended to amuse himself with various conversations with Warner, +urged to it first by representations of the unholy nature of the +student's pursuits; and, having satisfied his mind of his learned +subject's orthodoxy, the poor monarch had taken a sort of interest, +not so much, perhaps, in the objects of Warner's occupations, as in +that complete absorption from actual life which characterized the +subject, and gave him in this a melancholy resemblance to the king. +While the House of Lancaster was on the throne, the wife felt that her +husband's pursuits would be respected, and his harmless life safe from +the fierce prejudices of the people; and the good queen would not +suffer him to starve, when the last mark was expended in devices how +to benefit his country:--and in these hopes the woman died! + +A year afterwards, all at court was in disorder,--armed men supplied +the service of young girls, and Sibyll, with a purse of broad pieces, +soon converted into manuscripts, was sent back to her father's +desolate home. There had she grown a flower amidst ruins, with no +companion of her own age, and left to bear, as her sweet and +affectionate nature well did, the contrast between the luxuries of a +court and the penury of a hearth which, year after year, hunger and +want came more and more sensibly to invade. + +Sibyll had been taught, even as a child, some accomplishments little +vouchsafed then to either sex,--she could read and write; and Margaret +had not so wholly lost, in the sterner North, all reminiscence of the +accomplishments that graced her father's court as to neglect the +education of those brought up in her household. Much attention was +given to music, for it soothed the dark hours of King Henry; the +blazoning of missals or the lives of saints, with the labours of the +loom, were also among the resources of Sibyll's girlhood, and by these +last she had, from time to time, served to assist the maintenance of +the little family of which, child though she was, she became the +actual head. But latterly--that is, for the last few weeks--even +these sources failed her; for as more peaceful times allowed her +neighbours to interest themselves in the affairs of others, the dark +reports against Warner had revived. His name became a by-word of +horror; the lonely light at the lattice burning till midnight, against +all the early usages and habits of the day; the dark smoke of the +furnace, constant in summer as in winter, scandalized the religion of +the place far and near. And finding, to their great dissatisfaction, +that the king's government and the Church interfered not for their +protection, and unable themselves to volunteer any charges against the +recluse (for the cows in the neighbourhood remained provokingly +healthy), they came suddenly, and, as it were by one of those common +sympathies which in all times the huge persecutor we call the PUBLIC +manifests when a victim is to be crushed, to the pious resolution of +starving where they could not burn. Why buy the quaint devilries of +the wizard's daughter?--no luck could come of it. A missal blazoned +by such hands, an embroidery worked at such a loom, was like the +Lord's Prayer read backwards. And one morning, when poor Sibyll stole +out as usual to vend a month's labour, she was driven from door to +door with oaths and curses. + +Though Sibyll's heart was gentle, she was not without a certain +strength of mind. She had much of the patient devotion of her mother, +much of the quiet fortitude of her father's nature. If not +comprehending to the full the loftiness of Warner's pursuits, she +still anticipated from them an ultimate success which reconciled her +to all temporary sacrifices. The violent prejudices, the ignorant +cruelty, thus brought to bear against existence itself, filled her +with sadness, it is true, but not unmixed with that contempt for her +persecutors, which, even in the meekest tempers, takes the sting from +despair. But hunger pressed. Her father was nearing the goal of his +discoveries, and in a moment of that pride which in its very contempt +for appearances braves them all, Sibyll had stolen out to the pastime- +ground,--with what result has been seen already. Having thus +accounted for the penury of the mansion, we return to its owner. + +Warner was contemplating with evident complacency and delight the +model of a machine which had occupied him for many years, and which he +imagined he was now rapidly bringing to perfection. His hands and +face were grimed with the smoke of his forge, and his hair and beard, +neglected as usual, looked parched and dried up, as if with the +constant fever that burned within. + +"Yes, yes!" he muttered, "how they will bless me for this! What Roger +Bacon only suggested I shall accomplish! How it will change the face +of the globe! What wealth it will bestow on ages yet unborn!" + +"My father," said the gentle voice of Sibyll, "my poor father, thou +hast not tasted bread to-day." + +Warner turned, and his face relaxed into a tender expression as he saw +his daughter. + +"My child," he said, pointing to his model, "the time comes when it +will live! Patience! patience!" + +"And who would not have patience with thee, and for thee, Father?" +said Sibyll, with enthusiasm speaking on every feature. "What is the +valour of knight and soldier--dull statues of steel--to thine? Thou, +with thy naked breast, confronting all dangers,--sharper than the +lance and glaive, and all--" + +"All to make England great!" + +"Alas! what hath England merited from men like thee? The people, more +savage than their rulers, clamour for the stake, the gibbet, and the +dungeon, for all who strive to make them wiser. Remember the death of +Bolingbroke, [A mathematician accused as an accomplice, in sorcery, of +Eleanor Cobham, wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and hanged upon +that charge. His contemporary (William Wyrcestre) highly extols his +learning.]--a wizard, because, O Father!--because his pursuits were +thine!" + +Adam, startled by this burst, looked at his daughter with more +attention than he usually evinced to any living thing. "Child," he +said at length, shaking his head in grave reproof, "let me not say to +thee, 'O thou of little faith!' There were no heroes were there no +martyrs!" + +"Do not frown on me, Father," said Sibyll, sadly; "let the world +frown,--not thou! Yes, thou art right. Thou must triumph at last." +And suddenly, her whole countenance changing into a soft and caressing +endearment, she added, "But now come, Father. Thou hast laboured well +for this morning. We shall have a little feast for thee in a few +minutes. And the stranger is recovered, thanks to our leechcraft. He +is impatient to see and thank thee." + +"Well, well, I come, Sibyll," said the student, with a regretful, +lingering look at his model, and a sigh to be disturbed from its +contemplation; and he slowly quitted the room with Sibyll. + +"But not, dear sir and father, not thus--not quite thus--vill you go +to the stranger, well-born like yourself? Oh, no! your Sibyll is +proud, you know,--proud of her father." So saying, she clung to him +fondly, and drew him mechanically, for he had sunk into a revery, and +heeded her not, into an adjoining chamber, in which he slept. The +comforts even of the gentry, of men with the acres that Adam had sold, +were then few and scanty. The nobles and the wealthy merchants, +indeed, boasted many luxuries that excelled in gaud and pomp those of +their equals now. But the class of the gentry who had very little +money at command were contented with hardships from which a menial of +this day would revolt. What they could spend in luxury was usually +consumed in dress and the table they were obliged to keep. These were +the essentials of dignity. Of furniture there was a woful stint. In +many houses, even of knights, an edifice large enough to occupy a +quadrangle was composed more of offices than chambers inhabited by the +owners; rarely boasting more than three beds, which were bequeathed in +wills as articles of great value. The reader must, therefore, not be +surprised that Warner's abode contained but one bed, properly so +called, and that was now devoted to Nevile. The couch which served +the philosopher for bed was a wretched pallet, stretched on the floor, +stuffed with straw,--with rough say, or serge, and an old cloak for +the coverings. His daughter's, in a room below, was little better. +The walls were bare; the whole house boasted but one chair, which was +in Marmaduke's chamber; stools or settles of rude oak elsewhere +supplied their place. There was no chimney except in Nevile's room, +and in that appropriated to the forge. + +To this chamber, then, resembling a dungeon in appearance, Sibyll drew +the student, and here, from an old worm-eaten chest, she carefully +extracted a gown of brown velvet, which his father, Sir Armine, had +bequeathed to him by will,--faded, it is true, but still such as the +low-born wore not, [By the sumptuary laws only a knight was entitled +to wear velvet.] trimmed with fur, and clasped with a brooch of gold. +And then she held the ewer and basin to him, while, with the docility +of a child, he washed the smoke-soil from his hands and face. It was +touching to see in this, as in all else, the reverse of their natural +position,--the child tending and heeding and protecting, as it were, +the father; and that not from his deficiency, but his greatness; not +because he was below the vulgar intelligences of life, but above them. +And certainly, when, his patriarchal hair and beard smoothed into +order, and his velvet gown flowing in majestic folds around a figure +tall and commanding, Sibyll followed her father into Marmaduke's +chamber, she might well have been proud of his appearance; and she +felt the innocent vanity of her sex and age in noticing the half-start +of surprise with which Marmaduke regarded his host, and the tone of +respect in which he proffered him his salutations and thanks. Even +his manner altered to Sibyll; it grew less frank and affable, more +courtly and reserved: and when Madge came to announce that the +refection was served, it was with a blush of shame, perhaps, at his +treatment of the poor gittern-player on the pastime-ground, that the +Nevile extended his left hand, for his right was still not at his +command, to lead the damsel to the hall. + +This room, which was divided from the entrance by a screen, and, +except a small closet that adjoined it, was the only sitting-room in a +day when, as now on the Continent, no shame was attached to receiving +visitors in sleeping apartments, was long and low; an old and very +narrow table, that might have feasted thirty persons, stretched across +a dais raised upon a stone floor; there was no rere-dosse, or +fireplace, which does not seem at that day to have been an absolute +necessity in the houses of the metropolis and its suburbs, its place +being supplied by a movable brazier. Three oak stools were placed in +state at the board, and to one of these Marmaduke, in a silence +unusual to him, conducted the fair Sibyll. + +"You will forgive our lack of provisions," said Warner, relapsing into +the courteous fashions of his elder days, which the unwonted spectacle +of a cold capon, a pasty, and a flask of wine brought to his mind by a +train of ideas that actively glided by the intervening circumstances, +which ought to have filled him with astonishment at the sight, "for my +Sibyll is but a young housewife, and I am a simple scholar, of few +wants." + +"Verily," answered Marmaduke, finding his tongue as he attacked the +pasty, "I see nothing that the most dainty need complain of; fair +Mistress Sibyll, your dainty lips will not, I trow, refuse me the +waisall. [I.e. waissail or wassal; the spelling of the time is +adopted in the text.] To you also, worshipful sir! Gramercy! it +seems that there is nothing which better stirs a man's appetite than a +sick bed. And, speaking thereof, deign to inform me, kind sir, how +long I have been indebted to your hospitality. Of a surety, this +pasty hath an excellent flavour, and if not venison, is something +better. But to return, it mazes me much to think what time hath +passed since my encounter with the robbers." + +"They were robbers, then, who so cruelly assailed thee?" observed +Sibyll. + +"Have I not said so--surely, who else? And, as I was remarking to +your worshipful father, whether this mischance happened hours, days, +months, or years ago, beshrew me if I can venture the smallest guess." + +Master Warner smiled, and observing that some reply was expected from +him, said, "Why, indeed, young sir, I fear I am almost as oblivious as +yourself. It was not yesterday that you arrived, nor the day before, +nor--Sibyll, my child, how long is it since this gentleman hath been +our guest?" + +"This is the fifth day," answered Sibyll. + +"So long! and I like a senseless log by the wayside, when others are +pushing on, bit and spur, to the great road. I pray you, sir, tell me +the news of the morning. The Lord Warwick is still in London, the +court still at the Tower?" + +Poor Adam, whose heart was with his model, and who had now satisfied +his temperate wants, looked somewhat bewildered and perplexed by this +question. "The king, save his honoured head," said he, inclining his +own, "is, I fear me, always at the Tower, since his unhappy detention, +but he minds it not, sir,--he heeds it not; his soul is not on this +side Paradise." + +Sibyll uttered a faint exclamation of fear at this dangerous +indiscretion of her father's absence of mind; and drawing closer to +Nevile, she put her hand with touching confidence on his arm, and +whispered, "You will not repeat this, Sir! my father lives only in his +studies, and he has never known but one king!" + +Marmaduke turned his bold face to the maid, and pointed to the salt- +cellar, as he answered in the same tone, "Does the brave man betray +his host?" + +There was a moment's silence. Marmaduke rose. "I fear," said he, +"that I must now leave you; and while it is yet broad noon, I must +indeed be blind if I again miss my way." + +This speech suddenly recalled Adam from his meditations; for whenever +his kindly and simple benevolence was touched, even his mathematics +and his model were forgotten. "No, young sir," said he, "you must not +quit us yet; your danger is not over. Exercise may bring fever. +Celsus recommends quiet. You must consent to tarry with us a day or +two more." + +"Can you tell me," said the Nevile, hesitatingly, "what distance it is +to the Temple-gate, or the nearest wharf on the river?" + +"Two miles, at the least," answered Sibyll. + +"Two miles!--and now I mind me, I have not the accoutrements that +beseem me. Those hildings have stolen my mantle (which, I perceive, +by the way, is but a rustic garment, now laid aside for the super- +tunic), and my hat and dague, nor have they left even a half groat to +supply their place. Verily, therefore, since ye permit me to burden +your hospitality longer, I will not say ye nay, provided you, +worshipful sir, will suffer one of your people to step to the house of +one Master Heyford, goldsmith, in the Chepe, and crave one Nicholas +Alwyn, his freedman, to visit me. I can commission him touching my +goods left at mine hostelrie, and learn some other things which it +behooves me to know." + +"Assuredly. Sibyll, tell Simon or Jonas to put himself under our +guest's order." + +Simon or Jonas! The poor Adam absolutely forgot that Simon and Jonas +had quitted the house these six years! How could he look on the +capon, the wine, and the velvet gown trimmed with fur, and not fancy +himself back in the heyday of his wealth? + +Sibyll half smiled and half sighed, as she withdrew to consult with +her sole counsellor, Madge, how the guest's orders were to be obeyed, +and how, alas! the board was to be replenished for the evening meal. +But in both these troubles she was more fortunate than she +anticipated. Madge had sold the broken gittern, for musical +instruments were then, comparatively speaking, dear (and this had been +a queen's gift), for sufficient to provide decently for some days; +and, elated herself with the prospect of so much good cheer, she +readily consented to be the messenger to Nicholas Alwyn. When with a +light step and a lighter heart Sibyll tripped back to the hall, she +was scarcely surprised to find the guest alone. Her father, after her +departure, had begun to evince much restless perturbation. He +answered Marmaduke's queries but by abstracted and desultory +monosyllables; and seeing his guest at length engaged in contemplating +some old pieces of armour hung upon the walls, he stole stealthily and +furtively away, and halted not till once more before his beloved +model. + +Unaware of his departure, Marmaduke, whose back was turned to him, +was, as he fondly imagined, enlightening his host with much soldier- +like learning as to the old helmets and weapons that graced the hall. +"Certes, my host," said he, musingly, "that sort of casque, which has +not, I opine, been worn this century, had its merits; the vizor is +less open to the arrows. But as for these chain suits, they suited +only--I venture, with due deference, to declare--the Wars of the +Crusades, where the enemy fought chiefly with dart and scymetar. They +would be but a sorry defence against the mace and battle-axe; +nevertheless, they were light for man and horse, and in some service, +especially against foot, might be revived with advantage. Think you +not so?" + +He turned, and saw the arch face of Sibyll. + +"I crave pardon for my blindness, gentle damsel," said he, in some +confusion, "but your father was here anon." + +"His mornings are so devoted to labour," answered Sibyll, "that he +entreats you to pardon his discourtesy. Meanwhile if you would wish +to breathe the air, we have a small garden in the rear;" and so +saying, she led the way into the small withdrawing-room, or rather +closet, which was her own favourite chamber, and which communicated, +by another door, with a broad, neglected grassplot, surrounded by high +walls, having a raised terrace in front, divided by a low stone Gothic +palisade from the green sward. + +On the palisade sat droopingly, and half asleep, a solitary peacock; +but when Sibyll and the stranger appeared at the door, he woke up +suddenly, descended from his height, and with a vanity not wholly +unlike his young mistress's wish to make the best possible display in +the eyes of a guest, spread his plumes broadly in the sun. Sibyll +threw him some bread, which she had taken from the table for that +purpose; but the proud bird, however hungry, disdained to eat, till he +had thoroughly satisfied himself that his glories had been +sufficiently observed. + +"Poor proud one," said Sibyll, half to herself, "thy plumage lasts +with thee through all changes." + +"Like the name of a brave knight," said Marmaduke, who overheard her. + +"Thou thinkest of the career of arms." + +"Surely,--I am a Nevile!" + +"Is there no fame to be won but that of a warrior?" + +"Not that I weet of, or heed for, Mistress Sibyll." + +"Thinkest thou it were nothing to be a minstrel, who gave delight; a +scholar, who dispelled darkness?" + +"For the scholar? Certes, I respect holy Mother Church, which they +tell me alone produces that kind of wonder with full safety to the +soul, and that only in the higher prelates and dignitaries. For the +minstrel, I love him, I would fight for him, I would give him at need +the last penny in my gipsire; but it is better to do deeds than to +sing them." + +Sibyll smiled, and the smile perplexed and half displeased the young +adventurer. But the fire of the young man had its charm. + +By degrees, as they walked to and fro the neglected terrace, their +talk flowed free and familiar; for Marmaduke, like most young men full +of himself, was joyous with the happy egotism of a frank and careless +nature. He told his young confidante of a day his birth, his history, +his hopes, and fears; and in return he learned, in answer to the +questions he addressed to her, so much, at least, of her past and +present life, as the reverses of her father, occasioned by costly +studies, her own brief sojourn at the court of Margaret, and the +solitude, if not the struggles, in which her youth was consumed. It +would have been a sweet and grateful sight to some kindly bystander to +hear these pleasant communications between two young persons so +unfriended, and to imagine that hearts thus opened to each other might +unite in one. But Sibyll, though she listened to him with interest, +and found a certain sympathy in his aspirations, was ever and anon +secretly comparing him to one, the charm of whose voice still lingered +in her ears; and her intellect, cultivated and acute, detected in +Marmaduke deficient education, and that limited experience which is +the folly and the happiness of the young. + +On the other hand, whatever admiration Nevile might conceive was +strangely mixed with surprise, and, it might almost be said, with +fear. This girl, with her wise converse and her child's face, was a +character so thoroughly new to him. Her language was superior to what +he had ever heard, the words more choice, the current more flowing: +was that to be attributed to her court-training or her learned +parentage? + +"Your father, fair mistress," said he, rousing himself in one of the +pauses of their conversation--"your father, then, is a mighty scholar, +and I suppose knows Latin like English?" + +"Why, a hedge-priest pretends to know Latin," said Sibyll, smiling; +"my father is one of the six men living who have learned the Greek and +the Hebrew." + +"Gramercy!" cried Marmaduke, crossing himself. "That is awsome +indeed! He has taught you his lere in the tongues?" + +"Nay, I know but my own and the French; my mother was a native of +France." + +"The Holy Mother be praised!" said Marmaduke, breathing more freely; +"for French I have heard my father and uncle say is a language fit for +gentles and knights, specially those who come, like the Neviles, from +Norman stock. This Margaret of Anjou--didst thou love her well, +Mistress Sibyll?" + +"Nay," answered Sibyll, "Margaret commanded awe, but she scarcely +permitted love from an inferior: and though gracious and well-governed +when she so pleased, it was but to those whom she wished to win. She +cared not for the heart, if the hand or the brain could not assist +her. But, poor queen, who could blame her for this?--her nature was +turned from its milk; and, when, more lately, I have heard how many +she trusted most have turned against her, I rebuked myself that--" + +"Thou wert not by her side?" added the Nevile, observing her pause, +and with the generous thought of a gentleman and a soldier. + +"Nay, I meant not that so expressly, Master Nevile, but rather that I +had ever murmured at her haste and shrewdness of mood. By her side, +said you?--alas! I have a nearer duty at home; my father is all in +this world to me! Thou knowest not, Master Nevile, how it flatters +the weak to think there is some one they can protect. But eno' of +myself. Thou wilt go to the stout earl, thou wilt pass to the court, +thou wilt win the gold spurs, and thou wilt fight with the strong +hand, and leave others to cozen with the keen head." + +"She is telling my fortune!" muttered Marmaduke, crossing himself +again. "The gold spurs--I thank thee, Mistress Sibyll!--will it be on +the battle-field that I shall be knighted, and by whose hand?" + +Sibyll glanced her bright eye at the questioner, and seeing his +wistful face, laughed outright. + +"What, thinkest thou, Master Nevile, I can read thee all riddles +without my sieve and my shears?" + +"They are essentials, then, Mistress Sibyll?" said the Nevile, with +blunt simplicity. "I thought ye more learned damozels might tell by +the palm, or the--why dost thou laugh at me?" + +"Nay," answered Sibyll, composing herself. "It is my right to be +angered. Sith thou wouldst take me to be a witch, all that I can tell +thee of thy future" (she added touchingly) "is from that which I have +seen of thy past. Thou hast a brave heart, and a gentle; thou hast a +frank tongue, and a courteous; and these qualities make men honoured +and loved,--except they have the gifts which turn all into gall, and +bring oppression for honour, and hate for love." + +"And those gifts, gentle Sibyll?" + +"Are my father's," answered the girl, with another and a sadder change +in her expressive countenance. And the conversation flagged till +Marmaduke, feeling more weakened by his loss of blood than he had +conceived it possible, retired to his chamber to repose himself. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MASTER MARMADUKE NEVILE FEARS FOR THE SPIRITUAL WEAL OF HIS HOST AND +HOSTESS. + +Before the hour of supper, which was served at six o'clock, Nicholas +Alwyn arrived at the house indicated to him by Madge. Marmaduke, +after a sound sleep, which was little flattering to Sibyll's +attractions, had descended to the hall in search of the maiden and his +host, and finding no one, had sauntered in extreme weariness and +impatience into the little withdrawing-closet, where as it was now +dusk, burned a single candle in a melancholy and rustic sconce; +standing by the door that opened on the garden, he amused himself with +watching the peacock, when his friend, following Madge into the +chamber, tapped him on the shoulder. + +"Well, Master Nevile. Ha! by Saint Thomas, what has chanced to thee? +Thine arm swathed up, thy locks shorn, thy face blanched! My honoured +foster-brother, thy Westmoreland blood seems over-hot for Cockaigne!" + +"If so, there are plenty in this city of cut-throats to let out the +surplusage," returned Marmaduke; and he briefly related his adventure +to Nicholas. + +When he had done, the kind trader reproached himself for having +suffered Marmaduke to find his way alone. "The suburbs abound with +these miscreants," said he; "and there is more danger in a night walk +near London than in the loneliest glens of green Sherwood--more shame +to the city! An' I be Lord Mayor one of these days, I will look to it +better. But our civil wars make men hold human life very cheap, and +there's parlous little care from the great of the blood and limbs of +the wayfarers. But war makes thieves--and peace hangs them! Only +wait till I manage affairs!" + +"Many thanks to thee, Nicholas," returned the Nevile; "but foul befall +me if ever I seek protection from sheriff or mayor! A man who cannot +keep his own life with his own right hand merits well to hap-lose it; +and I, for one, shall think ill of the day when an Englishman looks +more to the laws than his good arm for his safety; but, letting this +pass, I beseech thee to avise me if my Lord Warwick be still in the +city?" + +"Yes, marry, I know that by the hostelries, which swarm with his +badges, and the oxen, that go in scores to the shambles! It is a +shame to the Estate to see one subject so great, and it bodes no good +to our peace. The earl is preparing the most magnificent embassage +that ever crossed the salt seas--I would it were not to the French, +for our interests lie contrary; but thou hast some days yet to rest +here and grow stout, for I would not have thee present thyself with a +visage of chalk to a man who values his kind mainly by their thews and +their sinews. Moreover, thou shouldst send for the tailor, and get +thee trimmed to the mark. It would be a long step in thy path to +promotion, an' the earl would take thee in his train; and the gaudier +thy plumes, why, the better chance for thy flight. Wherefore, since +thou sayest they are thus friendly to thee under this roof, bide yet a +while peacefully; I will send thee the mercer, and the clothier, and +the tailor, to divert thy impatience. And as these fellows are +greedy, my gentle and dear Master Nevile, may I ask, without offence, +how thou art provided?" + +"Nay, nay, I have moneys at the hostelrie, an' thou wilt send me my +mails. For the rest, I like thy advice, and will take it." + +"Good!" answered Nicholas. "Hem! thou seemest to have got into a poor +house,--a decayed gentleman, I wot, by the slovenly ruin!" + +"I would that were the worst," replied Marmaduke, solemnly, and under +his breath; and therewith he repeated to Nicholas the adventure on the +pastime-ground, the warnings of the timbrel-girls, and the "awsome" +learning and strange pursuits of his host. As for Sibyll, he was +evidently inclined to attribute to glamour the reluctant admiration +with which she had inspired him. "For," said he, "though I deny not +that the maid is passing fair, there be many with rosier cheeks, and +taller by this hand!" + +Nicholas listened, at first, with the peculiar expression of shrewd +sarcasm which mainly characterized his intelligent face, but his +attention grew more earnest before Marmaduke had concluded. + +"In regard to the maiden," said he, smiling and shaking his head, "it +is not always the handsomest that win us the most,--while fair Meg +went a maying, black Meg got to church; and I give thee more +reasonable warning than thy timbrel-girls, when, in spite of thy cold +language, I bid thee take care of thyself against her attractions; +for, verily, my dear foster-brother, thou must mend and not mar thy +fortune, by thy love matters; and keep thy heart whole for some fair +one with marks in her gipsire, whom the earl may find out for thee. +Love and raw pease are two ill things in the porridge-pot. But the +father!--I mind me now that I have heard of his name, through my +friend Master Caxton, the mercer, as one of prodigious skill in the +mathematics. I should like much to see him, and, with thy leave (an' +he ask me), will tarry to supper. But what are these?"--and Nicholas +took up one of the illuminated manuscripts which Sibyll had prepared +for sale. "By the blood! this is couthly and marvellously blazoned." + +The book was still in his hands when Sibyll entered. Nicholas stared +at her, as he bowed with a stiff and ungraceful embarrassment, which +often at first did injustice to his bold, clear intellect, and his +perfect self-possession in matters of trade or importance. + +"The first woman face," muttered Nicholas to himself, "I ever saw that +had the sense of a man's. And, by the rood, what a smile!" + +"Is this thy friend, Master Nevile?" said Sibyll, with a glance at the +goldsmith. "He is welcome. But is it fair and courteous, Master +Nelwyn--" + +"Alwyn, an' it please you, fair mistress. A humble name, but good +Saxon,--which, I take it, Nelwyn is not," interrupted Nicholas. + +"Master Alwyn, forgive me; but can I forgive thee so readily for thy +espial of my handiwork, without license or leave?" + +"Yours, comely mistress!" exclaimed Nicholas, opening his eyes, and +unheeding the gay rebuke--"why, this is a master-hand. My Lord +Scales--nay, the Earl of Worcester himself--hath scarce a finer in all +his amassment." + +"Well, I forgive thy fault for thy flattery; and I pray thee, in my +father's name, to stay and sup with thy friend." Nicholas bowed low, +and still riveted his eyes on the book with such open admiration, that +Marmaduke thought it right to excuse his abstraction; but there was +something in that admiration which raised the spirits of Sibyll, which +gave her hope when hope was well-nigh gone; and she became so +vivacious, so debonair, so charming, in the flow of a gayety natural +to her, and very uncommon with English maidens, but which she took +partly, perhaps, from her French blood, and partly from the example of +girls and maidens of French extraction in Margaret's court, that +Nicholas Alwyn thought he had never seen any one so irresistible. +Madge had now served the evening meal, put in her head to announce it, +and Sibyll withdrew to summon her father. + +"I trust he will not tarry too long, for I am sharp set!" muttered +Marmaduke. "What thinkest thou of the damozel?" "Marry," answered +Alwyn, thoughtfully, "I pity and marvel at her. There is eno' in her +to furnish forth twenty court beauties. But what good can so much wit +and cunning do to an honest maiden?" + +"That is exactly my own thought," said Marmaduke; and both the young +men sunk into silence, till Sibyll re-entered with her father. + +To the surprise of Marmaduke, Nicholas Alwyn, whose less gallant +manner he was inclined to ridicule, soon contrived to rouse their host +from his lethargy, and to absorb all the notice of Sibyll; and the +surprise was increased, when he saw that his friend appeared not +unfamiliar with those abstruse and mystical sciences in which Adam was +engaged. + +"What!" said Adam, "you know, then, my deft and worthy friend Master +Caxton! He hath seen notable things abroad--" + +"Which, he more than hints," said Nicholas, "will lower the value of +those manuscripts this fair damozel has so couthly enriched; and that +he hopes, ere long, to show the Englishers how to make fifty, a +hundred,--nay even five hundred exemplars of the choicest book, in a +much shorter time than a scribe would take in writing out two or three +score pages in a single copy." + +"Verily," said Marmaduke, with a smile of compassion, "the poor man +must be somewhat demented; for I opine that the value of such +curiosities must be in their rarity; and who would care for a book, if +five hundred others had precisely the same?--allowing always, good +Nicholas, for thy friend's vaunting and over-crowing. Five hundred! +By'r Lady, there would be scarcely five hundred fools in merry England +to waste good nobles on spoilt rags, specially while bows and mail are +so dear." + +"Young gentleman," said Adam, rebukingly, "meseemeth that thou +wrongest our age and country, to the which, if we have but peace and +freedom, I trust the birth of great discoveries is ordained. Certes, +Master Alwyn," he added, turning to the goldsmith, "this achievement +maybe readily performed, and hath existed, I heard an ingenious +Fleming say years ago, for many ages amongst a strange people [Query, +the Chinese?] known to the Venetians! But dost thou think there is +much appetite among those who govern the State to lend encouragement +to such matters?" + +"My master serves my Lord Hastings, the king's chamberlain, and my +lord has often been pleased to converse with me, so that I venture to +say, from my knowledge of his affection to all excellent craft and +lere, that whatever will tend to make men wiser will have his +countenance and favour with the king." + +"That is it, that is it!" exclaimed Adam, rubbing his hands. "My +invention shall not die!" + +"And that invention--" + +"Is one that will multiply exemplars of books without hands; works of +craft without 'prentice or journeyman; will move wagons and litters +without horses; will direct ships without sails; will--But, alack! it +is not yet complete, and, for want of means, it never may be." + +Sibyll still kept her animated countenance fixed on Alwyn, whose +intelligence she had already detected, and was charmed with the +profound attention with which he listened. But her eye glancing from +his sharp features to the handsome, honest face of the Nevile, the +contrast was so forcible, that she could not restrain her laughter, +though, the moment after, a keen pang shot through her heart. The +worthy Marmaduke had been in the act of conveying his cup to his lips; +the cup stood arrested midway, his jaws dropped, his eyes opened to +their widest extent, an expression of the most evident consternation +and dismay spoke in every feature; and when he heard the merry laugh +of Sibyll, he pushed his stool from her as far as he well could, and +surveyed her with a look of mingled fear and pity. + +"Alas! thou art sure my poor father is a wizard now?" + +"Pardie!" answered the Nevile. "Hath he not said so? Hath he not +spoken of wagons without horses, ships without sails? And is not all +this what every dissour and jongleur tells us of in his stories of +Merlin? Gentle maiden," he added earnestly, drawing nearer to her, +and whispering in a voice of much simple pathos, "thou art young, and +I owe thee much. Take care of thyself. Such wonders and derring-do +are too solemn for laughter." + +"Ah," answered Sibyll, rising, "I fear they are. How can I expect the +people to be wiser than thou, or their hard natures kinder in their +judgment than thy kind heart?" Her low and melancholy voice went to +the heart thus appealed to. Marmaduke also rose, and followed her +into the parlour, or withdrawing-closet, while Adam and the goldsmith +continued to converse (though Alwyn's eye followed the young hostess), +the former appearing perfectly unconscious of the secession of his +other listeners. But Alwyn's attention occasionally wandered, and he +soon contrived to draw his host into the parlour. + +When Nicholas rose, at last, to depart, he beckoned Sibyll aside. +"Fair mistress," said he, with some awkward hesitation, "forgive a +plain, blunt tongue; but ye of the better birth are not always above +aid, even from such as I am. If you would sell these blazoned +manuscripts, I can not only obtain you a noble purchaser in my Lord +Scales, or in my Lord Hastings, an equally ripe scholar, but it may be +the means of my procuring a suitable patron for your father; and, in +these times, the scholar must creep under the knight's manteline." + +"Master Alwyn," said Sibyll, suppressing her tears, "it was for my +father's sake that these labours were wrought. We are poor and +friendless. Take the manuscripts, and sell them as thou wilt, and God +and Saint Mary requite thee!" + +"Your father is a great man," said Alwyn, after a pause. + +"But were he to walk the streets, they would stone him," replied +Sibyll, with a quiet bitterness. + +Here the Nevile, carefully shunning the magician, who, in the nervous +excitement produced by the conversation of a mind less uncongenial +than he had encountered for many years, seemed about to address him-- +here, I say, the Nevile chimed in, "Hast thou no weapon but thy +bludgeon? Dear foster-brother, I fear for thy safety." + +"Nay, robbers rarely attack us mechanical folk; and I know my way +better than thou. I shall find a boat near York House; so pleasant +night and quick cure to thee, honoured foster-brother. I will send +the tailor and other craftsmen to-morrow." + +"And at the same time," whispered Marmaduke, accompanying his friend +to the door, "send me a breviary, just to patter an ave or so. This +gray-haired carle puts my heart in a tremble. Moreover, buy me a +gittern--a brave one--for the damozel. She is too proud to take +money, and, 'fore Heaven, I have small doubts the old wizard could +turn my hose into nobles an' he had a mind for such gear. Wagons +without horses, ships without sails, quotha!" + +As soon as Alwyn had departed, Madge appeared with the final +refreshment, called "the Wines," consisting of spiced hippocras and +confections, of the former of which the Nevile partook in solemn +silence. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THERE IS A ROD FOR THE BACK OF EVERY FOOL WHO WOULD BE WISER THAN HIS +GENERATION. + +The next morning, when Marmaduke descended to the hall, Madge, +accosting him on the threshold, informed him that Mistress Sibyll was +unwell, and kept her chamber, and that Master Warner was never visible +much before noon. He was, therefore, prayed to take his meal alone. +"Alone" was a word peculiarly unwelcome to Marmaduke Nevile, who was +an animal thoroughly social and gregarious. He managed, therefore, to +detain the old servant, who, besides the liking a skilful leech +naturally takes to a thriving patient, had enough of her sex about her +to be pleased with a comely face and a frank, good-humoured voice. +Moreover, Marmaduke, wishing to satisfy his curiosity, turned the +conversation upon Warner and Sibyll, a theme upon which the old woman +was well disposed to be garrulous. He soon learned the poverty of the +mansion and the sacrifice of the gittern; and his generosity and +compassion were busily engaged in devising some means to requite the +hospitality he had received, without wounding the pride of his host, +when the arrival of his mails, together with the visits of the tailor +and mercer, sent to him by Alwyn, diverted his thoughts into a new +channel. + +Between the comparative merits of gowns and surcoats, broad-toed shoes +and pointed, some time was disposed of with much cheerfulness and +edification; but when his visitors had retired, the benevolent mind of +the young guest again recurred to the penury of his host. Placing his +marks before him on the table in the little withdrawing parlour, he +began counting them over, and putting aside the sum he meditated +devoting to Warner's relief. "But how," he muttered, "how to get him +to take the gold. I know, by myself, what a gentleman and a knight's +son must feel at the proffer of alms--pardie! I would as lief Alwyn +had struck me as offered me his gipsire,--the ill-mannered, +affectionate fellow! I must think--I must think--" + +And while still thinking, the door softly opened, and Warner himself, +in a high state of abstraction and revery, stalked noiselessly into +the room, on his way to the garden, in which, when musing over some +new spring for his invention, he was wont to peripatize. The sight of +the gold on the table struck full on the philosopher's eyes, and waked +him at once from his revery. That gold--oh, what precious +instruments, what learned manuscripts it could purchase! That gold, +it was the breath of life to his model! He walked deliberately up to +the table, and laid his hand upon one of the little heaps. Marmaduke +drew back his stool, and stared at him with open mouth. + +"Young man, what wantest thou with all this gold?" said Adam, in a +petulant, reproachful tone. "Put it up! put it up! Never let the +poor see gold; it tempts them, sir,--it tempts them." And so saying, +the student abruptly turned away his eyes, and moved towards the +garden. Marmaduke rose and put himself in Adam's way. "Honoured +sir," said the young man, "you say justly what want I with all this +gold? The only gold a young man should covet is eno' to suffice for +the knight's spurs to his heels. If, without offence, you would--that +is--ahem!--I mean,--Gramercy! I shall never say it, but I believe my +father owed your father four marks, and he bade me repay them. Here, +sir!" He held out the glittering coins; the philosopher's hand closed +on them as the fish's maw closes on the bait. Adam burst into a +laugh, that sounded strangely weird and unearthly upon Marmaduke's +startled ear. + +"All this for me!" he exclaimed. "For me! No, no, no! for me, for +IT--I take it--I take it, sir! I will pay it back with large usury. +Come to me this day year, when this world will be a new world, and +Adam Warner will be--ha! ha! Kind Heaven, I thank thee!" Suddenly +turning away, the philosopher strode through the hall, opened the +front door, and escaped into the street. + +"By'r Lady," said Marmaduke, slowly recovering his surprise, "I need +not have been so much at a loss; the old gentleman takes to my gold as +kindly as if it were mother's milk. 'Fore Heaven, mine host's laugh +is a ghastly thing!" So soliloquizing, he prudently put up the rest +of his money, and locked his mails. + +As time went on, the young man became exceedingly weary of his own +company. Sibyll still withheld her appearance; the gloom of the old +hall, the uncultivated sadness of the lonely garden, preyed upon his +spirits. At length, impatient to get a view of the world without, he +mounted a high stool in the hall, and so contrived to enjoy the +prospect which the unglazed wicker lattice, deep set in the wall, +afforded. But the scene without was little more animated than that +within,--all was so deserted in the neighbourhood,--the shops mean and +scattered, the thoroughfare almost desolate. At last he heard a +shout, or rather hoot, at a distance; and, turning his attention +whence it proceeded, he beheld a figure emerge from an alley opposite +the casement, with a sack under one arm, and several books heaped +under the other. At his heels followed a train of ragged boys, +shouting and hallooing, "The wizard! the wizard!--Ah! Bah! The old +devil's kin!" At this cry the dull neighbourhood seemed suddenly to +burst forth into life. From the casements and thresholds of every +house curious faces emerged, and many voices of men and women joined, +in deeper bass, with the shrill tenor of the choral urchins, "The +wizard! the wizard! out at daylight!" The person thus stigmatized, as +he approached the house, turned his face with an expression of wistful +perplexity from side to side. His lips moved convulsively, and his +face was very pale, but he spoke not. And now, the children, seeing +him near his refuge, became more outrageous. They placed themselves +menacingly before him, they pulled his robe, they even struck at him; +and one, bolder than the rest, jumped up, and plucked his beard. At +this last insult, Adam Warner, for it was he, broke silence; but such +was the sweetness of his disposition, that it was rather with pity +than reproof in his voice, that he said,-- + +"Fie, little one! I fear me thine own age will have small honour if +thou thus mockest mature years in me." + +This gentleness only served to increase the audacity of his +persecutors, who now, momently augmenting, presented a formidable +obstacle to further progress. Perceiving that he could not advance +without offensive measures on his own part, the poor scholar halted; +and looking at the crowd with mild dignity, he asked, "What means +this, my children? How have I injured you?" + +"The wizard! the wizard!" was the only answer he received. Adam +shrugged his shoulders, and strode on with so sudden a step, that one +of the smaller children, a curly-headed laughing rogue, of about eight +years old, was thrown down at his feet, and the rest gave way. But +the poor man, seeing one of his foes thus fallen, instead of pursuing +his victory, again paused, and forgetful of the precious burdens he +carried, let drop the sack and books, and took up the child in his +arms. On seeing their companion in the embrace of the wizard, a +simultaneous cry of horror broke from the assemblage, "He is going to +curse poor Tim!" + +"My child! my boy!" shrieked a woman, from one of the casements; "let +go my child!" + +On his part, the boy kicked and shrieked lustily, as Adam, bending his +noble face tenderly over him, said, "Thou art not hurt, child. Poor +boy! thinkest thou I would harm thee?" While he spoke a storm of +missiles--mud, dirt, sticks, bricks, stones--from the enemy, that +had now fallen back in the rear, burst upon him. A stone struck him +on the shoulder. Then his face changed; an angry gleam shot from his +deep, calm eyes; he put down the child, and, turning steadily to the +grown people at the windows, said, "Ye train your children ill;" +picked up his sack and books, sighed, as he saw the latter stained by +the mire, which he wiped with his long sleeve, and too proud to show +fear, slowly made for his door. Fortunately Sibyll had heard the +clamour, and was ready to admit her father, and close the door upon +the rush which instantaneously followed his escape. The baffled rout +set up a yell of wrath, and the boys were now joined by several foes +more formidable from the adjacent houses; assured in their own minds +that some terrible execration had been pronounced upon the limbs and +body of Master Tim, who still continued bellowing and howling, +probably from the excitement of finding himself raised to the dignity +of a martyr, the pious neighbours poured forth, with oaths and curses, +and such weapons as they could seize in haste, to storm the wizard's +fortress. + +From his casement Marmaduke Nevile had espied all that had hitherto +passed, and though indignant at the brutality of the persecutors, he +had thought it by no means unnatural. "If men, gentlemen born, will +read uncanny books, and resolve to be wizards, why, they must reap +what they sow," was the logical reflection that passed through the +mind of that ingenuous youth; but when he now perceived the arrival of +more important allies, when stones began to fly through the wicker +lattice, when threats of setting fire to the house and burning the +sorcerer who muttered spells over innocent little boys were heard, +seriously increasing in depth and loudness, Marmaduke felt his +chivalry called forth, and with some difficulty opening the rusty +wicket in the casement, he exclaimed: "Shame on you, my countrymen, +for thus disturbing in broad day a peaceful habitation! Ye call mine +host a wizard. Thus much say I on his behalf: I was robbed and +wounded a few nights since in your neighbourhood, and in this house +alone I found shelter and healing." + +The unexpected sight of the fair young face of Marmaduke Nevile, and +the healthful sound of his clear ringing voice, produced a momentary +effect on the besiegers, when one of them, a sturdy baker, cried out, +"Heed him not,--he is a goblin. Those devil-mongers can bake ye a +dozen such every moment, as deftly as I can draw loaves from the +oven!" + +This speech turned the tide, and at that instant a savage-looking man, +the father of the aggrieved boy, followed by his wife, gesticulating +and weeping, ran from his house, waving a torch in his right hand, his +arm bare to the shoulder; and the cry of "Fire the door!" was +universal. + +In fact, the danger now grew imminent: several of the party were +already piling straw and fagots against the threshold, and Marmaduke +began to think the only chance of life to his host and Sibyll was in +flight by some back way, when he beheld a man, clad somewhat in the +fashion of a country yeoman, a formidable knotted club in his hand, +pushing his way, with Herculean shoulders, through the crowd; and +stationing himself before the threshold and brandishing aloft his +formidable weapon, he exclaimed, "What! In the devil's name, do you +mean to get yourselves all hanged for riot? Do you think that King +Edward is as soft a man as King Henry was, and that he will suffer any +one but himself to set fire to people's houses in this way? I dare +say you are all right enough in the main, but by the blood of Saint +Thomas, I will brain the first man who advances a step,--by way of +preserving the necks of the rest!" + +"A Robin! a Robin!" cried several of the mob. "It is our good friend +Robin. Harken to Robin. He is always right." + +"Ay, that I am!" quoth the defender; "you know that well enough. If I +had my way, the world should be turned upside down, but what the poor +folk should get nearer to the sun! But what I say is this, never go +against law, while the law is too strong. And it were a sad thing to +see fifty fine fellows trussed up for burning an old wizard. So, be +off with you, and let us, at least all that can afford it, make for +Master Sancroft's hostelrie and talk soberly over our ale. For +little, I trow, will ye work now your blood's up." + +This address was received with a shout of approbation. The father of +the injured child set his broad foot on his torch, the baker chucked +up his white cap, the ragged boys yelled out, "A Robin! a Robin!" and +in less than two minutes the place was as empty as it had been before +the appearance of the scholar. Marmaduke, who, though so ignorant of +books, was acute and penetrating in all matters of action, could not +help admiring the address and dexterity of the club-bearer; and the +danger being now over, withdrew from the casement, in search of the +inmates of the house. Ascending the stairs, he found on the landing- +place, near his room, and by the embrasure of a huge casement which +jutted from the wall, Adam and his daughter. Adam was leaning against +the wall, with his arms folded, and Sibyll, hanging upon him, was +uttering the softest and most soothing words of comfort her tenderness +could suggest. + +"My child," said the old man, shaking his head sadly, "I shall never +again have heart for these studies,--never! A king's anger I could +brave, a priest's malice I could pity; but to find the very children, +the young race for whose sake I have made thee and myself paupers, to +find them thus--thus--" He stopped, for his voice failed him, and the +tears rolled down his cheeks. + +"Come and speak comfort to my father, Master Nevile," exclaimed +Sibyll; "come and tell him that whoever is above the herd, whether +knight or scholar, must learn to despise the hootings that follow +Merit. Father, Father, they threw mud and stones at thy king as he +passed through the streets of London. Thou art not the only one whom +this base world misjudges." + +"Worthy mine host!" said Marmaduke, thus appealed to, "Algates, it +were not speaking truth to tell thee that I think a gentleman of birth +and quality should walk the thoroughfares with a bundle of books under +his arm; yet as for the raptril vulgar, the hildings and cullions who +hiss one day what they applaud the next, I hold it the duty of every +Christian and well-born man to regard them as the dirt on the +crossings. Brave soldiers term it no disgrace to receive a blow from +a base hind. An' it had been knights and gentles who had insulted +thee, thou mightest have cause for shame. But a mob of lewd +rascallions and squalling infants--bah! verily, it is mere matter for +scorn and laughter." + +These philosophical propositions and distinctions did not seem to have +their due effect upon Adam. He smiled, however, gently upon his +guest, and with a blush over his pale face, said, "I am rightly +chastised, good young man; mean was I, methinks, and sordid to take +from thee thy good gold. But thou knowest not what fever burns in the +brain of a man who feels that, had he wealth, his knowledge could do +great things,--such things!--I thought to repay thee well. Now the +frenzy is gone, and I, who an hour ago esteemed myself a puissant +sage, sink in mine own conceit to a miserable blinded fool. Child, I +am very weak; I will lay me down and rest." + +So saying, the poor philosopher went his way to his chamber, leaning +on his daughter's arm. + +In a few minutes Sibyll rejoined Marmaduke, who had returned to the +hall, and informed him that her father had lain down a while to +compose himself. + +"It is a hard fate, sir," said the girl, with a faint smile,--"a hard +fate, to be banned and accursed by the world, only because one has +sought to be wiser than the world is." + +"Douce maiden," returned the Nevile, "it is happy for thee that thy +sex forbids thee to follow thy father's footsteps, or I should say his +hard fate were thy fair warning." + +Sibyll smiled faintly, and after a pause, said, with a deep blush,-- + +"You have been generous to my father; do not misjudge him. He would +give his last groat to a starving beggar. But when his passion of +scholar and inventor masters him, thou mightest think him worse than +miser. It is an overnoble yearning that ofttimes makes him mean." + +"Nay," answered Marmaduke, touched by the heavy sigh and swimming eyes +with which the last words were spoken; "I have heard Nick Alwyn's +uncle, who was a learned monk, declare that he could not constrain +himself to pray to be delivered from temptation, seeing that he might +thereby lose an occasion for filching some notable book! For the +rest," he added, "you forget how much I owe to Master Warner's +hospitality." + +He took her hand with a frank and brotherly gallantry as he spoke; but +the touch of that small, soft hand, freely and innocently resigned to +him, sent a thrill to his heart--and again the face of Sibyll seemed +to him wondrous fair. + +There was a long silence, which Sibyll was the first to break. She +turned the conversation once more upon Marmaduke's views in life. It +had been easy for a deeper observer than he was to see that, under all +that young girl's simplicity and sweetness, there lurked something of +dangerous ambition. She loved to recall the court-life her childhood +had known, though her youth had resigned it with apparent +cheerfulness. Like many who are poor and fallen, Sibyll built herself +a sad consolation out of her pride; she never forgot that she was +well-born. But Marmaduke, in what was ambition, saw but interest in +himself, and his heart beat more quickly as he bent his eyes upon that +downcast, thoughtful, earnest countenance. + +After an hour thus passed, Sibyll left the guest, and remounted to her +father's chamber. She found Adam pacing the narrow floor, and +muttering to himself. He turned abruptly as she entered, and said, +"Come hither, child; I took four marks from that young man, for I +wanted books and instruments, and there are two left; see, take them +back to him." + +"My father, he will not receive them. Fear not, thou shalt repay him +some day." + +"Take them, I say, and if the young man says thee nay, why, buy +thyself gauds and gear, or let us eat, and drink, and laugh. What +else is life made for? Ha, ha! Laugh, child, laugh!" + +There was something strangely pathetic in this outburst, this terrible +mirth, born of profound dejection. Alas for this guileless, simple +creature, who had clutched at gold with a huckster's eagerness! who, +forgetting the wants of his own child, had employed it upon the +service of an Abstract Thought, and whom the scorn of his kind now +pierced through all the folds of his close-webbed philosophy and self +forgetful genius. Awful is the duel between MAN and THE AGE in which +he lives! For the gain of posterity, Adam Warner had martyrized +existence,--and the children pelted him as he passed the streets! +Sibyll burst into tears. + +"No, my father, no," she sobbed, pushing back the money into his +hands. "Let us both starve rather than you should despond. God and +man will bring you justice yet." + +"Ah," said the baffled enthusiast, "my whole mind is one sore now! I +feel as if I could love man no more. Go, and leave me. Go, I say!" +and the poor student, usually so mild and gall-less, stamped his foot +in impotent rage. Sibyll, weeping as if her heart would break, left +him. + +Then Adam Warner again paced to and fro restlessly, and again muttered +to himself for several minutes. At last he approached his Model,--the +model of a mighty and stupendous invention, the fruit of no chimerical +and visionary science; a great Promethean THING, that, once matured, +would divide the Old World from the New, enter into all operations of +Labour, animate all the future affairs, colour all the practical +doctrines of active men. He paused before it, and addressed it as if +it heard and understood him: "My hair was dark, and my tread was firm, +when, one night, a THOUGHT passed into my soul,--a thought to make +Matter the gigantic slave of Mind. Out of this thought, thou, not yet +born after five-and-twenty years of travail, wert conceived. My +coffers were then full, and my name was honoured; and the rich +respected and the poor loved me. Art thou a devil, that has tempted +me to ruin, or a god, that has lifted me above the earth? I am old +before my time, my hair is blanched, my frame is bowed, my wealth is +gone, my name is sullied. And all, dumb idol of Iron and the Element, +all for thee! I had a wife whom I adored; she died,--I forgot her +loss in the hope of thy life. I have a child still--God and our Lady +forgive me! she is less dear to me than thou hast been. And now"--the +old man ceased abruptly, and folding his arms, looked at the deaf iron +sternly, as on a human foe. By his side was a huge hammer, employed +in the toils of his forge; suddenly he seized and swung it aloft. One +blow, and the labour of years was shattered into pieces! One blow!-- +But the heart failed him, and the hammer fell heavily to the ground. + +"Ay!" he muttered, "true, true! if thou, who hast destroyed all else, +wert destroyed too, what were left me? Is it a crime to murder Alan? +--a greater crime to murder Thought, which is the life of all men! +Come, I forgive thee!" + +And all that day and all that night the Enthusiast laboured in his +chamber, and the next day the remembrance of the hooting, the pelting, +the mob, was gone,--clean gone from his breast. The Model began to +move, life hovered over its wheels; and the Martyr of Science had +forgotten the very world for which he, groaning and rejoicing, toiled! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +MASTER MARMADUKE NEVILE MAKES LOVE, AND IS FRIGHTENED. + +For two or three days Marmaduke and Sibyll were necessarily brought +much together. Such familiarity of intercourse was peculiarly rare in +that time, when, except perhaps in the dissolute court of Edward IV., +the virgins of gentle birth mixed sparingly, and with great reserve, +amongst those of opposite sex. Marmaduke, rapidly recovering from the +effect of his wounds, and without other resource than Sibyll's society +in the solitude of his confinement, was not proof against the +temptation which one so young and so sweetly winning brought to his +fancy or his senses. The poor Sibyll--she was no faultless paragon,-- +she was a rare and singular mixture of many opposite qualities in +heart and in intellect! She was one moment infantine in simplicity +and gay playfulness; the next a shade passed over her bright face, and +she uttered some sentence of that bitter and chilling wisdom, which +the sense of persecution, the cruelty of the world, had already taught +her. She was, indeed, at that age when the Child and the Woman are +struggling against each other. Her character was not yet formed,--a +little happiness would have ripened it at once into the richest bloom +of goodness. But sorrow, that ever sharpens the intellect, might only +serve to sour the heart. Her mind was so innately chaste and pure, +that she knew not the nature of the admiration she excited; but the +admiration pleased her as it pleases some young child; she was vain +then, but it was an infant's vanity, not a woman's. And thus, from +innocence itself, there was a fearlessness, a freedom, a something +endearing and familiar in her manner, which might have turned a wiser +head than Marmaduke Nevile's. And this the more, because, while +liking her young guest, confiding in him, raised in her own esteem by +his gallantry, enjoying that intercourse of youth with youth so +unfamiliar to her, and surrendering herself the more to its charm from +the joy that animated her spirits, in seeing that her father had +forgotten his humiliation, and returned to his wonted labours,--she +yet knew not for the handsome Nevile one sentiment that approached to +love. Her mind was so superior to his own, that she felt almost as if +older in years, and in their talk her rosy lips preached to him in +grave advice. + +On the landing, by Marmaduke's chamber, there was a large oriel +casement jutting from the wall. It was only glazed at the upper part, +and that most imperfectly, the lower part being closed at night or in +inclement weather with rude shutters. The recess formed by this +comfortless casement answered, therefore, the purpose of a balcony; it +commanded a full view of the vicinity without, and gave to those who +might be passing by the power also of indulging their own curiosity by +a view of the interior. + +Whenever he lost sight of Sibyll, and had grown weary of the peacock, +this spot was Marmaduke's favourite haunt. It diverted him, poor +youth, to look out of the window upon the livelier world beyond. The +place, it is true, was ordinarily deserted, but still the spires and +turrets of London were always discernible,--and they were something. + +Accordingly, in this embrasure stood Marmaduke, when one morning, +Sibyll, coming from her father's room, joined him. + +"And what, Master Nevile," said Sibyll, with a malicious yet charming +smile, "what claimed thy meditations? Some misgiving as to the +trimming of thy tunic, or the length of thy shoon?" + +"Nay," returned Marmaduke, gravely, "such thoughts, though not without +their importance in the mind of a gentleman, who would not that his +ignorance of court delicacies should commit him to the japes of his +equals, were not at that moment uppermost. I was thinking--" + +"Of those mastiffs, quarrelling for a bone. Avow it." + +"By our Lady, I saw them not, but now I look, they are brave dogs. +Ha! seest thou how gallantly each fronts the other, the hair +bristling, the eyes fixed, the tail on end, the fangs glistening? Now +the lesser one moves slowly round and round the bigger, who, mind you, +Mistress Sibyll, is no dullard, but moves, too, quick as thought, not +to be taken unawares. Ha! that is a brave spring! Heigh, dogs, +Neigh! a good sight!--it makes the blood warm! The little one hath +him by the throat!" + +"Alack," said Sibyll, turning away her eyes, "can you find pleasure in +seeing two poor brutes mangle each other for a bone?" + +"By Saint Dunstan! doth it matter what may be the cause of quarrel, so +long as dog or man bears himself bravely, with a due sense of honour +and derring-do? See! the big one is up again. Ah, foul fall the +butcher, who drives them away! Those seely mechanics know not the +joyaunce of fair fighting to gentle and to hound. For a hound, mark +you, hath nothing mechanical in his nature. He is a gentleman all +over,--brave against equal and stranger, forbearing to the small and +defenceless, true in poverty and need where he loveth, stern and +ruthless where he hateth, and despising thieves, hildings, and the +vulgar as much as e'er a gold spur in King Edward's court! Oh, +certes, your best gentleman is the best hound!" + +"You moralize to-day; and I know not how to gainsay you," returned +Sibyll, as the dogs, reluctantly beaten off, retired each from each, +snarling and reluctant, while a small black cur, that had hitherto sat +unobserved at the door of a small hostelrie, now coolly approached and +dragged off the bone of contention. "But what sayst thou now? See! +see! the patient mongrel carries off the bone from the gentleman- +hounds. Is that the way of the world?" + +"Pardie! it is a naught world, if so, and much changed from the time +of our fathers, the Normans. But these Saxons are getting uppermost +again, and the yard measure, I fear me, is more potent in these +holiday times than the mace or the battle-axe." The Nevile paused, +sighed, and changed the subject: "This house of thine must have been a +stately pile in its day. I see but one side of the quadrangle is +left, though it be easy to trace where the other three have stood." + +"And you may see their stones and their fittings in the butcher's and +baker's stalls over the way," replied Sibyll. + +"Ay!" said the Nevile, "the parings of the gentry begin to be the +wealth of the varlets." + +"Little ought we to pine at that," returned Sibyll, "if the varlets +were but gentle with our poverty; but they loathe the humbled fortunes +on which they rise, and while slaves to the rich, are tyrants to the +poor." + +This was said so sadly, that the Nevile felt his eyes overflow; and +the humble dress of the girl, the melancholy ridges which evinced the +site of a noble house, now shrunk into a dismal ruin, the remembrance +of the pastime-ground, the insults of the crowd, and the broken +gittern, all conspired to move his compassion, and to give force to +yet more tender emotions. + +"Ah," he said suddenly, and with a quick faint blush over his handsome +and manly countenance,--"ah, fair maid--fair Sibyll--God grant that I +may win something of gold and fortune amidst yonder towers, on which +the sun shines so cheerly. God grant it, not for my sake,--not for +mine; but that I may have something besides a true heart and a +stainless name to lay at thy feet. Oh, Sibyll! By this hand, by my +father's soul, I love thee, Sibyll! Have I not said it before? Well, +hear me now,--I love thee!" + +As he spoke, he clasped her hand in his own, and she suffered it for +one instant to rest in his. Then withdrawing it, and meeting his +enamoured eyes with a strange sadness in her own darker, deeper, and +more intelligent orbs, she said,-- + +"I thank thee,--thank thee for the honour of such kind thoughts; and +frankly I answer, as thou hast frankly spoken. It was sweet to me, +who have known little in life not hard and bitter,--sweet to wish I +had a brother like thee, and, as a brother, I can love and pray for +thee. But ask not more, Marmaduke. I have aims in life which forbid +all other love." + +"Art thou too aspiring for one who has his spurs to win?" + +"Not so; but listen. My mother's lessons and my own heart have made +my poor father the first end and object of all things on earth to me. +I live to protect him, work for him, honour him; and for the rest, I +have thoughts thou canst not know, an ambition thou canst not feel. +Nay," she added, with that delightful smile which chased away the +graver thought which had before saddened her aspect, "what would thy +sober friend Master Alwyn say to thee, if he heard thou hadst courted +the wizard's daughter?" + +"By my faith," exclaimed Marmaduke, "thou art a very April,--smiles +and clouds in a breath! If what thou despisest in me be my want of +bookcraft, and such like, by my halidame I will turn scholar for thy +sake; and--" + +Here, as he had again taken Sibyll's hand, with the passionate ardour +of his bold nature, not to be lightly daunted by a maiden's first +"No," a sudden shrill, wild burst of laughter, accompanied with a +gusty fit of unmelodious music from the street below, made both maiden +and youth start, and turn their eyes; there, weaving their immodest +dance, tawdry in their tinsel attire, their naked arms glancing above +their heads, as they waved on high their instruments, went the +timbrel-girls. + +"Ha, ha!" cried their leader, "see the gallant and the witch-leman! +The glamour has done its work! Foul is fair! foul is fair! and the +devil will have his own!" + +But these creatures, whose bold license the ancient chronicler +records, were rarely seen alone. They haunted parties of pomp and +pleasure; they linked together the extremes of life,--the grotesque +Chorus that introduced the terrible truth of foul vice and abandoned +wretchedness in the midst of the world's holiday and pageant. So now, +as they wheeled into the silent, squalid street, they heralded a +goodly company of dames and cavaliers on horseback, who were passing +through the neighbouring plains into the park of Marybone to enjoy the +sport of falconry. The splendid dresses of this procession, and the +grave and measured dignity with which it swept along, contrasted +forcibly with the wild movements and disorderly mirth of the timbrel- +players. These last darted round and round the riders, holding out +their instruments for largess, and retorting, with laugh and gibe, the +disdainful look or sharp rebuke with which their salutations were +mostly received. + +Suddenly, as the company, two by two, paced up the street, Sibyll +uttered a faint exclamation, and strove to snatch her hand from the +Nevile's grasp. Her eye rested upon one of the horsemen, who rode +last, and who seemed in earnest conversation with a dame, who, though +scarcely in her first youth, excelled all her fair companions in +beauty of face and grace of horsemanship, as well as in the costly +equipments of the white barb that caracoled beneath her easy hand. At +the same moment the horseman looked up and gazed steadily at Sibyll, +whose countenance grew pale, and flushed, in a breath. His eye then +glanced rapidly at Marmaduke; a half-smile passed his pale, firm lips; +he slightly raised the plumed cap from his brow, inclined gravely to +Sibyll, and, turning once more to his companion, appeared to answer +some question she addressed to him as to the object of his salutation, +for her look, which was proud, keen, and lofty, was raised to Sibyll, +and then dropped somewhat disdainfully, as she listened to the words +addressed her by the cavalier. + +The lynx eyes of the tymbesteres had seen the recognition; and their +leader, laying her bold hand on the embossed bridle of the horseman, +exclaimed, in a voice shrill and loud enough to be heard in the +balcony above, "Largess! noble lord, largess! for the sake of the lady +thou lovest best!" + +The fair equestrian turned away her head at these words; the nobleman +watched her a moment, and dropped some coins into the timbrel. + +"Ha, ha!" cried the tymbestere, pointing her long arm to Sibyll, and +springing towards the balcony,-- + + "The cushat would mate + Above her state, + And she flutters her wings round the falcon's beak; + But death to the dove + Is the falcon's love! + Oh, sharp is the kiss of the falcon's beak!" + +Before this rude song was ended, Sibyll had vanished from the place; +the cavalcade had disappeared. The timbrel-players, without deigning +to notice Marmaduke, darted elsewhere to ply their discordant trade, +and the Nevile, crossing himself devoutly, muttered, "Jesu defend us! +Those she Will-o'-the-wisps are eno' to scare all the blood out of +one's body. What--a murrain on them!--do they portend, flitting round +and round, and skirting off, as if the devil's broomstick was behind +them! By the Mass! they have frighted away the damozel, and I am not +sorry for it. They have left me small heart for the part of Sir +Launval." + +His meditations were broken off by the sudden sight of Nicholas Alwyn, +mounted on a small palfrey, and followed by a sturdy groom on +horseback, leading a steed handsomely caparisoned. In another moment, +Marmaduke had descended, opened the door, and drawn Alwyn into the +hall. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MASTER MARMADUKE NEVILE LEAVES THE WIZARD'S HOUSE FOR THE GREAT WORLD. + +"Right glad am I," said Nicholas, "to see you so stout and hearty, for +I am the bearer of good news. Though I have been away, I have not +forgotten you; and it so chanced that I went yesterday to attend my +Lord of Warwick with some nowches [buckles and other ornaments] and +knackeries, that he takes out as gifts and exemplars of English work. +They were indifferently well wrought, specially a chevesail, of which +the--" + +"Spare me the fashion of thy mechanicals, and come to the point," +interrupted Marmaduke, impatiently. + +"Pardon me, Master Nevile. I interrupt thee not when thou talkest of +bassinets and hauberks,--every cobbler to his last. But, as thou +sayest, to the point: the stout earl, while scanning my workmanship, +for in much the chevesail was mine, was pleased to speak graciously of +my skill with the bow, of which he had heard; and he then turned to +thyself, of whom my Lord Montagu had already made disparaging mention. +When I told the earl somewhat more about thy qualities and disposings, +and when I spoke of thy desire to serve him, and the letter of which +thou art the bearer, his black brows smoothed mighty graciously, and +he bade me tell thee to come to him this afternoon, and he would judge +of thee with his own eyes and ears. Wherefore I have ordered the +craftsman to have all thy gauds and gear ready at thine hostelrie, and +I have engaged thee henchmen and horses for thy fitting appearance. +Be quick: time and the great wait for no man. So take whatever thou +needest for present want from thy mails, and I will send a porter for +the rest ere sunset." + +"But the gittern for the damozel?" + +"I have provided that for thee, as is meet." And Nicholas, stepping +back, eased the groom of a case which contained a gittern, whose +workmanship and ornaments delighted the Nevile. + +"It is of my lord the young Duke of Gloucester's own musical-vendor; +and the duke, though a lad yet, is a notable judge of all appertaining +to the gentle craft. [For Richard III.'s love of music, and patronage +of musicians and minstrels, see the discriminating character of that +prince in Sharon Turner's "History of England," vol. IV. p. 66.] So +despatch, and away!" + +Marmaduke retired to his chamber, and Nicholas, after a moment spent +in silent thought, searched the room for the hand-bell, which then +made the mode of communication between the master and domestics. Not +finding this necessary luxury, he contrived at last to make Madge hear +his voice from her subterranean retreat; and on her arrival, sent her +in quest of Sibyll. + +The answer he received was, that Mistress Sibyll was ill, and unable +to see him. Alwyn looked disconcerted at this intelligence, but, +drawing from his girdle a small gipsire, richly broidered, he prayed +Madge to deliver it to her young mistress, and inform her that it was +the fruit of the commission with which she had honoured him. + +"It is passing strange," said he, pacing the hall alone,--"passing +strange, that the poor child should have taken such hold on me. After +all, she would be a bad wife for a plain man like me. Tush! that is +the trader's thought all over. Have I brought no fresher feeling out +of my fair village-green? Would it not be sweet to work for her, and +rise in life, with her by my side? And these girls of the city, so +prim and so brainless!--as well marry a painted puppet. Sibyll! Am I +dement? Stark wode? What have I to do with girls and marriage? +Humph! I marvel what Marmaduke still thinks of her,--and she of him." + +While Alwyn thus soliloquized, the Nevile having hastily arranged his +dress, and laden himself with the moneys his mails contained, summoned +old Madge to receive his largess, and to conduct him to Warner's +chamber, in order to proffer his farewell. + +With somewhat of a timid step he followed the old woman (who kept +muttering thanks and benedicites as she eyed the coin in her palm) up +the ragged stairs, and for the first time knocked at the door of the +student's sanctuary. No answer came. "Eh, sir! you must enter," said +Madge; "an' you fired a bombard under his ear he would not heed you." +So, suiting the action to the word, she threw open the door, and +closed it behind him, as Marmaduke entered. + +The room was filled with smoke, through which mirky atmosphere the +clear red light of the burning charcoal peered out steadily like a +Cyclop's eye. A small, but heaving, regular, labouring, continuous +sound, as of a fairy hammer, smote the young man's ear. But as his +gaze, accustoming itself to the atmosphere, searched around, he could +not perceive what was its cause. Adam Warner was standing in the +middle of the room, his arms folded, and contemplating something at a +little distance, which Marmaduke could not accurately distinguish. +The youth took courage, and approached. "Honoured mine host," said +he, "I thank thee for hospitality and kindness, I crave pardon for +disturbing thee in thy incanta--ehem!--thy--thy studies, and I come to +bid thee farewell." + +Adam turned round with a puzzled, absent air, as if scarcely +recognizing his guest; at length, as his recollection slowly came back +to him, he smiled graciously, and said: "Good youth, thou art richly +welcome to what little it was in my power to do for thee. +Peradventure a time may come when they who seek the roof of Adam +Warner may find less homely cheer, a less rugged habitation,--for look +you!" he exclaimed suddenly, with a burst of irrepressible enthusiasm +--and laying his hand on Nevile's arm, as, through all the smoke and +grime that obscured his face, flashed the ardent soul of the +triumphant Inventor,--"look you! since you have been in this house, +one of my great objects is well-nigh matured,--achieved. Come +hither," and he dragged the wondering Marmaduke to his model, or +Eureka, as Adam had fondly named his contrivance. The Nevile then +perceived that it was from the interior of this machine that the sound +which had startled him arose; to his eye the THING was uncouth and +hideous; from the jaws of an iron serpent, that, wreathing round it, +rose on high with erect crest, gushed a rapid volume of black smoke, +and a damp spray fell around. A column of iron in the centre kept in +perpetual and regular motion, rising and sinking successively, as the +whole mechanism within seemed alive with noise and action. + +"The Syracusan asked an inch of earth, beyond the earth, to move the +earth," said Adam; "I stand in the world, and lo! with this engine the +world shall one day be moved." + +"Holy Mother!" faltered Marmaduke; "I pray thee, dread sir, to ponder +well ere thou attemptest any such sports with the habitation in which +every woman's son is so concerned. Bethink thee, that if in moving +the world thou shouldst make any mistake, it would--" + +"Now stand there and attend," interrupted Adam, who had not heard one +word of this judicious exhortation. + +"Pardon me, terrible sir!" exclaimed Marmaduke, in great trepidation, +and retreating rapidly to the door; "but I have heard that the fiends +are mighty malignant to all lookers-on not initiated." + +While he spoke, fast gushed the smoke, heavily heaved the fairy +hammers, up and down, down and up, sank or rose the column, with its +sullen sound. The young man's heart sank to the soles of his feet. + +"Indeed and in truth," he stammered out, "I am but a dolt in these +matters; I wish thee all success compatible with the weal of a +Christian, and bid thee, in sad humility, good day:" and he added, in +a whisper--"the Lord's forgiveness! Amen!" + +Marmaduke then fairly rushed through the open door, and hurried out of +the chamber as fast as possible. + +He breathed more freely as he descended the stairs. "Before I would +call that gray carle my father, or his child my wife, may I feel all +the hammers of the elves and sprites he keeps tortured within that +ugly little prison-house playing a death's march on my body! Holy +Saint Dunstan, the timbrel-girls came in time! They say these wizards +always have fair daughters, and their love can be no blessing!" + +As he thus muttered, the door of Sibyll's chamber opened, and she +stood before him at the threshold. Her countenance was very pale, and +bore evidence of weeping. There was a silence on both sides, which +the girl was the first to break. + +"So, Madge tells me thou art about to leave us?" + +"Yes, gentle maiden! I--I--that is, my Lord of Warwick has summoned +me. I wish and pray for all blessings on thee! and--and--if ever it +be mine to serve or aid thee, it will be--that is--verily, my tongue +falters, but my heart--that is--fare thee well, maiden! Would thou +hadst a less wise father; and so may the saints (Saint Anthony +especially, whom the Evil One was parlous afraid of) guard and keep +thee!" + +With this strange and incoherent address, Marmaduke left the maiden +standing by the threshold of her miserable chamber. Hurrying into the +hall, he summoned Alwyn from his meditations, and, giving the gittern +to Madge, with an injunction to render it to her mistress, with his +greeting and service, he vaulted lightly on his steed; the steady and +more sober Alwyn mounted his palfrey with slow care and due caution. +As the air of spring waved the fair locks of the young cavalier, as +the good horse caracoled under his lithesome weight, his natural +temper of mind, hardy, healthful, joyous, and world-awake, returned to +him. The image of Sibyll and her strange father fled from his +thoughts like sickly dreams. + + + + + +BOOK II. + +THE KING'S COURT. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +EARL WARWICK THE KING-MAKER. + +The young men entered the Strand, which, thanks to the profits of a +toll-bar, was a passable road for equestrians, studded towards the +river, as we have before observed, with stately and half-fortified +mansions; while on the opposite side, here and there, were straggling +houses of a humbler kind,--the mediaeval villas of merchant and trader +(for, from the earliest period since the Conquest, the Londoners had +delight in such retreats), surrounded with blossoming orchards, [On +all sides, without the suburbs, are the citizens' gardens and +orchards, etc.--FITZSTEPHEN.] and adorned in front with the fleur-de- +lis, emblem of the vain victories of renowned Agincourt. But by far +the greater portion of the road northward stretched, unbuilt upon, +towards a fair chain of fields and meadows, refreshed by many brooks, +"turning water-mills with a pleasant noise." High rose, on the +thoroughfare, the famous Cross, at which "the Judges Itinerant whilome +sate, without London." [Stowe.] There, hallowed and solitary, stood +the inn for the penitent pilgrims, who sought "the murmuring runnels" +of St. Clement's healing well; for in this neighbourhood, even from +the age of the Roman, springs of crystal wave and salubrious virtue +received the homage of credulous disease. Through the gloomy arches +of the Temple Gate and Lud, our horsemen wound their way, and finally +arrived in safety at Marmaduke's hostelrie in the East Chepe. Here +Marmaduke found the decorators of his comely person already assembled. +The simpler yet more manly fashions he had taken from the provinces +were now exchanged for an attire worthy the kinsman of the great +minister of a court unparalleled, since the reign of William the Red +King, for extravagant gorgeousness of dress. His corset was of the +finest cloth, sown with seed pearls; above it the lawn shirt, worn +without collar, partially appeared, fringed with gold; over this was +loosely hung a super-tunic of crimson sarcenet, slashed and pounced +with a profusion of fringes. His velvet cap, turned up at the sides, +extended in a point far over the forehead. His hose--under which +appellation is to be understood what serves us of the modern day both +for stockings and pantaloons--were of white cloth; and his shoes, very +narrow, were curiously carved into chequer work at the instep, and +tied with bobbins of gold thread, turning up like skates at the +extremity, three inches in length. His dagger was suspended by a +slight silver-gilt chain, and his girdle contained a large gipsire, or +pouch, of embossed leather, richly gilt. + +And this dress, marvellous as it seemed to the Nevile, the tailor +gravely assured him was far under the mark of the highest fashion, and +that an' the noble youth had been a knight, the shoes would have +stretched at least three inches farther over the natural length of the +feet, the placard have shone with jewels, and the tunic luxuriated in +flowers of damacene. Even as it was, however, Marmaduke felt a +natural diffidence of his habiliments, which cost him a round third of +his whole capital; and no bride ever unveiled herself with more +shamefaced bashfulness than did Marmaduke Nevile experience when he +remounted his horse, and, taking leave of his foster-brother, bent his +way to Warwick Lane, where the earl lodged. + +The narrow streets were, however, crowded with equestrians whose dress +eclipsed his own, some bending their way to the Tower, some to the +palaces of the Flete. Carriages there were none, and only twice he +encountered the huge litters, in which some aged prelate or some high- +born dame veiled greatness from the day. But the frequent vistas to +the river gave glimpses of the gay boats and barges that crowded the +Thames, which was then the principal thoroughfare for every class, but +more especially the noble. The ways were fortunately dry and clean +for London, though occasionally deep holes and furrows in the road +menaced perils to the unwary horseman. The streets themselves might +well disappoint in splendour the stranger's eye; for although, viewed +at a distance, ancient London was incalculably more picturesque and +stately than the modern, yet when fairly in its tortuous labyrinths, +it seemed to those who had improved the taste by travel the meanest +and the mirkiest capital of Christendom. The streets were +marvellously narrow, the upper stories, chiefly of wood, projecting +far over the lower, which were formed of mud and plaster. The shops +were pitiful booths, and the 'prentices standing at the entrance bare- +headed and cap in hand, and lining the passages, as the old French +writer avers, comme idoles, [Perlin] kept up an eternal din with their +clamorous invitations, often varied by pert witticisms on some +churlish passenger, or loud vituperations of each other. The whole +ancient family of the London criers were in full bay. Scarcely had +Marmaduke's ears recovered the shock of "Hot peascods,--all hot!" than +they were saluted with "Mackerel!" "Sheep's feet! hot sheep's feet!" +At the smaller taverns stood the inviting vociferaters of "Cock-pie," +"Ribs of beef,--hot beef!" while, blended with these multi-toned +discords, whined the vielle, or primitive hurdy-gurdy, screamed the +pipe, twanged the harp, from every quarter where the thirsty paused to +drink, or the idler stood to gape. [See Lydgate: London Lyckpenny.] + +Through this Babel Marmaduke at last slowly wound his way, and arrived +before the mighty mansion in which the chief baron of England held his +state. + +As he dismounted and resigned his steed to the servitor hired for him +by Alwyn, Marmaduke paused a moment, struck by the disparity, common +as it was to eyes more accustomed to the metropolis, between the +stately edifice and the sordid neighbourhood. He had not noticed this +so much when he had repaired to the earl's house on his first arrival +in London, for his thoughts then had been too much bewildered by the +general bustle and novelty of the scene; but now it seemed to him that +he better comprehended the homage accorded to a great noble in +surveying, at a glance, the immeasurable eminence to which he was +elevated above his fellow-men by wealth and rank. + +Far on either side of the wings of the earl's abode stretched, in +numerous deformity, sheds rather than houses, of broken plaster and +crazy timbers. But here and there were open places of public +reception, crowded with the lower followers of the puissant chief; and +the eye rested on many idle groups of sturdy swash-bucklers, some +half-clad in armour, some in rude jerkins of leather, before the doors +of these resorts,--as others, like bees about a hive, swarmed in and +out with a perpetual hum. + +The exterior of Warwick House was of a gray but dingy stone, and +presented a half-fortified and formidable appearance. The windows, or +rather loop-holes, towards the street were few, and strongly barred. +The black and massive arch of the gateway yawned between two huge +square towers; and from a yet higher but slender tower on the inner +side, the flag gave the "White Bear and Ragged Staff" to the smoky +air. Still, under the portal as he entered, hung the grate of the +portcullis, and the square court which he saw before him swarmed with +the more immediate retainers of the earl, in scarlet jackets, wrought +with their chieftain's cognizance. A man of gigantic girth and +stature, who officiated as porter, leaning against the wall under the +arch, now emerged from the shadow, and with sufficient civility +demanded the young visitor's name and business. On hearing the +former, he bowed low as he doffed his hat, and conducted Marmaduke +through the first quadrangle. The two sides to the right and left +were devoted to the offices and rooms of retainers, of whom no less +than six hundred, not to speak of the domestic and more orderly +retinue, attested the state of the Last of the English Barons on his +visits to the capital. Far from being then, as now, the object of the +great to thrust all that belongs to the service of the house out of +sight, it was their pride to strike awe into the visitor by the extent +of accommodation afforded to their followers: some seated on benches +of stone ranged along the walls; some grouped in the centre of the +court; some lying at length upon the two oblong patches of what had +been turf, till worn away by frequent feet,--this domestic army filled +the young Nevile with an admiration far greater than the gay satins of +the knights and nobles who had gathered round the lord of Montagu and +Northumberland at the pastime-ground. + +This assemblage, however, were evidently under a rude discipline of +their own. They were neither noisy nor drunk. They made way with +surly obeisance as the cavalier passed, and closing on his track like +some horde of wild cattle, gazed after him with earnest silence, and +then turned once more to their indolent whispers with each other. + +And now Nevile entered the last side of the quadrangle. The huge +hall, divided from the passage by a screen of stone fretwork, so fine +as to attest the hand of some architect in the reign of Henry III., +stretched to his right; and so vast, in truth, it was, that though +more than fifty persons were variously engaged therein, their number +was lost in the immense space. Of these, at one end of the longer and +lower table beneath the dais, some squires of good dress and mien were +engaged at chess or dice; others were conferring in the gloomy +embrasures of the casements; some walking to and fro, others gathered +round the shovel-board. At the entrance of this hall the porter left +Marmaduke, after exchanging a whisper with a gentleman whose dress +eclipsed the Nevile's in splendour; and this latter personage, who, +though of high birth, did not disdain to perform the office of +chamberlain, or usher, to the king-like earl, advanced to Marmaduke +with a smile, and said,-- + +"My lord expects you, sir, and has appointed this time to receive you, +that you may not be held back from his presence by the crowds that +crave audience in the forenoon. Please to follow me!" This said, the +gentleman slowly preceded the visitor, now and then stopping to +exchange a friendly word with the various parties he passed in his +progress; for the urbanity which Warwick possessed himself, his policy +inculcated as a duty on all who served him. A small door at the other +extremity of the hall admitted into an anteroom, in which some half +score pages, the sons of knights and barons, were gathered round an +old warrior, placed at their head as a sort of tutor, to instruct them +in all knightly accomplishments; and beckoning forth one of these +youths from the ring, the earl's chamberlain said, with a profound +reverence, "Will you be pleased, my young lord, to conduct your +cousin, Master Marmaduke Nevile, to the earl's presence?" The young +gentleman eyed Marmaduke with a supercilious glance. + +"Marry!" said he, pertly, "if a man born in the North were to feed all +his cousins, he would soon have a tail as long as my uncle, the stout +earl's. Come, sir cousin, this way." And without tarrying even to +give Nevile information of the name and quality of his new-found +relation,--who was no less than Lord Montagu's son, the sole male heir +to the honours of that mighty family, though now learning the +apprenticeship of chivalry amongst his uncle's pages,--the boy passed +before Marmaduke with a saunter, that, had they been in plain +Westmoreland, might have cost him a cuff from the stout hand of the +indignant elder cousin. He raised the tapestry at one end of the +room, and ascending a short flight of broad stairs, knocked gently on +the panels of an arched door sunk deep in the walls. + +"Enter!" said a clear, loud voice, and the next moment Marmaduke was +in the presence of the King-maker. + +He heard his guide pronounce his name, and saw him smile maliciously +at the momentary embarrassment the young man displayed, as the boy +passed by Marmaduke, and vanished. The Earl of Warwick was seated +near a door that opened upon an inner court, or rather garden, which +gave communication to the river. The chamber was painted in the style +of Henry III., with huge figures representing the battle of Hastings, +or rather, for there were many separate pieces, the conquest of Saxon +England. Over each head, to enlighten the ignorant, the artist had +taken the precaution to insert a label, which told the name and the +subject. The ceiling was groined, vaulted, and emblazoned with the +richest gilding and colours. The chimneypiece (a modern ornament) +rose to the roof, and represented in bold reliefs, gilt and decorated, +the signing of Magna Charta. The floor was strewed thick with dried +rushes and odorous herbs; the furniture was scanty, but rich. The +low-backed chairs, of which there were but four, carved in ebony, had +cushions of velvet with fringes of massive gold; a small cupboard, or +beaufet, covered with carpetz de cuir (carpets of gilt and painted +leather), of great price, held various quaint and curious ornaments of +plate inwrought with precious stones; and beside this--a singular +contrast--on a plain Gothic table lay the helmet, the gauntlets, and +the battle-axe of the master. Warwick himself, seated before a large, +cumbrous desk, was writing,--but slowly and with pain,--and he lifted +his finger as the Nevile approached, in token of his wish to conclude +a task probably little congenial to his tastes. But Marmaduke was +grateful for the moments afforded him to recover his self-possession, +and to examine his kinsman. + +The earl was in the lusty vigour of his age. His hair, of the deepest +black, was worn short, as if in disdain of the effeminate fashions of +the day; and fretted bare from the temples by the constant and early +friction of his helmet, gave to a forehead naturally lofty yet more +majestic appearance of expanse and height. His complexion, though +dark and sunburned, glowed with rich health. The beard was closely +shaven, and left in all its remarkable beauty the contour of the oval +face and strong jaw,--strong as if clasped in iron. The features were +marked and aquiline, as was common to those of Norman blood. The form +spare, but of prodigious width and depth of chest, the more apparent +from the fashion of the short surcoat, which was thrown back, and left +in broad expanse a placard, not of holiday velvet and satins, but of +steel polished as a mirror, and inlaid with gold. And now as, +concluding his task, the earl rose and motioned Marmaduke to a stool +by his side, his great stature, which, from the length of his limbs, +was not so observable when he sat, actually startled his guest. Tall +as Marmaduke was himself, the earl towered [The faded portrait of +Richard Nevile, Earl of Warwick, in the Rous Roll, preserved at the +Herald's College, does justice, at least, to the height and majesty of +his stature. The portrait of Edward IV. is the only one in that long +series which at all rivals the stately proportions of the King-maker.] +above him,--with his high, majestic, smooth, unwrinkled forehead,-- +like some Paladin of the rhyme of poet or romancer; and, perhaps, not +only in this masculine advantage, but in the rare and harmonious +combination of colossal strength with graceful lightness, a more +splendid union of all the outward qualities we are inclined to give to +the heroes of old never dazzled the eye or impressed the fancy. But +even this effect of mere person was subordinate to that which this +eminent nobleman created--upon his inferiors, at least--by a manner so +void of all arrogance, yet of all condescension, so simple, open, +cordial, and hero-like, that Marmaduke Nevile, peculiarly alive to +external impressions, and subdued and fascinated by the earl's first +word, and that word was "Welcome!" dropped on his knee, and kissing +the hand extended to him, said, "Noble kinsman, in thy service and for +thy sake let me live and die!" Had the young man been prepared by the +subtlest master of courtcraft for this interview, so important to his +fortunes, he could not have advanced a hundredth part so far with the +great earl as he did by that sudden, frank burst of genuine emotion; +for Warwick was extremely sensitive to the admiration he excited,-- +vain or proud of it, it matters not which; grateful as a child for +love, and inexorable as a woman for slight or insult: in rude ages, +one sex has often the qualities of the other. + +"Thou hast thy father's warm heart and hasty thought, Marmaduke," said +Warwick, raising him; "and now he is gone where, we trust, brave men, +shrived of their sins, look down upon us, who should be thy friend but +Richard Nevile? So--so--yes, let me look at thee. Ha! stout Guy's +honest face, every line of it: but to the girls, perhaps, comelier, +for wanting a scar or two. Never blush,--thou shalt win the scars +yet. So thou hast a letter from thy father?" + +"It is here, noble lord." + +"And why," said the earl, cutting the silk with his dagger--"why hast +thou so long hung back from presenting it? But I need not ask thee. +These uncivil times have made kith and kin doubt worse of each other +than thy delay did of me. Sir Guy's mark, sure eno'! Brave old man! +I loved him the better for that, like me, the sword was more meet than +the pen for his bold hand." Here Warwick scanned, with some slowness, +the lines dictated by the dead to the priest; and when he had done, he +laid the letter respectfully on his desk, and bowing his head over it, +muttered to himself,--it might be an Ave for the deceased. "Well," he +said, reseating himself, and again motioning Marmaduke to follow his +example, "thy father was, in sooth, to blame for the side he took in +the Wars. What son of the Norman could bow knee or vail plume to that +shadow of a king, Henry of Windsor? And for his bloody wife--she knew +no more of an Englishman's pith and pride than I know of the rhymes +and roundels of old Rene, her father. Guy Nevile--good Guy--many a +day in my boyhood did he teach me how to bear my lance at the crest, +and direct my sword at the mail joints. He was cunning at fence--thy +worshipful father--but I was ever a bad scholar; and my dull arm, to +this day, hopes more from its strength than its craft." + +"I have heard it said, noble earl, that the stoutest hand can scarcely +lift your battle-axe." + +"Fables! romaunt!" answered the earl, smiling; "there it lies,--go +and lift it." + +Marmaduke went to the table, and, though with some difficulty, raised +and swung this formidable weapon. + +"By my halidame, well swung, cousin mine! Its use depends not on the +strength, but the practice. Why, look you now, there is the boy +Richard of Gloucester, who comes not up to thy shoulder, and by dint +of custom each day can wield mace or axe with as much ease as a jester +doth his lathesword. Ah, trust me, Marmaduke, the York House is a +princely one; and if we must have a king, we barons, by stout Saint +George, let no meaner race ever furnish our lieges. But to thyself, +Marmaduke--what are thy views and thy wishes?" + +"To be one of thy following, noble Warwick." + +"I thank and accept thee, young Nevile; but thou hast heard that I am +about to leave England, and in the mean time thy youth would run +danger without a guide." The earl paused a moment, and resumed: "My +brother of Montagu showed thee cold countenance; but a word from me +will win thee his grace and favour. What sayest thou, wilt thou be +one of his gentlemen? If so, I will tell thee the qualities a man +must have,--a discreet tongue, a quick eye, the last fashion in hood +and shoe-bobbins, a perfect seat on thy horse, a light touch for the +gittern, a voice for a love-song, and--" + +"I have none of these save the horsemanship, gracious my lord; and if +thou wilt not receive me thyself, I will not burden my Lord of Montagu +and Northumberland." + +"Hot and quick! No! John of Montagu would not suit thee, nor thou +him. But how to provide for thee till my return I know not." + +"Dare I not hope, then, to make one of your embassage, noble earl?" + +Warwick bent his brows, and looked at him in surprise. "Of our +embassage! Why, thou art haughty, indeed! Nay, and so a soldier's +son and a Nevile should be! I blame thee not; but I could not make +thee one of my train, without creating a hundred enemies--to me (but +that's nothing) and to thee, which were much. Knowest thou not that +there is scarce a gentleman of my train below the state of a peer's +son, and that I have made, by refusals, malcontents eno', as it is?-- +Yet, bold! there is my learned brother, the Archbishop of York. +Knowest thou Latin and the schools?" + +"'Fore Heaven, my lord," said the Nevile, bluntly, "I see already I +had best go back to green Westmoreland, for I am as unfit for his +grace the archbishop as I am for my Lord Montagu." + +"Well, then," said the earl, dryly, "since thou hast not yet station +enough for my train, nor glosing for Northumberland, nor wit and lere +for the archbishop, I suppose, my poor youth, I must e'en make you +only a gentleman about the king! It is not a post so sure of quick +rising and full gipsires as one about myself or my brethren, but it +will be less envied, and is good for thy first essay. How goes the +clock? Oh, here is Nick Alwyn's new horologe. He tells me that the +English will soon rival the Dutch in these baubles. [Clockwork +appears to have been introduced into England in the reign of Edward +III., when three Dutch horologers were invited over from Delft. They +must soon have passed into common use, for Chaucer thus familiarly +speaks of them:--"Full sickerer was his crowing in his loge + Than is a clock or any abbey orloge."] +The more the pity!--our red-faced yeomen, alas, are fast sinking into +lank-jawed mechanics! We shall find the king in his garden within the +next half-hour. Thou shalt attend me." + +Marmaduke expressed, with more feeling than eloquence, the thanks he +owed for an offer that, he was about to say, exceeded his hopes; but +he had already, since his departure from Westmoreland, acquired +sufficient wit to think twice of his words. And so eagerly, at that +time, did the youth of the nobility contend for the honour of posts +about the person of Warwick, and even of his brothers, and so strong +was the belief that the earl's power to make or to mar fortune was +all-paramount in England, that even a place in the king's household +was considered an inferior appointment to that which made Warwick the +immediate patron and protector. This was more especially the case +amongst the more haughty and ancient gentry since the favour shown by +Edward to the relations of his wife, and his own indifference to the +rank and birth of his associates. Warwick had therefore spoken with +truth when he expressed a comparative pity for the youth, whom he +could not better provide for than by a place about the court of his +sovereign! + +The earl then drew from Marmaduke some account of his early training, +his dependence on his brother, his adventures at the archery-ground, +his misadventure with the robbers, and even his sojourn with Warner,-- +though Marmaduke was discreetly silent as to the very existence of +Sibyll. The earl, in the mean while, walked to and fro the chamber +with a light, careless stride, every moment pausing to laugh at the +frank simplicity of his kinsman, or to throw in some shrewd remark, +which he cast purposely in the rough Westmoreland dialect; for no man +ever attains to the popularity that rejoiced or accursed the Earl of +Warwick, without a tendency to broad and familiar humour, without a +certain commonplace of character in its shallower and more every-day +properties. This charm--always great in the great--Warwick possessed +to perfection; and in him--such was his native and unaffected majesty +of bearing, and such the splendour that surrounded his name--it never +seemed coarse or unfamiliar, but "everything he did became him best." +Marmaduke had just brought his narrative to a conclusion, when, after +a slight tap at the door, which Warwick did not hear, two fair young +forms bounded joyously in, and not seeing the stranger, threw +themselves upon Warwick's breast with the caressing familiarity of +infancy. + +"Ah, Father," said the elder of these two girls, as Warwick's hand +smoothed her hair fondly, "you promised you would take us in your +barge to see the sports on the river, and now it will be too late." + +"Make your peace with your young cousins here," said the earl, turning +to Marmaduke; "you will cost them an hour's joyaunce. This is my +eldest daughter, Isabel; and this soft-eyed, pale-cheeked damozel--too +loyal for a leaf of the red rose--is the Lady Anne." + +The two girls had started from their father's arms at the first +address to Marmaduke, and their countenances had relapsed from their +caressing and childlike expression into all the stately demureness +with which they had been brought up to regard a stranger. Howbeit, +this reserve, to which he was accustomed, awed Marmaduke less than the +alternate gayety and sadness of the wilder Sibyll, and he addressed +them with all the gallantry to the exercise of which he had been +reared, concluding his compliments with a declaration that he would +rather forego the advantage proffered him by the earl's favour with +the king, than foster one obnoxious and ungracious memory in damozels +so fair and honoured. + +A haughty smile flitted for a moment over the proud young face of +Isabel Nevile; but the softer Anne blushed, and drew bashfully behind +her sister. + +As yet these girls, born for the highest and fated to the most +wretched fortunes, were in all the bloom of earliest youth; but the +difference between their characters might be already observable in +their mien and countenance. Isabel; of tall and commanding stature, +had some resemblance to her father, in her aquiline features, rich, +dark hair, and the lustrous brilliancy of her eyes; while Anne, less +striking, yet not less lovely, of smaller size and slighter +proportions, bore in her pale, clear face, her dove-like eyes, and her +gentle brow an expression of yielding meekness not unmixed with +melancholy, which, conjoined with an exquisite symmetry of features, +could not fail of exciting interest where her sister commanded +admiration. Not a word, however, from either did Marmaduke abstract +in return for his courtesies, nor did either he or the earl seem to +expect it; for the latter, seating himself and drawing Anne on his +knee, while Isabella walked with stately grace towards the table that +bore her father's warlike accoutrements, and played, as it were, +unconsciously with the black plume on his black burgonet, said to +Nevile, + +"Well, thou hast seen enough of the Lancastrian raptrils to make thee +true to the Yorkists. I would I could say as much for the king +himself, who is already crowding the court with that venomous faction, +in honour of Dame Elizabeth Gray, born Mistress Woodville, and now +Queen of England. Ha, my proud Isabel, thou wouldst have better +filled the throne that thy father built!" + +And at these words a proud flash broke from the earl's dark eyes, +betraying even to Marmaduke the secret of perhaps his earliest +alienation from Edward IV. + +Isabella pouted her rich lip, but said nothing. "As for thee, Anne," +continued the earl, "it is a pity that monks cannot marry,--thou +wouldst have suited some sober priest better than a mailed knight. +'Fore George, I would not ask thee to buckle my baldrick when the war- +steeds were snorting, but I would trust Isabel with the links of my +hauberk." + +"Nay, Father," said the low, timid voice of Anne, "if thou wert going +to danger, I could be brave in all that could guard thee!" + +"Why, that's my girl! kiss me! Thou hast a look of thy mother now,-- +so thou hast! and I will not chide thee the next time I hear thee +muttering soft treason in pity of Henry of Windsor." + +"Is he not to be pitied?--Crown, wife, son, and Earl Warwick's stout +arm lost--lost!" + +"No!" said Isabel, suddenly; no, sweet sister Anne, and fie on thee +for the words! He lost all, because he had neither the hand of a +knight nor the heart of a man! For the rest--Margaret of Anjou, or +her butchers, beheaded our father's father." + +"And may God and Saint George forget me, when I forget those gray and +gory hairs!" exclaimed the earl; and putting away the Lady Anne +somewhat roughly, he made a stride across the room, and stood by his +hearth. "And yet Edward, the son of Richard of York, who fell by my +father's side--he forgets, he forgives! And the minions of Rivers the +Lancastrian tread the heels of Richard of Warwick." + +At this unexpected turn in the conversation, peculiarly unwelcome, as +it may be supposed, to the son of one who had fought on the +Lancastrian side in the very battle referred to, Marmaduke felt +somewhat uneasy; and turning to the Lady Anne, he said, with the +gravity of wounded pride, "I owe more to my lord, your father, than I +even wist of,--how much he must have overlooked to--" + +"Not so!" interrupted Warwick, who overheard him,--"not so; thou +wrongest me! Thy father was shocked at those butcheries; thy father +recoiled from that accursed standard; thy father was of a stock +ancient and noble as my own! But, these Woodvilles!--tush! my passion +overmasters me. We will go to the king,--it is time." + +Warwick here rang the hand-bell on his table, and on the entrance of +his attendant gentleman, bade him see that the barge was in readiness; +then beckoning to his kinsman, and with a nod to his daughters, he +caught up his plumed cap, and passed at once into the garden. + +"Anne," said Isabel, when the two girls were alone, "thou hast vexed +my father, and what marvel? If the Lancastrians can be pitied, the +Earl of Warwick must be condemned!" + +"Unkind!" said Anne, shedding tears; "I can pity woe and mischance, +without blaming those whose hard duty it might be to achieve them." + +"In good sooth cannot I! Thou wouldst pity and pardon till thou +leftst no distinction between foeman and friend, leife and loathing. +Be it mine, like my great father, to love and to hate!" + +"Yet why art thou so attached to the White Rose?" said Anne, stung, if +not to malice, at least to archness. "Thou knowest my father's +nearest wish was that his eldest daughter might be betrothed to King +Edward. Dost thou not pay good for evil when thou seest no excellence +out of the House of York?" + +"Saucy Anne," answered Isabel, with a half smile, "I am not raught by +thy shafts, for I was a child for the nurses when King Edward sought a +wife for his love. But were I chafed--as I may be vain enough to know +myself--whom should I blame?--Not the king, but the Lancastrian who +witched him!" + +She paused a moment, and, looking away, added in a low tone, "Didst +thou hear, sister Anne, if the Duke of Clarence visited my father the +forenoon?" + +"Ah, Isabel, Isabel!" + +"Ah, sister Anne, sister Anne! Wilt thou know all my secrets ere I +know them myself?"--and Isabel, with something of her father's +playfulness, put her hands to Anne's laughing lips. + +Meanwhile Warwick, after walking musingly a few moments along the +garden, which was formed by plots of sward, bordered with fruit-trees, +and white rose-trees not yet in blossom, turned to his silent kinsman, +and said, "Forgive me, cousin mine, my mannerless burst against thy +brave father's faction; but when thou hast been a short while at +court, thou wilt see where the sore is. Certes, I love this king!" +Here his dark face lighted up. "Love him as a king,--ay, and as a +son! And who would not love him; brave as his sword, gallant, and +winning, and gracious as the noonday in summer? Besides, I placed him +on his throne; I honour myself in him!" + +The earl's stature dilated as he spoke the last sentence, and his hand +rested on his dagger hilt. He resumed, with the same daring and +incautious candour that stamped his dauntless, soldier-like nature, +"God hath given me no son. Isabel of Warwick had been a mate for +William the Norman; and my grandson, if heir to his grandsire's soul, +should have ruled from the throne of England over the realms of +Charlemagne! But it hath pleased Him whom the Christian knight alone +bows to without shame, to order otherwise. So be it. I forgot my +just pretensions,--forgot my blood, and counselled the king to +strengthen his throne with the alliance of Louis XI. He rejected the +Princess Bona of Savoy, to marry widow Elizabeth Gray; I sorrowed for +his sake, and forgave the slight to my counsels. At his prayer I +followed the train of his queen, and hushed the proud hearts of our +barons to obeisance. But since then, this Dame Woodville, whom I +queened, if her husband mated, must dispute this roiaulme with mine +and me,--a Nevile, nowadays, must vail his plume to a Woodville! And +not the great barons whom it will suit Edward's policy to win from the +Lancastrians--not the Exeters and the Somersets--but the craven +varlets and lackeys and dross of the camp--false alike to Henry and to +Edward--are to be fondled into lordships and dandled into power. +Young man, I am speaking hotly--Richard Nevile never lies nor +conceals; but I am speaking to a kinsman, am I not? Thou hearest,-- +thou wilt not repeat?" + +"Sooner would I pluck forth my tongue by the roots." + +"Enough!" returned the earl, with a pleased smile. "When I come from +France, I will speak more to thee. Meanwhile be courteous to all men, +servile to none. Now to the king." + +So speaking, he shook back his surcoat, drew his cap over his brow, +and passed to the broad stairs, at the foot of which fifty rowers, +with their badges on their shoulders, waited in the huge barge, gilt +richly at prow and stern, and with an awning of silk, wrought with the +earl's arms and cognizance. As they pushed off, six musicians, placed +towards the helm, began a slow and half Eastern march, which, +doubtless, some crusader of the Temple had brought from the cymbals +and trumps of Palestine. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +KING EDWARD THE FOURTH. + +The Tower of London, more consecrated to associations of gloom and +blood than those of gayety and splendour, was, nevertheless, during +the reign of Edward IV., the seat of a gallant and gorgeous court. +That king, from the first to the last so dear to the people of London, +made it his principal residence when in his metropolis; and its +ancient halls and towers were then the scene of many a brawl and +galliard. As Warwick's barge now approached its huge walls, rising +from the river, there was much that might either animate or awe, +according to the mood of the spectator. The king's barge, with many +lesser craft reserved for the use of the courtiers, gay with awnings +and streamers and painting and gilding, lay below the wharfs, not far +from the gate of St. Thomas, now called the Traitor's Gate. On the +walk raised above the battlemented wall of the inner ward, not only +paced the sentries, but there dames and knights were inhaling the +noonday breezes, and the gleam of their rich dresses of cloth-of-gold +glanced upon the eye at frequent intervals from tower to tower. Over +the vast round turret, behind the Traitor's Gate, now called "The +Bloody Tower," floated cheerily in the light wind the royal banner. +Near the Lion's Tower, two or three of the keepers of the menagerie, +in the king's livery, were leading forth, by a strong chain, the huge +white bear that made one of the boasts of the collection, and was an +especial favourite with the king and his brother Richard. The +sheriffs of London were bound to find this grisly minion his chain and +his cord, when he deigned to amuse himself with bathing or "fishing" +in the river; and several boats, filled with gape-mouthed passengers, +lay near the wharf, to witness the diversions of Bruin. These folks +set up a loud shout of--"A Warwick! a Warwick!" "The stout earl, and +God bless him!" as the gorgeous barge shot towards the fortress. The +earl acknowledged their greeting by vailing his plumed cap; and +passing the keepers with a merry allusion to their care of his own +badge, and a friendly compliment to the grunting bear, he stepped +ashore, followed by his kinsman. Now, however, he paused a moment; +and a more thoughtful shade passed over his countenance, as, glancing +his eye carelessly aloft towards the standard of King Edward, he +caught sight of the casement in the neighbouring tower, of the very +room in which the sovereign of his youth, Henry the Sixth, was a +prisoner, almost within hearing of the revels of his successor; then, +with a quick stride, he hurried on through the vast court, and, +passing the White Tower, gained the royal lodge. Here, in the great +hall, he left his companion, amidst a group of squires and gentlemen, +to whom he formally presented the Nevile as his friend and kinsman, +and was ushered by the deputy-chamberlain (with an apology for the +absence of his chief, the Lord Hastings, who had gone abroad to fly +his falcon) into the small garden, where Edward was idling away the +interval between the noon and evening meals,--repasts to which already +the young king inclined with that intemperate zest and ardour which he +carried into all his pleasures, and which finally destroyed the +handsomest person and embruted one of the most vigorous intellects of +the age. + +The garden, if bare of flowers, supplied their place by the various +and brilliant-coloured garbs of the living beauties assembled on its +straight walks and smooth sward. Under one of those graceful +cloisters, which were the taste of the day, and had been recently +built and gayly decorated, the earl was stopped in his path by a group +of ladies playing at closheys (ninepins) of ivory; [Narrative of Louis +of Bruges, Lord Grauthuse. Edited by Sir F. Madden, "Archaelogia," +1836.] and one of these fair dames, who excelled the rest in her +skill, had just bowled down the central or crowned pin,--the king of +the closheys. This lady, no less a person than Elizabeth, the Queen +of England, was then in her thirty-sixth year,--ten years older than +her lord; but the peculiar fairness and delicacy of her complexion +still preserved to her beauty the aspect and bloom of youth. From a +lofty headgear, embroidered with fleur-de-lis, round which wreathed a +light diadem of pearls, her hair, of the pale yellow considered then +the perfection of beauty, flowed so straight and so shining down her +shoulders, almost to the knees, that it seemed like a mantle of gold. +The baudekin stripes (blue and gold) of her tunic attested her +royalty. The blue courtpie of satin was bordered with ermine, and the +sleeves, sitting close to an arm of exquisite contour, shone with seed +pearls. Her features were straight and regular, yet would have been +insipid, but for an expression rather of cunning than intellect; and +the high arch of her eyebrows, with a slight curve downward of a mouth +otherwise beautiful, did not improve the expression, by an addition of +something supercilious and contemptuous, rather than haughty or +majestic. + +"My lord of Warwick," said Elizabeth, pointing to the fallen closhey, +"what would my enemies say if they heard I had toppled down the king?" + +"They would content themselves with asking which of your Grace's +brothers you would place in his stead," answered the hardy earl, +unable to restrain the sarcasm. + +The queen blushed, and glanced round her ladies with an eye which +never looked direct or straight upon its object, but wandered sidelong +with a furtive and stealthy expression, that did much to obtain for +her the popular character of falseness and self-seeking. Her +displeasure was yet more increased by observing the ill-concealed +smile which the taunt had called forth. + +"Nay, my lord," she said, after a short pause, "we value the peace of +our roiaulme too much for so high an ambition. Were we to make a +brother even the prince of the closheys, we should disappoint the +hopes of a Nevile." + +The earl disdained pursuing the war of words, and answering coldly, +"The Neviles are more famous for making ingrates than asking favours. +I leave your Highness to the closheys"--turned away, and strode +towards the king, who, at the opposite end of the garden, was +reclining on a bench beside a lady, in whose ear, to judge by her +downcast and blushing cheek, he was breathing no unwelcome whispers. + +"Mort-Dieu!" muttered the earl, who was singularly exempt, himself, +from the amorous follies of the day, and eyed them with so much +contempt that it often obscured his natural downright penetration into +character, and never more than when it led him afterwards to underrate +the talents of Edward IV.,--"Mort-Dieu! if, an hour before the battle +of Towton, some wizard had shown me in his glass this glimpse of the +gardens of the Tower, that giglet for a queen, and that squire of +dames for a king, I had not slain my black destrier (poor Malech!), +that I might conquer or die for Edward Earl of March." + +"But see!" said the lady, looking up from the enamoured and conquering +eyes of the king, "art thou not ashamed, my lord?--the grim earl comes +to chide thee for thy faithlessness to thy queen, whom he loves so +well." + +"Pasque-Dieu! as my cousin Louis of France says or swears," answered +the king, with an evident petulance in his altered voice, "I would +that Warwick could be only worn with one's armour! I would as lief +try to kiss through my vizor as hear him talk of glory and Towton, and +King John and poor Edward II., because I am not always in mail. Go! +leave us, sweet bonnibel! we must brave the bear alone!" The lady +inclined her head, drew her hood round her face, and striking into the +contrary path from that in which Warwick was slowly striding, gained +the group round the queen, whose apparent freedom from jealousy, the +consequence of cold affections and prudent calculation, made one +principal cause of the empire she held over the powerful mind, but the +indolent temper, of the gay and facile Edward. + +The king rose as Warwick now approached him; and the appearance of +these two eminent persons was in singular contrast. Warwick, though +richly and even gorgeously attired,--nay, with all the care which in +that age was considered the imperative duty a man of station and birth +owed to himself,--held in lofty disdain whatever vagary of custom +tended to cripple the movements or womanize the man. No loose flowing +robes, no shoon half a yard long, no flaunting tawdriness of fringe +and aiglet, characterized the appearance of the baron, who, even in +peace, gave his address a half-martial fashion. + +But Edward, who, in common with all the princes of the House of York, +carried dress to a passion, had not only reintroduced many of the most +effeminate modes in vogue under William the Red King, but added to +them whatever could tend to impart an almost oriental character to the +old Norman garb. His gown (a womanly garment which had greatly +superseded, with men of the highest rank, not only the mantle but the +surcoat) flowed to his heels, trimmed with ermine, and broidered with +large flowers of crimson wrought upon cloth-of-gold. Over this he +wore a tippet of ermine, and a collar or necklace of uncut jewels set +in filigree gold; the nether limbs were, it is true, clad in the more +manly fashion of tight-fitting hosen, but the folds of the gown, as +the day was somewhat fresh, were drawn around so as to conceal the +only part of the dress which really betokened the male sex. To add to +this unwarlike attire, Edward's locks of a rich golden colour, and +perfuming the whole air with odours, flowed not in curls, but straight +to his shoulders, and the cheek of the fairest lady in his court might +have seemed less fair beside the dazzling clearness of a complexion at +once radiant with health and delicate with youth. Yet, in spite of +all this effeminacy, the appearance of Edward IV. was not effeminate. +From this it was preserved, not only by a stature little less +commanding than that of Warwick himself, and of great strength and +breadth of shoulder, but also by features, beautiful indeed, but pre- +eminently masculine,--large and bold in their outline, and evincing by +their expression all the gallantry and daring characteristic of the +hottest soldier, next to Warwick, and without any exception the ablest +captain, of the age. + +"And welcome,--a merry welcome, dear Warwick, and cousin mine," said +Edward, as Warwick slightly bent his proud knee to his king; "your +brother, Lord Montagu, has but left us. Would that our court had the +same, joyaunce for you as for him." + +"Dear and honoured my liege," answered Warwick, his brow smoothing at +once,--for his affectionate though hasty and irritable nature was +rarely proof against the kind voice and winning smile of his young +sovereign,--"could I ever serve you at the court as I can with the +people, you would not complain that John of Montagu was a better +courtier than Richard of Warwick. But each to his calling. I depart +to-morrow for Calais, and thence to King Louis. And, surely, never +envoy or delegate had better chance to be welcome than one empowered +to treat of an alliance that will bestow on a prince deserving, I +trust, his fortunes, the sister of the bravest sovereign in Christian +Europe." + +"Now, out on thy flattery, my cousin; though I must needs own I +provoked it by my complaint of thy courtiership. But thou hast +learned only half thy business, good Warwick; and it is well Margaret +did not hear thee. Is not the prince of France more to be envied for +winning a fair lady than having a fortunate soldier for his brother- +in-law?" + +"My liege," replied Warwick, smiling, "thou knowest I am a poor judge +of a lady's fair cheek, though indifferently well skilled as to the +valour of a warrior's stout arm. Algates, the Lady Margaret is indeed +worthy in her excellent beauties to become the mother of brave men." + +"And that is all we can wring from thy stern lip, man of iron? Well, +that must content us. But to more serious matters." And the king, +leaning his hand on the earl's arm, and walking with him slowly to and +fro the terrace, continued: "Knowest thou not, Warwick, that this +French alliance, to which thou hast induced us, displeases sorely our +good traders of London?" + +"Mort-Dieu!" returned Warwick, bluntly, "and what business have the +flat-caps with the marriage of a king's sister? Is it for them to +breathe garlic on the alliances of Bourbons and Plantagenets? Faugh! +You have spoiled them, good my lord king,--you have spoiled them by +your condescensions. Henry IV. staled not his majesty to +consultations with the mayor of his city. Henry V. gave the +knighthood of the hath to the heroes of Agincourt, not to the vendors +of cloth and spices." + +"Ah, my poor knights of the Bath!" said Edward, good-humouredly, "wilt +thou never let that sore scar quietly over? Ownest thou not that the +men had their merits?" + +"What the merits were, I weet not," answered the earl,--"unless, +peradventure, their wives were comely and young." + +"Thou wrongest me, Warwick," said the king, carelessly; "Dame Cook was +awry, Dame Philips a grandmother, Dame Jocelyn had lost her front +teeth, and Dame Waer saw seven ways at once! But thou forgettest, +man, the occasion of those honours,--the eve before Elizabeth was +crowned,--and it was policy to make the city of London have a share in +her honours. As to the rest," pursued the king, earnestly and with +dignity, "I and my House have owed much to London. When the peers of +England, save thee and thy friends, stood aloof from my cause, London +was ever loyal and true. Thou seest not, my poor Warwick, that these +burgesses are growing up into power by the decline of the orders above +them. And if the sword is the monarch's appeal for his right, he must +look to contented and honoured industry for his buckler in peace. +This is policy,--policy, Warwick; and Louis XI. will tell thee the +same truths, harsh though they grate in a warrior's ear." + +The earl bowed his haughty head, and answered shortly, but with a +touching grace, "Be it ever thine, noble king, to rule as it likes +thee, and mine to defend with my blood even what I approve not with my +brain! But if thou doubtest the wisdom of this alliance, it is not +too late yet. Let me dismiss my following, and cross not the seas. +Unless thy heart is with the marriage, the ties I would form are +threads and cobwebs." + +"Nay," returned Edward, irresolutely: "in these great state matters +thy wit is elder than mine; but men do say the Count of Charolois is a +mighty lord; and the alliance with Burgundy will be more profitable to +staple and mart." + +"Then, in God's name, so conclude it!" said the earl, hastily, but +with so dark a fire in his eyes that Edward, who was observing him, +changed countenance; "only ask me not, my liege, to advance such a +marriage. The Count of Charolois knows me as his foe--shame were mine +did I shun to say where I love, where I hate. That proud dullard once +slighted me when we met at his father's court, and the wish next to my +heart is to pay back my affront with my battle-axe. Give thy sister +to the heir of Burgundy, and forgive me if I depart to my castle of +Middleham." + +Edward, stung by the sharpness of this reply, was about to answer as +became his majesty of king, when Warwick more deliberately resumed: +"Yet think well; Henry of Windsor is thy prisoner, but his cause lives +in Margaret and his son. There is but one power in Europe that can +threaten thee with aid to the Lancastrians; that power is France. +Make Louis thy friend and ally, and thou givest peace to thy life and +thy lineage; make Louis thy foe, and count on plots and stratagems and +treason, uneasy days and sleepless nights. Already thou hast lost one +occasion to secure that wiliest and most restless of princes, in +rejecting the hand of the Princess Bona. Happily, this loss now can +be retrieved. But alliance with Burgundy is war with France,--war +more deadly because Louis is a man who declares it not; a war carried +on by intrigue and bribe, by spies and minions, till some disaffection +ripens the hour when young Edward of Lancaster shall land on thy +coasts, with the Oriflamme and the Red Rose, with French soldiers and +English malcontents. Wouldst thou look to Burgundy for help?-- +Burgundy will have enough to guard its own frontiers from the gripe of +Louis the Sleepless. Edward, my king, my pupil in arms, Edward, my +loved, my honoured liege, forgive Richard Nevile his bluntness, and +let not his faults stand in bar of his counsels." + +"You are right, as you are ever, safeguard of England, and pillar of +my state," said the king, frankly, and pressing the arm he still held. +"Go to France and settle all as thou wilt." + +Warwick bent low and kissed the hand of his sovereign. "And," said +he, with a slight, but a sad smile, "when I am gone, my liege will not +repent, will not misthink me, will not listen to my foes, nor suffer +merchant and mayor to sigh him back to the mechanics of Flanders?" + +"Warwick, thou deemest ill of thy king's kingliness." + +"Not of thy kingliness; but that same gracious quality of yielding to +counsel which bows this proud nature to submission often makes me fear +for thy firmness, when thy will is, won through thy heart. And now, +good my liege, forgive me one sentence more. Heaven forefend that I +should stand in the way of thy princely favours. A king's countenance +is a sun that should shine on all. But bethink thee well, the barons +of England are a stubborn and haughty race; chafe not thy most +puissant peers by too cold a neglect of their past services, and too +lavish a largess to new men." + +"Thou aimest at Elizabeth's kin," interrupted Edward, withdrawing his +hand from his minister's arm, "and I tell thee once for all times, +that I would rather sink again to mine earldom of March, with a +subject's right to honour where he loves, than wear crown and wield +sceptre without a king's unquestioned prerogative to ennoble the line +and blood of one he has deemed worthy of his throne. As for the +barons, with whose wrath thou threatenest me, I banish them not. If +they go in gloom from my court, why, let them chafe themselves sleek +again." + +"King Edward," said Warwick, moodily, "tried services merit not this +contempt. It is not as the kith of the queen that I regret to see +lands and honours lavished upon men rooted so newly to the soil that +the first blast of the war-trump will scatter their greenness to the +winds; but what sorrows me is to mark those who have fought against +thee preferred to the stout loyalty that braved block and field for +thy cause. Look round thy court; where are the men of bloody York and +victorious Towton?--unrequited, sullen in their strongholds, begirt +with their yeomen and retainers. Thou standest--thou, the heir of +York--almost alone (save where the Neviles--whom one day thy court +will seek also to disgrace and discard--vex their old comrades in arms +by their defection)--thou standest almost alone among the favourites +and minions of Lancaster. Is there no danger in proving to men that +to have served thee is discredit, to have warred against thee is +guerdon and grace?" + +"Enough of this, cousin," replied the king, with an effort which +preserved his firmness. "On this head we cannot agree. Take what +else thou wilt of royalty,--make treaties and contract marriages, +establish peace or proclaim war; but trench not on my sweetest +prerogative to give and to forgive. And now, wilt thou tarry and sup +with us? The ladies grow impatient of a commune that detains from +their eyes the stateliest knight since the Round Table was chopped +into fire-wood." + +"No, my liege," said Warwick, whom flattery of this sort rather +angered than soothed, "I have much yet to prepare. I leave your +Highness to fairer homage and more witching counsels than mine." So +saying, he kissed the king's hand, and was retiring, when be +remembered his kinsman, whose humble interests in the midst of more +exciting topics he had hitherto forgotten, and added, "May I crave, +since you are so merciful to the Lancastrians, one grace for my +namesake,--a Nevile whose father repented the side he espoused, a son +of Sir Guy of Arsdale?" + +"Ah," said the king, smiling maliciously, "it pleaseth us much to find +that it is easier to the warm heart of our cousin Warwick to preach +sententiaries of sternness to his king than to enforce the same by his +own practice!" + +"You misthink me, sire. I ask not that Marmaduke Nevile should +supplant his superiors and elders; I ask not that he should be made +baron and peer; I ask only that, as a young gentleman who hath taken +no part himself in the wars, and whose father repented his error, your +Grace should strengthen your following by an ancient name and a +faithful servant. But I should have remembered me that his name of +Nevile would have procured him a taunt in the place of advancement." + +"Saw man ever so froward a temper?" cried Edward, not without reason. +"Why, Warwick, thou art as shrewish to a jest as a woman to advice. +Thy kinsman's fortunes shall be my care. Thou sayest thou hast +enemies,--I weet not who they be. But to show what I think of them, I +make thy namesake and client a gentleman of my chamber. When Warwick +is false to Edward, let him think that Warwick's kinsman wears a +dagger within reach of the king's heart day and night." + +This speech was made with so noble and touching a kindness of voice +and manner, that the earl, thoroughly subdued, looked at his sovereign +with moistened eyes, and only trusting himself to say,--"Edward, thou +art king, knight, gentleman, and soldier; and I verily trow that I +love thee best when my petulant zeal makes me anger thee most,"-- +turned away with evident emotion, and passing the queen and her ladies +with a lowlier homage than that with which he had before greeted them, +left the garden. Edward's eye followed him musingly. The frank +expression of his face vanished, and with the deep breath of a man who +is throwing a weight from his heart, he muttered,-- + +"He loves me,--yes; but will suffer no one else to love me! This must +end some day. I am weary of the bondage." And sauntering towards the +ladies, he listened in silence, but not apparently in displeasure, to +his queen's sharp sayings on the imperious mood and irritable temper +of the iron-handed builder of his throne. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE ANTECHAMBER. + +As Warwick passed the door that led from the garden, he brushed by a +young man, the baudekin stripes of whose vest announced his +relationship to the king, and who, though far less majestic than +Edward, possessed sufficient of family likeness to pass for a very +handsome and comely person; but his countenance wanted the open and +fearless expression which gave that of the king so masculine and +heroic a character. The features were smaller, and less clearly cut, +and to a physiognomical observer there was much that was weak and +irresolute in the light blue eyes and the smiling lips which never +closed firmly over the teeth. He did not wear the long gown then so +much in vogue, but his light figure was displayed to advantage by a +vest, fitting it exactly, descending half-way down the thigh, and +trimmed at the border and the collar with ermine. The sleeves of the +doublet were slit, so as to show the white lawn beneath, and adorned +with aiglets and knots of gold. + +Over the left arm hung a rich jacket of furs and velvet, something +like that adopted by the modern hussar. His hat, or cap, was high and +tiara-like, with a single white plume, and the ribbon of the Garter +bound his knee. Though the dress of this personage was thus far less +effeminate than Edward's, the effect of his appearance was infinitely +more so,--partly, perhaps, from a less muscular frame, and partly from +his extreme youth; for George Duke of Clarence was then, though +initiated not only in the gayeties, but all the intrigues of the +court, only in his eighteenth year. Laying his hand, every finger of +which sparkled with jewels, on the earl's shoulder--"Hold!" said the +young prince, in a whisper, "a word in thy ear, noble Warwick!" + +The earl, who, next to Edward, loved Clarence the most of his princely +House, and who always found the latter as docile as the other (when +humour or affection seized him) was intractable, relaxed into a +familiar smile at the duke's greeting, and suffered the young prince +to draw him aside from the groups of courtiers with whom the chamber +was filled, to the leaning-places (as they were called) of a large +mullion window. In the mean while, as they thus conferred, the +courtiers interchanged looks, and many an eye of fear and hate was +directed towards the stately form of the earl. For these courtiers +were composed principally of the kindred or friends of the queen, and +though they dared not openly evince the malice with which they +retorted Warwick's lofty scorn and undisguised resentment at their new +fortunes, they ceased not to hope for his speedy humiliation and +disgrace, reeking little what storm might rend the empire, so that it +uprooted the giant oak, which still in some measure shaded their +sunlight and checked their growth. True, however, that amongst these +were mingled, though rarely, men of a hardier stamp and nobler birth, +--some few of the veteran friends of the king's great father; and +these, keeping sternly and loftily aloof from the herd, regarded +Warwick with the same almost reverential and yet affectionate +admiration which he inspired amongst the yeomen, peasants, and +mechanics,--for in that growing but quiet struggle of the burgesses, +as it will often happen in more civilized times, the great Aristocracy +and the Populace were much united in affection, though with very +different objects; and the Middle and Trading Class, with whom the +earl's desire for French alliances and disdain of commerce had much +weakened his popularity, alone shared not the enthusiasm of their +countrymen for the lion-hearted minister. + +Nevertheless, it must here be owned that the rise of Elizabeth's +kindred introduced a far more intellectual, accomplished, and literary +race into court favour than had for many generations flourished in so +uncongenial a soil: and in this ante-chamber feud, the pride of +education and mind retaliated with juster sarcasm the pride of birth +and sinews. + +Amongst those opposed to the earl, and fit in all qualities to be the +head of the new movement,--if the expressive modern word be allowed +us,--stood at that moment in the very centre of the chamber Anthony +Woodville, in right of the rich heiress he had married the Lord +Scales. As, when some hostile and formidable foe enters the meads +where the flock grazes, the gazing herd gather slowly round their +leader, so grouped the queen's faction slowly, and by degrees, round +this accomplished nobleman, at the prolonged sojourn of Warwick. + +"Gramercy!" said the Lord Scales, in a somewhat affected intonation of +voice, "the conjunction of the bear and the young lion is a parlous +omen, for the which I could much desire we had a wise astrologer's +reading." + +"It is said," observed one of the courtiers, "that the Duke of +Clarence much affects either the lands or the person of the Lady +Isabel." + +"A passably fair damozel," returned Anthony, "though a thought or so +too marked and high in her lineaments, and wholly unlettered, no +doubt; which were a pity, for George of Clarence has some pretty taste +in the arts and poesies. But as Occleve hath it-- + + 'Gold, silver, jewel, cloth, beddyng, array,' + +would make gentle George amorous of a worse-featured face than high- +nosed Isabel; 'strange to spell or rede,' as I would wager my best +destrier to a tailor's hobby, the damozel surely is." + +"Notest thou yon gaudy popinjay?" whispered the Lord of St. John to +one of his Towton comrades, as, leaning against the wall, they +overheard the sarcasms of Anthony, and the laugh of the courtiers, who +glassed their faces and moods to his. "Is the time so out of joint +that Master Anthony Woodville can vent his scurrile japes on the +heiress of Salisbury and Warwick in the king's chamber?" + +"And prate of spelling and reading as if they were the cardinal +virtues?" returned his sullen companion. "By my halidame, I have two +fair daughters at home who will lack husbands, I trow, for they can +only spin and be chaste,--two maidenly gifts out of bloom with the +White Rose." + +In the mean while, unwitting, or contemptuous, of the attention they +excited, Warwick and Clarence continued yet more earnestly to confer. + +"No, George, no," said the earl, who, as the descendant of John of +Gaunt, and of kin to the king's blood, maintained, in private, a +father's familiarity with the princes of York, though on state +occasions, and when in the hearing of others, he sedulously marked his +deference for their rank--"no, George, calm and steady thy hot mettle, +for thy brother's and England's sake. I grieve as much as thou to +hear that the queen does not spare even thee in her froward and +unwomanly peevishness. But there is a glamour in this, believe me, +that must melt away soon or late, and our kingly Edward recover his +senses." + +"Glamour!" said Clarence; "thinkest thou, indeed, that her mother, +Jacquetta, has bewitched the king? One word of thy belief in such +spells, spread abroad amongst the people, would soon raise the same +storm that blew Eleanor Cobham from Duke Humphrey's bed, along London +streets in her penance-shift." + +"Troth," said the earl, indifferently, "I leave such grave questions +as these to prelate and priest; the glamour I spoke of is that of a +fair face over a wanton heart; and Edward is not so steady a lover +that this should never wear out." + +"It amates me much, noble cousin, that thou leavest the court in this +juncture. The queen's heart is with Burgundy, the city's hate is with +France; and when once thou art gone, I fear that the king will be +teased into mating my sister with the Count of Charolois." + +"Ho!" exclaimed Warwick, with an oath so loud that it rung through the +chamber, and startled every ear that heard it. Then, perceiving his +indiscretion, he lowered his tone into a deep and hollow whisper, and +griped the prince's arm almost fiercely as he spoke. + +"Could Edward so dishonour my embassy, so palter and juggle with my +faith, so flout me in the eyes of Christendom, I would--I would--" he +paused, and relaxed his hold of the duke, and added, with an altered +voice--"I would leave his wife and his lemans, and yon things of silk, +whom he makes peers (that is easy) but cannot make men, to guard his +throne from the grandson of Henry V. But thy fears, thy zeal, thy +love for me, dearest prince and cousin, make thee misthink Edward's +kingly honour and knightly faith. I go with the sure knowledge that +by alliance with France I shut the House of Lancaster from all hope of +this roiaulme." + +"Hadst thou not better, at least, see my sister Margaret? She has a +high spirit, and she thinks thou mightest, at least, woo her assent, +and tell her of the good gifts of her lord to be!" + +"Are the daughters of York spoiled to this by the manners and guise of +a court, in which beshrew me if I well know which the woman and whom +the man? Is it not enough to give peace to broad England, root to her +brother's stem? Is it not enough to wed the son of a king, the +descendant of Charlemagne and Saint Louis? Must I go bonnet in hand +and simper forth the sleek personals of the choice of her kith and +House; swear the bridegroom's side-locks are as long as King Edward's, +and that he bows with the grace of Master Anthony Woodville? Tell her +this thyself, gentle Clarence, if thou wilt: all Warwick could say +would but anger her ear, if she be the maid thou bespeakest her." + +The Duke of Clarence hesitated a moment, and then, colouring slightly, +said, "If, then, the daughter's hand be the gift of her kith alone, +shall I have thy favour when the Lady Isabel--" + +"George," interrupted Warwick, with a fond and paternal smile, "when +we have made England safe, there is nothing the son of Richard of York +can ask of Warwick in vain. Alas!" he added mournfully, "thy father +and mine were united in the same murtherous death, and I think they +will smile down on us from their seats in heaven when a happier +generation cements that bloody union with a marriage bond!" + +Without waiting for further parlance, the earl turned suddenly away, +threw his cap on his towering head, and strode right through the +centre of the whispering courtiers, who shrunk, louting low, from his +haughty path, to break into a hubbub of angry exclamations or +sarcastic jests at his unmannerly bearing, as his black plume +disappeared in the arch of the vaulted door. + +While such the scene in the interior chambers of the palace, +Marmaduke, with the frank simpleness which belonged to his youth and +training, had already won much favour and popularity, and he was +laughing loud with a knot of young men by the shovel-board when +Warwick re-entered. The earl, though so disliked by the courtiers +more immediately about the person of the king, was still the favourite +of the less elevated knights and gentry who formed the subordinate +household and retainers; and with these, indeed, his manner, so proud +and arrogant to his foes and rivals, relapsed at once into the ease of +the manly and idolized chief. He was pleased to see the way made by +his young namesake, and lifting his cap, as he nodded to the group and +leaned his arm upon Marmaduke's shoulder, he said, "Thanks, and hearty +thanks, to you, knights and gentles, for your courteous reception of +an old friend's young son. I have our king's most gracious permission +to see him enrolled one of the court you grace. Ah, Master Falconer, +and how does thy worthy uncle?--braver knight never trod. What young +gentleman is yonder?--a new face and a manly one; by your favour, +present him. The son of a Savile! Sir, on my return, be not the only +Savile who shuns our table of Warwick Court. Master Dacres, commend +me to the lady, your mother; she and I have danced many a measure +together in the old time,--we all live again in our children. Good +den to you, sirs. Marmaduke, follow me to the office,--you lodge in +the palace. You are gentleman to the most gracious and, if Warwick +lives, to the most puissant of Europe's sovereigns. I shall see +Montagu at home; he shall instruct thee in thy duties, and requite +thee for all discourtesies on the archery-ground." + + + + + +BOOK III. + +IN WHICH THE HISTORY PASSES FROM THE KING'S COURT TO THE STUDENT'S +CELL, AND RELATES THE PERILS THAT BEFELL A PHILOSOPHER FOR MEDDLING +WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SOLITARY SAGE AND THE SOLITARY MAID. + +While such the entrance of Marmaduke Nevile into a court, that if far +less intellectual and refined than those of later days, was yet more +calculated to dazzle the fancy, to sharpen the wit, and to charm the +senses,--for round the throne of Edward IV. chivalry was magnificent, +intrigue restless, and pleasure ever on the wing,--Sibyll had ample +leisure in her solitary home to muse over the incidents that had +preceded the departure of the young guest. Though she had rejected +Marmaduke's proffered love, his tone, so suddenly altered, his abrupt, +broken words and confusion, his farewell, so soon succeeding his +passionate declaration, could not fail to wound that pride of woman +which never sleeps till modesty is gone. But this made the least +cause of the profound humiliation which bowed down her spirit. The +meaning taunt conveyed in the rhyme of the tymbesteres pierced her to +the quick; the calm, indifferent smile of the stranger, as he regarded +her, the beauty of the dame he attended, woke mingled and contrary +feelings, but those of jealousy were perhaps the keenest: and in the +midst of all she started to ask herself if indeed she had suffered her +vain thoughts to dwell too tenderly upon one from whom the vast +inequalities of human life must divide her evermore. What to her was +his indifference? Nothing,--yet had she given worlds to banish that +careless smile from her remembrance. + +Shrinking at last from the tyranny of thoughts till of late unknown, +her eye rested upon the gipsire which Alwyn had sent her by the old +servant. The sight restored to her the holy recollection of her +father, the sweet joy of having ministered to his wants. She put up +the little treasure, intending to devote it all to Warner; and after +bathing her heavy eyes, that no sorrow of hers might afflict the +student, she passed with a listless step into her father's chamber. + +There is, to the quick and mercurial spirits of the young, something +of marvellous and preternatural in that life within life, which the +strong passion of science and genius forms and feeds,--that passion so +much stronger than love, and so much more self-dependent; which asks +no sympathy, leans on no kindred heart; which lives alone in its works +and fancies, like a god amidst his creations. + +The philosopher, too, had experienced a great affliction since they +met last. In the pride of his heart he had designed to show Marmaduke +the mystic operations of his model, which had seemed that morning to +open into life; and when the young man was gone, and he made the +experiment alone, alas! he found that new progress but involved him in +new difficulties. He had gained the first steps in the gigantic +creation of modern days, and he was met by the obstacle that baffled +so long the great modern sage. There was the cylinder, there the +boiler; yet, work as he would, the steam failed to keep the cylinder +at work. And now, patiently as the spider re-weaves the broken web, +his untiring ardour was bent upon constructing a new cylinder of other +materials. "Strange," he said to himself, "that the heat of the mover +aids not the movement;" and so, blundering near the truth, he laboured +on. + +Sibyll, meanwhile, seated herself abstractedly on a heap of fagots +piled in the corner, and seemed busy in framing characters on the +dusty floor with the point of her tiny slipper. So fresh and fair and +young she seemed, in that murky atmosphere, that strange scene, and +beside that worn man, that it might have seemed to a poet as if the +youngest of the Graces were come to visit Mulciber at his forge. + +The man pursued his work, the girl renewed her dreams, the dark +evening hour gradually stealing over both. The silence was unbroken, +for the forge and the model were now at rest, save by the grating of +Adam's file upon the metal, or by some ejaculation of complacency now +and then vented by the enthusiast. So, apart from the many-noised, +gaudy, babbling world without, even in the midst of that bloody, +turbulent, and semi-barbarous time, went on (the one neglected and +unknown, the other loathed and hated) the two movers of the ALL that +continues the airy life of the Beautiful from age to age,--the Woman's +dreaming Fancy and the Man's active Genius. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MASTER ADAM WARNER GROWS A MISER, AND BEHAVES SHAMEFULLY. + +For two or three days nothing disturbed the outward monotony of the +recluse's household. Apparently all had settled back as before the +advent of the young cavalier. But Sibyll's voice was not heard +singing, as of old, when she passed the stairs to her father's room. +She sat with him in his work no less frequently and regularly than +before; but her childish spirits no longer broke forth in idle talk or +petulant movements, vexing the good man from his absorption and his +toils. The little cares and anxieties, which had formerly made up so +much of Sibyll's day by forethought of provision for the morrow, were +suspended; for the money transmitted to her by Alwyn in return for the +emblazoned manuscripts was sufficient to supply their modest wants for +months to come. Adam, more and more engrossed in his labours, did not +appear to perceive the daintier plenty of his board, nor the purchase +of some small comforts unknown for years. He only said one morning, +"It is strange, girl, that as that gathers in life (and he pointed to +the model), it seems already to provide, to my fantasy, the luxuries +it will one day give to us all in truth. Methought my very bed last +night seemed wondrous easy, and the coverings were warmer, for I woke +not with the cold." + +"Ah," thought the sweet daughter, smiling through moist eyes, "while +my cares can smooth thy barren path through life, why should I cark +and pine?" + +Their solitude was now occasionally broken in the evenings by the +visits of Nicholas Alwyn. The young goldsmith was himself not +ignorant of the simpler mathematics; he had some talent for invention, +and took pleasure in the construction of horologes, though, properly +speaking, not a part of his trade. His excuse for his visits was the +wish to profit by Warner's mechanical knowledge; but the student was +so rapt in his own pursuits, that he gave but little instruction to +his visitor. Nevertheless Alwyn was satisfied, for he saw Sibyll. He +saw her in the most attractive phase of her character,--the loving, +patient, devoted daughter; and the view of her household virtues +affected more and more his honest English heart. But, ever awkward +and embarrassed, he gave no vent to his feelings. To Sibyll he spoke +little, and with formal constraint; and the girl, unconscious of her +conquest, was little less indifferent to his visits than her +abstracted father. + +But all at once Adam woke to a sense of the change that had taken +place; all at once he caught scent of gold, for his works were brought +to a pause for want of some finer and more costly materials than the +coins in his own possession (the remnant of Marmaduke's gift) enabled +him to purchase. He had stolen out at dusk, unknown to Sibyll, and +lavished the whole upon the model; but in vain! The model in itself +was, indeed, completed; his invention had mastered the difficulty that +it had encountered. But Adam had complicated the contrivance by +adding to it experimental proofs of the agency it was intended to +exercise. It was necessary in that age, if he were to convince +others, to show more than the principle of his engine,--he must show +also something of its effects; turn a mill without wind or water, or +set in motion some mimic vehicle without other force than that the +contrivance itself supplied. And here, at every step, new obstacles +arose. It was the misfortune to science in those days, not only that +all books and mathematical instruments were enormously dear, but that +the students, still struggling into light, through the glorious +delusions of alchemy and mysticism, imagined that, even in simple +practical operations, there were peculiar virtues in virgin gold and +certain precious stones. A link in the process upon which Adam was +engaged failed him; his ingenuity was baffled, his work stood still; +and in poring again and again over the learned manuscripts--alas! now +lost--in which certain German doctors had sought to explain the +pregnant hints of Roger Bacon, he found it inculcated that the axle of +a certain wheel must be composed of a diamond. Now, in truth, it so +happened that Adam's contrivance, which (even without the appliances +which were added in illustration of the theory) was infinitely more +complicated than modern research has found necessary, did not even +require the wheel in question, much less the absent diamond; it +happened, also, that his understanding, which, though so obtuse in +common life, was in these matters astonishingly clear, could not trace +any mathematical operations by which the diamond axle would in the +least correct the difficulty that had suddenly started up; and yet the +accursed diamond began to haunt him,--the German authority was so +positive on the point, and that authority had in many respects been +accurate. Nor was this all,--the diamond was to be no vulgar diamond; +it was to be endowed, by talismanic skill, with certain properties and +virtues; it was to be for a certain number of hours exposed to the +rays of the full moon; it was to be washed in a primitive and wondrous +elixir, the making of which consumed no little of the finest gold. +This diamond was to be to the machine what the soul is to the body,--a +glorious, all-pervading, mysterious principle of activity and life. +Such were the dreams that obscured the cradle of infant science! And +Adam, with all his reasoning powers, big lore in the hard truths of +mathematics, was but one of the giant children of the dawn. The +magnificent phrases and solemn promises of the mystic Germans got firm +hold of his fancy. Night and day, waking or sleeping, the diamond, +basking in the silence of the full moon, sparkled before his eyes. +Meanwhile all was at a stand. In the very last steps of his discovery +he was arrested. Then suddenly looking round for vulgar moneys to +purchase the precious gem, and the materials for the soluble elixir, +he saw that MONEY had been at work around him,--that he had been +sleeping softly and faring sumptuously. He was seized with a divine +rage. How had Sibyll dared to secrete from him this hoard; how +presumed to waste upon the base body what might have so profited the +eternal mind? In his relentless ardour, in his sublime devotion and +loyalty to his abstract idea, there was a devouring cruelty, of which +this meek and gentle scholar was wholly unconscious. The grim iron +model, like a Moloch, ate up all things,--health, life, love; and its +jaws now opened for his child. He rose from his bed,--it was +daybreak,--he threw on his dressing-robe, he strode into his +daughter's room; the gray twilight came through the comfortless, +curtainless casement, deep sunk into the wall. Adam did not pause to +notice that the poor child, though she had provoked his anger by +refitting his dismal chamber, had spent nothing in giving a less +rugged frown to her own. + +The scanty worm-worn furniture, the wretched pallet, the poor attire +folded decently beside,--nothing save that inexpressible purity and +cleanliness which, in the lowliest hovel, a pure and maiden mind +gathers round it; nothing to distinguish the room of her whose +childhood had passed in courts from the but of the meanest daughter of +drudgery and toil! No,--he who had lavished the fortunes of his +father and big child into the grave of his idea--no--he saw nothing of +this self-forgetful penury--the diamond danced before him! He +approached the bed; and oh! the contrast of that dreary room and +peasant pallet to the delicate, pure, enchanting loveliness of the +sleeping inmate. The scanty covering left partially exposed the snow- +white neck and rounded shoulder; the face was pillowed upon the arm, +in an infantine grace; the face was slightly flushed, and the fresh +red lips parted into a smile,--for in her sleep the virgin dreamed,--a +happy dream! It was a sight to have touched a father's heart, to have +stopped his footstep, and hushed his breath into prayer. And call not +Adam hard--unnatural--that he was not then, as men far more harsh than +he--for the father at that moment was not in his breast, the human man +was gone--he himself, like his model, was a machine of iron!--his life +was his one idea! + +"Wake, child, wake!" he said, in a loud but hollow voice. "Where is +the gold thou hast hidden from me? Wake! confess!" + +Roused from her gracious dreams thus savagely, Sibyll started, and saw +the eager, darkened face of her father. Its expression was peculiar +and undefinable, for it was not threatening, angry, stern; there was a +vacancy in the eyes, a strain in the features, and yet a wild, intense +animation lighting and pervading all,--it was as the face of one +walking in his sleep, and, at the first confusion of waking, Sibyll +thought indeed that such was her father's state. But the impatience +with which he shook the arm he grasped, and repeated, as he opened +convulsively his other hand, "The gold, Sibyll, the gold! Why didst +thou hide it from me?" speedily convinced her that her father's mind +was under the influence of the prevailing malady that made all its +weakness and all its strength. + +"My poor father!" she said pityingly, "wilt thou not leave thyself the +means whereby to keep strength and health for thine high hopes? Ah, +Father, thy Sibyll only hoarded her poor gains for thee!" + +"The gold!" said Adam, mechanically, but in a softer voice,--"all--all +thou hast! How didst thou get it,--how?" + +"By the labours of these hands. Ah, do not frown on me!" + +"Thou--the child of knightly fathers--thou labour!" said Adam, an +instinct of his former state of gentle-born and high-hearted youth +flashing from his eyes. "It was wrong in thee!" + +"Dost thou not labour too?" + +"Ay, but for the world. Well, the gold!" + +Sibyll rose, and modestly throwing over her form the old mantle which +lay on the pallet, passed to a corner of the room, and opening a +chest, took from it the gipsire, and held it out to her father. + +"If it please thee, dear and honoured sir, so be it; and Heaven +prosper it in thy hands!" + +Before Adam's clutch could close on the gipsire, a rude hand was laid +on his shoulder, the gipsire was snatched from Sibyll, and the gaunt, +half-clad form of old Madge interposed between the two. + +"Eh, sir!" she said, in her shrill, cracked tone, "I thought when I +heard your door open, and your step hurrying down, you were after no +good deeds. Fie, master, fie! I have clung to you when all reviled, +and when starvation within and foul words without made all my hire; +for I ever thought you a good and mild man, though little better than +stark wode. But, augh! to rob your child thus, to leave her to starve +and pine! We old folks are used to it. Look round, look round! I +remember this chamber, when ye first came to your father's hall. +Saints of heaven! There stood the brave bed all rustling with damask +of silk; on those stone walls once hung fine arras of the Flemings,--a +marriage gift to my lady from Queen Margaret, and a mighty show to +see, and good for the soul's comforts, with Bible stories wrought on +it. Eh, sir! don't you call to mind your namesake, Master Adam, in +his brave scarlet hosen, and Madam Eve, in her bonny blue kirtle and +laced courtpie? and now--now look round, I say, and see what you have +brought your child to!" + +"Hush! hush! Madge, bush!" cried Sibyll, while Adam gazed in evident +perturbation and awakening shame at the intruder, turning his eyes +round the room as she spoke, and heaving from time to time short, deep +sighs. + +"But I will not hush," pursued the old woman; "I will say my say, for +I love ye both, and I loved my poor mistress who is dead and gone. +Ah, sir, groan! it does you good. And now when this sweet damsel is +growing up, now when you should think of saving a marriage dower for +her (for no marriage where no pot boils), do you rend from her the +little that she has drudged to gain!--She! Oh, out on your heart! And +for what,--for what, sir? For the neighbours to set fire to your +father's house, and the little ones to--" + +"Forbear, woman!" cried Adam, in a voice of thunder; "forbear! +Heavens!" And he waved his hand as he spoke, with so unexpected a +majesty that Madge was awed into sudden silence, and, darting a look +of compassion at Sibyll, she hobbled from the room. Adam stood +motionless an instant; but when he felt his child's soft arms round +his neck, when he heard her voice struggling against tears, praying +him not to heed the foolish words of the old servant,--to take--to +take all, that it would be easy to gain more,--the ice of his +philosophy melted at once; the man broke forth, and, clasping Sibyll +to his heart, and kissing her cheek, her lips, her hands, he faltered +out, "No! no! forgive me! Forgive thy cruel father! Much thought has +maddened me, I think,--it has indeed! Poor child, poor Sibyll," and +he stroked her cheek gently, and with a movement of pathetic pity-- +"poor child, thou art pale, and so slight and delicate! And this +chamber--and thy loneliness--and--ah! my life hath been a curse to +thee, yet I meant to bequeath it a boon to all! + +"Father, dear father, speak not thus. You break my heart. Here, +here, take the gold--or rather, for thou must not venture out to +insult again, let me purchase with it what thou needest. Tell me, +trust me--" + +"No!" exclaimed Adam, with that hollow energy by which a man resolves +to impose restraint on himself; "I will not, for all that science ever +achieved,--I will not lay this shame on my soul! Spend this gold on +thyself, trim this room, buy thee raiment,--all that thou needest,--I +order, I command it! And hark thee, if thou gettest more, hide it +from me, hide it well; men's desires are foul tempters! I never knew, +in following wisdom, that I had a vice. I wake and find myself a +miser and a robber!" + +And with these words he fled from the girl's chamber, gained his own, +and locked the door. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A STRANGE VISITOR.--ALL AGES OF THE WORLD BREED WORLD-BETTERS. + +Sibyll, whose soft heart bled for her father, and who now reproached +herself for having concealed from him her little hoard, began hastily +to dress that she might seek him out, and soothe the painful feelings +which the honest rudeness of Madge had aroused. But before her task +was concluded, there pealed a loud knock at the outer door. She heard +the old housekeeper's quivering voice responding to a loud clear tone; +and presently Madge herself ascended the stairs to Warner's room, +followed by a man whom Sibyll instantly recognized--for he was not one +easily to be forgotten--as their protector from the assault of the +mob. She drew back hastily as he passed her door, and in some wonder +and alarm awaited the descent of Madge. That venerable personage +having with some difficulty induced her master to open his door and +admit the stranger, came straight into her young lady's chamber. +"Cheer up, cheer up, sweetheart," said the old woman; "I think better +days will shine soon; for the honest man I have admitted says he is +but come to tell Master Warner something that will redound much to his +profit. Oh, he is a wonderful fellow, this same Robin! You saw how +he turned the cullions from burning the old house!" + +"What! you know this man, Madge! What is he, and who?" + +Madge looked puzzled. "That is more than I can say, sweet mistress. +But though he has been but some weeks in the neighbourhood, they all +hold him in high count and esteem. For why--it is said he is a rich +man and a kind one. He does a world of good to the poor." + +While Sibyll listened to such explanations as Madge could give her, +the stranger, who had carefully closed the door of the student's +chamber, after regarding Adam for a moment with silent but keen +scrutiny, thus began,-- + +"When last we met, Adam Warner, it was with satchells on our backs. +Look well at me!" + +"Troth," answered Adam, languidly, for he was still under the deep +dejection that had followed the scene with Sibyll, "I cannot call you +to mind, nor seems it veritable that our schooldays passed together, +seeing that my hair is gray and men call me old; but thou art in all +the lustihood of this human life." + +"Nathless," returned the stranger, "there are but two years or so +between thine age and mine. When thou wert poring over the crabbed +text, and pattering Latin by the ell, dost thou not remember a lack- +grace good-for-naught, Robert Hilyard, who was always setting the +school in an uproar, and was finally outlawed from that boy-world, as +he hath been since from the man's world, for inciting the weak to +resist the strong?" + +"Ah," exclaimed Adam, with a gleam of something like joy on his face, +"art thou indeed that riotous, brawling, fighting, frank-hearted, bold +fellow, Robert Hilyard? Ha! ha!--those were merry days! I have known +none like them--" The old schoolfellows shook hands heartily. + +"The world has not fared well with thee in person or pouch, I fear me, +poor Adam," said Hilyard; "thou canst scarcely have passed thy +fiftieth year, and yet thy learned studies have given thee the weight +of sixty; while I, though ever in toil and bustle, often wanting a +meal, and even fearing the halter, am strong and hearty as when I shot +my first fallow buck in the king's forest, and kissed the forester's +pretty daughter. Yet, methinks, Adam, if what I hear of thy tasks be +true, thou and I have each been working for one end; thou to make the +world other than it is, and I to--" + +"What! hast thou, too, taken nourishment from the bitter milk of +Philosophy,--thou, fighting Rob?" + +"I know not whether it be called philosophy, but marry, Edward of York +would call it rebellion; they are much the same, for both war against +rules established!" returned Hilyard, with more depth of thought than +his careless manner seemed to promise. He paused, and laying his +broad brown hand on Warner's shoulder, resumed, "Thou art poor, Adam!" +"Very poor,--very, very!" + +"Does thy philosophy disdain gold?" + +"What can philosophy achieve without it? She is a hungry dragon, and +her very food is gold!" + +"Wilt thou brave some danger--thou went ever a fearless boy when thy +blood was up, though so meek and gentle--wilt thou brave some danger +for large reward?" + +"My life braves the scorn of men, the pinchings of famine, and, it may +be, the stake and the fagot. Soldiers brave not the dangers that are +braved by a wise man in an unwise age!" + +"Gramercy! thou hast a hero's calm aspect while thou speakest, and thy +words move me! Listen! Thou wert wont, when Henry of Windsor was +King of England, to visit and confer with him on learned matters. He +is now a captive in the Tower; but his jailers permit him still to +receive the visits of pious monks and harmless scholars. I ask thee +to pay him such a visit, and for this office I am empowered, by richer +men than myself, to award thee the guerdon of twenty broad pieces of +gold." + +"Twenty!--A mine! a Tmolus!" exclaimed Adam, in uncontrollable glee. +"Twenty! O true friend, then my work will be born at last!" + +"But hear me further, Adam, for I will not deceive thee; the visit +hath its peril! Thou must first see if the mind of King Henry, for +king he is, though the usurper wear his holy crown, be clear and +healthful. Thou knowest he is subject to dark moods,--suspension of +man's reason; and if he be, as his friends hope, sane and right- +judging, thou wilt give him certain papers, which, after his hand has +signed them, thou wilt bring back to me. If in this thou succeedest, +know that thou mayst restore the royalty of Lancaster to the purple +and the throne; that thou wilt have princes and earls for favourers +and protectors to thy learned life; that thy fortunes and fame are +made! Fail, be discovered,--and Edward of York never spares!--thy +guerdon will be the nearest tree and the strongest rope!" + +"Robert," said Adam, who had listened to this address with unusual +attention, "thou dealest with me plainly, and as man should deal with +man. I know little of stratagem and polity, wars and kings; and save +that King Henry, though passing ignorant in the mathematics, and more +given to alchemists than to solid seekers after truth, was once or +twice gracious to me, I could have no choice, in these four walls, +between an Edward and a Henry on the throne. But I have a king whose +throne is in mine own breast, and, alack, it taxeth me heavily, and +with sore burdens." + +"I comprehend," said the visitor, glancing round the room,--"I +comprehend: thou wantest money for thy books and instruments, and thy +melancholic passion is thy sovereign. Thou wilt incur the risk?" + +"I will," said Adam. "I would rather seek in the lion's den for what +I lack than do what I well-nigh did this day." + +"What crime was that, poor scholar?" said Robin, smiling. + +"My child worked for her bread and my luxuries--I would have robbed +her, old schoolfellow. Ha, ha! what is cord and gibbet to one so +tempted?" + +A tear stood in the bright gray eyes of the bluff visitor. "Ah, +Adam," he said sadly, "only by the candle held in the skeleton hand of +Poverty can man read his own dark heart. But thou, Workman of +Knowledge, hast the same interest as the poor who dig and delve. +Though strange circumstance hath made me the servant and emissary of +Margaret, think not that I am but the varlet of the great." Hilyard +paused a moment, and resumed,-- + +"Thou knowest, peradventure, that my race dates from an elder date +than these Norman nobles, who boast their robber-fathers. From the +renowned Saxon Thane, who, free of hand and of cheer, won the name of +Hildegardis, [Hildegardis, namely, old German, a person of noble or +generous disposition. Wotton's "Baronetage," art. Hilyard, or +Hildyard, of Pattrington.] our family took its rise. But under these +Norman barons we sank with the nation to which we belonged. Still +were we called gentlemen, and still were dubbed knights. But as I +grew up to man's estate, I felt myself more Saxon than gentleman, and, +as one of a subject and vassal race, I was a son of the Saxon people. +My father, like thee, was a man of thought and bookcraft. I dare own +to thee that he was a Lollard; and with the religion of those bold +foes to priest-vice, goes a spirit that asks why the people should be +evermore the spoil and prey of lords and kings. Early in my youth, my +father, fearing rack and fagot in England, sought refuge in the Hans +town of Lubeck. There I learned grave truths,--how liberty can be won +and guarded. Later in life I saw the republics of Italy, and I asked +why they were so glorious in all the arts and craft of civil life, +while the braver men of France and England seemed as savages by the +side of the Florentine burgess, nay, of the Lombard vine-dresser. I +saw that, even when those republics fell a victim to some tyrant or +podesta, their men still preserved rights and uttered thoughts which +left them more free and more great than the Commons of England after +all their boasted wars. I came back to my native land and settled in +the North, as my franklin ancestry before me. The broad lands of my +forefathers had devolved on the elder line, and gave a knight's fee to +Sir Robert Hilyard, who fell afterwards at Towton for the +Lancastrians. But I had won gold in the far countree, and I took farm +and homestead near Lord Warwick's tower of Middleham. The feud +between Lancaster and York broke forth; Earl Warwick summoned his +retainers, myself amongst them, since I lived upon his land; I sought +the great earl, and I told him boldly--him whom the Commons deemed a +friend, and a foe to all malfaisance and abuse--I told him that the +war he asked me to join seemed to me but a war of ambitious lords, and +that I saw not how the Commons were to be bettered, let who would be +king. The earl listened and deigned to reason; and when he saw I was +not convinced, he left me to my will; for he is a noble chief, and I +admired even his angry pride, when he said, 'Let no man fight for +Warwick whose heart beats not in his cause.' I lived afterwards to +discharge my debt to the proud earl, and show him how even the lion +may be meshed, and how even the mouse may gnaw the net. But to my own +tragedy. So I quitted those parts, for I feared my own resolution +near so great a man; I made a new home not far from the city of York. +So, Adam, when all the land around bristled with pike and gisarme, and +while my own cousin and namesake, the head of my House, was winning +laurels and wasting blood--I, thy quarrelsome, fighting friend--lived +at home in peace with my wife and child (for I was now married, and +wife and child were dear to me), and tilled my lands. But in peace I +was active and astir, for my words inflamed the bosoms of labourers +and peasants, and many of them, benighted as they were, thought with +me. One day--I was absent from home, selling my grain in the marts of +York--one day there entered the village a young captain, a boy-chief, +Edward Earl of March, beating for recruits. Dost thou heed me, Adam? +Well, man--well, the peasants stood aloof from tromp and banner, and +they answered, to all the talk of hire and fame, 'Robin Hilyard tells +us we have nothing to gain but blows,--leave us to hew and to delve.' +Oh, Adam, this boy, this chief, the Earl of March, now crowned King +Edward, made but one reply, 'This Robin Hilyard must be a wise man,-- +show me his house.' They pointed out the ricks, the barns, the +homestead, and in five minutes all--all were in flames. 'Tell the +hilding, when he returns, that thus Edward of March, fair to friends +and terrible to foes, rewards the coward who disaffects the men of +Yorkshire to their chief.' And by the blazing rafters, and the pale +faces of the silent crowd, he rode on his way to battle and the +throne!" + +Hilyard paused, and the anguish of his countenance was terrible to +behold. + +"I returned to find a heap of ashes; I returned to find my wife a +maniac; I returned to find my child--my boy--great God!--he had run to +hide himself, in terror at the torches and the grim men; they had +failed to discover him, till, too late, his shrieks, amidst the +crashing walls, burst on his mother's ear,--and the scorched, mangled, +lifeless corpse lay on that mother's bosom!" + +Adam rose; his figure was transformed. Not the stooping student, but +the knight-descended man, seemed to tower in the murky chamber; his +hand felt at his side, as for a sword; he stifled a curse, and +Hilyard, in that suppressed low voice which evinces a strong mind in +deep emotion, continued his tale. + +"Blessed be the Divine Intercessor, the mother of the dead died too! +Behold me, a lonely, ruined, wifeless, childless wretch! I made all +the world my foe! The old love of liberty (alone left me) became a +crime; I plunged into the gloom of the forest, a robber-chief, +sparing--no, never-never--never one York captain, one spurred knight, +one belted lord! But the poor, my Saxon countrymen, they had +suffered, and were safe! + +"One dark twilight--thou hast heard the tale, every village minstrel +sets it to his viol--a majestic woman, a hunted fugitive, crossed my +path; she led a boy in her hand, a year or so younger than my murdered +child. 'Friend!' said the woman, fearlessly, 'save the son of your +king; I am Margaret, Queen of England!' I saved them both. From that +hour the robber-chief, the Lollard's son, became a queen's friend. +Here opened, at least, vengeance against the fell destroyer. Now see +you why I seek you, why tempt you into danger? Pause, if you will, +for my passion heats my blood,--and all the kings since Saul, it may +be, are not worth one scholar's life! And yet," continued Hilyard, +regaining his ordinary calm tone, "and yet, it seemeth to me, as I +said at first, that all who labour have in this a common cause and +interest with the poor. This woman-king, though bloody man, with his +wine-cups and his harlots, this usurping York--his very existence +flaunts the life of the sons of toil. In civil war and in broil, in +strife that needs the arms of the people, the people shall get their +own." + +"I will go," said Adam, and he advanced to the door. Hilyard caught +his arm. "Why, friend, thou hast not even the documents, and how +wouldst thou get access to the prison? Listen to me; or," added the +conspirator, observing poor Adam's abstracted air, "or let me rather +speak a word to thy fair daughter; women have ready wit, and are the +pioneers to the advance of men! Adam, Adam! thou art dreaming!"--He +shook the philosopher's arm roughly. + +"I heed you," said Warner, meekly. + +"The first thing required," renewed Hilyard, "is a permit to see King +Henry. This is obtained either from the Lord Worcester, governor of +the Tower, a cruel man, who may deny it, or the Lord Hastings, +Edward's chamberlain, a humane and gentle one, who will readily grant +it. Let not thy daughter know why thou wouldst visit Henry; let her +suppose it is solely to make report of his health to Margaret; let her +not know there is scheming or danger,--so, at least, her ignorance +will secure her safety. But let her go to the lord chamberlain, and +obtain the order for a learned clerk to visit the learned prisoner-- +to--ha! well thought of--this strange machine is, doubtless, the +invention of which thy neighbours speak; this shall make thy excuse; +thou wouldst divert the prisoner with thy mechanical--comprehendest +thou, Adam?" + +"Ah, King Henry will see the model, and when he is on the throne--" + +"He will protect the scholar!" interrupted Hilyard. "Good! good! +Wait here; I will confer with thy daughter." He gently pushed aside +Adam, opened the door, and on descending the stairs, found Sibyll by +the large casement where she had stood with Marmaduke, and heard the +rude stave of the tymbesteres. + +The anxiety the visit of Hilyard had occasioned her was at once +allayed, when he informed her that he had been her father's +schoolmate, and desired to become his friend. And when he drew a +moving picture of the exiled condition of Margaret and the young +prince, and their natural desire to learn tidings of the health of the +deposed king, her gentle heart, forgetting the haughty insolence with +which her royal mistress had often wounded and chilled her childhood, +felt all the generous and compassionate sympathy the conspirator +desired to awaken. "The occasion," added Hilyard, "for learning the +poor captive's state now offers! He hath heard of your father's +labours; he desires to learn their nature from his own lips. He is +allowed to receive, by an order from King Edward's chamberlain, the +visits of those scholars in whose converse he was ever wont to +delight. Wilt thou so far aid the charitable work as to seek the Lord +Hastings, and crave the necessary license? Thou seest that thy father +has wayward and abstract moods; he might forget that Henry of Windsor +is no longer king, and might give him that title in speaking to Lord +Hastings,--a slip of the tongue which the law styles treason." + +"Certes," said Sibyll, quickly, "if my father would seek the poor +captive, I will be his messenger to my Lord Hastings. But oh, sir, as +thou hast known my father's boyhood, and as thou hopest for mercy in +the last day, tempt to no danger one so guileless!" + +Hilyard winced as he interrupted her hastily, + +"There is no danger if thou wilt obtain the license. I will say +more,--a reward awaits him, that will not only banish his poverty but +save his life." + +"His life!" + +"Ay! seest thou not, fair mistress, that Adam Warner is dying, not of +the body's hunger, but of the soul's? He craveth gold, that his toils +may reap their guerdon. If that gold be denied, his toils will fret +him to the grave!" + +"Alas! alas! it is true." + +"That gold he shall honourably win! Nor is this all. Thou wilt see +the Lord Hastings: he is less learned, perhaps, than Worcester, less +dainty in accomplishments and gifts than Anthony Woodville, but his +mind is profound and vast; all men praise him save the queen's kin. +He loves scholars; he is mild to distress; he laughs at the +superstitions of the vulgar. Thou wilt see the Lord Hastings, and +thou mayst interest him in thy father's genius and his fate!" + +"There is frankness in thy voice, and I will trust thee," answered +Sibyll. "When shall I seek this lord?" + +"This day, if thou wilt. He lodges at the Tower, and gives access, it +is said, to all who need his offices, or seek succour from his power." + +"This day, then, be it!" answered Sibyll, calmly. + +Hilyard gazed at her countenance, rendered so noble in its youthful +resignation, in its soft firmness of expression, and muttering, +"Heaven prosper thee, maiden; we shall meet tomorrow," descended the +stairs, and quitted the house. + +His heart smote him when he was in the street. "If evil should come +to this meek scholar, to that poor child's father, it would be a sore +sin to my soul. But no; I will not think it. The saints will not +suffer this bloody Edward to triumph long; and in this vast chessboard +of vengeance and great ends, we must move men to and fro, and harden +our natures to the hazard of the game." + +Sibyll sought her father; his mind had flown back to the model. He +was already living in the life that the promised gold would give to +the dumb thought. True that all the ingenious additions to the +engine--additions that were to convince the reason and startle the +fancy--were not yet complete (for want, of course, of the diamond +bathed in moonbeams); but still there was enough in the inventions +already achieved to excite curiosity and obtain encouragement. So, +with care and diligence and sanguine hope the philosopher prepared the +grim model for exhibition to a man who had worn a crown, and might +wear again. But with that innocent and sad cunning which is so common +with enthusiasts of one idea, the sublime dwellers of the narrow +border between madness and inspiration, Adam, amidst his excitement, +contrived to conceal from his daughter all glimpse of the danger he +ran, of the correspondence of which he was to be the medium,--or +rather, may we think that he had forgotten both! Not the stout +Warwick himself, in the roar of battle, thought so little of peril to +life and limb as that gentle student, in the reveries of his lonely +closet; and therefore, all unsuspicious, and seeing but diversion to +Adam's recent gloom of despair, an opening to all his bright +prospects, Sibyll attired herself in her holiday garments, drew her +wimple closely round her face, and summoning Madge to attend her, bent +her way to the Tower. Near York House, within view of the Sanctuary +and the Palace of Westminster, they took a boat, and arrived at the +stairs of the Tower. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LORD HASTINGS. + +William Lord Hastings was one of the most remarkable men of the age. +Philip de Comines bears testimony to his high repute for wisdom and +virtue. Born the son of a knight of ancient lineage but scanty lands, +he had risen, while yet in the prime of life, to a rank and an +influence second, perhaps, only to the House of Nevile. Like Lord +Montagu, he united in happy combination the talents of a soldier and a +courtier. But as a statesman, a schemer, a thinker, Montagu, with all +his craft, was inferior to Hastings. In this, the latter had but two +equals,--namely, George, the youngest of the Nevile brothers, +Archbishop of York; and a boy, whose intellect was not yet fully +developed, but in whom was already apparent to the observant the dawn +of a restless, fearless, calculating, and subtle genius. That boy, +whom the philosophers of Utrecht had taught to reason, whom the +lessons of Warwick had trained to arms, was Richard, Duke of +Gloucester, famous even now for his skill in the tilt-yard and his +ingenuity in the rhetoric of the schools. + +The manners of Lord Hastings had contributed to his fortunes. Despite +the newness of his honours, even the haughtiest of the ancient nobles +bore him no grudge, for his demeanour was at once modest and manly. +He was peculiarly simple and unostentatious in his habits, and +possessed that nameless charm which makes men popular with the lowly +and welcome to the great. [On Edward's accession so highly were the +services of Hastings appreciated by the party, that not only the king, +but many of the nobility, contributed to render his wealth equal to +his new station, by grants of lands and moneys. Several years +afterwards, when he went with Edward into France, no less than two +lords, nine knights, fifty-eight squires, and twenty gentlemen joined +his train.--Dugdale: Baronage, p. 583. Sharon Turner: History of +England, vol. iii. p. 380.] But in that day a certain mixture of vice +was necessary to success; and Hastings wounded no self-love by the +assumption of unfashionable purism. He was regarded with small favour +by the queen, who knew him as the companion of Edward in his +pleasures, and at a later period accused him of enticing her faithless +lord into unworthy affections. And certain it is, that he was +foremost amongst the courtiers in those adventures which we call the +excesses of gayety and folly, though too often leading to Solomon's +wisdom and his sadness. But profligacy with Hastings had the excuse +of ardent passions: he had loved deeply, and unhappily, in his earlier +youth, and he gave in to the dissipation of the time with the restless +eagerness common to strong and active natures when the heart is not at +ease; and under all the light fascination of his converse; or the +dissipation of his life, lurked the melancholic temperament of a man +worthy of nobler things. Nor was the courtly vice of the libertine +the only drawback to the virtuous character assigned to Hastings by +Comines. His experience of men had taught him something of the +disdain of the cynic, and he scrupled not at serving his pleasures or +his ambition by means which his loftier nature could not excuse to his +clear sense. [See Comines, book vi., for a curious anecdote of what +Mr. Sharon Turner happily calls "the moral coquetry" of Hastings,--an +anecdote which reveals much of his character.] Still, however, the +world, which had deteriorated, could not harden him. Few persons so +able acted so frequently from impulse; the impulses were for the most +part affectionate and generous, but then came the regrets of caution +and experience; and Hastings summoned his intellect to correct the +movement of his heart,--in other words, reflection sought to undo what +impulse had suggested. Though so successful a gallant, he had not +acquired the ruthless egotism of the sensualist; and his conduct to +women often evinced the weakness of giddy youth rather than the cold +deliberation of profligate manhood. Thus in his veriest vices there +was a spurious amiability, a seductive charm; while in the graver +affairs of life the intellectual susceptibility of his nature served +but to quicken his penetration and stimulate his energies, and +Hastings might have said, with one of his Italian contemporaries, +"That in subjection to the influences of women he had learned the +government of men." In a word, his powers to attract, and his +capacities to command, may be guessed by this,--that Lord Hastings was +the only man Richard III. seems to have loved, when Duke of +Gloucester, [Sir Thomas More, "Life of Edward V.," speaks of "the +great love" Richard bore to Hastings.] and the only man he seems to +have feared, when resolved to be King of England. + +Hastings was alone in the apartments assigned to him in the Tower, +when his page, with a peculiar smile, announced to him the visit of a +young donzell, who would not impart her business to his attendants. + +The accomplished chamberlain looked up somewhat impatiently from the +beautiful manuscripts, enriched with the silver verse of Petrarch, +which lay open on his table, and after muttering to himself, "It is +only Edward to whom the face of a woman never is unwelcome," bade the +page admit the visitor. The damsel entered, and the door closed upon +her. + +"Be not alarmed, maiden," said Hastings, touched by the downcast bend +of the hooded countenance, and the unmistakable and timid modesty of +his visitor's bearing. "What hast thou to say to me?" + +At the sound of his voice, Sibyll Warner started, and uttered a faint +exclamation. The stranger of the pastime-ground was before her. +Instinctively she drew the wimple yet more closely round her face, and +laid her hand upon the bolt of the door as if in the impulse of +retreat. + +The nobleman's curiosity was roused. He looked again and earnestly on +the form that seemed to shrink from his gaze; then rising slowly, he +advanced, and laid his band on her arm. "Donzell, I recognize thee," +he said, in a voice that sounded cold and stern. "What service +wouldst thou ask me to render thee? Speak! Nay! I pray thee, +speak." + +"Indeed, good my lord," said Sibyll, conquering her confusion; and, +lifting her wimple, her dark blue eyes met those bent on her, with +fearless truth and innocence, "I knew not, and you will believe me,--I +knew not till this moment that I had such cause for gratitude to the +Lord Hastings. I sought you but on the behalf of my father, Master +Adam Warner, who would fain have the permission accorded to other +scholars, to see the Lord Henry of Windsor, who was gracious to him in +other days, and to while the duress of that princely captive with the +show of a quaint instrument he has invented." + +"Doubtless," answered Hastings, who deserved his character (rare in +that day) for humanity and mildness--"doubt less it will pleasure me, +nor offend his grace the king, to show all courtesy and indulgence to +the unhappy gentleman and lord, whom the weal of England condemns us +to hold incarcerate. I have heard of thy father, maiden, an honest +and simple man, in whom we need not fear a conspirator; and of thee, +young mistress, I have heard also, since we parted." + +"Of me, noble sir?" + +"Of thee," said Hastings, with a smile; and, placing a seat for her, +he took from the table an illuminated manuscript. "I have to thank +thy friend Master Alwyn for procuring me this treasure!" + +"What, my lord!" said Sibyll, and her eyes glistened, were you--you +the--the--" + +"The fortunate person whom Alwyn has enriched at so slight a cost? +Yes. Do not grudge me my good fortune in this. Thou hast nobler +treasures, methinks, to bestow on another!" + +"My good lord!" + +"Nay, I must not distress thee. And the young gentleman has a fair +face; may it bespeak a true heart!" + +These words gave Sibyll an emotion of strange delight. They seemed +spoken sadly, they seemed to betoken a jealous sorrow; they awoke the +strange, wayward woman-feeling, which is pleased at the pain that +betrays the woman's influence: the girl's rosy lips smiled +maliciously. Hastings watched her, and her face was so radiant with +that rare gleam of secret happiness,--so fresh, so young, so pure, and +withal so arch and captivating, that hackneyed and jaded as he was in +the vulgar pursuit of pleasure, the sight moved better and tenderer +feelings than those of the sensualist. "Yes," he muttered to +himself, "there are some toys it were a sin to sport with and cast +away amidst the broken rubbish of gone passions!" + +He turned to the table, and wrote the order of admission to Henry's +prison, and as he gave it to Sibyll, he said, "Thy young gallant, I +see, is at the court now. It is a perilous ordeal, and especially to +one for whom the name of Nevile opens the road to advancement and +honour. Men learn betimes in courts to forsake Love for Plutus, and +many a wealthy lord would give his heiress to the poorest gentleman +who claims kindred to the Earl of Salisbury and Warwick." + +"May my father's guest so prosper," answered Sibyll, "for he seems of +loyal heart and gentle nature!" + +"Thou art unselfish, sweet mistress," said Hastings; and, surprised by +her careless tone, he paused a moment: "or art thou, in truth, +indifferent? Saw I not thy hand in his, when even those loathly +tymbesteres chanted warning to thee for loving, not above thy merits, +but, alas, it may be, above thy fortunes?" + +Sibyll's delight increased. Oh, then, he had not applied that hateful +warning to himself! He guessed not her secret. She blushed, and the +blush was so chaste and maidenly, while the smile that went with it +was so ineffably animated and joyous, that Hastings exclaimed, with +unaffected admiration, "Surely, fair donzell, Petrarch dreamed of +thee, when he spoke of the woman-blush and the angel-smile of Laura. +Woe to the man who would injure thee! Farewell! I would not see thee +too often, unless I saw thee ever." + +He lifted her hand to his lips with a chivalrous respect as he spoke; +opened the door, and called his page to attend her to the gates. + +Sibyll was more flattered by the abrupt dismissal than if he had knelt +to detain her. How different seemed the world as her light step +wended homeward! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MASTER ADAM WARNER AND KING HENRY THE SIXTH. + +The next morning Hilyard revisited Warner with the letters for Henry. +The conspirator made Adam reveal to him the interior mechanism of the +Eureka, to which Adam, who had toiled all night, had appended one of +the most ingenious contrivances he had as yet been enabled (sans the +diamond) to accomplish, for the better display of the agencies which +the engine was designed to achieve. This contrivance was full of +strange cells and recesses, in one of which the documents were placed. +And there they lay, so well concealed as to puzzle the minutest +search, if not aided by the inventor, or one to whom he had +communicated the secrets of the contrivance. + +After repeated warnings and exhortations to discretion, Hilyard then, +whose busy, active mind had made all the necessary arrangements, +summoned a stout-looking fellow, whom he had left below, and with his +aid conveyed the heavy machine across the garden, to a back lane, +where a mule stood ready to receive the burden. + +"Suffer this trusty fellow to guide thee, dear Adam; he will take thee +through ways where thy brutal neighbours are not likely to meet and +molest thee. Call all thy wits to the surface. Speed and prosper!" + +"Fear not," said Adam, disdainfully. "In the neighbourhood of kings, +science is ever safe. Bless thee, child," and he laid his hand upon +Sibyll's head, for she had accompanied them thus far in silence, "now +go in." + +"I go with thee, Father," said Sibyll, firmly. "Master Hilyard, it is +best so," she whispered; "what if my father fall into one of his +reveries?" + +"You are right: go with him, at least, to the Tower gate. Hard by is +the house of a noble dame and a worthy, known to our friend Hugh, +where thou mayest wait Master Warner's return. It will not suit thy +modesty and sex to loiter amongst the pages and soldiery in the yard. +Adam, thy daughter must wend with thee." + +Adam had not attended to this colloquy, and mechanically bowing his +head, he set off, and was greatly surprised, on gaining the river-side +(where a boat was found large enough to accommodate not only the human +passengers, but the mule and its burden), to see Sibyll by his side. + +The imprisonment of the unfortunate Henry, though guarded with +sufficient rigour against all chances of escape, was not, as the +reader has perceived, at this period embittered by unnecessary +harshness. His attendants treated him with respect, his table was +supplied more abundantly and daintily than his habitual abstinence +required, and the monks and learned men whom he had favoured, were, we +need not repeat, permitted to enliven his solitude with their grave +converse. + +On the other hand, all attempts at correspondence between Margaret or +the exiled Lancastrians and himself had been jealously watched, and +when detected, the emissaries had been punished with relentless +severity. A man named Hawkins had been racked for attempting to +borrow money for the queen from the great London merchant, Sir Thomas +Cook. A shoemaker had been tortured to death with red-hot pincers for +abetting her correspondence with her allies. Various persons had been +racked for similar offences; but the energy of Margaret and the zeal +of her adherents were still unexhausted and unconquered. + +Either unconscious or contemptuous of the perils to which he was +subjected, the student, with his silent companions, performed the +voyage, and landed in sight of the Fortress-Palatine. And now Hugh +stopped before a house of good fashion, knocked at the door, which was +opened by an old servitor, disappeared for a few moments, and +returning, informed Sibyll, in a meaning whisper, that the gentlewoman +within was a good Lancastrian, and prayed the donzell to rest in her +company till Master Warner's return. + +Sibyll, accordingly, after pressing her father's hand without fear-- +for she had deemed the sole danger Adam risked was from the rabble by +the way--followed Hugh into a fair chamber, strewed with rushes, where +an aged dame, of noble air and aspect, was employed at her broidery +frame. This gentlewoman, the widow of a nobleman who had fallen in +the service of Henry, received her graciously, and Hugh then retired +to complete his commission. The student, the mule, the model, and the +porter pursued their way to the entrance of that part of the gloomy +palace inhabited by Henry. Here they were stopped, and Adam, after +rummaging long in vain for the chamberlain's passport, at last happily +discovered it, pinned to his sleeve, by Sibyll's forethought. On this +a gentleman was summoned to inspect the order, and in a few moments +Adam was conducted to the presence of the illustrious prisoner. + +"And what," said a subaltern officer, lolling by the archway of the +(now styled) "Bloody Tower," hard by the turret devoted to the +prisoner, [The Wakefield Tower] and speaking to Adam's guide, who +still mounted guard by the model,--"what may be the precious burden of +which thou art the convoy?" + +"Marry, sir," said Hugh, who spoke in the strong Yorkshire dialect, +which we are obliged to render into intelligible English--"marry, I +weet not,--it is some curious puppet-box, or quiet contrivance, that +Master Warner, whom they say is a very deft and ingenious personage, +is permitted to bring hither for the Lord Henry's diversion." + +"A puppet-box!" said the officer, with much animated curiosity. +"'Fore the Mass! that must be a pleasant sight. Lift the lid, +fellow!" + +"Please your honour, I do not dare," returned Hugh,--"I but obey +orders." + +"Obey mine, then. Out of the way," and the officer lifted the lid of +the pannier with the point of his dagger, and peered within. He drew +back, much disappointed. "Holy Mother!" said he, "this seemeth more +like an instrument of torture than a juggler's merry device. It looks +parlous ugly!" + +"Hush!" said one of the lazy bystanders, with whom the various +gateways and courts of the Palace-Fortress were crowded, "hush--thy +cap and thy knee, sir!" + +The officer started; and, looking round, perceived a young man of low +stature, followed by three or four knights and nobles, slowly +approaching towards the arch, and every cap in the vicinity was off, +and every knee bowed. + +The eye of this young man was already bent, with a searching and keen +gaze, upon the motionless mule, standing patiently by the Wakefield +Tower; and turning from the mule to the porter, the latter shrunk, and +grew pale, at that dark, steady, penetrating eye, which seemed to +pierce at once into the secrets and hearts of men. + +"Who may this young lord be?" he whispered to the officer. + +"Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, man," was the answer. "Uncover, +varlet!" + +"Surely," said the prince, pausing by the gate, "surely this is no +sumpter-mule, bearing provisions to the Lord Henry of Windsor. It +would be but poor respect to that noble person, whom, alas the day! +his grace the king is unwillingly compelled to guard from the +malicious designs of rebels and mischief-seekers, that one not bearing +the king's livery should attend to any of the needful wants of so +worshipful a lord and guest!" + +"My lord," said the officer at the gate, "one Master Adam Warner hath +just, by permission, been conducted to the Lord Henry's presence, and +the beast beareth some strange and grim-looking device for my lord's +diversion." + +The singular softness and urbanity which generally characterized the +Duke of Gloucester's tone and bearing at that time,--which in a court +so full of factions and intrigues made him the enemy of none and +seemingly the friend of all, and, conjoined with abilities already +universally acknowledged, had given to his very boyhood a pre-eminence +of grave repute and good opinion, which, indeed, he retained till the +terrible circumstances connected with his accession to the throne, +under the bloody name of Richard the Third, roused all men's hearts +and reasons into the persuasion that what before had seemed virtue was +but dissimulation,--this singular sweetness, we say, of manner and +voice, had in it, nevertheless, something that imposed and thrilled +and awed. And in truth, in our common and more vulgar intercourse +with life, we must have observed, that where external gentleness of +bearing is accompanied by a repute for iron will, determined +resolution, and a serious, profound, and all-inquiring intellect, it +carries with it a majesty wholly distinct from that charm which is +exercised by one whose mildness of nature corresponds with the outward +humility; and, if it does not convey the notion of falseness, bears +the appearance of that perfect self-possession, that calm repose of +power, which intimidates those it influences far more than the +imperious port and the loud voice. And they who best knew the duke, +knew also that, despite this general smoothness of mien, his +temperament was naturally irritable, quick, and subject to stormy +gusts of passion, the which defects his admirers praised him for +labouring hard and sedulously to keep in due control. Still, to a +keen observer, the constitutional tendencies of that nervous +temperament were often visible, even in his blandest moments, even +when his voice was most musical, his smile most gracious. If +something stung or excited him, an uneasy gnawing of the nether lip, a +fretful playing with his dagger, drawing it up and down from its +sheath, [Pol. Virg. 565] a slight twitching of the muscles of the +face, and a quiver of the eyelid, betokened the efforts he made at +self-command; and now, as his dark eyes rested upon Hugh's pale +countenance, and then glanced upon the impassive mule, dozing quietly +under the weight of poor Adam's model, his hand mechanically sought +his dagger-hilt, and his face took a sinister and sombre expression. + +"Thy name, friend?" + +"Hugh Withers, please you, my lord duke." + +"Um! North country, by thine accent. Dost thou serve this Master +Warner?" + +"No, my lord, I was only hired with my mule to carry--" + +"Ah, true! to carry what thy pannier contains; open it. Holy Paul! a +strange jonglerie indeed! This Master Adam Warner,--methinks, I have +heard his name--a learned man--um--let me see his safe conduct. +Right,--it is Lord Hastings's signature." But still the prince held +the passport, and still suspiciously eyed the Eureka and its +appliances, which, in their complicated and native ugliness of doors, +wheels, pipes, and chimney, were exposed to his view. At this moment, +one of the attendants of Henry descended the stairs of the Wakefield +Tower, with a request that the model might be carried up to divert the +prisoner. + +Richard paused a moment, as the officer hesitatingly watched his +countenance before giving the desired permission. But the prince, +turning to him, and smoothing his brow, said mildly, "Certes! all that +can divert the Lord Henry must be innocent pastime. And I am well +pleased that he hath this cheerful mood for recreation. It gainsayeth +those who would accuse us of rigour in his durance. Yes, this warrant +is complete and formal;" and the prince returned the passport to the +officer, and walked slowly on through that gloomy arch ever more +associated with Richard of Gloucester's memory, and beneath the very +room in which our belief yet holds that the infant sons of Edward IV. +breathed their last; still, as Gloucester moved, he turned and turned, +and kept his eye furtively fixed upon the porter. + +"Lovell," he said to one of the gentlemen who attended him, and who +was among the few admitted to his more peculiar intimacy, "that man is +of the North." + +"Well, my lord?" + +"The North was always well affected to the Lancastrians. Master +Warner hath been accused of witchcraft. Marry, I should like to see +his device--um; Master Catesby, come hither,--approach, sir. Go back, +and the instant Adam Warner and his contrivance are dismissed, bring +them both to me in the king's chamber. Thou understandest? We too +would see his device,--and let neither man nor mechanical, when once +they reappear, out of thine eye's reach. For divers and subtle are +the contrivances of treasonable men!" + +Catesby bowed, and Richard, without speaking further, took his way to +the royal apartments, which lay beyond the White Tower, towards the +river, and are long since demolished. + +Meanwhile the porter, with the aid of one of the attendants, had +carried the model into the chamber of the august captive. Henry, +attired in a loose robe, was pacing the room with a slow step, and his +head sunk on his bosom,--while Adam with much animation was enlarging +on the wonders of the contrivance he was about to show him. The +chamber was commodious, and furnished with sufficient attention to the +state and dignity of the prisoner; for Edward, though savage and +relentless when his blood was up, never descended into the cool and +continuous cruelty of detail. + +The chamber may yet be seen,--its shape a spacious octagon; but the +walls now rude and bare were then painted and blazoned with scenes +from the Old Testament. The door opened beneath the pointed arch in +the central side (not where it now does), giving entrance from a small +anteroom, in which the visitor now beholds the receptacle for old +rolls and papers. At the right, on entering, where now, if our memory +mistake not, is placed a press, stood the bed, quaintly carved, and +with hangings of damascene. At the farther end the deep recess which +faced the ancient door was fitted up as a kind of oratory. And there +were to be seen, besides the crucifix and the Mass-book, a profusion +of small vessels of gold and crystal, containing the relics, supposed +or real, of saint and martyr, treasures which the deposed king had +collected in his palmier days at a sum that, in the minds of his +followers, had been better bestowed on arms and war-steeds. A young +man named Allerton--one of the three gentlemen personally attached to +Henry, to whom Edward had permitted general access, and who, in fact, +lodged in other apartments of the Wakefield Tower, and might be said +to share his captivity--was seated before a table, and following the +steps of his musing master, with earnest and watchful eyes. + +One of the small spaniels employed in springing game--for Henry, +despite his mildness, had been fond of all the sports of the field-- +lay curled round on the floor, but started up, with a shrill bark, at +the entrance of the bearer of the model, while a starling in a cage by +the window, seemingly delighted at the disturbance, flapped his wings, +and screamed out, "Bad men! Bad world! Poor Henry!" + +The captive paused at that cry, and a sad and patient smile of +inexpressible melancholy and sweetness hovered over his lips. Henry +still retained much of the personal comeliness he possessed at the +time when Margaret of Anjou, the theme of minstrel and minne singer, +left her native court of poets for the fatal throne of England. But +beauty, usually so popular and precious a gift to kings, was not in +him of that order which commanded the eye and moved the admiration of +a turbulent people and a haughty chivalry. The features, if regular, +were small; their expression meek and timid; the form, though tall, +was not firm-knit and muscular; the lower limbs were too thin, the +body had too much flesh, the delicate hands betrayed the sickly +paleness of feeble health; there was a dreamy vagueness in the clear +soft blue eyes, and a listless absence of all energy in the habitual +bend, the slow, heavy, sauntering tread,--all about that benevolent +aspect, that soft voice, that resigned mien, and gentle manner, spoke +the exquisite, unresisting goodness, which provoked the lewd to taunt, +the hardy to despise, the insolent to rebel; for the foes of a king in +stormy times are often less his vices than his virtues. + +"And now, good my lord," said Adam, hastening, with eager hands, to +assist the bearer in depositing the model on the table--"now will I +explain to you the contrivance which it hath cost me long years of +patient toil to shape from thought into this iron form." + +"But first," said Allerton, "were it not well that these good people +withdrew? A contriver likes not others to learn his secret ere the +time hath come to reap its profits." + +"Surely, surely!" said Adam, and alarmed at the idea thus suggested, +he threw the folds of his gown over the model. + +The attendant bowed and retired; Hugh followed him, but not till he +had exchanged a significant look with Allerton. As soon as the room +was left clear to Adam, the captive, and Master Allerton, the last +rose, and looking hastily round the chamber, approached the +mechanician. "Quick, sir!" said he, in a whisper, "we are not often +left without witnesses." + +"Verily," said Adam, who had now forgotten kings and stratagems, plots +and counterplots, and was all absorbed in his invention, "verily, +young man, hurry not in this fashion,--I am about to begin. Know, my +lord," and he turned to Henry, who, with an indolent, dreamy gaze, +stood contemplating the Eureka,--"know that more than a hundred years +before the Christian era, one Hero, an Alexandrian, discovered the +force produced by the vapour begot by heat on water. That this power +was not unknown to the ancient sages, witness the contrivance, not +otherwise to be accounted for, of the heathen oracles; but to our +great countryman and predecessor, Roger Bacon, who first suggested +that vehicles might be drawn without steeds or steers, and ships +might--" + +"Marry, sir," interrupted Allerton, with great impatience, "it is not +to prate to us of such trivial fables of Man, or such wanton sports of +the Foul Fiend, that thou hast risked limb and life. Time is +precious. I have been prevised that thou hast letters for King Henry; +produce them, quick!" + +A deep glow of indignation had overspread the enthusiast's face at the +commencement of this address; but the close reminded him, in truth, of +his errand. + +"Hot youth," said he, with dignity, "a future age may judge +differently of what thou deemest trivial fables, and may rate high +this poor invention when the brawls of York and Lancaster are +forgotten." + +"Hear him," said Henry, with a soft smile, and laying his hand on the +shoulder of the young man, who was about to utter a passionate and +scornful retort,--"hear him, sir. Have I not often and ever said +this same thing to thee? We children of a day imagine our contests +are the sole things that move the world. Alack! our fathers thought +the same; and they and their turmoils sleep forgotten! Nay, Master +Warner,"--for here Adam, poor man, awed by Henry's mildness into shame +at his discourteous vaunting, began to apologize,--"nay, sir, nay-- +thou art right to contemn our bloody and futile struggles for a crown +of thorns; for--" + + 'Kingdoms are but cares, + State is devoid of stay + Riches are ready snares, + And hasten to decay.' + +[Lines ascribed to Henry VI., with commendation "as a prettie verse," +by Sir John Harrington, in the "Nugae Antiquate." They are also given, +with little alteration, to the unhappy king by Baldwin, in his tragedy +of "King Henry VI."] + +"And yet, sir, believe me, thou hast no cause for vain glory in thine +own craft and labours; for to wit and to lere there are the same +vanity and vexation of spirit as to war and empire. Only, O would-be +wise man, only when we muse on Heaven do our souls ascend from the +fowler's snare!" + +"My saint-like liege," said Allerton, bowing low, and with tears in +his eyes, "thinkest thou not that thy very disdain of thy rights makes +thee more worthy of them? If not for thine, for thy son's sake, +remember that the usurper sits on the throne of the conqueror of +Agincourt!--Sir Clerk, the letters." + +Adam, already anxious to retrieve the error of his first +forgetfulness, here, after a moment's struggle for the necessary +remembrance, drew the papers from the labyrinthine receptacle which +concealed them; and Henry uttered an exclamation of joy as, after +cutting the silk, his eye glanced over the writing-- + +"My Margaret! my wife!" Presently he grew pale, and his hands +trembled. "Saints defend her! Saints defend her! She is here, +disguised, in London!" + +"Margaret! our hero-queen! the manlike woman!" exclaimed Allerton, +clasping his hands. "Then be sure that--" He stopped, and abruptly +taking Adam's arm, drew him aside, while Henry continued to read-- +"Master Warner, we may trust thee,--thou art one of us; thou art sent +here, I know; by Robin of Redesdale,--we may trust thee?" + +"Young sir," replied the philosopher, gravely, "the fears and hopes of +power are not amidst the uneasier passions of the student's mind. I +pledged myself but to bear these papers hither, and to return with +what may be sent back." + +"But thou didst this for love of the cause, the truth, and the right?" + +"I did it partly from Hilyard's tale of wrong, but partly, also, for +the gold," answered Adam, simply; and his noble air, his high brow, +the serene calm of his features, so contrasted with the meanness +implied in the latter words of his confession, that Allerton stared at +him amazed, and without reply. + +Meanwhile Henry had concluded the letter, and with a heavy sigh +glanced over the papers that accompanied it. "Alack! alack! more +turbulence, more danger and disquiet, more of my people's blood!" He +motioned to the young man, and drawing him to the window, while Adam +returned to his model, put the papers in his hand. "Allerton," he +said, "thou lovest me, but thou art one of the few in this distraught +land who love also God. Thou art not one of the warriors, the men of +steel. Counsel me. See: Margaret demands my signature to these +papers; the one, empowering and craving the levy of men and arms in +the northern counties; the other, promising free pardon to all who +will desert Edward; the third--it seemeth to me more strange and less +kinglike than the others--undertaking to abolish all the imposts and +all the laws that press upon the commons, and (is this a holy and +pious stipulation?) to inquire into the exactions and persecutions of +the priesthood of our Holy Church!" + +"Sire!" said the young man, after he had hastily perused the papers, +"my lady liege showeth good argument for your assent to two, at least, +of these undertakings. See the names of fifty gentlemen ready to take +arms in your cause if authorized by your royal warrant. The men of +the North are malcontent with the usurper, but they will not yet stir, +unless at your own command. Such documents will, of course, be used +with discretion, and not to imperil your Grace's safety." + +"My safety!" said Henry, with a flash of his father's hero soul in his +eyes--"of that I think not! If I have small courage to attack, I have +some fortitude to bear. But three months after these be signed, how +many brave hearts will be still! how many stout hands be dust! O +Margaret! Margaret! why temptest thou? Wert thou so happy when a +queen?" The prisoner broke from Allerton's arm, and walked, in great +disorder and irresolution, to and fro the chamber; and strange it was +to see the contrast between himself and Warner,--both in so much +alike, both so purely creatures out of the common world, so gentle, +abstract, so utterly living in the life apart: and now the student so +calm, the prince so disturbed! The contrast struck Henry himself! He +paused abruptly, and, folding his arms, contemplated the philosopher, +as, with an affectionate complacency, Adam played and toyed, as it +were, with his beloved model; now opening and shutting again its +doors, now brushing away with his sleeve some particles of dust that +had settled on it, now retiring a few paces to gaze the better on its +stern symmetry. + +"Oh, my Allerton!" cried Henry, "behold! the kingdom a man makes out +of his own mind is the only one that it delighteth man to govern! +Behold, he is lord over its springs and movements; its wheels revolve +and stop at his bidding. Here, here, alone, God never asketh the +ruler, 'Why was the blood of thousands poured forth like water, that a +worm might wear a crown?'" + +"Sire," said Allerton, solemnly, "when our Heavenly King appoints his +anointed representative on earth, He gives to that human delegate no +power to resign the ambassade and trust. What suicide is to a man, +abdication is to a king! How canst thou dispose of thy son's rights? +And what becomes of those rights if thou wilt prefer for him the +exile, for thyself the prison, when one effort may restore a throne!" + +Henry seemed struck by a tone of argument that suited both his own +mind and the reasoning of the age. He gazed a moment on the face of +the young man, muttered to himself, and suddenly moving to the table, +signed the papers, and restored them to Adam, who mechanically +replaced them in their iron hiding-place. + +"Now begone, Sir!" whispered Allerton, afraid that Henry's mind might +again change. + +"Will not my lord examine the engine?" asked Warner, half- +beseechingly. + +"Not to-day! See, he has already retired to his oratory, he is in +prayer!" and, going to the door, Allerton summoned the attendants in +waiting to carry down the model. + +"Well, well, patience, patience! thou shalt have thine audience at +last," muttered Adam, as he retired from the room, his eyes fixed upon +the neglected infant of his brain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +HOW, ON LEAVING KING LOG, FOOLISH WISDOM RUNS A-MUCK ON KING STORK. + +At the outer door of the Tower by which he had entered, the +philosopher was accosted by Catesby,--a man who, in imitation of his +young patron, exhibited the soft and oily manner which concealed +intense ambition and innate ferocity. + +"Worshipful my master," said he, bowing low, but with a half sneer on +his lips, "the king and his Highness the Duke of Gloucester have heard +much of your strange skill, and command me to lead you to their +presence. Follow, sir, and you, my men, convey this quaint +contrivance to the king's apartments." + +With this, not waiting for any reply, Catesby strode on. Hugh's face +fell; he turned very pale, and, imagining himself unobserved, turned +round to slink away. But Catesby, who seemed to have eyes at the back +of his head, called out, in a mild tone,-- + +"Good fellow, help to bear the mechanical--you, too, may be needed." + +"Cog's wounds!" muttered Hugh, "an' I had but known what it was to set +my foot in a king's palace! Such walking may do for the silken shoon, +but the hobnail always gets into a hobble." With that, affecting a +cheerful mien, he helped to replace the model on the mule. + +Meanwhile, Adam, elated, poor man! at the flattery of the royal +mandate, persuaded that his fame had reached Edward's ears, and chafed +at the little heed paid by the pious Henry to his great work, stalked +on, his head in the air. "Verily," mused the student, "King Edward +may have been a cruel youth, and over hasty; it is horrible to think +of Robert Hilyard's calamities! But men do say he hath an acute and +masterly comprehension. Doubtless, he will perceive at a glance how +much I can advantage his kingdom." With this, we grieve to say, +selfish reflection--which, if the thought of his model could have +slept a while, Adam would have blushed to recall, as an affront to +Hilyard's wrongs--the philosopher followed Catesby across the spacious +yard, along a narrow passage, and up a winding turret-stair, to a room +in the third story, which opened at one door into the king's closet, +at the other into the spacious gallery, which was already a feature in +the plan of the more princely houses. In another minute Adam and his +model were in the presence of the king. The part of the room in which +Edward sat was distinguished from the rest by a small eastern carpet +on the floor (a luxury more in use in the palaces of that day than it +appears to have been a century later); [see the Narrative of the Lord +Grauthuse, before referred to] a table was set before him, on which +the model was placed. At his right hand sat Jacquetta, Duchess of +Bedford, the queen's mother; at his left, Prince Richard. The +duchess, though not without the remains of beauty, had a stern, +haughty, scornful expression in her sharp aquiline features, +compressed lips, and imperious eye. The paleness of her complexion, +and the careworn, anxious lines of her countenance, were ascribed by +the vulgar to studies of no holy cast. Her reputation for sorcery and +witchcraft was daily increasing, and served well the purpose of the +discontented barons, whom the rise of her children mortified and +enraged. + +"Approach, Master--What say you his name is, Richard?" + +"Adam Warner," replied the sweet voice of the Duke of Gloucester; "of +excellent skill in the mathematics." + +"Approach, sir, and show us the nature of this notable invention." + +"I desire nothing better, my lord king," said Adam, boldly; "but first +let me crave a small modicum of fuel. Fire, which is the life of the +world, as the wise of old held it, is also the soul of this, my +mechanical." + +"Peradventure," whispered the duchess, "the wizard desireth to consume +us." + +"More likely," replied Richard, in the same undertone, "to consume +whatever of treasonable nature may lurk concealed in his engine." + +"True," said Edward, and then, speaking aloud, "Master Warner," he +added, "put thy puppet to its purpose without fire,--we will it." + +"It is impossible, my lord," said Adam, with a lofty smile. "Science +and nature are more powerful than a king's word." + +"Do not say that in public, my friend," said Edward, dryly, "or we +must hang thee! I would not my subjects were told anything so +treasonable. Howbeit, to give thee no excuse in failure, thou shalt +have what thou needest." + +"But surely not in our presence," exclaimed the duchess. "This may be +a device of the Lancastrians for our perdition." + +"As you please, belle mere," said Edward, and he motioned to a +gentleman, who stood a few paces behind his chair, and who, from the +entrance of the mechanician, had seemed to observe him with intense +interest. "Master Nevile, attend this wise man; supply his wants, and +hark, in thy ear, watch well that he abstract nothing from the womb of +his engine; observe what he doeth; be all eyes." Marmaduke bowed low +to conceal his change of countenance, and, stepping forward, made a +sign to Adam to follow him. + +"Go also, Catesby," said Richard to his follower, who had taken his +post near him, "and clear the chamber." + +As soon as the three members of the royal family were left alone, the +king, stretching himself, with a slight yawn, observed, "This man +looks not like a conspirator, brother Richard, though his sententiary +as to nature and science lacked loyalty and respect." + +"Sire and brother," answered Richard, "great leaders often dupe their +own tools; at least, meseemeth that they would reason well so to do. +Remember, I have told thee that there is strong cause to suppose +Margaret to be in London. In the suburbs of the city has also +appeared, within the last few weeks, that strange and dangerous +person, whose very objects are a mystery, save that he is our foe,-- +Robin of Redesdale. The men of the North have exhibited a spirit of +insurrection; a man of that country attends this reputed wizard, and +he himself was favoured in past times by Henry of Windsor. These are +ominous signs when the conjunctions be considered!" + +"It is well said; but a fair day for breathing our palfrey is half- +spent!" returned the indolent prince. "By'r Lady! I like the fashion +of thy super-tunic well, Richard; but thou hast it too much puffed +over the shoulders." + +Richard's dark eye shot fire, and he gnawed his lip as he answered, +"God hath not given to me the fair shape of my kinsmen." + +"Thy pardon, dear boy," said Edward, kindly; "yet little needest thou +our broad backs and strong sinews, for thou hast a tongue to charm +women and a wit to command men." + +Richard bowed his face, little less beautiful than his brother's, +though wholly different from it in feature, for Edward had the long +oval countenance, the fair hair, the rich colouring, and the large +outline of his mother, the Rose of Raby. Richard, on the contrary, +had the short face, the dark brown locks, and the pale olive +complexion of his father, whom he alone of the royal brothers +strikingly resembled. [Pol. Virg. 544.] + +The cheeks, too, were somewhat sunken, and already, though scarcely +past childhood, about his lips were seen the lines of thoughtful +manhood. But then those small features, delicately aquiline, were so +regular; that dark eye was so deep, so fathomless in its bright, +musing intelligence; that quivering lip was at once so beautifully +formed and so expressive of intellectual subtlety and haughty will; +and that pale forehead was so massive, high, and majestic,--that when, +at a later period, the Scottish prelate [Archibald Quhitlaw.--"Faciem +tuam summo imperio principatu dignam inspicit, quam moralis et +heroica, virtus illustrat," etc.--We need scarcely observe that even a +Scotchman would not have risked a public compliment to Richard's face, +if so inappropriate as to seem a sarcasm, especially as the orator +immediately proceeds to notice the shortness of Richard's stature,--a +comment not likely to have been peculiarly acceptable in the Rous +Roll, the portrait of Richard represents him as undersized, but +compactly and strongly built, and without any sign of deformity, +unless the inelegant defect of a short neck can be so called.] +commended Richard's "princely countenance," the compliment was not one +to be disputed, much less contemned. But now as he rose, obedient to +a whisper from the duchess, and followed her to the window, while +Edward appeared engaged in admiring the shape of his own long, +upturned shoes, those defects in his shape which the popular hatred +and the rise of the House of Tudor exaggerated into the absolute +deformity that the unexamining ignorance of modern days and +Shakspeare's fiery tragedy have fixed into established caricature, +were sufficiently apparent. Deformed or hunchbacked we need scarcely +say he was not, for no man so disfigured could have possessed that +great personal strength which he invariably exhibited in battle, +despite the comparative slightness of his frame. He was considerably +below the ordinary height, which the great stature of his brother +rendered yet more disadvantageous by contrast; but his lower limbs +were strong-jointed and muscular. Though the back was not curved, yet +one shoulder was slightly higher than the other, which was the more +observable from the evident pains that he took to disguise it, and the +gorgeous splendour, savouring of personal coxcombry--from which no +Plantagenet was ever free,--that he exhibited in his dress. And as, +in a warlike age, the physical conformation of men is always +critically regarded, so this defect and that of his low stature were +not so much redeemed as they would be in our day by the beauty and +intelligence of his face. Added to this, his neck was short, and a +habit of bending his head on his bosom (arising either from thought, +or the affectation of humility, which was a part of his character) +made it seem shorter still. But this peculiarity, while taking from +the grace, added to the strength of his frame, which, spare, sinewy, +and compact, showed to an observer that power of endurance, that +combination of solid stubbornness and active energy, which, at the +battle of Barnet, made him no less formidable to encounter than the +ruthless sword of the mighty Edward. + +"So, prince," said the duchess, "this new gentleman of the king's is, +it seems, a Nevile. When will Edward's high spirit cast off that +hateful yoke?" + +Richard sighed and shook his head. The duchess, encouraged by these +signs of sympathy, continued,-- + +"Your brother Clarence, Prince Richard, despises us, to cringe to the +proud earl. But you--" + +"I am not suitor to the Lady Isabel; Clarence is overlavish, and +Isabel has a fair face and a queenly dowry." + +"May I perish," said the duchess, "ere Warwick's daughter wears the +baudekin of royalty, and sits in as high a state as the queen's +mother! Prince, I would fain confer with thee; we have a project to +abase and banish this hateful lord. If you but join us, success is +sure; the Count of Charolois--" + +"Dear lady," interrupted Richard, with an air of profound humility, +"tell me nothing of plot or project; my years are too few for such +high and subtle policy; and the Lord Warwick hath been a leal friend +to our House of York." + +The duchess bit her lip--"Yet I have heard you tell Edward that a +subject can be too powerful?" + +"Never, lady! you have never heard me." + +"Then Edward has told Elizabeth that you so spoke." + +"Ah," said Richard, turning away with a smile, "I see that the king's +conscience hath a discreet keeper. Pardon me, Edward, now that he +hath sufficiently surveyed his shoon, must marvel at this prolonged +colloquy. And see, the door opens." + +With this, the duke slowly moved to the table, and resumed his seat. + +Marmaduke, full of fear for his ancient host, had in vain sought an +opportunity to address a few words of exhortation to him to forbear +all necromancy, and to abstain from all perilous distinctions between +the power of Edward IV. and that of his damnable Nature and Science; +but Catesby watched him with so feline a vigilance, that he was unable +to slip in more than--"Ah, Master Warner, for our blessed Lord's sake, +recollect that rack and cord are more than mere words here!" To the +which pleasant remark, Adam, then busy in filling his miniature +boiler, only replied by a wistful stare, not in the least recognizing +the Nevile in his fine attire, and the new-fashioned mode of dressing +his long hair. + +But Catesby watched in vain for the abstraction of any treasonable +contents in the engine, which the Duke of Gloucester had so shrewdly +suspected. The truth must be told. Adam had entirely forgotten that +in the intricacies of his mechanical lurked the papers that might +overthrow a throne! Magnificent Incarnation was he (in that oblivion) +of Science itself, which cares not a jot for men and nations, in their +ephemeral existences; which only remembers THINGS,--things that endure +for ages; and in its stupendous calculations loses sight of the unit +of a generation! No, he had thoroughly forgotten Henry, Edward, his +own limbs and life,--not only York and Lancaster, but Adam Warner and +the rack. Grand in his forgetfulness, he stood before the tiger and +the tiger-cat,--Edward and--Richard,--A Pure Thought, a Man's Soul; +Science fearless in the presence of Cruelty, Tyranny, Craft, and +Power. + +In truth, now that Adam was thoroughly in his own sphere, was in the +domain of which he was king, and those beings in velvet and ermine +were but as ignorant savages admitted to the frontier of his realm, +his form seemed to dilate into a majesty the beholders had not before +recognized; and even the lazy Edward muttered involuntarily, "By my +halidame, the man has a noble presence!" + +"I am prepared now, sire," said Adam, loftily, "to show to my king and +to this court, that, unnoticed and obscure, in study and retreat, +often live those men whom kings may be proud to call their subjects. +Will it please you, my lords, this way!" and he motioned so +commandingly to the room in which he had left the Eureka, that his +audience rose by a common impulse, and in another minute stood grouped +round the model in the adjoining chamber. This really wonderful +invention--so wonderful, indeed, that it will surpass the faith of +those who do not pause to consider what vast forestallments of modern +science have been made and lost in the darkness of ages not fitted to +receive them--was, doubtless, in many important details not yet +adapted for the practical uses to which Adam designed its application. +But as a mere model, as a marvellous essay, for the suggestion of +gigantic results, it was, perhaps, to the full as effective as the +ingenuity of a mechanic of our own day could construct. It is true +that it was crowded with unnecessary cylinders, slides, cocks, and +wheals--hideous and clumsy to the eye--but through this intricacy the +great simple design accomplished its main object. It contrived to +show what force and skill man can obtain from the alliance of nature; +the more clearly, inasmuch as the mechanism affixed to it, still more +ingenious than itself, was well calculated to illustrate practically +one of the many uses to which the principle was destined to be +applied. + +Adam had not yet fathomed the secret by which to supply the miniature +cylinder with sufficient steam for any prolonged effect,--the great +truth of latent heat was unknown to him; but he had contrived to +regulate the supply of water so as to make the engine discharge its +duties sufficiently for the satisfaction of curiosity and the +explanation of its objects. And now this strange thing of iron was in +full life. From its serpent chimney issued the thick rapid smoke, and +the groan of its travail was heard within. + +"And what propose you to yourself and to the kingdom in all this, +Master Adam?" asked Edward, curiously bending his tall person over the +tortured iron. + +"I propose to make Nature the labourer of man," answered Warner. +"When I was a child of some eight years old, I observed that water +swelleth into vapour when fire is applied to it. Twelve years +afterwards, at the age of twenty, I observed that while undergoing +this change it exerts a mighty mechanical force. At twenty-five, +constantly musing, I said, 'Why should not that force become subject +to man's art?' I then began the first rude model, of which this is +the descendant. I noticed that the vapour so produced is elastic,-- +that is, that as it expands, it presses against what opposes it; it +has a force applicable everywhere force is needed by man's labour. +Behold a second agency of gigantic resources! And then, still +studying this, I perceived that the vapour thus produced can be +reconverted into water, shrinking necessarily, while so retransformed, +from the space it filled as vapour, and leaving that space a vacuum. +But Nature abhors a vacuum; produce a vacuum, and the bodies that +surround rush into it. Thus, the vapour again, while changing back +into water, becomes also a force,--our agent. And all the while these +truths were shaping themselves to my mind, I was devising and +improving also the material form by which I might render them useful +to man; so at last, out of these truths, arose this invention!" + +"Pardie," said Edward, with the haste natural to royalty, "what in +common there can be between thy jargon of smoke and water and this +huge ugliness of iron passeth all understanding. But spare us thy +speeches, and on to thy puppet-show." + +Adam stared a moment at the king in the surprise that one full of his +subject feels when he sees it impossible to make another understand +it, sighed, shook his head, and prepared to begin. + +"Observe," he said, "that there is no juggling, no deceit. I will +place in this deposit this small lump of brass--would the size of this +toy would admit of larger experiment! I will then pray ye to note, as +I open door after door, how the metal passes through various changes, +all operated by this one agency of vapour. Heed and attend. And if +the crowning work please thee, think, great king, what such an agency +upon the large scale would be to thee; think how it would multiply all +arts and lessen all labour; think that thou hast, in this, achieved +for a whole people the true philosopher's stone. Now note!" + +He placed the rough ore in its receptacle, and suddenly it seemed +seized by a vice within, and vanished. He proceeded then, while +dexterously attending to the complex movements, to open door after +door, to show the astonished spectators the rapid transitions the +metal underwent, and suddenly, in the midst of his pride, he stopped +short, for, like a lightning-flash, came across his mind the +remembrance of the fatal papers. Within the next door he was to open, +they lay concealed. His change of countenance did not escape Richard, +and he noted the door which Adam forbore to open, as the student +hurriedly, and with some presence of mind, passed to the next, in +which the metal was shortly to appear. + +"Open this door," said the prince, pointing to the handle. "No! +forbear! There is danger! forbear!" exclaimed the mechanician. + +"Danger to thine own neck, varlet and impostor!" exclaimed the duke; +and he was about himself to open the door, when suddenly a loud roar, +a terrific explosion was heard. Alas! Adam Warner had not yet +discovered for his engine what we now call the safety-valve. The +steam contained in the miniature boiler had acquired an undue +pressure; Adam's attention had been too much engrossed to notice the +signs of the growing increase, and the rest may be easily conceived. +Nothing could equal the stupor and the horror of the spectators at +this explosion, save only the boy-duke, who remained immovable, and +still frowning. All rushed to the door, huddling one on the other, +scarcely knowing what next was to befall them, but certain that the +wizard was bent upon their destruction. Edward was the first to +recover himself; and seeing that no lives were lost, his first impulse +was that of ungovernable rage. + +"Foul traitor!" he exclaimed, "was it for this that thou hast +pretended to beguile us with thy damnable sorceries? Seize him! Away +to the Tower Hill! and let the priest patter an ave while the doomsman +knots the rope." + +Not a hand stirred; even Catesby would as lief have touched the king's +lion before meals, as that poor mechanician, standing aghast, and +unheeding all, beside his mutilated engine. + +"Master Nevile," said the king, sternly, "dost thou hear us? + +"Verily," muttered the Nevile, approaching very slowly, "I knew what +would happen; but to lay hands on my host, an' he were fifty times a +wizard--No! My liege," he said in a firm tone, but falling on his +knee, and his gallant countenance pale with generous terror, "my +liege, forgive me. This man succoured me when struck down and wounded +by a Lancastrian ruffian; this man gave me shelter, food, and healing. +Command me not, O gracious my lord, to aid in taking the life of one +to whom I owe my own." + +"His life!" exclaimed the Duchess of Bedford,--"the life of this most +illustrious person! Sire, you do not dream it!" + +"Heh! by the saints, what now?" cried the king, whose choler, though +fierce and ruthless, was as short-lived as the passions of the +indolent usually are, and whom the earnest interposition of his +mother-in-law much surprised and diverted. "If, fair belle-mere, thou +thinkest it so illustrious a deed to frighten us out of our mortal +senses, and narrowly to 'scape sending us across the river like a bevy +of balls from a bombard, there is no disputing of tastes. Rise up, +Master Nevile, we esteem thee not less for thy boldness; ever be the +host and the benefactor revered by English gentlemen and Christian +youth. Master Warner may go free." + +Here Warner uttered so deep and hollow a groan, that it startled all +present. + +"Twenty-five years of labour, and not to have seen this!" he +ejaculated. "Twenty and five years, and all wasted! How repair this +disaster? O fatal day!" + +"What says he? What means he?" said Jacquetta. + +"Come home!--home!" said Marmaduke, approaching the philosopher, in +great alarm lest he should once more jeopardize his life. But Adam, +shaking him off, began eagerly, and with tremulous hands, to examine +the machine, and not perceiving any mode by which to guard in future +against a danger that he saw at once would, if not removed, render his +invention useless, tottered to a chair and covered his face with his +hands. + +"He seemeth mightily grieved that our bones are still whole!" muttered +Edward. "And why, belle-mere mine, wouldst thou protect this pleasant +tregetour?" + +"What!" said the duchess, "see you not that a man capable of such +devices must be of doughty service against our foes?" + +"Not I. How?" + +"Why, if merely to signify his displeasure at our young Richard's +over-curious meddling, he can cause this strange engine to shake the +walls,--nay, to destroy itself,--think what he might do were his power +and malice at our disposing. I know something of these nigromancers." + +"And would you knew less! for already the commons murmur at your +favour to them. But be it as you will. And now--ho, there! let our +steeds be caparisoned." + +"You forget, sire," said Richard, who had hitherto silently watched +the various parties, "the object for which we summoned this worthy +man. Please you now, sir, to open that door." + +"No, no!" exclaimed the king, hastily, "I will have no more provoking +the foul fiend; conspirator or not, I have had enough of Master +Warner. Pah! My poor placard is turned lampblack. Sweet mother-in- +law, take him under thy protection; and Richard, come with me." + +So saying, the king linked his arm in that of the reluctant +Gloucester, and quitted the room. The duchess then ordered the rest +also to depart, and was left alone with the crest-fallen philosopher. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MY LADY DUCHESS'S OPINION OF THE UTILITY OF MASTER WARNER'S INVENTION, +AND HER ESTEEM FOR ITS--EXPLOSION. + +Adam, utterly unheeding, or rather deaf to, the discussion that had +taken place, and his narrow escape from cord and gibbet, lifted his +head peevishly from his bosom, as the duchess rested her hand almost +caressingly on his shoulder, and thus addressed him,-- + +"Most puissant Sir, think not that I am one of those who, in their +ignorance and folly, slight the mysteries of which thou art clearly so +great a master. When I heard thee speak of subjecting Nature to Man, +I at once comprehended thee, and blushed for the dulness of my +kindred." + +"Ah, lady, thou hast studied, then, the mathematics. Alack! this is a +grievous blow; but it is no inherent fault in the device. I am +clearly of mind that it can be remedied. But oh! what time, what +thought, what sleepless nights, what gold will be needed!" + +"Give me thy sleepless nights and thy grand thoughts, and thou shalt +not want gold." + +"Lady," cried Adam, starting to his feet, "do I hear aright? Art +thou, in truth, the patron I have so long dreamed of? Hast thou the +brain and the heart to aid the pursuits of science?" + +"Ay! and the power to protect the students! Sage, I am the Duchess of +Bedford, whom men accuse of witchcraft,--as thee of wizardy. From the +wife of a private gentleman, I have become the mother of a queen. I +stand amidst a court full of foes; I desire gold to corrupt, and +wisdom to guard against, and means to destroy them. And I seek all +these in men like thee!" + +Adam turned on her his bewildered eyes, and made no answer. + +"They tell me," said the duchess, "that Henry of Windsor employed +learned men to transmute the baser metals into gold. Wert thou one of +them?" + +"No." + +"Thou knowest that art?" + +"I studied it in my youth, but the ingredients of the crucible were +too costly." + +"Thou shalt not lack them with me. Thou knowest the lore of the +stars, and canst foretell the designs of enemies,--the hour whether to +act or to forbear?" + +"Astrology I have studied, but that also was in youth; for there +dwelleth in the pure mathematics that have led me to this invention--" + +"Truce with that invention, whatever it be; think of it no more,--it +has served its end in the explosion, which proved thy power of +mischief. High objects are now before thee. Wilt thou be of my +household, one of my alchemists and astrologers? Thou shalt have +leisure, honour, and all the moneys thou canst need." + +"Moneys!" said Adam, eagerly, and casting his eyes upon the mangled +model. "Well, I agree; what you will,--alchemist, astrologist, +wizard,--what you will. This shall all be repaired,--all; I begin to +see now, all! I begin to see; yes, if a pipe by which the too- +excessive vapour could--ay, ay!--right, right," and he rubbed his +hands. + +Jacquetta was struck with his enthusiasm. "But surely, Master Warner, +this has some virtue you have not vouchsafed to explain; confide in +me, can it change iron to gold?" + +"No; but--" + +"Can it predict the future?" + +"No; but--" + +"Can it prolong life?" + +"No; but--" + +"Then, in God's name let us waste no more time about it!" said the +duchess, impatiently,--"your art is mine now. Ho, there!--I will send +my page to conduct thee to thy apartments, and thou shalt lodge next +to Friar Bungey, a man of wondrous lere, Master Warner, and a worthy +confrere in thy researches. Hast thou any one of kith and kin at home +to whom thou wilt announce thy advancement?" + +"Ah, lady! Heaven forgive me, I have a daughter,--an only child,--my +Sibyll; I cannot leave her alone, and--" + +"Well, nothing should distract thy cares from thine art,--she shall be +sent for. I will rank her amongst my maidens. Fare-thee-well, Master +Warner! At night I will send for thee, and appoint the tasks I would +have thee accomplish." + +So saying, the duchess quitted the room, and left Adam alone, bending +over his model in deep revery. + +From this absorption it was the poor man's fate to be again aroused. + +The peculiar character of the boy-prince of Gloucester was that of one +who, having once seized upon an object, never willingly relinquished +it. First, he crept and slid and coiled round it as the snake. But +if craft failed, his passion, roused by resistance, sprang at his prey +with a lion's leap: and whoever examines the career of this +extraordinary personage, will perceive, that whatever might be his +habitual hypocrisy, he seemed to lose sight of it wholly when once +resolved upon force. Then the naked ferocity with which the +destructive propensity swept away the objects in his path becomes +fearfully and startlingly apparent, and offers a strange contrast to +the wily duplicity with which, in calmer moments, he seems to have +sought to coax the victim into his folds. Firmly convinced that +Adam's engine had been made the medium of dangerous and treasonable +correspondence with the royal prisoner, and of that suspicious, +restless, feverish temperament which never slept when a fear was +wakened, a doubt conceived, he had broke from his brother, whose more +open valour and less unquiet intellect were ever willing to leave the +crown defended but by the gibbet for the detected traitor, the sword +for the declared foe; and obtaining Edward's permission "to inquire +further into these strange matters," he sent at once for the porter +who had conveyed the model to the Tower; but that suspicious +accomplice was gone. The sound of the explosion of the engine had no +less startled the guard below than the spectators above. Releasing +their hold of their prisoner, they had some taken fairly to their +heels, others rushed into the palace to learn what mischief had +ensued; and Hugh, with the quick discretion of his north country, had +not lost so favourable an opportunity for escape. There stood the +dozing mule at the door below, but the guide was vanished. More +confirmed in his suspicions by this disappearance of Adam's companion, +Richard, giving some preparatory orders to Catesby, turned at once to +the room which still held the philosopher and his device. He closed +the door on entering, and his brow was dark and sinister as he +approached the musing inmate. But here we must return to Sibyll. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE OLD WOMAN TALKS OF SORROWS, THE YOUNG WOMAN DREAMS OF LOVE; THE +COURTIER FLIES FROM PRESENT POWER TO REMEMBRANCES OF PAST HOPES, AND +THE WORLD-BETTERED OPENS UTOPIA, WITH A VIEW OF THE GIBBET FOR THE +SILLY SAGE HE HAS SEDUCED INTO HIS SCHEMES,--SO, EVER AND EVERMORE, +RUNS THE WORLD AWAY! + +The old lady looked up from her embroidery-frame, as Sibyll sat musing +on a stool before her; she scanned the maiden with a wistful and +somewhat melancholy eye. + +"Fair girl," she said, breaking a silence that had lasted for some +moments, "it seems to me that I have seen thy face before. Wert thou +never in Queen Margaret's court?" + +"In childhood, yes, lady." + +"Do you not remember me, the dame of Longueville?" Sibyll started in +surprise, and gazed long before she recognized the features of her +hostess; for the dame of Longueville had been still, when Sibyll was a +child at the court, renowned for matronly beauty, and the change was +greater than the lapse of years could account for. The lady smiled +sadly: "Yes, you marvel to see me thus bent and faded. Maiden, I lost +my husband at the battle of St. Alban's, and my three sons in the +field of Towton. My lands and my wealth have been confiscated to +enrich new men; and to one of them--one of the enemies of the only +king whom Alice de Longueville will acknowledge--I owe the food for my +board and the roof for my head. Do you marvel now that I am so +changed?" + +Sibyll rose and kissed the lady's hand, and the tear that sparkled on +its surface was her only answer. + +"I learn," said the dame of Longueville, "that your father has an +order from the Lord Hastings to see King Henry. I trust that he will +rest here as he returns, to tell me how the monarch-saint bears his +afflictions. But I know: his example should console us all." She +paused a moment, and resumed, "Sees your father much of the Lord +Hastings?" + +"He never saw him that I weet of," answered Sibyll, blushing; "the +order was given, but as of usual form to a learned scholar." + +"But given to whom?" persisted the lady. "To--to me," replied Sibyll, +falteringly. The dame of Longueville smiled. + +"Ah, Hastings could scarcely say no to a prayer from such rosy lips. +But let me not imply aught to disparage his humane and gracious heart. +To Lord Hastings, next to God and his saints, I owe all that is left +to me on earth. Strange that he is not yet here! This is the usual +day and hour on which he comes, from pomp and pleasurement, to visit +the lonely widow." And, pleased to find an attentive listener to her +grateful loquacity, the dame then proceeded, with warm eulogies upon +her protector, to inform Sibyll that her husband had, in the first +outbreak of the Civil War, chanced to capture Hastings, and, moved by +his valour and youth, and some old connections with his father, Sir +Leonard, had favoured his escape from the certain death that awaited +him from the wrath of the relentless Margaret. After the field of +Towton, Hastings had accepted one of the manors confiscated from the +attainted House of Longueville, solely that he might restore it to the +widow of the fallen lord; and with a chivalrous consideration, not +contented with beneficence, he omitted no occasion to show to the +noblewoman whatever homage and respect might soothe the pride, which, +in the poverty of those who have been great, becomes disease. The +loyalty of the Lady Longueville was carried to a sentiment most rare +in that day, and rather resembling the devotion inspired by the later +Stuarts. She made her home within the precincts of the Tower, that, +morning and eve, when Henry opened his lattice to greet the rising and +the setting sun, she might catch a dim and distant glance of the +captive king, or animate, by that sad sight, the hopes and courage of +the Lancastrian emissaries, to whom, fearless of danger, she scrupled +not to give counsel, and, at need, asylum. + +While Sibyll, with enchanted sense, was listening to the praise of +Hastings, a low knock at the door was succeeded by the entrance of +that nobleman himself. Not to Elizabeth, in the alcoves of Shene, or +on the dais of the palace hall, did the graceful courtier bend with +more respectful reverence than to the powerless widow, whose very +bread was his alms; for the true high-breeding of chivalry exists not +without delicacy of feeling, formed originally by warmth of heart; and +though the warmth may lose its glow, the delicacy endures, as the +steel that acquires through heat its polish retains its lustre, even +when the shine but betrays the hardness. + +"And how fares my noble lady of Longueville? But need I ask? for her +cheek still wears the rose of Lancaster. A companion? Ha! Mistress +Warner, I learn now how much pleasure exists in surprise!" + +"My young visitor," said the dame, "is but an old friend; she was one +of the child-maidens reared at the court of Queen Margaret." + +"In sooth!" exclaimed Hastings; and then, in an altered tone, he +added, "but I should have guessed so much grace had not come all from +Nature. And your father has gone to see the Lord Henry, and you rest, +here, his return? Ah, noble lady, may you harbour always such +innocent Lancastrians!" The fascinations of this eminent person's +voice and manner were such that they soon restored Sibyll, to the ease +she had lost at his sudden entrance. He conversed gayly with the old +dame upon such matters of court anecdote as in all the changes of +state were still welcome to one so long accustomed to court air; but +from time to time he addressed himself to Sibyll, and provoked replies +which startled herself--for she was not yet well aware of her own +gifts--by their spirit and intelligence. + +"You do not tell us," said the Lady Longueville, sarcastically, "of +the happy spousailles of Elizabeth's brother with the Duchess of +Norfolk,--a bachelor of twenty, a bride of some eighty-two. [The old +chronicler justly calls this a "diabolical marriage." It greatly +roused the wrath of the nobles and indeed of all honourable men, as a +proof of the shameless avarice of the queen's family.] Verily, these +alliances are new things in the history of English royalty. But when +Edward, who, even if not a rightful king, is at least a born +Plantagenet, condescended to marry Mistress Elizabeth, a born +Woodville, scarce of good gentleman's blood, naught else seems strange +enough to provoke marvel." + +"As to the last matter," returned Hastings, gravely, "though her grace +the queen be no warm friend to me, I must needs become her champion +and the king's. The lady who refused the dishonouring suit of the +fairest prince and the boldest knight in the Christian world thereby +made herself worthy of the suit that honoured her; it was not +Elizabeth Woodville alone that won the purple. On the day she mounted +a throne, the chastity of woman herself was crowned." + +"What!" said the Lady Longueville, angrily, "mean you to say that +there is no disgrace in the mal-alliance of kite and falcon, of +Plantagenet and Woodville, of high-born and mud-descended?" + +"You forget, lady, that the widow of Henry the Fifth, Catherine of +Valois, a king's daughter, married the Welsh soldier, Owen Tudor; that +all England teems with brave men born from similar spousailles, where +love has levelled all distinctions, and made a purer hearth, and +raised a bolder offspring, than the lukewarm likings of hearts that +beat but for lands and gold. Wherefore, lady, appeal not to me, a +squire of dames, a believer in the old Parliament of Love; whoever is +fair and chaste, gentle and loving, is, in the eyes of William de +Hastings, the mate and equal of a king!" + +Sibyll turned involuntarily as the courtier spoke thus, with animation +in his voice, and fire in his eyes; she turned, and her breath came +quick; she turned, and her look met his, and those words and that look +sank deep into her heart; they called forth brilliant and ambitious +dreams; they rooted the growing love, but they aided to make it holy; +they gave to the delicious fancy what before it had not paused, on its +wing, to sigh for; they gave it that without which all fancy sooner or +later dies; they gave it that which, once received in a noble heart, +is the excuse for untiring faith; they gave it,--HOPE! + +"And thou wouldst say," replied the lady of Longueville, with a +meaning smile, still more emphatically--"thou wouldst say that a +youth, brave and well nurtured, ambitious and loving, ought, in the +eyes of rank and pride, to be the mate and equal of--" + +"Ah, noble dame," interrupted Hastings, quickly, "I must not prolong +encounter with so sharp a wit. Let me leave that answer to this fair +maiden, for by rights it is a challenge to her sex, not to mine." + +"How say you, then, Mistress Warner?" said the dame. "Suppose a young +heiress, of the loftiest birth, of the broadest lands, of the +comeliest form--suppose her wooed by a gentleman poor and stationless, +but with a mighty soul, born to achieve greatness, would she lower +herself by hearkening to his suit?" + +"A maiden, methinks," answered Sibyll, with reluctant but charming +hesitation, "cannot love truly if she love unworthily; and if she love +worthily, it is not rank nor wealth she loves." + +"But her parents, sweet mistress, may deem differently; and should not +her love refuse submission to their tyranny?" asked Hastings. + +"Nay, good my lord, nay," returned Sibyll, shaking her head with +thoughtful demureness. "Surely the wooer, if he love worthily, will +not press her to the curse of a child's disobedience and a parent's +wrath!" + +"Shrewdly answered," said the dame of Longueville. "Then she would +renounce the poor gentleman if the parent ordain her to marry a rich +lord. Ah, you hesitate, for a woman's ambition is pleased with the +excuse of a child's obedience." + +Hastings said this so bitterly that Sibyll could not but perceive that +some personal feeling gave significance to his words. Yet how could +they be applied to him,--to one now in rank and repute equal to the +highest below the throne? + +"If the demoiselle should so choose," said the dame of Longueville, +"it seemeth to me that the rejected suitor might find it facile to +disdain and to forget." + +Hastings made no reply; but that remarkable and deep shade of +melancholy which sometimes in his gayest hours startled those who +beheld it, and which had, perhaps, induced many of the prophecies that +circulated as to the untimely and violent death that should close his +bright career, gathered like a cloud over his brow. At this moment +the door opened gently, and Robert Hilyard stood at the aperture. He +was clad in the dress of a friar, but the raised cowl showed his +features to the lady of Longueville, to whom alone he was visible; and +those bold features were literally haggard with agitation and alarm. +He lifted his finger to his lips, and motioning the lady to follow +him, closed the door. + +The dame of Longueville rose, and praying her visitors to excuse her +absence for a few moments, she left Hastings and Sibyll to themselves. + +"Lady," said Hilyard, in a hollow whisper, as soon as the dame +appeared in the low hall, communicating on the one hand with the room +just left, on the other with the street, "I fear all will be detected. +Hush! Adam and the iron coffer that contains the precious papers have +been conducted to Edward's presence. A terrible explosion, possibly +connected with the contrivance, caused such confusion among the guards +that Hugh escaped to scare me with his news. Stationed near the gate +in this disguise, I ventured to enter the courtyard, and saw--saw--the +TORMENTOR! the torturer, the hideous, masked minister of agony, led +towards the chambers in which our hapless messenger is examined by the +ruthless tyrants. Gloucester, the lynx-eyed mannikin, is there!" + +"O Margaret, my queen," exclaimed the lady of Longueville, "the papers +will reveal her whereabout." + +"No, she is safe!" returned Hilyard; "but thy poor scholar, I tremble +for him, and for the heads of all whom the papers name." + +"What can be done! Ha! Lord Hastings is here,--he is ever humane and +pitiful. Dare we confide in him?" + +A bright gleam shot over Hilyard's face. "Yes, yes; let me confer +with him alone. I wait him here,--quick!" The lady hastened back. +Hastings was conversing in a low voice with Sibyll. The dame of +Longueville whispered in the courtier's ear, drew him into the hall, +and left him alone with the false friar, who had drawn the cowl over +his face. + +"Lord Hastings," said Hilyard, speaking rapidly, "you are in danger, +if not of loss of life, of loss of favour. You gave a passport to one +Warner to see the ex-king Henry. Warner's simplicity (for he is +innocent) hath been duped,--he is made the bearer of secret +intelligence from the unhappy gentlemen who still cling to the +Lancaster cause. He is suspected, he is examined; he may be +questioned by the torture. If the treason be discovered, it was thy +hand that signed the passport; the queen, thou knowest, hates thee, +the Woodvilles thirst for thy downfall. What handle may this give +them! Fly! my lord,--fly to the Tower; thou mayst yet be in time; thy +wit can screen all that may otherwise be bare. Save this poor +scholar, conceal this correspondence. Hark ye, lord! frown not so +haughtily,--that correspondence names thee as one who hast taken the +gold of Count Charolois, and whom, therefore, King Louis may outbuy. +Look to thyself!" + +A slight blush passed over the pale brow of the great statesman, but +he answered with a steady voice, "Friar or layman, I care not which, +the gold of the heir of Burgundy was a gift, not a bribe. But I need +no threats to save, if not too late, from rack and gibbet the life of +a guiltless man. I am gone. Hold! bid the maiden, the scholar's +daughter, follow me to the Tower." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +HOW THE DESTRUCTIVE ORGAN OF PRINCE RICHARD PROMISES GOODLY +DEVELOPMENT. + +The Duke of Gloucester approached Adam as he stood gazing on his +model. "Old man," said the prince, touching him with the point of his +sheathed dagger, "look up and answer. What converse hast thou held +with Henry of Windsor, and who commissioned thee to visit him in his +confinement? Speak, and the truth! for by holy Paul, I am one who can +detect a lie, and without that door stands--the Tormentor!" + +Upon a pleasing and joyous dream broke these harsh words; for Adam +then was full of the contrivance by which to repair the defect of the +engine, and with this suggestion was blent confusedly the thought that +he was now protected by royalty, that he should have means and leisure +to accomplish his great design, that he should have friends whose +power could obtain its adoption by the king. He raised his eyes, and +that young dark face frowned upon him,--the child menacing the sage, +brute force in a pigmy shape, having authority of life and death over +the giant strength of genius. But these words, which recalled Warner +from his existence as philosopher, woke that of the gentle but brave +and honourable man which he was, when reduced to earth. + +"Sir," he said gravely, "if I have consented to hold converse with the +unhappy, it was not as the tell-tale and the spier. I had formal +warrant for my visit, and I was solicited to render it by an early +friend and comrade, who sought to be my benefactor in aiding with gold +my poor studies for the king's people." + +"Tut!" said Richard, impatiently, and playing with his dagger hilt; +"thy words, stealthy and evasive, prove thy guilt! Sure am I that +this iron traitor with its intricate hollows and recesses holds what, +unless confessed, will give thee to the hangman! Confess all, and +thou art spared." + +"If," said Adam, mildly, "your Highness--for though I know not your +quality, I opine that no one less than royal could so menace--if your +Highness imagines that I have been intrusted by a fallen man, wrong me +not by supposing that I could fear death more than dishonour; for +certes!" continued Adam, with innocent pedantry, "to put the case +scholastically, and in the logic familiar, doubtless, to your +Highness, either I have something to confess or I have not; if I have--" + +"Hound!" interrupted the prince, stamping his foot, "thinkest thou to +banter me,--see!" As his foot shook the floor, the door opened, and a +man with his arms bare, covered from head to foot in a black gown of +serge, with his features concealed by a hideous mask, stood ominously +at the aperture. + +The prince motioned to the torturer (or tormentor, as he was +technically styled) to approach, which he did noiselessly, till he +stood, tall, grim, and lowering, beside Adam, like some silent and +devouring monster by its prey. + +"Dost thou repent thy contumacy? A moment, and I render my +questioning to another!" + +"Sir," said Adam, drawing himself up, and with so sudden a change of +mien, that his loftiness almost awed even the dauntless Richard,-- +"sir, my fathers feared not death when they did battle for the throne +of England; and why?--because in their loyal valour they placed not +the interests of a mortal man, but the cause of imperishable honour! +And though their son be a poor scholar, and wears not the spurs of +gold; though his frame be weak and his hairs gray, he loveth honour +also well eno' to look without dread on death!" + +Fierce and ruthless, when irritated and opposed, as the prince was, he +was still in his first youth,--ambition had here no motive to harden +him into stone. He was naturally so brave himself that bravery could +not fail to win from him something of respect and sympathy, and he was +taken wholly by surprise in hearing the language of a knight and hero +from one whom he had regarded but as the artful impostor or the +despicable intriguer. + +He changed countenance as Warner spoke, and remained a moment silent. +Then as a thought occurred to him, at which his features relaxed into +a half-smile, he beckoned to the tormentor, said a word in his ear, +and the horrible intruder nodded and withdrew. + +"Master Warner," then said the prince, in his customary sweet and +gliding tones, "it were a pity that so gallant a gentleman should be +exposed to peril for adhesion to a cause that can never prosper, and +that would be fatal, could it prosper, to our common country. For +look you, this Margaret, who is now, we believe, in London" (here he +examined Adam's countenance, which evinced surprise), "this Margaret, +who is seeking to rekindle the brand and brennen of civil war, has +already sold for base gold to the enemy of the realm, to Louis XI., +that very Calais which your fathers, doubtless, lavished their blood +to annex to our possessions. Shame on the lewd harlot! What woman so +bloody and so dissolute? What man so feeble and craven as her lord?" + +"Alas! sir," said Adam, "I am unfitted for these high considerations +of state. I live but for my art, and in it. And now, behold how my +kingdom is shaken and rent!" he pointed with so touching a smile, and +so simple a sadness, to the broken engine, that Richard was moved. + +"Thou lovest this, thy toy? I can comprehend that love for some dumb +thing that we have toiled for. Ay!" continued the prince, +thoughtfully,--"ay! I have noted myself in life that there are +objects, senseless as that mould of iron, which if we labour at them +wind round our hearts as if they were flesh and blood. So some men +love learning, others glory, others power. Well, man, thou lovest +that mechanical? How many years hast thou been about it?" + +"From the first to the last, twenty-five years, and it is still +incomplete." + +"Um!" said the prince, smiling, "Master Warner, thou hast read of the +judgment of Solomon,--how the wise king discovered the truth by +ordering the child's death?" + +"It was indeed," said Adam, unsuspectingly, "a most shrewd suggestion +of native wit and clerkly wisdom." + +"Glad am I thou approvest it, Master Warner," said Richard. And as he +spoke the tormentor reappeared with a smith, armed with the implements +of his trade. + +"Good smith, break into pieces this stubborn iron; bare all its +receptacles; leave not one fragment standing on the other! 'Delenda +est tua Carthago,' Master Warner. There is Latin in answer to thy +logic." + +It is impossible to convey any notion of the terror, the rage, the +despair, which seized upon the unhappy sage when these words smote his +ear, and he saw the smith's brawny arms swing on high the ponderous +hammer. He flung himself between the murderous stroke and his beloved +model. He embraced the grim iron tightly. "Kill me!" he exclaimed +sublimely, "kill me!--not my THOUGHT!" + +"Solomon was verily and indeed a wise king," said the duke, with a low +inward laugh. "And now, man, I have thee! To save thy infant, thine +art's hideous infant, confess the whole!" + +It was then that a fierce struggle evidently took place in Adam's +bosom. It was, perhaps--O reader! thou whom pleasure, love, ambition, +hatred, avarice, in thine and our ordinary existence, tempt--it was, +perhaps, to him the one arch-temptation of a life. In the changing +countenance, the heaving breast, the trembling lip, the eyes that +closed and opened to close again, as if to shut out the unworthy +weakness,--yea, in the whole physical man,--was seen the crisis of the +moral struggle. And what, in truth, to him an Edward or a Henry, a +Lancaster or a York? Nothing. But still that instinct, that +principle, that conscience, ever strongest in those whose eyes are +accustomed to the search of truth, prevailed. So he rose suddenly and +quietly, drew himself apart, left his work to the Destroyer, and +said,-- + +"Prince, thou art a boy! Let a boy's voice annihilate that which +should have served all time. Strike!" + +Richard motioned; the hammer descended, the engine and its +appurtenances reeled and crashed, the doors flew open, the wheels +rattled, the sparks flew. And Adam Warner fell to the ground, as if +the blow had broken his own heart. Little heeding the insensible +victim of his hard and cunning policy, Richard advanced to the +inspection of the interior recesses of the machinery. But that which +promised Adam's destruction saved him. The heavy stroke had battered +in the receptacle of the documents, had buried them in the layers of +iron. The faithful Eureka, even amidst its injuries and wrecks, +preserved the secret of its master. + +The prince, with impatient hands, explored all the apertures yet +revealed, and after wasting many minutes in a fruitless search, was +about to bid the smith complete the work of destruction, when the door +suddenly opened and Lord Hastings entered. His quick eye took in the +whole scene; he arrested the lifted arm of the smith, and passing +deliberately to Gloucester, said, with a profound reverence, but a +half-reproachful smile, "My lord! my lord! your Highness is indeed +severe upon my poor scholar." + +"Canst thou answer for thy scholar's loyalty?" said the duke, +gloomily. + +Hastings drew the prince aside, and said, in a low tone, "His loyalty! +poor man, I know not; but his guilelessness, surely, yes. Look you, +sweet prince, I know the interest thou hast in keeping well with the +Earl of Warwick, whom I, in sooth, have slight cause to love. Thou +hast trusted me with thy young hopes of the Lady Anne; this new Nevile +placed about the king, and whose fortunes Warwick hath made his care, +hath, I have reason to think, some love passages with the scholar's +daughter,--the daughter came to me for the passport. Shall this +Marmaduke Nevile have it to say to his fair kinswoman, with the +unforgiving malice of a lover's memory, that the princely Gloucester +stooped to be the torturer of yon poor old man? If there be treason +in the scholar or in yon battered craft-work, leave the search to me!" + +The duke raised his dark, penetrating eyes to those of Hastings, which +did not quail; for here world-genius encountered world-genius, and +art, art. + +"Thine argument hath more subtlety and circumlocution than suit with +simple truth," said the prince, smiling. "But it is enough to Richard +that Hastings wills protection even to a spy!" + +Hastings kissed the duke's hand in silence, and going to the door, he +disappeared a moment and returned with Sibyll. As she entered, pale +and trembling, Adam rose, and the girl with a wild cry flew to his +bosom. + +"It is a winsome face, Hastings," said the duke, dryly. "I pity +Master Nevile the lover, and envy my Lord Chamberlain the protector." + +Hastings laughed, for he was well pleased that Richard's suspicion +took that turn. + +"And now," he said, "I suppose Master Nevile and the Duchess of +Bedford's page may enter. Your guard stopped them hitherto. They +come for this gentleman from her highness the queen's mother." + +"Enter, Master Nevile, and you, Sir Page. What is your errand?" + +"My lady, the duchess," said the page, "has sent me to conduct Master +Warner to the apartments prepared for him as her special multiplier +and alchemist." + +"What!" said the prince, who, unlike the irritable Clarence, made it +his policy to show all decorous homage to the queen's kin, "hath that +illustrious lady taken this gentleman into her service? Why announced +you not, Master Warner, what at once had saved you from further +questioning? Lord Hastings, I thank you now for your intercession." + +Hastings, in answer, pointed archly at Marmaduke, who was aiding +Sibyll to support her father. "Do you suspect me still, prince?" he +whispered. + +The duke shrugged his shoulders, and Adam, breaking from Marmaduke and +Sibyll, passed with tottering steps to the shattered labour of his +solitary life. He looked at the ruin with mournful despondence, with +quivering lips. "Have you done with me?" then he said, bowing his +head lowlily, for his pride was gone; "may we--that is, I and this, my +poor device--withdraw from your palace? I see we are not fit for +kings!" + +"Say not so," said the young duke, gently: "we have now convinced +ourselves of our error, and I crave thy pardon, Master Warner, for my +harsh dealings. As for this, thy toy, the king's workmen shall set it +right for thee. Smith, call the fellows yonder, to help bear this +to--" He paused, and glanced at Hastings. + +"To my apartments," said the chamberlain. "Your Highness may be sure +that I will there inspect it. Fear not, Master Warner; no further +harm shall chance to thy contrivance." + +"Come, sir, forgive me," said the duke. With gracious affability the +young prince held out his hand, the fingers of which sparkled with +costly gems, to the old man. The old man bowed as if his beard would +have swept the earth, but he did not touch the hand. He seemed still +in a state between dream and reason, life and death: he moved not, +spoke not, till the men came to bear the model; and he then followed +it, his arms folded in his gown, till, on entering the court, it was +borne in a contrary direction from his own, to the chamberlain's +apartment; then wistfully pursuing it with his eyes, he uttered such a +sigh as might have come from a resigned father losing the last glimpse +of a beloved son. + +Richard hesitated a moment, loth to relinquish his research, and +doubtful whether to follow the Eureka for renewed investigation; but +partly unwilling to compromise his dignity in the eyes of Hastings, +should his suspicions prove unfounded, and partly indisposed to risk +the displeasure of the vindictive Duchess of Bedford by further +molestation of one now under her protection, he reluctantly trusted +all further inquiry to the well-known loyalty of Hastings. "If +Margaret be in London," he muttered to himself as he turned slowly +away, "now is the time to seize and chain the lioness! Ho, Catesby,-- +hither (a valuable man that Catesby--a lawyer's nurturing with a +bloodhound's nature!)--Catesby, while King Edward rides for pleasure, +let thou and I track the scent of his foes. If the she-wolf of Anjou +hath ventured hither, she hides in some convent or monastery, be sure. +See to our palfreys, Catesby! Strange," added the prince, muttering +to himself, "that I am more restless to guard the crown than he who +wears it! Nay, a crown is a goodly heirloom in a man's family, and a +fair sight to see near--and near--and near--" + +The prince abruptly paused, opened and shut his right hand +convulsively, and drew a long sigh. + + + + + +BOOK IV. + +INTRIGUES OF THE COURT OF EDWARD IV. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +MARGARET OF ANJOU. + +The day after the events recorded in the last section of this +narrative, and about the hour of noon, Robert Hilyard (still in the +reverend disguise in which he had accosted Hastings) bent his way +through the labyrinth of alleys that wound in dingy confusion from the +Chepe towards the river. + +The purlieus of the Thames, in that day of ineffective police, +sheltered many who either lived upon plunder, or sought abodes that +proffered, at alarm, the facility of flight. Here, sauntering in twos +or threes, or lazily reclined by the threshold of plaster huts, might +be seen that refuse population which is the unholy offspring of civil +war,--disbanded soldiers of either Rose, too inured to violence and +strife for peaceful employment, and ready for any enterprise by which +keen steel wins bright gold. At length our friend stopped before the +gate of a small house, on the very marge of the river, which belonged +to one of the many religious orders then existing; but from its site +and aspect denoted the poverty seldom their characteristic. Here he +knocked; the door was opened by a lay-brother; a sign and a smile were +interchanged, and the visitor was ushered into a room belonging to the +superior, but given up for the last few days to a foreign priest, to +whom the whole community appeared to consider the reverence of a saint +was due. And yet this priest, who, seated alone, by a casement which +commanded a partial view of the distant Tower of London, received the +conspirator, was clad in the humblest serge. His face was smooth and +delicate; and the animation of the aspect, the vehement impatience of +the gesture, evinced little of the holy calm that should belong to +those who have relinquished the affairs of earth for meditation on the +things of heaven. To this personage the sturdy Hilyard bowed his +manly knees; and casting himself at the priest's feet, his eyes, his +countenance, changed from their customary hardihood and recklessness +into an expression at once of reverence and of pity. + +"Well, man--well, friend--good friend, tried and leal friend, speak! +speak!" exclaimed the priest, in an accent that plainly revealed a +foreign birth. + +"Oh, gracious lady! all hope is over; I come but to bid you fly. Adam +Warner was brought before the usurper; he escaped, indeed, the +torture, and was faithful to the trust. But the papers--the secret of +the rising--are in the hands of Hastings." + +"How long, O Lord," said Margaret of Anjou, for she it was, under that +reverend disguise, "how long wilt Thou delay the hour of triumph and +revenge?" + +The princess as she spoke had suffered her hood to fall back, and her +pale, commanding countenance, so well fitted to express fiery and +terrible emotion, wore that aspect in which many a sentenced man had +read his doom,--an aspect the more fearful, inasmuch as the passion +that pervaded it did not distort the features, but left them locked, +rigid, and marble-like in beauty, as the head of the Medusa. + +"The day will dawn at last," said Hilyard; "but the judgments of +Heaven are slow. We are favoured, at the least, that our secret is +confined to a man more merciful than his tribe." He then related to +Margaret his interview with Hastings at the house of the Lady +Lougueville, and continued: "This morning, not an hour since, I sought +him (for last evening he did not leave Edward, a council met at the +Tower), and learned that he had detected the documents in the recesses +of Warner's engine. Knowing from your Highness and your spies that he +had been open to the gifts of Charolois, I spoke to him plainly of the +guerdon that should await his silence. 'Friar,' he answered, 'if in +this court and this world I have found it were a fool's virtue to be +more pure than others, and if I know that I should but provoke the +wrath of those who profit by Burgundian gold, were I alone to disdain +its glitter, I have still eno' of my younger conscience left me not to +make barter of human flesh. Did I give these papers to King Edward, +the heads of fifty gallant men, whose error is but loyalty to their +ancient sovereign, would glut the doomsman; but,' he continued, 'I am +yet true to my king and his cause; I shall know how to advise Edward +to the frustrating all your schemes. The districts where you hoped a +rising will be guarded, the men ye count upon will be watched: the +Duke of Gloucester, whose vigilance never sleeps, has learned that the +Lady Margaret is in England, disguised as a priest. To-morrow all the +religious houses will be searched; if thou knowest where she lies +concealed, bid her lose not an hour to fly.'" + +"I Will NOT fly!" exclaimed Margaret; "let Edward, if he dare, +proclaim to my people that their queen is in her city of London. Let +him send his hirelings to seize her. Not in this dress shall she be +found. In robes of state, the sceptre in her hand, shall they drag +the consort of their king to the prison-house of her palace." + +"On my knees, great queen, I implore you to be calm; with the loss of +your liberty ends indeed all hope of victory, all chance even of +struggle. Think not Edward's fears would leave to Margaret the life +that his disdain has spared to your royal spouse. Between your prison +and your grave, but one secret and bloody step! Be ruled; no time to +lose! My trusty Hugh even now waits with his boat below. Relays of +horses are ready, night and day, to bear you to the coast; while +seeking your restoration, I have never neglected the facilities for +flight. Pause not, O gracious lady; let not your son say, 'My +mother's passion has lost me the hope of my grandsire's crown.'" + +"My boy; my princely boy, my Edward!" exclaimed Margaret, bursting +into tears, all the warrior-queen merged in the remembrance of the +fond mother. "Ah, faithful friend! he is so gallant and so beautiful! +Oh, he shall reward thee well hereafter!" + +"May he live to crush these barons, and raise this people!" said the +demagogue of Redesdale. "But now, save thyself!" + +"But what! is it not possible yet to strike the blow? Rather let us +spur to the north; rather let us hasten the hour of action, and raise +the Red Rose through the length and breadth of England!" + +"Ah, lady, if without warrant from your lord; if without foreign +subsidies; if without having yet ripened the time; if without gold, +without arms, and without one great baron on our side, we forestall a +rising, all that we have gained is lost; and instead of war, you can +scarcely provoke a riot. But for this accursed alliance of Edward's +daughter with the brother of icy-hearted Louis, our triumph had been +secure. The French king's gold would have manned a camp, bribed the +discontented lords, and his support have sustained the hopes of the +more leal Lancastrians. But it is in vain to deny, that if Lord +Warwick win Louis--" + +"He will not! he shall not!--Louis, mine own kinsman!" exclaimed +Margaret, in a voice in which the anguish pierced through the louder +tone of resentment and disdain. + +"Let us hope that he will not," replied Hilyard, soothingly; some +chance may yet break off these nuptials, and once more give us France +as our firm ally. But now we must be patient. Already Edward is fast +wearing away the gloss of his crown; already the great lords desert +his court; already, in the rural provinces, peasant and franklin +complain of the exactions of his minions; already the mighty House of +Nevile frowns sullen on the throne it built. Another year, and who +knows but the Earl of Warwick,--the beloved and the fearless, whose +statesman-art alone hath severed from you the arms and aid of France, +at whose lifted finger all England would bristle with armed men--may +ride by the side of Margaret through the gates of London?" + +"Evil-omened consoler, never!" exclaimed the princess, starting to her +feet, with eyes that literally shot fire. "Thinkest thou that the +spirit of a queen lies in me so low and crushed, that I, the +descendant of Charlemagne, could forgive the wrongs endured from +Warwick and his father? But thou, though wise and loyal, art of the +Commons; thou knowest not how they feel through whose veins rolls the +blood of kings!" + +A dark and cold shade fell over the bold face of Robin of Redesdale at +these words. + +"Ah, lady," he said, with bitterness, "if no misfortune can curb thy +pride, in vain would we rebuild thy throne. It is these Commons, +Margaret of Anjou--these English Commons--this Saxon People, that can +alone secure to thee the holding of the realm which the right arm +wins. And, beshrew me, much as I love thy cause, much as thou hast +with thy sorrows and thy princely beauty glamoured and spelled my +heart and my hand,--ay, so that I, the son of a Lollard, forget the +wrongs the Lollards sustained from the House of Lancaster; so that I, +who have seen the glorious fruitage of a Republic, yet labour for +thee, to overshadow the land with the throne of ONE--yet--yet, lady-- +yet, if I thought thou wert to be the same Margaret as of old, looking +back to thy dead kings, and contemptuous of thy living people, I would +not bid one mother's son lift lance or bill on thy behalf." + +So resolutely did Robin of Redesdale utter these words, that the +queen's haughty eye fell abashed as he spoke; and her craft, or her +intellect, which was keen and prompt where her passions did not deafen +and blind her judgment, instantly returned to her. Few women equalled +this once idol of knight and minstrel, in the subduing fascination +that she could exert in her happier moments. Her affability was as +gracious as her wrath was savage; and with a dignified and winning +frankness, she extended her hand to her ally, as she answered, in a +sweet, humble, womanly, and almost penitent voice,-- + +"O bravest and lealest of friends, forgive thy wretched queen. Her +troubles distract her brain,--chide her not if they sour her speech. +Saints above! will ye not pardon Margaret if at times her nature be +turned from the mother's milk into streams of gall and bloody purpose, +when ye see, from your homes serene, in what a world of strife and +falsehood her very womanhood hath grown unsexed?" She paused a moment, +and her uplifted eyes shed tears fast and large. Then, with a sigh, +she turned to Hilyard, and resumed more calmly, "Yes, thou art right, +--adversity hath taught me much. And though adversity will too often +but feed and not starve our pride, yet thou--thou hast made me know +that there is more of true nobility in the blunt Children of the +People than in many a breast over which flows the kingly robe. +Forgive me, and the daughter of Charlemagne shall yet be a mother to +the Commons, who claim thee as their brother!" + +Thoroughly melted, Robin of Redesdale bowed over the hand held to his +lips, and his rough voice trembled as he answered, though that answer +took but the shape of prayer. + +"And now," said the princess, smiling, "to make peace lasting between +us, I conquer myself, I yield to thy counsels. Once more the +fugitive, I abandon the city that contains Henry's unheeded prison. +See, I am ready. Who will know Margaret in this attire? Lead on!" + +Rejoiced to seize advantage of this altered and submissive mood, Robin +instantly took the way through a narrow passage, to a small door +communicating with the river. There Hugh was waiting in a small boat, +moored to the damp and discoloured stairs. + +Robin, by a gesture, checked the man's impulse to throw himself at the +feet of the pretended priest, and bade him put forth his best speed. +The princess seated herself by the helm, and the little boat cut +rapidly through the noble stream. Galleys, gay and gilded, with +armorial streamers, and filled with nobles and gallants, passed them, +noisy with mirth or music, on their way. These the fallen sovereign +heeded not; but, with all her faults, the woman's heart beating in her +bosom--she who in prosperity had so often wrought ruin, and shame, and +woe to her gentle lord; she who had been reckless of her trust as +queen; and incurred grave--but, let us charitably hope, unjust-- +suspicion of her faith as wife, still fixed her eyes on the gloomy +tower that contained her captive husband, and felt that she could have +forgotten a while even the loss of power if but permitted to fall on +that plighted heart, and weep over the past with the woe-worn +bridegroom of her youth. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN WHICH ARE LAID OPEN TO THE READER THE CHARACTER OF EDWARD THE +FOURTH AND THAT OF HIS COURT, WITH THE MACHINATIONS OF THE WOODVILLES +AGAINST THE EARL OF WARWICK. + +Scarcely need it be said to those who have looked with some philosophy +upon human life, that the young existence of Master Marmaduke Nevile, +once fairly merged in the great common sea, will rarely reappear +before us individualized and distinct. The type of the provincial +cadet of the day hastening courtwards to seek his fortune, he becomes +lost amidst the gigantic characters and fervid passions that alone +stand forth in history. And as, in reading biography, we first take +interest in the individual who narrates, but if his career shall pass +into that broader and more stirring life, in which he mingles with men +who have left a more dazzling memory than his own, we find the +interest change from the narrator to those by whom he is surrounded +and eclipsed,--so, in this record of a time, we scarce follow our +young adventurer into the court of the brilliant Edward ere the scene +itself allures and separates us from our guide; his mission is, as it +were, well-nigh done. We leave, then, for a while this bold, frank +nature-fresh from the health of the rural life--gradually to improve, +or deprave itself, in the companionship it finds. The example of the +Lords Hastings, Scales, and Worcester, and the accomplishments of the +two younger Princes of York, especially the Duke of Gloucester, had +diffused among the younger and gayer part of the court that growing +taste for letters which had somewhat slept during the dynasty of the +House of Lancaster; and Marmaduke's mind became aware that learning +was no longer the peculiar distinction of the Church, and that Warwick +was behind his age when he boasted "that the sword was more familiar +to him than the pen." He had the sagacity to perceive that the +alliance with the great earl did not conduce to his popularity at +court; and even in the king's presence, the courtiers permitted +themselves many taunts and jests at the fiery Warwick, which they +would have bitten out their tongues ere they would have vented before +the earl himself. But though the Nevile sufficiently controlled his +native candour not to incur unprofitable quarrel by ill-mannered and +unseasonable defence of the hero-baron when sneered at or assailed, he +had enough of the soldier and the man in him not to be tainted by the +envy of the time and place,--not to lose his gratitude to his patron, +nor his respect for the bulwark of the country. Rather, it may be +said, that Warwick gained in his estimation whenever compared with the +gay and silken personages who avenged themselves by words for his +superiority in deeds. Not only as a soldier, but as a statesman, the +great and peculiar merits of the earl were visible in all those +measures which emanated solely from himself. Though so indifferently +educated, his busy, practical career, his affable mixing with all +classes, and his hearty, national sympathies made him so well +acquainted with the interests of his country and the habits of his +countrymen, that he was far more fitted to rule than the scientific +Worcester or the learned Scales. The Young Duke of Gloucester +presented a marked contrast to the general levity of the court, in +speaking of this powerful nobleman. He never named him but with +respect, and was pointedly courteous to even the humblest member of +the earl's family. In this he appeared to advantage by the side of +Clarence, whose weakness of disposition made him take the tone of the +society in which he was thrown, and who, while really loving Warwick, +often smiled at the jests against him,--not, indeed, if uttered by the +queen or her family, of whom he ill concealed his jealousy and hatred. + +The whole court was animated and pregnant with a spirit of intrigue, +which the artful cunning of the queen, the astute policy of Jacquetta, +and the animosity of the different factions had fomented to a degree +quite unknown under former reigns. It was a place in which the wit of +young men grew old rapidly; amidst stratagem, and plot, and ambitious +design, and stealthy overreaching, the boyhood of Richard III. passed +to its relentless manhood: such is the inevitable fruit of that era in +civilization when a martial aristocracy first begins to merge into a +voluptuous court. + +Through this moving and shifting web of ambition and intrigue the +royal Edward moved with a careless grace: simple himself, because his +object was won, and pleasure had supplanted ambition. His indolent, +joyous temper served to deaden his powerful intellect; or, rather, his +intellect was now lost in the sensual stream through which it flowed. +Ever in pursuit of some new face, his schemes and counterschemes were +limited to cheat a husband or deceive a wife; and dexterous and +successful no doubt they were. But a vice always more destructive +than the love of women began also to reign over him,--namely, the +intemperance of the table. The fastidious and graceful epicurism of +the early Normans, inclined to dainties but abhorring excess, and +regarding with astonished disdain the heavy meals and deep draughts of +the Saxon, had long ceased to characterize the offspring of that +noblest of all noble races. Warwick, whose stately manliness was +disgusted with whatever savoured of effeminacy or debauch, used to +declare that he would rather fight fifty battles for Edward IV. than +once sup with him! Feasts were prolonged for hours, and the banquets +of this king of the Middle Ages almost resembled those of the later +Roman emperors. The Lord Montagu did not share the abstemiousness of +his brother of Warwick. He was, next to Hastings, the king's chosen +and most favourite companion. He ate almost as much as the king, and +drank very little less. Of few courtiers could the same be said! +Over the lavish profligacy and excess of the court, however, a veil +dazzling to the young and high-spirited was thrown. Edward was +thoroughly the cavalier, deeply imbued with the romance of chivalry, +and, while making the absolute woman his plaything, always treated the +ideal woman as a goddess. A refined gallantry, a deferential courtesy +to dame and demoiselle, united the language of an Amadis with the +licentiousness of a Gaolor; and a far more alluring contrast than the +court of Charles II. presented to the grim Commonwealth seduced the +vulgar in that of this most brave and most beautiful prince, when +compared with the mournful and lugubrious circles in which Henry VI. +had reigned and prayed. Edward himself, too, it was so impossible to +judge with severe justice, that his extraordinary popularity in +London, where he was daily seen, was never diminished by his faults; +he was so bold in the field, yet so mild in the chamber; when his +passions slept, he was so thoroughly good-natured and social, so kind +to all about his person, so hearty and gladsome in his talk and in his +vices, so magnificent and so generous withal; and, despite his +indolence, his capacities for business were marvellous,--and these +last commanded the reverence of the good Londoners; he often +administered justice himself, like the caliphs of the East, and with +great acuteness and address. Like most extravagant men, he had a +wholesome touch of avarice. That contempt for commerce which +characterizes a modern aristocracy was little felt by the nobles of +that day, with the exception of such blunt patricians as Lord Warwick +or Raoul de Fulke. The great House of De la Pole (Duke of Suffolk), +the heir of which married Edward's sister Elizabeth, had been founded +by a merchant of Hull. Earls and archbishops scrupled not to derive +revenues from what we should now esteem the literal resources of +trade. [The Abbot of St. Alban's (temp. Henry III.) was a vendor of +Yarmouth bloaters. The Cistercian Monks were wool-merchants; and +Macpherson tells us of a couple of Iceland bishops who got a license +from Henry VI. for smuggling. (Matthew Paris. Macpherson's "Annals of +Commerce," 10.) As the Whig historians generally have thought fit to +consider the Lancastrian cause the more "liberal" of the two, because +Henry IV. was the popular choice, and, in fact, an elected, not an +hereditary king, so it cannot be too emphatically repeated, that the +accession of Edward IV. was the success of two new and two highly-- +popular principles,--the one that of church reform, the other that of +commercial calculation. All that immense section, almost a majority +of the people, who had been persecuted by the Lancastrian kings as +Lollards, revenged on Henry the aggrieved rights of religious +toleration. On the other hand, though Henry IV., who was immeasurably +superior to his warlike son in intellect and statesmanship, had +favoured the growing commercial spirit, it had received nothing but +injury under Henry V., and little better than contempt under Henry VI. +The accession of the Yorkists was, then, on two grounds a great +popular movement; and it was followed by a third advantage to the +popular cause,--namely, in the determined desire both of Edward and +Richard III. to destroy the dangerous influence of the old feudal +aristocracy. To this end Edward laboured in the creation of a court +noblesse; and Richard, with the more dogged resolution that belonged +to him, went at once to the root of the feudal power, in forbidding +the nobles to give badges and liveries (this also was forbidden, it is +true, by the edict of Edward IV. as well as by his predecessors from +the reign of Richard II.; but no king seems to have had the courage to +enforce the prohibition before Richard III.),--in other words, to +appropriate armies under the name of retainers. Henry VII., in short, +did not originate the policy for which he has monopolized the credit; +he did but steadily follow out the theory of raising the middle class +and humbling the baronial, which the House of York first put into +practice.] shown itself on this point more liberal in its policy, more +free from feudal prejudices, than that of the Plantagenets. Even +Edward II. was tenacious of the commerce with Genoa, and an +intercourse with the merchant princes of that republic probably served +to associate the pursuits of commerce with the notion of rank and +power. Edward III. is still called the Father of English Commerce; +but Edward IV. carried the theories of his ancestors into far more +extensive practice, for his own personal profit. This king, so +indolent in the palace, was literally the most active merchant in the +mart. He traded largely in ships of his own, freighted with his own +goods; and though, according to sound modern economics, this was +anything but an aid to commerce, seeing that no private merchant could +compete with a royal trader who went out and came in duty-free, yet +certainly the mere companionship and association in risk and gain, and +the common conversation that it made between the affable monarch and +the homeliest trader, served to increase his popularity, and to couple +it with respect for practical sense. Edward IV. was in all this pre- +eminently THE MAN OF HIS AGE,--not an inch behind it or before! And, +in addition to this happy position, he was one of those darlings of +Nature, so affluent and blest in gifts of person, mind, and outward +show, that it is only at the distance of posterity we ask why men of +his own age admired the false, the licentious, and the cruel, where +those contemporaries, over-dazzled, saw but the heroic and the joyous, +the young, the beautiful,--the affable to friend, and the terrible to +foe! + +It was necessary to say thus much on the commercial tendencies of +Edward, because, at this epoch, they operated greatly, besides other +motives shortly to be made clear, in favour of the plot laid by the +enemies of the Earl of Warwick, to dishonour that powerful minister +and drive him from the councils of the king. + +One morning Hastings received a summons to attend Edward, and on +entering the royal chamber, he found already assembled Lord Rivers, +the queen's father, Anthony Woodville, and the Earl of Worcester. + +The king seemed thoughtful; he beckoned Hastings to approach, and +placed in his hand a letter, dated from Rouen. "Read and judge, +Hastings," said Edward. + +The letter was from a gentleman in Warwick's train. It gave a glowing +account of the honours accorded to the earl by Louis XI., greater than +those ever before manifested to a subject, and proceeded thus:-- + +"But it is just I should apprise you that there be strange rumours as +to the marvellous love that King Louis shows my lord the earl. He +lodgeth in the next house to him, and hath even had an opening made in +the partition-wall between his own chamber and the earl's. Men do say +that the king visits him nightly, and there be those who think that so +much stealthy intercourse between an English ambassador and the +kinsman of Margaret of Anjou bodeth small profit to our grace the +king." + +"I observe," said Hastings, glancing to the superscription, "that this +letter is addressed to my Lord Rivers. Can he avouch the fidelity of +his correspondent?" + +"Surely, yes," answered Rivers; "it is a gentleman of my own blood." + +"Were he not so accredited," returned Hastings, "I should question the +truth of a man who can thus consent to play the spy upon his lord and +superior." + +"The public weal justifies all things," said the Earl of Worcester +(who, though by marriage nearly connected to Warwick, eyed his power +with the jealous scorn which the man of book-lore often feels for one +whose talent lies in action),--"so held our masters in all state- +craft, the Greek and Roman." + +"Certes," said Sir Anthony Woodville, "it grieveth the pride of an +English knight that we should be beholden for courtesies to the born +foe of England, which I take the Frenchman naturally to be." + +"Ah," said Edward, smiling sternly, "I would rather be myself, with +banner and trump, before the walls of Paris, than sending my cousin +the earl to beg the French king's brother to accept my sister as a +bride. And what is to become of my good merchant-ships if Burgundy +take umbrage and close its ports?" + +"Beau sire," said Hastings," thou knowest how little cause I have to +love the Earl of Warwick. We all here, save your gracious self, bear +the memory of some affront rendered to us by his pride and heat of +mood! but in this council I must cease to be William de Hastings, and +be all and wholly the king's servant. I say first, then, with +reference to these noble peers, that Warwick's faith to the House of +York is too well proven to become suspected because of the courtesies +of King Louis,--an artful craft, as it clearly seems to me, of the +wily Frenchman, to weaken your throne, by provoking your distrust of +its great supporter. Fall we not into such a snare! Moreover, we may +be sure that Warwick cannot be false, if he achieve the object of his +embassy,--namely, detach Louis from the side of Margaret and Lancaster +by close alliance with Edward and York. Secondly, sire, with regard +to that alliance, which it seems you would repent,--I hold now, as I +have held ever, that it is a master-stroke in policy, and the earl in +this proves his sharp brain worthy his strong arm; for as his highness +the Duke of Gloucester hath now clearly discovered that Margaret of +Anjou has been of late in London, and that treasonable designs were +meditated, though now frustrated, so we may ask why the friends of +Lancaster really stood aloof; why all conspiracy was, and is, in +vain?--Because, sire, of this very alliance with France; because the +gold and subsidies of Louis are not forthcoming; because the +Lancastrians see that if once Lord Warwick win France from the Red +Rose, nothing short of such a miracle as their gaining Warwick instead +can give a hope to their treason. Your Highness fears the anger of +Burgundy, and the suspension of your trade with the Flemings; but-- +forgive me--this is not reasonable. Burgundy dare not offend England, +matched, as its arms are, with France; the Flemings gain more by you +than you gain by the Flemings, and those interested burghers will not +suffer any prince's quarrel to damage their commerce. Charolois may +bluster and threat, but the storm will pass, and Burgundy will be +contented, if England remain neutral in the feud with France. All +these reasons, sire, urge me to support my private foe, the Lord +Warwick, and to pray you to give no ear to the discrediting his Honour +and his embassy." + +The profound sagacity of these remarks, the repute of the speaker, and +the well-known grudge between him and Warwick, for reasons hereafter +to be explained, produced a strong effect upon the intellect of +Edward, always vigorous, save when clouded with passion. But Rivers, +whose malice to the earl was indomitable, coldly recommenced,-- + +"With submission to the Lord Hastings, sire, whom we know that love +sometimes blinds, and whose allegiance to the earl's fair sister, the +Lady of Bonville, perchance somewhat moves him to forget the day when +Lord Warwick--" + +"Cease, my lord," said Hastings, white with suppressed anger; "these +references beseem not the councils of grave men." + +"Tut, Hastings," said Edward, laughing merrily, "women mix themselves +up in all things: board or council, bed or battle,--wherever there is +mischief astir, there, be sure, peeps a woman's sly face from her +wimple. Go on, Rivers." + +"Your pardon, my Lord Hastings," said Rivers, "I knew not my thrust +went so home; there is another letter I have not yet laid before the +king." He drew forth a scroll from his bosom, and read as follows:-- + +"Yesterday the earl feasted the king, and as, in discharge of mine +office, I carved for my lord, I heard King Louis say, 'Pasque Dieu, my +Lord Warwick, our couriers bring us word that Count Charolois declares +he shall yet wed the Lady Margaret, and that he laughs at your +ambassage. What if our brother, King Edward, fall back from the +treaty?' 'He durst not!' said the earl." + +"Durst not I" exclaimed Edward, starting to his feet, and striking the +table with his clenched hand, "durst not! Hastings, hear you that?" + +Hastings bowed his head in assent. "Is that all, Lord Rivers?" + +"All! and methinks enough." + +"Enough, by my halidame!" said Edward, laughing bitterly; "he shall +see what a king dares, when a subject threatens. Admit the worshipful +the deputies from our city of London,--lord chamberlain, it is thine +office,--they await in the anteroom." + +Hastings gravely obeyed, and in crimson gowns, with purple hoods and +gold chains, marshalled into the king's presence a goodly deputation +from the various corporate companies of London. + +These personages advanced within a few paces of the dais, and there +halted and knelt, while their spokesman read, on his knees, a long +petition, praying the king to take into his gracious consideration the +state of the trade with the Flemings; and though not absolutely +venturing to name or to deprecate the meditated alliance with France, +beseeching his grace to satisfy them as to certain rumours, already +very prejudicial to their commerce, of the possibility of a breach +with the Duke of Burgundy. The merchant-king listened with great +attention and affability to this petition; and replied shortly, that +he thanked the deputation for their zeal for the public weal,--that a +king would have enough to do if he contravened every gossip's tale; +but that it was his firm purpose to protect, in all ways, the London +traders, and to maintain the most amicable understanding with the Duke +of Burgundy. + +The supplicators then withdrew from the royal presence. + +"Note you how gracious the king was to me?" whispered Master Heyford +to one of his brethren; "he looked at me while he answered." + +"Coxcomb!" muttered the confidant, "as if I did not catch his eye when +he said, 'Ye are the pillars of the public weal!' But because Master +Heyford has a handsome wife he thinks he tosseth all London on his own +horns!" + +As the citizens were quitting the palace, Lord Rivers joined them. +"You will thank me for suggesting this deputation, worthy sirs," said +he, smiling significantly; "you have timed it well!"--and passing by +them, without further comment, he took the way to the queen's chamber. + +Elizabeth was playing with her infant daughter, tossing the child in +the air, and laughing at its riotous laughter. The stern old Duchess +of Bedford, leaning over the back of the state-chair, looked on with +all a grandmother's pride, and half chanted a nursery rhyme. It was a +sight fair to see! Elizabeth never seemed more lovely: her +artificial, dissimulating smile changed into hearty, maternal glee, +her smooth cheek flushed with exercise, a stray ringlet escaping from +the stiff coif!--And, alas, the moment the two ladies caught sight of +Rivers, all the charm was dissolved; the child was hastily put on the +floor; the queen, half ashamed of being natural, even before her +father, smoothed back the rebel lock, and the duchess, breaking off in +the midst of her grandam song, exclaimed,-- + +"Well, well! how thrives our policy?" + +"The king," answered Rivers, "is in the very mood we could desire. At +the words, 'He durst not!' the Plantagenet sprung up in his breast; +and now, lest he ask to see the rest of the letter, thus I destroy it; +"and flinging the scroll in the blazing hearth, he watched it consume. + +"Why this, sir?" said the queen. + +"Because, my Elizabeth, the bold words glided off into a decent +gloss,--'He durst not,' said Warwick, 'because what a noble heart +dares least is to belie the plighted word, and what the kind heart +shuns most is to wrong the confiding friend." + +"It was fortunate," said the duchess, "that Edward took heat at the +first words, nor stopped, it seems, for the rest!" + +"I was prepared, Jacquetta; had he asked to see the rest, I should +have dropped the scroll into the brazier, as containing what I would +not presume to read. Courage! Edward has seen the merchants; he has +flouted Hastings,--who would gainsay us. For the rest, Elizabeth, be +it yours to speak of affronts paid by the earl to your highness; be it +yours, Jacquetta, to rouse Edward's pride by dwelling on Warwick's +overweening power; be it mine to enlist his interest on behalf of his +merchandise; be it Margaret's to move his heart by soft tears for the +bold Charolois; and ere a month be told, Warwick shall find his +embassy a thriftless laughing-stock, and no shade pass between the +House of Woodville and the sun of England." + +"I am scarce queen while Warwick is minister," said Elizabeth, +vindictively. "How he taunted me in the garden, when we met last!" + +"But hark you, daughter and lady liege, hark you! Edward is not +prepared for the decisive stroke. I have arranged with Anthony, whose +chivalrous follies fit him not for full comprehension of our objects, +how upon fair excuse the heir of Burgundy's brother--the Count de la +Roche--shall visit London; and the count once here, all is ours! +Hush! take up the little one,--Edward comes!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHEREIN MASTER NICHOLAS ALWYN VISITS THE COURT, AND THERE LEARNS +MATTER OF WHICH THE ACUTE READER WILL JUDGE FOR HIMSELF. + +It was a morning towards the end of May (some little time after +Edward's gracious reception of the London deputies), when Nicholas +Alwyn, accompanied by two servitors armed to the teeth,--for they +carried with them goods of much value, and even in the broad daylight +and amidst the most frequented parts of the city, men still confided +little in the security of the law,--arrived at the Tower, and was +conducted to the presence of the queen. + +Elizabeth and her mother were engaged in animated but whispered +conversation when the goldsmith entered; and there was an unusual +gayety in the queen's countenance as she turned to Alwyn and bade him +show her his newest gauds. + +While with a curiosity and eagerness that seemed almost childlike +Elizabeth turned over rings, chains, and brooches, scarcely listening +to Alwyn's comments on the lustre of the gems or the quaintness of the +fashion, the duchess disappeared for a moment, and returned with the +Princess Margaret. + +This young princess had much of the majestic beauty of her royal +brother; but, instead of the frank, careless expression so fascinating +in Edward, there was, in her full and curved lip and bright large eye, +something at once of haughtiness and passion, which spoke a decision +and vivacity of character beyond her years. + +"Choose for thyself, sweetheart and daughter mine," said the duchess, +affectionately placing her hand on Margaret's luxuriant hair, "and let +the noble visitor we await confess that our rose of England outblooms +the world." + +The princess coloured with complaisant vanity at these words, and, +drawing near the queen, looked silently at a collar of pearls, which +Elizabeth held. + +"If I may adventure so to say," observed Alwyn, "pearls will mightily +beseem her highness's youthful bloom; and lo! here be some adornments +for the bodice or partelet, to sort with the collar; not," added the +goldsmith, bowing low, and looking down,--"not perchance displeasing +to her highness, in that they are wrought in the guise of the fleur de +lis--" + +An impatient gesture in the queen, and a sudden cloud over the fair +brow of Margaret, instantly betokened to the shrewd trader that he had +committed some most unwelcome error in this last allusion to the +alliance with King Louis of France, which, according to rumour, the +Earl of Warwick had well-nigh brought to a successful negotiation; and +to convince him yet more of his mistake, the duchess said haughtily, +"Good fellow, be contented to display thy goods, and spare us thy +comments. As for thy hideous fleur de lis, an' thy master had no +better device, he would not long rest the king's jeweller." + +"I have no heart for the pearls," said Margaret, abruptly; "they are +at best pale and sicklied. What hast thou of bolder ornament and more +dazzling lustrousness?" + +"These emeralds, it is said, were once among the jewels of the great +House of Burgundy," observed Nicholas, slowly, and fixing his keen, +sagacious look on the royal purchasers. + +"Of Burgundy!" exclaimed the queen. + +"It is true," said the Duchess of Bedford, looking at the ornament +with care, and slightly colouring,--for in fact the jewels had been a +present from Philip the Good to the Duke of Bedford, and the +exigencies of the civil wars had led, some time since, first to their +mortgage, or rather pawn, and then to their sale. + +The princess passed her arm affectionately round Jacquetta's neck, and +said, "If you leave me my choice, I will have none but these +emeralds." + +The two elder ladies exchanged looks and smiles. "Hast thou +travelled, young man?" asked the duchess. + +"Not in foreign parts, gracious lady, but I have lived much with those +who have been great wanderers." + +"Ah, and what say they of the ancient friends of mine House, the +princes of Burgundy?" + +"Lady, all men agree that a nobler prince and a juster than Duke +Philip never reigned over brave men; and those who have seen the +wisdom of his rule, grieve sorely to think so excellent and mighty a +lord should have trouble brought to his old age by the turbulence of +his son, the Count of Charolois." + +Again Margaret's fair brow lowered, and the duchess hastened to +answer, "The disputes between princes, young man, can never be rightly +understood by such as thou and thy friends. The Count of Charolois is +a noble gentleman; and fire in youth will break out. Richard the Lion +Hearted of England was not less puissant a king for the troubles he +occasioned to his sire when prince." + +Alwyn bit his lip, to restrain a reply that might not have been well +received; and the queen, putting aside the emeralds and a few other +trinkets, said, smilingly, to the duchess, "Shall the king pay for +these, or have thy learned men yet discovered the great secret?" + +"Nay, wicked child," said the duchess, "thou lovest to banter me; and +truth to say, more gold has been melted in the crucible than as yet +promises ever to come out of it; but my new alchemist, Master Warner, +seems to have gone nearer to the result than any I have yet known. +Meanwhile, the king's treasurer must, perforce, supply the gear to the +king's sister." + +The queen wrote an order on the officer thus referred to, who was no +other than her own father, Lord Rivers; and Alwyn, putting up his +goods, was about to withdraw, when the duchess said carelessly, "Good +youth, the dealings of our merchants are more with Flanders than with +France, is it not so?" + +"Surely," said Alwyn; "the Flemings are good traders and honest folk." + +"It is well known, I trust, in the city of London, that this new +alliance with France is the work of their favourite, the Lord +Warwick," said the duchess, scornfully; "but whatever the earl does is +right with ye of the hood and cap, even though he were to leave yon +river without one merchant-mast." + +"Whatever be our thoughts, puissant lady," said Alwyn, cautiously, "we +give them not vent to the meddling with state affairs." + +"Ay," persisted Jacquetta, "thine answer is loyal and discreet. But +an' the Lord Warwick had sought alliance with the Count of Charolois, +would there have been brighter bonfires than ye will see in +Smithfield, when ye hear that business with the Flemings is +surrendered for fine words from King Louis the Cunning?" + +"We trust too much to our king's love for the citizens of London to +fear that surrender, please your Highness," answered Alwyn; "our king +himself is the first of our merchants, and he hath given a gracious +answer to the deputation from our city." + +"You speak wisely, sir," said the queen; "and your king will yet +defend you from the plots of your enemies. You may retire." + +Alwyn, glad to be released from questionings but little to his taste, +hastened to depart. At the gate of the royal lodge, he gave his +caskets to the servitors who attended him, and passing slowly along +the courtyard, thus soliloquized: + +"Our neighbours the Scotch say, 'It is good fishing in muddy waters;' +but he who fishes into the secrets of courts must bait with his head. +What mischief doth that crafty queen, the proud duchess, devise? Um! +They are thinking still to match the young princess with the hot Count +of Charolois. Better for trade, it is true, to be hand in hand with +the Flemings; but there are two sides to a loaf. If they play such a +trick on the stout earl, he is not a man to sit down and do nothing. +More food for the ravens, I fear,--more brown bills and bright lances +in the green fields of poor England!--and King Louis is an awful carle +to sow flax in his neighbour's house, when the torches are burning. +Um! Where is fair Marmaduke. He looks brave in his gay super-tunic. +Well, sir and foster-brother, how fare you at court?" + +"My dear Nicholas, a merry welcome and hearty to your sharp, +thoughtful face. Ah, man! we shall have a gay time for you venders of +gewgaws. There are to be revels and jousts, revels in the Tower and +jousts in Smithfield. We gentles are already hard at practice in the +tilt-yard." + +"Sham battles are better than real ones, Master Nevile! But what is +in the wind?" + +"A sail, Nicholas! a sail bound to England! Know that the Count of +Charolois has permitted Sir Anthony Count de la Roche, his bastard +brother, to come over to London, to cross lances with our own Sir +Anthony Lord Scales. It is an old challenge, and right royally will +the encounter be held." + +"Um!" muttered Alwyn, "this bastard, then, is the carrier pigeon.-- +And," said he, aloud, "is it only to exchange hard blows that Sir +Anthony of Burgundy comes over to confer with Sir Anthony of England? +Is there no court rumour of other matters between them?" + +"Nay. What else? Plague on you craftsmen! You cannot even +comprehend the pleasure and pastime two knights take in the storm of +the lists!" + +"I humbly avow it, Master Nevile. But it seemeth, indeed, strange to +me that the Count of Charolois should take this very moment to send +envoys of courtesy when so sharp a slight has been put on his pride, +and so dangerous a blow struck at his interests, as the alliance +between the French prince and the Lady Margaret. Bold Charles has +some cunning, I trow, which your kinsman of Warwick is not here to +detect." + +"Tush, man! Trade, I see, teaches ye all so to cheat and overreach, +that ye suppose a knight's burgonet is as full of tricks and traps as +a citizen's flat-cap. Would, though, that my kinsman of Warwick were +here," added Marmaduke, in a low whisper, "for the women and the +courtiers are doing their best to belie him." + +"Keep thyself clear of them all, Marmaduke," said Alwyn; "for, by the +Lord, I see that the evil days are coming once more, fast and dark, +and men like thee will again have to choose between friend and friend, +kinsman and king. For my part, I say nothing; for I love not +fighting, unless compelled to it. But if ever I do fight, it will not +be by thy side, under Warwick's broad flag." + +"Eh, man?" interrupted Nevile. + +"Nay, nay," continued Nicholas, shaking his head, "I admire the great +earl, and were I lord or gentle, the great earl should be my chief. +But each to his order; and the trader's tree grows not out of a +baron's walking-staff. King Edward may be a stern ruler, but he is a +friend to the goldsmiths, and has just confirmed our charter. 'Let +every man praise the bridge he goes over,' as the saw saith. Truce to +this talk, Master Nevile. I hear that your young hostess--ehem!-- +Mistress Sibyll, is greatly marvelled at among the court gallants, is +it so?" + +Marmaduke's frank face grew gloomy. "Alas! dear foster-brother," he +said, dropping the somewhat affected tone in which he had before +spoken, "I must confess to my shame, that I cannot yet get the damsel +out of my thoughts, which is what I consider it a point of manhood and +spirit to achieve." + +"How so?" + +"Because, when a maiden chooseth steadily to say nay to your wooing, +to follow her heels, and whine and beg, is a dog's duty, not a man's." + +"What!" exclaimed Alwyn, in a voice of great eagerness, "mean you to +say that you have wooed Sibyll Warner as your wife?" + +"Verily, yes!" + +"And failed?" + +"And failed." + +"Poor Marmaduke!" + +"There is no 'poor' in the matter, Nick Alwyn," returned Marmaduke, +sturdily; "if a girl likes me, well; if not, there are too many others +in the wide world for a young fellow to break his heart about one. +Yet," he added, after a short pause, and with a sigh,--"yet, if thou +hast not seen her since she came to the court, thou wilt find her +wondrously changed." + +"More's the pity!" said Alwyn, reciprocating his friend's sigh. + +"I mean that she seems all the comelier for the court air. And +beshrew me, I think the Lord Hastings, with his dulcet flatteries, +hath made it a sort of frenzy for all the gallants to flock round +her." + +"I should like to see Master Warner again," said Alwyn; "where lodges +he?" + +"Yonder, by the little postern, on the third flight of the turret that +flanks the corridor, [This description refers to that part of the +Tower called the King's or Queen's Lodge, and long since destroyed.] +next to Friar Bungey, the magician; but it is broad daylight, and +therefore not so dangerous,--not but thou mayest as well patter an ave +in going up stairs." + +"Farewell, Master Nevile," said Alwyn, smiling; "I will seek the +mechanician, and if I find there Mistress Sibyll, what shall I say +from thee?" + +"That young bachelors in the reign of Edward IV. will never want fair +feres," answered the Nevile, debonairly smoothing his lawn partelet. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +EXHIBITING THE BENEFITS WHICH ROYAL PATRONAGE CONFERS ON GENIUS,--ALSO +THE EARLY LOVES OF THE LORD HASTINGS; WITH OTHER MATTERS EDIFYING AND +DELECTABLE. + +The furnace was still at work, the flame glowed, the bellows heaved; +but these were no longer ministering to the service of a mighty and +practical invention. The mathematician, the philosopher, had +descended to the alchemist. The nature of the TIME had conquered the +nature of a GENIUS meant to subdue time. Those studies that had gone +so far to forestall the master-triumph of far later ages were +exchanged for occupations that played with the toys of infant wisdom. +O true Tartarus of Genius, when its energies are misapplied, when the +labour but rolls the stone up the mountain, but pours water upon water +through the sieve! + +There is a sanguineness in men of great intellect which often leads +them into follies avoided by the dull. When Adam Warner saw the ruin +of his contrivance; when be felt that time and toil and money were +necessary to its restoration; and when the gold he lacked was placed +before him as a reward for alchemical labours, he at first turned to +alchemy as he would have turned to the plough,--as he had turned to +conspiracy,--simply as a means to his darling end. But by rapid +degrees the fascination which all the elder sages experienced in the +grand secret exercised its witchery over his mind. If Roger Bacon, +though catching the notion of the steam-engine, devoted himself to the +philosopher's stone; if even in so much more enlightened an age Newton +had wasted some precious hours in the transmutation of metals, it was +natural that the solitary sage of the reign of Edward IV. should grow, +for a while at least, wedded to a pursuit which promised results so +august. And the worst of alchemy is, that it always allures on its +victims: one gets so near and so near the object,--it seems that so +small an addition will complete the sum! So there he was--this great +practical genius--hard at work on turning copper into gold! + +"Well, Master Warner," said the young goldsmith, entering the +student's chamber, "methinks you scarcely remember your friend and +visitor, Nicholas Alwyn?" + +"Remember, oh, certes! doubtless one of the gentlemen present when +they proposed to put me to the brake. [the old word for rack] Please +to stand a little on this side--what is your will?" + +"I am not a gentleman, and I should have been loth to stand idly by +when the torture was talked of for a free-born Englishman, let alone a +scholar. And where is your fair daughter, Master Warner? I suppose +you see but little of her now she is the great dame's waiting-damsel?" + +"And why so, Master Alwyn?" asked a charming voice; and Alwyn for the +first time perceived the young form of Sibyll, by the embrasure of a +window, from which might be seen in the court below a gay group of +lords and courtiers, with the plain, dark dress of Hastings, +contrasting their gaudy surcoats, glittering with cloth-of-gold. +Alwyn's tongue clove to his mouth; all he had to say was forgotten in +a certain bashful and indescribable emotion. + +The alchemist had returned to his furnace, and the young man and the +girl were as much alone as if Adam Warner had been in heaven. + +"And why should the daughter forsake the sire more in a court, where +love is rare, than in the humbler home, where they may need each other +less?" + +"I thank thee for the rebuke, mistress," said Alwyn, delighted with +her speech; "for I should have been sorry to see thy heart spoiled by +the vanities that kill most natures." Scarcely had he uttered these +words, than they seemed to him overbold and presuming; for his eye now +took in the great change of which Marmaduke had spoken. Sibyll's +dress beseemed the new rank which she held: the corset, fringed with +gold, and made of the finest thread, showed the exquisite contour of +the throat and neck, whose ivory it concealed. The kirtle of rich +blue became the fair complexion and dark chestnut hair; and over all +she wore that most graceful robe, called the sasquenice, of which the +old French poet sang,-- + + "Car nulie robe n'est si belle + A dame ne a demoiselle." + +This garment, worn over the rest of the dress, had perhaps a classical +origin, and with slight variations may be seen on the Etruscan vases; +it was long and loose, of the whitest and finest linen, with hanging +sleeves, and open at the sides. But it was not the mere dress that +had embellished the young maiden's form and aspect,--it was rather an +indefinable alteration in the expression and the bearing. She looked +as if born to the airs of courts; still modest indeed, and simple, but +with a consciousness of dignity, and almost of power; and in fact the +woman had been taught the power that womanhood possesses. She had +been admired, followed, flattered; she had learned the authority of +beauty. Her accomplishments, uncommon in that age among her sex, had +aided her charm of person; her natural pride, which, though hitherto +latent, was high and ardent, fed her heart with sweet hopes; a bright +career seemed to extend before her; and, at peace as to her father's +safety, relieved from the drudging cares of poverty, her fancy was +free to follow the phantasms of sanguine youth through the airy land +of dreams. And therefore it was that the maid was changed! + +At the sight of the delicate beauty, the self-possessed expression, +the courtly dress, the noble air of Sibyll, Nicholas Alwyn recoiled +and turned pale; he no longer marvelled at her rejection of Marmaduke, +and he started at the remembrance of the bold thoughts which he had +dared himself to indulge. + +The girl smiled at the young man's confusion. + +"It is not prosperity that spoils the heart," she said touchingly, +"unless it be mean indeed. Thou rememberest, Master Alwyn, that when +God tried His saint, it was by adversity and affliction." + +"May thy trial in these last be over," answered Alwyn; "but the humble +must console their state by thinking that the great have their trials +too; and, as our homely adage hath it, 'That is not always good in the +maw which is sweet in the mouth.' Thou seest much of my gentle foster- +brother, Mistress Sibyll?" + +"But in the court dances, Master Alwyn; for most of the hours in which +my lady duchess needs me not are spent here. Oh, my father hopes +great things! and now at last fame dawns upon him." + +"I rejoice to hear it, mistress; and so, having paid ye both my +homage, I take my leave, praying that I may visit you from time to +time, if it be only to consult this worshipful master touching certain +improvements in the horologe, in which his mathematics can doubtless +instruct me. Farewell. I have some jewels to show to the Lady of +Bonville." + +"The Lady of Bonville!" repeated Sibyll, changing colour; "she is a +dame of notable loveliness." + +"So men say,--and mated to a foolish lord; but scandal, which spares +few, breathes not on her,--rare praise for a court dame. Few Houses +can have the boast of Lord Warwick's,--'that all the men are without +fear, and all the women without stain.'" + +"It is said," observed Sibyll, looking down, "that my Lord Hastings +once much affectioned the Lady Bonville. Hast thou heard such +gossip?" + +"Surely, yes; in the city we hear all the tales of the court; for many +a courtier, following King Edward's exemplar, dines with the citizen +to-day, that he may borrow gold from the citizen to-morrow. Surely, +yes; and hence, they say, the small love the wise Hastings bears to +the stout earl." + +"How runs the tale? Be seated, Master Alwyn." + +"Marry, thus: when William Hastings was but a squire, and much +favoured by Richard, Duke of York, he lifted his eyes to the Lady +Katherine Nevile, sister to the Earl of Warwick, and in beauty and in +dower, as in birth, a mate for a king's son." + +"And, doubtless, the Lady Katherine returned his love?" + +"So it is said, maiden; and the Earl of Salisbury her father and Lord +Warwick her brother discovered the secret, and swore that no new man +(the stout earl's favourite word of contempt), though he were made a +duke, should give to an upstart posterity the quarterings of Montagu +and Nevile. Marry, Mistress Sibyll, there is a north country and +pithy proverb, 'Happy is the man whose father went to the devil.' Had +some old Hastings been a robber and extortioner, and left to brave +William the heirship of his wickedness in lordships and lands, Lord +Warwick had not called him 'a new man.' Master Hastings was dragged, +like a serf's son, before the earl on his dais; and be sure he was +rated soundly, for his bold blood was up, and he defied the earl, as a +gentleman born, to single battle. Then the earl's followers would +have fallen on him; and in those days, under King Henry, he who +bearded a baron in his hall must have a troop at his back, or was like +to have a rope round his neck; but the earl (for the lion is not as +fierce as they paint him) came down from his dais, and said, 'Man, I +like thy spirit, and I myself will dub thee knight that I may pick up +thy glove and give thee battle.'" + +"And they fought? Brave Hastings!" + +"No. For whether the Duke of York forbade it, or whether the Lady +Katherine would not hear of such strife between fere and frere, I know +not; but Duke Richard sent Hastings to Ireland, and, a month after, +the Lady Katherine married Lord Bonville's son and heir,--so, at +least, tell the gossips and sing the ballad-mongers. Men add that +Lord Hastings still loves the dame, though, certes, he knows how to +console himself." + +"Loves her! Nay, nay,--I trove not," answered Sibyll, in a low voice, +and with a curl of her dewy lip. + +At this moment the door opened gently and Lord Hastings himself +entered. He came in with the familiarity of one accustomed to the +place. + +"And how fares the grand secret, Master Warner? Sweet mistress! thou +seemest lovelier to me in this dark chamber than outshining all in the +galliard. Ha! Master Alwyn, I owe thee many thanks for making me +know first the rare arts of this fair emblazoner. Move me yon stool, +good Alwyn." + +As the goldsmith obeyed, he glanced from Hastings to the blushing face +and heaving bosom of Sibyll, and a deep and exquisite pang shot +through his heart. It was not jealousy alone; it was anxiety, +compassion, terror. The powerful Hastings, the ambitious lord, the +accomplished libertine--what a fate for poor Sibyll, if for such a man +the cheek blushed and the bosom heaved! + +"Well, Master Warner," resumed Hastings, "thou art still silent as to +thy progress." + +The philosopher uttered an impatient groan. "Ah, I comprehend. The +goldmaker must not speak of his craft before the goldsmith. Good +Alwyn, thou mayest retire. All arts have their mysteries." + +Alwyn, with a sombre brow, moved to the door. + +"In sooth," he said, "I have overtarried, good my lord. The Lady +Bonville will chide me; for she is of no patient temper." + +"Bridle thy tongue, artisan, and begone!" said Hastings, with unusual +haughtiness and petulance. + +"I stung him there," muttered Alwyn, as he withdrew. "Oh, fool that I +was to--nay, I thought it never, I did but dream it. What wonder we +traders hate these silken lords! They reap, we sow; they trifle, we +toil; they steal with soft words into the hearts which--Oh, Marmaduke, +thou art right-right!--Stout men sit not down to weep beneath the +willow. But she--the poor maiden--she looked so haughty and so happy. +This is early May; will she wear that look when the autumn leaves are +strewn?" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE WOODVILLE INTRIGUE PROSPERS.--MONTAGU CONFERS WITH HASTINGS, +VISITS THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK, AND IS MET ON THE ROAD BY A STRANGE +PERSONAGE. + +And now the one topic at the court of King Edward IV. was the expected +arrival of Anthony of Burgundy, Count de la Roche, bastard brother of +Charolois, afterwards, as Duke of Burgundy, so famous as Charles the +Bold. Few, indeed, out of the immediate circle of the Duchess of +Bedford's confidants regarded the visit of this illustrious foreigner +as connected with any object beyond the avowed one of chivalrous +encounter with Anthony Woodville, the fulfilment of a challenge given +by the latter two years before, at the time of the queen's coronation. +The origin of this challenge, Anthony Woodville Lord Scales has +himself explained in a letter to the bastard, still extant, and of +which an extract may be seen in the popular and delightful biographies +of Miss Strickland. [Queens of England, vol. iii. p. 380] It seems +that, on the Wednesday before Easter Day, 1465, as Sir Anthony was +speaking to his royal sister, "on his knees," all the ladies of the +court gathered round him, and bound to his left knee a band of gold +adorned with stones fashioned into the letters S. S. (souvenance or +remembrance), and to this band was suspended an enamelled "Forget-me- +not." "And one of the ladies said that 'he ought to take a step +fitting for the times.'" This step was denoted by a letter on vellum, +bound with a gold thread, placed in his cap; and having obtained the +king's permission to bring the adventure of the flower of souvenance +to a conclusion, the gallant Anthony forwarded the articles and the +enamelled flower to the Bastard of Burgundy, beseeching him to touch +the latter with his knightly hand, in token of his accepting the +challenge. The Count de la Roche did so, but was not sent by his +brother amongst the knights whom Charolois despatched to England, and +the combat had been suspended to the present time. + +But now the intriguing Rivers and his duchess gladly availed +themselves of so fair a pretext for introducing to Edward the able +brother of Warwick's enemy and the French prince's rival, Charles of +Burgundy; and Anthony Woodville, too gentle and knightly a person to +have abetted their cunning projects in any mode less chivalrous, +willingly consented to revive a challenge in honour of the ladies of +England. + +The only one amongst the courtiers who seemed dissatisfied with the +meditated visit of the doughty Burgundian champion was the Lord +Montagu. This penetrating and experienced personage was not to be +duped by an affectation of that chivalry which, however natural at the +court of Edward III., was no longer in unison with the more intriguing +and ambitious times over which presided the luxurious husband of +Elizabeth Woodville. He had noticed of late, with suspicion, that +Edward had held several councils with the anti-Nevile faction, from +which he himself was excluded. The king, who heretofore had delighted +in his companionship, had shown him marks of coldness and +estrangement; and there was an exulting malice in the looks of the +Duchess of Bedford, which augured some approaching triumph over the +great family which the Woodvilles so openly laboured to supplant. One +day, as Marmaduke was loitering in the courtyard of the Tower, +laughing and jesting with his friends, Lord Montagu, issuing from the +king's closet, passed him with a hurried step and a thoughtful brow. +This haughty brother of the Earl of Warwick had so far attended to the +recommendation of the latter, that he had with some courtesy excused +himself to Marmaduke for his language in the archery-ground, and had +subsequently, when seeing him in attendance on the king, honoured him +with a stately nod, or a brief "Good morrow, young kinsman." But as +his eye now rested on Marmaduke, while the group vailed their bonnets +to the powerful courtier, he called him forth, with a familiar smile +he had never before assumed, and drawing him apart, and leaning on his +shoulder, much to the envy of the standers by, he said caressingly,-- + +"Dear kinsman Guy--" + +"Marmaduke, please you, my lord." + +"Dear kinsman Marmaduke, my brother esteems you for your father's +sake. And, sooth to say, the Neviles are not so numerous in court as +they were. Business and state matters have made me see too seldom +those whom I would most affect. Wilt thou ride with me to the More +Park? I would present thee to my brother the archbishop." + +"If the king would graciously hold me excused." + +"The king, sir! when I--I forgot," said Montagu, checking himself-- +"oh, as to that, the king stirs not out to-day! He hath with him a +score of tailors and armourers in high council on the coming +festivities. I will warrant thy release; and here comes Hastings, who +shall confirm it." + +"Fair my lord!"--as at that moment Hastings emerged from the little +postern that gave egress from the apartments occupied by the alchemist +of the Duchess of Bedford--"wilt thou be pleased, in thy capacity of +chamberlain, to sanction my cousin in a day's absence? I would confer +with him on family matters." + +"Certes, a small favour to so deserving a youth. I will see to his +deputy." + +"A word with you, Hastings," said Montagu, thoughtfully, and he drew +aside his fellow courtier: "what thinkest thou of this Burgundy +bastard's visit?" + +"That it has given a peacock's strut to the popinjay Anthony +Woodville." + +"Would that were all!" returned Montagu. "But the very moment that +Warwick is negotiating with Louis of France, this interchange of +courtesies with Louis's deadly foe, the Count of Charolois, is out of +season." + +"Nay, take it not so gravely,--a mere pastime." + +"Hastings, thou knowest better. But thou art no friend of my great +brother." + +"Small cause have I to be so," answered Hastings, with a quivering +lip. "To him and your father I owe as deep a curse as ever fell on +the heart of man. I have lived to be above even Lord Warwick's +insult. Yet young, I stand amongst the warriors and peers of England +with a crest as haught and a scutcheon as stainless as the best. I +have drunk deep of the world's pleasures. I command, as I list, the +world's gaudy pomps, and I tell thee, that all my success in life +countervails not the agony of the hour when all the bloom and +loveliness of the earth faded into winter, and the only woman I ever +loved was sacrificed to her brother's pride." + +The large drops stood on the pale brow of the fortunate noble as he +thus spoke, and his hollow voice affected even the worldly Montagu. + +"Tush, Hastings!" said Montagu, kindly; "these are but a young man's +idle memories. Are we not all fated, in our early years, to love in +vain?--even I married not the maiden I thought the fairest, and held +the dearest. For the rest, bethink thee,--thou wert then but a simple +squire." + +"But of as ancient and pure a blood as ever rolled its fiery essence +through a Norman's veins." + +"It may be so; but old Houses, when impoverished, are cheaply held. +And thou must confess thou wert then no mate for Katherine. Now, +indeed, it were different; now a Nevile might be proud to call +Hastings brother." + +"I know it," said Hastings, proudly,--"I know it, lord; and why? +Because I have gold, and land, and the king's love, and can say, as +the Centurion, to my fellow-man, 'Do this, and he doeth it;' and yet I +tell thee, Lord Montagu, that I am less worthy now the love of beauty, +the right hand of fellowship from a noble spirit, than I was then, +when--the simple squire--my heart full of truth and loyalty, with lips +that had never lied, with a soul never polluted by unworthy pleasures +or mean intrigues, I felt that Katherine Nevile should never blush to +own her fere and plighted lord in William de Hastings. Let this pass, +let it pass! You call me no friend to Warwick. True! but I am a +friend to the king he has served, and the land of my birth to which he +has given peace; and therefore, not till Warwick desert Edward, not +till he wake the land again to broil and strife, will I mingle in the +plots of those who seek his downfall. If in my office and stated rank +I am compelled to countenance the pageant of this mock tournament, and +seem to honour the coming of the Count de la Roche, I will at least +stand aloof and free from all attempt to apply a gaudy pageant to a +dangerous policy; and on this pledge, Montagu, I give you my knightly +hand." + +"It suffices," answered Montagu, pressing the hand extended to him. +"But the other day I heard the king's dissour tell him a tale of some +tyrant, who silently showed a curious questioner how to govern a land, +by cutting down, with his staff, the heads of the tallest poppies; and +the Duchess of Bedford turned to me, and asked, 'What says a Nevile to +the application?' 'Faith, lady,' said I, 'the Nevile poppies have oak +stems.' Believe me, Hastings, these Woodvilles may grieve and wrong +and affront Lord Warwick, but woe to all the pigmy goaders when the +lion turns at bay!" + +With this solemn menace, Montagu quitted Hastings, and passed on, +leaning upon Marmaduke, and with a gloomy brow. + +At the gate of the palace waited the Lord Montagu's palfrey and his +retinue of twenty squires and thirty grooms. "Mount, Master +Marmaduke, and take thy choice among these steeds, for we shall ride +alone. There is no Nevile amongst these gentlemen." Marmaduke +obeyed. The earl dismissed his retinue, and in little more than ten +minutes,--so different, then, was the extent of the metropolis,--the +noble and the squire were amidst the open fields. + +They had gone several miles at a brisk trot before the earl opened his +lips, and then, slackening his pace, he said abruptly, "How dost thou +like the king? Speak out, youth; there are no eavesdroppers here." + +"He is a most gracious master and a most winning gentleman." + +"He is both," said Montagu, with a touch of emotion that surprised +Marmaduke; "and no man can come near without loving him. And yet, +Marmaduke (is that thy name?)--yet whether it be weakness or +falseness, no man can be sure of his king's favour from day to day. +We Neviles must hold fast to each other. Not a stick should be lost +if the fagot is to remain unbroken. What say you?" and the earl's +keen eye turned sharply on the young man. + +"I say, my lord, that the Earl of Warwick was to me patron, lord, and +father, when I entered yon city a friendless orphan; and that, though +I covet honours, and love pleasure, and would be loth to lift finger +or speak word against King Edward, yet were that princely lord--the +head of mine House--an outcast and a beggar, by his side I would +wander, for his bread I would beg." + +"Young man," exclaimed Montagu, "from this hour I admit thee to my +heart! Give me thy hand. Beggar and outcast?--No! If the storm +come, the meaner birds take to shelter, the eagle remains solitary in +heaven!" So saying, he relapsed into silence, and put spurs to his +steed. Towards the decline of day they drew near to the favourite +palace of the Archbishop of York. There the features of the country +presented a more cultivated aspect than it had hitherto worn. For at +that period the lands of the churchmen were infinitely in advance of +those of the laity in the elementary arts of husbandry, partly because +the ecclesiastic proprietors had greater capital at their command, +partly because their superior learning had taught them to avail +themselves, in some measure, of the instructions of the Latin writers. +Still the prevailing characteristic of the scenery was pasture land,-- +immense tracts of common supported flocks of sheep; the fragrance of +new-mown hay breathed sweet from many a sunny field. In the rear +stretched woods of Druid growth; and in the narrow lanes, that led to +unfrequent farms and homesteads, built almost entirely either of wood +or (more primitive still) of mud and clay, profuse weeds, brambles, +and wild-flowers almost concealed the narrow pathway, never intended +for cart or wagon, and arrested the slow path of the ragged horse +bearing the scanty produce of acres to yard or mill. But though to +the eye of an economist or philanthropist broad England now, with its +variegated agriculture, its wide roads, its white-walled villas, and +numerous towns, may present a more smiling countenance, to the early +lover of Nature, fresh from the child-like age of poetry and romance, +the rich and lovely verdure which gave to our mother-country the name +of "Green England;" its wild woods and covert alleys, proffering +adventure to fancy; its tranquil heaths, studded with peaceful flocks, +and vocal, from time to time, with the rude scrannel of the shepherd, +--had a charm which we can understand alone by the luxurious reading of +our elder writers. For the country itself ministered to that mingled +fancy and contemplation which the stirring and ambitious life of towns +and civilization has in much banished from our later literature. + +Even the thoughtful Montagu relaxed his brow as he gazed around, and +he said to Marmaduke, in a gentle and subdued voice,-- + +"Methinks, young cousin, that in such scenes, those silly rhymes +taught us in our childhood of the green woods and the summer cuckoos, +of bold Robin and Maid Marian, ring back in our ears. Alas that this +fair land should be so often dyed in the blood of her own children! +Here, how the thought shrinks from broils and war,--civil war, war +between brother and brother, son and father! In the city and the +court, we forget others overmuch, from the too keen memory of +ourselves." + +Scarcely had Montagu said these words, before there suddenly emerged +from a bosky lane to the right a man mounted upon a powerful roan +horse. His dress was that of a substantial franklin; a green surtout +of broadcloth, over a tight vest of the same colour, left, to the +admiration of a soldierly eye, an expanse of chest that might have +vied with the mighty strength of Warwick himself. A cap, somewhat +like a turban, fell in two ends over the left cheek, till they touched +the shoulder, and the upper part of the visage was concealed by a +half-vizard, not unfrequently worn out of doors with such head-gear, +as a shade from the sun. Behind this person rode, on a horse equally +powerful, a man of shorter stature, but scarcely less muscular a +frame, clad in a leathern jerkin, curiously fastened with thongs, and +wearing a steel bonnet, projecting far over the face. + +The foremost of these strangers, coming thus unawares upon the +courtiers, reined in his steed, and said in a clear, full voice, "Good +evening to you, my masters. It is not often that these roads witness +riders in silk and pile." + +"Friend," quoth the Montagu, "may the peace we enjoy under the White +Rose increase the number of all travellers through our land, whether +in pile or russet!" + +"Peace, sir!" returned the horseman, roughly,--"peace is no blessing +to poor men, unless it bring something more than life,--the means to +live in security and ease. Peace hath done nothing for the poor of +England. Why, look you towards yon gray tower,--the owner is, +forsooth, gentleman and knight; but yesterday he and his men broke +open a yeoman's house, carried off his wife and daughters to his +tower, and refuseth to surrender them till ransomed by half the year's +produce on the yeoman's farm." + +"A caitiff and illegal act," said Montagu. + +"Illegal! But the law will notice it not,--why should it? Unjust, if +it punish the knight and dare not touch the king's brother!" + +"How, sir?" + +"I say the king's brother! Scarcely a month since, twenty-four +persons under George Duke of Clarence entered by force a lady's house, +and seized her jewels and her money, upon some charge, God wot, of +contriving mischief to the boy-duke. [See for this and other +instances of the prevalent contempt of law in the reign of Edward IV., +and, indeed, during the fifteenth century, the extracts from the +Parliamentary Rolls, quoted by Sharon Turner, "History of England," +vol. iii. p. 399.] Are not the Commons ground by imposts for the +queen's kindred? Are not the king's officers and purveyors licensed +spoilers and rapiners? Are not the old chivalry banished for new +upstarts? And in all this, is peace better than war?" + +"Knowest thou not that these words are death, man?" + +"Ay, in the city! but in the fields and waste thought is free. Frown +not, my lord. Ah, I know you, and the time may come when the baron +will act what the franklin speaks. What! think you I see not the +signs of the storm? Are Warwick and Montagu more safe with Edward +than they were with Henry? Look to thyself! Charolois will outwit +King Louis, and ere the year be out, the young Margaret of England +will be lady of your brave brother's sternest foe!" + +"And who art thou, knave?" cried Montagu, aghast, and laying his +gloved hand on the bold prophet's bridle. + +"One who has sworn the fall of the House of York, and may live to +fight, side by side, in that cause with Warwick; for Warwick, whatever +be his faults, has an English heart, and loves the Commons." + +Montagu, uttering an exclamation of astonishment, relaxed hold of the +franklin's bridle; and the latter waved his hand, and spurring his +steed across the wild chain of commons, disappeared with his follower. + +"A sturdy traitor!" muttered the earl, following him with his eye. +"One of the exiled Lancastrian lords, perchance. Strange how they +pierce into our secrets! Heardst thou that fellow, Marmaduke?" + +"Only in a few sentences, and those brought my hand to my dagger. But +as thou madest no sign, I thought his grace the king could not be much +injured by empty words." + +"True! and misfortune has ever a shrewish tongue." + +"An' it please you, my lord," quoth Marmaduke, "I have seen the man +before, and it seemeth to me that he holds much power over the rascal +rabble." And here Marmaduke narrated the attack upon Warner's house, +and how it was frustrated by the intercession of Robin of Redesdale. + +"Art thou sure it is the same man, for his face was masked?" + +"My lord, in the North, as thou knowest, we recognize men by their +forms, not faces,--as in truth we ought, seeing that it is the sinews +and bulk, not the lips and nose, that make a man a useful friend or +dangerous foe." + +Montagu smiled at this soldierly simplicity. "And heard you the name +the raptrils shouted?" + +"Robin, my lord. They cried out 'Robin,' as if it had been a 'Montagu +I or a 'Warwick.'" + +"Robin! ah, then I guess the man,--a most perilous and stanch +Lancastrian. He has more weight with the poor than had Cade the +rebel, and they say Margaret trusts him as much as she does an Exeter +or Somerset. I marvel that he should show himself so near the gates +of London. It must be looked to. But come, cousin. Our steeds are +breathed,--let us on!" + +On arriving at the More, its stately architecture, embellished by the +prelate with a facade of double arches, painted and blazoned somewhat +in the fashion of certain old Italian houses, much dazzled Marmaduke. +And the splendour of the archbishop's retinue--less martial indeed +than Warwick's--was yet more imposing to the common eye. Every office +that pomp could devise for a king's court was to be found in the +household of this magnificent prelate,--master of the horse and the +hounds, chamberlain, treasurer, pursuivant, herald, seneschal, captain +of the body-guard, etc.,--and all emulously sought for and proudly +held by gentlemen of the first blood and birth. His mansion was at +once a court for middle life, a school for youth, an asylum for age; +and thither, as to a Medici, fled the letters and the arts. + +Through corridor and hall, lined with pages and squires, passed +Montagu and Marmaduke, till they gained a quaint garden, the wonder +and envy of the time, planned by an Italian of Mantua, and perhaps the +stateliest one of the kind existent in England. Straight walks, +terraces, and fountains, clipped trees, green alleys, and smooth +bowling-greens abounded; but the flowers were few and common: and if +here and there a statue might be found, it possessed none of the art +so admirable in our earliest ecclesiastical architecture, but its +clumsy proportions were made more uncouth by a profusion of barbaric +painting and gilding. The fountains, however, were especially +curious, diversified, and elaborate: some shot up as pyramids, others +coiled in undulating streams, each jet chasing the other as serpents; +some, again, branched off in the form of trees, while mimic birds, +perched upon leaden boughs, poured water from their bills. Marmaduke, +much astonished and bewildered, muttered a paternoster in great haste; +and even the clerical rank of the prelate did not preserve him from +the suspicion of magical practices in the youth's mind. + +Remote from all his train, in a little arbour overgrown with the +honeysuckle and white rose, a small table before him bearing fruits, +confectionery, and spiced wines (for the prelate was a celebrated +epicure, though still in the glow of youth), they found George Nevile, +reading lazily a Latin manuscript. + +"Well, my dear lord and brother," said Montagu, laying his arm on the +prelate's shoulder, "first let me present to thy favour a gallant +youth, Marmaduke Nevile, worthy his name and thy love." + +"He is welcome, Montagu, to our poor house," said the archbishop, +rising, and complacently glancing at his palace, splendidly gleaming +through the trellis-work. 'Puer ingenui vultus.' Thou art acquainted, +doubtless, young sir, with the Humaner Letters?" + +"Well-a-day, my lord, my nurturing was somewhat neglected in the +province," said Marmaduke, disconcerted, and deeply blushing, "and +only of late have I deemed the languages fit study for those not +reared for our Mother Church." + +"Fie, sir, fie! Correct that error, I pray thee. Latin teaches the +courtier how to thrive, the soldier how to manoeuvre, the husbandman +how to sow; and if we churchmen are more cunning, as the profane call +us (and the prelate smiled) than ye of the laity, the Latin must +answer for the sins of our learning." + +With this, the archbishop passed his arm affectionately through his +brother's, and said, "Beshrew me, Montagu, thou lookest worn and +weary. Surely thou lackest food, and supper shall be hastened. Even +I, who have but slender appetite, grow hungered in these cool gloaming +hours." + +"Dismiss my comrade, George,--I would speak to thee," whispered +Montagu. + +"Thou knowest not Latin?" said the archbishop, turning with a +compassionate eye to Nevile, whose own eye was amorously fixed on the +delicate confectioneries,--"never too late to learn. Hold, here is a +grammar of the verbs, that, with mine own hand, I have drawn up for +youth. Study thine amo and thy moneo, while I confer on Church +matters with giddy Montagu. I shall expect, ere we sup, that thou +wilt have mastered the first tenses." + +"But--" + +"Oh, nay, nay; but me no buts. Thou art too tough, I fear me, for +flagellation, a wondrous improver of tender youth,"--and the prelate +forced his grammar into the reluctant hands of Marmaduke, and +sauntered down one of the solitary alleys with his brother. + +Long and earnest was their conference, and at one time keen were their +dispute's. + +The archbishop had very little of the energy of Montagu or the +impetuosity of Warwick, but he had far more of what we now call mind, +as distinct from talent, than either; that is, he had not their +capacities for action, but he had a judgment and sagacity that made +him considered a wise and sound adviser: this he owed principally to +the churchman's love of ease, and to his freedom from the wear and +tear of the passions which gnawed the great minister and the aspiring +courtier; his natural intellect was also fostered by much learning. +George Nevile had been reared, by an Italian ecclesiastic, in all the +subtle diplomacy of the Church; and his ambition, despising lay +objects (though he consented to hold the office of chancellor), was +concentrated in that kingdom over kings which had animated the august +dominators of religious Rome. Though, as we have said, still in that +age when the affections are usually vivid, [He was consecrated Bishop +of Exeter at the age of twenty; at twenty-six he became Archbishop of +York, and was under thirty at the time referred to in the text.] +George Nevile loved no human creature,--not even his brothers; not +even King Edward, who, with all his vices, possessed so eminently the +secret that wins men's hearts. His early and entire absorption in the +great religious community, which stood apart from the laymen in order +to control them, alienated him from his kind; and his superior +instruction only served to feed him with a calm and icy contempt for +all that prejudice, as he termed it, held dear and precious. He +despised the knight's wayward honour, the burgher's crafty honesty. +For him no such thing as principle existed; and conscience itself lay +dead in the folds of a fancied exemption from all responsibility to +the dull herd, that were but as wool and meat to the churchman +shepherd. But withal, if somewhat pedantic, he had in his manner a +suavity and elegance and polish which suited well his high station, +and gave persuasion to his counsels. In all externals he was as +little like a priest as the high-born prelates of that day usually +were. In dress he rivalled the fopperies of the Plantagenet brothers; +in the chase he was more ardent than Warwick had been in his earlier +youth; and a dry sarcastic humour, sometimes elevated into wit, gave +liveliness to his sagacious converse. + +Montagu desired that the archbishop and himself should demand solemn +audience of Edward, and gravely remonstrate with the king on the +impropriety of receiving the brother of a rival suitor, while Warwick +was negotiating the marriage of Margaret with a prince of France. + +"Nay," said the archbishop, with a bland smile, that fretted Montagu +to the quick, "surely even a baron, a knight, a franklin, a poor +priest like myself, would rise against the man who dictated to his +hospitality. Is a king less irritable than baron, knight, franklin, +and priest,--or rather, being, as it were, per legem, lord of all, +hath he not irritability eno' for all four? Ay, tut and tush as thou +wilt, John, but thy sense must do justice to my counsel at the last. I +know Edward well; he hath something of mine own idlesse and ease of +temper, but with more of the dozing lion than priests, who have only, +look you, the mildness of the dove. Prick up his higher spirit, not +by sharp remonstrance, but by seeming trust. Observe to him, with thy +gay, careless laugh--which, methinks, thou hast somewhat lost of late +--that with any other prince Warwick might suspect some snare, some +humiliating overthrow of his embassage, but that all men know how +steadfast in faith and honour is Edward IV." + +"Truly," said Montagu, with a forced smile, "you understand mankind; +but yet, bethink you--suppose this fail, and Warwick return to England +to hear that he hath been cajoled and fooled; that the Margaret he had +crossed the seas to affiance to the brother of Louis is betrothed to +Charolois--bethink you, I say, what manner of heart beats under our +brother's mail." + +"Impiger, iracundus!" said the archbishop; "a very Achilles, to whom +our English Agamemnon, if he cross him, is a baby. All this is sad +truth; our parents spoilt him in his childhood, and glory in his +youth, and wealth, power, success, in his manhood. Ay! if Warwick be +chafed, it will be as the stir of the sea-serpent, which, according to +the Icelanders, moves a world. Still, the best way to prevent the +danger is to enlist the honour of the king in his behalf,--to show +that our eyes are open, but that we disdain to doubt, and are frank to +confide. Meanwhile send messages and warnings privately to Warwick." + +These reasonings finally prevailed with Montagu, and the brothers +returned with one mind to the house. Here, as after their ablutions +they sat down to the evening meal, the archbishop remembered poor +Marmaduke, and despatched to him one of his thirty household +chaplains. Marmaduke was found fast asleep over the second tense of +the verb amo. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ARRIVAL OF THE COUNT DE LA ROCHE, AND THE VARIOUS EXCITEMENT +PRODUCED ON MANY PERSONAGES BY THAT EVENT. + +The prudence of the archbishop's counsel was so far made manifest, +that on the next day Montagu found all remonstrance would have been +too late. The Count de la Roche had already landed, and was on his +way to London. The citizens, led by Rivers partially to suspect the +object of the visit, were delighted not only by the prospect of a +brilliant pageant, but by the promise such a visit conveyed of a +continued peace with their commercial ally; and the preparations made +by the wealthy merchants increased the bitterness and discontent of +Montagu. At length, at the head of a gallant and princely retinue, +the Count de la Roche entered London. Though Hastings made no secret +of his distaste to the Count de la Roche's visit, it became his office +as lord chamberlain to meet the count at Blackwall, and escort him and +his train, in gilded barges, to the palace. + +In the great hall of the Tower, in which the story of Antiochus was +painted by the great artists employed under Henry III., and on the +elevation of the dais, behind which, across Gothic columns, stretched +draperies of cloth-of-gold, was placed Edward's chair of state. +Around him were grouped the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, the +Lords Worcester, Montagu, Rivers, D'Eyncourt, St. John, Raoul de +Fulke, and others. But at the threshold of the chamber stood Anthony +Woodville, the knightly challenger, his knee bound by the ladye-badge +of the S. S., and his fine person clad in white-flowered velvet of +Genoa, adorned with pearls. Stepping forward, as the count appeared, +the gallant Englishman bent his knee half-way to the ground, and +raising the count's hand to his lips, said in French, "Deign, noble +sir, to accept the gratitude of one who were not worthy of encounter +from so peerless a hand, save by the favour of the ladies of England, +and your own courtesy, which ennobles him whom it stoops to." So +saying, he led the count towards the king. + +De la Roche, an experienced and profound courtier, and justly +deserving Hall's praise as a man of "great witte, courage, +valiantness, and liberalitie," did not affect to conceal the +admiration which the remarkable presence of Edward never failed to +excite; lifting his hand to his eyes, as if to shade them from a +sudden blaze of light, he would have fallen on both knees, but Edward +with quick condescension raised him, and, rising himself, said gayly,-- + +"Nay, Count de la Roche, brave and puissant chevalier, who hath +crossed the seas in honour of knighthood and the ladies, we would, +indeed, that our roiaulme boasted a lord like thee, from whom we might +ask such homage. But since thou art not our subject, it consoles us +at least that thou art our guest. By our halidame, Lord Scales, thou +must look well to thy lance and thy steed's girths, for never, I trow, +hast thou met a champion of goodlier strength and knightlier mettle." + +"My lord king," answered the count, "I fear me, indeed, that a knight +like the Sieur Anthony, who fights under the eyes of such a king, will +prove invincible. Did kings enter the lists with kings, where, +through broad Christendom, find a compeer for your Highness?" + +"Your brother, Sir Count, if fame lies not," returned Edward, slightly +laughing, and lightly touching the Bastard's shoulder, "were a fearful +lance to encounter, even though Charlemagne himself were to revive +with his twelve paladins at his back. Tell us, Sir Count," added the +king, drawing himself up,--"tell us, for we soldiers are curious in +such matters, hath not the Count of Charolois the advantage of all +here in sinews and stature?" + +"Sire," returned De la Roche, "my princely brother is indeed mighty +with the brand and battle-axe, but your Grace is taller by half the +head,--and, peradventure, of even a more stalwart build; but that mere +strength in your Highness is not that gift of God which strikes the +beholder most." + +Edward smiled good-humouredly at a compliment the truth of which was +too obvious to move much vanity, and said with a royal and knightly +grace, "Our House of York hath been taught, Sir Count, to estimate +men's beauty by men's deeds, and therefore the Count of Charolois hath +long been known to us--who, alas, have seen him not!--as the fairest +gentleman of Europe. My Lord Scales, we must here publicly crave your +pardon. Our brother-in-law, Sir Count, would fain have claimed his +right to hold you his guest, and have graced himself by exclusive +service to your person. We have taken from him his lawful office, for +we kings are jealous, and would not have our subjects more honoured +than ourselves." Edward turned round to his courtiers as he spoke, +and saw that his last words had called a haughty and angry look to the +watchful countenance of Montagu. "Lord Hastings," he continued, "to +your keeping, as our representative, we intrust this gentleman. He +must need refreshment ere we present him to our queen." + +The count bowed to the ground, and reverently withdrew from the royal +presence, accompanied by Hastings. Edward then, singling Anthony +Woodville and Lord Rivers from the group, broke up the audience, and, +followed by those two noblemen, quitted the hall. + +Montagu, whose countenance had recovered the dignified and high-born +calm habitual to it, turned to the Duke of Clarence, and observed +indifferently, "The Count de la Roche hath a goodly mien, and a fair +tongue." + +"Pest on these Burgundians!" answered Clarence, in an undertone, and +drawing Montagu aside. "I would wager my best greyhound to a +scullion's cur that our English knights will lower their burgonets." + +"Nay, sir, an idle holiday show. What matters whose lance breaks, or +whose destrier stumbles?" + +"Will you not, yourself, cousin Montagu--you who are so peerless in +the joust--take part in the fray?" + +"I, your Highness,--I, the brother of the Earl of Warwick, whom this +pageant hath been devised by the Woodvilles to mortify and disparage +in his solemn embassy to Burgundy's mightiest foe!--I!" + +"Sooth to say," said the young prince, much embarrassed, "it grieves +me sorely to hear thee speak as if Warwick would be angered at this +pastime. For, look you, Montagu, I, thinking only of my hate to +Burgundy and my zeal for our English honour, have consented, as high +constable, and despite my grudge to the Woodvilles, to bear the +bassinet of our own champion, and--" + +"Saints in heaven!" exclaimed Montagu, with a burst of his fierce +brother's temper, which he immediately checked, and changed into a +tone that concealed, beneath outward respect, the keenest irony, "I +crave your pardon humbly for my vehemence, Prince of Clarence. I +suddenly remember me that humility is the proper virtue of knighthood. +Your Grace does indeed set a notable example of that virtue to the +peers of England; and my poor brother's infirmity of pride will stand +rebuked for aye, when he hears that George Plantagenet bore the +bassinet of Anthony Woodville." + +"But it is for the honour of the ladies," said Clarence, falteringly; +"in honour of the fairest maid of all--the flower of English beauty-- +the Lady Isabel--that I--" + +"Your Highness will pardon me," interrupted Montagu; "but I do trust +to your esteem for our poor and insulted House of Nevile so far as to +be assured that the name of my niece Isabel will not be submitted to +the ribald comments of a base-born Burgundian." + +"Then I will break no lance in the lists!" + +"As it likes you, prince," replied Montagu, shortly; and, with a low +bow, he quitted the chamber, and was striding to the outer gate of the +Tower, when a sweet, clear voice behind him called him by his name. +He turned abruptly, to meet the dark eye and all-subduing smile of the +boy-Duke of Gloucester. + +"A word with you, Montagu, noblest and most prized, with your princely +brothers, of the champions of our House,--I read your generous +indignation with our poor Clarence. Ay, sir! ay!--it was a weakness +in him that moved even me. But you have not now to learn that his +nature, how excellent soever, is somewhat unsteady. His judgment +alone lacks weight and substance,--ever persuaded against his better +reason by those who approach his infirmer side; but if it be true that +our cousin Warwick intends for him the hand of the peerless Isabel, +wiser heads will guide his course." + +"My brother," said Montagu, greatly softened, "is much beholden to +your Highness for a steady countenance and friendship, for which I +also, believe me--and the families of Beauchamp, Montagu, and Nevile-- +are duly grateful. But to speak plainly (which your Grace's youthful +candour, so all-acknowledged, will permit), the kinsmen of the queen +do now so aspire to rule this land, to marry or forbid to marry, not +only our own children, but your illustrious father's, that I foresee +in this visit of the bastard Anthony the most signal disgrace to +Warwick that ever king passed upon ambassador or gentleman. And this +moves me more!--yea, I vow to Saint George, my patron, it moves me +more--by the thought of danger to your royal House than by the grief +of slight to mine; for Warwick--but you know him." + +"Montagu, you must soothe and calm your brother if chafed. I impose +that task on your love for us. Alack, would that Edward listened more +to me and less to the queen's kith! These Woodvilles!--and yet they +may live to move not wrath but pity. If aught snapped the thread of +Edward's life (Holy Paul forbid!), what would chance to Elizabeth, her +brothers, her children?" + +"Her children would mount the throne that our right hands built," said +Montagu, sullenly. + +"Ah, think you so?--you rejoice me! I had feared that the barons +might, that the commons would, that the Church must, pronounce the +unhappy truth, that--but you look amazed, my lord! Alas, my boyish +years are too garrulous!" + +"I catch not your Highness's meaning." + +"Pooh, pooh! By Saint Paul, your seeming dulness proves your loyalty; +but with me, the king's brother, frankness were safe. Thou knowest +well that the king was betrothed before to the Lady Eleanor Talbot; +that such betrothal, not set aside by the Pope, renders his marriage +with Elizabeth against law; that his children may (would to Heaven it +were not so!) be set aside as bastards, when Edward's life no longer +shields them from the sharp eyes of men." + +"Ah," said Montagu, thoughtfully; "and in that case, George of +Clarence would wear the crown, and his children reign in England." + +"Our Lord forefend," said Richard, "that I should say that Warwick +thought of this when he deemed George worthy of the hand of Isabel. +Nay, it could not be so; for, however clear the claim, strong and +powerful would be those who would resist it, and Clarence is not, as +you will see, the man who can wrestle boldly,--even for a throne. +Moreover, he is too addicted to wine and pleasure to bid fair to +outlive the king." + +Montagu fixed his penetrating eyes on Richard, but dropped them, +abashed, before that steady, deep, unrevealing gaze, which seemed to +pierce into other hearts, and show nothing of the heart within. + +"Happy Clarence!" resumed the prince, with a heavy sigh, and after a +brief pause,--"a Nevile's husband and a Warwick's son--what can the +saints do more for men? You must excuse his errors--all our errors-- +to your brother. You may not know, peradventure, sweet Montagu, how +deep an interest I have in maintaining all amity between Lord Warwick +and the king. For methinks there is one face fairer than fair +Isabel's, and one man more to be envied than even Clarence. Fairest +face to me in the wide world is the Lady Anne's! happiest man between +the cradle and the grave is he whom the Lady Anne shall call her lord! +and if I--oh, look you, Montagu, let there be no breach between +Warwick and the king! Fare you well, dear lord and cousin,--I go to +Baynard's Castle till these feasts are over." + +"Does not your Grace," said Montagu, recovering from the surprise into +which one part of Gloucester's address had thrown him--"does not your +Grace--so skilled in lance and horsemanship--preside at the lists?" + +"Montagu, I love your brother well enough to displease my king. The +great earl shall not say, at least, that Richard Plantagenet in his +absence forgot the reverence due to loyalty and merit. Tell him that; +and if I seem (unlike Clarence) to forbear to confront the queen and +her kindred, it is because you should make no enemies,--not the less +for that should princes forget no friends." + +Richard said this with a tone of deep feeling, and, folding his arms +within his furred surcoat, walked slowly on to a small postern +admitting to the river; but there, pausing by a buttress which +concealed him till Montagu had left the yard, instead of descending to +his barge, he turned back into the royal garden. Here several of the +court of both sexes were assembled, conferring on the event of the +day. Richard halted at a distance, and contemplated their gay dresses +and animated countenances with something between melancholy and scorn +upon his young brow. One of the most remarkable social +characteristics of the middle ages is the prematurity at which the +great arrived at manhood, shared in its passions, and indulged its +ambitions. Among the numerous instances in our own and other +countries that might be selected from history, few are more striking +than that of this Duke of Gloucester, great in camp and in council at +an age when nowadays a youth is scarcely trusted to the discipline of +a college. The whole of his portentous career was closed, indeed, +before the public life of modern ambition usually commences. Little +could those accustomed to see on our stage "the elderly ruffian" +[Sharon Turner] our actors represent, imagine that at the opening of +Shakspeare's play of "Richard the Third" the hero was but in his +nineteenth year; but at the still more juvenile age in which he +appears in this our record, Richard of Gloucester was older in +intellect, and almost in experience, than many a wise man at the date +of thirty-three,--the fatal age when his sun set forever on the field +of Bosworth! + +The young prince, then, eyed the gaudy, fluttering, babbling +assemblage before him with mingled melancholy and scorn. Not that he +felt, with the acuteness which belongs to modern sentiment, his bodily +defects amidst that circle of the stately and the fair, for they were +not of a nature to weaken his arm in war or lessen his persuasive +influences in peace. But it was rather that sadness which so often +comes over an active and ambitious intellect in early youth, when it +pauses to ask, in sorrow and disdain, what its plots and counterplots, +its restlessness and strife, are really worth. The scene before him +was of pleasure,--but in pleasure neither the youth nor the manhood of +Richard III. was ever pleased; though not absolutely of the rigid +austerity of Amadis or our Saxon Edward, he was comparatively free +from the licentiousness of his times. His passions were too large for +frivolous excitements. Already the Italian, or, as it is falsely +called, the Machiavelian policy, was pervading the intellect of +Europe, and the effects of its ruthless, grand, and deliberate +statecraft are visible from the accession of Edward IV. till the close +of Elizabeth's reign. With this policy, which reconciled itself to +crime as a necessity of wisdom, was often blended a refinement of +character which disdained vulgar vices. Not skilled alone in those +knightly accomplishments which induced Caxton, with propriety, to +dedicate to Richard "The Book of the Order of Chivalry," the Duke of +Gloucester's more peaceful amusements were borrowed from severer +Graces than those which presided over the tastes of his royal +brothers. He loved, even to passion, the Arts, Music,--especially of +the more Doric and warlike kind,--Painting and Architecture; he was a +reader of books, as of men,--the books that become princes,--and hence +that superior knowledge of the principles of law and of commerce which +his brief reign evinced. More like an Italian in all things than the +careless Norman or the simple Saxon, Machiavel might have made of his +character a companion, though a contrast to that of Castruccio +Castrucani. + +The crowd murmured and rustled at the distance, and still with folded +arms Richard gazed aloof, when a lady, entering the garden from the +palace, passed by him so hastily that she brushed his surcoat, and, +turning round in surprise, made a low reverence, as she exclaimed, +"Prince Richard! and alone amidst so many!" + +"Lady," said the duke, "it was a sudden hope that brought me into this +garden,--and that was the hope to see your fair face shining above the +rest." + +"Your Highness jests," returned the lady, though her superb +countenance and haughty carriage evinced no opinion of herself so +humble as her words would imply. + +"My Lady of Bonville," said the young duke, laying his hand on her +arm, "mirth is not in my thoughts at this hour." + +"I believe your Highness; for the Lord Richard Plantagenet is not one +of the Woodvilles. The mirth is theirs to-day." + +"Let who will have mirth,--it is the breath of a moment. Mirth cannot +tarnish glory,--the mirror in which the gods are glassed." + +"I understand you, my lord," said the proud lady; and her face, before +stern and high, brightened into so lovely a change, so soft and +winning a smile, that Gloucester no longer marvelled that that smile +had rained so large an influence on the fate and heart of his +favourite Hastings. The beauty of this noble woman was indeed +remarkable in its degree, and peculiar in its character. She bore a +stronger likeness in feature to the archbishop than to either of her +other brothers; for the prelate had the straight and smooth outline of +the Greeks,--not like Montagu and Warwick, the lordlier and manlier +aquiline of the Norman race,--and his complexion was feminine in its +pale clearness. But though in this resembling the subtlest of the +brethren, the fair sister shared with Warwick an expression, if +haughty, singularly frank and candid in its imperious majesty; she had +the same splendid and steady brilliancy of eye, the same quick quiver +of the lip, speaking of nervous susceptibility and haste of mood. The +hateful fashion of that day which pervaded all ranks, from the highest +to the lowest, was the prodigal use of paints and cosmetics, and all +imaginable artificial adjuncts of a spurious beauty. This extended +often even to the men, and the sturdiest warrior deemed it no shame to +recur to such arts of the toilet as the vainest wanton in our day +would never venture to acknowledge. But the Lady Bonville, proudly +confident of her beauty, and possessing a purity of mind that revolted +from the littleness of courting admiration, contrasted forcibly in +this the ladies of the court. Her cheek was of a marble whiteness, +though occasionally a rising flush through the clear, rich, +transparent skin showed that in earlier youth the virgin bloom had not +been absent from the surface. There was in her features, when they +reposed, somewhat of the trace of suffering,--of a struggle, past it +may be, but still remembered. But when she spoke, those features +lighted up and undulated in such various and kindling life as to +dazzle, to bewitch, or to awe the beholder, according as the impulse +moulded the expression. Her dress suited her lofty and spotless +character. Henry VI. might have contemplated with holy pleasure its +matronly decorum; the jewelled gorget ascended to the rounded and +dimpled chin; the arms were bare only at the wrists, where the blue +veins were seen through a skin of snow; the dark glossy locks, which +her tirewoman boasted, when released, swept the ground, were gathered +into a modest and simple braid, surmounted by the beseeming coronet +that proclaimed her rank. The Lady Bonville might have stood by the +side of Cornelia, the model of a young and high-born matron, in whose +virtue the honour of man might securely dwell. + +"I understand you, my lord," she said, with her bright, thankful +smile; "and as Lord Warwick's sister, I am grateful." + +"Your love for the great earl proves you are noble enough to forgive," +said Richard, meaningly. "Nay, chide me not with that lofty look; you +know that there are no secrets between Hastings and Gloucester." + +"My lord duke, the head of a noble House hath the right to dispose of +the hands of the daughters; I know nothing in Lord Warwick to +forgive." + +But she turned her head as she spoke, and a tear for a moment trembled +in that haughty eye. + +"Lady," said Richard, moved to admiration, "to you let me confide my +secret. I would be your nephew. Boy though I be in years, my heart +beats as loudly as a man's; and that heart beats for Anne." + +"The love of Richard Plantagenet honours even Warwick's daughter!" + +"Think you so? Then stand my friend; and, being thus my friend, +intercede with Warwick, if he angers at the silly holiday of this +Woodville pageant." + +"Alas, sir! you know that Warwick listens to no interceders between +himself and his passions. But what then? Grant him wronged, +aggrieved, trifled with,--what then? Can he injure the House of +York?" + +Richard looked in some surprise at the fair speaker. + +"Can he injure the House of York?--Marry, yes," he replied bluntly. + +"But for what end? Whom else should he put upon the throne?" + +"What if he forgive the Lancastrians? What if--" + +"Utter not the thought, prince, breathe it not," exclaimed the Lady +Bonville, almost fiercely. "I love and honour my brave brother, +despite--despite--" She paused a moment, blushed, and proceeded +rapidly, without concluding the sentence. "I love him as a woman of +his House must love the hero who forms its proudest boast. But if, for +any personal grudge, any low ambition, any rash humour, the son of my +father Salisbury could forget that Margaret of Anjou placed the gory +head of that old man upon the gates of York, could by word or deed +abet the cause of usurping and bloody Lancaster,--I would--I would-- +Out upon my sex! I could do nought but weep the glory of Nevile and +Monthermer gone forever." + +Before Richard could reply, the sound of musical instruments, and a +procession of heralds and pages proceeding from the palace, announced +the approach of Edward. He caught the hand of the dame of Bonville, +lifted it to his lips, and saying, "May fortune one day permit me to +face as the earl's son the earl's foes," made his graceful reverence, +glided from the garden, gained his barge, and was rowed to the huge +pile of Baynard's Castle, lately reconstructed, but in a gloomy and +barbaric taste, and in which, at that time, he principally resided +with his mother, the once peerless Rose of Raby. + +The Lady of Bonville paused a moment, and in that pause her +countenance recovered its composure. She then passed on, with a +stately step, towards a group of the ladies of the court, and her eye +noted with proud pleasure that the highest names of the English +knighthood and nobility, comprising the numerous connections of her +family, formed a sullen circle apart from the rest, betokening, by +their grave countenances and moody whispers, how sensitively they felt +the slight to Lord Warwick's embassy in the visit of the Count de la +Roche, and how little they were disposed to cringe to the rising sun +of the Woodvilles. There, collected into a puissance whose discontent +hard sufficed to shake a firmer throne (the young Raoul de Fulke, the +idolater of Warwick, the impersonation in himself of the old Norman +seignorie, in their centre), with folded arms and lowering brows, +stood the earl's kinsmen, the Lords Fitzhugh and Fauconberg: with +them, Thomas Lord Stanley, a prudent noble, who rarely sided with a +malcontent, and the Lord St. John, and the heir of the ancient +Bergavennies, and many another chief, under whose banner marched an +army. Richard of Gloucester had shown his wit in refusing to mingle +in intrigues which provoked the ire of that martial phalanx. As the +Lady of Bonville swept by these gentlemen, their murmur of respectful +homage, their profound salutation, and unbonneted heads, contrasted +forcibly with the slight and grave, if not scornful, obeisance they +had just rendered to one of the queen's sisters, who had passed a +moment before in the same direction. The lady still moved on, and +came suddenly across the path of Hastings, as, in his robes of state, +he issued from the palace. Their eyes met, and both changed colour. + +"So, my lord chamberlain," said the dame, sarcastically, "the Count de +la Roche is, I hear, consigned to your especial charge." + +"A charge the chamberlain cannot refuse, and which William Hastings +does not covet." + +"A king had never asked Montagu and Warwick to consider amongst their +duties any charge they had deemed dishonouring." + +"Dishonouring, Lady Bonville!" exclaimed Hastings, with a bent brow +and a flushed cheek,--"neither Montagu nor Warwick had, with safety, +applied to me the word that has just passed your lips." + +"I crave your pardon," answered Katherine, bitterly. "Mine articles +of faith in men's honour are obsolete or heretical. I had deemed it +dishonouring in a noble nature to countenance insult to a noble enemy +in his absence. I had deemed it dishonouring in a brave soldier, a +well-born gentleman (now from his valiantness, merit, and wisdom +become a puissant and dreaded lord), to sink into that lackeydom and +varletaille which falsehood and cringing have stablished in these +walls, and baptized under the name of 'courtiers.' Better had +Katherine de Bonville esteemed Lord Hastings had he rather fallen +under a king's displeasure than debased his better self to a +Woodville's dastard schemings." + +"Lady, you are cruel and unjust, like all your haughty race; and idle +were reply to one who, of all persons, should have judged me better. +For the rest, if this mummery humbles Lord Warwick, gramercy! there is +nothing in my memory that should make my share in it a gall to my +conscience; nor do I owe the Neviles so large a gratitude, that rather +than fret the pile of their pride, I should throw down the scaffolding +on which my fearless step hath clomb to as fair a height, and one +perhaps that may overlook as long a posterity, as the best baron that +ever quartered the Raven Eagle and the Dun Bull. But," resumed +Hastings, with a withering sarcasm, "doubtless the Lady de Bonville +more admires the happy lord who holds himself, by right of pedigree, +superior to all things that make the statesman wise, the scholar +learned, and the soldier famous. Way there--back, gentles,"--and +Hastings turned to the crowd behind,--"way there, for my lord of +Harrington and Bonville!" + +The bystanders smiled at each other as they obeyed; and a heavy, +shambling, graceless man, dressed in the most exaggerated fopperies of +the day, but with a face which even sickliness, that refines most +faces, could not divest of the most vacant dulness, and a mien and +gait to which no attire could give dignity, passed through the group, +bowing awkwardly to the right and left, and saying, in a thick, husky +voice, "You are too good, sirs,--too good: I must not presume so +overmuch on my seignorie. The king would keep me,--he would indeed, +sirs; um--um--why, Katherine--dame--thy stiff gorget makes me ashamed +of thee. Thou wouldst not think, Lord Hastings, that Katherine had a +white skin,--a parlous white skin. La, you now, fie on these +mufflers!" The courtiers sneered; Hastings, with a look of malignant +and pitiless triumph, eyed the Lady of Bonville. For a moment the +colour went and came across her transparent cheek; but the confusion +passed, and returning the insulting gaze of her ancient lover with an +eye of unspeakable majesty, she placed her arm upon her lord's, and +saying calmly, "An English matron cares but to be fair in her +husband's eyes," drew him away; and the words and the manner of the +lady were so dignified and simple, that the courtiers hushed their +laughter, and for the moment the lord of such a woman was not only +envied but respected. + +While this scene had passed, the procession preceding Edward had filed +into the garden in long and stately order. From another entrance +Elizabeth, the Princess Margaret, and the Duchess of Bedford, with +their trains, had already issued, and were now ranged upon a flight of +marble steps, backed by a columned alcove, hung with velvet striped +into the royal baudekin, while the stairs themselves were covered with +leathern carpets, powdered with the white rose and the fleur de lis; +either side lined by the bearers of the many banners of Edward, +displaying the white lion of March, the black bull of Clare, the cross +of Jerusalem, the dragon of Arragon, and the rising sun, which he had +assumed as his peculiar war-badge since the battle of Mortimer's +Cross. Again, and louder, came the flourish of music; and a murmur +through the crowd, succeeded by deep silence, announced the entrance +of the king. He appeared, leading by the hand the Count de la Roche, +and followed by the Lords Scales, Rivers, Dorset, and the Duke of +Clarence. All eyes were bent upon the count, and though seen to +disadvantage by the side of the comeliest and stateliest and most +gorgeously-attired prince in Christendom, his high forehead, bright +sagacious eye, and powerful frame did not disappoint the expectations +founded upon the fame of one equally subtle in council and redoubted +in war. + +The royal host and the princely guest made their way where Elizabeth, +blazing in jewels and cloth-of-gold, shone royally, begirt by the +ladies of her brilliant court. At her right hand stood her mother, at +her left, the Princess Margaret. + +"I present to you, my Elizabeth," said Edward, "a princely gentleman, +to whom we nevertheless wish all ill-fortune,--for we cannot desire +that he may subdue our knights, and we would fain hope that he may be +conquered by our ladies." + +"The last hope is already fulfilled," said the count, gallantly, as on +his knee he kissed the fair hand extended to him. Then rising, and +gazing full and even boldly upon the young Princess Margaret, he +added, "I have seen too often the picture of the Lady Margaret not to +be aware that I stand in that illustrious presence." + +"Her picture! Sir Count," said the queen; "we knew not that it had +been ever limned." + +"Pardon me, it was done by stealth." + +"And where have you seen it?" + +"Worn at the heart of my brother the Count of Charolois!" answered De +la Roche, in a whispered tone. + +Margaret blushed with evident pride and delight; and the wily envoy, +leaving the impression his words had made to take their due effect, +addressed himself, with all the gay vivacity he possessed, to the fair +queen and her haughty mother. + +After a brief time spent in this complimentary converse, the count +then adjourned to inspect the menagerie, of which the king was very +proud. Edward, offering his hand to his queen, led the way, and the +Duchess of Bedford, directing the count to Margaret by a shrewd and +silent glance of her eye, so far smothered her dislike to Clarence as +to ask his highness to attend herself. + +"Ah, lady," whispered the count, as the procession moved along, "what +thrones would not Charolois resign for the hand that his unworthy +envoy is allowed to touch!" + +"Sir," said Margaret, demurely looking down, "the Count of Charolois +is a lord who, if report be true, makes war his only mistress." + +"Because the only loving mistress his great heart could serve is +denied to his love! Ah, poor lord and brother, what new reasons for +eternal war to Burgundy, when France, not only his foe, becomes his +rival!" + +Margaret sighed, and the count continued till by degrees he warmed the +royal maiden from her reserve; and his eye grew brighter, and a +triumphant smile played about his lips, when, after the visit to the +menagerie, the procession re-entered the palace, and the Lord Hastings +conducted the count to the bath prepared for him, previous to the +crowning banquet of the night. And far more luxurious and more +splendid than might be deemed by those who read but the general +histories of that sanguinary time, or the inventories of furniture in +the houses even of the great barons, was the accommodation which +Edward afforded to his guest. His apartments and chambers were hung +with white silk and linen, the floors covered with richly-woven +carpets; the counterpane of his bed was cloth-of-gold, trimmed with +ermine; the cupboard shone with vessels of silver and gold; and over +two baths were pitched tents of white cloth of Rennes fringed with +silver. [See Madden's Narrative of the Lord Grauthuse; Archaelogia, +1830.] + +Agreeably to the manners of the time, Lord Hastings assisted to +disrobe the count; and, the more to bear him company, afterwards +undressed himself and bathed in the one bath, while the count +refreshed his limbs in the other. + +"Pri'thee," said De la Roche, drawing aside the curtain of his tent, +and putting forth his head--"pri'thee, my Lord Hastings, deign to +instruct my ignorance of a court which I would fain know well, and let +me weet whether the splendour of your king, far exceeding what I was +taught to look for, is derived from his revenue as sovereign of +England, or chief of the House of York?" + +"Sir," returned Hastings, gravely, putting out his own head, "it is +Edward's happy fortune to be the wealthiest proprietor in England, +except the Earl of Warwick, and thus he is enabled to indulge a state +which yet oppresses not his people." + +"Except the Earl of Warwick!" repeated the count, musingly, as the +fumes of the odours with which the bath was filled rose in a cloud +over his long hair,--"ill would fare that subject, in most lands, who +was as wealthy as his king! You have heard that Warwick has met King +Louis at Rouen, and that they are inseparable?" + +"It becomes an ambassador to win grace of him he is sent to please." + +"But none win the grace of Louis whom Louis does not dupe." + +"You know not Lord Warwick, Sir Count. His mind is so strong and so +frank, that it is as hard to deceive him as it is for him to be +deceived." + +"Time will show," said the count, pettishly, and he withdrew his head +into the tent. + +And now there appeared the attendants, with hippocras, syrups, and +comfits, by way of giving appetite for the supper, so that no further +opportunity for private conversation was left to the two lords. While +the count was dressing, the Lord Scales entered with a superb gown, +clasped with jewels, and lined with minever, with which Edward had +commissioned him to present the Bastard. In this robe the Lord Scales +insisted upon enduing his antagonist with his own hands, and the three +knights then repaired to the banquet. At the king's table no male +personage out of the royal family sat, except Lord Rivers--as +Elizabeth's father--and the Count de la Roche, placed between Margaret +and the Duchess of Bedford. + +At another table, the great peers of the realm feasted under the +presidence of Anthony Woodville, while, entirely filling one side of +the hall, the ladies of the court held their "mess" (so-called) apart, +and "great and mighty was the eating thereof!" + +The banquet ended, the dance began. The admirable "featliness" of the +Count de la Roche, in the pavon, with the Lady Margaret, was rivalled +only by the more majestic grace of Edward and the dainty steps of +Anthony Woodville. But the lightest and happiest heart which beat in +that revel was one in which no scheme and no ambition but those of +love nursed the hope and dreamed the triumph. + +Stung by the coldness even more than by the disdain of the Lady +Bonville, and enraged to find that no taunt of his own, however +galling, could ruffle a dignity which was an insult both to memory and +to self-love, Hastings had exerted more than usual, both at the +banquet and in the revel, those general powers of pleasing, which, +even in an age when personal qualifications ranked so high, had yet +made him no less renowned for successes in gallantry than the +beautiful and youthful king. All about this man witnessed to the +triumph of mind over the obstacles that beset it,--his rise without +envy, his safety amidst foes, the happy ease with which he moved +through the snares and pits of everlasting stratagem and universal +wile! Him alone the arts of the Woodvilles could not supplant in +Edward's confidence and love; to him alone dark Gloucester bent his +haughty soul; him alone, Warwick, who had rejected his alliance, and +knew the private grudge the rejection bequeathed,--him alone, among +the "new men," Warwick always treated with generous respect, as a wise +patriot and a fearless soldier; and in the more frivolous scenes of +courtly life, the same mind raised one no longer in the bloom of +youth, with no striking advantages of person, and studiously +disdainful of all the fopperies of the time, to an equality with the +youngest, the fairest, the gaudiest courtier, in that rivalship which +has pleasure for its object and love for its reward. Many a heart +beat quicker as the graceful courtier, with that careless wit which +veiled his profound mournfulness of character, or with that delicate +flattery which his very contempt for human nature had taught him, +moved from dame to donzell; till at length, in the sight and hearing +of the Lady Bonville, as she sat, seemingly heedless of his revenge, +amidst a group of matrons elder than herself, a murmur of admiration +made him turn quickly, and his eye, following the gaze of the +bystanders, rested upon the sweet, animated face of Sibyll, flushed +into rich bloom at the notice it excited. Then as he approached the +maiden, his quick glance darting to the woman he had first loved told +him that he had at last discovered the secret how to wound. An +involuntary compression of Katherine's proud lips, a hasty rise and +fall of the stately neck, a restless, indescribable flutter, as it +were, of the whole frame, told the experienced woman-reader of the +signs of jealousy and fear. And he passed at once to the young +maiden's side. Alas! what wonder that Sibyll that night surrendered +her heart to the happiest dreams; and finding herself on the floors of +a court, intoxicated by its perfumed air, hearing on all sides the +murmured eulogies which approved and justified the seeming preference +of the powerful noble, what wonder that she thought the humble maiden, +with her dower of radiant youth and exquisite beauty, and the fresh +and countless treasures of virgin love, might be no unworthy mate of +the "new lord"? + +It was morning [The hours of our ancestors, on great occasions, were +not always more seasonable than our own. Froissart speaks of court +balls, in the reign of Richard II., kept up till day.] before the +revel ended; and when dismissed by the Duchess of Bedford, Sibyll was +left to herself, not even amidst her happy visions did the daughter +forget her office. She stole into her father's chamber. He, too, was +astir and up,--at work at the untiring furnace, the damps on his brow, +but all Hope's vigour at his heart. So while Pleasure feasts, and +Youth revels, and Love deludes itself, and Ambition chases its shadows +(chased itself by Death),--so works the world-changing and world- +despised SCIENCE, the life within life, for all living,--and to all +dead! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE RENOWNED COMBAT BETWEEN SIR ANTHONY WOODVILLE AND THE BASTARD OF +BURGUNDY. + +And now the day came for the memorable joust between the queen's +brother and the Count de la Roche. By a chapter solemnly convoked at +St. Paul's, the preliminaries were settled; upon the very timber used +in decking the lists King Edward expended half the yearly revenue +derived from all the forests of his duchy of York. In the wide space +of Smithfield, destined at a later day to blaze with the fires of +intolerant bigotry, crowded London's holiday population: and yet, +though all the form and parade of chivalry were there; though in the +open balconies never presided a braver king or a comelier queen; +though never a more accomplished chevalier than Sir Anthony Lord of +Scales, nor a more redoubted knight than the brother of Charles the +Bold, met lance to lance,--it was obvious to the elder and more +observant spectators, that the true spirit of the lists was already +fast wearing out from the influences of the age; that the gentleman +was succeeding to the knight, that a more silken and scheming race had +become the heirs of the iron men, who, under Edward III., had realized +the fabled Paladins of Charlemagne and Arthur. But the actors were +less changed than the spectators,--the Well-born than the People. +Instead of that hearty sympathy in the contest, that awful respect for +the champions, that eager anxiety for the honour of the national +lance, which, a century or more ago, would have moved the throng as +one breast, the comments of the bystanders evinced rather the cynicism +of ridicule, the feeling that the contest was unreal, and that +chivalry was out of place in the practical temper of the times. On +the great chessboard the pawns were now so marshalled, that the +knight's moves were no longer able to scour the board and hold in +check both castle and king. + +"Gramercy," said Master Stokton, who sat in high state as sheriff, +[Fabyan] "this is a sad waste of moneys; and where, after all, is the +glory in two tall fellows, walled a yard thick in armor, poking at +each other with poles of painted wood?" + +"Give me a good bull-bait!" said a sturdy butcher, in the crowd below; +"that's more English, I take it, than these fooleries." + +Amongst the ring, the bold 'prentices of London, up and away betimes, +had pushed their path into a foremost place, much to the discontent of +the gentry, and with their flat caps, long hair, thick bludgeons, loud +exclamations, and turbulent demeanour, greatly scandalized the formal +heralds. That, too, was a sign of the times. Nor less did it show +the growth of commerce, that, on seats very little below the regal +balconies, and far more conspicuous than the places of earls and +barons, sat in state the mayor (that mayor a grocer!) [Sir John +Yonge.--Fabyan] and aldermen of the city. + +A murmur, rising gradually into a general shout, evinced the +admiration into which the spectators were surprised, when Anthony +Woodville Lord Scales--his head bare--appeared at the entrance of the +lists,--so bold and so fair was his countenance, so radiant his +armour, and so richly caparisoned his gray steed, in the gorgeous +housings that almost swept the ground; and around him grouped such an +attendance of knights and peers as seldom graced the train of any +subject, with the Duke of Clarence at his right hand, bearing his +bassinet. + +But Anthony's pages, supporting his banner, shared at least the +popular admiration with their gallant lord: they were, according to +the old custom, which probably fell into disuse under the Tudors, +disguised in imitation of the heraldic beasts that typified his +armourial cognizance; [Hence the origin of Supporters] and horrible +and laidly looked they in the guise of griffins, with artful scales of +thin steel painted green, red forked tongues, and griping the banner +in one huge claw, while, much to the marvel of the bystanders, they +contrived to walk very statelily on the other. "Oh, the brave +monsters!" exclaimed the butcher. "Cogs bones, this beats all the +rest!" + +But when the trumpets of the heralds had ceased, when the words +"Laissez aller!" were pronounced, when the lances were set and the +charge began, this momentary admiration was converted into a cry of +derision, by the sudden restiveness of the Burgundian's horse. This +animal, of the pure race of Flanders, of a bulk approaching to +clumsiness, of a rich bay, where, indeed, amidst the barding and the +housings, its colour could be discerned, had borne the valiant Bastard +through many a sanguine field, and in the last had received a wound +which had greatly impaired its sight. And now, whether scared by the +shouting, or terrified by its obscure vision, and the recollection of +its wound when last bestrode by its lord, it halted midway, reared on +end, and, fairly turning round, despite spur and bit, carried back the +Bastard, swearing strange oaths, that grumbled hoarsely through his +vizor, to the very place whence he had started. + +The uncourteous mob yelled and shouted and laughed, and wholly +disregarding the lifted wands and drowning the solemn rebukes of the +heralds, they heaped upon the furious Burgundian all the expressions +of ridicule in which the wit of Cockaigne is so immemorially rich. +But the courteous Anthony of England, seeing the strange and +involuntary flight of his redoubted foe, incontinently reined in, +lowered his lance, and made his horse, without turning round, back to +the end of the lists in a series of graceful gambadas and caracoles. +Again the signal was given, and this time the gallant bay did not fail +his rider; ashamed, doubtless, of its late misdemeanour, arching its +head till it almost touched the breast, laying its ears level on the +neck, and with a snort of anger and disdain, the steed of Flanders +rushed to the encounter. The Bastard's lance shivered fairly against +the small shield of the Englishman; but the Woodville's weapon, more +deftly aimed, struck full on the count's bassinet, and at the same +time the pike projecting from the gray charger's chaffron pierced the +nostrils of the unhappy bay, which rage and shame had blinded more +than ever. The noble animal, stung by the unexpected pain, and bitted +sharply by the rider, whose seat was sorely shaken by the stroke on +his helmet, reared again, stood an instant perfectly erect, and then +fell backwards, rolling over and over the illustrious burden it had +borne. Then the debonair Sir Anthony of England, casting down his +lance, drew his sword, and dexterously caused his destrier to curvet +in a close circle round the fallen Bastard, courteously shaking at him +the brandished weapon, but without attempt to strike. + +"Ho, marshal!" cried King Edward, "assist to his legs the brave +count." + +The marshal hastened to obey. "Ventrebleu!" quoth the Bastard, when +extricated from the weight of his steed, "I cannot hold by the clouds, +but though my horse failed me, surely I will not fail my companions;" +and as he spoke, he placed himself in so gallant and superb a posture, +that he silenced the inhospitable yell which had rejoiced in the +foreigner's discomfiture. Then, observing that the gentle Anthony had +dismounted, and was leaning gracefully against his destrier, the +Burgundian called forth,-- + +"Sir Knight, thou hast conquered the steed, not the rider. We are now +foot to foot. The pole-axe, or the sword,--which? Speak!" + +"I pray thee, noble sieur," quoth the Woodville, mildly, "to let the +strife close for this day, and when rest bath--" + +"Talk of rest to striplings,--I demand my rights!" + +"Heaven forefend," said Anthony Woodville, lifting his hand on high, +"that I, favoured so highly by the fair dames of England, should +demand repose on their behalf. But bear witness," he said (with the +generosity of the last true chevalier of his age, and lifting his +vizor, so as to be heard by the king, and even through the foremost +ranks of the crowd)--"bear witness, that in this encounter, my cause +hath befriended me, not mine arm. The Count de la Roche speaketh +truly; and his steed alone be blamed for his mischance." + +"It is but a blind beast!" muttered the Burgundian. + +"And," added Anthony, bowing towards the tiers rich with the beauty of +the court--"and the count himself assureth me that the blaze of yonder +eyes blinded his goodly steed." Having delivered himself of this +gallant conceit, so much in accordance with the taste of the day, the +Englishman, approaching the king's balcony, craved permission to +finish the encounter with the axe or brand. + +"The former, rather please you, my liege; for the warriors of Burgundy +have ever been deemed unconquered in that martial weapon." + +Edward, whose brave blood was up and warm at the clash of steel, bowed +his gracious assent, and two pole-axes were brought into the ring. + +The crowd now evinced a more earnest and respectful attention than +they had hitherto shown, for the pole-axe, in such stalwart hands, was +no child's toy. "Hum," quoth Master Stokton, "there may be some +merriment now,--not like those silly poles! Your axe lops off a limb +mighty cleanly." The knights themselves seemed aware of the greater +gravity of the present encounter. Each looked well to the bracing of +his vizor; and poising their weapons with method and care, they stood +apart some moments, eying each other steadfastly,--as adroit fencers +with the small sword do in our schools at this day. + +At length the Burgundian, darting forward, launched a mighty stroke at +the Lord Scales, which, though rapidly parried, broke down the guard, +and descended with such weight on the shoulder that but for the +thrice-proven steel of Milan, the benevolent expectation of Master +Stokton had been happily fulfilled. Even as it was, the Lord Scales +uttered a slight cry,--which might be either of anger or of pain,--and +lifting his axe with both hands, levelled a blow on the Burgundian's +helmet that well nigh brought him to his knee. And now for the space +of some ten minutes, the crowd with charmed suspense beheld the almost +breathless rapidity with which stroke on stroke was given and parried; +the axe shifted to and fro, wielded now with both hands, now the left, +now the right, and the combat reeling, as it were, to and fro,--so +that one moment it raged at one extreme of the lists, the next at the +other; and so well inured, from their very infancy, to the weight of +mail were these redoubted champions, that the very wrestlers on the +village green, nay, the naked gladiators of old, might have envied +their lithe agility and supple quickness. + +At last, by a most dexterous stroke, Anthony Woodville forced the +point of his axe into the vizor of the Burgundian, and there so firmly +did it stick, that he was enabled to pull his antagonist to and fro at +his will, while the Bastard, rendered as blind as his horse by the +stoppage of the eye-hole, dealt his own blows about at random, and was +placed completely at the mercy of the Englishman. And gracious as the +gentle Sir Anthony was, he was still so smarting under many a bruise +felt through his dinted mail, that small mercy, perchance, would the +Bastard have found, for the gripe of the Woodville's left hand was on +his foe's throat, and the right seemed about to force the point +deliberately forward into the brain, when Edward, roused from his +delight at that pleasing spectacle by a loud shriek from his sister +Margaret, echoed by the Duchess of Bedford, who was by no means +anxious that her son's axe should be laid at the root of all her +schemes, rose, and crying, "Hold!" with that loud voice which had so +often thrilled a mightier field, cast down his warderer. + +Instantly the lists opened; the marshals advanced, severed the +champions, and unbraced the count's helmet. But the Bastard's martial +spirit, exceedingly dissatisfied at the unfriendly interruption, +rewarded the attention of the marshals by an oath worthy his +relationship to Charles the Bold; and hurrying straight to the king, +his face flushed with wrath and his eyes sparkling with fire,-- + +"Noble sire and king," he cried, "do me not this wrong! I am not +overthrown nor scathed nor subdued,--I yield not. By every knightly +law till one champion yields he can call upon the other to lay on and +do his worst." + +Edward paused, much perplexed and surprised at finding his +intercession so displeasing. He glanced first at the Lord Rivers, who +sat a little below him, and whose cheek grew pale at the prospect of +his son's renewed encounter with one so determined, then at the +immovable aspect of the gentle and apathetic Elizabeth, then at the +agitated countenance of the duchess, then at the imploring eyes of +Margaret, who, with an effort, preserved herself from swooning; and +finally beckoning to him the Duke of Clarence, as high constable, and +the Duke of Norfolk, as earl marshal, he said, "Tarry a moment, Sir +Count, till we take counsel in this grave affair." The count bowed +sullenly; the spectators maintained an anxious silence; the curtain +before the king's gallery was closed while the council conferred. At +the end of some three minutes, however, the drapery was drawn aside by +the Duke of Norfolk; and Edward, fixing his bright blue eye upon the +fiery Burgundian, said gravely, "Count de la Roche, your demand is +just. According to the laws of the list, you may fairly claim that the +encounter go on." + +"Oh, knightly prince, well said! My thanks. We lose time.--Squires, +my bassinet!" + +"Yea," renewed Edward, "bring hither the count's bassinet. By the +laws, the combat may go on at thine asking,--I retract my warderer. +But, Count de la Roche, by those laws you appeal to, the said combat +must go on precisely at the point at which it was broken off. +Wherefore brace on thy bassinet, Count de la Roche; and thou, Anthony +Lord Scales, fix the pike of thine axe, which I now perceive was +inserted exactly where the right eye giveth easy access to the brain, +precisely in the same place. So renew the contest, and the Lord have +mercy on thy soul, Count de la Roche!" + +At this startling sentence, wholly unexpected, and yet wholly +according to those laws of which Edward was so learned a judge, the +Bastard's visage fell. With open mouth and astounded eyes, he stood +gazing at the king, who, majestically reseating himself, motioned to +the heralds. + +"Is that the law, sire?" at length faltered forth the Bastard. + +"Can you dispute it? Can any knight or gentleman gainsay it?" + +"Then," quoth the Bastard, gruffly, and throwing his axe to the +ground, "by all the saints in the calendar, I have had enough! I came +hither to dare all that beseems a chevalier, but to stand still while +Sir Anthony Woodville deliberately pokes out my right eye were a feat +to show that very few brains would follow. And so, my Lord Scales, I +give thee my right hand, and wish thee joy of thy triumph, and the +golden collar." [The prize was a collar of gold, enamelled with the +flower of the souvenance.] + +"No triumph," replied the Woodville, modestly, "for thou art only, as +brave knights should be, subdued by the charms of the ladies, which no +breast, however valiant, can with impunity dispute." + +So saying, the Lord Scales led the count to a seat of honour near the +Lord Rivers; and the actor was contented, perforce, to become a +spectator of the ensuing contests. These were carried on till late at +noon between the Burgundians and the English, the last maintaining the +superiority of their principal champion; and among those in the melee, +to which squires were admitted, not the least distinguished and +conspicuous was our youthful friend, Master Marmaduke Nevile. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW THE BASTARD OF BURGUNDY PROSPERED MORE IN HIS POLICY THAN WITH THE +POLE-AXE.-AND HOW KING EDWARD HOLDS HIS SUMMER CHASE IN THE FAIR +GROVES OF SHENE. + +It was some days after the celebrated encounter between the Bastard +and Lord Scales, and the court had removed to the Palace of Shene. +The Count de la Roche's favour with the Duchess of Bedford and the +young princess had not rested upon his reputation for skill with the +pole-axe, and it had now increased to a height that might well +recompense the diplomatist for his discomfiture in the lists. + +In the mean while, the arts of Warwick's enemies had been attended +with signal success. The final preparations for the alliance now +virtually concluded with Louis's brother still detained the earl at +Rouen, and fresh accounts of the French king's intimacy with the +ambassador were carefully forwarded to Rivers, and transmitted to +Edward. Now, we have Edward's own authority for stating that his +first grudge against Warwick originated in this displeasing intimacy, +but the English king was too clear-sighted to interpret such +courtesies into the gloss given them by Rivers. He did not for a +moment conceive that Lord Warwick was led into any absolute connection +with Louis which could link him to the Lancastrians, for this was +against common-sense; but Edward, with all his good humour, was +implacable and vindictive, and he could not endure the thought that +Warwick should gain the friendship of the man he deemed his foe. +Putting aside his causes of hatred to Louis in the encouragement which +that king had formerly given to the Lancastrian exiles, Edward's pride +as sovereign felt acutely the slighting disdain with which the French +king had hitherto treated his royalty and his birth. The customary +nickname with which he was maligned in Paris was "the Son of the +Archer," a taunt upon the fair fame of his mother, whom scandal +accused of no rigid fidelity to the Duke of York. Besides this, +Edward felt somewhat of the jealousy natural to a king, himself so +spirited and able, of the reputation for profound policy and +statecraft which Louis XI. was rapidly widening and increasing +throughout the courts of Europe. And, what with the resentment and +what with the jealousy, there had sprung up in his warlike heart a +secret desire to advance the claims of England to the throne of +France, and retrieve the conquests won by the Fifth Henry to be lost +under the Sixth. Possessing these feelings and these views, Edward +necessarily saw in the alliance with Burgundy all that could gratify +both his hate and his ambition. The Count of Charolois had sworn to +Louis the most deadly enmity, and would have every motive, whether of +vengeance or of interest, to associate himself heart in hand with the +arms of England in any invasion of France; and to these warlike +objects Edward added, as we have so often had cause to remark, the +more peaceful aims and interests of commerce. And, therefore, +although he could not so far emancipate himself from that influence, +which both awe and gratitude invested in the Earl of Warwick, as to +resist his great minister's embassy to Louis; and though, despite all +these reasons in favour of connection with Burgundy, he could not but +reluctantly allow that Warwick urged those of a still larger and wiser +policy, when showing that the infant dynasty of York could only be +made secure by effectually depriving Margaret of the sole ally that +could venture to assist her cause,--yet no sooner had Warwick fairly +departed than he inly chafed at the concession he had made, and his +mind was open to all the impressions which the earl's enemies sought +to stamp upon it. As the wisdom of every man, however able, can but +run through those channels which are formed by the soil of the +character, so Edward with all his talents never possessed the prudence +which fear of consequences inspires. He was so eminently fearless, so +scornful of danger, that he absolutely forgot the arguments on which +the affectionate zeal of Warwick had based the alliance with Louis,-- +arguments as to the unceasing peril, whether to his person or his +throne, so long as the unprincipled and plotting genius of the French +king had an interest against both; and thus he became only alive to +the representations of his passions, his pride, and his mercantile +interests. The Duchess of Bedford, the queen, and all the family of +Woodville, who had but one object at heart,--the downfall of Warwick +and his House,--knew enough of the earl's haughty nature to be aware +that he would throw up the reins of government the moment he knew that +Edward had discredited and dishonoured his embassy; and, despite the +suspicions they sought to instil into their king's mind, they +calculated upon the earl's love and near relationship to Edward, upon +his utter and seemingly irreconcilable breach with the House of +Lancaster, to render his wrath impotent, and to leave him only the +fallen minister, not the mighty rebel. + +Edward had been thus easily induced to permit the visit of the Count +de la Roche, although he had by no means then resolved upon the course +he should pursue. At all events, even if the alliance with Louis was +to take place, the friendship of Burgundy was worth much to maintain. +But De la Roche soon made aware by the Duchess of Bedford of the +ground on which he stood, and instructed by his brother to spare no +pains and to scruple no promise that might serve to alienate Edward +from Louis and win the hand and dower of Margaret, found it a more +facile matter than his most sanguine hopes had deemed to work upon the +passions and the motives which inclined the king to the pretensions of +the heir of Burgundy. And what more than all else favoured the +envoy's mission was the very circumstance that should most have +defeated it,--namely, the recollection of the Earl of Warwick; for in +the absence of that powerful baron and master-minister, the king had +seemed to breathe more freely. In his absence, he forgot his power. +The machine of government, to his own surprise, seemed to go on as +well; the Commons were as submissive, the mobs as noisy in their +shouts, as if the earl were by. There was no longer any one to share +with Edward the joys of popularity, the sweets of power. + +Though Edward was not Diogenes, he loved the popular sunshine, and no +Alexander now stood between him and its beams. Deceived by the +representations of his courtiers, hearing nothing but abuse of Warwick +and sneers at his greatness, he began to think the hour had come when +he might reign alone, and he entered, though tacitly, and not +acknowledging it even to himself, into the very object of the +womankind about him,--namely, the dismissal of his minister. + +The natural carelessness and luxurious indolence of Edward's temper +did not however permit him to see all the ingratitude of the course he +was about to adopt. The egotism a king too often acquires, and no +king so easily as one like Edward IV., not born to a throne, made him +consider that he alone was entitled to the prerogatives of pride. As +sovereign and as brother, might he not give the hand of Margaret as he +listed? If Warwick was offended, pest on his disloyalty and +presumption! And so saying to himself, he dismissed the very thought +of the absent earl, and glided unconsciously down the current of the +hour. And yet, notwithstanding all these prepossessions and +dispositions, Edward might no doubt have deferred at least the +meditated breach with his great minister until the return of the +latter, and then have acted with the delicacy and precaution that +became a king bound by ties of gratitude and blood to the statesman he +desired to discard, but for a habit,--which, while history mentions, +it seems to forget, in the consequences it ever engenders,--the habit +of intemperance. Unquestionably to that habit many of the imprudences +and levities of a king possessed of so much ability are to be +ascribed; and over his cups with the wary and watchful De la Roche +Edward had contrived to entangle himself far more than in his cooler +moments he would have been disposed to do. + +Having thus admitted our readers into those recesses of that cor +inscrutabile,--the heart of kings,--we summon them to a scene peculiar +to the pastimes of the magnificent Edward. Amidst the shades of the +vast park, or chase, which then appertained to the Palace of Shene, +the noonday sun shone upon such a spot as Armida might have dressed +for the subdued Rinaldo. A space had been cleared of trees and +underwood, and made level as a bowling-green. Around this space the +huge oak and the broad beech were hung with trellis-work, wreathed +with jasmine, honeysuckle, and the white rose, trained in arches. +Ever and anon through these arches extended long alleys, or vistas, +gradually lost in the cool depth of foliage; amidst these alleys and +around this space numberless arbours, quaint with all the flowers then +known in England, were constructed. In the centre of the sward was a +small artificial lake, long since dried up, and adorned then with a +profusion of fountains, that seemed to scatter coolness around the +glowing air. Pitched in various and appropriate sites were tents of +silk and the white cloth of Rennes, each tent so placed as to command +one of the alleys; and at the opening of each stood cavalier or dame, +with the bow or crossbow, as it pleased the fancy or suited best the +skill, looking for the quarry, which horn and hound drove fast and +frequent across the alleys. Such was the luxurious "summer-chase" of +the Sardanapalus of the North. Nor could any spectacle more +thoroughly represent that poetical yet effeminate taste, which, +borrowed from the Italians, made a short interval between the +chivalric and the modern age. The exceeding beauty of the day, the +richness of the foliage in the first suns of bright July, the bay of +the dogs, the sound of the mellow horn, the fragrance of the air, +heavy with noontide flowers, the gay tents, the rich dresses and fair +faces and merry laughter of dame and donzell,--combined to take +captive every sense, and to reconcile ambition itself, that eternal +traveller through the future, to the enjoyment of the voluptuous hour. +But there were illustrious exceptions to the contentment of the +general company. + +A courier had arrived that morning to apprise Edward of the unexpected +debarkation of the Earl of Warwick, with the Archbishop of Narbonne +and the Bastard of Bourbon,--the ambassadors commissioned by Louis to +settle the preliminaries of the marriage between Margaret and his +brother. This unwelcome intelligence reached Edward at the very +moment he was sallying from his palace gates to his pleasant pastime. +He took aside Lord Hastings, and communicated the news to his able +favourite. "Put spurs to thy horse, Hastings, and hie thee fast to +Baynard's Castle. Bring back Gloucester. In these difficult matters +that boy's head is better than a council." + +"Your Highness," said Hastings, tightening his girdle with one hand, +while with the other he shortened his stirrups, "shall be obeyed. I +foresaw, sire, that this coming would occasion much that my Lords +Rivers and Worcester have overlooked. I rejoice that you summon the +Prince Richard, who hath wisely forborne all countenance to the +Burgundian envoy. But is this all, sire? Is it not well to assemble +also your trustiest lords and most learned prelates, if not to overawe +Lord Warwick's anger, at least to confer on the fitting excuses to be +made to King Louis's ambassadors?" + +"And so lose the fairest day this summer hath bestowed upon us? +Tush!--the more need for pleasaunce to-day since business must come +to-morrow. Away with you, dear Will!" + +Hastings looked grave; but he saw all further remonstrance would be in +vain, and hoping much from the intercession of Gloucester, put spurs +to his steed and vanished. Edward mused a moment; and Elizabeth, who +knew every expression and change of his countenance, rode from the +circle of her ladies, and approached him timidly. Casting down her +eyes, which she always affected in speaking to her lord, the queen +said softly,-- + +"Something hath disturbed my liege and my life's life." + +"Marry, yes, sweet Bessee. Last night, to pleasure thee and thy kin +(and sooth to say, small gratitude ye owe me, for it also pleased +myself), I promised Margaret's hand, through De la Roche, to the heir +of Burgundy." + +"O princely heart!" exclaimed Elizabeth, her whole face lighted up +with triumph, "ever seeking to make happy those it cherishes. But is +it that which disturbs thee, that which thou repentest?" + +"No, sweetheart,--no. Yet had it not been for the strength of the +clary, I should have kept the Bastard longer in suspense. But what is +done is done. Let not thy roses wither when thou hearest Warwick is +in England,--nay, nay, child, look not so appalled; thine Edward is no +infant, whom ogre and goblin scare; and"--glancing his eye proudly +round as he spoke, and saw the goodly cavalcade of his peers and +knights, with his body-guard, tall and chosen veterans, filling up the +palace-yard, with the show of casque and pike--"and if the struggle is +to come between Edward of England and his subject, never an hour more +ripe than this; my throne assured, the new nobility I have raised +around it, London true, marrow and heart true, the provinces at peace, +the ships and the steel of Burgundy mine allies! Let the white Bear +growl as he list, the Lion of March is lord of the forest. And now, my +Bessee," added the king, changing his haughty tone into a gay, +careless laugh, "now let the lion enjoy his chase." + +He kissed the gloved hand of his queen, gallantly bending over his +saddle-bow, and the next moment he was by the side of a younger if not +a fairer lady, to whom he was devoting the momentary worship of his +inconstant heart. Elizabeth's eyes shot an angry gleam as she beheld +her faithless lord thus engaged; but so accustomed to conceal and +control the natural jealousy that it never betrayed itself to the +court or to her husband, she soon composed her countenance to its +ordinary smooth and artificial smile, and rejoining her mother she +revealed what had passed. The proud and masculine spirit of the +duchess felt only joy at the intelligence. In the anticipated +humiliation of Warwick, she forgot all cause for fear. Not so her +husband and son, the Lords Rivers and Scales, to whom the news soon +travelled. + +"Anthony," whispered the father, "in this game we have staked our +heads." + +"But our right hands can guard them well, sir," answered Anthony; "and +so God and the ladies for our rights!" + +Yet this bold reply did not satisfy the more thoughtful judgment of +the lord treasurer, and even the brave Anthony's arrows that day +wandered wide of their quarry. + +Amidst this gay scene, then, there were anxious and thoughtful bosoms. +Lord Rivers was silent and abstracted; his son's laugh was hollow and +constrained; the queen, from her pavilion, cast, ever and anon, down +the green alleys more restless and prying looks than the hare or the +deer could call forth; her mother's brow was knit and flushed. And +keenly were those illustrious persons watched by one deeply interested +in the coming events. Affecting to discharge the pleasant duty +assigned him by the king, the Lord Montagu glided from tent to tent, +inquiring courteously into the accommodation of each group, lingering, +smiling, complimenting, watching, heeding, studying, those whom he +addressed. For the first time since the Bastard's visit he had joined +in the diversions in its honour; and yet so well had Montagu played +his part at the court that he did not excite amongst the queen's +relatives any of the hostile feelings entertained towards his brother. +No man, except Hastings, was so "entirely loved" by Edward; and +Montagu, worldly as he was, and indignant against the king as he could +not fail to be, so far repaid the affection, that his chief fear at +that moment sincerely was not for Warwick but Edward. He alone of +those present was aware of the cause of Warwick's hasty return, for he +had privately despatched to him the news of the Bastard's visit, its +real object, and the inevitable success of the intrigues afloat, +unless the earl could return at once, his mission accomplished, and +the ambassadors of France in his train; and even before the courier +despatched to the king had arrived at Shene, a private hand had +conveyed to Montagu the information that Warwick, justly roused and +alarmed, had left the state procession behind at Dover, and was +hurrying, fast as relays of steeds and his own fiery spirit could bear +him, to the presence of the ungrateful king. + +Meanwhile the noon had now declined, the sport relaxed, and the sound +of the trumpet from the king's pavilion proclaimed that the lazy +pastime was to give place to the luxurious banquet. + +At this moment, Montagu approached a tent remote from the royal +pavilions, and, as his noiseless footstep crushed the grass, he heard +the sound of voices in which there was little in unison with the +worldly thoughts that filled his breast. + +"Nay, sweet mistress, nay," said a young man's voice, earnest with +emotion, "do not misthink me, do not deem me bold and overweening. I +have sought to smother my love, and to rate it, and bring pride to my +aid, but in vain; and, now, whether you will scorn my suit or not, I +remember, Sibyll--O Sibyll! I remember the days when we conversed +together; and as a brother, if nothing else--nothing dearer--I pray +you to pause well, and consider what manner of man this Lord Hastings +is said to be!" + +"Master Nevile, is this generous? Why afflict me thus; why couple my +name with so great a lord's?" + +"Because--beware--the young gallants already so couple it, and their +prophecies are not to thine honour, Sibyll. Nay, do not frown on me. +I know thou art fair and winsome, and deftly gifted, and thy father +may, for aught I know, be able to coin thee a queen's dower out of his +awsome engines. But Hastings will not wed thee, and his wooing, +therefore, but stains thy fair repute; while I--" + +"You!" said Montagu, entering suddenly--"you, kinsman, may look to +higher fortunes than the Duchess of Bedford's waiting-damsel can bring +to thy honest love. How now, mistress, say, wilt thou take this young +gentleman for loving fere and plighted spouse? If so, he shall give +thee a manor for jointure, and thou shalt wear velvet robe and gold +chain, as a knight's wife." + +This unexpected interference, which was perfectly in character with +the great lords, who frequently wooed in very peremptory tones for +their clients and kinsmen, [See, in Miss Strickland's "Life of +Elizabeth Woodville," the curious letters which the Duke of York and +the Earl of Warwick addressed to her, then a simple maiden, in favour +of their protege, Sir R. Johnes.] completed the displeasure which the +blunt Marmaduke had already called forth in Sibyll's gentle but proud +nature. "Speak, maiden,--ay or no?" continued Montagu, surprised and +angered at the haughty silence of one whom he just knew by sight and +name, though he had never before addressed her. + +"No, my lord," answered Sibyll, keeping down her indignation at this +tone, though it burned in her cheek, flashed in her eye, and swelled +in the heave of her breast. "No! and your kinsman might have spared +this affront to one whom--but it matters not." She swept from the +tent as she said this, and passed up the alley into that of the +queen's mother. + +"Best so; thou art too young for marriage, Marmaduke," said Montagu, +coldly. "We will find thee a richer bride ere long. There is Mary of +Winstown, the archbishop's ward, with two castles and seven knight's +fees." + +"But so marvellously ill-featured, my lord," said poor Marmaduke, +sighing. + +Montagu looked at him in surprise. "Wives, sir," he said, "are not +made to look at,--unless, indeed, they be the wives of other men. But +dismiss these follies for the nonce. Back to thy post by the king's +pavilion; and by the way ask Lord Fauconberg and Aymer Nevile, whom +thou wilt pass by yonder arbour, ask them, in my name, to be near the +pavilion while the king banquets. A word in thine ear,--ere yon sun +gilds the top of those green oaks, the Earl of Warwick will be with +Edward IV.; and come what may, some brave hearts should be by to +welcome him. Go!" + +Without tarrying for an answer, Montagu turned into one of the tents, +wherein Raoul de Fulke and the Lord St. John, heedless of hind and +hart, conferred; and Marmaduke, much bewildered, and bitterly wroth +with Sibyll, went his way. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE GREAT ACTOR RETURNS TO FILL THE STAGE. + +And now in various groups these summer foresters were at rest in their +afternoon banquet,--some lying on the smooth sward around the lake, +some in the tents, some again in the arbours; here and there the forms +of dame and cavalier might be seen, stealing apart from the rest, and +gliding down the alleys till lost in the shade, for under that reign +gallantry was universal. Before the king's pavilion a band of those +merry jongleurs, into whom the ancient and honoured minstrels were +fast degenerating, stood waiting for the signal to commence their +sports, and listening to the laughter that came in frequent peals from +the royal tent. Within feasted Edward, the Count de la Roche, the +Lord Rivers; while in a larger and more splendid pavilion at some +little distance, the queen, her mother, and the great dames of the +court held their own slighter and less noisy repast. + +"And here, then," said Edward, as he put his lips to a gold goblet, +wrought with gems, and passed it to Anthony the Bastard,--"here, +count, we take the first wassail to the loves of Charolois and +Margaret!" + +The count drained the goblet, and the wine gave him new fire. + +"And with those loves, king," said he, "we bind forever Burgundy and +England. Woe to France!" + +"Ay, woe to France!" exclaimed Edward, his face lighting up with that +martial joy which it ever took at the thoughts of war,--"for we will +wrench her lands from this huckster Louis. By Heaven! I shall not +rest in peace till York hath regained what Lancaster hath lost! and +out of the parings of the realm which I will add to England thy +brother of Burgundy shall have eno' to change his duke's diadem for a +king's. How now, Rivers? Thou gloomest, father mine." + +"My liege," said Rivers, wakening himself, "I did but think that if +the Earl of Warwick--" + +"Ah, I had forgotten," interrupted Edward; "and, sooth to say, Count +Anthony, I think if the earl were by, he would not much mend our boon- +fellowship!" + +"Yet a good subject," said De la Roche, sneeringly, "usually dresses +his face by that of his king." + +"A subject! Ay, but Warwick is much such a subject to England as +William of Normandy or Duke Rollo was to France. Howbeit, let him +come,--our realm is at peace, we want no more his battle-axe; and in +our new designs on France, thy brother, bold count, is an ally that +might compensate for a greater loss than a sullen minister. Let him +come!" + +As the king spoke, there was heard gently upon the smooth turf the +sound of the hoofs of steeds. A moment more, and from the outskirts +of the scene of revel, where the king's guards were stationed, there +arose a long, loud shout. Nearer and nearer came the hoofs of the +steeds; they paused. Doubtless Richard of Gloucester by that shout! +"The soldiers love that brave boy," said the king. + +Marmaduke Nevile, as gentleman in waiting, drew aside the curtain of +the pavilion; and as he uttered a name that paled the cheeks of all +who heard, the Earl of Warwick entered the royal presence. + +The earl's dress was disordered and soiled by travel; the black plume +on his cap was broken, and hung darkly over his face; his horseman's +boots, coming half way up the thigh, were sullied with the dust of the +journey; and yet as he entered, before the majesty of his mien, the +grandeur of his stature, suddenly De Roche, Rivers, even the gorgeous +Edward himself, seemed dwarfed into common men! About the man--his +air, his eye, his form, his attitude--there was THAT which, in the +earlier times, made kings by the acclamation of the crowd,--an +unmistakable sovereignty, as of one whom Nature herself had shaped and +stamped for power and for rule. All three had risen as he entered; +and to a deep silence succeeded an exclamation from Edward, and then +again all was still. + +The earl stood a second or two calmly gazing on the effect he had +produced; and turning his dark eye from one to the other, till it +rested full upon De la Roche, who, after vainly striving not to quail +beneath the gaze, finally smiled with affected disdain, and, resting +his hand on his dagger, sank back into his seat. + +"My liege," then said Warwick, doffing his cap, and approaching the +king with slow and grave respect, "I crave pardon for presenting +myself to your Highness thus travel-worn and disordered; but I +announce that news which insures my welcome. The solemn embassy of +trust committed to me by your Grace has prospered with God's blessing; +and the Fils de Bourbon and the Archbishop of Narbonne are on their +way to your metropolis. Alliance between the two great monarchies of +Europe is concluded on terms that insure the weal of England and +augment the lustre of your crown. Your claims on Normandy and Guienne +King Louis consents to submit to the arbitrement of the Roman Pontiff, +[The Pope, moreover, was to be engaged to decide the question within +four years. A more brilliant treaty for England, Edward's ambassador +could not have effected.] and to pay to your treasury annual tribute; +these advantages, greater than your Highness even empowered me to +demand, thus obtained, the royal brother of your new ally joyfully +awaits the hand of the Lady Margaret." + +"Cousin," said Edward, who had thoroughly recovered himself, motioning +the earl to a seat, "you are ever welcome, no matter what your news; +but I marvel much that so deft a statesman should broach these matters +of council in the unseasonable hour and before the gay comrades of a +revel." + +"I speak, sire," said Warwick, calmly, though the veins in his +forehead swelled, and his dark countenance was much flushed--"I speak +openly of that which hath been done nobly; and this truth has ceased +to be matter of council, since the meanest citizen who has ears and +eyes ere this must know for what purpose the ambassadors of King Louis +arrive in England with your Highness's representative." + +Edward, more embarrassed at this tone than he could have foreseen, +remained silent; but De la Roche, impatient to humble his brother's +foe, and judging it also discreet to arouse the king, said +carelessly,-- + +"It were a pity, Sir Earl, that the citizens, whom you thus deem privy +to the thoughts of kings, had not prevised the Archbishop of Narbonne +that if he desire to see a fairer show than even the palaces of +Westminster and the Tower, he will hasten back to behold the banners +of Burgundy and England waving from the spires of Notre Dame." + +Ere the Bastard had concluded, Rivers, leaning back, whispered the +king, "For Christ's sake, sire, select some fitter scene for what must +follow! Silence your guest!" + +But Edward, on the contrary, pleased to think that De la Roche was +breaking the ice, and hopeful that some burst from Warwick would give +him more excuse than he felt at present for a rupture, said sternly, +"Hush, my lord, and meddle not!" + +"Unless I mistake," said Warwick, coldly, "he who now accosts me is +the Count de la Roche,--a foreigner." + +"And the brother of the heir of Burgundy," interrupted De la Roche,-- +"brother to the betrothed and princely spouse of Margaret of England." + +"Doth this man lie, sire?" said Warwick, who had seated himself a +moment, and who now rose again. + +The Bastard sprung also to his feet; but Edward, waving him back, and +reassuming the external dignity which rarely forsook him, replied, +"Cousin, thy question lacketh courtesy to our noble guest: since thy +departure, reasons of state, which we will impart to thee at a meeter +season, have changed our purpose, and we will now that our sister +Margaret shall wed with the Count of Charolois." + +"And this to me, king!" exclaimed the earl; all his passions at once +released--"this to me! Nay, frown not, Edward,--I am of the race of +those who, greater than kings, have built thrones and toppled them! I +tell thee, thou hast misused mine honour, and belied thine own; thou +hast debased thyself in juggling me, delegated as the representative +of thy royalty!--Lord Rivers, stand back,--there are barriers eno' +between truth and a king!" + +"By Saint George and my father's head!" cried Edward, with a rage no +less fierce than Warwick's,--"thou abusest, false lord, my mercy and +our kindred blood. Another word, and thou leavest this pavilion for +the Tower!" + +"King," replied Warwick, scornfully, and folding his arms on his broad +breast, "there is not a hair on this head which thy whole house, thy +guards, and thine armies could dare to touch. ME to the Tower! Send +me,--and when the third sun reddens the roof of prison-house and +palace, look round broad England, and miss a throne!" + +"What, ho there!" exclaimed Edward, stamping his foot; and at that +instant the curtain of the pavilion was hastily torn aside, and +Richard of Gloucester entered, followed by Lord Hastings, the Duke of +Clarence, and Anthony Woodville. + +"Ah," continued the king, "ye come in time. George of Clarence, Lord +High Constable of England, arrest yon haughty man, who dares to menace +his liege and suzerain!" + +Gliding between Clarence, who stood dumb and thunder-stricken, and the +Earl of Warwick, Prince Richard said, in a voice which, though even +softer than usual, had in it more command over those who heard than +when it rolled in thunder along the ranks of Barnet or of Bosworth, +"Edward, my brother, remember Towton, and forbear! Warwick, my +cousin, forget not thy king nor his dead father!" + +At these last words the earl's face fell, for to that father he had +sworn to succour and defend the sons; his sense, recovering from his +pride, showed him how much his intemperate anger had thrown away his +advantages in the foul wrong he had sustained from Edward. Meanwhile +the king himself, with flashing eyes and a crest as high as Warwick's, +was about perhaps to overthrow his throne by the attempt to enforce +his threat, when Anthony Woodville, who followed Clarence, whispered +to him, "Beware, sire! a countless crowd that seem to have followed +the earl's steps have already pierced the chase, and can scarcely be +kept from the spot, so great is their desire to behold him. Beware!"-- +and Richard's quick ear catching these whispered words, the duke +suddenly backed them by again drawing aside the curtain of the tent. +Along the sward, the guard of the king, summoned from their unseen but +neighbouring post within the wood, were drawn up as if to keep back an +immense multitude,--men, women, children, who swayed and rustled and +murmured in the rear. But no sooner was the curtain drawn aside, and +the guards themselves caught sight of the royal princes and the great +earl towering amidst them, than supposing in their ignorance the scene +thus given to them was intended for their gratification, from that old +soldiery or Towton rose a loud and long "Hurrah! Warwick and the +king!"--"The king and the stout earl!" The multitude behind caught +the cry; they rushed forward, mingling with the soldiery, who no +longer sought to keep them back. + +"A Warwick! a Warwick!" they shouted. "God bless the people's +friend!" + +Edward, startled and aghast, drew sullenly into the rear of the tent. + +De la Roche grew pale; but with the promptness of a practised +statesman, he hastily advanced, and drew the curtain. "Shall +varlets," he said to Richard, in French, "gloat over the quarrels of +their lords?" + +"You are right, Sir Count," murmured Richard, meekly; his purpose was +effected, and leaning on his riding staff, he awaited what was to +ensue. + +A softer shade had fallen over the earl's face, at the proof of the +love in which his name was held; it almost seemed to his noble though +haughty and impatient nature, as if the affection of the people had +reconciled him to the ingratitude of the king. A tear started to his +proud eye; but he twinkled it away, and approaching Edward (who +remained erect, and with all a sovereign's wrath, though silent on his +lip, lowering on his brow), he said, in a tone of suppressed emotion,-- + +"Sire, it is not for me to crave pardon of living man, but the +grievous affront put upon my state and mine honour hath led my words +to an excess which my heart repents. I grieve that your Grace's +highness hath chosen this alliance; hereafter you may find at need +what faith is to be placed in Burgundy." + +"Darest thou gainsay it?" exclaimed De la Roche. + +"Interrupt me not, sir!" continued Warwick, with a disdainful gesture. +"My liege, I lay down mine offices, and I leave it to your Grace to +account as it lists you to the ambassadors of France,--I shall +vindicate myself to their king. And now, ere I depart for my hall of +Middleham, I alone here, unarmed and unattended, save at least by a +single squire, I, Richard Nevile, say, that if any man, peer or +knight, can be found to execute your Grace's threat, and arrest me, I +will obey your royal pleasure, and attend him to the Tower." +Haughtily he bowed his head as he spoke, and raising it again, gazed +around--"I await your Grace's pleasure." + +"Begone where thou wilt, earl. From this day Edward IV. reigns +alone," said the king. Warwick turned. + +"My Lord Scales," said he. "lift the curtain; nay, sir, it misdemeans +you not. You are still the son of the Woodville, I still the +descendant of John of Gaunt." + +"Not for the dead ancestor, but for the living warrior," said the Lord +Scales, lifting the curtain, and bowing with knightly grace as the +earl passed. And scarcely was Warwick in the open space than the +crowd fairly broke through all restraint, and the clamour of their joy +filled with its hateful thunders the royal tent. + +"Edward," said Richard, whisperingly, and laying his finger on his +brother's arm, "forgive me if I offended; but had you at such a time +resolved on violence--" + +"I see it all,--you were right. But is this to be endured forever?" + +"Sire," returned Richard, with his dark smile, "rest calm; for the age +is your best ally, and the age is outgrowing the steel and hauberk. A +little while, and--" + +"And what--" + +"And--ah, sire, I will answer that question when our brother George +(mark him!) either refrains from listening, or is married to Isabel +Nevile, and hath quarrel with her father about the dowry. What, he, +there!--let the jongleurs perform." + +"The jongleurs!" exclaimed the king; "why, Richard, thou hast more +levity than myself!" + +"Pardon me! Let the jongleurs perform, and bid the crowd stay. It is +by laughing at the mountebanks that your Grace can best lead the +people to forget their Warwick!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HOW THE GREAT LORDS COME TO THE KING-MAKER, AND WITH WHAT PROFFERS. + +Mastering the emotions that swelled within him, Lord Warwick returned +with his wonted cheerful courtesy the welcome of the crowd and the +enthusiastic salutation of the king's guard; but as, at length, he +mounted his steed, and attended but by the squire who had followed him +from Dover, penetrated into the solitudes of the chase, the +recollection of the indignity he had suffered smote his proud heart so +sorely that he groaned aloud. His squire, fearing the fatigue he had +undergone might have affected even that iron health, rode up at the +sound of the groan, and Warwick's face was hueless as he said, with a +forced smile, "It is nothing, Walter. But these heats are oppressive, +and we have forgotten our morning draught, friend. Hark! I hear the +brawl of a rivulet, and a drink of fresh water were more grateful now +than the daintiest hippocras." So saying, he flung himself from his +steed; following the sound of the rivulet, he gained its banks, and +after quenching his thirst in the hollow of his hand, laid himself +down upon the long grass, waving coolly over the margin, and fell into +profound thought. From this revery he was aroused by a quick +footstep, and as he lifted his gloomy gaze, he beheld Marmaduke Nevile +by his side. + +"Well, young man," said he, sternly, "with what messages art thou +charged?" + +"With none, my lord earl. I await now no commands but thine." + +"Thou knowest not, poor youth, that I can serve thee no more. Go back +to the court." + +"Oh, Warwick," said Marmaduke, with simple eloquence, "send me not +from thy side! This day I have been rejected by the maid I loved. I +loved her well, and my heart chafed sorely, and bled within! but now, +methinks, it consoles me to have been so cast off,--to have no faith, +no love, but that which is best of all, to a brave man,--love and +faith for a hero-chief! Where thy fortunes, there be my humble fate, +--to rise or fall with thee!" + +Warwick looked intently upon his young kinsman's face, and said, as to +himself, "Why, this is strange! I gave no throne to this man, and he +deserts me not! My friend," he added aloud, "have they told thee +already that I am disgraced?" + +"I heard the Lord Scales say to the young Lovell that thou wert +dismissed from all thine offices; and I came hither; for I will serve +no more the king who forgets the arm and heart to which he owes a +kingdom." + +"Man, I accept thy loyalty!" exclaimed Warwick, starting to his feet; +"and know that thou hast done more to melt and yet to nerve my spirit +than--But complaints in one are idle, and praise were no reward to +thee." + +"But see, my lord, if the first to join thee, I am not the sole one. +See, brave Raoul de Fulke, the Lords of St. John, Bergavenny, and +Fitzhugh, ay, and fifty others of the best blood of England, are on +thy track." + +And as he spoke, plumes and tunics were seen gleaming up the forest +path, and in another moment a troop of knights and gentlemen, +comprising the flower of such of the ancient nobility as yet lingered +round the court, came up to Warwick, bareheaded. + +"Is it possible," cried Raoul de Fulke, "that we have heard aright, +noble earl? And has Edward IV. suffered the base Woodvilles to +triumph over the bulwark of his realm?" + +"Knights and gentles!" said Warwick, with a bitter smile, "is it so +uncommon a thing that men in peace should leave the battle-axe and +brand to rust? I am but a useless weapon, to be suspended at rest +amongst the trophies of Towton in my hall of Middleham." + +"Return with us," said the Lord of St. John, "and we will make Edward +do thee justice, or, one and all, we will abandon a court where knaves +and varlets have become mightier than English valour and nobler than +Norman birth." + +"My friends," said the earl, laying his hand on St. John's shoulder, +"not even in my just wrath will I wrong my king. He is punished eno' +in the choice he hath made. Poor Edward and poor England! What woes +and wars await ye both, from the gold and the craft and the unsparing +hate of Louis XI! No; if I leave Edward, he hath more need of you. +Of mine own free will I have resigned mine offices." + +"Warwick," interrupted Raoul de Fulke, "this deceives us not; and in +disgrace to you the ancient barons of England behold the first blow at +their own state. We have wrongs we endured in silence while thou wert +the shield and sword of yon merchant-king. We have seen the ancient +peers of England set aside for men of yesterday; we have seen our +daughters, sisters,--nay, our very mothers, if widowed and dowered,-- +forced into disreputable and base wedlock with creatures dressed in +titles, and gilded with wealth stolen from ourselves. Merchants and +artificers tread upon our knightly heels, and the avarice of trade +eats up our chivalry as a rust. We nobles, in our greater day, have +had the crown at our disposal, and William the Norman dared not think +what Edward Earl of March hath been permitted with impunity to do. +We, Sir Earl--we knights and barons--would a king simple in his +manhood and princely in his truth. Richard Earl of Warwick, thou art +of royal blood, the descendant of old John of Gaunt. In thee we +behold the true, the living likeness of the Third Edward, and the +Hero-Prince of Cressy. Speak but the word, and we make thee king!" + +The descendant of the Norman, the representative of the mighty faction +that no English monarch had ever braved in vain, looked round as he +said these last words, and a choral murmur was heard through the whole +of that august nobility, "We make thee king!" + +"Richard, descendant of the Plantagenet, [By the female side, through +Joan Beaufort, or Plantagenet, Warwick was third in descent from John +of Gaunt, as Henry VII., through the male line, was fourth in +descent.] speak the word," repeated Raoul de Fulke. + +"I speak it not," interrupted Warwick; "nor shalt thou continue, brave +Raoul de Fulke. What, my lords and gentlemen," he added, drawing +himself up, and with his countenance animated with feelings it is +scarcely possible in our times to sympathize with or make clear-- +"what! think you that Ambition limits itself to the narrow circlet of +a crown Greater, and more in the spirit of our mighty fathers, is the +condition of men like us, THE BARONS who make and unmake kings. What! +who of us would not rather descend from the chiefs of Runnymede than +from the royal craven whom they controlled and chid? By Heaven, my +lords, Richard Nevile has too proud a soul to be a king! A king--a +puppet of state and form; a king--a holiday show for the crowd, to +hiss or hurrah, as the humour seizes; a king--a beggar to the nation, +wrangling with his parliament for gold! A king!--Richard II. was a +king, and Lancaster dethroned him. Ye would debase me to a Henry of +Lancaster. Mort Dieu! I thank ye. The Commons and the Lords raised +him, forsooth,--for what? To hold him as the creature they had made, +to rate him, to chafe him, to pry into his very household, and quarrel +with his wife's chamberlains and lavourers. [Laundresses. The +parliamentary rolls, in the reign of Henry IV., abound in curious +specimens of the interference of the Commons with the household of +Henry's wife, Queen Joan.] What! dear Raoul de Fulke, is thy friend +fallen now so low, that he--Earl of Salisbury and of Warwick, chief of +the threefold race of Montagu, Monthermer, and Nevile, lord of a +hundred baronies, leader of sixty thousand followers--is not greater +than Edward of March, to whom we will deign still, with your +permission, to vouchsafe the name and pageant of a king?" + +This extraordinary address, strange to say, so thoroughly expressed +the peculiar pride of the old barons, that when it ceased a sound of +admiration and applause circled through that haughty audience, and +Raoul de Fulke, kneeling suddenly, kissed the earl's hand. "Oh, noble +earl," he said, "ever live as one of us, to maintain our order, and +teach kings and nations what WE are." + +"Fear it not, Raoul! fear it not,--we will have our rights yet. +Return, I beseech ye. Let me feel I have such friends about the king. +Even at Middleham my eye shall watch over our common cause; and till +seven feet of earth suffice him, your brother baron, Richard Nevile, +is not a man whom kings and courts can forget, much less dishonour. +Sirs, our honour is in our bosoms,--and there is the only throne +armies cannot shake, nor cozeners undermine." + +With these words he gently waved his hand, motioned to his squire, who +stood out of hearing with the steeds, to approach, and mounting, +gravely rode on. Ere he had got many paces, he called to Marmaduke, +who was on foot, and bade him follow him to London that night. "I +have strange tidings to tell the French envoys, and for England's sake +I must soothe their anger, if I can,--then to Middleham." + +The nobles returned slowly to the pavilions. And as they gained the +open space, where the gaudy tents still shone against the setting sun, +they beheld the mob of that day, whom Shakspeare hath painted with +such contempt, gathering, laughing and loud, around the mountebank and +the conjurer, who had already replaced in their thoughts (as +Gloucester had foreseen) the hero-idol of their worship. + + + + + +BOOK V. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +RURAL ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES--NOBLE VISITORS SEEK THE CASTLE OF +MIDDLEHAM. + +Autumn had succeeded to summer, winter to autumn, and the spring of +1468 was green in England, when a gallant cavalcade was seen slowly +winding the ascent of a long and gradual hill, towards the decline of +day. Different, indeed, from the aspect which that part of the +country now presents was the landscape that lay around them, bathed in +the smiles of the westering sun. In a valley to the left, a full view +of which the steep road commanded (where now roars the din of trade +through a thousand factories), lay a long, secluded village. The +houses, if so they might be called, were constructed entirely of wood, +and that of the more perishable kind,--willow, sallow, elm, and plum- +tree. Not one could boast a chimney; but the smoke from the single +fire in each, after duly darkening the atmosphere within, sent its +surplusage lazily and fitfully through a circular aperture in the +roof. In fact, there was long in the provinces a prejudice against +chimneys! The smoke was considered good both for house and owner; the +first it was supposed to season, and the last to guard "from rheums, +catarrhs, and poses." [So worthy Hollinshed, Book II. c. 22.--"Then +had we none but reredosses, and our heads did never ache. For as the +smoke, in those days, was supposed to be a sufficient hardening for +the timber of the house, so it was reputed a far better medicine to +keep the goodman and his familie from the quacke, or pose, wherewith +as then very few were oft acquainted."] Neither did one of these +habitations boast the comfort of a glazed window, the substitute being +lattice, or chequer-work,--even in the house of the franklin, which +rose statelily above the rest, encompassed with barns and outsheds. +And yet greatly should we err did we conceive that these deficiencies +were an index to the general condition of the working class. Far +better off was the labourer when employed, than now. Wages were +enormously high, meat extremely low; [See Hallam: Middle Ages, Chap. +xx. Part II. So also Hollinsbed, Book XI., c. 12, comments on the +amazement of the Spaniards, in Queen Mary's time, when they saw "what +large diet was used in these so homelie cottages," and reports one of +the Spaniards to have said, "These English have their houses of sticks +and dirt, but they fare commonlie so well as the king!"] and our +motherland bountifully maintained her children. + +On that greensward, before the village (now foul and reeking with the +squalid population whom commerce rears up,--the victims, as the +movers, of the modern world) were assembled youth and age; for it was +a holiday evening, and the stern Puritan had not yet risen to sour the +face of Mirth. Well clad in leathern jerkin, or even broadcloth, the +young peasants vied with each other in quoits and wrestling; while the +merry laughter of the girls, in their gay-coloured kirtles and +ribboned hair, rose oft and cheerily to the ears of the cavalcade. +From a gentle eminence beyond the village, and half veiled by trees, +on which the first verdure of spring was budding (where now, around +the gin-shop, gather the fierce and sickly children of toil and of +discontent), rose the venerable walls of a monastery, and the chime of +its heavy bell swung far and sweet over the pastoral landscape. To +the right of the road (where now stands the sober meeting-house) was +one of those small shrines so frequent in Italy, with an image of the +Virgin gaudily painted, and before it each cavalier in the procession +halted an instant to cross himself and mutter an ave. Beyond, still +to the right, extended vast chains of woodland, interspersed with +strips of pasture, upon which numerous flocks were grazing, with +horses, as yet unbroken to bit and selle, that neighed and snorted as +they caught scent of their more civilized brethren pacing up the road. + +In front of the cavalcade rode two, evidently of superior rank to the +rest,--the one small and slight, with his long hair flowing over his +shoulders; and the other, though still young, many years older, and +indicating his clerical profession by the absence of all love-locks, +compensated by a curled and glossy beard, trimmed with the greatest +care. But the dress of the ecclesiastic was as little according to +our modern notions of what beseems the Church as can well be +conceived: his tunic and surcoat, of a rich amber, contrasted well +with the clear darkness of his complexion; his piked shoes, or +beakers, as they were called, turned up half-way to the knee; the +buckles of his dress were of gold, inlaid with gems; and the housings +of his horse, which was of great power, were edged with gold fringe. +By the side of his steed walked a tall greyhound, upon which he ever +and anon glanced with affection. Behind these rode two gentlemen, +whose golden spurs announced knighthood; and then followed a long +train of squires and pages, richly clad and accoutred, bearing +generally the Nevile badge of the Bull; though interspersed amongst +the retinue might be seen the grim Boar's head, which Richard of +Gloucester, in right of his duchy, had assumed as his cognizance. + +"Nay, sweet prince," said the ecclesiastic, "I pray thee to consider +that a greyhound is far more of a gentleman than any other of the +canine species. Mark his stately yet delicate length of limb, his +sleek coat, his keen eye, his haughty neck." + +"These are but the externals, my noble friend. Will the greyhound +attack the lion, as our mastiff doth? The true character of the +gentleman is to know no fear, and to rush through all danger at the +throat of his foe; wherefore I uphold the dignity of the mastiff above +all his tribe, though others have a daintier hide and a statelier +crest. Enough of such matters, archbishop,--we are nearing Middleham." + +"The saints be praised! for I am hungered," observed the archbishop, +piously: "but, sooth to say, my cook at the More far excelleth what we +can hope to find at the board of my brother. He hath some faults, our +Warwick! Hasty and careless, he hath not thought eno' of the +blessings he might enjoy, and many a poor abbot hath daintier fare on +his humble table." + +"Oh, George Nevile! who that heard thee, when thou talkest of hounds +and interments, [entremets (side dishes)] would recognize the Lord +Chancellor of England,--the most learned dignitary, the most subtle +statesman?" + +"And oh, Richard Plantagenet!" retorted the archbishop, dropping the +mincing and affected tone, which he, in common with the coxcombs of +that day, usually assumed, "who that heard thee when thou talkest of +humility and devotion, would recognize the sternest heart and the most +daring ambition God ever gave to prince?" + +Richard started at these words, and his eye shot fire as it met the +keen calm glance of the prelate. + +"Nay, your Grace wrongs me," he said, gnawing his lip,--"or I should +not say wrongs, but flatters; for sternness and ambition are no vices +in a Nevile's eyes." + +"Fairly answered, royal son," said the archbishop, laughing; "but let +us be frank. Thou hast persuaded me to accompany thee to Lord Warwick +as a mediator; the provinces in the North are disturbed; the intrigues +of Margaret of Anjou are restless; the king reaps what he has sown in +the Court of France, and, as Warwick foretold, the emissaries and gold +of Louis are ever at work against his throne; the great barons are +moody and discontented; and our liege King Edward is at last aware +that, if the Earl of Warwick do not return to his councils, the first +blast of a hostile trumpet may drive him from his throne. Well, I +attend thee: my fortunes are woven with those of York, and my interest +and my loyalty go hand in hand. Be equally frank with me. Hast thou, +Lord Richard, no interest to serve in this mission save that of the +public weal?" + +"Thou forgettest that the Lady Isabel is dearly loved by Clarence, and +that I would fain see removed all barrier to his nuptial bliss. But +yonder rise the towers of Middleham. Beloved walls, which sheltered +my childhood! and, by holy Paul, a noble pile, which would resist an +army, or hold one." + +While thus conversed the prince and the archbishop, the Earl of +Warwick, musing and alone, slowly paced the lofty terrace that crested +the battlements of his outer fortifications. + +In vain had that restless and powerful spirit sought content in +retirement. Trained from his childhood to active life, to move +mankind to and fro at his beck, this single and sudden interval of +repose in the prime of his existence, at the height of his fame, +served but to swell the turbulent and dangerous passions to which all +vent was forbidden. + +The statesman of modern days has at least food for intellect in +letters when deprived of action; but with all his talents, and +thoroughly cultivated as his mind was in the camp, the council, and +the state, the great earl cared for nothing in book-lore except some +rude ballad that told of Charlemagne or Rollo. The sports that had +pleased the leisure of his earlier youth were tedious and flat to one +snatched from so mighty a career. His hound lay idle at his feet, his +falcon took holiday on the perch, his jester was banished to the +page's table. Behold the repose of this great unlettered spirit! But +while his mind was thus debarred from its native sphere, all tended to +pamper Lord Warwick's infirmity of pride. The ungrateful Edward might +forget him; but the king seemed to stand alone in that oblivion. The +mightiest peers, the most renowned knights, gathered to his hall. +Middleham,--not Windsor nor Shene nor Westminster nor the Tower-- +seemed the COURT OF ENGLAND. As the Last of the Barons paced his +terrace, far as his eye could reach, his broad domains extended, +studded with villages and towns and castles swarming with his +retainers. The whole country seemed in mourning for his absence. The +name of Warwick was in all men's mouths, and not a group gathered in +market-place or hostel but what the minstrel who had some ballad in +praise of the stout earl had a rapt and thrilling audience. + +"And is the river of my life," muttered Warwick, "shrunk into this +stagnant pool? Happy the man who hath never known what it is to taste +of fame,--to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell!" + +Rapt in this gloomy self-commune, he heard not the light step that +sought his side, till a tender arm was thrown around him, and a face +in which sweet temper and pure thought had preserved to matronly +beauty all the bloom of youth, looked up smilingly to his own. + +"My lord, my Richard," said the countess, "why didst thou steal so +churlishly from me? Hath there, alas! come a time when thou deemest +me unworthy to share thy thoughts, or soothe thy troubles?" + +"Fond one! no," said Warwick, drawing the form still light, though +rounded, nearer to his bosom. "For nineteen years hast thou been to +me a leal and loving wife. Thou wert a child on our wedding-day, +m'amie, and I but a beardless youth; yet wise enough was I then to +see, at the first glance of thy blue eye, that there was more treasure +in thy heart than in all the lordships thy hand bestowed." + +"My Richard!" murmured the countess, and her tears of grateful delight +fell on the hand she kissed. + +"Yes, let us recall those early and sweet days," continued Warwick, +with a tenderness of voice and manner that strangers might have +marvelled at, forgetting how tenderness is almost ever a part of such +peculiar manliness of character; "yes, sit we here under this spacious +elm, and think that our youth has come back to us once more. For +verily, m'amie, nothing in life has ever been so fair to me as those +days when we stood hand in hand on its threshold, and talked, boy- +bridegroom and child-bride as we were, of the morrow that lay beyond." + +"Ah, Richard, even in those days thy ambition sometimes vexed my +woman's vanity, and showed me that I could never be all in all to so +large a heart!" + +"Ambition! No, thou mistakest,--Montagu is ambitious, I but proud. +Montagu ever seeks to be higher than he is, I but assert the right to +be what I am and have been; and my pride, sweet wife, is a part of my +love for thee. It is thy title, Heiress of Warwick, and not my +father's, that I bear; thy badge, and not the Nevile's, which I have +made the symbol of my power. Shame, indeed, on my knighthood, if the +fairest dame in England could not justify my pride! Ah, belle amie, +why have we not a son?" + +"Peradventure, fair lord," said the countess, with an arch yet half- +melancholy smile, "because that pride, or ambition, name it as thou +wilt, which thou excusest so gallantly, would become too insatiate and +limitless if thou sawest a male heir to thy greatness; and God, +perhaps, warns thee that, spread and increase as thou wilt,--yea, +until half our native country becometh as the manor of one man,--all +must pass from the Beauchamp and the Nevile into new Houses; thy glory +indeed an eternal heirloom, but only to thy land,--thy lordships and +thy wealth melting into the dowry of a daughter." + +"At least no king hath daughters so dowried," answered Warwick; "and +though I disdain for myself the hard vassalage of a throne, yet if the +channel of our blood must pass into other streams, into nothing meaner +than the veins of royalty should it merge." He paused a moment, and +added with a sigh, "Would that Clarence were more worthy Isabel!" + +"Nay," said the countess, gently, "he loveth her as she merits. He is +comely, brave, gracious, and learned." + +"A pest upon that learning,--it sicklies and womanizes men's minds!" +exclaimed Warwick, bluntly. "Perhaps it is his learning that I am to +thank for George of Clarence's fears and doubts and calculations and +scruples. His brother forbids his marriage with any English donzell, +for Edward dares not specialize what alone he dreads. His letters +burn with love, and his actions freeze with doubts. It was not thus I +loved thee, sweetheart. By all the saints in the calendar, had Henry +V. or the Lion Richard started from the tomb to forbid me thy hand, it +would but have made me a hotter lover! Howbeit Clarence shall decide +ere the moon wanes, and but for Isabel's tears and thy entreaties, my +father's grandchild should not have waited thus long the coming of so +hesitating a wooer. But lo, our darlings! Anne hath thine eyes, +m'amie; and she groweth more into my heart every day, since daily she +more favours thee." + +While he thus spoke, the fair sisters came lightly and gayly up the +terrace: the arm of the statelier Isabel was twined round Anne's +slender waist; and as they came forward in that gentle link, with +their lithesome and bounding step, a happier blending of contrasted +beauty was never seen. The months that had passed since the sisters +were presented first to the reader had little changed the superb and +radiant loveliness of Isabel, but had added surprisingly to the +attractions of Anne. Her form was more rounded, her bloom more +ripened; and though something of timidity and bashfulness still +lingered about the grace of her movements and the glance of her dove- +like eye, the more earnest thoughts of the awakening woman gave sweet +intelligence to her countenance, and that divinest of all attractions +--the touching and conscious modesty--to the shy but tender smile, and +the blush that so came and went, so went and came, that it stirred the +heart with a sort of delighted pity for one so evidently susceptible +to every emotion of pleasure and of pain. Life seemed too rough a +thing for so soft a nature, and gazing on her, one sighed to guess her +future. + +"And what brings ye hither, young truants?" said the earl, as Anne, +leaving her sister, clung lovingly to his side (for it was ever her +habit to cling to some one), while Isabel kissed her mother's hand, +and then stood before her parents, colouring deeply, and with downcast +eyes. "What brings ye hither, whom I left so lately deep engaged in +the loom, upon the helmet of Goliath, with my burgonet before you as a +sample? Wife, you are to blame,--our rooms of state will be arrasless +for the next three generations, if these rosy fingers are suffered +thus to play the idlers." + +"My father," whispered Anne, "guests are on their way hither,--a noble +cavalcade; you note them not from this part of the battlements, but +from our turret it was fair to see how their plumes and banners shone +in the setting sun." + +"Guests!" echoed the earl; "well, is that so rare an honour that your +hearts should beat like village girls at a holiday? Ah, Isabel! look +at her blushes. Is it George of Clarence at last? Is it?" + +"We see the Duke of Gloucester's cognizance," whispered Anne, "and our +own Nevile Bull. Perchance our cousin George, also, may--" + +Here she was interrupted by the sound of the warder's horn, followed a +moment after by the roar of one of the bombards on the keep. + +"At least," said Warwick, his face lighting up, "that signal announces +the coming of king's blood. We must honour it,--for it is our own. +We will go forth and meet our guests--your hand, countess." + +And gravely and silently, and in deep but no longer gloomy thought, +Warwick descended from the terrace, followed by the fair sisters; and +who that could have looked upon that princely pair and those lovely +and radiant children, could have foreseen that in that hour, Fate, in +tempting the earl once more to action, was busy on their doom! + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +COUNCILS AND MUSINGS. + +The lamp shone through the lattice of Warwick's chamber at the +unwonted hour of midnight, and the earl was still in deep commune with +his guests. The archbishop, whom Edward, alarmed by the state of the +country and the disaffection of his barons, had reluctantly +commissioned to mediate with Warwick, was, as we have before said, one +of those men peculiar to the early Church. There was nothing more in +the title of Archbishop of York than in that of the Bishop of Osnaburg +(borne by the royal son of George III.) [The late Duke of York.] to +prevent him who enjoyed it from leading armies, guiding States, or +indulging pleasure. But beneath the coxcombry of George Nevile, which +was what he shared most in common with the courtiers of the laity, +there lurked a true ecclesiastic's mind. He would have made in later +times an admirable Jesuit, and no doubt in his own time a very +brilliant Pope. His objects in his present mission were clear and +perspicuous; any breach between Warwick and the king must necessarily +weaken his own position, and the power of his House was essential to +all his views. The object of Gloucester in his intercession was less +defined, but not less personal: in smoothing the way to his brother's +marriage with Isabel, he removed all apparent obstacle to his own with +Anne. And it is probable that Richard, who, whatever his crimes, was +far from inaccessible to affection, might have really loved his early +playmate, even while his ambition calculated the wealth of the +baronies that would swell the dower of the heiress and gild the barren +coronet of his duchy. [Majerns, the Flemish chronicler, quoted by +Bucke ("Life of Richard III"), mentions the early attachment of +Richard to Anne. They were much together, as children, at Middleham.] + +"God's truth!" said Warwick, as he lifted his eyes from the scroll in +the king's writing, "ye know well, princely cousin, and thou, my +brother, ye know well how dearly I have loved King Edward; and the +mother's milk overflows my heart when I read these gentle and tender +words which he deigns to bestow upon his servant. My blood is hasty +and over-hot, but a kind thought from those I love puts out much fire. +Sith he thus beseeches me to return to his councils, I will not be +sullen enough to hold back; but, oh, Prince Richard! is it indeed a +matter past all consideration that your sister, the Lady Margaret, +must wed with the Duke of Burgundy?" + +"Warwick," replied the prince, "thou mayest know that I never looked +with favour on that alliance; that when Clarence bore the Bastard's +helmet, I withheld my countenance from the Bastard's presence. I +incurred Edward's anger by refusing to attend his court while the +Count de la Roche was his guest. And therefore you may trust me when I +say now that Edward, after promises, however rash, most solemn and +binding, is dishonoured forever if he break off the contract. New +circumstances, too, have arisen, to make what were dishonour danger +also. By the death of his father, Charolois has succeeded to the Duke +of Burgundy's diadem. Thou knowest his warlike temper; and though in +a contest popular in England we need fear no foe, yet thou knowest +also that no subsidies could be raised for strife with our most +profitable commercial ally. Wherefore we earnestly implore thee +magnanimously to forgive the past, accept Edward's assurance of +repentance, and be thy thought--as it has been ever--the weal of our +common country." + +"I may add, also," said the archbishop, observing how much Warwick was +touched and softened,--"that in returning to the helm of state, our +gracious king permits me to say, that, save only in the alliance with +Burgundy, which toucheth his plighted word, you have full liberty to +name conditions, and to ask whatever grace or power a monarch can +bestow." + +"I name none but my prince's confidence," said Warwick, generously; +"in that, all else is given, and in return for that, I will make the +greatest sacrifice that my nature knoweth, or can conceive,--I will +mortify my familiar demon, I will subdue my PRIDE. If Edward can +convince me that it is for the good of England that his sister should +wed with mine ancient and bitter foe, I will myself do honour to his +choice. But of this hereafter. Enough now that I forget past wrongs +in present favour; and that for peace or war, I return to the side of +that man whom I loved as my son before I served him as my king." + +Neither Richard nor the archbishop was prepared for a conciliation so +facile, for neither quite understood that peculiar magnanimity which +often belongs to a vehement and hasty temper, and which is as eager to +forgive as prompt to take offence,--which, ever in extremes, is not +contented with anything short of fiery aggression or trustful +generosity, and where it once passes over an offence, seeks to oblige +the offender. So, when, after some further conversation on the state +of the country, the earl lighted Gloucester to his chamber, the young +prince said to himself, musingly,-- + +"Does ambition besot and blind men? Or can Warwick think that Edward +can ever view him but as one to be destroyed when the hour is ripe?" + +Catesby, who was the duke's chamberlain, was in attendance as the +prince unrobed. + +"A noble castle this," said the duke, "and one in the midst of a +warlike population,--our own countrymen of York." + +"It would be no mean addition to the dowry of the Lady Isabel," said +Catesby, with his bland, false smile. + +"Methinks rather that the lordships of Salisbury (and this is the +chief) pass to the Lady Anne," said Richard, musingly. "No, Edward +were imprudent to suffer this stronghold to fall to the next heir to +his throne. Marked you the Lady Anne?--her beauty is most excellent." + +"Truly, your Highness," answered Catesby, unsuspiciously, "the Lady +Isabel seems to me the taller and the statelier." + +"When man's merit and woman's beauty are measured by the ell, Catesby, +Anne will certainly be less fair than Isabel, and Richard a dolt +compared to Clarence. Open the casement; my dressing-robe; good-night +to you!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE SISTERS. + +The next morning, at an hour when modern beauty falls into its first +sickly sleep, Isabel and Anne conversed on the same terrace, and near +the same spot, which had witnessed their father's meditations the day +before. They were seated on a rude bench in an angle of the wall, +flanked by a low, heavy bastion. And from the parapet their gaze +might have wandered over a goodly sight, for on a broad space, covered +with sand and sawdust, within the vast limits of the castle range, the +numerous knights and youths who sought apprenticeship in arms and +gallantry under the earl were engaged in those martial sports which, +falling elsewhere in disuse, the Last of the Barons kinglily +maintained. There, boys of fourteen, on their small horses, ran +against each other with blunted lances. There, those of more advanced +adolescence, each following the other in a circle, rode at the ring; +sometimes (at the word of command from an old knight who had fought at +Agincourt, and was the preceptor in these valiant studies) leaping +from their horses at full speed, and again vaulting into the saddle. +A few grim old warriors sat by to censure or applaud. Most skilled +among the younger was the son of Lord Montagu; among the maturer, the +name of Marmaduke Nevile was the most often shouted. If the eye +turned to the left, through the barbican might be seen flocks of +beeves entering to supply the mighty larder; and at a smaller postern, +a dark crowd of mendicant friars, and the more destitute poor, waited +for the daily crumbs from the rich man's table. What need of a poor- +law then? The baron and the abbot made the parish! But not on these +evidences of wealth and state turned the eyes, so familiar to them, +that they woke no vanity, and roused no pride. + +With downcast looks and a pouting lip, Isabel listened to the silver +voice of Anne. + +"Dear sister, be just to Clarence. He cannot openly defy his king and +brother. Believe that he would have accompanied our uncle and cousin +had he not deemed that their meditation would be more welcome, at +least to King Edward, without his presence." + +"But not a letter! not a line!" + +"Yet when I think of it, Isabel, are we sure that he even knew of the +visit of the archbishop and his brother?" + +"How could he fail to know?" + +"The Duke of Gloucester last evening told me that the king had sent +him southward." + +"Was it about Clarence that the duke whispered to thee so softly by +the oriel window?" + +"Surely, yes," said Anne, simply. "Was not Richard as a brother to us +when we played as children on yon greensward?" + +"Never as a brother to me,--never was Richard of Gloucester one whom I +could think of without fear and even loathing," answered Isabel, +quickly. + +It was at this turn in the conversation that the noiseless step of +Richard himself neared the spot, and hearing his own name thus +discourteously treated, he paused, screened from their eyes by the +bastion in the angle. + +"Nay, nay, sister," said Anne; "what is there in Richard that +misbeseems his princely birth?" + +"I know not, but there is no youth in his eye and in his heart. Even +as a child he had the hard will and the cold craft of gray hairs. +Pray Saint Mary you give me not Gloucester for a brother!" + +Anne sighed and smiled. "Ah, no," she said, after a short pause, +"when thou art Princess of Clarence may I--" + +"May thou what?" + +"Pray for thee and thine in the house of God! Ah, thou knowest not, +sweet Isabel, how often at morn and even mine eyes and heart turn to +the spires of yonder convent!" She rose as she said this, her lip +quivered, and she moved on in the opposite direction to that in which +Richard stood, still unseen, and no longer within his hearing. Isabel +rose also, and hastening after her, threw her arms round Anne's neck, +and kissed away the tears that stood in those meek eyes. + +"My sister, my Anne! Ah, trust in me, thou hast some secret, I know +it well,--I have long seen it. Is it possible that thou canst have +placed thy heart, thy pure love--Thou blushest! Ah, Anne! Anne! thou +canst not have loved beneath thee?" + +"Nay," said Anne, with a spark of her ancestral fire lighting her meek +eyes through its tears, "not beneath me, but above. What do I say! +Isabel, ask me no more. Enough that it is a folly, a dream, and that +I could smile with pity at myself to think from what light causes love +and grief can spring." + +"Above thee!" repeated Isabel, in amaze; "and who in England is above +the daughter of Earl Warwick? Not Richard of Gloucester? If so, +pardon my foolish tongue." + +"No, not Richard,--though I feel kindly towards him, and his sweet +voice soothes me when I listen,--not Richard. Ask no more." + +"Oh, Anne, speak, speak!--we are not both so wretched? Thou lovest +not Clarence? It is--it must be!" + +"Canst thou think me so false and treacherous,--a heart pledged to +thee? Clarence! Oh, no!" + +"But who then--who then?" said Isabel, still suspiciously. "Nay, if +thou wilt not speak, blame thyself if I must still wrong thee." + +Thus appealed to, and wounded to the quick by Isabel's tone and eye, +Anne at last with a strong effort suppressed her tears, and, taking +her sister's hand, said in a voice of touching solemnity, "Promise, +then, that the secret shall be ever holy; and, since I know that it +will move thine anger--perhaps thy scorn--strive to forget what I will +confess to thee." + +Isabel for answer pressed her lips on the hand she held; and the +sisters, turning under the shadow of a long row of venerable oaks, +placed themselves on a little mound, fragrant with the violets of +spring. A different part of the landscape beyond was now brought in +view; calmly slept in the valley the roofs of the subject town of +Middleham, calmly flowed through the pastures the noiseless waves of +Ure. Leaning on Isabel's bosom, Anne thus spake, "Call to mind, sweet +sister, that short breathing-time in the horrors of the Civil War, +when a brief peace was made between our father and Queen Margaret. We +were left in the palace--mere children that we were--to play with the +young prince, and the children in Margaret's train." + +"I remember." + +"And I was unwell and timid, and kept aloof from the sports with a +girl of my own years, whom I think--see how faithful my memory!--they +called Sibyll; and Prince Edward, Henry's son, stealing from the rest, +sought me out; and we sat together, or walked together alone, apart +from all, that day and the few days we were his mother's guests. Oh, +if you could have seen him and heard him then,--so beautiful, so +gentle, so wise beyond his years, and yet so sweetly sad; and when we +parted, he bade me ever love him, and placed his ring on my finger, +and wept,--as we kissed each other, as children will." + +"Children! ye were infants!" exclaimed Isabel, whose wonder seemed +increased by this simple tale. + +"Infant though I was, I felt as if my heart would break when I left +him; and then the wars ensued; and do you not remember how ill I was, +and like to die, when our House triumphed, and the prince and heir of +Lancaster was driven into friendless exile? From that hour my fate +was fixed. Smile if you please at such infant folly, but children +often feel more deeply than later years can weet of." + +"My sister, this is indeed a wilful invention of sorrow for thine own +scourge. Why, ere this, believe me, the boy-prince hath forgotten thy +very name." + +"Not so, Isabel," said Anne, colouring, and quickly, "and perchance, +did all rest here, I might have outgrown my weakness. But last year, +when we were at Rouen with my father--" + +"Well?" + +"One evening on entering my chamber, I found a packet,--how left I +know not, but the French king and his suite, thou rememberest, made +our house almost their home,--and in this packet was a picture, and on +its back these words, Forget not the exile who remembers thee!" + +"And that picture was Prince Edward's?" + +Anne blushed, and her bosom heaved beneath the slender and high-laced +gorget. After a pause, looking round her, she drew forth a small +miniature, which lay on the heart that beat thus sadly, and placed it +in her sister's hands. + +"You see I deceive you not, Isabel. And is not this a fair excuse +for--" + +She stopped short, her modest nature shrinking from comment upon the +mere beauty that might have won the heart. And fair indeed was the +face upon which Isabel gazed admiringly, in spite of the stiff and +rude art of the limner; full of the fire and energy which +characterized the countenance of the mother, but with a tinge of the +same profound and inexpressible melancholy that gave its charm to the +pensive features of Henry VI.,--a face, indeed, to fascinate a young +eye, even if not associated with such remembrances of romance and +pity. + +Without saying a word, Isabel gave back the picture; but she pressed +the hand that took it, and Anne was contented to interpret the silence +into sympathy. + +"And now you know why I have so often incurred your anger by +compassion for the adherents of Lancaster; and for this, also, Richard +of Gloucester hath been endeared to me,--for fierce and stern as he +may be called, he hath ever been gentle in his mediation for that +unhappy House." + +"Because it is his policy to be well with all parties. My poor Anne, +I cannot bid you hope; and yet, should I ever wed with Clarence, it +may be possible--that--that--but you in turn will chide me for +ambition." + +"How?" + +"Clarence is heir to the throne of England, for King Edward has no +male children; and the hour may arrive when the son of Henry of +Windsor may return to his native land, not as sovereign, but as Duke +of Lancaster, and thy hand may reconcile him to the loss of a crown." + +"Would love reconcile thee to such a loss, proud Isabel?" said Anne, +shaking her head, and smiling mournfully. + +"No," answered Isabel, emphatically. + +"And are men less haught than we?" said Anne. "Ah, I know not if I +could love him so well could he resign his rights, or even could he +regain them. It is his position that gives him a holiness in my eyes. +And this love, that must be hopeless, is half pity and half respect." + +At this moment a loud shout arose from the youths in the yard, or +sporting-ground, below, and the sisters, startled, and looking up, saw +that the sound was occasioned by the sight of the young Duke of +Gloucester, who was standing on the parapet near the bench the +demoiselles had quitted, and who acknowledged the greeting by a wave +of his plumed cap, and a lowly bend of his head; at the same time the +figures of Warwick and the archbishop, seemingly in earnest +conversation, appeared at the end of the terrace. The sisters rose +hastily, and would have stolen away, but the archbishop caught a +glimpse of their robes, and called aloud to them. The reverent +obedience, at that day, of youth to relations left the sisters no +option but to advance towards their uncle, which they did with demure +reluctance. + +"Fair brother," said the archbishop, "I would that Gloucester were to +have my stately niece instead of the gaudy Clarence." + +"Wherefore?" + +"Because he can protect those he loves, and Clarence will ever need a +protector." + +"I like George not the less for that," said Warwick, "for I would not +have my son-in-law my master." + +"Master!" echoed the archbishop, laughing; "the Soldan of Babylon +himself, were he your son-in-law, would find Lord Warwick a tolerably +stubborn servant!" + +"And yet," said Warwick, also laughing, but with a franker tone, +"beshrew me, but much as I approve young Gloucester, and deem him the +hope of the House of York, I never feel sure, when we are of the same +mind, whether I agree with him, or whether he leadeth me. Ah, George! +Isabel should have wedded the king, and then Edward and I would have +had a sweet mediator in all our quarrels. But not so hath it been +decreed." + +There was a pause. + +"Note how Gloucester steals to the side of Anne. Thou mayst have him +for a son-in-law, though no rival to Clarence. Montagu hath hinted +that the duke so aspires." + +"He has his father's face--well," said the earl, softly. "But yet," +he added, in an altered and reflective tone, "the boy is to me a +riddle. That he will be bold in battle and wise in council I foresee; +but would he had more of a young man's honest follies! There is a +medium between Edward's wantonness and Richard's sanctimony; and he +who in the heyday of youth's blood scowls alike upon sparkling wine +and smiling woman, may hide in his heart darker and more sinful +fancies. But fie on me! I will not wrongfully mistrust his father's +son. Thou spokest of Montagu; he seems to have been mighty cold to +his brother's wrongs,--ever at the court, ever sleek with Villein and +Woodville." + +"But the better to watch thy interests,--I so counselled him." + +"A priest's counsel! Hate frankly or love freely is a knight's and +soldier's motto. A murrain on all doubledealing!" + +The archbishop shrugged his shoulders, and applied to his nostrils a +small pouncet-box of dainty essences. + +"Come hither, my haughty Isabel," said the prelate, as the demoiselles +now drew near. He placed his niece's arm within his own, and took her +aside to talk of Clarence; Richard remained with Anne, and the young +cousins were joined by Warwick. The earl noted in silence the soft +address of the eloquent prince, and his evident desire to please Anne. +And strange as it may seem, although he had hitherto regarded Richard +with admiration and affection, and although his pride for both +daughters coveted alliances not less than royal, yet, in contemplating +Gloucester for the first time as a probable suitor to his daughter +(and his favourite daughter), the anxiety of a father sharpened his +penetration, and placed the character of Richard before him in a +different point from that in which he had hitherto looked only on the +fearless heart and accomplished wit of his royal godson. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DESTRIER. + +It was three days afterwards that the earl, as, according to custom, +Anne knelt to him for his morning blessing in the oratory where the +Christian baron at matins and vespers offered up his simple worship, +drew her forth into the air, and said abruptly,-- + +"Wouldst thou be happy if Richard of Gloucester were thy betrothed?" + +Anne started, and with more vivacity than usually belonged to her, +exclaimed, "Oh, no, my father!" + +"This is no maiden's silly coyness, Anne? It is a plain yea or nay +that I ask from thee!" + +"Nay, then," answered Anne, encouraged by her father's tone,--"nay, if +it so please you." + +"It doth please me," said the earl, shortly; and after a pause, he +added, "Yes, I am well pleased. Richard gives promise of an +illustrious manhood; but, Anne, thou growest so like thy mother, that +whenever my pride seeks to see thee great, my heart steps in, and only +prays that it may see thee happy!--so much so, that I would not have +given thee to Clarence, whom it likes me well to view as Isabel's +betrothed, for, to her, greatness and bliss are one; and she is of +firm nature, and can rule in her own house; but thou--where out of +romaunt can I find a lord loving enough for thee, soft child?" + +Inexpressibly affected, Anne threw herself on her father's breast and +wept. He caressed and soothed her fondly; and before her emotion was +well over, Gloucester and Isabel joined them. + +"My fair cousin," said the duke, "hath promised to show me thy +renowned steed, Saladin; and since, on quitting thy halls, I go to my +apprenticeship in war on the turbulent Scottish frontier, I would fain +ask thee for a destrier of the same race as that which bears the +thunderbolt of Warwick's wrath through the storm of battle." + +"A steed of the race of Saladin," answered the earl, leading the way +to the destrier's stall, apart from all other horses, and rather a +chamber of the castle than a stable, "were indeed a boon worthy a +soldier's gift and a prince's asking. But, alas! Saladin, like +myself, is sonless,--the last of a long line." + +"His father, methinks, fell for us on the field of Towton. Was it not +so? I have heard Edward say that when the archers gave way, and the +victory more than wavered, thou, dismounting, didst slay thy steed +with thine own hand, and kissing the cross of thy sword, swore on that +spot to stem the rush of the foe, and win Edward's crown or Warwick's +grave." ["Every Palm Sunday, the day on which the battle of Towton +was fought, a rough figure, called the Red Horse, on the side of a +hill in Warwickshire, is scoured out. This is suggested to be done in +commemoration of the horse which the Earl of Warwick slew on that day, +determined to vanquish or die."--Roberts: York and Lancaster, vol. i. +p. 429.] + +"It was so; and the shout of my merry men, when they saw me amongst +their ranks on foot--all flight forbid--was Malech's death-dirge. It +is a wondrous race,--that of Malech and his son Saladin," continued +the earl, smiling. "When my ancestor, Aymer de Nevile, led his troops +to the Holy Land, under Coeur de Lion, it was his fate to capture a +lady beloved by the mighty Saladin. Need I say that Aymer, under a +flag of truce, escorted her ransomless, her veil never raised from her +face, to the tent of the Saracen king? Saladin, too gracious for an +infidel, made him tarry a while, an honoured guest; and Aymer's +chivalry became sorely tried, for the lady he had delivered loved and +tempted him; but the good knight prayed and fasted, and defied Satan +and all his works. The lady (so runs the legend) grew wroth at the +pious crusader's disdainful coldness; and when Aymer returned to his +comrades, she sent, amidst the gifts of the soldan, two coal-black +steeds, male and mare, over which some foul and weird spells had been +duly muttered. Their beauty, speed, art, and fierceness were a +marvel. And Aymer, unsuspecting, prized the boon, and selected the +male destrier for his war-horse. Great were the feats, in many a +field, which my forefather wrought, bestriding his black charger. But +one fatal day, on which the sudden war-trump made him forget his +morning ave, the beast had power over the Christian, and bore him, +against bit and spur, into the thickest of the foe. He did all a +knight can do against many (pardon his descendant's vaunting,--so runs +the tale), and the Christians for a while beheld him solitary in the +melee, mowing down moon and turban. Then the crowd closed, and the +good knight was lost to sight. 'To the rescue!' cried bold King +Richard, and on rushed the crusaders to Aymer's help; when lo! and +suddenly the ranks severed, and the black steed emerged! Aymer still +on the selle, but motionless, and his helm battered and plumeless, his +brand broken, his arm drooping. On came man and horse, on,--charging +on, not against Infidel but Christian. On dashed the steed, I say, +with fire bursting from eyes and nostrils, and the pike of his +chaffron bent lance-like against the crusaders' van. The foul fiend +seemed in the destrier's rage and puissance. He bore right against +Richard's standard-bearer, and down went the lion and the cross. He +charged the king himself; and Richard, unwilling to harm his own dear +soldier Aymer, halted wondering, till the pike of the destrier pierced +his own charger through the barding, and the king lay rolling in the +dust. A panic seized the cross-men; they fled, the Saracens pursued, +and still with the Saracens came the black steed and the powerless +rider. At last, when the crusaders reached the camp, and the flight +ceased, there halted, also, Aymer. Not a man dared near him. He +spoke not, none spoke to him, till a holy priest and palmer approached +and sprinkled the good knight and the black barb with holy water, and +exorcised both; the spell broke, and Aymer dropped to the earth. They +unbraced his helm,--he was cold and stark. The fierce steed had but +borne a dead man." + +"Holy Paul!" cried Gloucester, with seeming sanctimony, though a +covert sneer played round the firm beauty of his pale lips, "a notable +tale, and one that proveth much of Sacred Truth, now lightly heeded. +But, verily, lord earl, I should have little loved a steed with such a +pedigree." + +"Hear the rest," said Isabel. "King Richard ordered the destrier to +be slain forthwith; but the holy palmer who had exorcised it forbade +the sacrifice. 'Mighty shall be the service,' said the reverend man, +'which the posterity of this steed shall render to thy royal race, and +great glory shall they give to the sons of Nevile. Let the war-horse, +now duly exorcised from infidel spells, live long to bear a Christian +warrior!'" + +"And so," quoth the earl, taking up the tale--"so mare and horse were +brought by Aymer's squires to his English hall; and Aymer's son, Sir +Reginald, bore the cross, and bestrode the fatal steed, without fear +and without scathe. From that hour the House of Nevile rose amain, in +fame and in puissance; and the legend further saith, that the same +palmer encountered Sir Reginald at Joppa, bade him treasure that race +of war-steeds as his dearest heritage, for with that race his own +should flourish and depart; and the sole one of the Infidel's spells +which could not be broken was that which united the gift--generation +after generation, for weal or for woe, for honour or for doom--to the +fate of Aymer and his House. 'And,' added the palmer, 'as with +woman's love and woman's craft was woven the indissoluble charm, so +shall woman, whether in craft or in love, ever shape the fortunes of +thee and thine.'" + +"As yet," said the prince, "the prophecy is fulfilled in a golden +sense, for nearly all thy wide baronies, I trow, have come to thee +through the female side. A woman's hand brought to the Nevile this +castle and its lands; [Middleham Castle was built by Robert Fitz +Ranulph, grandson of Ribald, younger brother of the Earl of Bretagne +and Richmond, nephew to the Conqueror. The founder's line failed in +male heirs, and the heiress married Robert Nevile, son of Lord Raby. +Warwick's father held the earldom of Salisbury in right of his wife, +the heiress of Thomas de Montacute.] from a woman came the heritage of +Monthermer and Montagu, and Salisbury's famous earldom; and the dower +of thy peerless countess was the broad domains of Beauchamp." + +"And a woman's craft, young prince, wrought my king's displeasure! +But enough of these dissour's tales; behold the son of poor Malech, +whom, forgetting all such legends, I slew at Towton. Ho, Saladin, +greet thy master!" + +They stood now in the black steed's stall.--an ample and high-vaulted +space, for halter never insulted the fierce destrier's mighty neck, +which the God of Battles had clothed in thunder. A marble cistern +contained his limpid drink, and in a gilded manger the finest wheaten +bread was mingled with the oats of Flanders. On entering, they found +young George, Montagu's son, with two or three boys, playing +familiarly with the noble animal, who had all the affectionate +docility inherited from an Arab origin. But at the sound of Warwick's +voice, its ears rose, its mane dressed itself, and with a short neigh +it came to his feet, and kneeling down, in slow and stately grace, +licked its master's hand. So perfect and so matchless a steed never +had knight bestrode! Its hide without one white hair, and glossy as +the sheenest satin; a lady's tresses were scarcely finer than the hair +of its noble mane; the exceeding smallness of its head, its broad +frontal, the remarkable and almost human intelligence of its eye, +seemed actually to elevate its conformation above that of its species. +Though the race had increased, generation after generation, in size +and strength, Prince Richard still marvelled (when, obedient to a sign +from Warwick, the destrier rose, and leaned its head, with a sort of +melancholy and quiet tenderness, upon the earl's shoulder) that a +horse, less in height and bulk than the ordinary battle-steed, could +bear the vast weight of the giant earl in his ponderous mail. But his +surprise ceased when the earl pointed out to him the immense strength +of the steed's ample loins, the sinewy cleanness, the iron muscle, of +the stag-like legs, the bull-like breadth of chest, and the swelling +power of the shining neck. + +"And after all," added the earl, "both in man and beast, the spirit +and the race, not the stature and the bulk, bring the prize. Mort +Dieu, Richard! it often shames me of mine own thews and broad breast, +--I had been more vain of laurels had I been shorter by the head!" + +"Nevertheless," said young George of Montagu, with a page's pertness, +"I had rather have thine inches than Prince Richard's, and thy broad +breast than his grace's short neck." + +The Duke of Gloucester turned as if a snake had stung him. He gave +but one glance to the speaker, but that glance lived forever in the +boy's remembrance, and the young Montagu turned pale and trembled, +even before he heard the earl's stern rebuke. + +"Young magpies chatter, boy,--young eagles in silence measure the +space between the eyry and the sun!" + +The boy hung his head, and would have slunk off, but Richard detained +him with a gentle hand. "My fair young cousin," said he, "thy words +gall no sore, and if ever thou and I charge side by side into the +foeman's ranks, thou shalt comprehend what thy uncle designed to say, +--how, in the hour of strait and need, we measure men's stature not by +the body but the soul!" + +"A noble answer," whispered Anne, with something like sisterly +admiration. + +"Too noble," said the more ambitious Isabel, in the same voice, "for +Clarence's future wife not to fear Clarence's dauntless brother." + +"And so," said the prince, quitting the stall with Warwick, while the +girls still lingered behind, "so Saladin hath no son! Wherefore? Can +you mate him with no bride?" + +"Faith," answered the earl, "the females of his race sleep in yonder +dell, their burial-place, and the proud beast disdains all meaner +loves. Nay, were it not so, to continue the breed, if adulterated, +were but to mar it." + +"You care little for the legend, meseems." + +"Pardieu! at times, yes, over much; but in sober moments I think that +the brave man who does his duty lacks no wizard prophecy to fulfil his +doom; and whether in prayer or in death, in fortune or defeat, his +soul goes straight to God!" + +"Umph," said Richard, musingly; and there was a pause. "Warwick," +resumed the prince, "doubtless, even on your return to London, the +queen's enmity and her mother's will not cease. Clarence loves +Isabel, but Clarence knows not how to persuade the king and rule the +king's womankind. Thou knowest how I have stood aloof from all the +factions of the court. Unhappily I go to the Borders, and can but +slightly serve thee. But--"(he stopped short, and sighed heavily). + +"Speak on, Prince." + +"In a word, then, if I were thy son, Anne's husband, I see--I see--I +see--" (thrice repeated the prince, with a vague dreaminess in his +eye, and stretching forth his hand)--"a future that might defy all +foes, opening to me and thee!" + +Warwick hesitated in some embarrassment. + +"My gracious and princely cousin," he said at length, "this proffer is +indeed sweet incense to a father's pride. But pardon me, as yet, +noble Richard, thou art so young that the king and the world would +blame me did I suffer my ambition to listen to such temptation. +Enough, at present, if all disputes between our House and the king can +be smoothed and laid at rest without provoking new ones. Nay, pardon +me, prince, let this matter cease--at least, till thy return from the +Borders." + +"May I take with me hope?" + +"Nay," said Warwick, "thou knowest that I am a plain man; to bid thee +hope were to plight my word. And," he added seriously, "there be +reasons grave and well to be considered why both the daughters of a +subject should not wed with their king's brothers. Let this cease +now, I pray thee, sweet lord." + +Here the demoiselles joined their father, and the conference was over; +but when Richard, an hour after, stood musing alone on the +battlements, he muttered to himself, "Thou art a fool, stout earl, not +to have welcomed the union between thy power and my wit. Thou goest +to a court where without wit power is nought. Who may foresee the +future? Marry, that was a wise ancient fable, that he who seized and +bound Proteus could extract from the changeful god the prophecy of the +days to come. Yea! the man who can seize Fate can hear its voice +predict to him. And by my own heart and brain, which never yet +relinquished what affection yearned for, or thought aspired to, I +read, as in a book, Anne, that thou shalt be mine; and that where wave +on yon battlements the ensigns of Beauchamp, Monthermer, and Nevile, +the Boar of Gloucester shall liege it over their broad baronies and +hardy vassals." + + + + + +BOOK VI + +WHEREIN ARE OPENED SOME GLIMPSES OF THE FATE BELOW THAT ATTENDS THOSE +WHO ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, AND THOSE WHO DESIRE TO MAKE OTHERS +BETTER. LOVE, DEMAGOGY, AND SCIENCE ALL EQUALLY OFF-SPRING OF THE +SAME PROLIFIC DELUSION,--NAMELY, THAT MEAN SOULS (THE EARTH'S +MAJORITY) ARE WORTH THE HOPE AND THE AGONY OF NOBLE SOULS, THE +EVERLASTING SUFFERING AND ASPIRING FEW. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +NEW DISSENSIONS. + +We must pass over some months. Warwick and his family had returned to +London, and the meeting between Edward and the earl had been cordial +and affectionate. Warwick was reinstated in the offices which gave +him apparently the supreme rule in England. The Princess Margaret had +left England as the bride of Charles the Bold; and the earl had +attended the procession in honour of her nuptials. The king, +agreeably with the martial objects he had had long at heart, had then +declared war on Louis XI., and parliament was addressed and troops +were raised for that impolitic purpose. [Parliamentary Rolls, 623. +The fact in the text has been neglected by most historians.] To this +war, however, Warwick was inflexibly opposed. He pointed out the +madness of withdrawing from England all her best-affected chivalry, at +a time when the adherents of Lancaster, still powerful, would require +no happier occasion to raise the Red Rose banner. He showed how +hollow was the hope of steady aid from the hot but reckless and +unprincipled Duke of Burgundy, and how different now was the condition +of France under a king of consummate sagacity and with an overflowing +treasury to its distracted state in the former conquests of the +English. This opposition to the king's will gave every opportunity +for Warwick's enemies to renew their old accusation of secret and +treasonable amity with Louis. Although the proud and hasty earl had +not only forgiven the affront put upon him by Edward, but had sought +to make amends for his own intemperate resentment, by public +attendance on the ceremonials that accompanied the betrothal of the +princess, it was impossible for Edward ever again to love the minister +who had defied his power and menaced his crown. His humour and his +suspicions broke forth despite the restraint that policy dictated to +him: and in the disputes upon the invasion of France, a second and +more deadly breach between Edward and his minister must have yawned, +had not events suddenly and unexpectedly proved the wisdom of +Warwick's distrust of Burgundy. Louis XI. bought off the Duke of +Bretagne, patched up a peace with Charles the Bold, and thus +frustrated all the schemes and broke all the alliances of Edward at +the very moment his military preparations were ripe. [W. Wyr, 518.] + +Still the angry feelings that the dispute had occasioned between +Edward and the earl were not removed with the cause; and under +pretence of guarding against hostilities from Louis, the king +requested Warwick to depart to his government of Calais, the most +important and honourable post, it is true, which a subject could then +hold: but Warwick considered the request as a pretext for his removal +from the court. A yet more irritating and insulting cause of offence +was found in Edward's withholding his consent to Clarence's often- +urged demand for permission to wed with the Lady Isabel. It is true +that this refusal was accompanied with the most courteous +protestations of respect for the earl, and placed only upon the +general ground of state policy. + +"My dear George," Edward would say, "the heiress of Lord Warwick is +certainly no mal-alliance for a king's brother; but the safety of the +throne imperatively demands that my brothers should strengthen my rule +by connections with foreign potentates. I, it is true, married a +subject, and see all the troubles that have sprung from my boyish +passion! No, no! Go to Bretagne. The duke hath a fair daughter, and +we will make up for any scantiness in the dower. Weary me no more, +George. Fiat voluntas mea!" + +But the motives assigned were not those which influenced the king's +refusal. Reasonably enough, he dreaded that the next male heir to his +crown should wed the daughter of the subject who had given that crown, +and might at any time take it away. He knew Clarence to be giddy, +unprincipled, and vain. Edward's faith in Warwick was shaken by the +continual and artful representations of the queen and her family. He +felt that the alliance between Clarence and the earl would be the +union of two interests almost irresistible if once arrayed against his +own. + +But Warwick, who penetrated into the true reason for Edward's +obstinacy, was yet more resentful against the reasons than the +obstinacy itself. The one galled him through his affections, the +other through his pride; and the first were as keen as the last was +morbid. He was the more chafed, inasmuch as his anxiety of father +became aroused. Isabel was really attached to Clarence, who, with all +his errors, possessed every superficial attraction that graced his +House,--gallant and handsome, gay and joyous, and with manners that +made him no less popular than Edward himself. + +And if Isabel's affections were not deep, disinterested, and tender, +like those of Anne, they were strengthened by a pride which she +inherited from her father, and a vanity which she took from her sex. +It was galling in the extreme to feel that the loves between her and +Clarence were the court gossip, and the king's refusal the court jest. +Her health gave way, and pride and love both gnawed at her heart. + +It happened, unfortunately for the king and for Warwick, that +Gloucester, whose premature acuteness and sagacity would have the more +served both, inasmuch as the views he had formed in regard to Anne +would have blended his interest in some degree with that of the Duke +of Clarence, and certainly with the object of conciliation between +Edward and his minister,--it happened, we say, unfortunately, that +Gloucester was still absent with the forces employed on the Scottish +frontier, whither he had repaired on quitting Middleham, and where his +extraordinary military talents found their first brilliant opening; +and he was therefore absent from London during all the disgusts he +might have removed and the intrigues he might have frustrated. + +But the interests of the House of Warwick, during the earl's sullen +and indignant sojourn at his government of Calais, were not committed +to unskilful hands; and Montagu and the archbishop were well fitted to +cope with Lord Rivers and the Duchess of Bedford. + +Between these able brothers, one day, at the More, an important +conference took place. + +"I have sought you," said Montagu, with more than usual care upon his +brow--"I have sought you in consequence of an event that may lead to +issues of no small moment, whether for good or evil. Clarence has +suddenly left England for Calais." + +"I know it, Montagu; the duke confided to me his resolution to +proclaim himself old enough to marry,--and discreet enough to choose +for himself." + +"And you approved?" + +"Certes; and, sooth to say, I brought him to that modest opinion of +his own capacities. What is more still, I propose to join him at +Calais." + +"George!" + +"Look not so scared, O valiant captain, who never lost a battle,-- +where the Church meddles, all prospers. Listen!" And the young +prelate gathered himself up from his listless posture, and spoke with +earnest unction. "Thou knowest that I do not much busy myself in lay +schemes; when I do, the object must be great. Now, Montagu, I have of +late narrowly and keenly watched that spidery web which ye call a +court, and I see that the spider will devour the wasp, unless the wasp +boldly break the web,--for woman-craft I call the spider, and soldier- +pride I style the wasp. To speak plainly, these Woodvilles must be +bravely breasted and determinately abashed. I do not mean that we can +deal with the king's wife and her family as with any other foes; but +we must convince them that they cannot cope with us, and that their +interests will best consist in acquiescing in that condition of things +which places the rule of England in the hands of the Neviles." + +"My own thought, if I saw the way!" + +"I see the way in this alliance; the Houses of York and Warwick must +become so indissolubly united, that an attempt to injure the one must +destroy both. The queen and the Woodvilles plot against us; we must +raise in the king's family a counterpoise to their machinations. It +brings no scandal on the queen to conspire against Warwick, but it +would ruin her in the eyes of England to conspire against the king's +brother; and Clarence and Warwick must be as one. This is not all! +If our sole aid was in giddy George, we should but buttress our House +with a weathercock. This connection is but as a part of the grand +scheme on which I have set my heart,--Clarence shall wed Isabel, +Gloucester wed Anne, and (let thy ambitious heart beat high, Montagu) +the king's eldest daughter shall wed thy son,--the male representative +of our triple honours. Ah, thine eyes sparkle now! Thus the whole +royalty of England shall centre in the Houses of Nevile and York; and +the Woodvilles will be caught and hampered in their own meshes, their +resentment impotent; for how can Elizabeth stir against us, if her +daughter be betrothed to the son of Montagu, the nephew of Warwick? +Clarence, beloved by the shallow commons; [Singular as it may seem to +those who know not that popularity is given to the vulgar qualities of +men, and that where a noble nature becomes popular (a rare +occurrence), it is despite the nobleness,--not because of it. +Clarence was a popular idol even to the time of his death.--Croyl., +562.] Gloucester, adored both by the army and the Church; and Montagu +and Warwick, the two great captains of the age,--is not this a +combination of power that may defy Fate?" + +"O George!" said Montagu, admiringly, "what pity that the Church +should spoil such a statesman!" + +"Thou art profane, Montagu; the Church spoils no man,--the Church +leads and guides ye all; and, mark, I look farther still. I would +have intimate league with France; I would strengthen ourselves with +Spain and the German Emperor; I would buy or seduce the votes of the +sacred college; I would have thy poor brother, whom thou so pitiest +because he has no son to marry a king's daughter, no daughter to wed +with a king's son--I would have thy unworthy brother, Montagu, the +father of the whole Christian world, and, from the chair of the +Vatican, watch over the weal of kingdoms. And now, seest thou why +with to-morrow's sun I depart for Calais, and lend my voice in aid of +Clarence's for the first knot in this complicated bond?" + +"But will Warwick consent while the king opposes? Will his pride--" + +"His pride serves us here; for so long as Clarence did not dare to +gainsay the king, Warwick in truth might well disdain to press his +daughter's hand upon living man. The king opposes, but with what +right? Warwick's pride will but lead him, if well addressed, to defy +affront and to resist dictation. Besides, our brother has a woman's +heart for his children; and Isabel's face is pale, and that will plead +more than all my eloquence." + +"But can the king forgive your intercession and Warwick's contumacy?" + +"Forgive!--the marriage once over, what is left for him to do? He is +then one with us, and when Gloucester returns all will be smooth +again,--smooth for the second and more important nuptials; and the +second shall preface the third; meanwhile, you return to the court. +To these ceremonials you need be no party: keep but thy handsome son +from breaking his neck in over-riding his hobby, and 'bide thy time!'" + +Agreeably with the selfish but sagacious policy thus detailed, the +prelate departed the next day for Calais, where Clarence was already +urging his suit with the ardent impatience of amorous youth. The +archbishop found, however, that Warwick was more reluctant than he had +anticipated, to suffer his daughter to enter any House without the +consent of its chief; nor would the earl, in all probability, have +acceded to the prayers of the princely suitor, had not Edward, enraged +at the flight of Clarence, and worked upon by the artful queen, +committed the imprudence of writing an intemperate and menacing letter +to the earl, which called up all the passions of the haughty Warwick. + +"What!" he exclaimed, "thinks this ungrateful man not only to +dishonour me by his method of marrying his sisters, but will he also +play the tyrant with me in the disposal of mine own daughter! He +threats! he!--enough. It is due to me to show that there lives no man +whose threats I have not the heart to defy!" And the prelate finding +him in this mood had no longer any difficulty in winning his consent. +This ill-omened marriage was, accordingly, celebrated with great and +regal pomp at Calais, and the first object of the archbishop was +attained. + +While thus stood affairs between the two great factions of the state, +those discontents which Warwick's presence at court had a while laid +at rest again spread, broad and far, throughout the land. The luxury +and indolence of Edward's disposition in ordinary times always +surrendered him to the guidance of others. In the commencement of his +reign he was eminently popular, and his government, though stern, +suited to the times; for then the presiding influence was that of Lord +Warwick. As the queen's counsels prevailed over the consummate +experience and masculine vigour of the earl, the king's government +lost both popularity and respect, except only in the metropolis; and +if, at the close of his reign, it regained all its earlier favour with +the people, it must be principally ascribed to the genius of Hastings, +then England's most powerful subject, and whose intellect calmly moved +all the springs of action. But now everywhere the royal authority was +weakened; and while Edward was feasting at Shene and Warwick absent at +Calais, the provinces were exposed to all the abuses which most gall a +population. The poor complained that undue exactions were made on +them by the hospitals, abbeys, and barons; the Church complained that +the queen's relations had seized and spent Church moneys; the men of +birth and merit complained of the advancement of new men who had done +no service: and all these several discontents fastened themselves upon +the odious Woodvilles, as the cause of all. The second breach, now +notorious, between the king and the all-beloved Warwick, was a new +aggravation of the popular hatred to the queen's family, and seemed to +give occasion for the malcontents to appear with impunity, at least so +far as the earl was concerned: it was, then, at this critical time +that the circumstances we are about to relate occurred. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE WOULD-BE IMPROVERS OF JOVE'S FOOTBALL, EARTH.--THE SAD FATHER AND +THE SAD CHILD.--THE FAIR RIVALS. + +Adam Warner was at work on his crucible when the servitor commissioned +to attend him opened the chamber door, and a man dressed in the black +gown of a student entered. + +He approached the alchemist, and after surveying him for a moment in a +silence that seemed not without contempt, said, "What, Master Warner, +are you so wedded to your new studies that you have not a word to +bestow on an old friend?" + +Adam turned, and after peevishly gazing at the intruder a few moments, +his face brightened up into recognition. + +"En iterum!" he said. "Again, bold Robin Hilyard, and in a scholar's +garb! Ha! doubtless thou hast learned ere this that peaceful studies +do best insure man's weal below, and art come to labour with me in the +high craft of mind-work!" + +"Adam," quoth Hilyard, "ere I answer, tell me this: Thou with thy +science wouldst change the world: art thou a jot nearer to thy end?" + +"Well-a-day," said poor Adam, "you know little what I have undergone. +For danger to myself by rack and gibbet I say nought. Man's body is +fair prey to cruelty, and what a king spares to-day the worm shall +gnaw to-morrow. But mine invention--my Eureka--look!" and stepping +aside, he lifted a cloth, and exhibited the mangled remains of the +unhappy model. + +"I am forbid to restore it," continued Adam, dolefully. "I must work +day and night to make gold, and the gold comes not; and my only change +of toil is when the queen bids me construct little puppet-boxes for +her children! How, then, can I change the world? And thou," he +added, doubtingly and eagerly--"thou, with thy plots and stratagem, +and active demagogy, thinkest thou that thou hast changed the world, +or extracted one drop of evil out of the mixture of gall and hyssop +which man is born to drink?" + +Hilyard was silent, and the two world-betterers--the philosopher and +the demagogue--gazed on each other, half in sympathy, half in +contempt. At last Robin said,-- + +"Mine old friend, hope sustains us both; and in the wilderness we yet +behold the Pisgah! But to my business. Doubtless thou art permitted +to visit Henry in his prison." + +"Not so," replied Adam; "and for the rest, since I now eat King +Edward's bread, and enjoy what they call his protection, ill would it +beseem me to lend myself to plots against his throne." + +"Ah, man, man, man," exclaimed Hilyard, bitterly, "thou art like all +the rest,--scholar or serf, the same slave; a king's smile bribes thee +from a people's service!" + +Before Adam could reply, a panel in the wainscot slid back and the +bald head of a friar peered into the room. "Son Adam," said the holy +man, "I crave your company an instant, oro vestrem aurem;" and with +this abominable piece of Latinity the friar vanished. + +With a resigned and mournful shrug of the shoulders, Adam walked +across the room, when Hilyard, arresting his progress, said, crossing +himself, and in a subdued and fearful whisper, "Is not that Friar +Bungey, the notable magician?" + +"Magician or not," answered Warner, with a lip of inexpressible +contempt and a heavy sigh, "God pardon his mother for giving birth to +such a numskull!" and with this pious and charitable ejaculation Adam +disappeared in the adjoining chamber, appropriated to the friar. + +"Hum," soliloquized Hilyard, "they say that Friar Bungey is employed +by the witch duchess in everlasting diabolisms against her foes. A +peep into his den might suffice me for a stirring tale to the people." + +No sooner did this daring desire arise than the hardy Robin resolved +to gratify it; and stealing on tiptoe along the wall, he peered +cautiously through the aperture made by the sliding panel. An +enormous stuffed lizard hung from the ceiling, and various strange +reptiles, dried into mummy, were ranged around, and glared at the spy +with green glass eyes. A huge book lay open on a tripod stand, and a +caldron seethed over a slow and dull fire. A sight yet more terrible +presently awaited the rash beholder. + +"Adam," said the friar, laying his broad palm on the student's +reluctant shoulders, "inter sapentes." + +"Sapientes, brother," groaned Adam. + +"That's the old form, Adam," quoth the friar, superciliously,-- +"sapentes is the last improvement. I say, between wise men there is +no envy. Our noble and puissant patroness, the Duchess of Bedford, +hath committed to me a task that promiseth much profit. I have worked +at it night and day stotis filibus." + +"O man, what lingo speakest thou?--stotis filibus!" + +"Tush, if it is not good Latin, it does as well, son Adam. I say I +have worked at it night and day, and it is now advanced eno' for +experiment. But thou art going to sleep." + +"Despatch! speak out! speak on!" said Adam, desperately,--"what is thy +achievement?" + +"See!" answered the friar, majestically; and drawing aside a black +pall, he exhibited to the eyes of Adam, and to the more startled gaze +of Robin Hilyard, a pale, cadaverous, corpse-like image, of pigmy +proportions, but with features moulded into a coarse caricature of the +lordly countenance of the Earl of Warwick. + +"There," said the friar, complacently, and rubbing his hands, "that is +no piece of bungling, eh? As like the stout earl as one pea to +another." + +"And for what hast thou kneaded up all this waste of wax?" asked Adam. +"Forsooth, I knew not you had so much of ingenious art; algates, the +toy is somewhat ghastly." + +"Ho, ho!" quoth the friar, laughing so as to show a set of jagged, +discoloured fangs from ear to ear, "surely thou, who art so notable a +wizard and scholar, knowest for what purpose we image forth our +enemies. Whatever the duchess inflicts upon this figure, the Earl of +Warwick, whom it representeth, will feel through his bones and +marrow,--waste wax, waste man!" + +"Thou art a devil to do this thing, and a blockhead to think it, O +miserable friar!" exclaimed Adam, roused from all his gentleness. + +"Ha!" cried the friar, no less vehemently, and his burly face purple +with passion, "dost thou think to bandy words with me? Wretch! I +will set goblins to pinch thee black and blue! I will drag thee at +night over all the jags of Mount Pepanon, at the tail of a mad +nightmare! I will put aches in all thy bones, and the blood in thy +veins shall run into sores and blotches. Am I not Friar Bungey? And +what art thou?" + +At these terrible denunciations, the sturdy Robin, though far less +superstitious than most of his contemporaries, was seized with a +trembling from head to foot; and expecting to see goblins and imps +start forth from the walls, he retired hastily from his hiding-place, +and, without waiting for further commune with Warner, softly opened +the chamber door and stole down the stairs. Adam, however, bore the +storm unquailingly, and when the holy man paused to take breath, he +said calmly,-- + +"Verily, if thou canst do these things, there must be secrets in +Nature which I have not yet discovered. Howbeit, though thou art free +to try all thou canst against me, thy threats make it necessary that +this communication between us should be nailed up, and I shall so +order." + +The friar, who was ever in want of Adam's aid, either to construe a +bit of Latin, or to help him in some chemical illusion, by no means +relished this quiet retort; and holding out his huge hand to Adam, +said, with affected cordiality,-- + +"Pooh! we are brothers, and must not quarrel. I was over hot, and +thou too provoking; but I honour and love thee, man,--let it pass. As +for this figure, doubtless we might pink it all over, and the earl be +never the worse. But if our employers order these things and pay for +them, we cunning men make profit by fools!" + +"It is men like thee that bring shame on science," answered Adam, +sternly; "and I will not listen to thee longer." + +"Nay, but you must," said the friar, clutching Adam's robe, and +concealing his resentment by an affected grin. "Thou thinkest me a +mere ignoramus--ha! ha!--I think the same of thee. Why, man, thou +hast never studied the parts of the human body, 1'11 swear." + +"I'm no leech," said Adam. "Let me go." + +"No, not yet. I will convict thee of ignorance. Thou dost not even +know where the liver is placed." + +"I do," answered Adam, shortly; "but what then?" + +"Thou dost?--I deny it. Here is a pin; stick it into this wax, man, +where thou sayest the liver lies in the human frame." + +Adam unsuspiciously obeyed. + +"Well! the liver is there, eh? Ah, but where are the lungs?" + +"Why, here." + +"And the midriff?" + +"Here, certes." + +"Right!--thou mayest go now," said the friar, dryly. Adam disappeared +through the aperture, and closed the panel. + +"Now I know where the lungs, midriff, and liver are," said the friar +to himself, "I shall get on famously. 'T is a useful fellow, that, or +I should have had him hanged long ago!" + +Adam did not remark on his re-entrance that his visitor, Hilyard, had +disappeared, and the philosopher was soon reimmersed in the fiery +interest of his thankless labours. + +It might be an hour afterwards, when, wearied and exhausted by +perpetual hope and perpetual disappointment, he flung himself on his +seat; and that deep sadness, which they who devote themselves in this +noisy world to wisdom and to truth alone can know, suffused his +thoughts, and murmured from his feverish lips. + +"Oh, hard condition of my life!" groaned the sage,--"ever to strive, +and never to accomplish. The sun sets and the sun rises upon my +eternal toils, and my age stands as distant from the goal as stood my +youth! Fast, fast the mind is wearing out the frame, and my schemes +have but woven the ropes of sand, and my name shall be writ in water. +Golden dreams of my young hope, where are ye? Methought once, that +could I obtain the grace of royalty, the ear of power, the command of +wealth, my path to glory was made smooth and sure; I should become the +grand inventor of my time and land; I should leave my lore a heritage +and blessing wherever labour works to civilize the round globe. And +now my lodging is a palace, royalty my patron; they give me gold at my +desire; my wants no longer mar my leisure. Well, and for what? On +condition that I forego the sole task for which patronage, wealth, and +leisure were desired! There stands the broken iron, and there simmers +the ore I am to turn to gold,--the iron worth more than all the gold, +and the gold never to be won! Poor, I was an inventor, a creator, the +true magician; protected, patronized, enriched, I am but the +alchemist, the bubble, the dupe or duper, the fool's fool. God, brace +up my limbs! Let me escape! give me back my old dream, and die at +least, if accomplishing nothing, hoping all!" + +He rose as he spoke; he strode across the chamber with majestic step, +with resolve upon his brow. He stopped short, for a sharp pain shot +across his heart. Premature age and the disease that labour brings +were at their work of decay within: the mind's excitement gave way to +the body's weakness, and he sank again upon his seat, breathing hard, +gasping, pale, the icy damps upon his brow. Bubblingly seethed the +molten metals, redly glowed the poisonous charcoal, the air of death +was hot within the chamber where the victim of royal will pandered to +the desire of gold. Terrible and eternal moral for Wisdom and for +Avarice, for sages and for kings,--ever shall he who would be the +maker of gold breathe the air of death! + +"Father," said the low and touching voice of one who had entered +unperceived, and who now threw her arms round Adam's neck, "Father, +thou art ill, and sorely suffering--" + +"At heart--yes, Sibyll. Give me thine arm; let us forth and taste the +fresher air." + +It was so seldom that Warner could be induced to quit his chamber, +that these words almost startled Sibyll, and she looked anxiously in +his face, as she wiped the dews from his forehead. + +"Yes--air--air!" repeated Adam, rising. + +Sibyll placed his bonnet over his silvered locks, drew his gown more +closely round him, and slowly and in silence they left the chamber, +and took their way across the court to the ramparts of the fortress- +palace. + +The day was calm and genial, with a low but fresh breeze stirring +gently through the warmth of noon. The father and child seated +themselves on the parapet, and saw, below, the gay and numerous +vessels that glided over the sparkling river, while the dark walls of +Baynard's Castle, the adjoining bulwark and battlements of Montfichet, +and the tall watch-tower of Warwick's mighty mansion frowned in the +distance against the soft blue sky. "There," said Adam, quietly, and +pointing to the feudal roofs, "there seems to rise power, and yonder +(glancing to the river), yonder seems to flow Genius! A century or so +hence the walls shall vanish, but the river shall roll on. Man makes +the castle, and founds the power,--God forms the river and creates the +Genius. And yet, Sibyll, there may be streams as broad and stately as +yonder Thames, that flow afar in the waste, never seen, never heard by +man. What profits the river unmarked; what the genius never to be +known?" + +It was not a common thing with Adam Warner to be thus eloquent. +Usually silent and absorbed, it was not his gift to moralize or +declaim. His soul must be deeply moved before the profound and buried +sentiment within it could escape into words. + +Sibyll pressed her father's hand, and, though her own heart was very +heavy, she forced her lips to smile and her voice to soothe. Adam +interrupted her. + +"Child, child, ye women know not what presses darkest and most +bitterly on the minds of men. You know not what it is to form out of +immaterial things some abstract but glorious object,--to worship, to +serve it, to sacrifice to it, as on an altar, youth, health, hope, +life,--and suddenly in old age to see that the idol was a phantom, a +mockery, a shadow laughing us to scorn, because we have sought to +clasp it." + +"Oh, yes, Father, women have known that illusion." + +"What! Do they study?" + +"No, Father, but they feel!" + +"Feel! I comprehend thee not." + +"As man's genius to him is woman's heart to her," answered Sibyll, her +dark and deep eyes suffused with tears. "Doth not the heart create, +invent? Doth it not dream? Doth it not form its idol out of air? +Goeth it not forth into the future, to prophesy to itself? And sooner +or later, in age or youth, doth it not wake at last, and see how it +hath wasted its all on follies? Yes, Father, my heart can answer, +when thy genius would complain." + +"Sibyll," said Warner, roused and surprised, and gazing on her +wistfully, "time flies apace. Till this hour I have thought of thee +but as a child, an infant. Thy words disturb me now." + +"Think not of them, then. Let me never add one grief to thine." + +"Thou art brave and gay in thy silken sheen," said Adam, curiously +stroking down the rich, smooth stuff of Sibyll's tunic; "her grace the +duchess is generous to us. Thou art surely happy here!" + +"Happy!" + +"Not happy!" exclaimed Adam, almost joyfully, "wouldst thou that we +were back once more in our desolate, ruined home?" + +"Yes, ob, yes!--but rather away, far away, in some quiet village, some +green nook; for the desolate, ruined home was not safe for thine old +age." + +"I would we could escape, Sibyll," said Adam, earnestly, in a whisper, +and with a kind of innocent cunning in his eye, "we and the poor +Eureka! This palace is a prison-house to me. I will speak to the +Lord Hastings, a man of great excellence, and gentle too. He is ever +kind to us." + +"No, no, Father, not to him," cried Sibyll, turning pale,--"let him +not know a word of what we would propose, nor whither we would fly." + +"Child, he loves me, or why does he seek me so often, and sit and talk +not?" + +Sibyll pressed her clasped hands tightly to her bosom, but made no +answer; and while she was summoning courage to say something that +seemed to oppress her thoughts with intolerable weight, a footstep +sounded gently near, and the Lady of Bonville (then on a visit to the +queen), unseen and unheard by the two, approached the spot. She +paused, and gazed at Sibyll, at first haughtily; and then, as the deep +sadness of that young face struck her softer feelings, and the +pathetic picture of father and child, thus alone in their commune, +made its pious and sweet effect, the gaze changed from pride to +compassion, and the lady said courteously,-- + +"Fair mistress, canst thou prefer this solitary scene to the gay +company about to take the air in her grace's gilded barge?" + +Sibyll looked up in surprise, not unmixed with fear. Never before had +the great lady spoken to her thus gently. Adam, who seemed for a +while restored to the actual life, saluted Katherine with simple +dignity, and took up the word,-- + +"Noble lady, whoever thou art, in thine old age, and thine hour of +care, may thy child, like this poor girl, forsake all gayer comrades +for a parent's side!" + +The answer touched the Lady of Bonville, and involuntarily she +extended her hand to Sibyll. With a swelling heart, Sibyll, as proud +as herself, bent silently over that rival's hand. Katherine's marble +cheek coloured, as she interpreted the girl's silence. + +"Gentle sir," she said, after a short pause, "wilt thou permit me a +few words with thy fair daughter? And if in aught, since thou +speakest of care, Lord Warwick's sister can serve thee, prithee bid +thy young maiden impart it, as to a friend." + +"Tell her, then, my Sibyll,--tell Lord Warwick's sister to ask the +king to give back to Adam Warner his poverty, his labour, and his +hope," said the scholar, and his noble head sank gloomily on his +bosom. + +The Lady of Bonville, still holding Sibyll's hand, drew her a few +paces up the walk, and then she said suddenly, and with some of that +blunt frankness which belonged to her great brother, "Maiden, can +there be confidence between thee and me?" + +"Of what nature, lady?" + +Again Katherine blushed, but she felt the small hand she held tremble +in her clasp, and was emboldened,-- + +"Maiden, thou mayst resent and marvel at my words; but when I had +fewer years than thou, my father said, 'There are many carks in life +which a little truth could end.' So would I heed his lesson. William +de Hastings has followed thee with an homage that has broken, +perchance, many as pure a heart,--nay, nay, fair child, hear me on. +Thou hast heard that in youth he wooed Katherine Nevile,--that we +loved, and were severed. They who see us now marvel whether we hate +or love,--no, not love--that question were an insult to Lord +Bonville's wife!--Ofttimes we seem pitiless to each other,--why? Lord +Hastings would have wooed me, an English matron, to forget mine honour +and my House's. He chafes that he moves me not. I behold him +debasing a great nature to unworthy triflings with man's conscience +and a knight's bright faith. But mark me!--the heart of Hastings is +everlastingly mine, and mine alone! What seek I in this confidence? +To warn thee. Wherefore? Because for months, amidst all the vices of +this foul court-air, amidst the flatteries of the softest voice that +ever fell upon woman's ear, amidst, peradventure, the pleadings of +thine own young and guileless love, thine innocence is unscathed. And +therefore Katherine of Bonville may be the friend of Sibyll Warner." + +However generous might be the true spirit of these words, it was +impossible that they should not gall and humiliate the young and +flattered beauty to whom they were addressed. They so wholly +discarded all belief in the affection of Hastings for Sibyll; they so +haughtily arrogated the mastery over his heart; they so plainly +implied that his suit to the poor maiden was but a mockery or +dishonour, that they made even the praise for virtue an affront to the +delicate and chaste ear on which they fell. And, therefore, the +reader will not be astonished, though the Lady of Bonville certainly +was, when Sibyll, drawing her hand from Katherine's clasp, stopping +short, and calmly folding her arms upon her bosom, said,-- + +"To what this tends, lady, I know not. The Lord Hastings is free to +carry his homage where he will. He has sought me,--not I Lord +Hastings. And if to-morrow he offered me his hand, I would reject it, +if I were not convinced that the heart--" + +"Damsel," interrupted the Lady Bonville, in amazed contempt, "the hand +of Lord Hastings! Look ye indeed so high, or has he so far paltered +with your credulous youth as to speak to you, the daughter of the +alchemist, of marriage? If so, poor child, beware! + +"I knew not," replied Sibyll, bitterly, "that Sibyll Warner was more +below the state of Lord Hastings than Master Hastings was once below +the state of Lady Katherine Nevile." + +"Thou art distraught with thy self-conceit," answered the dame, +scornfully; and, losing all the compassion and friendly interest she +had before felt, "my rede is spoken,--reject it if thou wilt in pride. +Rue thy folly thou wilt in shame!" + +She drew her wimple round her face as she said these words, and, +gathering up her long robe, swept slowly on. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHEREIN THE DEMAGOGUE SEEKS THE COURTIER. + +On quitting Adam's chamber, Hilyard paused not till he reached a +stately house, not far from Warwick Lane, which was the residence of +the Lord Montagu. + +That nobleman was employed in reading, or rather, in pondering over, +two letters, with which a courier from Calais had just arrived, the +one from the archbishop, the other from Warwick. In these epistles +were two passages, strangely contradictory in their counsel. A +sentence in Warwick's letter ran thus:-- + +"It hath reached me that certain disaffected men meditate a rising +against the king, under pretext of wrongs from the queen's kin. It is +even said that our kinsmen, Copiers and Fitzhugh, are engaged therein. +Need I caution thee to watch well that they bring our name into no +disgrace or attaint? We want no aid to right our own wrongs; and if +the misguided men rebel, Warwick will best punish Edward by proving +that he is yet of use." + +On the other hand, thus wrote the prelate:-- + +"The king, wroth with my visit to Calais, has taken from me the +chancellor's seal. I humbly thank him, and shall sleep the lighter +for the fardel's loss. Now, mark me, Montagu: our kinsman, Lord +Fitzhugh's son, and young Henry Nevile, aided by old Sir John Copiers, +meditate a fierce and well-timed assault upon the Woodvilles. Do thou +keep neuter,--neither help nor frustrate it. Howsoever it end, it +will answer our views, and shake our enemies." + +Montagu was yet musing over these tidings, and marvelling that he in +England should know less than his brethren in Calais of events so +important, when his page informed him that a stranger, with urgent +messages from the north country, craved an audience. Imagining that +these messages would tend to illustrate the communications just +received, he ordered the visitor to be admitted. + +He scarcely noticed Hilyard on his entrance, and said abruptly, "Speak +shortly, friend,--I have but little leisure." + +"And yet, Lord Montagu, my business may touch thee home." + +Montagu, surprised, gazed more attentively on his visitor: "Surely, I +know thy face, friend,--we have met before." + +"True; thou wert then on thy way to the More." + +"I remember me; and thou then seemedst, from thy bold words, on a +still shorter road to the gallows." + +"The tree is not planted," said Robin, carelessly, "that will serve +for my gibbet. But were there no words uttered by me that thou +couldst not disapprove? I spoke of lawless disorders, of shameful +malfaisance throughout the land, which the Woodvilles govern under a +lewd tyrant--" + +"Traitor, hold!" + +"A tyrant," continued Robin, heeding not the interruption nor the +angry gesture of Montagu, "a tyrant who at this moment meditates the +destruction of the House of Nevile. And not contented with this +world's weapons, palters with the Evil One for the snares and +devilries of witchcraft." + +"Hush, man! Not so loud," said Montagu, in an altered voice. +"Approach nearer,--nearer yet. They who talk of a crowned king, whose +right hand raises armies, and whose left hand reposes on the block, +should beware how they speak above their breath. Witchcraft, sayest +thou? Make thy meaning clear." + +Here Robin detailed, with but little exaggeration, the scene he had +witnessed in Friar Bungey's chamber,--the waxen image, the menaces +against the Earl of Warwick, and the words of the friar, naming the +Duchess of Bedford as his employer. Montagu listened in attentive +silence. Though not perfectly free from the credulities of the time, +shared even by the courageous heart of Edward and the piercing +intellect of Gloucester, he was yet more alarmed by such proofs of +determined earthly hostility in one so plotting and so near to the +throne as the Duchess of Bedford, than by all the pins and needles +that could be planted into the earl's waxen counterpart. + +"A devilish malice, indeed," said he, when Hilyard had concluded; "and +yet this story, if thou wilt adhere to it, may serve us well at need. +I thank thee, trusty friend, for thy confidence, and beseech thee to +come at once with me to the king. There will I denounce our foe, and, +with thine evidence, we will demand her banishment." + +"By your leave, not a step will I budge, my Lord Montagu," quoth +Robin, bluntly,--"I know how these matters are managed at court. The +king will patch up a peace between the duchess and you, and chop off +my ears and nose as a liar and common scandal-maker. No, no; denounce +the duchess and all the Woodvilles I will; but it shall not be in the +halls of the Tower, but on the broad plains of Yorkshire, with twenty +thousand men at my back." + +"Ha! thou a leader of armies,--and for what end,--to dethrone the +king?" + +"That as it may be,--but first for justice to the people; it is the +people's rising that I will head, and not a faction's. Neither White +Rose nor Red shall be on my banner; but our standard shall be the gory +head of the first oppressor we can place upon a pole." + +"What is it the people, as you word it, would demand?" + +"I scarce know what we demand as yet,--that must depend upon how we +prosper," returned Hilyard, with a bitter laugh; "but the rising will +have some good, if it shows only to you lords and Normans that a Saxon +people does exist, and will turn when the iron heel is upon its neck. +We are taxed, ground, pillaged, plundered,--sheep, maintained to be +sheared for your peace or butchered for your war. And now will we +have a petition and a charter of our own, Lord Montagu. I speak +frankly. I am in thy power; thou canst arrest me, thou canst strike +off the head of this revolt. Thou art the king's friend,--wilt thou +do so? No, thou and thy House have wrongs as well as we, the people. +And a part at least of our demands and our purpose is your own." + +"What part, bold man?" + +"This: we shall make our first complaint the baneful domination of the +queen's family; and demand the banishment of the Woodvilles, root and +stem." + +"Hem!" said Montagu, involuntarily glancing over the archbishop's +letter,--"hem, but without outrage to the king's state and person?" + +"Oh, trust me, my lord, the franklin's head contains as much north- +country cunning as the noble's. They who would speed well must feel +their way cautiously." + +"Twenty thousand men--impossible! Who art thou, to collect and head +them?" + +"Plain Robin of Redesdale." + +"Ha!" exclaimed Montagu, "is it indeed as I was taught to suspect? +Art thou that bold, strange, mad fellow, whom, by pike and brand--a +soldier's oath--I, a soldier, have often longed to see. Let me look +at thee. 'Fore Saint George, a tall man, and well knit, with +dareiment on thy brow. Why, there are as many tales of thee in the +North as of my brother the earl. Some say thou art a lord of degree +and birth, others that thou art the robber of Hexham to whom Margaret +of Anjou trusted her own life and her son's." + +"Whatever they say of me," returned Robin, "they all agree in this,-- +that I am a man of honest word and bold deed; that I can stir up the +hearts of men, as the wind stirreth fire; that I came an unknown +stranger into the parts where I abide; and that no peer in this +roiaulme, save Warwick himself, can do more to raise an army or shake +a throne." + +"But by what spell?" + +"By men's wrongs, lord," answered Robin, in a deep voice; "and now, +ere this moon wanes, Redesdale is a camp!" + +"What the immediate cause of complaint?" + +"The hospital of St. Leonard's has compelled us unjustly to render +them a thrave of corn." + +"Thou art a cunning knave! Pinch the belly if you would make +Englishmen rise." + +"True," said Robin, smiling grimly; "and now--what say you--will you +head us?" + +"Head you! No I" + +"Will you betray us?" + +"It is not easy to betray twenty thousand men; if ye rise merely to +free yourselves from a corn-tax and England from the Woodvilles, I see +no treason in your revolt." + +"I understand you, Lord Montagu," said Robin, with a stern and half- +scornful smile,--"you are not above thriving by our danger; but we +need now no lord and baron,--we will suffice for ourselves. And the +hour will come, believe me, when Lord Warwick, pursued by the king, +must fly to the Commons. Think well of these things and this +prophecy, when the news from the North startles Edward of March in the +lap of his harlots." + +Without saying another word, he turned and quitted the chamber as +abruptly as he had entered. + +Lord Montagu was not, for his age, a bad man; though worldly, subtle, +and designing, with some of the craft of his prelate brother he united +something of the high soul of his brother soldier. But that age had +not the virtue of later times, and cannot be judged by its standard. +He heard this bold dare-devil menace his country with civil war upon +grounds not plainly stated nor clearly understood,--he aided not, but +he connived: "Twenty thousand men in arms," he muttered to himself,-- +"say half-well, ten thousand--not against Edward, but the Woodvilles! +It must bring the king to his senses; must prove to him how odious the +mushroom race of the Woodvilles, and drive him for safety and for +refuge to Montagu and Warwick. If the knaves presume too far," (and +Montagu smiled), "what are undisciplined multitudes to the eye of a +skilful captain? Let the storm blow, we will guide the blast. In this +world man must make use of man." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +SIBYLL. + +While Montagu in anxious forethought awaited the revolt that Robin of +Redesdale had predicted; while Edward feasted and laughed, merry-made +with his courtiers, and aided the conjugal duties of his good citizens +in London; while the queen and her father, Lord Rivers, more and more +in the absence of Warwick encroached on all the good things power can +bestow and avarice seize; while the Duchess of Bedford and Friar +Bungey toiled hard at the waxen effigies of the great earl, who still +held his royal son-in-law in his court at Calais,--the stream of our +narrative winds from its noisier channels, and lingers, with a quiet +wave, around the temple of a virgin's heart. Wherefore is Sibyll sad? +Some short month since and we beheld her gay with hope and basking in +the sunny atmosphere of pleasure and of love. The mind of this girl +was a singular combination of tenderness and pride,--the first wholly +natural, the last the result of circumstance and position. She was +keenly conscious of her gentle birth and her earlier prospects in the +court of Margaret; and the poverty and distress and solitude in which +she had grown up from the child into the woman had only served to +strengthen what, in her nature, was already strong, and to heighten +whatever was already proud. Ever in her youngest dreams of the future +ambition had visibly blent itself with the vague ideas of love. The +imagined wooer was less to be young and fair than renowned and +stately. She viewed him through the mists of the future, as the +protector of her persecuted father, as the rebuilder of a fallen +House, as the ennobler of a humbled name; and from the moment in which +her girl's heart beat at the voice of Hastings, the ideal of her soul +seemed found. And when, transplanted to the court, she learned to +judge of her native grace and loveliness by the common admiration they +excited, her hopes grew justified to her inexperienced reason. Often +and ever the words of Hastings, at the house of Lady Longueville, rang +in her ear, and thrilled through the solitude of night,--"Whoever is +fair and chaste, gentle and loving, is in the eyes of William de +Hastings the mate and equal of a king." In visits that she had found +opportunity to make to the Lady Longueville, these hopes were duly +fed; for the old Lancastrian detested the Lady Bonville, as Lord +Warwick's sister, and she would have reconciled her pride to view with +complacency his alliance with the alchemist's daughter, if it led to +his estrangement from the memory of his first love; and, therefore, +when her quick eye penetrated the secret of Sibyll's heart, and when +she witnessed--for Hastings often encountered (and seemed to seek the +encounter) the young maid at Lady Longueville's house--the unconcealed +admiration which justified Sibyll in her high-placed affection, she +scrupled not to encourage the blushing girl by predictions in which +she forced her own better judgment to believe. Nor, when she learned +Sibyll's descent from a family that had once ranked as high as that of +Hastings, would she allow that there was any disparity in the alliance +she foretold. But more, far more than Lady Longueville's assurances, +did the delicate and unceasing gallantries of Hastings himself flatter +the fond faith of Sibyll. True, that he spoke not actually of love, +but every look implied, every whisper seemed to betray it. And to her +he spoke as to an equal, not in birth alone, but in mind; so superior +was she in culture, in natural gifts, and, above all, in that train of +high thought and elevated sentiment, in which genius ever finds a +sympathy, to the court-flutterers of her sex, that Hastings, whether +or not he cherished a warmer feeling, might well take pleasure in her +converse, and feel the lovely infant worthy the wise man's trust. He +spoke to her without reserve of the Lady Bonville, and he spoke with +bitterness. "I loved her," he said, "as woman is rarely loved. She +deserted me for another--rather should she have gone to the convent +than the altar; and now, forsooth, she deems she hath the right to +taunt and to rate me, to dictate to me the way I should walk, and to +flaunt the honours I have won." + +"May that be no sign of a yet tender interest?" said Sibyll, timidly. + +The eyes of Hastings sparkled for a moment, but the gleam vanished. +"Nay, you know her not. Her heart is marble, as hard and as cold; her +very virtue but the absence of emotion,--I would say, of gentler +emotion; for, pardieu, such emotions as come from ire and pride and +scorn are the daily growth of that stern soil. Oh, happy was my +escape! Happy the desertion which my young folly deemed a curse! +No!" he added, with a sarcastic quiver of his lip--"no; what stings +and galls the Lady of Harrington and Bonville, what makes her +countenance change in my presence, and her voice sharpen at my accost, +is plainly this: in wedding her dull lord and rejecting me, Katherine +Nevile deemed she wedded power and rank and station; and now, while we +are both young, how proves her choice? The Lord of Harrington and +Bonville is so noted a dolt, that even the Neviles cannot help him to +rise,--the meanest office is above his mind's level; and, dragged down +by the heavy clay to which her wings are yoked, Katherine, Lady of +Harrington and Bonville--oh, give her her due titles!--is but a +pageant figure in the court. If the war-trump blew, his very vassals +would laugh at a Bonville's banner, and beneath the flag of poor +William Hastings would gladly march the best chivalry of the land. +And this it is, I say, that galls her. For evermore she is driven to +compare the state she holds as the dame of the accepted Bonville with +that she lost as the wife of the disdained Hastings." + +And if, in the heat and passion that such words betrayed, Sibyll +sighed to think that something of the old remembrance yet swelled and +burned, they but impressed her more with the value of a heart in which +the characters once writ endured so long, and roused her to a tender +ambition to heal and to console. + +Then looking into her own deep soul, Sibyll beheld there a fund of +such generous, pure, and noble affection, such reverence as to the +fame, such love as to the man, that she proudly felt herself worthier +of Hastings than the haughty Katherine. She entered then, as it were, +the lists with this rival,--a memory rather, so she thought, than a +corporeal being; and her eye grew brighter, her step statelier, in the +excitement of the contest, the anticipation of the triumph. For what +diamond without its flaw? What rose without its canker? And bedded +deep in that exquisite and charming nature lay the dangerous and fatal +weakness which has cursed so many victims, broken so many hearts,--the +vanity of the sex. We may now readily conceive how little predisposed +was Sibyll to the blunt advances and displeasing warnings of the Lady +Bonville, and the more so from the time in which they chanced. For +here comes the answer to the question, "Why was Sibyll sad?" + +The reader may determine for himself what were the ruling motives of +Lord Hastings in the court he paid to Sibyll. Whether to pique the +Lady Bonville, and force upon her the jealous pain he restlessly +sought to inflict; whether, from the habit of his careless life, +seeking the pleasure of the moment, with little forethought of the +future, and reconciling itself to much cruelty, by that profound +contempt for human beings, man, and still more for woman, which sad +experience often brings to acute intellect; or whether, from the purer +and holier complacency with which one whose youth has fed upon nobler +aspirations than manhood cares to pursue, suns itself back to +something of its earlier lustre in the presence and the converse of a +young bright soul,--whatever, in brief, the earlier motives of +gallantries to Sibyll, once begun, constantly renewed, by degrees +wilder and warmer and guiltier emotions roused up in the universal and +all-conquering lover the vice of his softer nature. When calm and +unimpassioned, his conscience had said to him, "Thou shalt spare that +flower." But when once the passion was roused within him, the purity +of the flower was forgotten in the breath of its voluptuous sweetness. + +And but three days before the scene we have described with Katherine, +Sibyll's fabric of hope fell to the dust. For Hastings spoke for the +first time of love, for the first time knelt at her feet, for the +first time, clasping to his heart that virgin hand, poured forth the +protestation and the vow. And oh! woe--woe! for the first time she +learned how cheaply the great man held the poor maiden's love, how +little he deemed that purity and genius and affection equalled the +possessor of fame and wealth and power; for plainly visible, boldly +shown and spoken, the love that she had foreseen as a glory from the +heaven sought but to humble her to the dust. + +The anguish of that moment was unspeakable,--and she spoke it not. +But as she broke from the profaning clasp, as escaping to the +threshold she cast on the unworthy wooer one look of such reproachful +sorrow as told at once all her love and all her horror, the first act +in the eternal tragedy of man's wrong and woman's grief was closed. +And therefore was Sibyll sad! + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +KATHERINE. + +For several days Hastings avoided Sibyll; in truth, he felt remorse +for his design, and in his various, active, and brilliant life he had +not the leisure for obstinate and systematic siege to a single virtue, +nor was he, perhaps, any longer capable of deep and enduring passion; +his heart, like that of many a chevalier in the earlier day, had +lavished itself upon one object, and sullenly, upon regrets and +dreams, and vain anger and idle scorn, it had exhausted those +sentiments which make the sum of true love. And so, like Petrarch, +whom his taste and fancy worshipped, and many another votary of the +gentil Dieu, while his imagination devoted itself to the chaste and +distant ideal--the spiritual Laura--his senses, ever vagrant and +disengaged, settled without scruple upon the thousand Cynthias of the +minute. But then those Cynthias were, for the most part, and +especially of late years, easy and light-won nymphs; their coyest were +of another clay from the tender but lofty Sibyll. And Hastings shrunk +from the cold-blooded and deliberate seduction of one so pure, while +he could not reconcile his mind to contemplate marriage with a girl +who could give nothing to his ambition; and yet it was not in this +last reluctance only his ambition that startled and recoiled. In that +strange tyranny over his whole soul which Katherine Bonville secretly +exercised, he did not dare to place a new barrier evermore between her +and himself. The Lord Bonville was of infirm health; he had been more +than once near to death's door; and Hastings, in every succeeding +fancy that beguiled his path, recalled the thrill of his heart when it +had whispered "Katherine, the loved of thy youth, may yet be thine!" +And then that Katherine rose before him, not as she now swept the +earth, with haughty step and frigid eye and disdainful lip, but as--in +all her bloom of maiden beauty, before the temper was soured or the +pride aroused--she had met him in the summer twilight, by the +trysting-tree, broken with him the golden ring of faith, and wept upon +his bosom. + +And yet, during his brief and self-inflicted absence from Sibyll, this +wayward and singular personage, who was never weak but to women, and +ever weak to them, felt that she had made herself far dearer to him +than he had at first supposed it possible. He missed that face, ever, +till the last interview, so confiding in the unconsciously betrayed +affection. He felt how superior in sweetness and yet in intellect +Sibyll was to Katherine; there was more in common between her mind and +his in all things, save one. But oh, that one exception!--what a +world lies within it,--the memory of the spring of life! In fact, +though Hastings knew it not, he was in love with two objects at once; +the one, a chimera, a fancy, an ideal, an Eidolon, under the name of +Katherine; the other, youth and freshness and mind and heart and a +living shape of beauty, under the name of Sibyll. Often does this +double love happen to men; but when it does, alas for the human +object! for the shadowy and the spiritual one is immortal,--until, +indeed, it be possessed! + +It might be, perhaps, with a resolute desire to conquer the new love +and confirm the old that Hastings, one morning, repaired to the house +of the Lady Bonville, for her visit to the court had expired. It was +a large mansion, without the Lud Gate. + +He found the dame in a comely chamber, seated in the sole chair the +room contained, to which was attached a foot-board that served as a +dais, while around her, on low stools, sat some spinning, others +broidering--some ten or twelve young maidens of good family, sent to +receive their nurturing under the high-born Katherine, [And strange as +it may seem to modern notions, the highest lady who received such +pensioners accepted a befitting salary for their board and education.] +while two other and somewhat elder virgins sat a little apart, but +close under the eye of the lady, practising the courtly game of +"prime:" for the diversion of cards was in its zenith of fashion under +Edward IV., and even half a century later was considered one of the +essential accomplishments of a well-educated young lady. [So the +Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry VIL, at the age of fourteen, +exhibits her skill, in prime or trump, to her betrothed husband, James +IV. of Scotland; so, among the womanly arts of the unhappy Katherine +of Arragon, it is mentioned that she could play at "cards and dyce." +(See Strutt: Games and Pastimes, Hones' edition, p. 327.) The +legislature was very anxious to keep these games sacred to the +aristocracy, and very wroth with 'prentices and the vulgar for +imitating the ruinous amusements of their betters.] The exceeding +stiffness, the solemn silence of this female circle, but little +accorded with the mood of the graceful visitor. The demoiselles +stirred not at his entrance, and Katherine quietly motioned him to a +seat at some distance. + +"By your leave, fair lady," said Hastings, "I rebel against so distant +an exile from such sweet company;" and he moved the tabouret close to +the formidable chair of the presiding chieftainess. + +Katherine smiled faintly, but not in displeasure. + +"So gay a presence," she said, "must, I fear me, a little disturb +these learners." + +Hastings glanced at the prim demureness written on each blooming +visage, and replied,-- + +"You wrong their ardour in such noble studies. I would wager that +nothing less than my entering your bower on horseback, with helm on +head and lance in rest, could provoke even a smile from one pair of +the twenty rosy lips round which, methinks, I behold Cupido hovering +in vain!" + +The baroness bent her stately brows, and the twenty rosy lips were all +tightly pursed up, to prevent the indecorous exhibition which the +wicked courtier had provoked. But it would not do: one and all the +twenty lips broke into a smile,--but a smile so tortured, constrained, +and nipped in the bud, that it only gave an expression of pain to the +features it was forbidden to enliven. + +"And what brings the Lord Hastings hither?" asked the baroness, in a +formal tone. + +"Can you never allow for motive the desire of pleasure, fair dame?" + +That peculiar and exquisite blush, which at moments changed the whole +physiognomy of Katherine, flitted across her smooth cheek, and +vanished. She said gravely,-- + +"So much do I allow it in you, my lord, that hence my question." + +"Katherine!" exclaimed Hastings, in a voice of tender reproach, and +attempting to seize her hand, forgetful of all other presence save +that to which the blush, that spoke of old, gave back the ancient +charm. + +Katherine cast a hurried and startled glance over the maiden group, +and her eye detected on the automaton faces one common expression of +surprise. Humbled and deeply displeased, she rose from the awful +chair, and then, as suddenly reseating herself, she said, with a voice +and lip of the most cutting irony, "My lord chamberlain is, it seems, +so habituated to lackey his king amidst the goldsmiths and grocers, +that he forgets the form of language and respect of bearing which a +noblewoman of repute is accustomed to consider seemly." + +Hastings bit his lip, and his falcon eye shot indignant fire. + +"Pardon, my Lady of Bonville and Harrington, I did indeed forget what +reasons the dame of so wise and so renowned a lord hath to feel pride +in the titles she hath won. But I see that my visit hath chanced out +of season. My business, in truth, was rather with my lord, whose +counsel in peace is as famous as his truncheon in war!" + +"It is enough," replied Katherine, with a dignity that rebuked the +taunt, "that Lord Bonville has the name of an honest man,--who never +rose at court." + +"Woman, without one soft woman-feeling!" muttered Hastings, between +his ground teeth, as he approached the lady and made his profound +obeisance. The words were intended only for Katherine's ear, and they +reached it. Her bosom swelled beneath the brocaded gorget, and when +the door closed on Hastings, she pressed her hands convulsively +together, and her dark eyes were raised upward. + +"My child, thou art entangling thy skein," said the lady of Bonville, +as she passed one of the maidens, towards the casement, which she +opened,--"the air to-day weighs heavily!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JOY FOR ADAM, AND HOPE FOR SIBYLL--AND POPULAR FRIAR BUNGEY! + +Leaping on his palfrey, Hastings rode back to the Tower, dismounted at +the gate, passed on to the little postern in the inner court, and +paused not till he was in Warner's room. "How now, friend Adam? Thou +art idle." + +"Lord Hastings, I am ill." + +"And thy child not with thee?" + +"She is gone to her grace the duchess, to pray her to grant me leave +to go home, and waste no more life on making gold." + +"Home! Go hence! We cannot hear it! The duchess must not grant it. +I will not suffer the king to lose so learned a philosopher." + +"Then pray the king to let the philosopher achieve that which is in +the power of labour." He pointed to the Eureka. "Let me be heard in +the king's council, and prove to sufficing judges what this iron can +do for England." + +"Is that all? So be it. I will speak to his highness forthwith. But +promise that thou wilt think no more of leaving the king's palace." + +"Oh, no, no! If I may enter again into mine own palace, mine own +royalty of craft and hope, the court or the dungeon all one to me!" + +"Father," said Sibyll, entering, "be comforted. The duchess forbids +thy departure, but we will yet flee--" She stopped short as she saw +Hastings. He approached her timidly, and with so repentant, so +earnest a respect in his mien and gesture, that she had not the heart +to draw back the fair hand he lifted to his lips. + +"No, flee not, sweet donzell; leave not the desert court, without the +flower and the laurel, the beauty and the wisdom, that scent the hour, +and foretype eternity. I have conferred with thy father,--I will +obtain his prayer from the king. His mind shall be free to follow its +own impulse, and thou"--he whispered--"pardon--pardon an offence of +too much love. Never shall it wound again." + +Her eyes, swimming with delicious tears, were fixed upon the floor. +Poor child! with so much love, how could she cherish anger? With so +much purity, how distrust herself? And while, at least, he spoke, the +dangerous lover was sincere. So from that hour peace was renewed +between Sibyll and Lord Hastings.--Fatal peace! alas for the girl who +loves--and has no mother! + +True to his word, the courtier braved the displeasure of the Duchess +of Bedford, in inducing the king to consider the expediency of +permitting Adam to relinquish alchemy, and repair his model. Edward +summoned a deputation from the London merchants and traders, before +whom Adam appeared and explained his device. But these practical men +at first ridiculed the notion as a madman's fancy, and it required all +the art of Hastings to overcome their contempt, and appeal to the +native acuteness of the king. Edward, however, was only caught by +Adam's incidental allusions to the application of his principle to +ships. The merchant-king suddenly roused himself to attention, when +it was promised to him that his galleys should cross the seas without +sail, and against wind and tide. + +"By Saint George!" said he, then, "let the honest man have his whim. +Mend thy model, and every saint in the calendar speed thee! Master +Heyford, tell thy comely wife that I and Hastings will sup with her +to-morrow, for her hippocras is a rare dainty. Good day to you, +worshipful my masters. Hastings, come hither; enough of these +trifles,--I must confer with thee on matters really pressing,--this +damnable marriage of gentle George's!" + +And now Adam Warner was restored to his native element of thought; now +the crucible was at rest, and the Eureka began to rise from its ruins. +He knew not the hate that he had acquired in the permission he had +gained; for the London deputies, on their return home, talked of +nothing else for a whole week but the favour the king had shown to a +strange man, half-maniac, half-conjuror, who had undertaken to devise +a something which would throw all the artisans and journeymen out of +work! From merchant to mechanic travelled the news, and many an +honest man cursed the great scholar, as he looked at his young +children, and wished to have one good blow at the head that was +hatching such devilish malice against the poor! The name of Adam +Warner became a byword of scorn and horror. Nothing less than the +deep ditch and strong walls of the Tower could have saved him from the +popular indignation; and these prejudices were skilfully fed by the +jealous enmity of his fellow-student, the terrible Friar Bungey. This +man, though in all matters of true learning and science worthy the +utmost contempt Adam could heap upon him, was by no means of +despicable abilities in the arts of imposing upon men. In his youth +he had been an itinerant mountebank, or, as it was called, tregetour. +He knew well all the curious tricks of juggling that then amazed the +vulgar, and, we fear, are lost to the craft of our modern +necromancers. He could clothe a wall with seeming vines, that +vanished as you approached; he could conjure up in his quiet cell the +likeness of a castle manned with soldiers, or a forest tenanted by +deer. [See Chaucer, House of Time, Book III.; also the account given +by Baptista Porta, of his own Magical Delusions, of which an extract +may be seen in the "Curiosities of Literature" Art., Dreams at the +Dawn of Philosophy.] Besides these illusions, probably produced by +more powerful magic lanterns than are now used, the friar had stumbled +upon the wondrous effects of animal magnetism, which was then +unconsciously practised by the alchemists and cultivators of white or +sacred magic. He was an adept in the craft of fortune-telling; and +his intimate acquaintance with all noted characters in the metropolis, +their previous history and present circumstances, enabled his natural +shrewdness to hit the mark, at least now and then, in his oracular +predictions. He had taken, for safety and for bread, the friar's +robes, and had long enjoyed the confidence of the Duchess of Bedford, +the traditional descendant of the serpent-witch, Melusina. Moreover, +and in this the friar especially valued himself, Bungey had, in the +course of his hardy, vagrant early life, studied, as shepherds and +mariners do now, the signs of the weather; and as weather-glasses were +then unknown, nothing could be more convenient to the royal planners +of a summer chase or a hawking company than the neighbourhood of a +skilful predictor of storm and sunshine. In fact, there was no part +in the lore of magic which the popular seers found so useful and +studied so much as that which enabled them to prognosticate the +humours of the sky, at a period when the lives of all men were +principally spent in the open air. + +The fame of Friar Bungey had travelled much farther than the repute of +Adam Warner: it was known in the distant provinces: and many a +northern peasant grew pale as he related to his gaping listeners the +tales he had heard of the Duchess Jacquetta's dread magician. + +And yet, though the friar was an atrocious knave and a ludicrous +impostor, on the whole he was by no means unpopular, especially in the +metropolis, for he was naturally a jolly, social fellow; he often +ventured boldly forth into the different hostelries and reunions of +the populace, and enjoyed the admiration he there excited, and +pocketed the groats he there collected. He had no pride,--none in the +least, this Friar Bungey!--and was as affable as a magician could be +to the meanest mechanic who crossed his broad horn palm. A vulgar man +is never unpopular with the vulgar. Moreover, the friar, who was a +very cunning person, wished to keep well with the mob: he was fond of +his own impudent, cheating, burly carcass, and had the prudence to +foresee that a time might come when his royal patrons might forsake +him, and a mob might be a terrible monster to meet in his path; +therefore he always affected to love the poor, often told their +fortunes gratis, now and then gave them something to drink, and was +esteemed a man exceedingly good-natured, because he did not always +have the devil at his back. + +Now Friar Bungey had naturally enough evinced from the first a great +distaste and jealousy of Adam Warner; but occasionally profiting by +the science of the latter, he suffered his resentment to sleep latent +till it was roused into fury by learning the express favour shown to +Adam by the king, and the marvellous results expected from his +contrivance. His envy, then, forbade all tolerance and mercy; the +world was not large enough to contain two such giants,--Bungey and +Warner, the genius and the quack. To the best of our experience, the +quacks have the same creed to our own day. He vowed deep vengeance +upon his associate, and spared no arts to foment the popular hatred +against him. Friar Bungey would have been a great critic in our day! + +But besides his jealousy, the fat friar had another motive for +desiring poor Adam's destruction; he coveted his model! True, he +despised the model, he jeered the model, he abhorred the model; but, +nevertheless, for the model every string in his bowels fondly yearned. +He believed that if that model were once repaired, and in his +possession, he could do--what he knew not, but certainly all that was +wanting to complete his glory, and to bubble the public. + +Unconscious of all that was at work against him, Adam threw his whole +heart and soul into his labour; and happy in his happiness, Sibyll +once more smiled gratefully upon Hastings, from whom the rapture came. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A LOVE SCENE. + +More than ever chafed against Katherine, Hastings surrendered himself +without reserve to the charm he found in the society of Sibyll. Her +confidence being again restored, again her mind showed itself to +advantage, and the more because her pride was further roused to assert +the equality with rank and gold which she took from nature and from +God. + +It so often happens that the first love of woman is accompanied with a +bashful timidity, which overcomes the effort, while it increases the +desire, to shine, that the union of love and timidity has been called +inseparable, in the hackneyed language of every love-tale. But this +is no invariable rule, as Shakspeare has shown us in the artless +Miranda, in the eloquent Juliet, in the frank and healthful Rosalind; +--and the love of Sibyll was no common girl's spring-fever of sighs and +blushes. It lay in the mind, the imagination, the intelligence, as +well as in the heart and fancy. It was a breeze that stirred from the +modest leaves of the rose all their diviner odour. It was impossible +but what this strong, fresh young nature--with its free gayety when +happy, its earnest pathos when sad, its various faculties of judgment +and sentiment, and covert play of innocent wit--should not contrast +forcibly, in the mind of a man who had the want to be amused and +interested, with the cold pride of Katherine, the dull atmosphere in +which her stiff, unbending virtue breathed unintellectual air, and +still more with the dressed puppets, with painted cheeks and barren +talk, who filled up the common world, under the name of women. + +His feelings for Sibyll, therefore, took a more grave and respectful +colour, and his attentions, if gallant ever, were those of a man +wooing one whom he would make his wife, and studying the qualities to +which he was disposed to intrust his happiness; and so pure was +Sibyll's affection, that she could have been contented to have lived +forever thus,--have seen and heard him daily, have talked but the +words of friendship though with the thoughts of love; for some +passions refine themselves through the very fire of the imagination +into which the senses are absorbed, and by the ideal purification +elevated up to spirit. Rapt in the exquisite happiness she now +enjoyed, Sibyll perceived not, or, if perceiving, scarcely heeded; +that the admirers, who had before fluttered round her, gradually +dropped off; that the ladies of the court, the damsels who shared her +light duties, grew distant and silent at her approach; that strange +looks were bent on her; that sometimes when she and Hastings were seen +together, the stern frowned and the godly crossed themselves. + +The popular prejudices had reacted on the court. The wizard's +daughter was held to share the gifts of her sire, and the fascination +of beauty was imputed to evil spells. Lord Hastings was regarded-- +especially by all the ladies he had once courted and forsaken--as a +man egregiously bewitched! + +One day it chanced that Sibyll encountered Hastings in the walk that +girded the ramparts of the Tower. He was pacing musingly, with folded +arms, when he raised his eyes and beheld her. + +"And whither go you thus alone, fair mistress?" + +"The duchess bade me seek the queen, who is taking the air yonder. My +lady has received some tidings she would impart to her highness." + +"I was thinking of thee, fair damsel, when thy face brightened on my +musings; and I was comparing thee to others who dwell in the world's +high places, and marvelling at the whims of fortune." + +Sibyll smiled faintly, and answered, "Provoke not too much the +aspiring folly of my nature. Content is better than ambition." + +"Thou ownest thy ambition?" asked Hastings, curiously. + +"Ah, sir, who hath it not?" + +"But for thy sweet sex ambition has so narrow and cribbed a field." + +"Not so; for it lives in others. I would say," continued Sibyll, +colouring, fearful that she had betrayed herself, "for example, that +so long as my father toils for fame, I breathe in his hope, and am +ambitious for his honour." + +"And so, if thou wert wedded to one worthy of thee, in his ambition +thou wouldst soar and dare?" + +"Perhaps," answered Sibyll, coyly. + +"But if thou wert wedded to sorrow and poverty and troublous care, +thine ambition, thus struck dead, would of consequence strike dead thy +love?" + +"Nay, noble lord, nay; canst thou so wrong womanhood in me unworthy? +for surely true ambition lives not only in the goods of fortune. Is +there no nobler ambition than that of the vanity? Is there no +ambition of the heart,--an ambition to console, to cheer the griefs of +those who love and trust us; an ambition to build a happiness out of +the reach of fate; an ambition to soothe some high soul, in its strife +with a mean world,--to lull to sleep its pain, to smile to serenity +its cares? Oh, methinks a woman's true ambition would rise the +bravest when, in the very sight of death itself, the voice of him in +whom her glory had dwelt through life should say, 'Thou fearest not to +walk to the grave and to heaven by my side!"' + +Sweet and thrilling were the tones in which these words were said, +lofty and solemn the upward and tearful look with which they closed. + +And the answer struck home to the native and original heroism of the +listener's nature, before debased into the cynic sourness of worldly +wisdom. Never had Katherine herself more forcibly recalled to +Hastings the pure and virgin glory of his youth. + +"Oh, Sibyll!" he exclaimed passionately, and yielding to the impulse +of the moment,--"oh, that for me, as to me, such high words were said! +Oh, that all the triumphs of a life men call prosperous were excelled +by the one triumph of waking such an ambition in such a heart!" + +Sibyll stood before him transformed,--pale, trembling, mute,--and +Hastings, clasping her hand and covering it with kisses, said,-- + +"Dare I arede thy silence? Sibyll, thou lovest me--O Sibyll, speak!" + +With a convulsive effort, the girl's lips moved, then closed, then +moved again, into low and broken words. + +"Why this, why this? Thou hadst promised not to--not to--" + +"Not to insult thee by unworthy vows! Nor do I. But as my wife." He +paused abruptly, alarmed at his own impetuous words, and scared by the +phantom of the world that rose like a bodily thing before the generous +impulse, and grinned in scorn of his folly. + +But Sibyll heard only that one holy word of WIFE, and so sudden and so +great was the transport it called forth, that her senses grew faint +and dizzy, and she would have fallen to the earth but for the arms +that circled her, and the breast upon which, now, the virgin might +veil the blush that did not speak of shame. + +With various feelings, both were a moment silent. But oh, that +moment! what centuries of bliss were crowded into it for the nobler +and fairer nature! + +At last, gently releasing herself, she put her hands before her eyes, +as if to convince herself she was awake, and then, turning her lovely +face full upon the wooer, Sibyll said ingenuously,-- + +"Oh, my lord--oh, Hastings! if thy calmer reason repent not these +words, if thou canst approve in me what thou didst admire in Elizabeth +the queen, if thou canst raise one who has no dower but her heart to +the state of thy wife and partner, by this hand, which I place +fearlessly in thine, I pledge thee to such a love as minstrel hath +never sung. No!" she continued, drawing loftily up her light +stature,--"no, thou shalt not find me unworthy of thy name,--mighty +though it is, mightier though it shall be. I have a mind that can +share thine objects, I have pride that can exult in thy power, courage +to partake thy dangers, and devotion--" she hesitated, with the most +charming blush--"but of that, sweet lord, thou shalt judge hereafter! +This is my dowry,--it is all!" + +"And all I ask or covet," said Hastings. But his cheek had lost its +first passionate glow. Lord of many a broad land and barony, +victorious captain in many a foughten field, wise statesman in many a +thoughtful stratagem, high in his king's favour, and linked with a +nation's history,--William de Hastings at that hour was as far below +as earth is to heaven the poor maiden whom he already repented to have +so honoured, and whose sublime answer woke no echo from his heart. + +Fortunately, as he deemed it, at that very instant he heard many steps +rapidly approaching, and his own name called aloud by the voice of the +king's body-squire. + +"Hark! Edward summons me," he said, with a feeling of reprieve. +"Farewell, dear Sibyll, farewell for a brief while,--we shall meet +anon." + +At this time they were standing in that part of the rampart walk which +is now backed by the barracks of a modern soldiery, and before which, +on the other side of the moat, lay a space that had seemed solitary +and deserted; but as Hastings, in speaking his adieu, hurriedly +pressed his lips on Sibyll's forehead, from a tavern without the +fortress, and opposite the spot on which they stood, suddenly sallied +a disorderly troop of half-drunken soldiers, with a gang of the +wretched women that always continue the classic associations of a +false Venus with a brutal Mars; and the last words of Hastings were +scarcely spoken, before a loud laugh startled both himself and Sibyll, +and a shudder came over her when she beheld the tinsel robes of the +tymbesteres glittering in the sun, and heard their leader sing, as she +darted from the arms of a reeling soldier,-- + + "Ha! death to the dove + Is the falcon's love. + Oh, sharp is the kiss of the falcon's beak!" + + + + + +BOOK VII. + +THE POPULAR REBELLION. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WHITE LION OF MARCH SHAKES HIS MANE. + +"And what news?" asked Hastings, as he found himself amidst the king's +squires; while yet was heard the laugh of the tymbesteres, and yet +gliding through the trees might be seen the retreating form of Sibyll. + +"My lord, the king needs you instantly. A courier has just arrived +from the North. The Lords St. John, Rivers, De Fulke, and Scales are +already with his highness." + +"Where?" + +"In the great council chamber." + +To that memorable room [it was from this room that Hastings was +hurried to execution, June 13, 1483] in the White Tower, in which the +visitor, on entrance, is first reminded of the name and fate of +Hastings, strode the unprophetic lord. + +He found Edward not reclining on cushions and carpets, not womanlike +in loose robes, not with his lazy smile upon his sleek beauty. The +king had doffed his gown, and stood erect in the tight tunic, which +gave in full perfection the splendid proportions of a frame +unsurpassed in activity and strength. Before him, on the long table, +lay two or three open letters, beside the dagger with which Edward had +cut the silk that bound them. Around him gravely sat Lord Rivers, +Anthony Woodville, Lord St. John, Raoul de Fulke, the young and +valiant D'Eyncourt, and many other of the principal lords. Hastings +saw at once that something of pith and moment had occurred; and by the +fire in the king's eye, the dilation of his nostril, the cheerful and +almost joyous pride of his mien and brow, the experienced courtier +read the signs of WAR. + +"Welcome, brave Hastings," said Edward, in a voice wholly changed from +its wonted soft affectation,--loud, clear, and thrilling as it went +through the marrow and heart of all who heard its stirring and trumpet +accent,--"welcome now to the field as ever to the banquet! We have +news from the North that bids us brace on the burgonet and buckle-to +the brand,--a revolt that requires a king's arm to quell. In +Yorkshire fifteen thousand men are in arms, under a leader they call +Robin of Redesdale,--the pretext, a thrave of corn demanded by the +Hospital of St. Leonard's, the true design that of treason to our +realm. At the same time, we hear from our brother of Gloucester, now +on the Border, that the Scotch have lifted the Lancaster Rose. There +is peril if these two armies meet. No time to lose,--they are +saddling our war-steeds; we hasten to the van of our royal force. We +shall have warm work, my lords. But who is worthy of a throne that +cannot guard it?" + +"This is sad tidings indeed, sire," said Hastings, gravely. + +"Sad! Say it not, Hastings! War is the chase of kings! Sir Raoul de +Fulke, why lookest thou so brooding and sorrowful?" + +"Sire, I but thought that had Earl Warwick been in England, this--" + +"Ha!" interrupted Edward, haughtily and hastily, "and is Warwick the +sun of heaven that no cloud can darken where his face may shine? The +rebels shall need no foe, my realm no regent, while I, the heir of the +Plantagenets, have the sword for one, the sceptre for the other. We +depart this evening ere the sun be set." + +"My liege," said the Lord St. John, gravely, "on what forces do you +count to meet so formidable an array?" + +"All England, Lord of St. John!" + +"Alack! my liege, may you not deceive yourself! But in this crisis it +is right that your leal and trusty subjects should speak out, and +plainly. It seems that these insurgents clamour not against yourself, +but against the queen's relations,--yes, my Lord Rivers, against you +and your House,--and I fear me that the hearts of England are with +them here." + +"It is true, sire," put in Raoul de Fulke, boldly; "and if these--new +men are to head your armies, the warriors of Towton will stand aloof, +--Raoul de Fulke serves no Woodville's banner. Frown not, Lord de +Scales! it is the griping avarice of you and yours that has brought +this evil on the king. For you the commons have been pillaged; for +you the daughters of peers have been forced into monstrous marriages, +at war with birth and with nature herself; for you, the princely +Warwick, near to the throne in blood, and front and pillar of our +time-honoured order of seigneur and of knight, has been thrust from +our suzerain's favour. And if now ye are to march at the van of war, +--you to be avengers of the strife of which ye are the cause,--I say +that the soldiers will lack heart, and the provinces ye pass through +will be the country of a foe!" + +"Vain man!" began Anthony Woodville, when Hastings laid his hand on +his arm, while Edward, amazed at this outburst from two of the +supporters on whom he principally counted, had the prudence to +suppress his resentment, and remained silent,--but with the aspect of +one resolved to command obedience, when he once deemed it right to +interfere. + +"Hold, Sir Anthony!" said Hastings, who, the moment he found himself +with men, woke to all the manly spirit and profound wisdom that had +rendered his name illustrious--"hold, and let me have the word; my +Lords St. John and De Fulke, your charges are more against me than +against these gentlemen, for I am a new man,--a squire by birth, and +proud to derive mine honours from the same origin as all true +nobility,--I mean the grace of a noble liege and the happy fortune of +a soldier's sword. It may be" (and here the artful favourite, the +most beloved of the whole court, inclined himself meekly)--"it may be +that I have not borne those honours so mildly as to disarm blame. In +the war to be, let me atone. My liege, hear your servant: give me no +command,--let me be a simple soldier, fighting by your side. My +example who will not follow?--proud to ride but as a man of arms along +the track which the sword of his sovereign shall cut through the ranks +of battle! Not you, Lord de Scales, redoubtable and invincible with +lance and axe; let us new men soothe envy by our deeds; and you, Lords +St. John and De Fulke, you shall teach us how your fathers led +warriors who did not fight more gallantly than we will. And when +rebellion is at rest, when we meet again in our suzerain's hall, +accuse us new men, if you can find us faulty, and we will answer you +as we best may." + +This address, which could have come from no man with such effect as +from Hastings, touched all present. And though the Woodvilles, father +and son, saw in it much to gall their pride, and half believed it a +snare for their humiliation, they made no opposition. Raoul de Fulke, +ever generous as fiery, stretched forth his hand, and said,-- + +"Lord Hastings, you have spoken well. Be it as the king wills." + +"My lords," returned Edward, gayly, "my will is that ye be friends +while a foe is in the field. Hasten, then, I beseech you, one and +all, to raise your vassals, and join our standard at Fotheringay. I +will find ye posts that shall content the bravest." + +The king made a sign to break up the conference, and dismissing even +the Woodvilles, was left alone with Hastings. + +"Thou hast served me at need, Will;" said the king. "But I shall +remember" (and his eye flashed a tiger's fire) "the mouthing of those +mock-pieces of the lords at Runnymede. I am no John, to be bearded by +my vassals. Enough of them now. Think you Warwick can have abetted +this revolt?" + +"A revolt of peasants and yeomen! No, sire. If he did so, farewell +forever to the love the barons bear him." + +"Um! and yet Montagu, whom I dismissed ten days since to the Borders, +hearing of disaffection, hath done nought to check it. But come what +may, his must be a bold lance that shivers against a king's mail. And +now one kiss of my lady Bessee, one cup of the bright canary, and then +God and Saint George for the White Rose!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE CAMP AT OLNEY. + +It was some weeks after the citizens of London had seen their gallant +king, at the head of such forces as were collected in haste in the +metropolis, depart from their walls to the encounter of the rebels. +Surprising and disastrous had been the tidings in the interim. At +first, indeed, there were hopes that the insurrection had been put +down by Montagu, who had defeated the troops of Robin of Redesdale, +near the city of York, and was said to have beheaded their leader. +But the spirit of discontent was only fanned by an adverse wind. The +popular hatred to the Woodvilles was so great, that in proportion as +Edward advanced to the scene of action, the country rose in arms, as +Raoul de Fulke had predicted. Leaders of lordly birth now headed the +rebellion; the sons of the Lords Latimer and Fitzhugh (near kinsmen of +the House of Nevile) lent their names to the cause and Sir John +Coniers, an experienced soldier, whose claims had been disregarded by +Edward, gave to the insurgents the aid of a formidable capacity for +war. In every mouth was the story of the Duchess of Bedford's +witchcraft; and the waxen figure of the earl did more to rouse the +people than perhaps the earl himself could have done in person. [See +"Parliamentary Rolls," vi. 232, for the accusation of witchcraft, and +the fabrication of a necromantic image of Lord Warwick, circulated +against the Duchess of Bedford. She herself quotes and complains of +them.] As yet, however, language of the insurgents was tempered with +all personal respect to the king; they declared in their manifestoes +that they desired only the banishment of the Woodvilles and the recall +of Warwick, whose name they used unscrupulously, and whom they +declared they were on their way to meet. As soon as it was known that +the kinsmen of the beloved earl were in the revolt, and naturally +supposed that the earl himself must countenance the enterprise, the +tumultuous camp swelled every hour, while knight after knight, veteran +after veteran, abandoned the royal standard. The Lord d'Eyncourt (one +of the few lords of the highest birth and greatest following over whom +the Neviles had no influence, and who bore the Woodvilles no grudge) +had, in his way to Lincolnshire,--where his personal aid was necessary +to rouse his vassals, infected by the common sedition,--been attacked +and wounded by a body of marauders, and thus Edward's camp lost one of +its greatest leaders. Fierce dispute broke out in the king's +councils; and when the witch Jacquetta's practices against the earl +travelled from the hostile into the royal camp, Raoul de Fulke, St. +John, and others, seized with pious horror, positively declared they +would throw down their arms and retire to their castles, unless the +Woodvilles were dismissed from the camp and the Earl of Warwick was +recalled to England. To the first demand the king was constrained to +yield; with the second he temporized. He marched from Fotheringay to +Newark; but the signs of disaffection, though they could not dismay +him as a soldier, altered his plans as a captain of singular military +acuteness; he fell back on Nottingham, and despatched, with his own +hands, letters to Clarence, the Archbishop of York, and Warwick. To +the last he wrote touchingly. + +"We do not believe" (said the letter) "that ye should be of any such +disposition towards us as the rumour here runneth, considering the +trust and affection we bear you,--and cousin, we think ye shall be to +us welcome." [Paston Letters, ccxcviii. (Knight's edition), vol. ii. +p. 59. See also Lingard, vol. iii. p. 522 (4to edition), note 43, for +the proper date to be assigned to Edward's letter to Warwick, etc.] + +But ere these letters reached their destination, the crown seemed +well-nigh lost. At Edgecote the Earl of Pembroke was defeated and +slain, and five thousand royalists were left on the field. Earl +Rivers and his son, Sir John Woodville, [This Sir John Woodville was +the most obnoxious of the queen's brothers, and infamous for the +avarice which had led him to marry the old Duchess of Norfolk, an act +which according to the old laws of chivalry would have disabled him +from entering the lists of knighthood, for the ancient code +disqualified and degraded any knight who should marry any old woman +for her money! Lord Rivers was the more odious to the people at the +time of the insurrection because, in his capacity of treasurer, he had +lately tampered with the coin and circulation.] who in obedience to +the royal order had retired to the earl's country seat of Grafton, +were taken prisoners, and beheaded by the vengeance of the insurgents. +The same lamentable fate befell the Lord Stafford, on whom Edward +relied as one of his most puissant leaders; and London heard with +dismay that the king, with but a handful of troops, and those lukewarm +and disaffected, was begirt on all sides by hostile and marching +thousands. + +From Nottingham, however, Edward made good his retreat to a village +called Olney, which chanced at that time to be partially fortified +with a wall and a strong gate. Here the rebels pursued him; and +Edward, hearing that Sir Anthony Woodville, who conceived that the +fate of his father and brother cancelled all motive for longer absence +from the contest, was busy in collecting a force in the neighbourhood +of Coventry, while other assistance might be daily expected from +London, strengthened the fortifications as well as the time would +permit, and awaited the assault of the insurgents. + +It was at this crisis, and while throughout all England reigned terror +and commotion, that one day, towards the end of July, a small troop of +horsemen were seen riding rapidly towards the neighbourhood of Olney. +As the village came in view of the cavalcade, with the spire of its +church and its gray stone gateway, so also they beheld, on the +pastures that stretched around wide and far, a moving forest of pikes +and plumes. + +"Holy Mother!" said one of the foremost riders, "good the knight and +strong man though Edward be, it were sharp work to cut his way from +that hamlet through yonder fields! Brother, we were more welcome, had +we brought more bills and bows at our backs!" + +"Archbishop," answered the stately personage thus addressed, "we bring +what alone raises armies and disbands them,--a NAME that a People +honours! From the moment the White Bear is seen on yonder archway +side by side with the king's banner, that army will vanish as smoke +before the wind." + +"Heaven grant it, Warwick!" said the Duke of Clarence; for though +Edward hath used us sorely, it chafes me as Plantagenet and as prince +to see how peasants and varlets can hem round a king." + +"Peasants and varlets are pawns in the chessboard, cousin George," +said the prelate; "and knight and bishop find them mighty useful when +pushing forward to an attack. Now knight and bishop appear themselves +and take up the game. Warwick," added the prelate, in a whisper, +unheard by Clarence, "forget not, while appeasing rebellion, that the +king is in your power." + +"For shame, George! I think not now of the unkind king; I think only +of the brave boy I dandled on my knee, and whose sword I girded on at +Towton. How his lion heart must chafe, condemned to see a foe whom +his skill as captain tells him it were madness to confront!" + +"Ay, Richard Nevile, ay," said the prelate, with a slight sneer, "play +the Paladin, and become the dupe; release the prince, and betray the +people!" + +"No! I can be true to both. Tush! brother, your craft is slight to +the plain wisdom of bold honesty. You slacken your steeds, sirs; on! +on! see the march of the rebels! On, for an Edward and a Warwick!" +and, spurring to full speed, the little company arrived at the gates. +The loud bugle of the new comers was answered by the cheerful note of +the joyous warder, while dark, slow, and solemn over the meadows crept +on the mighty crowd of the rebel army. + +"We have forestalled the insurgents!" said the earl, throwing himself +from his black steed. "Marmaduke Nevile, advance our banner; heralds, +announce the Duke of Clarence, the Archbishop of York, and the Earl of +Salisbury and Warwick." + +Through the anxious town, along the crowded walls and housetops, into +the hall of an old mansion (that then adjoined the church), where the +king, in complete armour, stood at bay, with stubborn and disaffected +officers, rolled the thunder cry, "A Warwick! a Warwick! all saved! a +Warwick!" + +Sharply, as he heard the clamour, the king turned upon his startled +council. "Lords and captains!" said he, with that inexpressible +majesty which he could command in his happier hours, "God and our +Patron Saint have sent us at least one man who has the heart to fight +fifty times the odds of yon miscreant rabble, by his king's side, and +for the honour of loyalty and knighthood!" + +"And who says, sire," answered Raoul de Fulke, "that we, your lords +and captains, would not risk blood and life for our king and our +knighthood in a just cause? But we will not butcher our countrymen +for echoing our own complaint, and praying your Grace that a grasping +and ambitious family which you have raised to power may no longer +degrade your nobles and oppress your commons. We shall see if the +Earl of Warwick blame us or approve." + +"And I answer," said Edward, loftily, "that whether Warwick approve or +blame, come as friend or foe, I will sooner ride alone through yonder +archway, and carve out a soldier's grave amongst the ranks of +rebellious war, than be the puppet of my subjects, and serve their +will by compulsion. Free am I--free ever will I be, while the crown +of the Plantagenet is mine, to raise those whom I love, to defy the +threats of those sworn to obey me. And were I but Earl of March, +instead of king of England, this hall should have swum with the blood +of those who have insulted the friends of my youth, the wife of my +bosom. Off, Hastings!--I need no mediator with my servants. Nor +here, nor anywhere in broad England, have I my equal, and the king +forgives or scorns--construe it as ye will, my lords--what the simple +gentleman would avenge." + +It were in vain to describe the sensation that this speech produced. +There is ever something in courage and in will that awes numbers, +though brave themselves. And what with the unquestioned valour of +Edward; what with the effect of his splendid person, towering above +all present by the head, and moving lightly, with each impulse, +through the mass of a mail that few there could have borne unsinking, +this assertion of absolute power in the midst of mutiny--an army +marching to the gates--imposed an unwilling reverence and sullen +silence mixed with anger, that, while it chafed, admired. They who in +peace had despised the voluptuous monarch, feasting in his palace, and +reclining on the lap of harlot-beauty, felt that in war all Mars +seemed living in his person. Then, indeed, he was a king; and had the +foe, now darkening the landscape, been the noblest chivalry of France, +not a man there but had died for a smile from that haughty lip. But +the barons were knit heart in heart with the popular outbreak, and to +put down the revolt seemed to them but to raise the Woodvilles. The +silence was still unbroken, save where the persuasive whisper of Lord +Hastings might be faintly heard in remonstrance with the more powerful +or the more stubborn of the chiefs, when the tread of steps resounded +without, and, unarmed, bareheaded, the only form in Christendom +grander and statelier than the king's strode into the hall. + +Edward, as yet unaware what course Warwick would pursue, and half +doubtful whether a revolt that had borrowed his name and was led by +his kinsmen might not originate in his consent, surrounded by those to +whom the earl was especially dear, and aware that if Warwick were +against him all was lost, still relaxed not the dignity of his mien; +and leaning on his large two-handed sword, with such inward resolves +as brave kings and gallant gentlemen form, if the worst should befall, +he watched the majestic strides of his great kinsman, and said, as the +earl approached, and the mutinous captains louted low,-- + +"Cousin, you are welcome! for truly do I know that when you have aught +whereof to complain, you take not the moment of danger and disaster. +And whatever has chanced to alienate your heart from me, the sound of +the rebel's trumpet chases all difference, and marries your faith to +mine." + +"Oh, Edward, my king, why did you so misjudge me in the prosperous +hour!" said Warwick, simply, but with affecting earnestness: "since in +the adverse hour you arede me well?" + +As he spoke, he bowed his head, and, bending his knee, kissed the hand +held out to him. + +Edward's face grew radiant, and, raising the earl, he glanced proudly +at the barons, who stood round, surprised and mute. + +"Yes, my lords and sirs, see,--it is not the Earl of Warwick, next to +our royal brethren the nearest subject to the throne, who would desert +me in the day of peril!" + +"Nor do we, sire," retorted Raoul de Fulke; "you wrong us before our +mighty comrade if you so misthink us. We will fight for the king, but +not for the queen's kindred; and this alone brings on us your anger." + +"The gates shall be opened to ye. Go! Warwick and I are men enough +for the rabble yonder." + +The earl's quick eye and profound experience of his time saw at once +the dissension and its causes. Nor, however generous, was he willing +to forego the present occasion for permanently destroying an influence +which he knew hostile to himself and hurtful to the realm. His was +not the generosity of a boy, but of a statesman. Accordingly, as +Raoul de Fulke ceased, he took up the word. + +"My liege, we have yet an hour good ere the foe can reach the gates. +Your brother and mine accompany me. See, they enter! Please you, a +few minutes to confer with them; and suffer me, meanwhile, to reason +with these noble captains." + +Edward paused; but before the open brow of the earl fled whatever +suspicion might have crossed the king's mind. + +"Be it so, cousin; but remember this,--to councillors who can menace +me with desertion at such an hour, I concede nothing." + +Turning hastily away, he met Clarence and the prelate midway in the +hall, threw his arm caressingly over his brother's shoulder, and, +taking the archbishop by the hand, walked with them towards the +battlements. + +"Well, my friends," said Warwick, "and what would you of the king?" + +"The dismissal of all the Woodvilles, except the queen; the revocation +of the grants and land accorded to them, to the despoiling the ancient +noble; and, but for your presence, we had demanded your recall." + +"And, failing these, what your resolve?" + +"To depart, and leave Edward to his fate. These granted, we doubt +little but that the insurgents will disband. These not granted, we +but waste our lives against a multitude whose cause we must approve." + +"The cause! But ye know not the real cause," answered Warwick. "I +know it; for the sons of the North are familiar to me, and their +rising hath deeper meaning than ye deem. What! have they not decoyed +to their head my kinsmen, the heirs of Latimer and Fitzhugh, and bold +Coniers, whose steel calque should have circled a wiser brain? Have +they not taken my name as their battle-cry? And do ye think this +falsehood veils nothing but the simple truth of just complaint?" + +"Was their rising, then," asked St. John, in evident surprise, "wholly +unauthorized by you?" + +"So help me Heaven! if I would resort to arms to redress a wrong, +think not that I myself would be absent from the field! No, my lords, +friends, and captains, time presses; a few words must suffice to +explain what as yet may be dark to you. I have letters from Montagu +and others, which reached me the same day as the king's, and which +clear up the purpose of our misguided countrymen. Ye know well that +ever in England, but especially since the reign of Edward III., +strange, wild notions of some kind of liberty other than that we enjoy +have floated loose through the land. Among the commons, a half- +conscious recollection that the nobles are a different race from +themselves feeds a secret rancour and mislike, which, at any fair +occasion for riot, shows itself bitter and ruthless,--as in the +outbreak of Cade and others. And if the harvest fail, or a tax gall, +there are never wanting men to turn the popular distress to the ends +of private ambition or state design. Such a man has been the true +head and front of this commotion." + +"Speak you of Robin of Redesdale, now dead?" asked one of the +captains. + +"He is not dead. [The fate of Robin of Redesdale has been as obscure +as most of the incidents in this most perplexed part of English +history. While some of the chroniclers finish his career according to +the report mentioned in the text, Fabyan not only more charitably +prolongs his life, but rewards him with the king's pardon; and +according to the annals of his ancient and distinguished family (who +will pardon, we trust, a license with one of their ancestry equally +allowed by history and romance), as referred to in Wotton's "English +Baronetage" (Art. "Hilyard"), and which probably rests upon the +authority of the life of Richard III., in Stowe's "Annals," he is +represented as still living in the reign of that king. But the whole +account of this famous demagogue in Wotton is, it must be owned, full +of historical mistakes.] Montagu informs me that the report was +false. He was defeated off York, and retired for some days into the +woods; but it is he who has enticed the sons of Latimer and Fitzhugh +into the revolt, and resigned his own command to the martial cunning +of Sir John Coniers. This Robin of Redesdale is no common man. He +hath had a clerkly education, he hath travelled among the Free Towns +of Italy, he hath deep purpose in all he doth; and among his projects +is the destruction of the nobles here, as it was whilome effected in +Florence, the depriving us of all offices and posts, with other +changes, wild to think of and long to name." + +"And we would have suffered this man to triumph!" exclaimed De Fulke: +"we have been to blame." + +"Under fair pretence he has gathered numbers, and now wields an army. +I have reason to know that, had he succeeded in estranging ye from +Edward, and had the king fallen, dead or alive, into his hands, his +object would have been to restore Henry of Windsor, but on conditions +that would have left king and baron little more than pageants in the +state. I knew this man years ago. I have watched him since; and, +strange though it may seem to you, he hath much in him that I admire +as a subject and should fear were I a king. Brief, thus runs my +counsel: For our sake and the realm's safety, we must see this armed +multitude disbanded; that done, we must see the grievances they with +truth complain of fairly redressed. Think not, my lords, I avenge my +own wrongs alone, when I go with you in your resolve to banish from +the king's councils the baleful influence of the queen's kin. Till +that be compassed, no peace for England. As a leprosy, their avarice +crawls over the nobler parts of the state, and devours while it +sullies. Leave this to me; and, though we will redress ourselves, let +us now assist our king!" + +With one voice the unruly officers clamoured their assent to all the +earl urged, and expressed their readiness to sally at once from the +gates, and attack the rebels. + +"But," observed an old veteran, "what are we amongst so many? Here a +handful--there an army!" + +"Fear not, reverend sir," answered Warwick, with an assured smile; "is +not this army in part gathered from my own province of Yorkshire? Is +it not formed of men who have eaten of my bread and drunk of my cup? +Let me see the man who will discharge one arrow at the walls which +contain Richard Nevile of Warwick. Now each to your posts,--I to the +king." + +Like the pouring of new blood into a decrepit body seemed the arrival, +at that feeble garrison, of the Earl of Warwick. From despair into +the certainty of triumph leaped every heart. Already at the sight of +his banner floating by the side of Edward's, the gunner had repaired +to his bombard, the archer had taken up his bow; the village itself, +before disaffected, poured all its scanty population--women, and age, +and children--to the walls. And when the earl joined the king upon +the ramparts, he found that able general sanguine and elated, and +pointing out to Clarence the natural defences of the place. +Meanwhile, the rebels, no doubt apprised by their scouts of the new +aid, had already halted in their march, and the dark swarm might be +seen indistinctly undulating, as bees ere they settle, amidst the +verdure of the plain. + +"Well, cousin," said the king, "have ye brought these Hotspurs to +their allegiance?" + +"Sire, yes," said Warwick, gravely; "but we have here no force to +resist yon army." + +"Bring you not succours?" said the king, astonished. "You must have +passed through London. Have you left no troops upon the road?" + +"I had no time, sire; and London is well-nigh palsied with dismay. +Had I waited to collect troops, I might have found a king's head +blackening over those gates." + +"Well," returned Edward, carelessly, "few or many, one gentleman is +more worth than a hundred varlets. 'We are eno' for glory,' as Henry +said at Agincourt." + +"No, sire; you are too skilful and too wise to believe your boast. +These men we cannot conquer,--we must disperse them." + +"By what spell?" + +"By their king's word to redress their complaints." + +"And banish my queen?" + +"Heaven forbid that man should part those whom God has joined," +returned Warwick. "Not my lady, your queen, but my lady's kindred." + +"Rivers is dead, and gallant John," said Edward, sadly; "is not that +enough for revenge?" + +"It is not revenge that we require, but pledges for the land's +safety," answered Warwick. "And to be plain, without such a promise +these walls may be your tomb." + +Edward walked apart, strongly debating within himself. In his +character were great contrasts: no man was more frank in common, no +man more false when it suited; no man had more levity in wanton love, +or more firm affection for those he once thoroughly took to his heart. +He was the reverse of grateful for service yielded, yet he was warm in +protecting those on whom service was conferred. He was resolved not +to give up the Woodvilles, and after a short self-commune, he equally +determined not to risk his crown and life by persevering in resistance +to the demand for their downfall. Inly obstinate, outwardly yielding, +he concealed his falsehood with his usual soldierly grace. + +"Warwick," he said, returning to the earl's side, "you cannot advise +me to what is misbeseeming, and therefore in this strait I resign my +conduct to your hands. I will not unsay to yon mutinous gentlemen +what I have already said; but what you judge it right to promise in my +name to them or to the insurgents, I will not suppose that mime honour +will refuse to concede. But go not hence, O noblest friend that ever +stood by a king's throne!--go not hence till the grasp of your hand +assures me that all past unkindness is gone and buried; yea, and by +this hand, and while its pressure is warm in mine, bear not too hard +on thy king's affection for his lady's kindred." + +"Sire," said Warwick, though his generous nature well-nigh melted into +weakness, and it was with an effort that he adhered to his purpose,-- +"sire, if dismissed for a while, they shall not be degraded. And if +it be, on consideration, wise to recall from the family of Woodville +your grants of lands and lordships, take from your Warwick--who, rich +in his king's love, hath eno' to spare--take the double of what you +would recall. Oh, be frank with me, be true, be steadfast, Edward, +and dispose of my lands, whenever you would content a favourite." + +"Not to impoverish thee, my Warwick," answered Edward, smiling, "did I +call thee to my aid; for the rest, my revenues as Duke of York are at +least mine to bestow. Go now to the hostile camp,--go as sole +minister and captain-general of this realm; go with all powers and +honours a king can give; and when these districts are at peace, depart +to our Welsh provinces, as chief justiciary of that principality. +Pembroke's mournful death leaves that high post in my gift. It cannot +add to your greatness, but it proves to England your sovereign's +trust." + +"And while that trust is given," said Warwick, with tears in his eyes, +"may Heaven strengthen my arm in battle, and sharpen my brain in +council! But I play the laggard. The sun wanes westward; it should +not go down while a hostile army menaces the son of Richard of York." + +The earl rode rapidly away, reached the broad space where his +followers still stood, dismounted, but beside their steeds,-- + +"Trumpets advance, pursuivants and heralds go before! Marmaduke, +mount! The rest I need not. We ride to the insurgent camp." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE CAMP OF THE REBELS. + +The rebels had halted about a mile from the town, and were already +pitching their tents for the night. It was a tumultuous, clamorous, +but not altogether undisciplined array; for Coniers was a leader of +singular practice in reducing men into the machinery of war, and where +his skill might have failed, the prodigious influence and energy of +Robin of Redesdale ruled the passions and united the discordant +elements. This last was, indeed, in much worthy the respect in which +Warwick held his name. In times more ripe for him, he would have been +a mighty demagogue and a successful regenerator. His birth was known +but to few; his education and imperious temper made him vulgarly +supposed of noble origin; but had he descended from a king's loins, +Robert Hilyard had still been the son of the Saxon people. Warwick +overrated, perhaps, Hilyard's wisdom; for, despite his Italian +experience, his ideas were far from embracing any clear and definite +system of democracy. He had much of the frantic levelism and +jacquerie of his age and land, and could probably not have explained +to himself all the changes he desired to effect; but, coupled with his +hatred to the nobles, his deep and passionate sympathy with the poor, +his heated and fanatical chimeras of a republic, half-political and +half-religious, he had, with no uncommon inconsistency, linked the +cause of a dethroned king. For as the Covenanters linked with the +Stuarts against the succeeding and more tolerant dynasty, never +relinquishing their own anti-monarchic theories; as in our time, the +extreme party on the popular side has leagued with the extreme of the +aristocratic, in order to crush the medium policy, as a common foe,-- +so the bold leveller united with his zeal for Margaret the very cause +which the House of Lancaster might be supposed the least to favour. +He expected to obtain from a sovereign dependent upon a popular +reaction for restoration, great popular privileges. And as the Church +had deserted the Red Rose for the White, he sought to persuade many of +the Lollards, ever ready to show their discontent, that Margaret (in +revenge on the hierarchy) would extend the protection they had never +found in the previous sway of her husband and Henry V. Possessed of +extraordinary craft, and even cunning in secular intrigues, energetic, +versatile, bold, indefatigable, and, above all, marvellously gifted +with the arts that inflame, stir up, and guide the physical force of +masses, Robert Hilyard had been, indeed, the soul and life of the +present revolt; and his prudent moderation in resigning the nominal +command to those whose military skill and high birth raised a riot +into the dignity of rebellion, had given that consistency and method +to the rising which popular movements never attain without +aristocratic aid. + +In the principal tent of the encampment the leaders of the +insurrection were assembled. + +There was Sir John Coniers, who had married one of the Neviles, the +daughter of Fauconberg, Lord High Admiral, but who had profited little +by this remote connection with Warwick; for, with all his merit, he +was a greedy, grasping man, and he had angered the hot earl in +pressing his claims too imperiously. This renowned knight was a tall, +gaunt man, whose iron frame sixty winters had not bowed. There were +the young heirs of Latimer and Fitzhugh, in gay gilded armour and +scarlet mantelines; and there, in a plain cuirass, trebly welded, and +of immense weight, but the lower limbs left free and unincumbered in +thick leathern hose, stood Robin of Redesdale. Other captains there +were, whom different motives had led to the common confederacy. There +might be seen the secret Lollard, hating either Rose, stern and sour, +and acknowledging no leader but Hilyard, whom he knew as a Lollard's +son; there might be seen the ruined spendthrift, discontented with +fortune, and regarding civil war as the cast of a die,--death for the +forfeiture, lordships for the gain; there, the sturdy Saxon squire, +oppressed by the little baron of his province, and rather hopeful to +abase a neighbour than dethrone a king of whom he knew little, and for +whom he cared still less; and there, chiefly distinguished from the +rest by grizzled beard, upturned mustache, erect mien, and grave, not +thoughtful aspect, were the men of a former period,--the soldiers who +had fought against the Maid of Are,--now without place, station, or +hope in peaceful times, already half robbers by profession, and +decoyed to any standard that promised action, pay, or plunder. + +The conclave were in high and warm debate. + +"If this be true," said Coniers, who stood at the head of the table, +his helmet, axe, truncheon, and a rough map of the walls of Olney +before him--"if this be true, if our scouts are not deceived, if the +Earl of Warwick is in the village, and if his banner float beside King +Edward's,--I say, bluntly, as soldiers should speak, that I have been +deceived and juggled!" + +"And by whom, Sir Knight and cousin?" said the heir of Fitzhugh, +reddening. + +"By you, young kinsman, and this hot-mouthed dare-devil, Robin of +Redesdale! Ye assured me, both, that the earl approved the rising; +that he permitted the levying yon troops in his name; that he knew +well the time was come to declare against the Woodvilles, and that no +sooner was an army mustered than he would place himself at its bead; +and I say, if this be not true, you have brought these gray hairs into +dishonour!" + +"And what, Sir John Coniers," exclaimed Robin, rudely, "what honour +had your gray hairs till the steel cap covered them? What honour, I +say, under lewd Edward and his lusty revellers? You were thrown +aside, like a broken scythe, Sir John Coniers! You were forsaken in +your rust! Warwick himself, your wife's great kinsman, could do +nought in your favour! You stand now, leader of thousands, lord of +life and death, master of Edward and the throne! We have done this +for you, and you reproach us!" + +"And," began the heir of Fitzhugh, encouraged by the boldness of +Hilyard, "we had all reason to believe my noble uncle, the Earl of +Warwick, approved our emprise. When this brave fellow (pointing to +Robin) came to inform me that, with his own eyes, he had seen the +waxen effigies of my great kinsman, the hellish misdeed of the queen's +witch-dam, I repaired to my Lord Montagu; and though that prudent +courtier refused to declare openly, he let me see that war with the +Woodvilles was not unwelcome to him." + +"Yet this same Montagu," observed one of the ringleaders, "when +Hilyard was well-nigh at the gates of York, sallied out and defeated +him, sans ruth, sans ceremony." + +"Yes, but he spared my life, and beheaded the dead body of poor Hugh +Withers in my stead: for John Nevile is cunning, and he picks his nuts +from the brennen without lesing his own paw. It was not the hour for +him to join us, so he beat us civilly, and with discretion. But what +hath he done since? He stands aloof while our army swells, while the +bull of the Neviles and the ragged staff of the earl are the ensigns +of our war, and while Edward gnaws out his fierce heart in yon walls +of Olney. How say ye, then, that Warwick, even if now in person with +the king, is in heart against us? Nay, he may have entered Olney but +to capture the tyrant." + +"If so," said Coniers, "all is as it should be: but if Earl Warwick, +who, though he hath treated me ill, is a stour carle, and to be feared +if not loved, join the king, I break this wand, and ye will seek out +another captain." + +"And a captain shall be found!" cried Robin. "Are we so poor in +valour, that when one man leaves us we are headless and undone? What +if Warwick so betray us and himself,--he brings no forces. And never, +by God's blessing, should we separate till we have redressed the +wrongs of our countrymen!" + +"Good!" said the Saxon squire, winking, and looking wise,--"not till +we have burned to the ground the Baron of Bullstock's castle!" + +"Not," said a Lollard, sternly, "till we have shortened the purple +gown of the churchman; not till abbot and bishop have felt on their +backs the whip wherewith they have scourged the godly believer and the +humble saint." + +"Not," added Robin, "till we have assured bread to the poor man, and +the filling of the flesh-pot, and the law to the weak, and the +scaffold to the evil-doer." + +"All this is mighty well," said, bluntly, Sir Geoffrey Gates, the +leader of the mercenaries, a skilful soldier, but a predatory and +lawless bravo; "but who is to pay me and my tall fellows?" + +At this pertinent question, there was a general hush of displeasure +and disgust. + +"For, look you, my masters," continued Sir Geoffrey, "as long as I and +my comrades here believed that the rich earl, who hath half England +for his provant, was at the head or the tail of this matter, we were +contented to wait a while; but devil a groat hath yet gone into my +gipsire; and as for pillage, what is a farm or a homestead? an' it +were a church or a castle there might be pickings." + +"There is much plate of silver, and a sack or so of marks and royals, +in the stronghold of the Baron of Bullstock," quoth the Saxon squire, +doggedly hounding on to his revenge. + +"You see, my friends," said Coniers, with a smile, and shrugging his +shoulders, "that men cannot gird a kingdom with ropes of sand. +Suppose we conquer and take captive--nay, or slay--King Edward, what +then?" + +"The Duke of Clarence, male heir to the throne," said the heir of +Latimer, "is Lord Warwick's son-in-law, and therefore akin to you, Sir +John." + +"That is true," observed Coniers, musingly. + +"Not ill thought of, sir," said Sir Geoffrey Gates; "and my advice is +to proclaim Clarence king and Warwick lord protector. We have some +chance of the angels then." + +"Besides," said the heir of Fitzhugh, "our purpose once made clear, it +will be hard either for Warwick or Clarence to go against us,--harder +still for the country not to believe them with us. Bold measures are +our wisest councillors." + +"Um!" said the Lollard, "Lord Warwick is a good man, and has never, +though his brother be a bishop, abetted the Church tyrannies. But as +for George of Clarence--" + +"As for Clarence," said Hilyard, who saw with dismay and alarm that +the rebellion he designed to turn at the fitting hour to the service +of Lancaster, might now only help to shift from one shoulder to the +other the hated dynasty of York--"as for Clarence, he hath Edward's +vices without his manhood." He paused, and seeing that the crisis had +ripened the hour for declaring himself, his bold temper pushed at once +to its object. "No!" he continued, folding his arms, raising his +head, and comprehending the whole council in his keen and steady +gaze,--"no! lords and gentlemen, since speak I must in this emergency, +hear me calmly. Nothing has prospered in England since we abandoned +our lawful king. If we rid ourselves of Edward, let it not be to sink +from a harlot-monger to a drunkard. In the Tower pines our true lord, +already honoured as a saint. Hear me, I say,--hear me out! On the +frontiers an army that keeps Gloucester at bay hath declared for Henry +and Margaret. Let us, after seizing Olney, march thither at once, and +unite forces. Margaret is already prepared to embark for England. I +have friends in London who will attack the Tower, and deliver Henry. +To you, Sir John Coniers, in the queen's name, I promise an earldom +and the garter; to you, the heirs of Latimer and Fitzhugh, the high +posts that beseem your birth; to all of you, knights and captains, +just share and allotment in the confiscated lands of the Woodvilles +and the Yorkists; to you, brethren," and addressing the Lollards, his +voice softened into a meaning accent that, compelled to worship in +secret, they yet understood, "shelter from your foes and mild laws; +and to you, brave soldiers, that pay which a king's coffers alone can +supply. Wherefore I say, down with all subject-banners! up with the +Red Rose and the Antelope, and long live Henry the Sixth!" + +This address, however subtle in its adaptation to the various passions +of those assembled, however aided by the voice, spirit, and energy of +the speaker, took too much by surprise those present to produce at +once its effect. + +The Lollards remembered the fires lighted for their martyrs by the +House of Lancaster; and though blindly confident in Hilyard, were not +yet prepared to respond to his call. The young heir of Fitzhugh, who +had, in truth, but taken arms to avenge the supposed wrongs of +Warwick, whom he idolized, saw no object gained in the rise of +Warwick's enemy, Queen Margaret. The mercenaries called to mind the +woful state of Henry's exchequer in the former time. The Saxon squire +muttered to himself, "And what the devil is to become of the castle of +Bullstock?" But Sir Henry Nevile (Lord Latimer's son), who belonged +to that branch of his House which had espoused the Lancaster cause, +and who was in the secret councils of Hilyard, caught up the cry, and +said, "Hilyard doth not exceed his powers; and he who strikes for the +Red Rose shall carve out his own lordship from the manors of every +Yorkist that he slays." Sir John Coniers hesitated: poor, long +neglected, ever enterprising and ambitious, he was dazzled by the +proffered bribe; but age is slow to act, and he expressed himself with +the measured caution of gray hairs. + +"A king's name," said he, "is a tower of strength, especially when +marching against a king; but this is a matter for general assent and +grave forethought." + +Before any other (for ideas did not rush at once to words in those +days) found his tongue, a mighty uproar was heard without. It did not +syllable itself into distinct sound; it uttered no name; it was such a +shout as numbers alone could raise; and to such a shout would some +martial leader have rejoiced to charge to battle, so full of depth and +fervour, and enthusiasm and good heart, it seemed, leaping from rank +to rank, from breast to breast, from earth to heaven. With one accord +the startled captains made to the entrance of the tent, and there they +saw, in the broad space before them, inclosed by the tents which were +grouped in a wide semicircle,--for the mass of the hardy rebel army +slept in the open air, and the tents were but for leaders,--they saw, +we say, in that broad space, a multitude kneeling, and in the midst, +upon his good steed Saladin, bending graciously down, the martial +countenance, the lofty stature, of the Earl of Warwick. Those among +the captains who knew him not personally recognized him by the popular +description,--by the black war-horse, whose legendary fame had been +hymned by every minstrel; by the sensation his appearance had created; +by the armourial insignia of his heralds, grouped behind him, and +whose gorgeous tabards blazed with his cognizance and quarterings in +azure, or, and argent. The sun was slowly setting, and poured its +rays upon the bare head of the mighty noble, gathering round it in the +hazy atmosphere like a halo. The homage of the crowd to that single +form, unarmed, and scarce attended, struck a death-knell to the hopes +of Hilyard,--struck awe into all his comrades! The presence of that +one man seemed to ravish from them, as by magic, a vast army; power, +and state, and command left them suddenly to be absorbed in HIM! +Captains, they were troopless,--the wielder of men's hearts was +amongst them, and from his barb assumed reign, as from his throne! + +"Gads my life!" said Coniers, turning to his comrades, "we have now, +with a truth, the earl amongst us; but unless he come to lead us on to +Olney, I would as lief see the king's provost at my shoulder." + +"The crowd separates, he rides this way!" said the heir of Fitzhugh. +"Shall we go forth to meet him?" + +"Not so!" exclaimed Hilyard, "we are still the leaders of this army; +let him find us deliberating on the siege of Olney!" + +"Right!" said Coniers; "and if there come dispute, let not the rabble +hear it." + +The captains re-entered the tent, and in grave silence awaited the +earl's coming; nor was this suspense long. Warwick, leaving the +multitude in the rear, and taking only one of the subaltern officers +in the rebel camp as his guide and usher, arrived at the tent, and was +admitted into the council. + +The captains, Hilyard alone excepted, bowed with great reverence as +the earl entered. + +"Welcome, puissant sir and illustrious kinsman!" said Coniers, who had +decided on the line to be adopted; "you are come at last to take the +command of the troops raised in your name, and into your hands I +resign this truncheon." + +"I accept it, Sir John Coniers," answered Warwick, taking the place of +dignity; "and since you thus constitute me your commander, I proceed +at once to my stern duties. How happens it, knights and gentlemen, +that in my absence ye have dared to make my name the pretext of +rebellion? Speak thou, my sister's son!" + +"Cousin and lord," said the heir of Fitzhugh, reddening but not +abashed, "we could not believe but what you would smile on those who +have risen to assert your wrongs and defend your life." And he then +briefly related the tale of the Duchess of Bedford's waxen effigies, +and pointed to Hilyard as the eye-witness. + +"And," began Sir Henry Nevile, "you, meanwhile, were banished, +seemingly, from the king's court; the dissensions between you and +Edward sufficiently the land's talk, the king's vices the land's +shame! + +"Nor did we act without at least revealing our intentions to my uncle +and your brother, the Lord Montagu," added the heir of Fitzhugh. + +"Meanwhile," said Robin of Redesdale, "the commons were oppressed, the +people discontented, the Woodvilles plundering its, and the king +wasting our substance on concubines and minions. We have had cause +eno' for our rising!" The earl listened to each speaker in stern +silence. + +"For all this," he said at last, "you have, without my leave or +sanction, levied armed men in my name, and would have made Richard +Nevile seem to Europe a traitor, without the courage to be a rebel! +Your lives are in my power, and those lives are forfeit to the laws." + +"If we have incurred your disfavour from our over-zeal for you," said +the son of Lord Fitzhugh, touchingly, "take our lives, for they are of +little worth." And the young nobleman unbuckled his sword, and laid +it on the table. + +"But," resumed Warwick, not seeming to heed his nephew's humility, "I, +who have ever loved the people of England, and before king and +parliament have ever pleaded their cause,--I, as captain-general and +first officer of these realms, here declare, that whatever motives of +ambition or interest may have misled men of mark and birth, I believe +that the commons at least never rise in arms without some excuse for +their error. Speak out then, you, their leaders; and, putting aside +all that relates to me as the one man, say what are the grievances of +which the many would complain." + +And now there was silence, for the knights and gentlemen knew little +of the complaints of the populace; the Lollards did not dare to expose +their oppressed faith, and the squires and franklins were too +uneducated to detail the grievances they had felt. But then the +immense superiority of the man of the people at once asserted itself; +and Hilyard, whose eye the earl had hitherto shunned, lifted his deep +voice. With clear precision, in indignant but not declamatory +eloquence, he painted the disorders of the time,--the insolent +exactions of the hospitals and abbeys, the lawless violence of each +petty baron, the weakness of the royal authority in restraining +oppression, its terrible power in aiding the oppressor. He +accumulated instance on instance of misrule; he showed the insecurity +of property, the adulteration of the coin, the burden of the imposts; +he spoke of wives and maidens violated, of industry defrauded, of +houses forcibly entered, of barns and granaries despoiled, of the +impunity of all offenders, if high-born, of the punishment of all +complaints, if poor and lowly. "Tell us not," he said, "that this is +the necessary evil of the times, the hard condition of mankind. It +was otherwise, Lord Warwick, when Edward first swayed; for you then +made yourself dear to the people by your justice. Still men talk, +hereabouts, of the golden rule of Earl Warwick; but since you have +been, though great in office, powerless in deed, absent in Calais, or +idle at Middleham, England hath been but the plaything of the +Woodvilles, and the king's ears have been stuffed with flattery as +with wool. And," continued Hilyard, warming with his subject, and, to +the surprise of the Lollards, entering boldly on their master- +grievance--"and this is not all. When Edward ascended the throne, +there was, if not justice, at least repose, for the persecuted +believers who hold that God's word was given to man to read, study, +and digest into godly deeds. I speak plainly. I speak of that faith +which your great father Salisbury and many of the House of York were +believed to favour,--that faith which is called the Lollard, and the +oppression of which, more than aught else, lost to Lancaster the +hearts of England. But of late, the Church, assuming the power it +ever grasps the most under the most licentious kings (for the sinner +prince hath ever the tyrant priest!), hath put in vigour old laws for +the wronging man's thought and conscience; [The Lollards had greatly +contributed to seat Edward on the throne; and much of the subsequent +discontent, no doubt, arose from their disappointment, when, as Sharon +Turner well expresses it, "his indolence allied him to the Church," +and he became "hereticorum severissimus hostis."--CROYL., p. 564.] and +we sit at our doors under the shade, not of the vine-tree, but the +gibbet. For all these things we have drawn the sword; and if now, +you, taking advantage of the love borne to you by the sons of England, +push that sword back into the sheath, you, generous, great, and +princely though you be, well deserve the fate that I foresee and can +foretell. Yes!" cried the speaker, extending his arms, and gazing +fixedly on the proud face of the earl, which was not inexpressive of +emotion--"yes! I see you, having deserted the people, deserted by +them also in your need; I see you, the dupe of an ungrateful king, +stripped of power and honour, an exile and an outlaw; and when you +call in vain upon the people, in whose hearts you now reign, remember, +O fallen star, son of the morning! that in the hour of their might you +struck down the people's right arm, and paralyzed their power. And +now, if you will, let your friends and England's champions glut the +scaffolds of your woman-king!" + +He ceased. A murmur went round the conclave; every breast breathed +hard, every eye turned to Warwick. That mighty statesman mastered the +effect which the thrilling voice of the popular pleader produced on +him; but at that moment he had need of all his frank and honourable +loyalty to remind him that he was there but to fulfil a promise and +discharge a trust,--that he was the king's delegate, not the king's +judge. + +"You have spoken, bold men," said he, "as, in an hour when the rights +of princes are weighed in one scale, the subject's sword in the other, +I, were I king, would wish free men to speak. And now you, Robert +Hilyard, and you, gentlemen, hear me, as envoy to King Edward IV. To +all of you I promise complete amnesty and entire pardon. His highness +believes you misled, not criminal, and your late deeds will not be +remembered in your future services. So much for the leaders. Now for +the commons. My liege the king is pleased to recall me to the high +powers I once exercised, and to increase rather than to lessen them. +In his name, I pledge myself to full and strict inquiry into all the +grievances Robin of Redesdale hath set forth, with a view to speedy +and complete redress. Nor is this all. His highness, laying aside +his purpose of war with France, will have less need of impost on his +subjects, and the burdens and taxes will be reduced. Lastly, his +grace, ever anxious to content his people, hath most benignly +empowered me to promise that, whether or not ye rightly judge the +queen's kindred, they will no longer have part or weight in the king's +councils. The Duchess of Bedford, as beseems a lady so sorrowfully +widowed, will retire to her own home; and the Lord Scales will fulfil +a mission to the court of Spain. Thus, then, assenting to all +reasonable demands, promising to heal all true grievances, proffering +you gracious pardon, I discharge my duty to king and to people. I +pray that these unhappy sores may be healed evermore, under the +blessing of God and our patron saint; and in the name of Edward IV., +Lord Suzerain of England and of France, I break up this truncheon and +disband this army!" + +Among those present, this moderate and wise address produced a general +sensation of relief; for the earl's disavowal of the revolt took away +all hope of its success. But the common approbation was not shared by +Hilyard. He sprang upon the table, and, seizing the broken fragments +of the truncheon, which the earl had snapped as a willow twig, +exclaimed, "And thus, in the name of the people, I seize the command +that ye unworthily resign! Oh, yes, what fools were yonder drudges of +the hard hand and the grimed brow and the leathern jerkin, to expect +succour from knight and noble!" + +So saying, he bounded from the tent, and rushed towards the multitude +at the distance. + +"Ye knights and lords, men of blood and birth, were but the tools of a +manlier and wiser Cade!" said Warwick, calmly. "Follow me." + +The earl strode from the tent, sprang upon his steed, and was in the +midst of the troops with his heralds by his side, ere Hilyard had been +enabled to begin the harangue he had intended. Warwick's trumpets +sounded to silence; and the earl himself, in his loud clear voice, +briefly addressed the immense audience. Master, scarcely less than +Hilyard, of the popular kind of eloquence, which--short, plain, +generous, and simple--cuts its way at once through the feelings to the +policy, Warwick briefly but forcibly recapitulated to the commons the +promises he had made to the captains; and as soon as they heard of +taxes removed, the coinage reformed, the corn thrave abolished, the +Woodvilles dismissed, and the earl recalled to power, the rebellion +was at an end. They answered with a joyous shout his order to +disperse and retire to their homes forthwith. But the indomitable +Hilyard, ascending a small eminence, began his counter-agitation. The +earl saw his robust form and waving hand, he saw the crowd sway +towards him; and too well acquainted with mankind to suffer his +address, he spurred to the spot, and turning to Marmaduke, said, in a +loud voice, "Marmaduke Nevile, arrest that man in the king's name!" + +Marmaduke sprang from his steed, and laid his hand on Hilyard's +shoulder. Not one of the multitude stirred on behalf of their +demagogue. As before the sun recede the stars, all lesser lights had +died in the blaze of Warwick's beloved name. Hilyard griped his +dagger, and struggled an instant; but when he saw the awe and apathy +of the armed mob, a withering expression of disdain passed over his +hardy face. + +"Do ye suffer this?" he said. "Do ye suffer me, who have placed +swords in your hands, to go forth in bonds, and to the death?" + +"The stout earl wrongs no man," said a single voice, and the populace +echoed the word. + +"Sir, then, I care not for life, since liberty is gone. I yield +myself your prisoner." + +"A horse for my captive!" said Warwick, laughing; "and hear me promise +you, that he shall go unscathed in goods and in limbs. God wot, when +Warwick and the people meet, no victim should be sacrificed! Hurrah +for King Edward and fair England!" + +He waved his plumed cap as he spoke, and within the walls of Olney was +heard the shout that answered. + +Slowly the earl and his scanty troop turned the rein; as he receded, +the multitude broke up rapidly, and when the moon rose, that camp was +a solitude. [The dispersion of the rebels at Olney is forcibly +narrated by a few sentences, graphic from their brief simplicity, in +the "Pictorial History of England," Book V, p. 104. "They (Warwick, +etc.) repaired in a very friendly manner to Olney, where they found +Edward in a most unhappy condition; his friends were dead or +scattered, flying for their lives, or hiding themselves in remote +places: the insurgents were almost upon him. A word from Warwick sent +the insurgents quietly back to the North."] + +Such--for our nature is ever grander in the individual than the mass-- +such is the power of man above mankind! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE NORMAN EARL AND THE SAXON DEMAGOGUE CONFER. + +On leaving the camp, Warwick rode in advance of his train, and his +countenance was serious and full of thought. At length, as a turn in +the road hid the little band from the view of the rebels, the earl +motioned to Marmaduke to advance with his prisoner. The young Nevile +then fell back, and Robin and Warwick rode breast to breast out of +hearing of the rest. + +"Master Hilyard, I am well content that my brother, when you fell into +his hands, spared your life out of gratitude for the favour you once +showed to mine." + +"Your noble brother, my lord," answered Robin, dryly, "is, perhaps, +not aware of the service I once rendered you. Methinks he spared me +rather, because, without me, an enterprise which has shaken the +Woodvilles from their roots around the throne, and given back England +to the Neviles, had been nipped in the bud!--Your brother is a deep +thinker!" + +"I grieve to hear thee speak thus of the Lord Montagu. I know that he +hath wilier devices than become, in my eyes, a well-born knight and a +sincere man; but he loves his king, and his ends are juster than his +means. Master Hilyard, enough of the past evil. Some months after +the field of Hexham, I chanced to fall, when alone, amongst a band of +roving and fierce Lancastrian outlaws. Thou, their leader, +recognizing the crest on my helm, and mindful of some slight +indulgence once shown to thy strange notions of republican liberty, +didst save me from the swords of thy followers: from that time I have +sought in vain to mend thy fortunes. Thou hast rejected all mine +offers, and I know well that thou hast lent thy service to the fatal +cause of Lancaster. Many a time I might have given thee to the law; +but gratitude for thy aid in the needful strait, and to speak sooth, +my disdain of all individual efforts to restore a fallen House, made +me turn my eyes from transgressions which, once made known to the +king, had placed thee beyond pardon. I see now that thou art a man of +head and arm to bring great danger upon nations; and though this time +Warwick bids thee escape and live, if once more thou offend, know me +only as the king's minister. The debt between us is now cancelled. +Yonder lies the path that conducts to the forest. Farewell. Yet +stay!--poverty may have led thee into treason?" + +"Poverty," interrupted Hilyard,--"poverty, Lord Warwick, leads men to +sympathize with the poor, and therefore I have done with riches." He +paused, and his breast heaved. "Yet," he added sadly, "now that I +have seen the cowardice and ingratitude of men, my calling seems over, +and my spirit crushed." + +"Alas!" said Warwick, "whether man be rich or poor, ingratitude is the +vice of men; and you, who have felt it from the mob, menace me with it +from the king. But each must carve out his own way through this +earth, without over care for applause or blame; and the tomb is the +sole judge of mortal memory." + +Robin looked hard at the earl's face, which was dark and gloomy, as he +thus spoke, and approaching nearer, he said, "Lord Warwick, I take +from you liberty and life the more willingly, because a voice I cannot +mistake tells me, and hath long told, that, sooner or later, time will +bind us to each other. Unlike other nobles, you have owed your power +not so much to lordship, land, and birth, and a king's smile, as to +the love you have nobly won; you alone, true knight and princely +Christian,--you alone, in war, have spared the humble; you alone, +stalwart and resistless champion, have directed your lance against +your equals, and your order hath gone forth to the fierce of heart, +'Never smite the commons!' In peace, you alone have stood up in your +haughty parliament for just law or for gentle mercy; your castle hath +had a board for the hungry and a shelter for the houseless; your +pride, which hath bearded kings and humbled upstarts, hath never had a +taunt for the lowly; and therefore I--son of the people--in the +people's name, bless you living, and sigh to ask whether a people's +gratitude will mourn you dead! Beware Edward's false smile, beware +Clarence's fickle faith, beware Gloucester's inscrutable wile! Mark, +the sun sets!--and while we speak, yon dark cloud gathers over your +plumed head." + +He pointed to the heavens as he ceased, and a low roll of gathering +thunder seemed to answer his ominous warning. Without tarrying for +the earl's answer, Hilyard shook the reins of his steed, and +disappeared in the winding of the lane through which be took his way. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WHAT FAITH EDWARD IV. PURPOSETH TO KEEP WITH EARL AND PEOPLE. + +Edward received his triumphant envoy with open arms and profuse +expressions of gratitude. He exerted himself to the utmost in the +banquet that crowned the day, not only to conciliate the illustrious +new comers, but to remove from the minds of Raoul de Fulke and his +officers all memory of their past disaffection. No gift is rarer or +more successful in the intrigues of life than that which Edward +eminently possessed,--namely, the hypocrisy of frankness. +Dissimulation is often humble, often polished, often grave, sleek, +smooth, decorous; but it is rarely gay and jovial, a hearty laughter, +a merry, cordial, boon companion. Such, however, was the felicitous +craft of Edward IV.; and, indeed, his spirits were naturally so high, +his good humour so flowing, that this joyous hypocrisy cost him no +effort. Elated at the dispersion of his foes, at the prospect of his +return to his ordinary life of pleasure, there was something so kindly +and so winning in his mirth, that he subjugated entirely the fiery +temper of Raoul de Fulke and the steadier suspicions of the more +thoughtful St. John. Clarence, wholly reconciled to Edward, gazed on +him with eyes swimming with affection, and soon drank himself into +uproarious joviality. The archbishop, more reserved, still animated +the society by the dry and epigrammatic wit not uncommon to his +learned and subtle mind. But Warwick in vain endeavoured to shake off +an uneasy, ominous gloom. He was not satisfied with Edward's +avoidance of discussion upon the grave matters involved in the earl's +promise to the insurgents, and his masculine spirit regarded with some +disdain, and more suspicion, a levity that he considered ill-suited to +the emergence. + +The banquet was over, and Edward, having dismissed his other +attendants, was in his chamber with Lord Hastings, whose office always +admitted him to the wardrobe of the king. + +Edward's smile had now left his lip; he paced the room with a hasty +stride, and then suddenly opening the casement, pointed to the +landscape without, which lay calm and suffused in moonlight. + +"Hastings," said he, abruptly, "a few hours since and the earth grew +spears! Behold the landscape now!" + +"So vanish all the king's enemies!" + +"Ay, man, ay,--if at the king's word, or before the king's battle-axe; +but at a subject's command--No, I am not a king while another scatters +armies in my realm at his bare will. 'Fore Heaven, this shall not +last!" + +Hastings regarded the countenance of Edward, changed from affable +beauty into terrible fierceness, with reflections suggested by his +profound and mournful wisdom. "How little a man's virtues profit him +in the eyes of men!" thought he. "The subject saves the crown, and +the crown's wearer never pardons the presumption!" + +"You do not speak, sir!" exclaimed Edward, irritated and impatient. +"Why gaze you thus on me?" + +"Beau sire," returned the favourite, calmly, "I was seeking to +discover if your pride spoke, or your nobler nature." + +"Tush!" said the king, petulantly, "the noblest part of a king's +nature is his pride as king!" Again he strode the chamber, and again +halted. "But the earl hath fallen into his own snare,--he hath +promised in my name what I will not perform. Let the people learn +that their idol hath deceived them. He asks me to dismiss from the +court the queen's mother and kindred!" + +Hastings, who in this went thoroughly with the earl and the popular +feeling, and whose only enemies in England were the Woodvilles, +replied simply,-- + +"These are cheap terms, sire, for a king's life and the crown of +England." + +Edward started, and his eyes flashed that cold, cruel fire, which +makes eyes of a light colouring so far more expressive of terrible +passions than the quicker and warmer heat of dark orbs. "Think you +so, sir? By God's blood, he who proffered them shall repent it in +every vein of his body! Hark ye, William Hastings de Hastings, I know +you to be a deep and ambitious man; but better for you had you covered +that learned brain under the cowl of a mendicant friar than lent one +thought to the counsels of the Earl of Warwick." + +Hastings, who felt even to fondness the affection which Edward +generally inspired in those about his person, and who, far from +sympathizing, except in hate of the Woodvilles, with the earl, saw +that beneath that mighty tree no new plants could push into their +fullest foliage, reddened with anger at this imperious menace. + +"My liege," said he, with becoming dignity and spirit, "if you can +thus address your most tried confidant and your lealest friend, your +most dangerous enemy is yourself." + +"Stay, man," said the king, softening. "I was over warm, but the wild +beast within me is chafed. Would Gloucester were here!" + +"I can tell you what would be the counsels of that wise young prince, +for I know his mind," answered Hastings. + +"Ay, he and you love each other well. Speak out." + +"Prince Richard is a great reader of Italian lere. He saith that +those small States are treasuries of all experience. From that lere +Prince Richard would say to you, 'Where a subject is so great as to be +feared, and too much beloved to be destroyed, the king must remember +how Tarpeia was crushed." + +"I remember naught of Tarpeia, and I detest parables." + +"Tarpeia, sire (it is a story of old Rome), was crushed under the +weight of presents. Oh, my liege," continued Hastings, warming with +that interest which an able man feels in his own superior art, "were I +king for a year, by the end of it Warwick should be the most unpopular +(and therefore the weakest) lord in England!" + +"And how, O wise in thine own conceit?" + +"Beau sire," resumed Hastings, not heeding the rebuke--and strangely +enough he proceeded to point out, as the means of destroying the +earl's influence, the very method that the archbishop had detailed to +Montagu as that which would make the influence irresistible and +permanent--"Beau sire," resumed Hastings, "Lord Warwick is beloved by +the people, because they consider him maltreated; he is esteemed by +the people, because they consider him above all bribe; he is venerated +by the people, because they believe that in all their complaints and +struggles he is independent (he alone) of the king. Instead of love, +I would raise envy; for instead of cold countenance I would heap him +with grace. Instead of esteem and veneration I would raise suspicion; +for I would so knit him to your House, that he could not stir hand or +foot against you; I would make his heirs your brothers. The Duke of +Clarence hath married one daughter,--wed the other to Lord Richard. +Betroth your young princess to Montagu's son, the representative of +all the Neviles. The earl's immense possessions must thus ultimately +pass to your own kindred. The earl himself will be no longer a power +apart from the throne, but a part of it. The barons will chafe +against one who half ceases to be of their order, and yet monopolizes +their dignities; the people will no longer see in the earl their +champion, but a king's favourite and deputy. Neither barons nor +people will flock to his banner." + +"All this is well and wise," said Edward, musing; "but meanwhile my +queen's blood? Am I to reign in a solitude?--for look you, Hastings, +you know well that, uxorious as fools have deemed me, I had purpose +and design in the elevation of new families; I wished to raise a fresh +nobility to counteract the pride of the old, and only upon new nobles +can a new dynasty rely." + +"My Lord, I will not anger you again; but still, for a while, the +queen's relations will do well to retire." + +"Good night, Hastings," interrupted Edward, abruptly, "my pillow in +this shall be my counsellor." + +Whatever the purpose solitude and reflection might ripen in the king's +mind, he was saved from immediate decision by news, the next morning, +of fresh outbreaks. The commons had risen in Lincolnshire and the +county of Warwick; and Anthony Woodville wrote word that, if the king +would but show himself among the forces he had raised near Coventry, +all the gentry around would rise against the rebellious rabble. +Seizing advantage of these tidings, borne to him by his own couriers, +and eager to escape from the uncertain soldiery quartered at Olney, +Edward, without waiting to consult even with the earl, sprang to +horse, and his trumpets were the first signal of departure that he +deigned to any one. + +This want of ceremony displeased the pride of Warwick; but he made no +complaint, and took his place by the king's side, when Edward said +shortly,-- + +"Dear cousin, this is a time that needs all our energies. I ride +towards Coventry, to give head and heart to the raw recruits I shall +find there; but I pray you and the archbishop to use all means, in +this immediate district, to raise fresh troops; for at your name armed +men spring up from pasture and glebe, dyke and hedge. Join what +troops you can collect in three days with mine at Coventry, and, ere +the sickle is in the harvest, England shall be at peace. God speed +you! Ho! there, gentlemen, away!--a franc etrier!" + +Without pausing for reply,--for he wished to avoid all questioning, +lest Warwick might discover that it was to a Woodville that he was +bound,--the king put spurs to his horse, and, while his men were yet +hurrying to and fro, rode on almost alone, and was a good mile out of +the town before the force led by St. John and Raoul de Fulke, and +followed by Hastings, who held no command, overtook him. + +"I misthink the king," said Warwick, gloomily; "but my word is pledged +to the people, and it shall be kept." + +"A man's word is best kept when his arm is the strongest," said the +sententious archbishop; "yesterday, you dispersed an army; to-day, +raise one!" + +Warwick answered not, but, after a moment's thought, beckoned to +Marmaduke. + +"Kinsman," said he, "spur on, with ten of my little company, to join +the king. Report to me if any of the Woodvilles be in his camp near +Coventry." + +"Whither shall I send the report?" + +"To my castle of Warwick." + +Marmaduke bowed his head, and, accustomed to the brevity of the earl's +speech, proceeded to the task enjoined him. Warwick next summoned his +second squire. + +"My lady and her children," said he, "are on their way to Middleham. +This paper will instruct you of their progress. Join them with all +the rest of my troop, except my heralds and trumpeters; and say that I +shall meet them ere long at Middleham." + +"It is a strange way to raise an army," said the archbishop, dryly, +"to begin by getting rid of all the force one possesses!" + +"Brother," answered the earl, "I would fain show my son-in-law, who +may be the father of a line of kings, that a general may be helpless +at the head of thousands, but that a man may stand alone who has the +love of a nation." + +"May Clarence profit by the lesson! Where is he all this while?" + +"Abed," said the stout earl, with a slight accent of disdain; and +then, in a softer voice, he added, "youth is ever luxurious. Better +the slow man than the false one." + +Leaving Warwick to discharge the duty enjoined him, we follow the +dissimulating king. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +WHAT BEFALLS KING EDWARD ON HIS ESCAPE FROM OLNEY. + +As soon as Edward was out of sight of the spire of Olney, he slackened +his speed, and beckoned Hastings to his side. + +"Dear Will," said the king, "I have thought over thy counsel, and will +find the occasion to make experiment thereof. But, methinks, thou +wilt agree with me that concessions come best from a king who has an +army of his own. 'Fore Heaven, in the camp of a Warwick I have less +power than a lieutenant! Now mark me. I go to head some recruits +raised in haste near Coventry. The scene of contest must be in the +northern counties. Wilt thou, for love of me, ride night and day, +thorough brake, thorough briar, to Gloucester on the Borders? Bid him +march, if the Scot will let him, back to York; and if he cannot +himself quit the Borders, let him send what men can be spared under +thy banner. Failing this, raise through Yorkshire all the men-at-arms +thou canst collect. But, above all, see Montagu. Him and his army +secure at all hazards. If he demur, tell him his son shall marry his +king's daughter, and wear the coronal of a duke. Ha, ha! a large bait +for so large a fish! I see this is no casual outbreak, but a general +convulsion of the realm; and the Earl of Warwick must not be the only +man to smile or to frown back the angry elements." + +"In this, beau sire," answered Hastings, "you speak as a king and a +warrior should, and I will do my best to assert your royal motto,-- +'Modus et ordo.' If I can but promise that your Highness has for a +while dismissed the Woodville lords, rely upon it that ere two months +I will place under your truncheon an army worthy of the liege lord of +hardy England." + +"Go, dear Hastings, I trust all to thee!" answered the king. The +nobleman kissed his sovereign's extended hand, closed his visor, and, +motioning to his body-squire to follow him, disappeared down a green +lane, avoiding such broader thoroughfares as might bring him in +contact with the officers left at Olney. + +In a small village near Coventry Sir Anthony Woodville had collected +about two thousand men, chiefly composed of the tenants and vassals of +the new nobility, who regarded the brilliant Anthony as their head. +The leaders were gallant and ambitious gentlemen, as they who arrive +at fortunes above their birth mostly are; but their vassals were +little to be trusted. For in that day clanship was still strong, and +these followers had been bred in allegiance to Lancastrian lords, +whose confiscated estates were granted to the Yorkist favourites. The +shout that welcomed the arrival of the king was therefore feeble and +lukewarm; and, disconcerted by so chilling a reception, he dismounted, +in less elevated spirits than those in which he had left Olney, at the +pavilion of his brother-in-law. + +The mourning-dress of Anthony, his countenance saddened by the +barbarous execution of his father and brother, did not tend to cheer +the king. + +But Woodville's account of the queen's grief and horror at the +afflictions of her House, and of Jacquetta's indignation at the foul +language which the report of her practices put into the popular mouth, +served to endear to the king's mind the family that he considered +unduly persecuted. Even in the coldest breasts affection is fanned by +opposition, and the more the queen's kindred were assailed, the more +obstinately Edward clung to them. By suiting his humour, by winking +at his gallantries, by a submissive sweetness of temper, which soothed +his own hasty moods, and contrasted with the rough pride of Warwick +and the peevish fickleness of Clarence, Elizabeth had completely wound +herself into the king's heart. And the charming graces, the elegant +accomplishments, of Anthony Woodville were too harmonious with the +character of Edward, who in all--except truth and honour--was the +perfect model of the gay gentilhomme of the time, not to have become +almost a necessary companionship. Indolent natures may be easily +ruled, but they grow stubborn when their comforts and habits are +interfered with. And the whole current of Edward's merry, easy life +seemed to him to lose flow and sparkle if the faces he loved best were +banished, or even clouded. + +He was yet conversing with Woodville, and yet assuring him that, +however he might temporize, he would never abandon the interests of +his queen's kindred, when a gentleman entered aghast, to report that +the Lords St. John and de Fulke, on hearing that Sir Anthony Woodville +was in command of the forces, had, without even dismounting, left the +camp, and carried with them their retainers, amounting to more than +half of the little troop that rode from Olney. + +"Let them go," said Edward, frowning; "a day shall dawn upon their +headless trunks!" + +"Oh, my king," said Anthony, now Earl of Rivers,--who, by far the +least selfish of his House, was struck with remorse at the penalty +Edward paid for his love marriage,--"now that your Highness can +relieve me of my command, let me retire from the camp. I would fain +go a pilgrim to the shrine of Compostella to pray for my father's sins +and my sovereign's weal." + +"Let us first see what forces arrive from London," answered the king. +"Richard ere long will be on the march from the frontiers, and +whatever Warwick resolves, Montagu, whose heart I hold in my hand, +will bring his army to my side. Let us wait." + +But the next day brought no reinforcements, nor the next; and the king +retired betimes to his tent, in much irritation and perplexity; when +at the dead of the night he was startled from slumber by the tramp of +horses, the sound of horns, the challenge of the sentinels, and, as he +sprang from his couch, and hurried on his armour in alarm, the Earl of +Warwick abruptly entered. The earl's face was stern, but calm and +sad; and Edward's brave heart beat loud as he gazed on his formidable +subject. + +"King Edward," said Warwick, slowly and mournfully, "you have deceived +me! I promised to the commons the banishment of the Woodvilles, and +to a Woodville you have flown." + +"Your promise was given to rebels, with whom no faith can be held; and +I passed from a den of mutiny to the camp of a loyal soldier." + +"We will not now waste words, king," answered Warwick. "Please you to +mount and ride northward. The Scotch have gained great advantages on +the marches. The Duke of Gloucester is driven backwards. All the +Lancastrians in the North have risen. Margaret of Anjou is on the +coast of Normandy, [at this time Margaret was at Harfleur--Will. Wyre] +ready to set sail at the first decisive victory of her adherents." + +"I am with you," answered Edward; "and I rejoice to think that at last +I may meet a foe. Hitherto it seems as if I had been chased by +shadows. Now may I hope to grasp the form and substance of danger and +of battle." + +"A steed prepared for your Grace awaits you." + +"Whither ride we first?" + +"To my castle of Warwick, hard by. At noon to-morrow all will be +ready for our northward march." + +Edward, by this time having armed himself, strode from the tent into +the open air. The scene was striking: the moon was extremely bright +and the sky serene, but around the tent stood a troop of torch- +bearers, and the red glare shone luridly upon the steel of the serried +horsemen and the banners of the earl, in which the grim white bear was +wrought upon an ebon ground, quartered with the dun bull, and crested +in gold with the eagle of the Monthermers. Far as the king's eye +could reach, he saw but the spears of Warwick; while a confused hum in +his own encampment told that the troops Anthony Woodville had +collected were not yet marshalled into order. Edward drew back. + +"And the Lord Anthony of Scales and Rivers?" said he, hesitatingly. + +"Choose, king, between the Lord Anthony of Scales and Rivers and +Richard Nevile!" answered Warwick, in a stern whisper. + +Edward paused, and at that moment Anthony himself emerged from his +tent (which adjoined the king's) in company with the Archbishop of +York, who had rode thither in Warwick's train. + +"My liege," said that gallant knight, putting his knee to the ground, +"I have heard from the archbishop the new perils that await your +Highness, and I grieve sorely that, in this strait, your councillors +deem it meet to forbid me the glory of fighting or falling by your +side! I know too well the unhappy odium attached to my House and name +in the northern parts, to dispute the policy which ordains my absence +from your armies. Till these feuds are over, I crave your royal leave +to quit England, and perform my pilgrimage to the sainted shrine of +Compostella." + +A burning flush passed over the king's face as he raised his brother- +in-law, and clasped him to his bosom. + +"Go or stay, as you will, Anthony!" said he; "but let these proud men +know that neither time nor absence can tear you from your king's +heart. But envy must have its hour Lord Warwick, I attend you; but it +seems rather as your prisoner than your liege." + +Warwick made no answer: the king mounted, and waved his hand to +Anthony. The torches tossed to and fro, the horns sounded, and in a +silence moody and resentful on either part Edward and his terrible +subject rode on to the towers of Warwick. + +The next day the king beheld with astonishment the immense force that, +in a time so brief, the earl had collected round his standard. + +From his casement, which commanded that lovely slope on which so many +a tourist now gazes with an eye that seeks to call back the stormy and +chivalric past, Edward beheld the earl on his renowned black charger, +reviewing the thousands that, file on file and rank on rank, lifted +pike and lance in the cloudless sun. + +"After all," muttered the king, "I can never make a new noble a great +baron! And if in peace a great baron overshadows the throne, in time +of war a great baron is a throne's bulwark! Gramercy, I had been mad +to cast away such an army,--an army fit for a king to lead! They +serve Warwick now; but Warwick is less skilful in the martial art than +I, and soldiers, like hounds, love best the most dexterous huntsman!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HOW KING EDWARD ARRIVES AT THE CASTLE OF MIDDLEHAM. + +On the ramparts of feudal Middleham, in the same place where Anne had +confessed to Isabel the romance of her childish love, again the +sisters stood, awaiting the coming of their father and the king. They +had only, with their mother, reached Middleham two days before, and +the preceding night an advanced guard had arrived at the castle to +announce the approach of the earl with his royal comrade and visitor. +From the heights, already they beheld the long array winding in +glorious order towards the mighty pile. + +"Look!" exclaimed Isabel, "look! already methinks I see the white +steed of Clarence. Yes! it is he! it is my George, my husband! The +banner borne before shows his device." + +"Ah, happy Isabel!" said Anne, sighing; "what rapture to await the +coming of him one loves!" + +"My sweet Anne," returned Isabel, passing her arm tenderly round her +sister's slender waist, "when thou hast conquered the vain folly of +thy childhood, thou wilt find a Clarence of thine own. And yet," +added the young duchess, smiling, "it must be the opposite of a +Clarence to be to thy heart what a Clarence is to mine. I love +George's gay humour,--thou lovest a melancholy brow. I love that +charming weakness which supples to my woman will,--thou lovest a proud +nature that may command thine own. I do not respect George less, +because I know my mind stronger than his own; but thou (like my gentle +mother) wouldst have thy mate lord and chief in all things, and live +from his life as the shadow from the sun. But where left you our +mother?" + +"In the oratory, at prayer." + +"She has been sad of late." + +"The dark times darken her; and she ever fears the king's falseness or +caprice will stir the earl up to some rash emprise. My father's +letter, brought last night to her, contains something that made her +couch sleepless." + +"Ha!" exclaimed the duchess, eagerly, "my mother confides in thee more +than me. Saw you the letter?" + +"No." + +"Edward will make himself unfit to reign," said Isabel, abruptly. +"The barons will call on him to resign; and then--and then, Anne-- +sister Anne,--Warwick's daughters cannot be born to be simple +subjects!" + +"Isabel, God temper your ambition! Oh, curb it, crush it down! Abuse +not your influence with Clarence. Let not the brother aspire to the +brother's crown." + +"Sister, a king's diadem covers all the sins schemed in the head that +wins it!" + +As the duchess spoke, her eyes flashed and her form dilated. Her +beauty seemed almost terrible. + +The gentle Anne gazed and shuddered; but ere she found words to +rebuke, the lovely shape of the countess-mother was seen moving slowly +towards them. She was dressed in her robes of state to receive her +kingly guest; the vest fitting high to the throat, where it joined the +ermine tippet, and thickly sown with jewels; the sleeves tight, with +the second or over sleeves, that, loose and large, hung pendent and +sweeping even to the ground; and the gown, velvet of cramousin, +trimmed with ermine,--made a costume not less graceful than +magnificent, and which, where compressed, set off the exquisite +symmetry of a form still youthful, and where flowing added majesty to +a beauty naturally rather soft and feminine than proud and stately. +As she approached her children, she looked rather like their sister +than their mother, as if Time, at least, shrunk from visiting harshly +one for whom such sorrows were reserved. + +The face of the countess was so sad in its aspect of calm and sweet +resignation that even the proud Isabel was touched; and kissing her +mother's hand, she asked if any ill tidings preceded her father's +coming. + +"Alas, my Isabel, the times themselves are bad tidings! Your youth +scarcely remembers the days when brother fought against brother, and +the son's sword rose against the father's breast. But I, recalling +them, tremble to hear the faintest murmur that threatens a civil war." +She paused, and forcing a smile to her lips, added, "Our woman fears +must not, however, sadden our lords with an unwelcome countenance; for +men returning to their hearths have a right to a wife's smile; and so, +Isabel, thou and I, wives both, must forget the morrow in to-day. +Hark! the trumpets sound near and nearer! let us to the hall." + +Before, however, they had reached the castle, a shrill blast rang at +the outer gate. The portcullis was raised; the young Duke of +Clarence, with a bridegroom's impatience, spurred alone through the +gloomy arch, and Isabel, catching sight of his countenance lifted +towards the ramparts, uttered a cry, and waved her hand. Clarence +beard and saw, leaped from his steed, and had clasped Isabel to his +breast, almost before Anne or the countess had recognized the new +comer. + +Isabel, however, always stately, recovered in an instant from the joy +she felt at her lord's return, and gently escaping his embrace, she +glanced with a blush towards the battlements crowded with retainers; +Clarence caught and interpreted the look. + +"Well, belle mere," he said, turning to the countess, "and if yon +faithful followers do witness with what glee a fair bride inspires a +returning bridegroom, is there cause for shame in this cheek of +damascene?" + +"Is the king still with my father?" asked Isabel, hastily, and +interrupting the countess's reply. + +"Surely, yes; and hard at hand. And pardon me that I forgot, dear +lady, to say that my royal brother has announced his intention of +addressing the principal officers of the army in Middleham Hall. This +news gave me fair excuse for hastening to you and Isabel." + +"All is prepared for his highness," said the countess, "save our own +homage. We must quicken our steps; come, Anne." The countess took +the arm of the younger sister, while the duchess made a sign to +Clarence. He lingered behind, and Isabel, drawing him aside, asked, + +"Is my father reconciled to Edward?" + +"No,--nor Edward to him." + +"Good! The king has no soldiers of his own amidst yon armed train?" + +"Save a few of Anthony Woodville's recruits, none. Raoul de Fulke and +St. John have retired to their towers in sullen dudgeon. But have you +no softer questions for my return, bella mia?" + +"Pardon me, many--my king." + +"King!" + +"What other name should the successor of Edward IV. bear?" + +"Isabel," said Clarence, in great emotion, "what is it you would tempt +me to? Edward IV. spares the life of Henry VI., and shall Edward +IV.'s brother conspire against his own?" + +"Saints forefend!" exclaimed Isabel; "can you so wrong my honest +meaning? O George! can you conceive that your wife--Warwick's +daughter--harbours the thought of murder? No! surely the career +before you seems plain and spotless! Can Edward reign? Deserted by +the barons, and wearing away even my father's long-credulous love; +odious! except in luxurious and unwarlike London, to all the commons-- +how reign? What other choice left? none,--save Henry of Lancaster or +George of York." + +"Were it so!" said the weak duke; and yet be added falteringly, +"believe me, Warwick meditates no such changes in my favour." + +"Time is a rapid ripener," answered Isabel; "but hark! they are +lowering the drawbridge for our guests." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE ANCIENTS RIGHTLY GAVE TO THE GODDESS OF ELOQUENCE A CROWN. + +The lady of Warwick stood at the threshold of the porch, which, in the +inner side of the broad quadrangle, admitted to the apartments used by +the family; and, heading the mighty train that, line after line, +emerged through the grim jaws of the arch, came the earl on his black +destrier, and the young king. + +Even where she stood, the anxious chatelaine beheld the moody and +gloomy air with which Edward glanced around the strong walls of the +fortress, and up to the battlements that bristled with the pikes and +sallets of armed men, who looked on the pomp below, in the silence of +military discipline. + +"Oh, Anne!" she whispered to her youngest daughter, who stood beside +her, "what are women worth in the strife of men? Would that our +smiles could heal the wounds which a taunt can make in a proud man's +heart!" + +Anne, affected and interested by her mother's words, and with a secret +curiosity to gaze upon the man who ruled on the throne of the prince +she loved, came nearer and more in front; and suddenly, as he turned +his head, the king's regard rested upon her intent eyes and blooming +face. + +"Who is that fair donzell, cousin of Warwick?" he asked. + +"My daughter, sire." + +"Ah, your youngest!--I have not seen her since she was a child." + +Edward reined in his charger, and the earl threw himself from his +selle, and held the king's stirrup to dismount. But he did so with a +haughty and unsmiling visage. "I would be the first, sire," said he, +with a slight emphasis, and as if excusing to himself his +condescension, "to welcome to Middleham the son of Duke Richard." + +"And your suzerain, my lord earl," added Edward, with no less proud a +meaning, and leaning his hand lightly on Warwick's shoulder, he +dismounted slowly. "Rise, lady," he said, raising the countess, who +knelt at the porch, "and you too, fair demoiselle. Pardieu, we envy +the knee that hath knelt to you." So saying, with royal graciousness, +he took the countess's hand, and they entered the hall as the +musicians, in the gallery raised above, rolled forth their stormy +welcome. + +The archbishop, who had followed close to Warwick and the king, +whispered now to his brother, + +"Why would Edward address the captains?" + +"I know not." + +"He hath made himself familiar with many in the march." + +"Familiarity with a steel casque better becomes a king than waisall +with a greasy flat-cap." + +"You do not fear lest he seduce from the White Bear its retainers?" + +"As well fear that he can call the stars from their courses around the +sun." + +While these words were interchanged, the countess conducted the king +to a throne-chair raised upon the dais, by the side of which were +placed two seats of state, and, from the dais, at the same time, +advanced the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. The king prevented their +kneeling, and kissed Isabel slightly and gravely on the forehead. +"Thus, noble lady, I greet the entrance of the Duchess of Clarence +into the royalty of England." + +Without pausing for reply, he passed on and seated himself on the +throne, while Isabel and her husband took possession of the state +chairs on either hand. At a gesture of the king's the countess and +Anne placed themselves on seats less raised, but still upon the dais. +But now as Edward sat, the hall grew gradually full of lords and +knights who commanded in Warwick's train, while the earl and the +archbishop stood mute in the centre, the one armed cap-a-pie, leaning +on his sword, the other with his arms folded in his long robes. + +The king's eye, clear, steady, and majestic, roved round that martial +audience, worthy to be a monarch's war-council, and not one of whom +marched under a monarch's banner! Their silence, their discipline, +the splendour of their arms, the greater splendour of their noble +names, contrasted painfully with the little mutinous camp of Olney, +and the surly, untried recruits of Anthony Woodville. But Edward, +whose step, whose form, whose aspect, proclaimed the man conscious of +his rights to be lord of all, betrayed not to those around him the +kingly pride, the lofty grief, that swelled within his heart. Still +seated, he raised his left hand to command silence; with the right he +replaced his plumed cap upon his brow. + +"Lords and gentlemen," he said (arrogating to himself at once, as a +thing of course, that gorgeous following), "we have craved leave of +our host to address to you some words,--words which it pleases a king +to utter, and which may not be harsh to the ears of a loyal subject. +Nor will we, at this great current of unsteady fortune, make excuse, +noble ladies, to you, that we speak of war to knighthood, which is +ever the sworn defender of the daughter and the wife,--the daughters +and the wife of our cousin Warwick have too much of hero-blood in +their blue veins to grow pale at the sight of heroes. Comrades in +arms! thus far towards our foe upon the frontier we have marched, +without a sword drawn or an arrow launched from an archer's bow. We +believe that a blessing settles on the head of a true king, and that +the trumpet of a good angel goes before his path, announcing the +victory which awaits him. Here, in the hall of the Earl of Warwick, +our captain-general, we thank you for your cheerful countenance and +your loyal service; and here, as befits a king, we promise to you +those honours a king alone worthily can bestow." He paused, and his +keen eye glanced from chief to chief as he resumed: "We are informed +that certain misguided and traitor lords have joined the Rose of +Lancaster. Whoever so doth is attainted, life and line, evermore! +His lands and dignities are forfeit to enrich and to ennoble the men +who strike for me. Heaven grant I may have foes eno' to reward all my +friends! To every baron who owns Edward IV. king (ay, and not king in +name, king in banquet and in bower, but leader and captain in the +war), I trust to give a new barony, to every knight a new knight's +fee, to every yeoman a hyde of land, to every soldier a year's pay. +What more I can do, let it be free for any one to suggest,--for my +domains of York are broad, and my heart is larger still!" + +A murmur of applause and reverence went round. Vowed, as those +warriors were, to the earl, they felt that A MONARCH was amongst them. + +"What say you, then? We are ripe for glory. Three days will we halt +at Middleham, guest to our noble subject." + +"Three days, sire!" repeated Warwick, in a voice of surprise. + +"Yes; and this, fair cousin, and ye, lords and gentlemen, is my reason +for the delay. I have despatched Sir William, Lord de Hastings, to +the Duke of Gloucester, with command to join us here (the archbishop +started, but instantly resumed his earnest, placid aspect); to the +Lord Montagu, Earl of Northumberland, to muster all the vassals of our +shire of York. As three streams that dash into the ocean, shall our +triple army meet and rush to the war. Not even, gentlemen, not even +to the great Earl of Warwick will Edward IV. be so beholden for +roiaulme and renown, as to march but a companion to the conquest. If +ye were raised in Warwick's name, not mine,--why, be it so! I envy +him such friends; but I will have an army of mine own, to show mine +English soldiery how a Plantagenet battles for his crown. Gentlemen, +ye are dismissed to your repose. In three days we march! and if any +of you know in these fair realms the man, be he of York or of +Lancaster, more fit to command brave subjects than he who now +addresses you, I say to that man, turn rein, and leave us! Let +tyrants and cowards enforce reluctant service,--my crown was won by +the hearts of my people! Girded by those hearts, let me reign, or, +mourned by them, let me fall! So God and Saint George favour me as I +speak the truth!" + +And as the king ceased, he uncovered his head, and kissed the cross of +his sword. A thrill went through the audience. Many were there, +disaffected to his person, and whom Warwick's influence alone could +have roused to arms; but at the close of an address spirited and loyal +in itself, and borrowing thousand-fold effect by the voice and mien of +the speaker, no feeling but that of enthusiastic loyalty, of almost +tearful admiration, was left in those steel-clad breasts. + +As the king lifted on high the cross of his sword, every blade leaped +from its scabbard, and glittered in the air; and the dusty banners in +the hall waved, as to a mighty blast, when, amidst the rattle of +armour, burst forth the universal cry, "Long live Edward IV.! Long +live the king!" + +The sweet countess, even amidst the excitement, kept her eyes +anxiously fixed on Warwick, whose countenance, however shaded by the +black plumes of his casque, though the visor was raised, revealed +nothing of his mind. Her daughters were more powerfully affected; for +Isabel's intellect was not so blinded by her ambition but that the +kingliness of Edward forced itself upon her with a might and solemn +weight, which crushed, for the moment, her aspiring hopes. + +Was this the man unfit to reign? This the man voluntarily to resign a +crown? This the man whom George of Clarence, without fratricide, +could succeed? No!--there spoke the soul of the First and the Third +Edward! There shook the mane and there glowed the eye of the +indomitable lion of the august Plantagenets! And the same conviction, +rousing softer and holier sorrow, sat on the heart of Anne; she saw, +as for the first time, clearly before her the awful foe with whom her +ill-omened and beloved prince had to struggle for his throne. In +contrast beside that form, in the prime of manly youth--a giant in its +strength, a god in its beauty--rose the delicate shape of the +melancholy boy who, afar in exile, coupled in his dreams, the sceptre +and the bride! By one of those mysteries which magnetism seeks to +explain, in the strong intensity of her emotions, in the tremor of her +shaken nerves, fear seemed to grow prophetic. A stream as of blood +rose up from the dizzy floors. The image of her young prince, bound +and friendless, stood before the throne of that warrior-king. In the +waving glitter of the countless swords raised on high, she saw the +murderous blade against the boy-heir of Lancaster descend--descend! +Her passion, her terror, at the spectre which fancy thus evoked, +seized and overcame her; and ere the last hurrah sent its hollow echo +to the raftered roof, she sank from her chair to the ground, hueless +and insensible as the dead. + +The king had not without design permitted the unwonted presence of the +women in this warlike audience,--partly because he was not unaware of +the ambitious spirit of Isabel, partly because he counted on the +affection shown to his boyhood by the countess, who was said to have +singular influence over her lord, but principally because in such a +presence he trusted to avoid all discussion and all questioning, and +to leave the effect of his eloquence, in which he excelled all his +contemporaries, Gloucester alone excepted, single and unimpaired; and +therefore, as he rose, and returned with a majestic bend the +acclamation of the warriors, his eye now turned towards the chairs +where the ladies sat, and he was the first to perceive the swoon of +the fair Anne. + +With the tender grace that always characterized his service to women, +he descended promptly from his throne, and raised the lifeless form in +his stalwart arms; and Anne, as he bent over her, looked so strangely +lovely in her marble stillness, that even in that hour a sudden thrill +shot through a heart always susceptible to beauty as the harp-string +to the breeze. + +"It is but the heat, lady," said he, to the alarmed countess, "and let +me hope that interest which my fair kinswoman may take in the fortunes +of Warwick and of York, hitherto linked together--" + +"May they ever be so!" said Warwick, who, on seeing his daughter's +state, had advanced hastily to the dais; and, moved by the king's +words, his late speech, the evils that surrounded his throne, the +gentleness shown to the beloved Anne, forgetting resentment and +ceremony alike, he held out his mailed hand. The king, as he resigned +Anne to her mother's arms, grasped with soldierly frankness, and with +the ready wit of the cold intellect which reigned beneath the warm +manner, the hand thus extended, and holding still that iron gauntlet +in his own ungloved and jewelled fingers, he advanced to the verge of +the dais, to which, in the confusion occasioned by Anne's swoon, the +principal officers had crowded, and cried aloud,-- + +"Behold! Warwick and Edward thus hand in hand, as they stood when the +clarions sounded the charge at Towton! and that link what swords +forged on a mortal's anvil can rend or sever?" + +In an instant every knee there knelt; and Edward exultingly beheld +that what before had been allegiance to the earl was now only homage +to the king. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +WEDDED CONFIDENCE AND LOVE--THE EARL AND THE PRELATE--THE PRELATE AND +THE KING--SCHEMES--WILES--AND THE BIRTH OF A DARK THOUGHT DESTINED TO +ECLIPSE A SUN. + +While, preparatory to the banquet, Edward, as was then the daily +classic custom, relaxed his fatigues, mental or bodily, in the +hospitable bath, the archbishop sought the closet of the earl. + +"Brother," said he, throwing himself with some petulance into the only +chair the room, otherwise splendid, contained, "when you left me to +seek Edward in the camp of Anthony Woodville, what was the +understanding between us?" + +"I know of none," answered the earl, who having doffed his armour, and +dismissed his squires, leaned thoughtfully against the wall, dressed +for the banquet, with the exception of the short surcoat, which lay +glittering on the tabouret. + +"You know of none? Reflect! Have you brought hither Edward as a +guest or as a prisoner?" + +The earl knit his brows--"A prisoner, archbishop?" + +The prelate regarded him with a cold smile. + +"Warwick, you, who would deceive no other man, now seek to deceive +yourself." The earl drew back, and his hardy countenance grew a shade +paler. The prelate resumed: "You have carried Edward from his camp, +and severed him from his troops; you have placed him in the midst of +your own followers; you have led him, chafing and resentful all the +way, to this impregnable keep; and you now pause, amazed by the +grandeur of your captive,--a man who leads to his home a tiger, a +spider who has entangled a hornet in its web!" + +"Nay, reverend brother," said the earl, calmly, "ye churchmen never +know what passes in the hearts of those who feel and do not scheme. +When I learned that the king had fled to the Woodvilles, that he was +bent upon violating the pledge given in his name to the insurgent +commons, I vowed that he should redeem my honour and his own, or that +forever I would quit his service. And here, within these walls which +sheltered his childhood, I trusted, and trust still, to make one last +appeal to his better reason." + +"For all that, men now, and history hereafter, will consider Edward as +your captive." + +"To living men my words and deeds can clear themselves; and as for +history, let clerks and scholars fool themselves in the lies of +parchment! He who has acted history, despises the gownsmen who sit in +cloistered ease, and write about what they know not." The earl +paused, and then continued: "I confess, however, that I have had a +scheme. I have wished to convince the king how little his mushroom +lords can bestead him in the storm; and that he holds his crown only +from his barons and his people." + +"That is, from the Lord Warwick!" + +"Perhaps I am the personation of both seignorie and people; but I +design this solely for his welfare. Ah, the gallant prince--how well +he bore himself to-day!" + +"Ay, when stealing all hearts from thee to him." + +"And, Vive Dieu, I never loved him so well as when he did! Methinks +it was for a day like this that I reared his youth and achieved his +crown. Oh, priest, priest, thou mistakest me. I am rash, hot, +haughty, hasty; and I love not to bow my knees to a man because they +call him king, if his life be vicious and his word be false. But +could Edward be ever as to-day, then indeed should I hail a sovereign +whom a baron may reverence and a soldier serve!" + +Before the archbishop could reply, the door gently opened, and the +countess appeared. Warwick seemed glad of the interruption; he turned +quickly--"And how fares my child?" + +"Recovered from her strange swoon, and ready to smile at thy return. +Oh, Warwick, thou art reconciled to the king?" + +"That glads thee, sister?" said the archbishop. + +"Surely. Is it not for my lord's honour?" + +"May he find it so!" said the prelate, and he left the room. + +"My priest-brother is chafed," said the earl, smiling. "Pity he was +not born a trader, he would have made a shrewd hard bargain. Verily, +our priests burn the Jews out of envy! Ah, m'amie, how fair thou art +to-day! Methinks even Isabel's cheek less blooming." And the warrior +drew the lady towards him, and smoothed her hair, and tenderly kissed +her brow. "My letter vexed thee, I know, for thou lovest Edward, and +blamest me not for my love to him. It is true that he hath paltered +with me, and that I had stern resolves, not against his crown, but to +leave him to his fate, and in these halls to resign my charge. But +while he spoke, and while he looked, methought I saw his mother's +face, and heard his dear father's tone, and the past rushed over me, +and all wrath was gone. Sonless myself, why would he not be my son?" +The earl's voice trembled, and the tears stood in his dark eyes. + +"Speak thus, dear lord, to Isabel, for I fear her overvaulting spirit--" + +"Ah, had Isabel been his wife!" he paused and moved away. Then, as if +impatient to escape the thoughts that tended to an ungracious +recollection, he added, "And now, sweetheart, these slight fingers +have ofttimes buckled on my mail; let them place on my breast this +badge of St. George's chivalry; and, if angry thoughts return, it +shall remind me that the day on which I wore it first, Richard of York +said to his young Edward, 'Look to that star, boy, if ever, in cloud +and trouble, thou wouldst learn what safety dwells in the heart which +never knew deceit.'" + +During the banquet, the king, at whose table sat only the Duke of +Clarence and the earl's family, was gracious as day to all, but +especially to the Lady Anne, attributing her sudden illness to some +cause not unflattering to himself; her beauty, which somewhat +resembled that of the queen, save that it had more advantage of +expression and of youth, was precisely of the character he most +admired. Even her timidity, and the reserve with which she answered +him, had their charms; for, like many men, themselves of imperious +nature and fiery will, he preferred even imbecility in a woman to +whatever was energetic or determined; and hence perhaps his +indifference to the more dazzling beauty of Isabel. After the feast, +the numerous demoiselles, high-born and fair, who swelled the more +than regal train of the countess, were assembled in the long gallery, +which was placed in the third story of the castle and served for the +principal state apartment. The dance began; but Isabel excused +herself from the pavon, and the king led out the reluctant and +melancholy Anne. The proud Isabel, who had never forgiven Edward's +slight to herself, resented deeply his evident admiration of her +sister, and conversed apart with the archbishop, whose subtle craft +easily drew from her lips confessions of an ambition higher even than +his own. He neither encouraged nor dissuaded; he thought there were +things more impossible than the accession of Clarence to the throne, +but he was one who never plotted,--save for himself and for the +Church. + +As the revel waned, the prelate approached the earl, who, with that +remarkable courtesy which charmed those below his rank and contrasted +with his haughtiness to his peers, had well played amongst his knights +the part of host, and said, in a whisper, "Edward is in a happy mood-- +let us lose it not. Will you trust me to settle all differences ere +he sleep? Two proud men never can agree without a third of a gentler +temper." + +"You are right," said Warwick, smiling; "yet the danger is that I +should rather concede too much than be too stubborn. But look you, +all I demand is satisfaction to mine own honour and faith to the army +I disbanded in the king's name." + +"All!" muttered the archbishop, as he turned away, "but that call is +everything to provoke quarrel for you, and nothing to bring power to +me!" + +The earl and the archbishop attended the king to his chamber, and +after Edward was served with the parting refection, or livery, the +earl said, with his most open smile, "Sire, there are yet affairs +between us; whom will you confer with,--me or the archbishop?" + +"Oh, the archbishop, by all means, fair cousin," cried Edward, no less +frankly; "for if you and I are left alone, the Saints help both of +us!--when flint and steel meet, fire flies, and the house may burn." + +The earl half smiled at the candour, half sighed at the levity, of the +royal answer, and silently left the room. The king, drawing round him +his loose dressing-robe, threw himself upon the gorgeous coverlid of +the bed, and lying at lazy length, motioned to the prelate to seat +himself at the foot. The archbishop obeyed. Edward raised himself on +his elbow, and, by the light of seven gigantic tapers, set in sconces +of massive silver, the priest and the king gravely gazed on each other +without speaking. + +At last Edward, bursting into his hale, clear, silvery laugh, said, +"Confess, dear sir and cousin,--confess that we are like two skilful +masters of Italian fence, each fearing to lay himself open by +commencing the attack." + +"Certes," quoth the archbishop, "your Grace over-estimates my vanity, +in opining that I deemed myself equal to so grand a duello. If there +were dispute between us, I should only win by baring my bosom." + +The king's bow-like lip curved with a slight sneer, quickly replaced +by a serious and earnest expression. "Let us leave word-making, and +to the point, George. Warwick is displeased because I will not +abandon my wife's kindred; you, with more reason, because I have taken +from your hands the chancellor's great seal--" + +"For myself, I humbly answer that your Grace errs. I never coveted +other honours than those of the Church." + +"Ay," said Edward, keenly examining the young prelate's smooth face, +"is it so? Yes, now I begin to comprehend thee. What offence have I +given to the Church? Have I suffered the law too much to sleep +against the Lollards. If so, blame Warwick." + +"On the contrary, sire, unlike other priests, I have ever deemed that +persecution heals no schism. Blow not dying embers. Rather do I +think of late that too much severity hath helped to aid, by Lollard +bows and pikes, the late rising. My lady, the queen's mother, +unjustly accused of witchcraft, hath sought to clear herself, and +perhaps too zealously, in exciting your Grace against that invisible +giant yclept heresy." + +"Pass on," said Edward. "It is not then indifference to the ecclesia +that you complain of. Is it neglect of the ecclesiastic? Ha, ha! you +and I, though young, know the colours that make up the patchwork +world. Archbishop, I love an easy life; if your brother and his +friends will but give me that, let them take all else. Again, I say, +to the point,--I cannot banish my lady's kindred, but I will bind your +House still more to mine. I have a daughter, failing male issue, the +heiress to my crown. I will betroth her to your nephew, my beloved +Montagu's son. They are children yet, but their ages not unsuited. +And when I return to London, young Nevile shall be Duke of Bedford, a +title hitherto reserved to the royal race. [And indeed there was but +one Yorkist duke then in England out of the royal family,--namely, the +young boy Buckingham, who afterwards vainly sought to bend the Ulysses +bow of Warwick against Richard III.] Let that be a pledge of peace +between the queen's mother, bearing the same honours, and the House of +Nevile, to which they pass." + +The cheek of the archbishop flushed with proud pleasure; he bowed his +head, and Edward, ere he could answer, went on: "Warwick is already so +high that, pardie, I have no other step to give him, save my throne +itself, and, God's truth, I would rather be Lord Warwick than King of +England! But for you--listen--our only English cardinal is old and +sickly; whenever he pass to Abraham's bosom, who but you should have +the suffrage of the holy college? Thou knowest that I am somewhat in +the good favour of the sovereign pontiff. Command me to the utmost. +Now, George, are we friends?" The archbishop kissed the gracious hand +extended to him, and, surprised to find, as by magic, all his schemes +frustrated by sudden acquiescence in the objects of them all, his +voice faltered with real emotion as he gave vent to his gratitude. +But abruptly he checked himself, his brow lowered, and with a bitter +remembrance of his brother's plain, blunt sense of honour, he said, +"Yet, alas! my liege, in all this there is nought to satisfy our +stubborn host." + +"By dear Saint George and my father's head!" exclaimed Edward, +reddening, and starting to his feet, "what would the man have?" + +"You know," answered the archbishop, "that Warwick's pride is only +roused when he deems his honour harmed. Unhappily, as he thinks, by +your Grace's full consent, he pledged himself to the insurgents of +Olney to the honourable dismissal of the lords of the Woodville race. +And unless this be conceded, I fear me that all else he will reject, +and the love between ye can be but hollow!" + +Edward took but three strides across the chamber, and then halted +opposite the archbishop, and lay both hands on his shoulders, as, +looking him full in the face, he said, "Answer me frankly, am I a +prisoner in these towers or not?" + +"Not, sire." + +"You palter with me, priest. I have been led hither against my will. +I am almost without an armed retinue. I am at the earl's mercy. This +chamber might be my grave, and this couch my bed of death." + +"Holy Mother! Can you think so of Warwick? Sire, you freeze my +blood." + +"Well, then, if I refuse to satisfy Warwick's pride, and disdain to +give up loyal servants to rebel insolence, what will Warwick do? +Speak out, archbishop." + +"I fear me, sire, that he will resign all office, whether of peace or +war. I fear me that the goodly army now at sleep within and around +these walls will vanish into air, and that your Highness will stand +alone amidst new men, and against the disaffection of the whole land!" + +Edward's firm hand trembled. The prelate continued, with a dry, +caustic smile,-- + +"Sire, Sir Anthony Woodville, now Lord Rivers, has relieved you of all +embarrassment; no doubt, my Lord Dorset and his kinsmen will be +chevaliers enough to do the same. The Duchess of Bedford will but +suit the decorous usage to retire a while into privacy, to mourn her +widowhood. And when a year is told, if these noble persons reappear +at court, your word and the earl's will at least have been kept." + +"I understand thee," said the king, half laughing; "but I have my +pride as well as Warwick. To concede this point is to humble the +conceder." + +"I have thought how to soothe all things, and without humbling either +party. Your Grace's mother is dearly beloved by Warwick and revered +by all. Since your marriage she hath lived secluded from all state +affairs. As so nearly akin to Warwick, so deeply interested in your +Grace, she is a fitting mediator in all disputes. Be they left to her +to arbitrate." + +"Ah, cunning prelate, thou knowest how my proud mother hates the +Woodvilles; thou knowest how her judgment will decide." + +"Perhaps so; but at least your Grace will be spared all pain and all +abasement." + +"Will Warwick consent to this?" + +"I trust so." + +"Learn, and report to me. Enough for to-night's conference." Edward +was left alone, and his mind ran rapidly over the field of action open +to him. + +"I have half won the earl's army," he thought; "but it would be to +lose all hold in their hearts again, if they knew that these unhappy +Woodvilles were the cause of a second breach between us. Certes, the +Lancastrians are making strong head! Certes, the times must be played +with and appeased! And yet these poor gentlemen love me after my own +fashion, and not with the bear's hug of that intolerable earl. How +came the grim man by so fair a daughter? Sweet Anne! I caught her +eye often fixed on me, and with a soft fear which my heart beat loud +to read aright. Verily, this is the fourth week I have passed without +hearing a woman's sigh! What marvel that so fair a face enamours me! +Would that Warwick made her his ambassador; and yet it were all over +with the Woodvilles if he did! These men know not how to manage me, +and well-a-day, that task is easy eno' to women!" He laughed gayly to +himself as he thus concluded his soliloquy, and extinguished the +tapers. But rest did not come to his pillow; and after tossing to and +fro for some time in vain search for sleep, he rose and opened his +casement to cool the air which the tapers had overheated. In a single +casement, in a broad turret, projecting from an angle in the building, +below the tower in which his chamber was placed, the king saw a +solitary light burning steadily. A sight so unusual at such an hour +surprised him. "Peradventure, the wily prelate," thought he. +"Cunning never sleeps." But a second look showed him the very form +that chased his slumbers. Beside the casement, which was partially +open, he saw the soft profile of the Lady Anne; it was bent downwards; +and what with the clear moonlight, and the lamp within her chamber, he +could see distinctly that she was weeping. "Ah, Anne," muttered the +amorous king, "would that I were by to kiss away those tears!" While +yet the unholy wish murmured on his lips, the lady rose. The fair +hand, that seemed almost transparent in the moonlight, closed the +casement; and though the light lingered for some minutes ere it left +the dark walls of the castle without other sign of life than the step +of the sentry, Anne was visible no more. + +"Madness! madness! madness!" again murmured the king. "These Neviles +are fatal to me in all ways,--in hatred or in love!" + + + + + +BOOK VIII. + +IN WHICH THE LAST LINK BETWEEN KING-MAKER AND KING SNAPS ASUNDER. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE LADY ANNE VISITS THE COURT. + +It was some weeks after the date of the events last recorded. The +storm that hung over the destinies of King Edward was dispersed for +the hour, though the scattered clouds still darkened the horizon: the +Earl of Warwick had defeated the Lancastrians on the frontier, [Croyl. +552] and their leader had perished on the scaffold; but Edward's +mighty sword had not shone in the battle. Chained by an attraction +yet more powerful than slaughter, he had lingered at Middleham, while +Warwick led his army to York; and when the earl arrived at the capital +of Edward's ancestral duchy, he found that the able and active +Hastings--having heard, even before he reached the Duke of +Gloucester's camp, of Edward's apparent seizure by the earl and the +march to Middleham--had deemed it best to halt at York, and to summon +in all haste a council of such of the knights and barons as either +love to the king or envy to Warwick could collect. The report was +general that Edward was retained against his will at Middleham; and +this rumour Hastings gravely demanded Warwick, on the arrival of the +latter at York, to disprove. The earl, to clear himself from a +suspicion that impeded all his military movements, despatched Lord +Montagu to Middleham, who returned not only with the king, but the +countess and her daughters, whom Edward, under pretence of proving the +complete amity that existed between Warwick and himself, carried in +his train. The king's appearance at York reconciled all differences; +but he suffered Warwick to march alone against the enemy, and not till +after the decisive victory, which left his reign for a while without +an open foe, did he return to London. + +Thither the earl, by the advice of his friends, also repaired, and in +a council of peers, summoned for the purpose, deigned to refute the +rumours still commonly circulated by his foes, and not disbelieved by +the vulgar, whether of his connivance at the popular rising or his +forcible detention of the king at Middleham. To this, agreeably to +the counsel of the archbishop, succeeded a solemn interview of the +heads of the Houses of York and Warwick, in which the once fair Rose +of Raby (the king's mother) acted as mediator and arbiter. The earl's +word to the commons at Olney was ratified. Edward consented to the +temporary retirement of the Woodvilles, though the gallant Anthony yet +delayed his pilgrimage to Compostella. The vanity of Clarence was +contented by the government of Ireland, but, under various pretences, +Edward deferred his brother's departure to that important post. A +general amnesty was proclaimed, a parliament summoned for the redress +of popular grievances, and the betrothal of the king's daughter to +Montagu's heir was proclaimed: the latter received the title of Duke +of Bedford; and the whole land rejoiced in the recovered peace of the +realm, the retirement of the Woodvilles, and the reconciliation of the +young king with his all-beloved subject. Never had the power of the +Neviles seemed so secure; never did the throne of Edward appear so +stable. + +It was at this time that the king prevailed upon the earl and his +countess to permit the Lady Anne to accompany the Duchess of Clarence +in a visit to the palace of the Tower. The queen had submitted so +graciously to the humiliation of her family, that even the haughty +Warwick was touched and softened; and the visit of his daughter at +such a time became a homage to Elizabeth which it suited his chivalry +to render. + +The public saw in this visit, which was made with great state and +ceremony, the probability of a new and popular alliance. The +archbishop had suffered the rumour of Gloucester's attachment to the +Lady Anne to get abroad, and the young prince's return from the North +was anxiously expected by the gossips of the day. + +It was on this occasion that Warwick showed his gratitude for +Marmaduke Nevile's devotion. "My dear and gallant kinsman," he said, +"I forget not that when thou didst leave the king and the court for +the discredited minister and his gloomy hall,--I forget not that thou +didst tell me of love to some fair maiden, which had not prospered +according to thy merits. At least it shall not be from lack of lands, +or of the gold spur, which allows the wearer to ride by the side of +king or kaisar, that thou canst not choose thy bride as the heart bids +thee. I pray thee, sweet cousin, to attend my child Anne to the +court, where the king will show thee no ungracious countenance; but it +is just to recompense thee for the loss of thy post in his highness's +chamber. I hold the king's commission to make knights of such as can +pay the fee, and thy lands shall suffice for the dignity. Kneel down +and rise up, Sir Marmaduke Nevile, lord of the Manor of Borrodaile, +with its woodlands and its farms, and may God and our Lady render thee +puissant in battle and prosperous in love!" + +Accordingly, in his new rank, and entitled to ruffle it with the +bravest, Sir Marmaduke Nevile accompanied the earl and the Lady Anne +to the palace of the Tower. + +As Warwick, leaving his daughter amidst the brilliant circle that +surrounded Elizabeth, turned to address the king, he said, with simple +and unaffected nobleness,-- + +"Ah, my liege, if you needed a hostage of my faith, think that my +heart is here, for verily its best blood were less dear to me than +that slight girl,--the likeness of her mother, when her lips first +felt the touch of mine!" + +Edward's bold brow fell, and he blushed as he answered, "My Elizabeth +will hold her as a sister. But, cousin, part you not now for the +North?" + +"By your leave I go first to Warwick." + +"Ah, you do not wish to approve of my seeming preparations against +France?" + +"Nay, your Highness is not in earnest. I promised the commons that you +would need no supplies for so thriftless a war." + +"Thou knowest I mean to fulfil all thy pledges. But the country so +swarms with disbanded soldiers, that it is politic to hold out to them +a hope of service, and so let the clouds gradually pass away." + +"Alack, my liege," said Warwick, gravely, "I suppose that a crown +teaches the brow to scheme; but hearty peace or open war seems ever +the best to me." + +Edward smiled, and turned aside. Warwick glanced at his daughter, +whom Elizabeth flatteringly caressed, stifled a sigh, and the air +seemed lighter to the insects of the court as his proud crest bowed +beneath the doorway, and, with the pomp of his long retinue, he +vanished from the scene. + +"And choose, fair Anne," said the queen, "choose from my ladies whom +you will have for your special train. We would not that your +attendance should be less than royal." + +The gentle Anne in vain sought to excuse herself from an honour at +once arrogant and invidious, though too innocent to perceive the +cunning so characteristic of the queen; for, under the guise of a +special compliment, Anne had received the royal request to have her +female attendants chosen from the court, and Elizabeth now desired to +force upon her a selection which could not fail to mortify those not +preferred. But glancing timidly round the circle, the noble damsel's +eye rested on one fair face, and in that face there was so much that +awoke her own interest, and stirred up a fond and sad remembrance, +that she passed involuntarily to the stranger's side, and artlessly +took her hand. The high-born maidens, grouped around, glanced at each +other with a sneer, and slunk back. Even the queen looked surprised; +but recovering herself, inclined her head graciously, and said, "Do we +read your meaning aright, Lady Anne, and would you this gentlewoman, +Mistress Sibyll Warner, as one of your chamber?" + +"Sibyll, ah, I knew that my memory failed me not," murmured Anne; and, +after bowing assent to the queen, she said, "Do you not also recall, +fair demoiselle, our meeting, when children long years ago?" + +"Well, noble dame," [The title of dame was at that time applied +indiscriminately to ladies whether married or single, if of high +birth.] answered Sibyll. And as Anne turned, with her air of modest +gentleness, yet of lofty birth and breeding, to explain to the queen +that she had met Sibyll in earlier years, the king approached to +monopolize his guest's voice and ear. It seemed natural to all +present that Edward should devote peculiar attention to the daughter +of Warwick and the sister of the Duchess of Clarence; and even +Elizabeth suspected no guiltier gallantry in the subdued voice, the +caressing manner, which her handsome lord adopted throughout that day, +even to the close of the nightly revel, towards a demoiselle too high +(it might well appear) for licentious homage. + +But Anne herself, though too guileless to suspect the nature of +Edward's courtesy, yet shrank from it in vague terror. All his +beauty, all his fascination, could not root from her mind the +remembrance of the exiled prince; nay, the brilliancy of his qualities +made her the more averse to him. It darkened the prospects of Edward +of Lancaster that Edward of York should wear so gracious and so +popular a form. She hailed with delight the hour when she was +conducted to her chamber, and dismissing gently the pompous retinue +allotted to her, found herself alone with the young maiden whom she +had elected to her special service. + +"And you remember me, too, fair Sibyll?" said Anne, with her dulcet +and endearing voice. + +"Truly, who would not? for as you, then, noble lady, glided apart from +the other children, hand in hand with the young prince, in whom all +dreamed to see their future king, I heard the universal murmur of--a +false prophecy!" + +"Ah! and of what?" asked Anne. + +"That in the hand the prince clasped with his small rosy fingers--the +hand of great Warwick's daughter--lay the best defence of his father's +throne." + +Anne's breast heaved, and her small foot began to mark strange +characters on the floor. + +"So," she said musingly, "so even here, amidst a new court, you forget +not Prince Edward of Lancaster. Oh, we shall find hours to talk of +the past days. But how, if your childhood was spent in Margaret's +court, does your youth find a welcome in Elizabeth's?" + +"Avarice and power had need of my father's science. He is a scholar +of good birth, but fallen fortunes, even now, and ever while night +lasts, he is at work. I belonged to the train of her grace of +Bedford; but when the duchess quitted the court, and the king retained +my father in his own royal service, her highness the queen was pleased +to receive me among her maidens. Happy that my father's home is +mine!--who else could tend him?" + +"Thou art his only child?--he must--love thee dearly?" + +"Yet not as I love him; he lives in a life apart from all else that +live. But after all, peradventure it is sweeter to love than to be +loved." + +Anne, whose nature was singularly tender and woman-like, was greatly +affected by this answer. She drew nearer to Sibyll; she twined her +arm round her slight form, and kissed her forehead. + +"Shall I love thee, Sibyll?" she said, with a girl's candid +simplicity, "and wilt thou love me?" + +"Ah, lady! there are so many to love thee,--father, mother, sister,-- +all the world; the very sun shines more kindly upon the great!" + +"Nay!" said Anne, with that jealousy of a claim to suffering to which +the gentler natures are prone, "I may have sorrows from which thou art +free. I confess to thee, Sibyll, that something I know not how to +explain draws me strangely towards thy sweet face. Marriage has lost +me my only sister, for since Isabel is wed she is changed to me--would +that her place were supplied by thee! Shall I steal thee from the +queen when I depart? Ah, my mother--at least thou wilt love her! for +verily, to love my mother you have but to breathe the same air. Kiss +me, Sibyll." + +Kindness, of late, had been strange to Sibyll, especially from her own +sex, one of her own age; it came like morning upon the folded blossom. +She threw her arms round the new friend that seemed sent to her from +heaven; she kissed Anne's face and hands with grateful tears. + +"Ah!" she said at last, when she could command a voice still broken +with emotion--"if I could ever serve--ever repay thee--though those +gracious words were the last thy lips should ever deign to address to +me!" + +Anne was delighted; she had never yet found one to protect; she had +never yet found one in whom thoroughly to confide. Gentle as her +mother was, the distinction between child and parent was, even in the +fond family she belonged to, so great in that day, that she could +never have betrayed to the countess the wild weakness of her young +heart. + +The wish to communicate, to reveal, is so natural to extreme youth, +and in Anne that disposition was so increased by a nature at once open +and inclined to lean on others, that she had, as we have seen, sought +a confidante in Isabel; but with her, even at the first, she found but +the half-contemptuous pity of a strong and hard mind; and lately, +since Edward's visit to Middleham, the Duchess of Clarence had been so +rapt in her own imperious egotism and discontented ambition, that the +timid Anne had not even dared to touch, with her, upon those secrets +which it flushed her own bashful cheek to recall. And this visit to +the court, this new, unfamiliar scene, this estrangement from all the +old accustomed affections, had produced in her that sense of +loneliness which is so irksome, till grave experience of real life +accustoms us to the common lot. So with the exaggerated and somewhat +morbid sensibility that belonged to her, she turned at once, and by +impulse, to this sudden, yet graceful friendship. Here was one of her +own age, one who had known sorrow, one whose voice and eyes charmed +her, one who would not chide even folly, one, above all, who had seen +her beloved prince, one associated with her fondest memories, one who +might have a thousand tales to tell of the day when the outlaw boy was +a monarch's heir. In the childishness of her soft years, she almost +wept at another channel for so much natural tenderness. It was half +the woman gaining a woman-friend, half the child clinging to a new +playmate. + +"Ah, Sibyll," she whispered, "do not leave me to-night; this strange +place daunts me, and the figures on the arras seem so tall and +spectre-like, and they say the old tower is haunted. Stay, dear +Sibyll!" + +And Sibyll stayed. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE SLEEPING INNOCENCE--THE WAKEFUL CRIME. + +While these charming girls thus innocently conferred; while, Anne's +sweet voice running on in her artless fancies, they helped each other +to undress; while hand in hand they knelt in prayer by the crucifix in +the dim recess; while timidly they extinguished the light, and stole +to rest; while, conversing in whispers, growing gradually more faint +and low, they sank into guileless sleep,--the unholy king paced his +solitary chamber, parched with the fever of the sudden and frantic +passion that swept away from a heart in which every impulse was a +giant all the memories of honour, gratitude, and law. + +The mechanism of this strong man's nature was that almost unknown to +the modern time; it belonged to those earlier days which furnish to +Greece the terrible legends Ovid has clothed in gloomy fire, which a +similar civilization produced no less in the Middle Ages, whether of +Italy or the North,--that period when crime took a grandeur from its +excess; when power was so great and absolute that its girth burst the +ligaments of conscience; when a despot was but the incarnation of +WILL; when honour was indeed a religion, but its faith was valour, and +it wrote its decalogue with the point of a fearless sword. + +The youth of Edward IV. was as the youth of an ancient Titan, of an +Italian Borgia; through its veins the hasty blood rolled as a +devouring flame. This impetuous and fiery temperament was rendered +yet more fearful by the indulgence of every intemperance; it fed on +wine and lust; its very virtues strengthened its vices,--its courage +stifled every whisper of prudence; its intellect, uninured to all +discipline, taught it to disdain every obstacle to its desires. +Edward could, indeed, as we have seen, be false and crafty, a +temporizer, a dissimulator; but it was only as the tiger creeps,--the +better to spring, undetected, on its prey. If detected, the cunning +ceased, the daring rose, and the mighty savage had fronted ten +thousand foes, secure in its fangs and talons, its bold heart and its +deadly spring. Hence, with all Edward's abilities, the astonishing +levities and indiscretions of his younger years. It almost seemed, as +we have seen him play fast and loose with the might of Warwick, and +with that power, whether of barons or of people, which any other +prince of half his talents would have trembled to arouse against an +unrooted throne,--it almost seemed as if he loved to provoke a danger +for the pleasure it gave the brain to baffle or the hand to crush it. +His whole nature coveting excitement, nothing was left to the +beautiful, the luxurious Edward, already wearied with pomp and +pleasure, but what was unholy and forbidden. In his court were a +hundred ladies, perhaps not less fair than Anne, at least of a beauty +more commanding the common homage, but these he had only to smile on +with ease to win. No awful danger, no inexpiable guilt, attended +those vulgar frailties, and therefore they ceased to tempt. But here +the virgin guest, the daughter of his mightiest subject, the beloved +treasure of the man whose hand had built a throne, whose word had +dispersed an army--here, the more the reason warned, the conscience +started, the more the hell-born passion was aroused. + +Like men of his peculiar constitution, Edward was wholly incapable of +pure and steady love. His affection for his queen the most resembled +that diviner affection; but when analyzed, it was composed of feelings +widely distinct. From a sudden passion, not otherwise to be +gratified, he had made the rashest sacrifices for an unequal marriage. +His vanity, and something of original magnanimity, despite his vices, +urged him to protect what he himself had raised,--to secure the honour +of the subject who was honoured by the king. In common with most rude +and powerful natures, he was strongly alive to the affections of a +father, and the faces of his children helped to maintain the influence +of the mother. But in all this, we need scarcely say that that true +love, which is at once a passion and a devotion, existed not. Love +with him cared not for the person loved, but solely for its own +gratification; it was desire for possession,--nothing more. But that +desire was the will of a king who never knew fear or scruple; and, +pampered by eternal indulgence, it was to the feeble lusts of common +men what the storm is to the west wind. Yet still, as in the solitude +of night he paced his chamber, the shadow of the great crime advancing +upon his soul appalled even that dauntless conscience. He gasped for +breath; his cheeks flushed crimson, and the next moment grew deadly +pale. He heard the loud beating of his heart. He stopped still. He +flung himself on a seat, and hid his face with his hands; then +starting up, he exclaimed, "No, no! I cannot shut out that sweet +face, those blue eyes from my gaze. They haunt me to my destruction +and her own. Yet why say destruction? If she love me, who shall know +the deed? If she love me not, will she dare to reveal her shame? +Shame!--nay, a king's embrace never dishonours. A king's bastard is a +House's pride. All is still,--the very moon vanishes from heaven. +The noiseless rushes in the gallery give no echo to the footstep. Fie +on me! Can a Plantagenet know fear?" He allowed himself no further +time to pause; he opened the door gently and stole along the gallery. +He knew well the chamber, for it was appointed by his command, and, +besides the usual door from the corridor, a small closet conducted to +a secret panel behind the arras. It was the apartment occupied, in +her visits to the court, by the queen's rival, the Lady Elizabeth +Lucy. He passed into the closet; he lifted the arras; he stood in +that chamber, which gratitude and chivalry and hospitable faith should +have made sacred as a shrine. And suddenly, as he entered, the moon, +before hid beneath a melancholy cloud, broke forth in awful splendour, +and her light rushed through the casement opposite his eye, and bathed +the room with the beams of a ghostlier day. + +The abruptness of the solemn and mournful glory scared him as the +rebuking face of a living thing; a presence as if not of earth seemed +to interpose between the victim and the guilt. It was, however, but +for a moment that his step halted. He advanced: he drew aside the +folds of the curtain heavy with tissue of gold, and the sleeping face +of Anne lay hushed before him. It looked pale in the moonlight, but +ineffably serene, and the smile on its lips seemed still sweeter than +that which it wore awake. So fixed was his gaze, so ardently did his +whole heart and being feed through his eyes upon that exquisite +picture of innocence and youth, that he did not see for some moments +that the sleeper was not alone. Suddenly an exclamation rose to his +lips. He clenched his hand in jealous agony; he approached; he bent +over; he heard the regular breathing which the dreams of guilt never +know; and then, when he saw that pure and interlaced embrace,--the +serene yet somewhat melancholy face of Sibyll, which seemed hueless as +marble in the moonlight, bending partially over that of Anne, as if +even in sleep watchful; both charming forms so linked and woven that +the two seemed as one life, the very breath in each rising and ebbing +with the other; the dark ringlets of Sibyll mingling with the auburn +gold of Anne's luxuriant hair, and the darkness and the gold, tress +within tress, falling impartially over either neck, that gleamed like +ivory beneath that common veil,--when he saw this twofold loveliness, +the sentiment, the conviction of that mysterious defence which exists +in purity, thrilled like ice through his burning veins. In all his +might of monarch and of man, he felt the awe of that unlooked-for +protection,--maidenhood sheltering maidenhood, innocence guarding +innocence. The double virtue appalled and baffled him; and that +slight arm which encircled the neck he would have perilled his realm +to clasp, shielded his victim more effectually than the bucklers of +all the warriors that ever gathered round the banner of the lofty +Warwick. Night and the occasion befriended him; but in vain. While +Sibyll was there, Anne was saved. He ground his teeth, and muttered +to himself. At that moment Anne turned restlessly. This movement +disturbed the light sleep of her companion. She spoke half inaudibly, +but the sound was as the hoot of shame in the ear of the guilty king. +He let fall the curtain, and was gone. And if one who lived +afterwards to hear and to credit the murderous doom which, unless +history lies, closed the male line of Edward, had beheld the king +stealing, felon-like, from the chamber,--his step reeling to and fro +the gallery floors, his face distorted by stormy passion, his lips +white and murmuring, his beauty and his glory dimmed and humbled,--the +spectator might have half believed that while Edward gazed upon those +harmless sleepers, A VISION OF THE TRAGEDY TO COME had stricken down +his thought of guilt, and filled up its place with horror,--a vision +of a sleep as pure, of two forms wrapped in an embrace as fond, of +intruders meditating a crime scarce fouler than his own; and the sins +of the father starting into grim corporeal shapes, to become the +deathsmen of the sons! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +NEW DANGERS TO THE HOUSE OF YORK--AND THE KING'S HEART ALLIES ITSELF +WITH REBELLION AGAINST THE KING'S THRONE. + +Oh, beautiful is the love of youth to youth, and touching the +tenderness of womanhood to woman; and fair in the eyes of the happy +sun is the waking of holy sleep, and the virgin kiss upon virgin lips +smiling and murmuring the sweet "Good-morrow!" + +Anne was the first to wake; and as the bright winter morn, robust with +frosty sunbeams shone cheerily upon Sibyll's face, she was struck with +a beauty she had not sufficiently observed the day before; for in the +sleep of the young the traces of thought and care vanish, the aching +heart is lulled in the body's rest, the hard lines relax into flexile +ease, a softer, warmer bloom steals over the cheek, and, relieved from +the stiff restraints of dress, the rounded limbs repose in a more +alluring grace! Youth seems younger in its slumber, and beauty more +beautiful, and purity more pure. Long and dark, the fringe of the +eyelash rested upon the white lids, and the freshness of the parting +pouted lips invited the sister kiss that wakened up the sleeper. + +"Ah, lady," said Sibyll, parting her tresses from her dark blue eyes, +"you are here, you are safe!--blessed be the saints and our Lady! for +I had a dream in the night that startled and appalled me." + +"And my dreams were all blithe and golden," said Anne. "What was +thine?" + +"Methought you were asleep and in this chamber, and I not by your +side, but watching you at a little distance; and lo! a horrible +serpent glided from yon recess, and, crawling to your pillow, I heard +its hiss, and strove to come to your aid, but in vain; a spell seemed +to chain my limbs. At last I found voice, I cried aloud, I woke; and +mock me not, but I surely heard a parting footstep, and the low +grating of some sliding door." + +"It was the dream's influence, enduring beyond the dream. I have +often felt it so,--nay, even last night; for I, too, dreamed of +another, dreamed that I stood by the altar with one far away, and when +I woke--for I woke also--it was long before I could believe it was thy +hand I held, and thine arm that embraced me." + +The young friends rose, and their toilet was scarcely ended, when +again appeared in the chamber all the stateliness of retinue allotted +to the Lady Anne. Sibyll turned to depart. "And whither go you?" +asked Anne. + +"To visit my father; it is my first task on rising," returned Sibyll, +in a whisper. + +"You must let me visit him, too, at a later hour. Find me here an +hour before noon, Sibyll." + +The early morning was passed by Anne in the queen's company. The +refection, the embroidery frame, the closheys, filled up the hours. +The Duchess of Clarence had left the palace with her lord to visit the +king's mother at Baynard's Castle; and Anne's timid spirits were +saddened by the strangeness of the faces round her, and Elizabeth's +habitual silence. There was something in the weak and ill-fated queen +that ever failed to conciliate friends. Though perpetually striving +to form and create a party, she never succeeded in gaining confidence +or respect. And no one raised so high was ever left so friendless as +Elizabeth, when, in her awful widowhood, her dowry home became the +sanctuary. All her power was but the shadow of her husband's royal +sun, and vanished when the orb prematurely set; yet she had all gifts +of person in her favour, and a sleek smoothness of manner that seemed +to the superficial formed to win; but the voice was artificial, and +the eye cold and stealthy. About her formal precision there was an +eternal consciousness of self, a breathing egotism. Her laugh was +displeasing,--cynical, not mirthful; she had none of that +forgetfulness of self, that warmth when gay, that earnestness when +sad, which create sympathy. Her beauty was without loveliness, her +character without charm; every proportion in her form might allure the +sensualist; but there stopped the fascination. The mind was trivial, +though cunning and dissimulating; and the very evenness of her temper +seemed but the clockwork of a heart insensible to its own movements. +Vain in prosperity, what wonder that she was so abject in misfortune? +What wonder that even while, in later and gloomier years, [Grafton, +806] accusing Richard III. of the murder of her royal sons, and +knowing him, at least, the executioner of her brother and her child by +the bridegroom of her youth, [Anthony Lord Rivers, and Lord Richard +Gray. Not the least instance of the frivolity of Elizabeth's mind is +to be found in her willingness, after all the woes of her second +widowhood, and when she was not very far short of sixty years old, to +take a third husband, James III., of Scotland,--a marriage prevented +only by the death of the Scotch king.] she consented to send her +daughters to his custody, though subjected to the stain of +illegitimacy, and herself only recognized as the harlot? + +The king, meanwhile, had ridden out betimes alone, and no other of the +male sex presumed in his absence to invade the female circle. It was +with all a girl's fresh delight that Anne escaped at last to her own +chamber, where she found Sibyll; and, with her guidance, she threaded +the gloomy mazes of the Tower. "Let me see," she whispered, "before +we visit your father, let me see the turret in which the unhappy Henry +is confined." + +And Sibyll led her through the arch of that tower, now called "The +Bloody," and showed her the narrow casement deep sunk in the mighty +wall, without which hung the starling in the cage, basking its plumes +in the wintry sun. Anne gazed with that deep interest and tender +reverence which the parent of the man she loves naturally excites in a +woman; and while thus standing sorrowful and silent, the casement was +unbarred, and she saw the mild face of the human captive; he seemed to +talk to the bird, which, in shrill tones and with clapping wings, +answered his address. At that time a horn sounded at a little +distance off; a clangour of arms, as the sentries saluted, was heard; +the demoiselles retreated through the arch, and mounted the stair +conducting to the very room, then unoccupied, in which tradition +records the murder of the Third Richard's nephews; and scarcely had +they gained this retreat, ere towards the Bloody Gate, and before the +prison tower, rode the king who had mounted the captive's throne. His +steed, gaudy with its housing, his splendid dress, the knights and +squires who started forward from every corner to hold his gilded +stirrup, his vigorous youth, so blooming and so radiant,--all +contrasted, with oppressive force, the careworn face that watched him +meekly through the little casement of the Wakefield tower. Edward's +large, quick blue eye caught sudden sight of the once familiar +features. He looked up steadily, and his gaze encountered the fallen +king's. He changed countenance: but with the external chivalry that +made the surface of his hollow though brilliant character, he bowed +low to his saddle-bow as he saw his captive, and removed the plumed +cap from his high brow. + +Henry smiled sadly, and shook his reverend head, as if gently to +rebuke the mockery; then he closed the casement; and Edward rode into +the yard. + +"How can the king hold here a court and here a prison? Oh, hard +heart!" murmured Anne, as, when Edward had disappeared, the damsels +bent their way to Adam's chamber. + +"Would the Earl Warwick approve thy pity, sweet Lady Anne?" asked +Sibyll. + +"My father's heart is too generous to condemn it," returned Anne, +wiping the tears from her eyes; "how often in the knight's galliard +shall I see that face!" + +The turret in which Warner's room was placed flanked the wing +inhabited by the royal family and their more distinguished guests +(namely, the palace, properly speaking, as distinct from the +fortress), and communicated with the regal lodge by a long corridor, +raised above cloisters and open to a courtyard. At one end of this +corridor a door opened upon the passage, in which was situated the +chamber of the Lady Anne; the other extremity communicated with a +rugged stair of stone, conducting to the rooms tenanted by Warner. +Leaving Sibyll to present her learned father to the gentle Anne, we +follow the king into the garden, which he entered on dismounting. He +found here the Archbishop of York, who had come to the palace in his +barge, and with but a slight retinue, and who was now conversing with +Hastings in earnest whispers. + +The king, who seemed thoughtful and fatigued, approached the two, and +said, with a forced smile, "What learned sententiary engages you two +scholars?" + +"Your Grace," said the archbishop, "Minerva was not precisely the +goddess most potent over our thoughts at that moment. I received a +letter last evening from the Duke of Gloucester, and as I know the +love borne by the prince to the Lord Hastings, I inquired of your +chamberlain how far he would have foreguessed the news it announced." + +"And what may the tidings be?" asked Edward, absently. + +The prelate hesitated. + +"Sire," he said gravely, "the familiar confidence with which both your +Highness and the Duke of Gloucester distinguish the chamberlain, +permits me to communicate the purport of the letter in his presence. +The young duke informs me that he hath long conceived an affection +which he would improve into marriage, but before he address either the +demoiselle or her father, he prays me to confer with your Grace, whose +pleasure in this, as in all things, will be his sovereign law." + +"Ah, Richard loves me with a truer love than George of Clarence! But +who can he have seen on the Borders worthy to be a prince's bride?" + +"It is no sudden passion, sire, as I before hinted; nay, it has been +for some time sufficiently notorious to his friends and many of the +court; it is an affection for a maiden known to him in childhood, +connected to him by blood,--my niece, Anne Nevile." + +As if stung by a scorpion, Edward threw off the prelate's arm, on +which he had been leaning with his usual caressing courtesy. + +"This is too much!" said he, quickly, and his face, before somewhat +pale, grew highly flushed. "Is the whole royalty of England to be one +Nevile? Have I not sufficiently narrowed the basis of my throne? +Instead of mating my daughter to a foreign power,--to Spain or to +Bretagne,--she is betrothed to young Montagu! Clarence weds Isabel, +and now Gloucester--no, prelate, I will not consent!" + +The archbishop was so little prepared for this burst, that he remained +speechless. Hastings pressed the king's arm, as if to caution him +against so imprudent a display of resentment; but the king walked on, +not heeding him, and in great disturbance. Hastings interchanged +looks with the archbishop, and followed his royal master. + +"My king," he said, in an earnest whisper, "whatever you decide, do +not again provoke unhappy feuds laid at rest. Already this morning I +sought your chamber, but you were abroad, to say that I have received +intelligence of a fresh rising of the Lancastrians in Lincolnshire, +under Sir Robert Welles, and the warlike knight of Scrivelsby, Sir +Thomas Dymoke. This is not yet an hour to anger the pride of the +Neviles!" + +"O Hastings! Hastings!" said the king, in a tone of passionate +emotion, "there are moments when the human heart cannot dissemble! +Howbeit your advice is wise and honest! No, we must not anger the +Neviles!" + +He turned abruptly; rejoined the archbishop, who stood on the spot on +which the king had left him, his arms folded on his breast, his face +calm, but haughty. + +"My most worshipful cousin," said Edward, "forgive the well-known heat +of my hasty moods! I had hoped that Richard would, by a foreign +alliance, have repaired the occasion of confirming my dynasty abroad, +which Clarence lost. But no matter! Of these things we will speak +anon. Say naught to Richard till time ripens maturer resolutions: he +is a youth yet. What strange tidings are these from Lincolnshire?" + +"The house of your purveyor, Sir Robert de Burgh, is burned, his lands +wasted. The rebels are headed by lords and knights. Robin of +Redesdale, who, methinks, bears a charmed life, has even ventured to +rouse the disaffected in my brother's very shire of Warwick." + +"O Henry," exclaimed the king, casting his eyes towards the turret +that held his captive, "well mightest then call a crown 'a wreath of +thorns!'" + +"I have already," said the archbishop, "despatched couriers to my +brother, to recall him from Warwick, whither he went on quitting your +Highness. I have done more; prompted by a zeal that draws me from the +care of the Church to that of the State, I have summoned the Lords St. +John, De Fulke, and others, to my house of the More,--praying your +Highness to deign to meet them, and well sure that a smile from your +princely lips will regain their hearts and confirm heir allegiance, at +a moment when new perils require all strong arms." + +"You have done most wisely. I will come to your palace,--appoint your +own day." + +"It will take some days for the barons to arrive from their castles. +I fear not ere the tenth day from this." + +"Ah," said the king, with a vivacity that surprised his listeners, +aware of his usual impetuous energy, "the delay will but befriend us; +as for Warwick, permit me to alter your arrangements; let him employ +the interval, not in London, where he is useless, but in raising men +in the neighbourhood of his castle, and in defeating the treason of +this Redesdale knave. We will give commission to him and to Clarence +to levy troops; Hastings, see to this forthwith. Ye say Sir Robert +Welles leads the Lincolnshire varlets; I know the nature of his +father, the Lord Welles,--a fearful and timorous one; I will send for +him, and the father's head shall answer for the son's faith. Pardon +me, dear cousin, that I leave you to attend these matters. Prithee +visit our queen, meanwhile, she holds you our guest." + +"Nay, your Highness must vouchsafe my excuse; I also have your royal +interests too much at heart to while an hour in my pleasurement. I +will but see the friends of our House now in London, and then back to +the More, and collect the force of my tenants and retainers." + +"Ever right, fair speed to you, cardinal that shall be! Your arm, +Hastings." + +The king and his favourite took their way into the state chambers. + +"Abet not Gloucester in this alliance,--abet him not!" said the king, +solemnly. + +"Pause, sire! This alliance gives to Warwick a wise counsellor, +instead of the restless Duke of Clarence. Reflect what danger may +ensue if an ambitious lord, discontented with your reign, obtains the +hand of the great earl's coheiress, and the half of a hundred baronies +that command an army larger than the crown's." + +Though these reasonings at a calmer time might well have had their +effect on Edward, at that moment they were little heeded by his +passions. He stamped his foot violently on the floor. "Hastings!" he +exclaimed, "be silent! or--" He stopped short, mastered his emotion. +"Go, assemble our privy council. We have graver matters than a boy's +marriage now to think of." + +It was in vain that Edward sought to absorb the fire of his nature in +state affairs, in all needful provisions against the impending perils, +in schemes of war and vengeance. The fatal frenzy that had seized him +haunted him everywhere, by day and by night. For some days after the +unsuspected visit which he had so criminally stolen to his guest's +chamber, something of knightly honour, of religious scruple, of common +reason,--awakened in him the more by the dangers which had sprung up +and which the Neviles were now actively employed in defeating,-- +struggled against his guilty desire, and roused his conscience to a +less feeble resistance than it usually displayed when opposed to +passion; but the society of Anne, into which he was necessarily thrown +so many hours in the day, and those hours chiefly after the +indulgences of the banquet, was more powerful than all the dictates of +a virtue so seldom exercised as to have none of the strength of habit. +And as the time drew near when he must visit the archbishop, head his +army against the rebels (whose force daily increased, despite the +captivity of Lord Welles and Sir Thomas Dymoke, who, on the summons of +the king, had first taken sanctuary, and then yielded their persons on +the promise of pardon and safety), and restore Anne to her mother,--as +this time drew near, his perturbation of mind became visible to the +whole court; but, with the instinct of his native craft, he contrived +to conceal its cause. For the first time in his life he had no +confidant--he did not dare trust his secret to Hastings. His heart +gnawed itself. Neither, though constantly stealing to Anne's side, +could he venture upon language that might startle and enlighten her. +He felt that even those attentions, which on the first evening of her +arrival had been noticed by the courtiers, could not be safely +renewed. He was grave and constrained, even when by her side, and the +etiquette of the court allowed him no opportunity for unwitnessed +conference. In this suppressed and unequal struggle with himself the +time passed, till it was now but the day before that fixed for his +visit to the More. And, as he rose at morning from his restless +couch, the struggle was over, and the soul resolved to dare the crime. +His first thought was to separate Anne from Sibyll. He affected to +rebuke the queen for giving to his high-born guest an associate below +her dignity, and on whose character, poor girl, rested the imputation +of witchcraft; and when the queen replied that Lady Anne herself had +so chosen, he hit upon the expedient of visiting Warner himself, under +pretence of inspecting his progress,--affected to be struck by the +sickly appearance of the sage, and sending for Sibyll, told her, with +an air of gracious consideration, that her first duty was to attend +her parent; that the queen released her for some days from all court +duties; and that he had given orders to prepare the room adjoining +Master Warner's, and held by Friar Bungey, till that worthy had +retired with his patroness from the court, to which she would for the +present remove. + +Sibyll, wondering at this novel mark of consideration in the careless +king, yet imputing it to the high value set on her father's labours, +thanked Edward with simple earnestness, and withdrew. In the anteroom +she encountered Hastings, on his way to the king. He started in +surprise, and with a jealous pang: "What! thou, Sibyll! and from the +king's closet! What led thee thither?" + +"His grace's command." And too noble for the pleasure of exciting the +distrust that delights frivolous minds as the proof of power, Sibyll +added, "The king has been kindly speaking to me of my father's +health." The courtier's brow cleared; he mused a moment, and said, in +a whisper, "I beseech thee to meet me an hour hence at the eastern +rampart." + +Since the return of Lord Hastings to the palace there had been an +estrangement and distance in his manner, ill suiting one who enjoyed +the rights of an accepted suitor, and wounding alike to Sibyll's +affection and her pride; but her confidence in his love and truth was +entire. Her admiration for him partook of worship, and she steadily +sought to reason away any causes for alarm by recalling the state +cares which pressed heavily upon him, and whispering to herself that +word of "wife," which, coming in passionate music from those beloved +lips, had thrown a mist over the present, a glory over the future! and +in the king's retention of Adam Warner, despite the Duchess of +Bedford's strenuous desire to carry him off with Friar Bungey, and +restore him to his tasks of alchemist and multiplier, as well as in +her own promotion to the queen's service, Sibyll could not but +recognize the influence of her powerful lover. His tones now were +tender, though grave and earnest. Surely, in the meeting he asked, all +not comprehended would be explained. And so, with a light heart, she +passed on. + +Hastings sighed as his eye followed her from the room, and thus said +he to himself, "Were I the obscure gentleman I once was, how sweet a +lot would that girl's love choose to me from the urn of fate! But, +oh! when we taste of power and greatness, and master the world's dark +wisdom, what doth love shrink to?--an hour's bliss and a life's +folly." His delicate lip curled, and breaking from his soliloquy, he +entered the king's closet. Edward was resting his face upon the palms +of his hands, and his bright eyes dwelt upon vacant space, till they +kindled into animation as they lighted on his favourite. + +"Dear Will," said the king, "knowest thou that men say thou art +bewitched?" + +"Beau sire, often have men, when a sweet face hath captured thy great +heart, said the same of thee!" + +"It may be so with truth, for verily love is the arch-devil's birth." + +The king rose, and strode his chamber with a quick step; at last +pausing,-- + +"Hastings," he said, "so thou lovest the multiplier's pretty daughter? +She has just left me. Art thou jealous?" + +"Happily your Highness sees no beauty in looks that have the gloss of +the raven, and eyes that have the hue of the violet." + +"No, I am a constant man, constant to one idea of beauty in a thousand +forms,--eyes like the summer's light-blue sky, and locks like its +golden sunbeams! But to set thy mind at rest, Will, know that I have +but compassionated the sickly state of the scholar, whom thou prizest +so highly; and I have placed thy fair Sibyll's chamber near her +father's. Young Lovell says thou art bent on wedding the wizard's +daughter." + +"And if I were, beau sire?" + +Edward looked grave. + +"If thou wert, my poor Will, thou wouldst lose all the fame for shrewd +wisdom which justifies thy sudden fortunes. No, no; thou art the +flower and prince of my new seignorie,--thou must mate thyself with a +name and a barony that shall be worthy thy fame and thy prospects. +Love beauty, but marry power, Will. In vain would thy king draw thee +up, if a despised wife draw thee down!" + +Hastings listened with profound attention to these words. The king +did not wait for his answer, but added laughingly,-- + +"It is thine own fault, crafty gallant, if thou dost not end all her +spells." + +"What ends the spells of youth and beauty, beau sire?" + +"Possession!" replied the king, in a hollow and muttered voice. + +Hastings was about to answer, when the door opened, and the officer in +waiting announced the Duke of Clarence. "Ha!" said Edward, "George +comes to importune me for leave to depart to the government of +Ireland, and I have to make him weet that I think my Lord Worcester a +safer viceroy of the two." + +"Your Highness will pardon me; but, though I deemed you too generous +in the appointment, it were dangerous now to annul it." + +"More dangerous to confirm it. Elizabeth has caused me to see the +folly of a grant made over the malmsey,--a wine, by the way, in which +poor George swears he would be content to drown himself. Viceroy of +Ireland! My father had that government, and once tasting the sweets +of royalty, ceased to be a subject! No, no, Clarence--" + +"Can never meditate treason against a brother's crown. Has he the wit +or the energy or the genius for so desperate an ambition?" + +"No; but he hath the vanity. And I will wager thee a thousand marks +to a silver penny that my jester shall talk giddie Georgie into +advancing a claim to be soldan of Egypt or Pope of Rome!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE FOSTER-BROTHERS. + +Sir Marmaduke Nevile was sunning his bravery in the Tower Green, +amidst the other idlers of the court, proud of the gold chain and the +gold spurs which attested his new rank, and not grieved to have +exchanged the solemn walls of Middleham for the gay delights of the +voluptuous palace, when to his pleasure and surprise, he perceived his +foster-brother enter the gateway; and no sooner had Nicholas entered, +than a bevy of the younger courtiers hastened eagerly towards him. + +"Gramercy!" quoth Sir Marmaduke, to one of the bystanders, "what hath +chanced to make Nick Alwyn a man of such note, that so many wings of +satin and pile should flutter round him like sparrows round an owl?-- +which, by the Holy Rood, his wise face somewhat resembleth." + +"Know you not that Master Alwyn, since he hath commenced trade for +himself, hath acquired already the repute of the couthliest goldsmith +in London? No dague-hilts, no buckles are to be worn, save those that +he fashions; and--an he live, and the House of York prosper--verily, +Master Alwyn the goldsmith will ere long be the richest and best man +from Mile-end to the Sanctuary." + +"Right glad am I to hear it," said honest Marmaduke, heartily; and +approaching Alwyn, he startled the precise trader by a friendly slap +on the shoulder. + +"What, man, art thou too proud to remember Marmaduke Nevile? Come to +my lodgment yonder, and talk of old days over the king's canary." + +"I crave your pardon, dear Master Nevile." + +"Master--avaunt! Sir Marmaduke,--knighted by the hand of Lord +Warwick,--Sir Marmaduke Nevile, lord of a manor he hath never yet +seen, sober Alwyn." + +Then drawing his foster-brother's arm in his, Marmaduke led him to the +chamber in which he lodged. + +The young men spent some minutes in congratulating each other on their +respective advances in life: the gentleman who had attained competence +and station simply by devotion to a powerful patron, the trader who +had already won repute and the prospect of wealth by ingenuity, +application, and toil; and yet, to do justice, as much virtue went to +Marmaduke's loyalty to Warwick as to Alwyn's capacities for making a +fortune. Mutual compliments over, Alwyn said hesitatingly,-- + +"And dost thou find Mistress Sibyll more gently disposed to thee than +when thou didst complain to me of her cruelty?" + +"Marry, good Nicholas, I will be frank with thee. When I left the +court to follow Lord Warwick, there were rumours of the gallantries of +Lord Hastings to the girl, which grieved me to the heart. I spoke to +her thereof bluntly and honourably, and got but high looks and +scornful words in return. Good fellow, I thank thee for that squeeze +of the hand and that doleful sigh. In my absence at Middleham, I +strove hard to forget one who cared so little for me. My dear Alwyn, +those Yorkshire lasses are parlously comely, and mighty douce and +debonaire. So I stormed cruel Sibyll out of my heart perforce of +numbers." + +"And thou lovest her no more?" + +"Not I, by this goblet! On coming back, it is true, I felt pleased to +clank my gold spurs in her presence, and curious to see if my new +fortunes would bring out a smile of approval; and verily, to speak +sooth, the donzell was kind and friendly, and spoke to me so cheerly +of the pleasure she felt in my advancement, that I adventured again a +few words of the old folly. But my lassie drew up like a princess, +and I am a cured man." + +"By your troth?" + +"By my troth!" + +Alwyn's head sank on his bosom in silent thought. Sir Marmaduke +emptied his goblet; and really the young knight looked so fair and so +gallant, in his new surcoat of velvet, that it was no marvel if he +should find enough food for consolation in a court where men spent six +hours a day in making love,--nor in vain. + +"And what say they still of the Lord Hastings?" asked Alwyn, breaking +silence. "Nothing, I trow and trust, that arraigns the poor lady's +honour, though much that may scoff at her simple faith in a nature so +vain and fickle. 'The tongue's not steel, yet it cuts,' as the +proverb saith of the slanderer." + +"No! scandal spares her virtue as woman, to run down her cunning as +witch! They say that Hastings hath not prevailed, nor sought to +prevail,--that he is spell-bound. By Saint Thomas, from a maid of +such character Marmaduke Nevile is happily rescued!" + +"Sir Marmaduke," then said Alwyn, in a grave and earnest voice, "it +behooves me, as true friend, though humble, and as honest man, to give +thee my secret, in return for thine own. I love this girl. Ay, ay! +thou thinkest that love is a strange word on a craftsman's lips, but +'cold flint hides hot fire.' I would not have been thy rival, Heaven +forefend! hadst thou still cherished a hope, or if thou now wilt +forbid my aspiring; but if thou wilt not say me nay, I will try my +chance in delivering a pure soul from a crafty wooer." + +Marmaduke stared in great surprise at his foster-brother; and though, +no doubt, he spoke truth when he said he was cured of his love for +Sibyll, he yet felt a sort of jealousy at Alwyn's unexpected +confession, and his vanity was hurt at the notion that the plain- +visaged trader should attempt where the handsome gentleman had +failed.--However, his blunt, generous, manly nature after a brief +struggle got the better of these sore feelings; and holding out his +hand to Alwyn, he said, "My dear foster-brother, try the hazard and +cast thy dice, if thou wilt. Heaven prosper thee, if success be for +thine own good! But if she be given to witchcraft (plague on thee, +man, sneer not at the word), small comfort to bed and hearth can such +practices bring!" + +"Alas!" said Alwyn, "the witchcraft is on the side of Hastings,--the +witchcraft of fame and rank, and a glozing tongue and experienced art. +But she shall not fall, if a true arm can save her; and 'though Hope +be a small child; she can carry a great anchor.'" + +These words were said so earnestly, that they opened new light into +Marmaduke's mind; and his native generosity standing in lieu of +intellect, he comprehended sympathetically the noble motives which +actuated the son of commerce. + +"My poor Alwyn," he said, "if thou canst save this young maid,--whom +by my troth I loved well, and who tells me yet that she loveth me as a +sister loves,--right glad shall I be. But thou stakest thy peace of +mind against hers! Fair luck to thee, say I again,--and if thou wilt +risk thy chance at once (for suspense is love's purgatory), seize the +moment. I saw Sibyll, just ere we met, pass to the ramparts, alone; +at this sharp season the place is deserted; go." + +"I will, this moment!" said Alwyn, rising and turning very pale; but +as he gained the door, he halted--"I had forgot, Master Nevile, that I +bring the king his signet-ring, new set, of the falcon and fetter- +lock." + +"They will keep thee three hours in the anteroom. The Duke of +Clarence is now with the king. Trust the ring to me, I shall see his +highness ere he dines." + +Even in his love, Alwyn had the Saxon's considerations of business; he +hesitated--"May I not endanger thereby the king's favour and loss of +custom?" said the trader. + +"Tush, man! little thou knowest King Edward; he cares naught for the +ceremonies: moreover, the Neviles are now all-puissant in favour. I +am here in attendance on sweet Lady Anne, whom the king loves as a +daughter, though too young for sire to so well-grown a donzell; and a +word from her lip, if need be, will set all as smooth as this gorget +of lawn!" + +Thus assured, Alwyn gave the ring to his friend, and took his way at +once to the ramparts. Marmaduke remained behind to finish the canary +and marvel how so sober a man should form so ardent a passion. Nor +was he much less surprised to remark that his friend, though still +speaking with a strong provincial accent, and still sowing his +discourse with rustic saws and proverbs, had risen in language and in +manner with the rise of his fortunes. "An he go on so, and become +lord mayor," muttered Marmaduke, "verily he will half look like a +gentleman!" + +To these meditations the young knight was not long left in peace. A +messenger from Warwick House sought and found him, with the news that +the earl was on his road to London, and wished to see Sir Marmaduke +the moment of his arrival, which was hourly expected. The young +knight's hardy brain somewhat flustered by the canary, Alwyn's secret, +and this sudden tidings, he hastened to obey his chief's summons, and +forgot, till he gained the earl's mansion, the signet ring intrusted +to him by Alwyn. "What matters it?" said he then, philosophically,-- +"the king hath rings eno' on his fingers not to miss one for an hour +or so, and I dare not send any one else with it. Marry, I must plunge +my head in cold water, to get rid of the fumes of the wine." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE LOVER AND THE GALLANT--WOMAN'S CHOICE. + +Alwyn bent his way to the ramparts, a part of which then resembled the +boulevards of a French town, having rows of trees, green sward, a +winding walk, and seats placed at frequent intervals for the repose of +the loungers. During the summer evenings, the place was a favourite +resort of the court idlers; but now, in winter, it was usually +deserted, save by the sentries, placed at distant intervals. The +trader had not gone far in his quest when he perceived, a few paces +before him, the very man he had most cause to dread; and Lord +Hastings, hearing the sound of a footfall amongst the crisp, faded +leaves that strewed the path, turned abruptly as Alwyn approached his +side. + +At the sight of his formidable rival, Alwyn had formed one of those +resolutions which occur only to men of his decided, plain-spoken, +energetic character. His distinguishing shrewdness and penetration +had given him considerable insight into the nobler as well as the +weaker qualities of Hastings; and his hope in the former influenced +the determination to which he came. The reflections of Hastings at +that moment were of a nature to augur favourably to the views of the +humbler lover; for, during the stirring scenes in which his late +absence from Sibyll had been passed, Hastings had somewhat recovered +from her influence; and feeling the difficulties of reconciling his +honour and his worldly prospects to further prosecution of the love, +rashly expressed but not deeply felt, he had determined frankly to cut +the Gordian knot he could not solve, and inform Sibyll that marriage +between them was impossible. With that view he had appointed this +meeting, and his conference with the king but confirmed his intention. +It was in this state of mind that he was thus accosted by Alwyn:-- + +"My lord, may I make bold to ask for a few moments your charitable +indulgence to words you may deem presumptuous?" + +"Be brief, then, Master Alwyn,--I am waited for." + +"Alas, my lord! I can guess by whom,--by the one whom I seek myself, +--by Sibyll Warner." + +"How, Sir Goldsmith!" said Hastings, haughtily, "what knowest thou of +my movements, and what care I for thine?" + +"Hearken, my Lord Hastings,--hearken!" said Alwyn, repressing his +resentment, and in a voice so earnest that it riveted the entire +attention of the listener--"hearken, and judge not as noble judges +craftsman, but as man should judge man. As the saw saith, 'We all lie +alike in our graves.' From the first moment I saw this Sibyll Warner +I loved her. Yes; smile disdainfully, but listen still. She was +obscure and in distress. I loved her not for her fair looks alone; I +loved her for her good gifts, for her patient industry, for her filial +duty, for her struggles to give bread to her father's board. I did +not say to myself, 'This girl will make a comely fere, a delicate +paramour!' I said, 'This good daughter will make a wife whom an +honest man may take to his heart and cherish!'" Poor Alwyn stopped, +with tears in his voice, struggled with his emotions, and pursued: "My +fortunes were more promising than hers; there was no cause why I might +not hope. True, I had a rival then; young as myself, better born, +comelier; but she loved him not. I foresaw that his love for her--if +love it were--would cease. Methought that her mind would understand +mine; as mine--verily I say it--yearned for hers! I could not look on +the maidens of mine own rank, and who had lived around me, but what-- +oh, no, my lord, again I say, not the beauty, but the gifts, the mind, +the heart of Sibyll, threw them all into the shade. You may think it +strange that I--a plain, steadfast, trading, working, careful man-- +should have all these feelings; but I will tell you wherefore such as +I sometimes have them, nurse them, brood on them, more than you lords +and gentlemen, with all your graceful arts in pleasing. We know no +light loves! no brief distractions to the one arch passion! We sober +sons of the stall and the ware are no general gallants,--we love +plainly, we love but once, and we love heartily. But who knows not +the proverb, 'What's a gentleman but his pleasure?'--and what's +pleasure but change? When Sibyll came to the palace, I soon heard her +name linked with yours; I saw her cheek blush when you spoke. Well, +well, well! after all, as the old wives tell us, 'Blushing is virtue's +livery.' I said, 'She is a chaste and high-hearted girl.' This will +pass, and the time will come when she can compare your love and mine. +Now, my lord, the time has come. I know that you seek her. Yea, at +this moment, I know that her heart beats for your footstep. Say but +one word,--say that you love Sibyll Warner with the thought of wedding +her,--say that, on your honour, noble Hastings, as gentleman and peer, +and I will kneel at your feet, and beg your pardon for my vain +follies, and go back to my ware, and work, and not repine. Say it! +You are silent? Then I implore you, still as peer and gentleman, to +let the honest love save the maiden from the wooing that will blight +her peace and blast her name! And now, Lord Hastings, I wait your +gracious answer." + +The sensations experienced by Hastings, as Alwyn thus concluded, were +manifold and complicated; but, at the first, admiration and pity were +the strongest. + +"My poor friend," said he, kindly, "if you thus love a demoiselle +deserving all my reverence, your words and your thoughts bespeak you +no unworthy pretender; but take my counsel, good Alwyn. Come not-- +thou from the Chepe--come not to the court for a wife. Forget this +fantasy." + +"My lord, it is impossible! Forget I cannot, regret I may. + +"Thou canst not succeed, man," resumed the nobleman, more coldly, "nor +couldst if William Hastings had never lived. The eyes of women +accustomed to gaze on the gorgeous externals of the world are blinded +to plain worth like thine. It might have been different had the +donzell never abided in a palace; but as it is, brave fellow, learn +how these wounds of the heart scar over, and the spot becomes hard and +callous evermore. What art thou, Master Nicholas Alwyn," continued +Hastings, gloomily, and with a withering smile--"what art thou, to ask +for a bliss denied to me--to all of us,--the bliss of carrying poetry +into life, youth into manhood, by winning--the FIRST LOVED? But think +not, sir lover, that I say this in jealousy or disparagement. Look +yonder, by the leafless elm, the white robe of Sibyll Warner. Go and +plead thy suit." + +"Do I understand you, my lord?" said Alwyn, somewhat confused and +perplexed by the tone and the manner Hastings adopted. "Does report +err, and you do not love this maiden?" + +"Fair master," returned Hastings, scornfully, "thou hast no right that +I trow of to pry into my thoughts and secrets; I cannot acknowledge my +judge in thee, good jeweller and goldsmith,--enough, surely, in all +courtesy, that I yield thee the precedence. Tell thy tale, as +movingly, if thou wilt, as thou hast told it to me; say of me all that +thou fanciest thou hast reason to suspect; and if, Master Alwyn, thou +woo and win the lady, fail not to ask me to thy wedding!" + +There was in this speech and the bearing of the speaker that superb +levity, that inexpressible and conscious superiority, that cold, +ironical tranquillity, which awe and humble men more than grave +disdain or imperious passion. Alwyn ground his teeth as he listened, +and gazed in silent despair and rage upon the calm lord. Neither of +these men could strictly be called handsome. Of the two, Alwyn had +the advantage of more youthful prime, of a taller stature, of a more +powerful, though less supple and graceful, frame. In their very +dress, there was little of that marked distinction between classes +which then usually prevailed, for the dark cloth tunic and surcoat of +Hastings made a costume even simpler than the bright-coloured garb of +the trader, with its broad trimmings of fur, and its aiglettes of +elaborate lace. Between man and man, then, where was the visible, the +mighty, the insurmountable difference in all that can charm the fancy +and captivate the eye, which, as he gazed, Alwyn confessed to himself +there existed between the two? Alas! how the distinctions least to be +analyzed are ever the sternest! What lofty ease in that high-bred +air; what histories of triumph seemed to speak in that quiet eye, +sleeping in its own imperious lustre; what magic of command in that +pale brow; what spells of persuasion in that artful lip! Alwyn +muttered to himself, bowed his head involuntarily, and passed on at +once from Hastings to Sibyll, who now, at the distance of some yards, +had arrested her steps, in surprise to see the conference between the +nobleman and the burgher. + +But as he approached Sibyll, poor Alwyn felt all the firmness and +courage he had exhibited with Hastings melt away. And the trepidation +which a fearful but deep affection ever occasions in men of his +character, made his movements more than usually constrained and +awkward, as he cowered beneath the looks of the maid he so truly +loved. + +"Seekest thou me, Master Alwyn?" asked Sibyll, gently, seeing that, +though he paused by her side, he spoke not. + +"I do," returned Alwyn, abruptly, and again he was silent. At length, +lifting his eyes and looking round him, he saw Hastings at the +distance, leaning against the rampart, with folded arms; and the +contrast of his rival's cold and arrogant indifference, and his own +burning veins and bleeding heart, roused up his manly spirit, and gave +to his tongue the eloquence which emotion gains when it once breaks +the fetters it forges for itself. + +"Look, look, Sibyll!" he said, pointing to Hastings "look! that man +you believe loves you. If so--if he loved thee,--would he stand +yonder--mark him--aloof, contemptuous, careless--while he knew that I +was by your side?" + +Sibyll turned upon the goldsmith eyes full of innocent surprise,--eyes +that asked, plainly as eyes could speak, "And wherefore not, Master +Alwyn?" + +Alwyn so interpreted the look, and replied, as if she had spoken: +"Because he must know how poor and tame is that feeble fantasy which +alone can come from a soul worn bare with pleasure, to that which I +feel and now own for thee,--the love of youth, born of the heart's +first vigour; because he ought to fear that that love should prevail +with thee; because that love ought to prevail. Sibyll, between us +there are not imparity and obstacle. Oh, listen to me,--listen still! +Frown not, turn not away." And, stung and animated by the sight of +his rival, fired by the excitement of a contest on which the bliss of +his own life and the weal of Sibyll's might depend, his voice was as +the cry of a mortal agony, and affected the girl to the inmost +recesses of her soul. "Oh, Alwyn, I frown not!" she said sweetly; +"oh, Alwyn, I turn not away! Woe is me to give pain to so kind and +brave a heart; but--" + +"No, speak not yet. I have studied thee, I have read thee as a +scholar would read a book. I know thee proud; I know thee aspiring; I +know thou art vain of thy gentle blood, and distasteful of my yeoman's +birth. There, I am not blind to thy faults, but I love thee despite +them; and to please those faults I have toiled, schemed, dreamed, +risen. I offer to thee the future with the certainty of a man who can +command it. Wouldst thou wealth?--be patient (as ambition ever is): +in a few years thou shalt have more gold than the wife of Lord +Hastings can command; thou shalt lodge more statelily, fare more +sumptuously; [This was no vain promise of Master Alwyn. At that time +a successful trader made a fortune with signal rapidity, and enjoyed +greater luxuries than most of the barons. All the gold in the country +flowed into the coffers of the London merchants.] thou shalt walk on +cloth-of-gold if thou wilt! Wouldst thou titles?--I will win them. +Richard de la Pole, who founded the greatest duchy in the realm, was +poorer than I, when he first served in a merchant's ware. Gold buys +all things now. Oh, would to Heaven it could but buy me thee!" + +"Master Alwyn, it is not gold that buys love. Be soothed. What can I +say to thee to soften the harsh word 'Nay'?" + +"You reject me, then, and at once? I ask not your hand now. I will +wait, tarry, hope,--I care not if for years; wait till I can fulfil +all I promise thee!" + +Sibyll, affected to tears, shook her head mournfully; and there was a +long and painful silence. Never was wooing more strangely +circumstanced than this,--the one lover pleading while the other was +in view; the one, ardent, impassioned, the other, calm and passive; +and the silence of the last, alas! having all the success which the +words of the other lacked. It might be said that the choice before +Sibyll was a type of the choice ever given, but in vain, to the child +of genius. Here a secure and peaceful life, an honoured home, a +tranquil lot, free from ideal visions, it is true, but free also from +the doubt and the terror, the storms of passion; there, the fatal +influence of an affection, born of imagination, sinister, equivocal, +ominous, but irresistible. And the child of genius fulfilled her +destiny! + +"Master Alwyn," said Sibyll, rousing herself to the necessary +exertion, "I shall never cease gratefully to recall thy generous +friendship, never cease to pray fervently for thy weal below. But +forever and forever let this content thee,--I can no more." + +Impressed by the grave and solemn tone of Sibyll, Alwyn hushed the +groan that struggled to his lips, and gloomily replied: "I obey you, +fair mistress, and I return to my workday life; but ere I go, I pray +you misthink me not if I say this much: not alone for the bliss of +hoping for a day in which I might call thee mine have I thus +importuned, but, not less--I swear not less--from the soul's desire to +save thee from what I fear will but lead to woe and wayment, to peril +and pain, to weary days and sleepless nights. 'Better a little fire +that warms than a great that burns.' Dost thou think that Lord +Hastings, the vain, the dissolute--" + +"Cease, sir!" said Sibyll, proudly; "me reprove if thou wilt, but +lower not my esteem for thee by slander against another!" + +"What!" said Alwyn, bitterly; "doth even one word of counsel chafe +thee? I tell thee that if thou dreamest that Lord Hastings loves +Sibyll Warner as man loves the maiden he would wed, thou deceivest +thyself to thine own misery. If thou wouldst prove it, go to him +now,--go and say, 'Wilt thou give me that home of peace and honour, +that shelter for my father's old age under a son's roof which the +trader I despise proffers me in vain?" + +"If it were already proffered me--by him?" said Sibyll, in a low +voice, and blushing deeply. + +Alwyn started. "Then I wronged him; and--and--" he added generously, +though with a faint sickness at his heart, "I can yet be happy in +thinking thou art so. Farewell, maiden, the saints guard thee from +one memory of regret at what hath passed between us!" + +He pulled his bonnet hastily over his brows, and departed with unequal +and rapid strides. As he passed the spot where Hastings stood leaning +his arm upon the wall, and his face upon his hand, the nobleman looked +up, and said,-- + +"Well, Sir Goldsmith, own at least that thy trial hath been a fair +one!" Then struck with the anguish written upon Alwyn's face, he +walked up to him, and, with a frank, compassionate impulse, laid his +hand on his shoulder. "Alwyn," he said, "I have felt what you feel +now; I have survived it, and the world hath not prospered with me +less! Take with you a compassion that respects, and does not degrade +you." + +"Do not deceive her, my lord,--she trusts and loves you! You never +deceived man,--the wide world says it,--do not deceive woman! Deeds +kill men, words women!" Speaking thus simply, Alwyn strode on, and +vanished. + +Hastings slowly and silently advanced to Sibyll. Her rejection of +Alwyn had by no means tended to reconcile him to the marriage he +himself had proffered. He might well suppose that the girl, even if +unguided by affection, would not hesitate between a mighty nobleman +and an obscure goldsmith. His pride was sorely wounded that the +latter should have even thought himself the equal of one whom he had +proposed, though but in a passionate impulse, to raise to his own +state. And yet as he neared Sibyll, and, with a light footstep, she +sprang forward to meet him, her eyes full of sweet joy and confidence, +he shrank from an avowal which must wither up a heart opening thus all +its bloom of youth and love to greet him. + +"Ah, fair lord," said the maiden, "was it kindly in thee to permit +poor Alwyn to inflict on me so sharp a pain, and thou to stand calmly +distant? Sure, alas! that had thy humble rival proffered a crown, it +had been the same to Sibyll! Oh, how the grief it was mine to cause +grieved me; and yet, through all, I had one selfish, guilty gleam of +pleasure,--to think that I had not been loved so well, if I were all +unworthy the sole love I desire or covet!" + +"And yet, Sibyll, this young man can in all, save wealth and a +sounding name, give thee more than I can,--a heart undarkened by moody +memories, a temper unsoured by the world's dread and bitter lore of +man's frailty and earth's sorrow. Ye are not far separated by +ungenial years, and might glide to a common grave hand in hand; but I, +older in heart than in age, am yet so far thine elder in the last, +that these hairs will be gray, and this form bent, while thy beauty is +in its prime, and--but thou weepest!" + +"I weep that thou shouldst bring one thought of time to sadden my +thoughts, which are of eternity. Love knows no age, it foresees no +grave! its happiness and its trust behold on the earth but one glory, +melting into the hues of heaven, where they who love lastingly pass +calmly on to live forever! See, I weep not now!" + +"And did not this honest burgher," pursued Hastings, softened and +embarrassed, but striving to retain his cruel purpose, "tell thee to +distrust me; tell thee that my vows were false?" + +"Methinks, if an angel told me so, I should disbelieve!" + +"Why, look thee, Sibyll, suppose his warning true; suppose that at +this hour I sought thee with intent to say that that destiny which +ambition weaves for itself forbade me to fulfil a word hotly spoken; +that I could not wed thee,--should I not seem to thee a false wooer, a +poor trifler with thy earnest heart; and so, couldst thou not recall +the love of him whose truer and worthier homage yet lingers in thine +ear, and with him be happy?" + +Sibyll lifted her dark eyes, yet humid, upon the unrevealing face of +the speaker, and gazed on him with wistful and inquiring sadness; +then, shrinking from his side, she crossed her arms meekly on her +bosom, and thus said,-- + +"If ever, since we parted, one such thought hath glanced across thee-- +one thought of repentance at the sacrifice of pride, or the lessening +of power--which (she faltered, broke off the sentence, and resumed)-- +in one word, if thou wouldst retract, say it now, and I will not +accuse thy falsehood, but bless thy truth." + +"Thou couldst be consoled, then, by thy pride of woman, for the loss +of an unworthy lover?" + +"My lord, are these questions fair?" + +Hastings was silent. The gentler part of his nature struggled +severely with the harder. The pride of Sibyll moved him no less than +her trust; and her love in both was so evident, so deep, so +exquisitely contrasting the cold and frivolous natures amidst which +his lot had fallen, that he recoiled from casting away forever a heart +never to be replaced. Standing on that bridge of life, with age +before and youth behind, he felt that never again could he be so +loved, or, if so loved by one so worthy of whatever of pure affection, +of young romance, was yet left to his melancholy and lonely soul. + +He took her hand, and, as she felt its touch, her firmness forsook +her, her head drooped upon her bosom, and she burst into an agony of +tears. + +"Oh, Sibyll, forgive me! Smile on me again, Sibyll!" exclaimed +Hastings, subdued and melted. But, alas! the heart once bruised and +galled recovers itself but slowly, and it was many minutes before the +softest words the eloquent lover could shape to sound sufficed to dry +those burning tears, and bring back the enchanting smile,--nay, even +then the smile was forced and joyless. They walked on for some +moments, both in thought, till Hastings said: "Thou lovest me, Sibyll, +and art worthy of all the love that man can feel for maid; and yet, +canst thou solve me this question, nor chide me that I ask it, Dost +thou not love the world and the world's judgments more than me? What +is that which women call honour? What makes them shrink from all love +that takes not the form and circumstance of the world's hollow rites? +Does love cease to be love, unless over its wealth of trust and +emotion the priest mouths his empty blessing? Thou in thy graceful +pride art angered if I, in wedding thee, should remember the sacrifice +which men like me--I own it fairly--deem as great as man can make; and +yet thou wouldst fly my love if it wooed thee to a sacrifice of thine +own." + +Artfully was the question put, and Hastings smiled to himself in +imagining the reply it must bring; and then Sibyll answered, with the +blush which the very subject called forth, + +"Alas, my lord, I am but a poor casuist, but I feel that if I asked +thee to forfeit whatever men respect,--honour and repute for valour, +to be traitor and dastard,--thou couldst love me no more; and marvel +you if, when man woos woman to forfeit all that her sex holds +highest,--to be in woman what dastard and traitor is in man,--she +hears her conscience and her God speak in a louder voice than can come +from a human lip? The goods and pomps of the world we are free to +sacrifice, and true love heeds and counts them not; but true love +cannot sacrifice that which makes up love,--it cannot sacrifice the +right to be loved below; the hope to love on in the realm above; the +power to pray with a pure soul for the happiness it yearns to make; +the blessing to seem ever good and honoured in the eyes of the one by +whom alone it would be judged. And therefore, sweet lord, true love +never contemplates this sacrifice; and if once it believes itself +truly loved, it trusts with a fearless faith in the love on which it +leans." + +"Sibyll, would to Heaven I had seen thee in my youth! Would to Heaven +I were more worthy of thee!" And in that interview Hastings had no +heart to utter what he had resolved, "Sibyll, I sought thee but to say +Farewell." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +WARWICK RETURNS--APPEASES A DISCONTENTED PRINCE--AND CONFERS WITH A +REVENGEFUL CONSPIRATOR. + +It was not till late in the evening that Warwick arrived at his vast +residence in London, where he found not only Marmaduke Nevile ready to +receive him, but a more august expectant, in George Duke of Clarence. +Scarcely had the earl crossed the threshold, when the duke seized his +arm, and leading him into the room that adjoined the hall, said,-- + +"Verily, Edward is besotted no less than ever by his wife's leech-like +family. Thou knowest my appointment to the government of Ireland; +Isabel, like myself, cannot endure the subordinate vassalage we must +brook at the court, with the queen's cold looks and sour words. Thou +knowest, also, with what vain pretexts Edward has put me of; and now, +this very day, he tells me that he hath changed his humour,--that I am +not stern enough for the Irish kernes; that he loves me too well to +banish me, forsooth; and that Worcester, the people's butcher but the +queen's favourite, must have the post so sacredly pledged to me. I +see in this Elizabeth's crafty malice. Is this struggle between +king's blood and queen's kith to go on forever?" + +"Calm thyself, George; I will confer with the king tomorrow, and hope +to compass thy not too arrogant desire. Certes, a king's brother is +the fittest vice-king for the turbulent kernes of Ireland, who are +ever flattered into obeisance by ceremony and show. The government +was pledged to thee--Edward can scarcely be serious. Moreover, +Worcester, though forsooth a learned man--Mort-Dieu! methinks that +same learning fills the head to drain the heart!--is so abhorred for +his cruelties that his very landing in Ireland will bring a new +rebellion to add to our already festering broils and sores. Calm +thyself, I say. Where didst thou leave Isabel?" + +"With my mother." + +"And Anne?--the queen chills not her young heart with cold grace?" + +"Nay, the queen dare not unleash her malice against Edward's will; +and, to do him justice, he hath shown all honour to Lord Warwick's +daughter." + +"He is a gallant prince, with all his faults," said the father, +heartily, "and we must bear with him, George; for verily he hath bound +men by a charm to love him. Stay thou and share my hasty repast, and +over the wine we will talk of thy views. Spare me now for a moment; I +have to prepare work eno' for a sleepless night. This Lincolnshire +rebellion promises much trouble. Lord Willoughby has joined it; more +than twenty thousand men are in arms. I have already sent to convene +the knights and barons on whom the king can best depend, and must urge +their instant departure for their halls, to raise men and meet the +foe. While Edward feasts, his minister must toil. Tarry a while till +I return." The earl re-entered the hall, and beckoned to Marmaduke, +who stood amongst a group of squires. + +"Follow me; I may have work for thee." Warwick took a taper from one +of the servitors, and led the way to his own more private apartment. +On the landing of the staircase, by a small door, stood his body- +squire--"Is the prisoner within?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Good!"--The earl opened the door by which the squire had mounted +guard, and bade Marmaduke wait without. + +The inmate of the chamber, whose dress bore the stains of fresh travel +and hard riding, lifted his face hastily as the earl entered. + +"Robin Hilyard," said Warwick, "I have mused much how to reconcile my +service to the king with the gratitude I owe to a man who saved me +from great danger. In the midst of thy unhappy and rebellious designs +thou wert captured and brought to me; the papers found on thee attest +a Lancastrian revolt, so ripening towards a mighty gathering, and so +formidable from the adherents whom the gold and intrigues of King +Louis have persuaded to risk land and life for the Red Rose, that all +the king's friends can do to save his throne is now needed. In this +revolt thou hast been the scheming brain, the master hand, the match +to the bombard, the fire brand to the flax. Thou smilest, man! Alas! +seest thou not that it is my stern duty to send thee bound hand and +foot before the king's council, for the brake to wring from thee thy +guilty secrets, and the gibbet to close thy days?" + +"I am prepared," said Hilyard; "when the bombard explodes, the match +has become useless; when the flame smites the welkin, the firebrand is +consumed!" + +"Bold man! what seest thou in this rebellion that can profit thee?" + +"I see, looming through the chasms and rents made in the feudal order +by civil war, the giant image of a free people." + +"And thou wouldst be a martyr for the multitude, who deserted thee at +Olney?" + +"As thou for the king who dishonoured thee at Shene!" + +Warwick frowned, and there was a moment's pause; at last, said the +earl: "Look you, Robin, I would fain not have on my hands the blood of +a man who saved my life. I believe thee, though a fanatic and half +madman,--I believe thee true in word as rash of deed. Swear to me on +the cross of this dagger that thou wilt lay aside all scheme and plot +for this rebellion, all aid and share in civil broil and dissension, +and thy life and liberty are restored to thee. In that intent, I have +summoned my own kinsman, Marmaduke Nevile. He waits without the door; +he shall conduct thee safely to the seashore; thou shalt gain in peace +my government of Calais, and my seneschal there shall find thee all +thou canst need,--meat for thy hunger and moneys for thy pastime. +Accept my mercy, take the oath, and begone." + +"My lord," answered Hilyard, much touched and affected, "blame not +thyself if this carcass feed the crows--my blood be on mine own head! +I cannot take this oath; I cannot live in peace; strife and broil are +grown to me food and drink. Oh, my lord! thou knowest not what dark +and baleful memories made me an agent in God's hand against this +ruthless Edward!" and then passionately, with whitening lips and +convulsive features, Hilyard recounted to the startled Warwick the +same tale which had roused the sympathy of Adam Warner. + +The earl, whose affections were so essentially homely and domestic, +was even more shocked than the scholar by the fearful narrative. + +"Unhappy man!" he said with moistened eyes, "from the core of my heart +I pity thee. But thou, the scathed sufferer from civil war, wilt thou +be now its dread reviver?" + +"If Edward had wronged thee, great earl, as me, poor franklin, what +would be thine answer? In vain moralize to him whom the spectre of a +murdered child and the shriek of a maniac wife haunt and hound on to +vengeance! So send me to rack and halter. Be there one curse more on +the soul of Edward!" + +"Thou shalt not die through my witness," said the earl, abruptly; and +he quitted the chamber. + +Securing the door by a heavy bolt on the outside, he gave orders to +his squire to attend to the comforts of the prisoner; and then turning +into his closet with Marmaduke, said: "I sent for thee, young cousin, +with design to commit to thy charge one whose absence from England I +deemed needful--that design I must abandon. Go back to the palace, +and see, if thou canst, the king before he sleeps; say that this +rising in Lincolnshire is more than a riot,--it is the first burst of +a revolution! that I hold council here to-night, and every shire, ere +the morrow, shall have its appointed captain. I will see the king at +morning. Yet stay--gain sight of my child Anne; she will leave the +court to-morrow. I will come for her; bid her train be prepared; she +and the countess must away to Calais,--England again hath ceased to be +a home for women! What to do with this poor rebel?" muttered the +earl, when alone; "release him I cannot; slay him I will not. Hum, +there is space enough in these walls to inclose a captive." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE FEAR AND THE FLIGHT. + +King Edward feasted high, and Sibyll sat in her father's chamber,--she +silent with thought of love, Adam silent in the toils of science. The +Eureka was well-nigh finished, rising from its ruins more perfect, +more elaborate, than before. Maiden and scholar, each seeming near to +the cherished goal,--one to love's genial altar, the other to fame's +lonely shrine. + +Evening advanced, night began, night deepened. King Edward's feast +was over, but still in his perfumed chamber the wine sparkled in the +golden cup. It was announced to him that Sir Marmaduke Nevile, just +arrived from the earl's house, craved an audience. The king, pre- +occupied in deep revery, impatiently postponed it till the morrow. + +"To-morrow," said the gentleman in attendance, "Sir Marmaduke bids me +say, fearful that the late hour would forbid his audience, that Lord +Warwick himself will visit your Grace. I fear, sire, that the +disturbances are great indeed, for the squires and gentlemen in Lady +Anne's train have orders to accompany her to Calais to-morrow." + +"To-morrow, to-morrow!" repeated the king--"well, sir, you are +dismissed." + +The Lady Anne (to whom Sibyll had previously communicated the king's +kindly consideration for Master Warner) had just seen Marmaduke, and +learned the new dangers that awaited the throne and the realm. The +Lancastrians were then openly in arms for the prince of her love, and +against her mighty father! + +The Lady Anne sat a while, sorrowful and musing, and then, before yon +crucifix, the Lady Anne knelt in prayer. Sir Marmaduke Nevile +descends to the court below, and some three or four busy, curious +gentlemen, not yet a-bed, seize him by the arm, and pray him to say +what storm is in the wind. + +The night deepened still. The wine is drained in King Edward's +goblet; King Edward has left his chamber; and Sibyll, entreating her +father, but in vain, to suspend his toil, has kissed the damps from +his brow, and is about to retire to her neighbouring room. She has +turned to the threshold, when, hark! a faint--a distant cry, a woman's +shriek, the noise of a clapping door! The voice--it is the voice of +Anne! Sibyll passed the threshold, she is in the corridor; the winter +moon shines through the open arches, the air is white and cold with +frost. Suddenly the door at the farther end is thrown wide open, a +form rushes into the corridor, it passes Sibyll, halts, turns round. +"Oh, Sibyll!" cried the Lady Anne, in a voice wild with horror, "save +me--aid--help! Merciful Heaven, the king!" + +Instinctively, wonderingly, tremblingly, Sibyll drew Anne into the +chamber she had just quitted, and as they gained its shelter, as Anne +sank upon the floor, the gleam of cloth-of-gold flashed through the +dim atmosphere, and Edward, yet in the royal robe in which he had +dazzled all the eyes at his kingly feast, stood within the chamber. +His countenance was agitated with passion, and its clear hues flushed +red with wine. At his entrance Anne sprang from the floor, and rushed +to Warner, who, in dumb bewilderment, had suspended his task, and +stood before the Eureka, from which steamed and rushed the dark, rapid +smoke, while round and round, labouring and groaning, rolled its fairy +wheels. [The gentle reader will doubtless bear in mind that Master +Warner's complicated model had but little resemblance to the models of +the steam-engine in our own day, and that it was usually connected +with other contrivances, for the better display of the principle it +was intended to illustrate.] + +"Sir," cried Anne, clinging to him convulsively, "you are a father; by +your child's soul, protect Lord Warwick's daughter!" + +Roused from his abstraction by this appeal, the poor scholar wound his +arm round the form thus clinging to him, and raising his head with +dignity, replied, "Thy name, youth, and sex protect thee!" + +"Unhand that lady, vile sorcerer," exclaimed the king, "I am her +protector. Come, Anne, sweet Anne, fair lady, thou mistakest,--come!" +he whispered. "Give not to these low natures matter for guesses that +do but shame thee. Let thy king and cousin lead thee back to thy +sweet rest." + +He sought, though gently, to loosen the arms that wound themselves +round the old man; but Anne, not heeding, not listening, distracted by +a terror that seemed to shake her whole frame and to threaten her very +reason, continued to cry out loudly upon her father's name,--her great +father, wakeful, then, for the baffled ravisher's tottering throne! + +Edward had still sufficient possession of his reason to be alarmed +lest some loiterer or sentry in the outer court might hear the cries +which his attempts to soothe but the more provoked. Grinding his +teeth, and losing patience, he said to Adam, "Thou knowest me, +friend,--I am thy king. Since the Lady Anne, in her bewilderment, +prefers thine aid to mine, help to bear her back to her apartment; and +thou, young mistress, lend thine arm. This wizard's den is no fit +chamber for our high-born guest." + +"No, no; drive me not hence, Master Warner--that man--that king--give +me not up to his--his--" + +"Beware!" exclaimed the king. + +It was not till now that Adam's simple mind comprehended the true +cause of Anne's alarm, which Sibyll still conjectured not, but stood +trembling by her friend's side, and close to her father. + +"Do not fear, maiden;" said Adam Warner, laying his hand upon the +loosened locks that swept over his bosom, "for though I am old and +feeble, God and his angels are in every spot where virtue trembles and +resists. My lord king, thy sceptre extends not over a human soul!" + +"Dotard, prate not to me!" said Edward, laying his hand on his dagger. +Sibyll saw the movement, and instinctively placed herself between her +father and the king. That slight form, those pure, steadfast eyes, +those features, noble at once and delicate, recalled to Edward the awe +which had seized him in his first dark design; and again that awe came +over him. He retreated. + +"I mean harm to none," said he, almost submissively; "and if I am so +unhappy as to scare with my presence the Lady Anne, I will retire, +praying you, donzell, to see to her state, and lead her back to her +chamber when it so pleases herself. Saying this much, I command you, +old man, and you, maiden, to stand back while I but address one +sentence to the Lady Anne." + +With these words he gently advanced to Anne, and took her hand; but, +snatching it from him, the poor lady broke from Adam, rushed to the +casement, opened it, and seeing some figures indistinct and distant in +the court below, she called out in a voice of such sharp agony that it +struck remorse and even terror into Edward's soul. + +"Alas!" he muttered, "she will not listen to me! her mind is +distraught! What frenzy has been mine! Pardon--pardon, Anne,--oh, +pardon!" + +Adam Warner laid his hand on the king's arm, and he drew the imperious +despot away as easily as a nurse leads a docile child. + +"King!" said the brave old man, "may God pardon thee; for if the last +evil hath been wrought upon this noble lady, David sinned not more +heavily than thou." + +"She is pure, inviolate,--I swear it!" said the king, humbly. "Anne, +only say that I am forgiven." + +But Anne spoke not: her eyes were fixed, her lips had fallen; she was +insensible as a corpse,--dumb and frozen with her ineffable dread. +Suddenly steps were heard upon the stairs; the door opened, and +Marmaduke Nevile entered abruptly. + +"Surely I heard my lady's voice,--surely! What marvel this?--the +king! Pardon, my liege!" and he bent his knee. + +The sight of Marmaduke dissolved the spell of awe and repentant +humiliation which had chained a king's dauntless heart. His wonted +guile returned to him with his self-possession. + +"Our wise craftsman's strange and weird invention"--and Edward pointed +to the Eureka--"has scared our fair cousin's senses, as, by sweet +Saint George, it well might! Go back, Sir Marmaduke, we will leave +Lady Anne for the moment to the care of Mistress Sibyll. Donzell, +remember my command. Come, sir"--(and he drew the wondering Marmaduke +from the chamber); but as soon as he had seen the knight descend the +stairs and regain the court, he returned to the room, and in a low, +stern voice, said, "Look you, Master Warner, and you, damsel, if ever +either of ye breathe one word of what has been your dangerous fate to +hear and witness, kings have but one way to punish slanderers, and +silence but one safeguard!--trifle not with death!" + +He then closed the door, and resought his own chamber. The Eastern +spices, which were burned in the sleeping-rooms of the great, still +made the air heavy with their feverish fragrance. The king seated +himself, and strove to recollect his thoughts, and examine the peril +he had provoked. The resistance and the terror of Anne had +effectually banished from his heart the guilty passion it had before +harboured; for emotions like his, and in such a nature, are quick of +change. His prevailing feeling was one of sharp repentance and +reproachful shame. But as he roused himself from a state of mind +which light characters ever seek to escape, the image of the dark- +browed earl rose before him, and fear succeeded to mortification; but +even this, however well-founded, could not endure long in a +disposition so essentially scornful of all danger. Before morning the +senses of Anne must return to her. So gentle a bosom could be surely +reasoned out of resentment, or daunted, at least, from betraying to +her stern father a secret that, if told, would smear the sward of +England with the gore of thousands. What woman will provoke war and +bloodshed? And for an evil not wrought, for a purpose not fulfilled? +The king was grateful that his victim had escaped him. He would see +Anne before the earl could, and appease her anger, obtain her silence! +For Warner and for Sibyll, they would not dare to reveal; and, if they +did, the lips that accuse a king soon belie themselves, while a rack +can torture truth, and the doomsman be the only judge between the +subject and the head that wears a crown. + +Thus reasoning with himself, his soul faced the solitude. Meanwhile +Marmaduke regained the courtyard, where, as we have said, he had been +detained in conferring with some of the gentlemen in the king's +service, who, hearing that he brought important tidings from the earl, +had abstained from rest till they could learn if the progress of the +new rebellion would bring their swords into immediate service. +Marmaduke, pleased to be of importance, had willingly satisfied their +curiosity, as far as he was able, and was just about to retire to his +own chamber, when the cry of Anne had made him enter the postern-door +which led up the stairs to Adam's apartment, and which was fortunately +not locked; and now, on returning, he had again a new curiosity to +allay. Having briefly said that Master Warner had taken that untoward +hour to frighten the women with a machine that vomited smoke and +howled piteously, Marmaduke dismissed the group to their beds, and was +about to seek his own, when, looking once more towards the casement, +he saw a white hand gleaming in the frosty moonlight, and beckoning to +him. + +The knight crossed himself, and reluctantly ascended the stairs, and +re-entered the wizard's den. + +The Lady Anne had so far recovered herself, that a kind of unnatural +calm had taken possession of her mind, and changed her ordinary sweet +and tractable nature into one stern, obstinate resolution,--to escape, +if possible, that unholy palace. And as soon as Marmaduke re-entered, +Anne met him at the threshold, and laying her hand convulsively on his +arm, said, "By the name you bear, by your love to my father, aid me to +quit these walls." + +In great astonishment, Marmaduke stared, without reply. "Do you deny +me, sir?" said Anne, almost sternly. + +"Lady and mistress mine," answered Marmaduke, "I am your servant in +all things. Quit these walls, the palace!--How?--the gates are +closed. Nay, and what would my lord say, if at night--" + +"If at night!" repeated Anne, in a hollow voice; and then pausing, +burst into a terrible laugh. Recovering herself abruptly, she moved +to the door, "I will go forth alone, and trust in God and Our Lady." + +Sibyll sprang forward to arrest her steps, and Marmaduke hastened to +Adam, and whispered, "Poor lady, is her mind unsettled? Hast thou, in +truth, distracted her with thy spells and glamour?" + +"Hush!" answered the old man; and he whispered in Nevile's ear. + +Scarcely had the knight caught the words, than his cheek paled, his +eyes flashed fire. "The great earl's daughter!" he exclaimed. +"Infamy--horror--she is right!" He broke from the student, approached +Anne, who still struggled with Sibyll, and kneeling before her, said, +in a voice choked with passions at once fierce and tender,-- + +"Lady, you are right. Unseemly it may be for one of your quality and +sex to quit this place with me, and alone; but at least I have a man's +heart, a knight's honour. Trust to me your safety, noble maiden, and +I will cut your way, even through yon foul king's heart, to your great +father's side!" + +Anne did not seem quite to understand his words; but she smiled on him +as he knelt, and gave him her hand. The responsibility he had assumed +quickened all the intellect of the young knight. As he took and +kissed the hand extended to him, he felt the ring upon his finger,-- +the ring intrusted to him by Alwyn, the king's signet-ring, before +which would fly open every gate. He uttered a joyous exclamation, +loosened his long night-cloak, and praying Anne to envelop her form in +its folds, drew the hood over her head; he was about to lead her forth +when he halted suddenly. + +"Alack," said he, turning to Sibyll, "even though we may escape the +Tower, no boatman now can be found on the river. The way through the +streets is dark and perilous, and beset with midnight ruffians." + +"Verily," said Warner, "the danger is past now. Let the noble +demoiselle rest here till morning. The king dare not again--" + +"Dare not!" interrupted Marmaduke. "Alas! you little know King +Edward." + +At that name Anne shuddered, opened the door, and hurried down the +stairs; Sibyll and Marmaduke followed her. + +"Listen, Sir Marmaduke," said Sibyll. "Close without the Tower is the +house of a noble lady, the dame of Longueville, where Anne may rest in +safety, while you seek Lord Warwick. I will go with you, if you can +obtain egress for us both." + +"Brave damsel!" said Marmaduke, with emotion; "but your own safety-- +the king's anger--no--besides a third, your dress not concealed, would +create the warder's suspicion. Describe the house." + +"The third to the left, by the river's side, with an arched porch, and +the fleur-de-lis embossed on the walls." + +"It is not so dark but we shall find it. Fare you well, gentle +mistress." + +While they yet spoke, they had both reached the side of Anne. Sibyll +still persisted in the wish to accompany her friend; but Marmaduke's +representation of the peril to life itself that might befall her +father, if Edward learned she had abetted Anne's escape, finally +prevailed. The knight and his charge gained the outer gate. + +"Haste, haste, Master Warder!" he cried, beating at the door with his +dagger till it opened jealously,--"messages of importance to the Lord +Warwick. We have the king's signet. Open!" + +The sleepy warder glanced at the ring; the gates were opened; they +were without the fortress, they hurried on. "Cheer up, noble lady; +you are safe, you shall be avenged!" said Marmaduke, as he felt the +steps of his companion falter. But the reaction had come. The effort +Anne had hitherto made was for escape, for liberty; the strength +ceased, the object gained; her head drooped, she muttered a few +incoherent words, and then sense and life left her. Marmaduke paused +in great perplexity and alarm. But lo, a light in a house before him! +That house the third to the river,--the only one with the arched porch +described by Sibyll. He lifted the light and holy burden in his +strong arms, he gained the door; to his astonishment it was open; a +light burned on the stairs; he heard, in the upper room, the sound of +whispered voices, and quick, soft footsteps hurrying to and fro. +Still bearing the insensible form of his companion, he ascended the +staircase, and entered at once upon a chamber, in which, by a dim +lamp, he saw some two or three persons assembled round a bed in the +recess. A grave man advanced to him, as he paused at the threshold. + +"Whom seek you?" + +"The Lady Longueville." + +"Hush?" + +"Who needs me?" said a faint voice, from the curtained recess. + +"My name is Nevile," answered Marmaduke, with straightforward brevity. +"Mistress Sibyll Warner told me of this house, where I come for an +hour's shelter to my companion, the Lady Anne, daughter of the Earl of +Warwick." + +Marmaduke resigned his charge to an old woman, who was the nurse in +that sick-chamber, and who lifted the hood and chafed the pale, cold +hands of the young maiden; the knight then strode to the recess. The +Lady of Longueville was on the bed of death--an illness of two days +had brought her to the brink of the grave; but there was in her eye +and countenance a restless and preternatural animation, and her voice +was clear and shrill, as she said,-- + +"Why does the daughter of Warwick, the Yorkist, seek refuge in the +house of the fallen and childless Lancastrian?" + +"Swear by thy hopes in Christ that thou will tend and guard her while +I seek the earl, and I reply." + +"Stranger, my name is Longueville, my birth noble,--those pledges of +hospitality and trust are stronger than hollow oaths. Say on!" + +"Because, then," whispered the knight, after waving the bystanders +from the spot, "because the earl's daughter flies dishonour in a +king's palace, and her insulter is the king!" + +Before the dying woman could reply, Anne, recovered by the cares of +the experienced nurse, suddenly sprang to the recess, and kneeling by +the bedside, exclaimed wildly,--"Save me! bide me! save me!" + +"Go and seek the earl, whose right hand destroyed my house and his +lawful sovereign's throne,--go! I will live till he arrives!" said +the childless widow, and a wild gleam of triumph shot over her haggard +features. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE GROUP ROUND THE DEATH-BED OF THE LANCASTRIAN WIDOW. + +The dawning sun gleamed through gray clouds upon a small troop of men, +armed in haste, who were grouped round a covered litter by the outer +door of the Lady Longueville's house; while in the death-chamber, the +Earl of Warwick, with a face as pale as the dying woman's, stood +beside the bed, Anne calmly leaning on his breast, her eyes closed, +and tears yet moist on her long fringes. + +"Ay, ay, ay!" said the Lancastrian noblewoman, "ye men of wrath and +turbulence should reap what ye have sown! This is the king for whom +ye dethroned the sainted Henry! this the man for whom ye poured forth +the blood of England's best! Ha! ha! Look down from heaven, my +husband, my martyr-sons! The daughter of your mightiest foe flies to +this lonely hearth,--flies to the death-bed of the powerless woman for +refuge from the foul usurper whom that foe placed upon the throne!" + +"Spare me," muttered Warwick, in a low voice, and between his grinded +teeth. The room had been cleared, and Dr. Godard (the grave man who +had first accosted Marmaduke, and who was the priest summoned to the +dying) alone--save the scarce conscious Anne herself--witnessed the +ghastly and awful conference. + +"Hush, daughter," said the man of peace, lifting the solemn crucifix, +--"calm thyself to holier thoughts." + +The lady impatiently turned from the priest, and grasping the strong +right arm of Warwick with her shrivelled and trembling fingers, +resumed in a voice that struggled to repress the gasps which broke its +breath,-- + +"But thou--oh, thou wilt bear this indignity! thou, the chief of +England's barons, wilt see no dishonour in the rank love of the vilest +of England's kings! Oh, yes, ye Yorkists have the hearts of varlets, +not of men and fathers!" + +"By the symbol from which thou turnest, woman!" exclaimed the earl, +giving vent to the fury which the presence of death had before +suppressed, "by Him to whom, morning and night, I have knelt in +grateful blessing for the virtuous life of this beloved child, I will +have such revenge on the recreant whom I kinged, as shall live in the +rolls of England till the trump of the Judgment Angel!" + +"Father," said Anne, startled by her father's vehemence from her half- +swoon, half-sleep--"Father, think no more of the past,--take me to my +mother! I want the clasp of my mother's arms!" + +"Leave us,--leave the dying, Sir Earl and son," said Godard. "I too +am Lancastrian; I too would lay down my life for the holy Henry; but I +shudder, in the hour of death, to hear yon pale lips, that should pray +for pardon, preach to thee of revenge." + +"Revenge!" shrieked out the dame of Longueville, as, sinking fast and +fast, she caught the word--"revenge! Thou hast sworn revenge on +Edward of York, Lord Warwick,--sworn it in the chamber of death, in +the ear of one who will carry that word to the hero-dead of a hundred +battlefields! Ha! the sun has risen! Priest--Godard--thine arms-- +support--raise--bear me to the casement! Quick--quick! I would see +my king once more! Quick--quick! and then--then--I will hear thee +pray!" + +The priest, half chiding, yet half in pity, bore the dying woman to +the casement. She motioned to him to open it; he obeyed. The sun, +just above the welkin, shone over the lordly Thames, gilded the gloomy +fortress of the Tower, and glittered upon the window of Henry's +prison. + +"There--there! It is he,--it is my king! Hither,--lord, rebel earl, +--hither. Behold your sovereign. Repent, revenge!" + +With her livid and outstretched hand, the Lancastrian pointed to the +huge Wakefield tower. The earl's dark eye beheld in the dim distance +a pale and reverend countenance, recognized even from afar. The dying +woman fixed her glazing eyes upon the wronged and mighty baron, and +suddenly her arm fell to her side, the face became set as into stone, +the last breath of life gurgled within, and fled; and still those +glazing eyes were fixed on the earl's hueless face, and still in his +ear, and echoed by a thousand passions in his heart, thrilled the word +which had superseded prayer, and in which the sinner's soul had +flown,--REVENGE! + + + + + +BOOK IX. + +THE WANDERERS AND THE EXILES. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +HOW THE GREAT BARON BECOMES AS GREAT A REBEL. + +Hilyard was yet asleep in the chamber assigned to him as his prison, +when a rough grasp shook off his slumbers, and he saw the earl before +him, with a countenance so changed from its usual open majesty, so +dark and sombre, that he said involuntarily, "You send me to the +doomsman,--I am ready!" + +"Hist, man! Thou hatest Edward of York?" + +"An it were my last word, yes!" + +"Give me thy hand--we are friends! Stare not at me with those eyes of +wonder, ask not the why nor wherefore! This last night gave Edward a +rebel more in Richard Nevile! A steed waits thee at my gates; ride +fast to young Sir Robert Welles with this letter. Bid him not be +dismayed; bid him hold out, for ere many days are past, Lord Warwick, +and it may be also the Duke of Clarence, will join their force with +his. Mark, I say not that I am for Henry of Lancaster,--I say only +that I am against Edward of York. Farewell, and when we meet again, +blessed be the arm that first cuts its way to a tyrant's heart!" + +Without another word, Warwick left the chamber. Hilyard at first +could not believe his senses; but as he dressed himself in haste, he +pondered over all those causes of dissension which had long +notoriously subsisted between Edward and the earl, and rejoiced that +the prophecy that he had long so shrewdly hazarded was at last +fulfilled. Descending the stairs he gained the gate, where Marmaduke +awaited him, while a groom held a stout haquenee (as the common +riding-horse was then called), whose points and breeding promised +speed and endurance. + +"Mount, Master Robin," said Marmaduke; "I little thought we should +ever ride as friends together! Mount!--our way for some miles out of +London is the same. You go into Lincolnshire, I into the shire of +Hertford." + +"And for the same purpose?" asked Hilyard, as he sprang upon his +horse, and the two men rode briskly on. + +"Yes!" + +"Lord Warwick is changed at last?" + +"At last!" + +"For long?" + +"Till death!" + +"Good, I ask no more!" + +A sound of hoofs behind made the franklin turn his head, and he saw a +goodly troop, armed to the teeth, emerge from the earl's house and +follow the lead of Marmaduke. Meanwhile Warwick was closeted with +Montagu. + +Worldly as the latter was, and personally attached to Edward, he was +still keenly alive to all that touched the honour of his House; and +his indignation at the deadly insult offered to his niece was even +more loudly expressed than that of the fiery earl. + +"To deem," he exclaimed, "to deem Elizabeth Woodville worthy of his +throne, and to see in Anne Nevile the only worthy to be his leman!" + +"Ay!" said the earl, with a calmness perfectly terrible, from its +unnatural contrast to his ordinary heat, when but slightly chafed, +"ay! thou sayest it! But be tranquil; cold,--cold as iron, and as +hard! We must scheme now, not storm and threaten--I never schemed +before! You are right,--honesty is a fool's policy! Would I had +known this but an hour before the news reached me! I have already +dismissed our friends to their different districts, to support King +Edward's cause--he is still king,--a little while longer king! Last +night, I dismissed them--last night, at the very hour when--O God, +give me patience!" He paused, and added in a low voice, "Yet--yet-- +how long the moments are how long! Ere the sun sets, Edward, I trust, +will be in my power!" + +"How?" + +"He goes, to-day, to the More,--he will not go the less for what hath +chanced; he will trust to the archbishop to make his peace with me,-- +churchmen are not fathers! Marmaduke Nevile hath my orders; a hundred +armed men, who would march against the fiend himself, if I said the +word, will surround the More, and seize the guest!" + +"But what then? Who, if Edward, I dare not say the word--who is to +succeed him?" + +"Clarence is the male heir." + +"But with what face to the people proclaim--" + +"There--there it is!" interrupted Warwick. "I have thought of that,-- +I have thought of all things; my mind seems to have traversed worlds +since daybreak! True! all commotion to be successful must have a +cause that men can understand. Nevertheless, you, Montagu--you have a +smoother tongue than I; go to our friends--to those who hate Edward-- +seek them, sound them!" + +"And name to them Edward's infamy?" + +"'S death, dost thou think it? Thou, a Monthermer and Montagu: +proclaim to England the foul insult to the hearth of an English +gentleman and peer! feed every ribald Bourdour with song and roundel +of Anne's virgin shame! how King Edward stole to her room at the dead +of night, and wooed and pressed, and swore, and--God of Heaven, that +this hand were on his throat! No, brother, no! there are some wrongs +we may not tell,--tumours and swellings of the heart which are eased +not till blood can flow!" + +During this conference between the brothers, Edward, in his palace, +was seized with consternation and dismay on hearing that the Lady Anne +could not be found in her chamber. He sent forthwith to summon Adam +Warner to his presence, and learned from the simple sage, who +concealed nothing, the mode in which Anne had fled from the Tower. +The king abruptly dismissed Adam, after a few hearty curses and vague +threats; and awaking to the necessity of inventing some plausible +story, to account to the wonder of the court for the abrupt +disappearance of his guest, he saw that the person who could best +originate and circulate such a tale was the queen; and he sought her +at once, with the resolution to choose his confidant in the connection +most rarely honoured by marital trust in similar offences. He, +however, so softened his narrative as to leave it but a venial error. +He had been indulging over-freely in the wine-cup, he had walked into +the corridor for the refreshing coolness of the air, he had seen the +figure of a female whom he did not recognize; and a few gallant words, +he scarce remembered what, had been misconstrued. On perceiving whom +he had thus addressed, he had sought to soothe the anger or alarm of +the Lady Anne; but still mistaking his intention, she had hurried into +Warner's chamber; he had followed her thither, and now she had fled +the palace. Such was his story, told lightly and laughingly, but +ending with a grave enumeration of the dangers his imprudence had +incurred. + +Whatever Elizabeth felt, or however she might interpret the +confession, she acted with her customary discretion; affected, after a +few tender reproaches, to place implicit credit in her lord's account, +and volunteered to prevent all scandal by the probable story that the +earl, being prevented from coming in person for his daughter, as he +had purposed, by fresh news of the rebellion which might call him from +London with the early day, had commissioned his kinsman Marmaduke to +escort her home. The quick perception of her sex told her that, +whatever license might have terrified Anne into so abrupt a flight, +the haughty earl would shrink no less than Edward himself from making +public an insult which slander could well distort into the dishonour +of his daughter; and that whatever pretext might be invented, Warwick +would not deign to contradict it. And as, despite Elizabeth's hatred +to the earl, and desire of permanent breach between Edward and his +minister, she could not, as queen, wife, and woman, but be anxious +that some cause more honourable in Edward, and less odious to the +people, should be assigned for quarrel, she earnestly recommended the +king to repair at once to the More, as had been before arranged, and +to spare no pains, disdain no expressions of penitence and +humiliation, to secure the mediation of the archbishop. His mind +somewhat relieved by this interview and counsel, the king kissed +Elizabeth with affectionate gratitude, and returned to his chamber to +prepare for his departure to the archbishop's palace. But then, +remembering that Adam and Sibyll possessed his secret, he resolved at +once to banish them from the Tower. For a moment he thought of the +dungeons of his fortress, of the rope of his doomsman; but his +conscience at that hour was sore and vexed. His fierceness humbled by +the sense of shame, he shrank from a new crime; and, moreover, his +strong common-sense assured him that the testimony of a shunned and +abhorred wizard ceased to be of weight the moment it was deprived of +the influence it took from the protection of a king. He gave orders +for a boat to be in readiness by the gate of St. Thomas, again +summoned Adam into his presence, and said briefly, "Master Warner, the +London mechanics cry so loudly against thine invention for lessening +labour and starving the poor, the sailors on the wharfs are so +mutinous at the thought of vessels without rowers, that, as a good +king is bound, I yield to the voice of my people. Go home, then, at +once; the queen dispenses with thy fair daughter's service, the damsel +accompanies thee. A boat awaits ye at the stairs; a guard shall +attend ye to your house. Think what has passed within these walls has +been a dream,--a dream that, if told, is deathful, if concealed and +forgotten hath no portent!" + +Without waiting a reply, the king called from the anteroom one of his +gentlemen, and gave him special directions as to the departure and +conduct of the worthy scholar and his gentle daughter. Edward next +summoned before him the warder of the gate, learned that he alone was +privy to the mode of his guest's flight, and deeming it best to leave +at large no commentator on the tale he had invented, sentenced the +astonished warder to three months' solitary imprisonment,--for +appearing before him with soiled hosen! An hour afterwards, the king, +with a small though gorgeous retinue, was on his way to the More. + +The archbishop had, according to his engagement, assembled in his +palace the more powerful of the discontented seigneurs; and his +eloquence had so worked upon them, that Edward beheld, on entering the +hall, only countenances of cheerful loyalty and respectful welcome. +After the first greetings, the prelate, according to the custom of the +day, conducted Edward into a chamber, that he might refresh himself +with a brief rest and the bath, previous to the banquet. + +Edward seized the occasion, and told his tale; but however softened, +enough was left to create the liveliest dismay in his listener. The +lofty scaffolding of hope upon which the ambitious prelate was to +mount to the papal throne seemed to crumble into the dust. The king +and the earl were equally necessary to the schemes of George Nevile. +He chid the royal layman with more than priestly unction for his +offence; but Edward so humbly confessed his fault, that the prelate at +length relaxed his brow, and promised to convey his penitent +assurances to the earl. + +"Not an hour should be lost," he said; the only one who can soothe his +wrath is your Highness's mother, our noble kinswoman. Permit me to +despatch to her grace a letter, praying her to seek the earl, while I +write by the same courier to himself." + +"Be it all as you will," said Edward, doffing his surcoat, and dipping +his hands in a perfumed ewer; "I shall not know rest till I have knelt +to the Lady Anne, and won her pardon." + +The prelate retired, and scarcely had he left the room when Sir John +Ratcliffe, [Afterwards Lord Fitzwalter. See Lingard (note, vol. iii. +p. 507, quarto edition), for the proper date to be assigned to this +royal visit to the More,--a date we have here adopted, not, as Sharon +Turner and others place (namely, upon the authority of Hearne's +Fragm., 302, which subsequent events disprove), after the open +rebellion of Warwick, but just before it; that is, not after Easter, +but before Lent.] one of the king's retinue, and in waiting on his +person, entered the chamber, pale and trembling. + +"My liege," he said, in a whisper, "I fear some deadly treason awaits +you. I have seen, amongst the trees below this tower, the gleam of +steel; I have crept through the foliage, and counted no less than a +hundred armed men,--their leader is Sir Marmaduke Nevile, Earl +Warwick's kinsman!" + +"Ha!" muttered the king, and his bold face fell, "comes the earl's +revenge so soon?" + +"And," continued Ratcliffe, "I overheard Sir Marmaduke say, 'The door +of the Garden Tower is unguarded,--wait the signal!' Fly, my liege! +Hark! even now I hear the rattling of arms!" + +The king stole to the casement; the day was closing; the foliage grew +thick and dark around the wall; he saw an armed man emerge from the +shade,--a second, and a third. + +"You are right, Ratcliffe! Flight--but how?" + +"This way, my liege. By the passage I entered, a stair winds to a +door on the inner court; there I have already a steed in waiting. +Deign, for precaution, to use my hat and manteline." + +The king hastily adopted the suggestion, followed the noiseless steps +of Ratcliffe, gained the door, sprang upon his steed, and dashing +right through a crowd assembled by the gate, galloped alone and fast, +untracked by human enemy, but goaded by the foe that mounts the +rider's steed, over field, over fell, over dyke, through hedge, and in +the dead of night reined in at last before the royal towers of +Windsor. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +MANY THINGS BRIEFLY TOLD. + +The events that followed the king's escape were rapid and startling. +The barons assembled at the More, enraged at Edward's seeming distrust +of them, separated in loud anger. The archbishop learned the cause +from one of his servitors, who detected Marmaduke's ambush, but he was +too wary to make known a circumstance suspicious to himself. He flew +to London, and engaged the mediation of the Duchess of York to assist +his own. [Lingard. See for the dates, Fabyan, 657.] + +The earl received their joint overtures with stern and ominous +coldness, and abruptly repaired to Warwick, taking with him the Lady +Anne. There he was joined, the same day, by the Duke and Duchess of +Clarence. + +The Lincolnshire rebellion gained head: Edward made a dexterous feint +in calling, by public commission, upon Clarence and Warwick to aid in +dispersing it; if they refused, the odium of first aggression would +seemingly rest with them. Clarence, more induced by personal ambition +than sympathy with Warwick's wrong, incensed by his brother's recent +slights, looking to Edward's resignation and his own consequent +accession to the throne, and inflamed by the ambition and pride of a +wife whom he at once feared and idolized, went hand in heart with the +earl; but not one lord and captain whom Montagu had sounded lent +favour to the deposition of one brother for the advancement of the +next. Clarence, though popular, was too young to be respected: many +there were who would rather have supported the earl, if an aspirant to +the throne; but that choice forbidden by the earl himself, there could +be but two parties in England,--the one for Edward IV., the other for +Henry VI. + +Lord Montagu had repaired to Warwick Castle to communicate in person +this result of his diplomacy. The earl, whose manner was completely +changed, no longer frank and hearty, but close and sinister, listened +in gloomy silence. + +"And now," said Montagu, with the generous emotion of a man whose +nobler nature was stirred deeply, "if you resolve on war with Edward, +I am willing to renounce my own ambition, the hand of a king's +daughter for my son, so that I may avenge the honour of our common +name. I confess that I have so loved Edward that I would fain pray +you to pause, did I not distrust myself, lest in such delay his craft +should charm me back to the old affection. Nathless, to your arm and +your great soul I have owed all, and if you are resolved to strike the +blow, I am ready to share the hazard." + +The earl turned away his face, and wrung his brother's hand. + +"Our father, methinks, hears thee from the grave!" said he, solemnly, +and there was a long pause. At length Warwick resumed: "Return to +London; seem to take no share in my actions, whatever they be; if I +fail, why drag thee into my ruin?--and yet, trust me, I am rash and +fierce no more. He who sets his heart on a great object suddenly +becomes wise. When a throne is in the dust, when from St. Paul's +Cross a voice goes forth to Carlisle and the Land's End, proclaiming +that the reign of Edward the Fourth is past and gone, then, Montagu, I +claim thy promise of aid and fellowship,--not before!" + +Meanwhile, the king, eager to dispel thought in action, rushed in +person against the rebellious forces. Stung by fear into cruelty, he +beheaded, against all kingly faith, his hostages, Lord Welles and Sir +Thomas Dymoke, summoned Sir Robert Welles, the leader of the revolt, +to surrender; received for answer, that Sir Robert Welles would not +trust the perfidy of the man who had murdered his father!--pushed on +to Erpingham, defeated the rebels in a signal battle, and crowned his +victory by a series of ruthless cruelties, committed to the fierce and +learned Earl of Worcester, "Butcher of England." [Stowe. "Warkworth +Chronicle"--Cont. Croyl. Lord Worcester ordered Clapham (a squire to +Lord Warwick) and nineteen others, gentlemen and yeomen, to be +impaled, and from the horror the spectacle inspired, and the universal +odium it attached to Worcester, it is to be feared that the unhappy +men were still sensible to the agony of this infliction, though they +appear first to have been drawn, and partially hanged,--outrage +confined only to the dead bodies of rebels being too common at that +day to have excited the indignation which attended the sentence +Worcester passed on his victims. It is in vain that some writers +would seek to cleanse the memory of this learned nobleman from the +stain of cruelty by rhetorical remarks on the improbability that a +cultivator of letters should be of a ruthless disposition. The +general philosophy of this defence is erroneous. In ignorant ages a +man of superior acquirements is not necessarily made humane by the +cultivation of his intellect, on the contrary, he too often learns to +look upon the uneducated herd as things of another clay. Of this +truth all history is pregnant,--witness the accomplished tyrants of +Greece, the profound and cruel intellect of the Italian Borgias. +Richard III. and Henry VIII. were both highly educated for their age. +But in the case of Tiptoft, Lord Worcester, the evidence of his +cruelty is no less incontestable than that which proves his learning-- +the Croyland historian alone is unimpeachable. Worcester's popular +name of "the Butcher" is sufficient testimony in itself. The people +are often mistaken, to be sure, but can scarcely be so upon the one +point, whether a man who has sat in judgment on themselves be merciful +or cruel.] + +With the prompt vigour and superb generalship which Edward ever +displayed in war, he then cut his gory way to the force which Clarence +and Warwick (though their hostility was still undeclared) had levied, +with the intent to join the defeated rebels. He sent his herald, +Garter King-at-arms, to summon the earl and the duke to appear before +him within a certain day. The time expired; he proclaimed them +traitors, and offered rewards for their apprehension. [One thousand +pounds in money, or one hundred pounds a year in land; an immense +reward for that day.] + +So sudden had been Warwick's defection, so rapid the king's movements, +that the earl had not time to mature his resources, assemble his +vassals, consolidate his schemes. His very preparations, upon the +night on which Edward had repaid his services by such hideous +ingratitude, had manned the country with armies against himself. Girt +but with a scanty force collected in haste (and which consisted merely +of his retainers in the single shire of Warwick), the march of Edward +cut him off from the counties in which his name was held most dear, in +which his trumpet could raise up hosts. He was disappointed in the +aid he had expected from his powerful but self-interested brother-in- +law, Lord Stanley. Revenge had become more dear to him than life: +life must not be hazarded, lest revenge be lost. On still marched the +king; and the day that his troops entered Exeter, Warwick, the females +of his family, with Clarence, and a small but armed retinue, took ship +from Dartmouth, sailed for Calais (before which town, while at anchor, +Isabel was confined of her first-born). To the earl's rage and dismay +his deputy Vauclerc fired upon his ships. Warwick then steered on +towards Normandy, captured some Flemish vessels by the way, in token +of defiance to the earl's old Burgundian foe, and landed at Harfleur, +where he and his companions were received with royal honours by the +Admiral of France, and finally took their way to the court of Louis +XI. at Amboise. + +"The danger is past forever!" said King Edward, as the wine sparkled +in his goblet. "Rebellion hath lost its head,--and now, indeed, and +for the first time, a monarch I reign alone!" [Before leaving +England, Warwick and Clarence are generally said to have fallen in +with Anthony Woodville and Lord Audley, and ordered them to execution, +from which they were saved by a Dorsetshire gentleman. Carte, who, +though his history is not without great mistakes, is well worth +reading by those whom the character of Lord Warwick may interest, +says, that the earl had "too much magnanimity to put them to death +immediately, according to the common practice of the times, and only +imprisoned them in the castle of Wardour, from whence they were soon +rescued by John Thornhill, a gentleman of Dorsetshire." The whole of +this story is, however, absolutely contradicted by the "Warkworth +Chronicle" (p. 9, edited by Mr. Halliwell), according to which +authority Anthony Woodville was at that time commanding a fleet upon +the Channel, which waylaid Warwick on his voyage; but the success +therein attributed to the gallant Anthony, in dispersing or seizing +all the earl's ships, save the one that bore the earl himself and his +family, is proved to be purely fabulous, by the earl's well-attested +capture of the Flemish vessels, as he passed from Calais to the coasts +of Normandy, an exploit he could never have performed with a single +vessel of his own. It is very probable that the story of Anthony +Woodville's capture and peril at this time originates in a +misadventure many years before, and recorded in the "Paston Letters," +as well as in the "Chronicles."--In the year 1459, Anthony Woodville +and his father, Lord Rivers (then zealous Lancastrians), really did +fall into the hands of the Earl of March (Edward IV.), Warwick and +Salisbury, and got off with a sound "rating" upon the rude language +which such "knaves' sons" and "little squires" had held to those "who +were of king's blood."] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PLOT OF THE HOSTELRY--THE MAID AND THE SCHOLAR IN THEIR HOME. + +The country was still disturbed, and the adherents, whether of Henry +or the earl, still rose in many an outbreak, though prevented from +swelling into one common army by the extraordinary vigour not only of +Edward, but of Gloucester and Hastings,--when one morning, just after +the events thus rapidly related, the hostelry of Master Sancroft, in +the suburban parish of Marybone, rejoiced in a motley crowd of +customers and topers. + +Some half-score soldiers, returned in triumph from the royal camp, sat +round a table placed agreeably enough in the deep recess made by the +large jutting lattice; with them were mingled about as many women, +strangely and gaudily clad. These last were all young; one or two, +indeed, little advanced from childhood. But there was no expression +of youth in their hard, sinister features: coarse paint supplied the +place of bloom; the very youngest had a wrinkle on her brow; their +forms wanted the round and supple grace of early years. Living +principally in the open air, trained from infancy to feats of +activity, their muscles were sharp and prominent, their aspects had +something of masculine audacity and rudeness; health itself seemed in +them more loathsome than disease. Upon those faces of bronze, vice +had set its ineffable, unmistaken seal. To those eyes never had +sprung the tears of compassion or woman's gentle sorrow; on those +brows never had flushed the glow of modest shame: their very voices +half belied their sex,--harsh and deep and hoarse, their laughter loud +and dissonant. Some amongst them were not destitute of a certain +beauty, but it was a beauty of feature with a common hideousness of +expression,--an expression at once cunning, bold, callous, licentious. +Womanless through the worst vices of woman, passionless through the +premature waste of passion, they stood between the sexes like foul and +monstrous anomalies, made up and fashioned from the rank depravities +of both. These creatures seemed to have newly arrived from some long +wayfaring; their shoes and the hems of their robes were covered with +dust and mire; their faces were heated, and the veins in their bare, +sinewy, sunburned arms were swollen by fatigue. Each had beside her +on the floor a timbrel, each wore at her girdle a long knife in its +sheath: well that the sheaths hid the blades, for not one--not even +that which yon cold-eyed child of fifteen wore--but had on its steel +the dark stain of human blood! + +The presence of soldiers fresh from the scene of action had naturally +brought into the hostelry several of the idle gossips of the suburb, +and these stood round the table, drinking into their large ears the +boasting narratives of the soldiers. At a small table, apart from the +revellers, but evidently listening with attention to all the news of +the hour, sat a friar, gravely discussing a mighty tankard of huffcap, +and ever and anon, as he lifted his head for the purpose of drinking, +glancing a wanton eye at one of the tymbesteres. + +"But an' you had seen," said a trooper, who was the mouthpiece of his +comrades--"an' you had seen the raptrils run when King Edward himself +led the charge! Marry, it was like a cat in a rabbit burrow! Easy to +see, I trow, that Earl Warwick was not amongst them! His men, at +least, fight like devils!" + +"But there was one tall fellow," said a soldier, setting down his +tankard, "who made a good fight and dour, and, but for me and my +comrades, would have cut his way to the king." + +"Ay, ay, true; we saved his highness, and ought to have been +knighted,--but there's no gratitude nowadays!" + +"And who was this doughty warrior?" asked one of the bystanders, who +secretly favoured the rebellion. + +"Why, it was said that he was Robin of Redesdale,--he who fought my +Lord Montagu off York." + +"Our Robin!" exclaimed several voices. "Ay, he was ever a brave +fellow--poor Robin!" + +"'Your Robin,' and 'poor Robin,' varlets!" cried the principal +trooper. "Have a care! What do ye mean by your Robin?" + +"Marry, sir soldier," quoth a butcher, scratching his head, and in a +humble voice, "craving your pardon and the king's, this Master Robin +sojourned a short time in this hamlet, and was a kind neighbour, and +mighty glib of the tongue. Don't ye mind, neighbours," he added +rapidly, eager to change the conversation, "how he made us leave off +when we were just about burning Adam Warner, the old nigromancer, in +his den yonder? Who else could have done that? But an' we had known +Robin had been a rebel to sweet King Edward, we'd have roasted him +along with the wizard!" + +One of the timbrel-girls, the leader of the choir, her arm round a +soldier's neck, looked up at the last speech, and her eye followed the +gesture of the butcher, as he pointed through the open lattice to the +sombre, ruinous abode of Adam Warner. + +"Was that the house ye would have burned?" she asked abruptly. + +"Yes; but Robin told us the king would hang those who took on them the +king's blessed privilege of burning nigromancers; and, sure enough, +old Adam Warner was advanced to be wizard-in-chief to the king's own +highness a week or two afterwards." + +The friar had made a slight movement at the name of Warner; he now +pushed his stool nearer to the principal group, and drew his hood +completely over his countenance. + +"Yea!" exclaimed the mechanic, whose son had been the innocent cause +of the memorable siege to poor Adam's dilapidated fortress, related in +the first book of this narrative"--yea; and what did he when there? +Did he not devise a horrible engine for the destruction of the poor,-- +an engine that was to do all the work in England by the devil's help? +--so that if a gentleman wanted a coat of mail, or a cloth tunic; if +his dame needed a Norwich worsted; if a yeoman lacked a plough or a +wagon, or his good wife a pot or a kettle; they were to go, not to the +armourer, and the draper, and the tailor, and the weaver, and the +wheelwright, and the blacksmith,--but, hey presto! Master Warner set +his imps a-churning, and turned ye out mail and tunic, worsted and +wagon, kettle and pot, spick and span new, from his brewage of vapour +and sea-coal. Oh, have I not heard enough of the sorcerer from my +brother, who works in the Chepe for Master Stokton, the mercer!--and +Master Stokton was one of the worshipful deputies to whom the old +nigromancer had the front to boast his devices." + +"It is true," said the friar, suddenly. + +"Yes, reverend father, it is true," said the mechanic, doffing his +cap, and inclining his swarthy face to this unexpected witness of his +veracity. A murmur of wrath and hatred was heard amongst the +bystanders. The soldiers indifferently turned to their female +companions. There was a brief silence; and, involuntarily, the +gossips stretched over the table to catch sight of the house of so +demoniac an oppressor of the poor. + +"See," said the baker, "the smoke still curls from the rooftop! I +heard he had come back. Old Madge, his handmaid, has bought cimnel- +cakes of me the last week or so; nothing less than the finest wheat +serves him now, I trow. However, right's right, and--" + +"Come back!" cried the fierce mechanic; "the owl hath kept close in +his roost! An' it were not for the king's favour, I would soon see +how the wizard liked to have fire and water brought to bear against +himself!" + +"Sit down, sweetheart," whispered one of the young tymbesteres to the +last speaker-- + + "Come, kiss me, my darling, + Warm kisses I trade for." + +"Avaunt!" quoth the mechanic, gruffly, and shaking off the seductive +arm of the tymbestere--"avaunt! I have neither liefe nor halfpence +for thee and thine. Out on thee!--a child of thy years! a rope's end +to thy back were a friend's best kindness!" + +The girl's eyes sparkled, she instinctively put her hand to her knife; +then turning to a soldier by her side, she said, "Hear you that, and +sit still?" + +"Thunder and wounds!" growled the soldier thus appealed to, "more +respect to the sex, knave; if I don't break thy fool's costard with my +sword-hilt, it is only because Red Grisell can take care of herself +against twenty such lozels as thou. These honest girls have been to +the wars with us; King Edward grudges no man his jolly fere. Speak up +for thyself, Grisell! How many tall fellows didst thou put out of +their pain after the battle of Losecote?" + +"Only five, Hal," replied the cold-eyed girl, and showing her +glittering teeth with the grin of a young tigress; "but one was a +captain. I shall do better next time; it was my first battle, thou +knowest!" + +The more timid of the bystanders exchanged a glance of horror, and +drew back. The mechanic resumed sullenly,--"I seek no quarrel with +lass or lover. I am a plain, blunt man, with a wife and children, who +are dear to me; and if I have a grudge to the nigromancer, it is +because he glamoured my poor boy Tim. See!"--and he caught up a blue- +eyed, handsome boy, who had been clinging to his side, and baring the +child's arm, showed it to the spectators; there was a large scar on +the limb, and it was shrunk and withered. + +"It was my own fault," said the little fellow, deprecatingly. The +affectionate father silenced the sufferer with a cuff on the cheek, +and resumed: "Ye note, neighbours, the day when the foul wizard took +this little one in his arms: well, three weeks afterwards--that very +day three weeks--as he was standing like a lamb by the fire, the good +wife's caldron seethed over, without reason or rhyme, and scalded his +arm till it rivelled up like a leaf in November; and if that is not +glamour, why have we laws against witchcraft?" + +"True, true!" groaned the chorus. + +The boy, who had borne his father's blow without a murmur, now again +attempted remonstrance. "The hot water went over the gray cat, too, +but Master Warner never bewitched her, daddy." + +"He takes his part!--You hear the daff laddy? He takes the old +nigromancer's part,--a sure sign of the witchcraft; but I'll leather +it out of thee, I will!" and the mechanic again raised his weighty +arm. The child did not this time await the blow; he dodged under the +butcher's apron, gained the door, and disappeared. "And he teaches +our own children to fly in our faces!" said the father, in a kind of +whimper. The neighbours sighed in commiseration. + +"Oh," he exclaimed in a fiercer tone, grinding his teeth, and shaking +his clenched fist towards Adam Warner's melancholy house, "I say +again, if the king did not protect the vile sorcerer, I would free the +land from his devilries ere his black master could come to his help." + +"The king cares not a straw for Master Warner or his inventions, my +son," said a rough, loud voice. All turned, and saw the friar +standing in the midst of the circle. "Know ye not, my children, that +the king sent the wretch neck and crop out of the palace for having +bewitched the Earl of Warwick and his grace the Lord Clarence, so that +they turned unnaturally against their own kinsman, his highness? But +'Manus malorum suos bonos breaket,'--that is to say, the fists of +wicked men only whack their own bones. Ye have all heard tell of +Friar Bungey, my children?" + +"Ay, ay!" answered two or three in a breath,--"a wizard, it's true, +and a mighty one; but he never did harm to the poor; though they do +say he made a quaint image of the earl, and--" + +"Tut, tut!" interrupted the friar, "all Bungey did was to try to +disenchant the Lord Warwick, whom yon miscreant had spellbound. Poor +Bungey! he is a friend to the people: and when he found that Master +Adam was making a device for their ruin, he spared no toil, I assure +ye, to frustrate the iniquity. Oh, how he fasted and watched! Oh, +how many a time he fought, tooth and nail, with the devil in person, +to get at the infernal invention! for if he had that invention once in +his hands, he could turn it to good account, I can promise ye: and +give ye rain for the green blade and sun for the ripe sheaf. But the +fiend got the better at first; and King Edward, bewitched himself for +the moment, would have hanged Friar Bungey for crossing old Adam, if +he had not called three times, in a loud voice, 'Presto pepranxenon!' +changed himself into a bird, and flown out of the window. As soon as +Master Adam Warner found the field clear to himself, he employed his +daughter to bewitch the Lord Hastings; he set brother against brother, +and made the king and Lord George fall to loggerheads; he stirred up +the rebellion; and where he would have stopped the foul fiend only +knows, if your friend Friar Bungey, who, though a wizard as you say, +is only so for your benefit (and a holy priest into the bargain), had +not, by aid of a good spirit, whom he conjured up in the island of +Tartary, disenchanted the king, and made him see in a dream what the +villanous Warner was devising against his crown and his people,-- +whereon his highness sent Master Warner and his daughter back to their +roost, and, helped by Friar Bungey, beat his enemies out of the +kingdom. So, if ye have a mind to save your children from mischief +and malice, ye may set to work with good heart, always provided that +ye touch not old Adam's iron invention. Woe betide ye, if ye think to +destroy that! Bring it safe to Friar Bungey, whom ye will find +returned to the palace, and journeyman's wages will be a penny a day +higher for the next ten years to come!" With these words the friar +threw down his reckoning, and moved majestically to the door. + +"An' I might trust you!" said Tim's father, laying hold of the friar's +serge. + +"Ye may, ye may!" cried the leader of the tymbesteres, starting up +from the lap of her soldier, "for it is Friar Bungey himself!" + +A movement of astonishment and terror was universal. "Friar Bungey +himself!" repeated the burly impostor. "Right, lassie, right; and he +now goes to the palace of the Tower, to mutter good spells in King +Edward's ear,--spells to defeat the malignant ones, and to lower the +price of beer. Wax wobiscum!" + +With that salutation, more benevolent than accurate, the friar +vanished from the room; the chief of the tymbesteres leaped lightly on +the table, put one foot on the soldier's shoulder, and sprang through +the open lattice. She found the friar in the act of mounting a sturdy +mule, which had been tied to a post by the door. + +"Fie, Graul Skellet! Fie, Graul!" said the conjurer "Respect for my +serge. We must not be noted together out of door in the daylight. +There's a groat for thee. Vade, execrabilis,--that is, good-day to +thee, pretty rogue!" + +"A word, friar, a word. Wouldst thou have the old man burned, +drowned, or torn piecemeal? He hath a daughter too, who once sought +to mar our trade with her gittern; a daughter, then in a kirtle that I +would not have nimmed from a hedge, but whom I last saw in sarcenet +and lawn, with a great lord for her fere." The tymbestere's eyes +shone with malignant envy, as she added, "Graul Skellet loves not to +see those who have worn worsted and say walk in sarcenet and lawn. +Graul Skellet loves not wenches who have lords for their feres, and +yet who shrink from Graul and her sisters as the sound from the +leper." + +"Fegs," answered the friar, impatiently, "I know naught against the +daughter,--a pretty lass, but too high for my kisses. And as for the +father, I want not the man's life,--that is, not very specially,--but +his model, his mechanical. He may go free, if that can be compassed; +if not, why, the model at all risks. Serve me in this." + +"And thou wilt teach me the last tricks of the cards, and thy great +art of making phantoms glide by on the wall?" + +"Bring the model intact, and I will teach thee more, Graul,--the dead +man's candle, and the charm of the newt; and I'll give thee, to boot, +the Gaul of the parricide that thou hast prayed me so oft for. Hum! +thou hast a girl in thy troop who hath a blinking eye that well +pleases me; but go now, and obey me. Work before play, and grace +before pudding!" + +The tymbestere nodded, snapped her fingers in the air, and humming no +holy ditty, returned to the house through the doorway. + +This short conference betrays to the reader the relations, mutually +advantageous, which subsisted between the conjuror and the +tymbesteres. Their troop (the mothers, perchance, of the generation +we treat of) had been familiar to the friar in his old capacity of +mountebank, or tregetour, and in his clerical and courtly elevation, +he did not disdain an ancient connection that served him well with the +populace; for these grim children of vice seemed present in every +place, where pastime was gay, or strife was rampant,--in peace, at the +merry-makings and the hostelries; in war, following the camp, and +seen, at night, prowling through the battlefields to dispatch the +wounded and to rifle the slain: in merrymaking, hostelry, or in camp, +they could thus still spread the fame of Friar Bungey, and uphold his +repute both for terrible lore and for hearty love of the commons. + +Nor was this all; both tymbesteres and conjuror were fortune-tellers +by profession. They could interchange the anecdotes each picked up in +their different lines. The tymbestere could thus learn the secrets of +gentle and courtier, the conjuror those of the artisan and mechanic. + +Unconscious of the formidable dispositions of their neighbours, Sibyll +and Warner were inhaling the sweet air of the early spring in their +little garden. His disgrace had affected the philosopher less than +might be supposed. True, that the loss of the king's favour was the +deferring indefinitely--perhaps for life--any practical application of +his adored theory; and yet, somehow or other, the theory itself +consoled him. At the worst, he should find some disciple, some +ingenious student, more fortunate than himself, to whom he could +bequeath the secret, and who, when Adam was in his grave, would teach +the world to revere his name. Meanwhile, his time was his own; he was +lord of a home, though ruined and desolate; he was free, with his free +thoughts; and therefore, as he paced the narrow garden, his step was +lighter, his mind less absent than when parched with feverish fear and +hope for the immediate practical success of a principle which was to +be tried before the hazardous tribunal of prejudice and ignorance. + +"My child," said the sage, "I feel, for the first time for years, the +distinction of the seasons. I feel that we are walking in the +pleasant spring. Young days come back to me like dreams; and I could +almost think thy mother were once more by my side!" + +Sibyll pressed her father's hand, and a soft but melancholy sigh +stirred her rosy lips. She, too, felt the balm of the young year; yet +her father's words broke upon sad and anxious musings. Not to youth +as to age, not to loving fancy as to baffled wisdom, has seclusion +charms that compensate for the passionate and active world! On coming +back to the old house, on glancing round its mildewed walls, +comfortless and bare, the neglected, weed-grown garden, Sibyll had +shuddered in dismay. Had her ambition fallen again into its old +abject state? Were all her hopes to restore her ancestral fortunes, +to vindicate her dear father's fame, shrunk into this slough of actual +poverty,--the butterfly's wings folded back into the chrysalis shroud +of torpor? The vast disparity between herself and Hastings had not +struck her so forcibly at the court; here, at home, the very walls +proclaimed it. When Edward had dismissed the unwelcome witnesses of +his attempted crime, he had given orders that they should be conducted +to their house through the most private ways. He naturally desired to +create no curious comment upon their departure. Unperceived by their +neighbours, Sibyll and her father had gained access by the garden +gate. Old Madge received them in dismay; for she had been in the +habit of visiting Sibyll weekly at the palace, and had gained, in the +old familiarity subsisting, then, between maiden and nurse, some +insight into her heart. She had cherished the fondest hopes for the +fate of her young mistress; and now, to labour and to penury had the +fate returned! The guard who accompanied them, according to Edward's +orders, left some pieces of gold, which Adam rejected, but Madge +secretly received and judiciously expended. And this was all their +wealth. But not of toil nor of penury in themselves thought Sibyll; +she thought but of Hastings,--wildly, passionately, trustfully, +unceasingly, of the absent Hastings. Oh, he would seek her, he would +come, her reverse would but the more endear her to him! Hastings came +not. She soon learned the wherefore. War threatened the land,--he +was at his post, at the head of armies. + +Oh, with what panoply of prayer she sought to shield that beloved +breast! And now the old man spoke of the blessed spring, the holiday +time of lovers and of love, and the young girl, sighing, said to her +mournful heart, "The world hath its sun,--where is mine?" + +The peacock strutted up to his poor protectors, and spread his plumes +to the gilding beams. And then Sibyll recalled the day when she had +walked in that spot with Marmaduke, and he had talked of his youth, +ambition, and lusty hopes, while, silent and absorbed, she had thought +within herself, "Could the world be open to me as to him,--I too have +ambition, and it should find its goal." Now what contrast between the +two,--the man enriched and honoured, if to-day in peril or in exile, +to-morrow free to march forward still on his career, the world the +country to him whose heart was bold and whose name was stainless! and +she, the woman, brought back to the prison-home, scorn around her, +impotent to avenge, and forbidden to fly! Wherefore?--Sibyll felt her +superiority of mind, of thought, of nature,--wherefore the contrast? +The success was that of man, the discomfiture that of woman. Woe to +the man who precedes his age; but never yet has an age been in which +genius and ambition are safe to woman! + +The father and the child turned into their house. The day was +declining. Adam mounted to his studious chamber, Sibyll sought the +solitary servant. + +"What tidings, oh, what tidings? The war, you say, is over; the great +earl, his sweet daughter, safe upon the seas, but Hastings--ob, +Hastings! what of him?" + +"My bonnibell, my lady-bird, I have none but good tales to tell thee. +I saw and spoke with a soldier who served under Lord Hastings himself; +he is unscathed, he is in London. But they say that one of his bands +is quartered in the suburb, and that there is a report of a rising in +Hertfordshire." + +"When will peace come to England and to me!" sighed Sibyll. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE WORLD'S JUSTICE, AND THE WISDOM OF OUR ANCESTORS. + +The night had now commenced, and Sibyll was still listening--or, +perhaps, listening not--to the soothing babble of the venerable +servant. They were both seated in the little room that adjoined the +hall, and their only light came through the door opening on the +garden,--a gray, indistinct twilight, relieved by the few earliest +stars. The peacock, his head under his wing, roosted on the +balustrade, and the song of the nightingale, from amidst one of the +neighbouring copses, which studded the ground towards the chase of +Marybone, came soft and distant on the serene air. The balm and +freshness of spring were felt in the dews, in the skies, in the sweet +breath of young herb and leaf; through the calm of ever-watchful +nature, it seemed as if you might mark, distinct and visible, minute +after minute, the blessed growth of April into May. + +Suddenly Madge uttered a cry of alarm, and pointed towards the +opposite wall. Sibyll, startled from her revery, looked up, and saw +something dusk and dwarf-like perched upon the crumbling eminence. +Presently this apparition leaped lightly into the garden, and the +alarm of the women was lessened on seeing a young boy creep stealthily +over the grass and approach the open door. + +"Hey, child!" said Madge, rising. "What wantest thou?" + +"Hist, gammer, hist! Ah, the young mistress? That's well. Hist! I +say again." The boy entered the room. "I'm in time to save you. In +half an hour your house will be broken into, perhaps burned. The boys +are clapping their hands now at the thoughts of the bonfire. Father +and all the neighbours are getting ready. Hark! hark! No, it is only +the wind! The tymbesteres are to give note. When you hear their +bells tinkle, the mob will meet. Run for your lives, you and the old +man, and don't ever say it was poor Tim who told you this, for Father +would beat me to death. Ye can still get through the garden into the +fields. Quick!" + +"I will go to the master," exclaimed Madge, hurrying from the room. + +The child caught Sibyll's cold hand through the dark. "And I say, +mistress, if his worship is a wizard, don't let him punish Father and +Mother, or poor Tim, or his little sister; though Tim was once +naughty, and hooted Master Warner. Many, many, many a time and oft +have I seen that kind, mild face in my sleep, just as when it bent +over me, while I kicked and screamed, and the poor gentleman said, +'Thinkest thou I would harm thee?' But he'll forgive me now, will he +not? And when I turned the seething water over myself, and they said +it was all along of the wizard, my heart pained more than the arm. +But they whip me, and groan out that the devil is in me, if I don't +say that the kettle upset of itself! Oh, those tymbesteres! +Mistress, did you ever see them? They fright me. If you could hear +how they set on all the neighbours! And their laugh--it makes the +hair stand on end! But you will get away, and thank Tim too? Oh, I +shall laugh then, when they find the old house empty!" + +"May our dear Lord bless thee--bless thee, child," sobbed Sibyll, +clasping the boy in her arms, and kissing him, while her tears bathed +his cheeks. + +A light gleamed on the threshold; Madge, holding a candle, appeared +with Warner, his hat and cloak thrown on in haste. "What is this?" +said the poor scholar. "Can it be true? Is mankind so cruel? What +have I done, woe is me! what have I done to deserve this?" + +"Come, dear father, quick," said Sibyll, drying her tears, and wakened +by the presence of the old man into energy and courage. "But put thy +hand on this boy's head, and bless him; for it is he who has, haply, +saved us." + +The boy trembled a moment as the long-bearded face turned towards him, +but when he caught and recognized those meek, sweet eyes, his +superstition vanished, and it was but a holy and grateful awe that +thrilled his young blood, as the old man placed both withered hands +over his yellow hair, and murmured,-- + +"God shield thy youth! God make thy manhood worthy! God give thee +children in thine old age with hearts like thine!" Scarcely had the +prayer ceased when the clash of timbrels, with their jingling bells, +was heard in the street. Once, twice, again, and a fierce yell closed +in chorus,--caught up and echoed from corner to corner, from house to +house. + +"Run! run!" cried the boy, turning white with terror. + +"But the Eureka--my hope--my mind's child!" exclaimed Adam, suddenly, +and halting at the door. + +"Eh, eh!" said Madge, pushing him forward. "It is too heavy to move; +thou couldst not lift it. Think of thine own flesh and blood, of thy +daughter, of her dead mother! Save her life, if thou carest not for +thine own!" + +"Go, Sibyll, go, and thou, Madge; I will stay. What matters my life, +--it is but the servant of a thought! Perish master, perish slave!" + +"Father, unless you come with me, I stir not. Fly or perish, your +fate is mine! Another minute--Oh, Heaven of mercy, that roar again! +We are both lost!" + +"Go, sir, go; they care not for your iron,--iron cannot feel. They +will not touch that! Have not your daughter's life upon your soul!" + +"Sibyll, Sibyll, forgive me! Come!" said Warner, conscience-stricken +at the appeal. + +Madge and the boy ran forwards; the old woman unbarred the garden- +gate; Sibyll and her father went forth; the fields stretched before +them calm and solitary; the boy leaped up, kissed Sibyll's pale cheek, +and then bounded across the grass, and vanished. + +"Loiter not, Madge. Come!" cried Sibyll. + +"Nay," said the old woman, shrinking back, "they bear no grudge to me; +I am too old to do aught but burthen ye. I will stay, and perchance +save the house and the chattels, and poor master's deft contrivance. +Whist! thou knowest his heart would break if none were by to guard +it." + +With that the faithful servant thrust the broad pieces that yet +remained of the king's gift into the gipsire Sibyll wore at her +girdle, and then closed and rebarred the door before they could detain +her. + +"It is base to leave her," said the scholar-gentleman. + +The noble Sibyll could not refute her father. Afar they heard the +tramping of feet; suddenly, a dark red light shot up into the blue +air, a light from the flame of many torches. + +"The wizard, the wizard! Death to the wizard, who would starve the +poor!" yelled forth, and was echoed by a stern hurrah. + +Adam stood motionless, Sibyll by his side. + +"The wizard and his daughter!" shrieked a sharp single voice, the +voice of Graul the tymbestere. + +Adam turned. "Fly, my child,--they now threaten thee. Come, come, +come!" and, taking her by the hand, he hurried her across the fields, +skirting the hedge, their shadows dodging, irregular and quaint, on +the starlit sward. The father had lost all thought, all care but for +the daughter's life. They paused at last, out of breath and +exhausted: the sounds at the distance were lulled and hushed. They +looked towards the direction of the home they had abandoned, expecting +to see the flames destined to consume it reddening the sky; but all +was dark,--or, rather, no light save the holy stars and the rising +moon offended the majestic heaven. + +"They cannot harm the poor old woman; she hath no lore. On her gray +hairs has fallen not the curse of men's hate!" said Warner. + +"Right, Father! when they found us flown, doubtless the cruel ones +dispersed. But they may search yet for thee. Lean on me, I am strong +and young. Another effort, and we gain the safe coverts of the +Chase." + +While yet the last word hung on her lips, they saw, on the path they +had left, the burst of torch-light, and heard the mob hounding on +their track. But the thick copses, with their pale green just budding +into life, were at hand. On they fled. The deer started from amidst +the entangled fern, but stood and gazed at them without fear; the +playful hares in the green alleys ceased not their nightly sports at +the harmless footsteps; and when at last, in the dense thicket, they +sunk down on the mossy roots of a giant oak, the nightingales overhead +chanted as if in melancholy welcome. They were saved! + +But in their home, fierce fires glared amidst the tossing torch-light; +the crowd, baffled by the strength of the door, scaled the wall, broke +through the lattice-work of the hall window, and streaming through +room after room, roared forth, "Death to the wizard!" Amidst the +sordid dresses of the men, the soiled and faded tinsel of the +tymbesteres gleamed and sparkled. It was a scene the she-fiends +revelled in,--dear are outrage and malice, and the excitement of +turbulent passions, and the savage voices of frantic men, and the +thirst of blood to those everlasting furies of a mob, under whatever +name we know them, in whatever time they taint with their presence,-- +women in whom womanhood is blasted! + +Door after door was burst open with cries of disappointed rage; at +last they ascended the turret-stairs, they found a small door barred +and locked. Tim's father, a huge axe in his brawny arm, shivered the +panels; the crowd rushed in, and there, seated amongst a strange and +motley litter, they found the devoted Madge. The poor old woman had +collected into this place, as the stronghold of the mansion, whatever +portable articles seemed to her most precious, either from value or +association. Sibyll's gittern (Marmaduke's gift) lay amidst a lumber +of tools and implements; a faded robe of her dead mother's, treasured +by Madge and Sibyll both, as a relic of holy love; a few platters and +cups of pewter, the pride of old Madge's heart to keep bright and +clean; odds and ends of old hangings; a battered silver brooch (a +love-gift to Madge herself when she was young),--these, and suchlike +scraps of finery, hoards inestimable to the household memory and +affection, lay confusedly heaped around the huge grim model, before +which, mute and tranquil, sat the brave old woman. + +The crowd halted, and stared round in superstitious terror and dumb +marvel. + +The leader of the tymbesteres sprang forward. + +"Where is thy master, old hag, and where the bonny maid who glamours +lords, and despises us bold lasses?" + +"Alack! master and the damsel have gone hours ago! I am alone in the +house; what's your will?" + +"The crone looks parlous witchlike!" said Tim's father; crossing +himself, and somewhat retreating from her gray, unquiet eyes. And, +indeed, poor Madge, with her wrinkled face, bony form, and high cap, +corresponded far more with the vulgar notions of a dabbler in the +black art than did Adam Warner, with his comely countenance and noble +mien. + +"So she doth, indeed, and verily," said a hump-backed tinker; "if we +were to try a dip in the horsepool yonder it could do no harm." + +"Away with her, away!" cried several voices at that humane suggestion. + +"Nay, nay," quoth the baker, "she is a douce creature after all, and +hath dealt with me many years. I don't care what becomes of the +wizard,--every one knows," he added with pride, "that I was one of the +first to set fire to his house when Robin gainsayed it! but right's +right--burn the master, not the drudge!" + +This intercession might have prevailed, but unhappily, at that moment +Graul Skellet, who had secured two stout fellows to accomplish the +object so desired by Friar Bungey, laid hands on the model, and, at +her shrill command, the men advanced and dislodged it from its place. +At the same tine the other tymbesteres, caught by the sight of things +pleasing to their wonted tastes, threw themselves, one upon the faded +robe Sibyll's mother had worn in her chaste and happy youth; another, +upon poor Madge's silver brooch; a third, upon the gittern. + +These various attacks roused up all the spirit and wrath of the old +woman: her cries of distress as she darted from one to the other, +striking to the right and left with her feeble arms, her form +trembling with passion, were at once ludicrous and piteous; and these +were responded to by the shrill exclamations of the fierce +tymbesteres, as they retorted scratch for scratch, and blow for blow. +The spectators grew animated by the sight of actual outrage and +resistance; the humpbacked tinker, whose unwholesome fancy one of the +aggrieved tymbesteres had mightily warmed, hastened to the relief of +his virago; and rendered furious by finding ten nails fastened +suddenly on his face, he struck down the poor creature by a blow that +stunned her, seized her in his arms,--for deformed and weakly as the +tinker was, the old woman, now sense and spirit were gone, was as +light as skin and bone could be,--and followed by half a score of his +comrades, whooping and laughing, bore her down the stairs. Tim's +father, who, whether from parental affection, or, as is more probable, +from the jealous hatred and prejudice of ignorant industry, was bent +upon Adam's destruction, hallooed on some of his fierce fellows into +the garden, tracked the footsteps of the fugitives by the trampled +grass, and bounded over the wall in fruitless chase. But on went the +more giddy of the mob, rather in sport than in cruelty, with a chorus +of drunken apprentices and riotous boys, to the spot where the +humpbacked tinker had dragged his passive burden. The foul green pond +near Master Sancroft's hostel reflected the glare of torches; six of +the tymbesteres, leaping and wheeling, with doggerel song and +discordant music, gave the signal for the ordeal of the witch,-- + + "Lake or river, dyke or ditch, + Water never drowns the witch. + Witch or wizard would ye know? + Sink or swim, is ay or no. + Lift her, swing her, once and twice, + Lift her, swing her o'er the brim,-- + Lille--lera--twice and thrice + Ha! ha! mother, sink or swim!" + +And while the last line was chanted, amidst the full jollity of +laughter and clamour and clattering timbrels, there was a splash in +the sullen water; the green slough on the surface parted with an +oozing gurgle, and then came a dead silence. + +"A murrain on the hag! she does not even struggle!" said, at last, the +hump-backed tinker. + +"No,--no! she cares not for water. Try fire! Out with her! out!" +cried Red Grisell. + +"Aroint her! she is sullen!" said the tinker, as his lean fingers +clutched up the dead body, and let it fall upon the margin. "Dead!" +said the baker, shuddering; "we have done wrong,--I told ye so! She +dealt with me many a year. Poor Madge! Right's right. She was no +witch!" + +"But that was the only way to try it," said the humpbacked tinker; +"and if she was not a witch, why did she look like one? I cannot +abide ugly folks!" + +The bystanders shook their heads. But whatever their remorse, it was +diverted by a double sound: first, a loud hurrah from some of the mob +who had loitered for pillage, and who now emerged from Adam's house, +following two men, who, preceded by the terrible Graul, dancing before +them, and tossing aloft her timbrel, bore in triumph the captured +Eureka; and, secondly, the blast of a clarion at the distance, while +up the street marched--horse and foot, with pike and banner--a goodly +troop. The Lord Hastings in person led a royal force, by a night +march, against a fresh outbreak of the rebels, not ten miles from the +city, under Sir Geoffrey Gates, who had been lately arrested by the +Lord Howard at Southampton, escaped, collected a disorderly body of +such restless men as are always disposed to take part in civil +commotion, and now menaced London itself. At the sound of the clarion +the valiant mob dispersed in all directions, for even at that day mobs +had an instinct of terror at the approach of the military, and a quick +reaction from outrage to the fear of retaliation. + +But, at the sound of martial music, the tymbesteres silenced their own +instruments, and instead of flying, they darted through the crowd, +each to seek the other, and unite as for counsel. Graul, pointing to +Mr. Sancroft's hostelry, whispered the bearers of the Eureka to seek +refuge there for the present, and to bear their trophy with the dawn +to Friar Bungey at the Tower; and then, gliding nimbly through the +fugitive rioters, sprang into the centre of the circle formed by her +companions. + +"Ye scent the coming battle?" said the arch-tymbestere. + +"Ay, ay, ay!" answered the sisterhood. + +"But we have gone miles since noon,--I am faint and weary!" said one +amongst them. + +Red Grisell, the youngest of the band, struck her comrade on the +cheek--"Faint and weary, ronion, with blood and booty in the wind!" + +The tymbesteres smiled grimly on their young sister; but the leader +whispered "Hush!" and they stood for a second or two with outstretched +throats, with dilated nostrils, with pent breath, listening to the +clarion and the hoofs and the rattling armour, the human vultures +foretasting their feast of carnage; then, obedient to a sign from +their chieftainess, they crept lightly and rapidly into the mouth of a +neighbouring alley, where they cowered by the squalid huts, concealed. +The troop passed on,--a gallant and serried band, horse and foot, +about fifteen hundred men. As they filed up the thoroughfare, and the +tramp of the last soldiers fell hollow on the starlit ground, the +tymbesteres stole from their retreat, and, at the distance of some few +hundred yards, followed the procession, with long, silent, stealthy +strides,--as the meaner beasts, in the instinct of hungry cunning, +follow the lion for the garbage of his prey. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FUGITIVES ARE CAPTURED--THE TYMBESTERES REAPPEAR--MOONLIGHT ON THE +REVEL OF THE LIVING--MOONLIGHT ON THE SLUMBER OF THE DEAD. + +The father and child made their resting-place under the giant oak. +They knew not whither to fly for refuge; the day and the night had +become the same to them,--the night menaced with robbers, the day with +the mob. If return to their home was forbidden, where in the wide +world a shelter for the would-be world-improver? Yet they despaired +not, their hearts failed them not. The majestic splendour of the +night, as it deepened in its solemn calm; as the shadows of the +windless trees fell larger and sharper upon the silvery earth; as the +skies grew mellower and more luminous in the strengthening starlight, +inspired them with the serenity of faith,--for night, to the earnest +soul, opens the Bible of the universe, and on the leaves of Heaven is +written, "God is everywhere." + +Their hands were clasped each in each, their pale faces were upturned; +they spoke not, neither were they conscious that they prayed, but +their silence was thought, and the thought was worship. + +Amidst the grief and solitude of the pure, there comes, at times, a +strange and rapt serenity,--a sleep-awake,--over which the instinct of +life beyond the grave glides like a noiseless dream; and ever that +heaven that the soul yearns for is coloured by the fancies of the fond +human heart, each fashioning the above from the desires unsatisfied +below. + +"There," thought the musing maiden, "cruelty and strife shall cease; +there, vanish the harsh differences of life; there, those whom we have +loved and lost are found, and through the Son, who tasted of mortal +sorrow, we are raised to the home of the Eternal Father!" + +"And there," thought the aspiring sage, "the mind, dungeoned and +chained below, rushes free into the realms of space; there, from every +mystery falls the veil; there, the Omniscient smiles on those who, +through the darkness of life, have fed that lamp, the soul; there, +Thought, but the seed on earth, bursts into the flower and ripens to +the fruit!" + +And on the several hope of both maid and sage the eyes of the angel +stars smiled with a common promise. + +At last, insensibly, and while still musing, so that slumber but +continued the revery into visions, father and daughter slept. + +The night passed away; the dawn came slow and gray; the antlers of the +deer stirred above the fern; the song of the nightingale was hushed; +and just as the morning star waned back, while the reddening east +announced the sun, and labour and trouble resumed their realm of day, +a fierce band halted before those sleeping forms. + +These men had been Lancastrian soldiers, and, reduced to plunder for a +living, had, under Sir Geoffrey Gates, formed the most stalwart part +of the wild, disorderly force whom Hilyard and Coniers had led to +Olney. They had heard of the new outbreak, headed by their ancient +captain, Sir Geoffrey (who was supposed to have been instigated to his +revolt by the gold and promises of the Lancastrian chiefs), and were +on their way to join the rebels; but as war for them was but the name +for booty, they felt the wonted instinct of the robber, when they +caught sight of the old man and the fair maid. + +Both Adam and his daughter wore, unhappily, the dresses in which they +had left the court, and Sibyll's especially was that which seemed to +betoken a certain rank and station. + +"Awake, rouse ye!" said the captain of the band, roughly shaking the +arm which encircled Sibyll's slender waist. Adam started, opened his +eyes, and saw himself begirt by figures in rusty armour, with savage +faces peering under their steel sallets. + +"How came you hither? Yon oak drops strange acorns," quoth the chief. + +"Valiant sir," replied Adam, still seated, and drawing his gown +instinctively over Sibyll's face, which nestled on his bosom, in +slumber so deep and heavy, that the gruff voice had not broken it, +"valiant sir! we are forlorn and houseless, an old man and a simple +girl. Some evil-minded persons invaded our home; we fled in the +night, and--" + +"Invaded your house! ha, it is clear," said the chief. "We know the +rest." + +At this moment Sibyll woke, and starting to her feet in astonishment +and terror at the sight on which her eyes opened, her extreme beauty +made a sensible effect upon the bravoes. + +"Do not be daunted, young demoiselle," said the captain, with an air +almost respectful; "it is necessary thou and Sir John should follow +us, but we will treat you well, and consult later on the ransom ye +will pay us. Jock, discharge the young sumpter mule; put its load on +the black one. We have no better equipment for thee, lady; but the +first haquenee we find shall replace the mule, and meanwhile my knaves +will heap their cloaks for a pillion." + +"But what mean you?--you mistake us!" exclaimed Sibyll. "We are poor; +we cannot ransom ourselves." + +"Poor!--tut!" said the captain, pointing significantly to the costly +robe of the maiden--"moreover his worship's wealth is well known. +Mount in haste,--we are pressed." And without heeding the +expostulations of Sibyll and the poor scholar, the rebel put his troop +into motion, and marched himself at their head, with his lieutenant. + +Sibyll found the subalterns sterner than their chief; for as Warner +offered to resist, one of them lifted his gisarme, with a frightful +oath, and Sibyll was the first to persuade her father to submit. She +mildly, however, rejected the mule, and the two captives walked +together in the midst of the troop. + +"Pardie!" said the lieutenant, "I see little help to Sir Geoffrey in +these recruits, captain!" + +"Fool!" said the chief, disdainfully, "if the rebellion fail, these +prisoners may save our necks. Will Somers last night was to break +into the house of Sir John Bourchier, for arms and moneys, of which +the knight hath a goodly store. Be sure, Sir John slinked off in the +siege, and this is he and his daughter. Thou knowest he is one of the +greatest knights, and the richest, whom the Yorkists boast of; and we +may name our own price for his ransom." + +"But where lodge them while we go to the battle?" + +"Ned Porpustone hath a hostelry not far from the camp, and Ned is a +good Lancastrian, and a man to be trusted." + +"We have not searched the prisoners," said the lieutenant; "they may +have some gold in their pouches." + +"Marry, when Will Somers storms a hive, little time does he leave to +the bees to fly away with much money. Nathless, thou mayest search +the old knight, but civilly, and with gentle excuses." + +"And the damsel?" + +"Nay! that were unmannerly, and the milder our conduct, the larger the +ransom,--when we have great folks to deal with." + +The lieutenant accordingly fell back to search Adam's gipsire, which +contained only a book and a file, and then rejoined his captain, +without offering molestation to Sibyll. + +The mistake made by the bravo was at least so far not wholly +unfortunate that the notion of the high quality of the captives--for +Sir John Bourchier was indeed a person of considerable station and +importance (a notion favoured by the noble appearance of the scholar +and the delicate and highborn air of Sibyll)--procured for them all +the respect compatible with the circumstances. They had not gone far +before they entered a village, through which the ruffians marched with +the most perfect impunity; for it was a strange feature in those civil +wars that the mass of the population, except in the northern +districts, remained perfectly supine and neutral. And as the little +band halted at a small inn to drink, the gossips of the village +collected round them, with the same kind of indolent, careless +curiosity which is now evinced in some hamlet at the halt of a stage- +coach. Here the captain learned, however, some intelligence important +to his objects,--namely, the night march of the troop under Lord +Hastings, and the probability that the conflict was already begun. +"If so," muttered the rebel, "we can see how the tide turns, before we +endanger ourselves; and at the worst, our prisoners will bring +something of prize-money." + +While thus soliloquizing, he spied one of those cumbrous vehicles of +the day called whirlicotes [Whirlicotes were in use from a very early +period, but only among the great, till, in the reign of Richard II., +his queen, Anne, introduced side-saddles, when the whirlicote fell out +of fashion, but might be found at different hostelries on the main +roads for the accommodation of the infirm or aged.] standing in the +yard of the hostelry; and seizing upon it, vi et armis, in spite of +all the cries and protestations of the unhappy landlord, he ordered +his captives to enter, and recommenced his march. + +As the band proceeded farther on their way, they were joined by fresh +troops of the same class as themselves, and they pushed on gayly, +till, about the hour of eight, they halted before the hostelry the +captain had spoken of. It stood a little out of the high road, not +very far from the village of Hadley, and the heath or chase of +Gladsmore, on which was fought, some time afterwards, the battle of +Barnet. It was a house of good aspect, and considerable size, for it +was much frequented by all caravanserais and travellers from the North +to the metropolis. The landlord, at heart a stanch Lancastrian, who +had served in the French wars, and contrived, no one knew how, to save +moneys in the course of an adventurous life, gave to his hostelry the +appellation and sign of the Talbot, in memory of the old hero of that +name; and, hiring a tract of land, joined the occupation of a farmer +to the dignity of a host. The house, which was built round a spacious +quadrangle, represented the double character of its owner, one side +being occupied by barns and a considerable range of stabling, while +cows, oxen, and ragged colts grouped amicably together in a space +railed off in the centre of the yard. At another side ran a large +wooden staircase, with an open gallery, propped on wooden columns, +conducting to numerous chambers, after the fashion of the Tabard in +Southwark, immortalized by Chaucer. Over the archway, on entrance, +ran a labyrinth of sleeping lofts for foot passengers and muleteers; +and the side facing the entrance was nearly occupied by a vast +kitchen, the common hall, and the bar, with the private parlour of the +host, and two or three chambers in the second story. The whirlicote +jolted and rattled into the yard. Sibyll and her father were assisted +out of the vehicle, and, after a few words interchanged with the host, +conducted by Master Porpustone himself up the spacious stairs into a +chamber, well furnished and fresh littered, with repeated assurances +of safety, provided they maintained silence, and attempted no escape. + +"Ye are in time," said Ned Porpustone to the captain. "Lord Hastings +made proclamation at daybreak that he gave the rebels two hours to +disperse." + +"Pest! I like not those proclamations. And the fellows stood their +ground?" + +"No; for Sir Geoffrey, like a wise soldier, mended the ground by +retreating a mile to the left, and placing the wood between the +Yorkists and himself. Hastings, by this, must have remarshalled his +men. But to pass the wood is slow work, and Sir Geoffrey's crossbows +are no doubt doing damage in the covert. Come in, while your fellows +snatch a morsel without; five minutes are not thrown away on filling +their bellies." + +"Thanks, Ned, thou art a good fellow; and if all else fail, why, Sir +John's ransom shall pay the reckoning. Any news of bold Robin?" + +"Ay, he has 'scaped with a whole skin, and gone back to the North," +answered the host, leading the way to his parlour, where a flask of +strong wine and some cold meat awaited his guest. "If Sir Geoffrey +Gates can beat off the York troopers, tell him, from me, not to +venture to London, but to fall back into the marshes. He will be +welcome there, I foreguess; for every northman is either for Warwick +or for Lancaster, and the two must unite now, I trow." + +"But Warwick is flown!" quoth the captain. + +"Tush! he has only flown as the falcon flies when he has a heron to +fight with,--wheeling and soaring. Woe to the heron when the falcon +swoops! But you drink not!" + +"No; I must keep the head cool to-day; for Hastings is a perilous +captain. Thy fist, friend! If I fall, I leave you Sir John and his +girl to wipe off old scores; if we beat off the Yorkists I vow to Our +Lady of Walsingham an image of wax of the weight of myself." The +marauder then started up, and strode to his men, who were snatching a +hasty meal on the space before the hostel. He paused a moment or so, +while his host whispered,-- + +"Hastings was here before daybreak: but his men only got the sour +beer; yours fight upon huffcap." + +"Up, men! to your pikes! Dress to the right!" thundered the captain, +with a sufficient pause between each sentence. "The York lozels have +starved on stale beer,--shall they beat huffcap and Lancaster? Frisk +and fresh-up with the Antelope banner [The antelope was one of the +Lancastrian badges. The special cognizance of Henry VI. was two +feathers in saltire.], and long live Henry the Sixth!" + +The sound of the shout that answered this harangue shook the thin +walls of the chamber in which the prisoners were confined, and they +heard with joy the departing tramp of the soldiers. In a short time, +Master Porpustone himself, a corpulent, burly fellow, with a face by +no means unprepossessing, mounted to the chamber, accompanied by a +comely housekeeper, linked to him, as scandal said, by ties less +irksome than Hymen's, and both bearing ample provisions, with rich +pigment and lucid clary [clary was wine clarified], which they spread +with great formality on an oak table before their involuntary guest. + +"Eat, your worship, eat!" cried mine host, heartily. "Eat, lady- +bird,--nothing like eating to kill time and banish care. Fortune of +war, Sir John,--fortune of war, never be daunted! Up to-day, down to- +morrow. Come what may--York or Lancaster--still a rich man always +falls on his legs. Five hundred or so to the captain; a noble or two, +out of pure generosity, to Ned Porpustone (I scorn extortion), and you +and the fair young dame may breakfast at home to-morrow, unless the +captain or his favourite lieutenant is taken prisoner; and then, you +see, they will buy off their necks by letting you out of the bag. +Eat, I say,--eat!" + +"Verily," said Adam, seating himself solemnly, and preparing to obey, +"I confess I'm a hungered, and the pasty hath a savoury odour; but I +pray thee to tell me why I am called Sir John. Adam is my baptismal +name." + +"Ha! ha! good--very good, your honour--to be sure, and your father's +name before you. We are all sons of Adam, and every son, I trow, has +a just right and a lawful to his father's name." + +With that, followed by the housekeeper, the honest landlord, chuckling +heartily, rolled his goodly bulk from the chamber, which he carefully +locked. + +"Comprehendest thou yet, Sibyll?" + +"Yes, dear sir and father, they mistake us for fugitives of mark and +importance; and when they discover their error, no doubt we shall go +free. Courage, dear father!" + +"Me seemeth," quoth Adam, almost merrily, as the good man filled his +cup from the wine flagon, "me seemeth that, if the mistake could +continue, it would be no weighty misfortune; ha! ha!" He stopped +abruptly in the unwonted laughter, put down the cup; his face fell. +"Ah, Heaven forgive me!--and the poor Eureka and faithful Madge!" + +"Oh, Father! fear not; we are not without protection. Lord Hastings +is returned to London,--we will seek him; he will make our cruel +neighbours respect thee. And Madge--poor Madge!--will be so happy at +our return, for they could not harm her,--a woman, old and alone; no, +no, man is not fierce enough for that." + +"Let us so pray; but thou eatest not, child." + +"Anon, Father, anon; I am sick and weary. But, nay--nay, I am better +now,--better. Smile again, Father. I am hungered, too; yes, indeed +and in sooth, yes. Ah, sweet Saint Mary, give me life and strength, +and hope and patience, for his dear sake!" + +The stirring events which had within the last few weeks diversified +the quiet life of the scholar had somewhat roused him from his wonted +abstraction, and made the actual world a more sensible and living +thing than it had hitherto seemed to his mind; but now, his repast +ended, the quiet of the place (for the inn was silent and almost +deserted) with the fumes of the wine--a luxury he rarely tasted-- +operated soothingly upon his thought and fancy, and plunged him into +those reveries, so dear alike to poet and mathematician. To the +thinker the most trifling external object often suggests ideas, which, +like Homer's chain, extend, link after link; from earth to heaven. +The sunny motes, that in a glancing column came through the lattice, +called Warner from the real day,--the day of strife and blood, with +thousands hard by driving each other to the Hades,--and led his +scheming fancy into the ideal and abstract day,--the theory of light +itself; and the theory suggested mechanism, and mechanism called up +the memory of his oracle, old Roger Bacon; and that memory revived the +great friar's hints in the Opus magnus,--hints which outlined the +grand invention of the telescope; and so, as over some dismal +precipice a bird swings itself to and fro upon the airy bough, the +schoolman's mind played with its quivering fancy, and folded its calm +wings above the verge of terror. + +Occupied with her own dreams, Sibyll respected those of her father; +and so in silence, not altogether mournful, the morning and the noon +passed, and the sun was sloping westward, when a confused sound below +called Sibyll's gaze to the lattice, which looked over the balustrade +of the staircase into the vast yard. She saw several armed men, their +harness hewed and battered, quaffing ale or wine in haste, and heard +one of them say to the landlord,-- + +"All is lost! Sir Geoffrey Gates still holds out, but it is butcher +work. The troops of Lord Hastings gather round him as a net round the +fish!" + +Hastings!--that name!--he was at hand! he was near! they would be +saved! Sibyll's heart beat loudly. + +"And the captain?" asked Porpustone. + +"Alive, when I last saw him; but we must be off. In another hour all +will be hurry and skurry, flight and chase." At this moment from one +of the barns there emerged, one by one, the female vultures of the +battle. The tymbesteres, who had tramped all night to the spot, had +slept off their fatigue during the day, and appeared on the scene as +the neighbouring strife waxed low, and the dead and dying began to +cumber the gory ground. Graul Skellet, tossing up her timbrel, darted +to the fugitives and grinned a ghastly grin when she heard the news,-- +for the tymbesteres were all loyal to a king who loved women, and who +had a wink and a jest for every tramping wench! The troopers tarried +not, however, for further converse, but, having satisfied their +thirst, hurried and clattered from the yard. At the sight of the +ominous tymbesteres Sibyll had drawn back, without daring to close the +lattice she had opened; and the women, seating themselves on a bench, +began sleeking their long hair and smoothing their garments from the +scraps of straw and litter which betokened the nature of their +resting-place. + +"Ho, girls!" said the fat landlord, "ye will pay me for board and bed, +I trust, by a show of your craft. I have two right worshipful lodgers +up yonder, whose lattice looks on the yard, and whom ye may serve to +divert." + +Sibyll trembled, and crept to her father's side. + +"And," continued the landlord, "if they like the clash of your +musicals, it may bring ye a groat or so, to help ye on your journey. +By the way, whither wend ye, wenches?" + +"To a bonny, jolly fair," answered the sinister voice of Graul,-- + + "Where a mighty SHOWMAN dyes + The greenery into red; + Where, presto! at the word + Lies his Fool without a head; + Where he gathers in the crowd + To the trumpet and the drum, + With a jingle and a tinkle, + Graul's merry lasses come!" + +As the two closing lines were caught by the rest of the tymbesteres, +striking their timbrels, the crew formed themselves into a semicircle, +and commenced their dance. Their movements, though wanton and +fantastic, were not without a certain wild grace; and the address with +which, from time to time, they cast up their instruments and caught +them in descending, joined to the surprising agility with which, in +the evolutions of the dance, one seemed now to chase, now to fly from, +the other, darting to and fro through the ranks of her companions, +winding and wheeling,--the chain now seemingly broken in disorder, now +united link to link, as the whole force of the instruments clashed in +chorus,--made an exhibition inexpressibly attractive to the vulgar. + +The tymbesteres, however, as may well be supposed, failed to draw +Sibyll or Warner to the window; and they exchanged glances of spite +and disappointment. + +"Marry," quoth the landlord, after a hearty laugh at the diversion, "I +do wrong to be so gay, when so many good friends perhaps are lying +stark and cold. But what then? Life is short,--laugh while we can!" + +"Hist!" whispered his housekeeper; "art wode, Ned? Wouldst thou have +it discovered that thou hast such quality birds in the cage--noble +Yorkists--at the very time when Lord Hastings himself may be riding +this way after the victory?" + +"Always right, Meg,--and I'm an ass!" answered the host, in the same +undertone. "But my good nature will be the death of me some day. +Poor gentlefolks, they must be unked dull, yonder!" + +"If the Yorkists come hither,--which we shall soon know by the +scouts,--we must shift Sir John and the damsel to the back of the +house, over thy tap-room." + +"Manage it as thou wilt, Meg; but thou seest they keep quiet and snug. +Ho, ho, ho! that tall tymbestere is supple enough to make an owl hold +his sides with laughing. Ah! hollo, there, tymbesteres, ribaudes, +tramps, the devil's chickens,--down, down!" + +The host was too late in his order. With a sudden spring, Graul, who +had long fixed her eye on the open lattice of the prisoners, had +wreathed herself round one of the pillars that supported the stairs, +swung lightly over the balustrade; and with a faint shriek the +startled Sibyll beheld the tymbestere's hard, fierce eyes, glaring +upon her through the lattice, as her long arm extended the timbrel for +largess. But no sooner had Sibyll raised her face than she was +recognized. + +"Ho, the wizard and the wizard's daughter! Ho, the girl who glamours +lords, and wears sarcenet and lawn! Ho, the nigromancer who starves +the poor!" + +At the sound of their leader's cry, up sprang, up climbed the hellish +sisters! One after the other, they darted through the lattice into +the chamber. + +"The ronions! the foul fiend has distraught them!" groaned the +landlord, motionless with astonishment; but the more active Meg, +calling to the varlets and scullions, whom the tymbesteres had +collected in the yard, to follow her, bounded up the stairs, unlocked +the door, and arrived in time to throw herself between the captives +and the harpies, whom Sibyll's rich super-tunic and Adam's costly gown +had inflamed into all the rage of appropriation. + +"What mean ye, wretches?" cried the bold Meg, purple with anger. "Do +ye come for this into honest folk's hostelries, to rob their guests in +broad day--noble guests--guests of mark! Oh, Sir John! Sir John! +what will ye think of us?" + +"Oh, Sir John! Sir John!" groaned the landlord, who had now moved his +slow bulk into the room. "They shall be scourged, Sir John! They +shall be put in the stocks, they shall be brent with hot iron, they--" + +"Ha, ha!" interrupted the terrible Graul, "guests of mark! noble +guests, trow ye! Adam Warner, the wizard, and his daughter, whom we +drove last night from their den, as many a time, sisters, and many, we +have driven the rats from charnel and cave." + +"Wizard! Adam! Blood of my life!" stammered the landlord, "is his +name Adam after all?" + +"My name is Adam Warner," said the old man, with dignity, "no wizard-- +a humble scholar, and a poor gentleman, who has injured no one. +Wherefore, women--if women ye are--would ye injure mine and me?" + +"Faugh, wizard!" returned Graul, folding her arms. "Didst thou not +send thy spawn, yonder, to spoil our mart with her gittern? Hast thou +not taught her the spells to win love from the noble and young? Ho, +how daintily the young witch robes herself! Ho, laces and satins, and +we shiver with the cold, and parch with the heat--and--doff thy tunic, +minion!" + +And Graul's fierce gripe was on the robe, when the landlord interposed +his huge arm, and held her at bay. + +"Softly, my sucking dove, softly! Clear the room and be off!" + +"Look to thyself, man. If thou harbourest a wizard against law,--a +wizard whom King Edward hath given up to the people,--look to thy +barns,--they shall burn; look to thy cattle,--they shall rot; look to +thy secrets,--they shall be told. Lancastrian, thou shalt hang! We +go! we go! We have friends amongst the mailed men of York. We go,-- +we will return! Woe to thee, if thou harbourest the wizard and the +succuba!" + +With that Graul moved slowly to the door. Host and housekeeper, +varlet, groom, and scullion made way for her in terror; and still, as +she moved, she kept her eyes on Sibyll, till her sisters, following in +successive file, shut out the hideous aspect: and Meg, ordering away +her gaping train, closed the door. + +The host and the housekeeper then gazed gravely at each other. Sibyll +lay in her father's arms breathing hard and convulsively. The old +man's face bent over her in silence. Meg drew aside her master. "You +must rid the house at once of these folks. I have heard talk of yon +tymbesteres; they are awsome in spite and malice. Every man to +himself!" + +"But the poor old gentleman, so mild, and the maid, so winsome!" + +The last remark did not over-please the comely Meg. She advanced at +once to Adam, and said shortly,-- + +"Master, whether wizard or not is no affair of a poor landlord, whose +house is open to all; but ye have had food and wine,--please to pay +the reckoning, and God speed ye; ye are free to depart." + +"We can pay you, mistress!" exclaimed Sibyll, springing up. "We have +moneys yet. Here, here!" and she took from her gipsire the broad +pieces which poor Madge's precaution had placed therein, and which the +bravoes had fortunately spared. + +The sight of the gold somewhat softened the housewife. "Lord Hastings +is known to us," continued Sibyll, perceiving the impression she had +made; "suffer us to rest here till he pass this way, and ye will find +yourselves repaid for the kindness." + +"By my troth," said the landlord, "ye are most welcome to all my poor +house containeth; and as for these tymbesteres, I value them not a +straw. No one can say Ned Porpustone is an ill man or inhospitable. +Whoever can pay reasonably is sure of good wine and civility at the +Talbot." + +With these and many similar protestations and assurances, which were +less heartily re-echoed by the housewife, the landlord begged to +conduct them to an apartment not so liable to molestation; and after +having led them down the principal stairs, through the bar, and thence +up a narrow flight of steps, deposited them in a chamber at the back +of the house, and lighted a sconce therein, for it was now near the +twilight. He then insisted on seeing after their evening meal, and +vanished with his assistant. The worthy pair were now of the same +mind; for guests known to Lord Hastings it was worth braving the +threats of the tymbesteres; especially since Lord Hastings, it seems, +had just beaten the Lancastrians. + +But alas! while the active Meg was busy on the hippocras, and the +worthy landlord was inspecting the savoury operations of the kitchen, +a vast uproar was heard without. A troop of disorderly Yorkist +soldiers, who had been employed in dispersing the flying rebels, +rushed helter-skelter into the house, and poured into the kitchen, +bearing with them the detested tymbesteres, who had encountered them +on their way. Among these soldiers were those who had congregated at +Master Sancroft's the day before, and they were well prepared to +support the cause of their griesly paramours. Lord Hastings himself +had retired for the night to a farmhouse nearer the field of battle +than the hostel; and as in those days discipline was lax enough after +a victory, the soldiers had a right to license. Master Porpustone +found himself completely at the mercy of these brawling customers, the +more rude and disorderly from the remembrance of the sour beer in the +morning, and Graul Skellet's assurances that Master Porpustone was a +malignant Lancastrian. They laid hands on all the provisions in the +house, tore the meats from the spit, devouring them half raw; set the +casks running over the floors; and while they swilled and swore, and +filled the place with the uproar of a hell broke loose, Graul Skellet, +whom the lust for the rich garments of Sibyll still fired and stung, +led her followers up the stairs towards the deserted chamber. Mine +host perceived, but did not dare openly to resist the foray; but as he +was really a good-natured knave, and as, moreover, he feared ill +consequences might ensue if any friends of Lord Hastings were spoiled, +outraged,--nay, peradventure murdered,--in his house, he resolved, at +all events, to assist the escape of his guests. Seeing the ground +thus clear of the tymbesteres, he therefore stole from the riotous +scene, crept up the back stairs, gained the chamber to which he had so +happily removed his persecuted lodgers, and making them, in a few +words, sensible that he was no longer able to protect them, and that +the tymbesteres were now returned with an armed force to back their +malice, conducted them safely to a wide casement only some three or +four feet from the soil of the solitary garden, and bade them escape +and save themselves. + +"The farm," he whispered, "where they say my Lord Hastings is +quartered is scarcely a mile and a half away; pass the garden wicket, +leave Gladsmore Chase to the left hand, take the path to the right, +through the wood, and you will see its roof among the apple-blossoms. +Our Lady protect you, and say a word to my lord on behalf of poor +Ned." + +Scarce had he seen his guests descend into the garden before he heard +the yell of the tymbesteres, in the opposite part of the house, as +they ran from room to room after their prey. He hastened to regain +the kitchen; and presently the tymbesteres, breathless and panting, +rushed in, and demanded their victims. + +"Marry," quoth the landlord, with the self-possession of a cunning old +soldier-"think ye I cumbered my house with such cattle after pretty +lasses like you had given me the inkling of what they were? No wizard +shall fly away with the sign of the Talbot, if I can help it. They +skulked off I can promise ye, and did not even mount a couple of +broomsticks which I handsomely offered for their ride up to London." + +"Thunder and bombards!" cried a trooper, already half-drunk, and +seizing Graul in his iron arms, "put the conjuror out of thine head +now, and buss me, Graul, buss me!" + +Then the riot became hideous; the soldiers, following their comrade's +example, embraced the grim glee-women, tearing and hauling them to and +fro, one from the other, round and round, dancing, hallooing, +chanting, howling, by the blaze of a mighty fire,--many a rough face +and hard hand smeared with blood still wet, communicating the stain to +the cheeks and garb of those foul feres, and the whole revel becoming +so unutterably horrible and ghastly, that even the veteran landlord +fled from the spot, trembling and crossing himself. And so, streaming +athwart the lattice, and silvering over that fearful merry-making, +rose the moon. + +But when fatigue and drunkenness had done their work, and the soldiers +fell one over the other upon the floor, the tables, the benches, into +the heavy sleep of riot, Graul suddenly rose from amidst the huddled +bodies, and then, silently as ghouls from a burial-ground, her sisters +emerged also from their resting-places beside the sleepers. The dying +light of the fire contended but feebly with the livid rays of the +moon, and played fantastically over the gleaming robes of the +tymbesteres. They stood erect for a moment, listening, Graul with her +finger on her lips; then they glided to the door, opened and reclosed +it, darted across the yard, scaring the beasts that slept there; the +watch-dog barked, but drew back, bristling, and showing his fangs, as +Red Grisell, undaunted, pointed her knife, and Graul flung him a red +peace-sop of meat. They launched themselves through the open +entrance, gained the space beyond, and scoured away to the +battlefield. + +Meanwhile, Sibyll and her father were still under the canopy of +heaven, they had scarcely passed the garden and entered the fields, +when they saw horsemen riding to and fro in all directions. Sir +Geoffrey Gates, the rebel leader, had escaped; the reward of three +hundred marks was set on his head, and the riders were in search of +the fugitive. The human form itself had become a terror to the hunted +outcasts; they crept under a thick hedge till the horsemen had +disappeared, and then resumed their way. They gained the wood; but +there again they halted at the sound of voices, and withdrew +themselves under covert of some entangled and trampled bushes. This +time it was but a party of peasants, whom curiosity had led to see the +field of battle, and who were now returning home. Peasants and +soldiers both were human, and therefore to be shunned by those whom +the age itself put out of the pale of law. At last the party also +left the path free; and now it was full night. They pursued their +way, they cleared the wood; before them lay the field of battle; and a +deeper silence seemed to fall over the world! The first stars had +risen, but not yet the moon. The gleam of armour from prostrate +bodies, which it had mailed in vain, reflected the quiet rays; here +and there flickered watchfires, where sentinels were set, but they +were scattered and remote. The outcasts paused and shuddered, but +there seemed no holier way for their feet; and the roof of the +farmer's homestead slept on the opposite side of the field, amidst +white orchard blossoms, whitened still more by the stars. They went +on, hand in hand,--the dead, after all, were less terrible than the +living. Sometimes a stern, upturned face, distorted by the last +violent agony, the eyes unclosed and glazed, encountered them with its +stony stare; but the weapon was powerless in the stiff hand, the +menace and the insult came not from the hueless lips; persecution +reposed, at last, in the lap of slaughter. They had gone midway +through the field, when they heard from a spot where the corpses lay +thickest piled, a faint voice calling upon God for pardon; and, +suddenly, it was answered by a tone of fiercer agony,--that did not +pray, but curse. + +By a common impulse, the gentle wanderers moved silently to the spot. + +The sufferer in prayer was a youth scarcely passed from boyhood: his +helm had been cloven, his head was bare, and his long light hair, +clotted with gore, fell over his shoulders. Beside him lay a strong- +built, powerful form, which writhed in torture, pierced under the arm +by a Yorkist arrow, and the shaft still projecting from the wound,-- +and the man's curse answered the boy's prayer. + +"Peace to thy parting soul, brother!" said Warner, bending over the +man. + +"Poor sufferer!" said Sibyll to the boy; "cheer thee, we will send +succour; thou mayest live yet!" + +"Water! water!--hell and torture!--water, I say!" groaned the man; +"one drop of water!" + +It was the captain of the maurauders who had captured the wanderers. + +"Thine arm! lift me! move me! That evil man scares my soul from +heaven!" gasped the boy. + +And Adam preached penitence to the one that cursed, and Sibyll knelt +down and prayed with the one that prayed. And up rose the moon! + +Lord Hastings sat with his victorious captains--over mead, morat, and +wine--in the humble hall of the farm. + +"So," said he, "we have crushed the last embers of the rebellion! +This Sir Geoffrey Gates is a restless and resolute spirit; pity he +escapes again for further mischief. But the House of Nevile, that +overshadowed the rising race, hath fallen at last,--a waisall, brave +sirs, to the new men!" + +The door was thrown open, and an old soldier entered abruptly. + +"My lord! my lord! Oh, my poor son! he cannot be found! The women, +who ever follow the march of soldiers, will be on the ground to +despatch the wounded, that they may rifle the corpses! O God! if my +son, my boy, my only son--" + +"I wist not, my brave Mervil, that thou hadst a son in our bands; yet +I know each man by name and sight. Courage! Our wounded have been +removed, and sentries are placed to guard the field." + +"Sentries! O my lord, knowest thou not that they wink at the crime +that plunders the dead? Moreover, these corpse-riflers creep +stealthily and unseen, as the red earth-worms, to the carcass. Give +me some few of thy men, give me warrant to search the field! My son, +my boy--not sixteen summers--and his mother!" + +The man stopped, and sobbed. + +"Willingly!" said the gentle Hastings, "willingly! And woe to the +sentries if it be as thou sayest! I will go myself and see! Torches +there--what ho!--the good captain careth even for his dead!--Thy son! +I marvel I knew him not! Whom served he under?" + +"My lord! my lord! pardon him! He is but a boy--they misled him! he +fought for the rebels. He crossed my path to-day, my arm was raised; +we knew each other, and he fled from his father's sword! Just as the +strife was ended I saw him again, I saw him fall!--Oh, mercy, mercy! +do not let him perish of his wounds or by the rifler's knife, even +though a rebel!" + +"Homo sum!" quoth the noble chief; "I am a man; and, even in these +bloody times, Nature commands when she speaks in a father's voice! +Mervil, I marked thee to-day! Thou art a brave fellow. I meant thee +advancement; I give thee, instead, thy son's pardon, if he lives; ten +Masses if he died as a soldier's son should die, no matter under what +flag,--antelope or lion, pierced manfully in the breast, his feet to +the foe! Come, I will search with thee!" + +The boy yielded up his soul while Sibyll prayed, and her sweet voice +soothed the last pang; and the man ceased to curse while Adam spoke of +God's power and mercy, and his breath ebbed, gasp upon gasp, away. +While thus detained, the wanderers saw not pale, fleeting figures, +that had glided to the ground, and moved, gleaming, irregular, and +rapid, as marsh-fed vapours, from heap to heap of the slain. With a +loud, wild cry, the robber Lancastrian half sprung to his feet, in the +paroxysm of the last struggle, and then fell on his face, a corpse! + +The cry reached the tymbesteres, and Graul rose from a body from which +she had extracted a few coins smeared with blood, and darted to the +spot; and so, as Adam raised his face from contemplating the dead, +whose last moments he had sought to soothe, the Alecto of the +battlefield stood before him, her knife bare in her gory arm. Red +Grisell, who had just left (with a spurn of wrath--for the pouch was +empty) the corpse of a soldier, round whose neck she had twined her +hot clasp the day before, sprang towards Sibyll; the rest of the +sisterhood flocked to the place, and laughed in glee as they beheld +their unexpected prey. The danger was horrible and imminent; no pity +was seen in those savage eyes. The wanderers prepared for death-- +when, suddenly, torches flashed over the ground. A cry was heard, +"See, the riflers of the dead!" Armed men bounded forward, and the +startled wretches uttered a shrill, unearthly scream, and fled from +the spot, leaping over the carcasses, and doubling and winding, till +they had vanished into the darkness of the wood. + +"Provost!" said a commanding voice, "hang me up those sentinels at +day-break!" + +"My son! my boy! speak, Hal,--speak to me. He is here, he is found!" +exclaimed the old soldier, kneeling beside the corpse at Sibyll's +feet. + +"My lord! my beloved! my Hastings!" And Sibyll fell insensible before +the chief. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE SUBTLE CRAFT OF RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER. + +It was some weeks after the defeat of Sir Geoffrey Gates, and Edward +was at Shene, with his gay court. Reclined at length within a +pavilion placed before a cool fountain, in the royal gardens, and +surrounded by his favourites, the king listened indolently to the +music of his minstrels, and sleeked the plumage of his favourite +falcon, perched upon his wrist. And scarcely would it have been +possible to recognize in that lazy voluptuary the dauntless soldier, +before whose lance, as deer before the hound, had so lately fled, at +bloody Erpingham, the chivalry of the Lancastrian Rose; but remote +from the pavilion, and in one of the deserted bowling alleys, Prince +Richard and Lord Montagu walked apart, in earnest conversation. The +last of these noble personages had remained inactive during these +disturbances, and Edward had not seemed to entertain any suspicion of +his participation in the anger and revenge of Warwick. The king took +from him, it is true, the lands and earldom of Northumberland, and +restored them to the Percy, but he had accompanied this act with +gracious excuses, alleging the necessity of conciliating the head of +an illustrious House, which had formally entered into allegiance to +the dynasty of York, and bestowed upon his early favourite, in +compensation, the dignity of marquis. [Montagu said bitterly of this +new dignity, "He takes from me the Earldom and domains of +Northumberland, and makes me a Marquis, with a pie's nest to maintain +it withal."--STOWE: Edward IV.--Warkworth Chronicle.] The politic +king, in thus depriving Montagu of the wealth and the retainers of the +Percy, reduced him, as a younger brother, to a comparative poverty and +insignificance, which left him dependent on Edward's favour, and +deprived him, as he thought, of the power of active mischief; at the +same time more than ever he insisted on Montagu's society, and +summoning his attendance at the court, kept his movements in watchful +surveillance. + +"Nay, my lord," said Richard, pursuing with much unction the +conversation he had commenced, "you wrong me much, Holy Paul be my +witness, if you doubt the deep sorrow I feel at the unhappy events +which have led to the severance of my kinsmen! England seems to me to +have lost its smile in losing the glory of Earl Warwick's presence, +and Clarence is my brother, and was my friend; and thou knowest, +Montagu, thou knowest, how dear to my heart was the hope to win for my +wife and lady the gentle Anne." + +"Prince," said Montagu, abruptly, "though the pride of Warwick and the +honour of our House may have forbidden the public revelation of the +cause which fired my brother to rebellion, thou, at least, art privy +to a secret--" + +"Cease!" exclaimed Richard, in great emotion, probably sincere, for +his face grew livid, and its muscles were nervously convulsed. "I +would not have that remembrance stirred from its dark repose. I would +fain forget a brother's hasty frenzy, in the belief of his lasting +penitence." He paused and turned his face, gasped for breath, and +resumed: "The cause justified the father; it had justified me in the +father's cause, had Warwick listened to my suit, and given me the +right to deem insult to his daughter injury to myself." + +"And if, my prince," returned Montagu, looking round him, and in a +subdued whisper, "if yet the hand of Lady Anne were pledged to you?" + +"Tempt me not, tempt me not!" cried the prince, crossing himself. +Montagu continued,-- + +"Our cause, I mean Lord Warwick's cause, is not lost, as the king +deems it." + +"Proceed," said Richard, casting down his eyes, while his countenance +settled back into its thoughtful calm. + +"I mean," renewed Montagu, "that in my brother's flight, his retainers +were taken by surprise. In vain the king would confiscate his lands, +--he cannot confiscate men's hearts. If Warwick to-morrow set his +armed heel upon the soil, trowest thou, sagacious and clear-judging +prince, that the strife which would follow would be but another field +of Losecote? [The battle of Erpingham, so popularly called, in +contempt of the rebel lions runaways.] Thou hast heard of the honours +with which King Louis has received the earl. Will that king grudge +him ships and moneys? And meanwhile, thinkest thou that his favourers +sleep?" + +"But if he land, Montagu," said Richard, who seemed to listen with an +attention that awoke all the hopes of Montagu, coveting so powerful an +ally--"if he land, and make open war on Edward--we must say the word +boldly--what intent can he proclaim? It is not enough to say King +Edward shall not reign; the earl must say also what king England +should elect!" + +"Prince," answered Montagu, "before I reply to that question, +vouchsafe to hear my own hearty desire and wish. Though the king has +deeply wronged my brother, though he has despoiled me of the lands, +which were, peradventure, not too large a reward for twenty victories +in his cause, and restored them to the House that ever ranked amongst +the strongholds of his Lancastrian foe, yet often when I am most +resentful, the memory of my royal seigneur's past love and kindness +comes over me,--above all, the thought of the solemn contract between +his daughter and my son; and I feel (now the first heat of natural +anger at an insult offered to my niece is somewhat cooled) that if +Warwick did land, I could almost forget my brother for my king." + +"Almost!" repeated Richard, smiling. + +"I am plain with your Highness, and say but what I feel. I would even +now fain trust that, by your mediation, the king may be persuaded to +make such concessions and excuses as in truth would not misbeseem him, +to the father of Lady Anne, and his own kinsman; and that yet, ere it +be too late, I may be spared the bitter choice between the ties of +blood and my allegiance to the king." + +"But failing this hope (which I devoutly share),--and Edward, it must +be owned, could scarcely trust to a letter,--still less to a +messenger, the confession of a crime,--failing this, and your brother +land, and I side with him for love of Anne, pledged to me as a bride, +--what king would he ask England to elect?" + +"The Duke of Clarence loves you dearly, Lord Richard," replied +Montagu. "Knowest thou not how often he hath said, 'By sweet Saint +George, if Gloucester would join me, I would make Edward know we were +all one man's sons, who should be more preferred and promoted than +strangers of his wife's blood?'" [Hall.] + +Richard's countenance for a moment evinced disappointment; but he said +dryly: "Then Warwick would propose that Clarence should be king?--and +the great barons and the honest burghers and the sturdy yeomen would, +you think, not stand aghast at the manifesto which declares, not that +the dynasty of York is corrupt and faulty, but that the younger son +should depose the elder,--that younger son, mark me! not only unknown +in war and green in council, but gay, giddy, vacillating; not subtle +of wit and resolute of deed, as he who so aspires should be!--Montagu, +a vain dream!"--Richard paused and then resumed, in a low tone, as to +himself, "Oh, not so--not so are kings cozened from their thrones! a +pretext must blind men,--say they are illegitimate, say they are too +young, too feeble, too anything, glide into their place, and then, not +war--not war. You slay them not,--they disappear!" The duke's face, +as he muttered, took a sinister and a dark expression, his eyes seemed +to gaze on space. Suddenly recovering himself as from a revery, he +turned, with his wonted sleek and gracious aspect, to the startled +Montagu, and said, "I was but quoting from Italian history, good my +lord,--wise lore, but terrible and murderous. Return we to the point. +Thou seest Clarence could not reign, and as well," added the prince, +with a slight sigh,--"as well or better (for, without vanity, I have +more of a king's mettle in me), might I--even I--aspire to my +brother's crown!" Here he paused, and glanced rapidly and keenly at +the marquis; but whether or not in these words he had sought to sound +Montagu, and that glance sufficed to show him it were bootless or +dangerous to speak more plainly, he resumed with an altered voice, +"Enough of this: Warwick will discover the idleness of such design; +and if he land, his trumpets must ring to a more kindling measure. +John Montagu, thinkest thou that Margaret of Anjou and the +Lancastrians will not rather win thy brother to their side? There is +the true danger to Edward,--none elsewhere." + +"And if so?" said Montagu, watching his listener's countenance. +Richard started, and gnawed his lip. "Mark me," continued the +marquis, "I repeat that I would fain hope yet that Edward may appease +the earl; but if not, and, rather than rest dishonoured and aggrieved, +Warwick link himself with Lancaster, and thou join him as Anne's +betrothed and lord, what matters who the puppet on the throne?--we and +thou shall be the rulers; or, if thou reject," added the marquis, +artfully, as he supposed, exciting the jealousy of the duke, "Henry +has a son--a fair, and they say, a gallant prince--carefully tutored +in the knowledge of our English laws, and who my lord of Oxford, +somewhat in the confidence of the Lancastrians, assures me would +rejoice to forget old feuds, and call Warwick 'father,' and my niece +'Lady and Princess of Wales.'" + +With all his dissimulation, Richard could ill conceal the emotions of +fear, of jealousy, of dismay, which these words excited. + +"Lord Oxford!" he cried, stamping his foot. "Ha, John de Vere, +pestilent traitor, plottest thou thus? But we can yet seize thy +person, and will have thy head." + +Alarmed at this burst, and suddenly made aware that he had laid his +breast too bare to the boy, whom he had thought to dazzle and seduce +to his designs, Montagu said falteringly, "But, my lord, our talk is +but in confidence: at your own prayer, with your own plighted word of +prince and of kinsman, that whatever my frankness may utter should not +pass farther. Take," added the nobleman, with proud dignity--"take my +head rather than Lord Oxford's; for I deserve death, if I reveal to +one who can betray the loose words of another's intimacy and trust!" + +"Forgive me, my cousin," said Richard, meekly; "my love to Anne +transported me too far. Lord Oxford's words, as you report them, had +conjured up a rival, and--but enough of this. And now," added the +prince, gravely, and with a steadiness of voice and manner that gave a +certain majesty to his small stature, "now as thou hast spoken openly, +openly also will I reply. I feel the wrong to the Lady Anne as to +myself; deeply, burningly, and lastingly, will it live in my mind; it +may be, sooner or later, to rise to gloomy deeds, even against Edward +and Edward's blood. But no, I have the king's solemn protestations of +repentance; his guilty passion has burned into ashes, and he now +sighs--gay Edward--for a lighter fere. I cannot join with Clarence, +less can I join with the Lancastrians. My birth makes me the prop of +the throne of York,--to guard it as a heritage (who knows?) that may +descend to mine,--nay, to me! And, mark me well if Warwick attempt a +war of fratricide, he is lost; if, on the other hand, he can submit +himself to the hands of Margaret, stained with his father's gore, the +success of an hour will close in the humiliation of a life. There is +a third way left, and that way thou hast piously and wisely shown. +Let him, like me, resign revenge, and, not exacting a confession and a +cry of peccavi, which no king, much less King Edward the Plantagenet, +can whimper forth, let him accept such overtures as his liege can +make. His titles and castles shall be restored, equal possessions to +those thou hast lost assigned to thee, and all my guerdon (if I can so +negotiate) as all my ambition, his daughter's hand. Muse on this, and +for the peace and weal of the realm so limit all thy schemes, my lord +and cousin!" + +With these words the prince pressed the hand of the marquis, and +walked slowly towards the king's pavilion. + +"Shame on my ripe manhood and lore of life," muttered Montagu, enraged +against himself, and deeply mortified. "How sentence by sentence and +step by step yon crafty pigmy led me on, till all our projects, all +our fears and hopes, are revealed to him who but views them as a foe. +Anne betrothed to one who even in fiery youth can thus beguile and +dupe! Warwick decoyed hither upon fair words, at the will of one whom +Italy (boy, there thou didst forget thy fence of cunning!) has taught +how the great are slain not, but disappear! no, even this defeat +instructs me now. But right, right! the reign of Clarence is +impossible, and that of Lancaster is ill-omened and portentous; and +after all, my son stands nearer to the throne than any subject, in his +alliance with the Lady Elizabeth. Would to Heaven the king could yet +--But out on me! this is no hour for musing on mine own aggrandizement; +rather let me fly at once and warn Oxford--imperilled by my +imprudence--against that dark eye which hath set watch upon his life." + +At that thought, which showed that Montagu, with all his worldliness, +was not forgetful of one of the first duties of knight and gentleman, +the marquis hastened up the alley, in the opposite direction to that +taken by Gloucester, and soon found himself in the courtyard, where a +goodly company were mounting their haquenees and palfreys, to enjoy a +summer ride through the neighbouring chase. The cold and half- +slighting salutations of these minions of the hour, which now +mortified the Nevile, despoiled of the possessions that had rewarded +his long and brilliant services, contrasting forcibly the reverential +homage he had formerly enjoyed, stung Montagu to the quick. + +"Whither ride you, brother Marquis?" said young Lord Dorset +(Elizabeth's son by her first marriage), as Montagu called to his +single squire, who was in waiting with his horse. "Some secret +expedition, methinks, for I have known the day when the Lord Montagu +never rode from his king's palace with less than thirty squires." + +"Since my Lord Dorset prides himself on his memory," answered the +scornful lord, "he may remember also the day when, if a Nevile mounted +in haste, he bade the first Woodville he saw hold the stirrup." + +And regarding "the brother marquis" with a stately eye that silenced +and awed retort, the long-descended Montagu passed the courtiers, and +rode slowly on till out of sight of the palace; he then pushed into a +hand-gallop, and halted not till he had reached London, and gained the +house in which then dwelt the Earl of Oxford, the most powerful of all +the Lancastrian nobles not in exile, and who had hitherto temporized +with the reigning House. + +Two days afterwards the news reached Edward that Lord Oxford and +Jasper of Pembroke--uncle to the boy afterwards Henry VII.--had sailed +from England. + +The tidings reached the king in his chamber, where he was closeted +with Gloucester. The conference between them seemed to have been warm +and earnest, for Edward's face was flushed, and Gloucester's brow was +perturbed and sullen. + +"Now Heaven be praised!" cried the king, extending to Richard the +letter which communicated the flight of the disaffected lords. "We +have two enemies the less in our roiaulme, and many a barony the more +to confiscate to our kingly wants. Ha, ha! these Lancastrians only +serve to enrich us. Frowning still, Richard? smile, boy!" + +"Foi de mon ame, Edward," said Richard, with a bitter energy, +strangely at variance with his usual unctious deference to the king, +"your Highness's gayety is ill-seasoned; you reject all the means to +assure your throne, you rejoice in all the events that imperil it. I +prayed you to lose not a moment in conciliating, if possible, the +great lord whom you own you have wronged, and you replied that you +would rather lose your crown than win back the arm that gave it you." + +"Gave it me! an error, Richard! that crown was at once the heritage of +my own birth and the achievement of my own sword. But were it as you +say, it is not in a king's nature to bear the presence of a power more +formidable than his own, to submit to a voice that commands rather +than counsels; and the happiest chance that ever befell me is the +exile of this earl. How, after what hath chanced, can I ever see his +face again without humiliation, or he mine without resentment?" + +"So you told me anon, and I answered, if that be so, and your Highness +shrinks from the man you have injured, beware at least that Warwick, +if he may not return as a friend, come not back as an irresistible +foe. If you will not conciliate, crush! Hasten by all arts to +separate Clarence from Warwick. Hasten to prevent the union of the +earl's popularity and Henry's rights. Keep eye upon all the +Lancastrian lords, and see that none quit the realm where they are +captives, to join a camp where they can rise into leaders. And at the +very moment I urge you to place strict watch upon Oxford, to send your +swiftest riders to seize Jasper of Pembroke, you laugh with glee to +hear that Oxford and Pembroke are gone to swell the army of your +foes!" + +"Better foes out of my realm than in it," answered Edward, dryly. + +"My liege, I say no more," and Richard rose. "I would forestall a +danger; it but remains for me to share it." + +The king was touched. "Tarry yet, Richard," he said; and then, fixing +his brother's eye, he continued, with a half smile and a heightened +colour, "though we knew thee true and leal to us, we yet know also, +Richard, that thou hast personal interest in thy counsels. Thou +wouldst by one means or another soften or constrain the earl into +giving thee the hand of Anne. Well, then, grant that Warwick and +Clarence expel King Edward from his throne, they may bring a bride to +console thee for the ruin of a brother." + +"Thou hast no right to taunt or to suspect me, my liege," returned +Richard, with a quiver in his lip. "Thou hast included me in thy +meditated wrong to Warwick; and had that wrong been done--" + +"Peradventure it had made thee espouse Warwick's quarrel?" + +"Bluntly, yes!" exclaimed Richard, almost fiercely, and playing with +his dagger. "But" (he added, with a sudden change of voice) "I +understand and know thee better than the earl did or could. I know +what in thee is but thoughtless impulse, haste of passion, the habit +kings form of forgetting all things save the love or hate, the desire +or anger, of a moment. Thou hast told me thyself, and with tears, of +thy offence; thou hast pardoned my boy's burst of anger; I have +pardoned thy evil thought; thou hast told me thyself that another face +has succeeded to the brief empire of Anne's blue eye, and hast further +pledged me thy kingly word, that if I can yet compass the hand of a +cousin dear to me from childhood, thou wilt confirm the union." + +"It is true," said Edward. "But if thou wed thy bride, keep her aloof +from the court,--nay, frown not, my boy, I mean simply that I would +not blush before my brother's wife!" + +Richard bowed low in order to conceal the expression of his face, and +went on without further notice of the explanation. "And all this +considered, Edward, I swear by Saint Paul, the holiest saint to +thoughtful men, and by Saint George, the noblest patron to high-born +warriors, that thy crown and thine honour are as dear to me as if they +were mine own. Whatever sins Richard of Gloucester may live to +harbour and repent, no man shall ever say of him that he was a +recreant to the honour of his country [so Lord Bacon observes of +Richard, with that discrimination, even in the strongest censure, of +which profound judges of mankind are alone capable, that he was "a +king jealous of the honor of the English nation"], or slow to defend +the rights of his ancestors from the treason of a vassal or the sword +of a foreign foe. Therefore, I say again, if thou reject my honest +counsels; if thou suffer Warwick to unite with Lancaster and France; +if the ships of Louis bear to your shores an enemy, the might of whom +your reckless daring undervalues, foremost in the field in battle, +nearest to your side in exile, shall Richard Plantagenet be found!" +These words, being uttered with sincerity, and conveying a promise +never forfeited, were more impressive than the subtlest eloquence the +wily and accomplished Gloucester ever employed as the cloak to guile, +and they so affected Edward, that he threw his arms around his +brother; and after one of those bursts of emotion which were frequent +in one whose feelings were never deep and lasting, but easily aroused +and warmly spoken, he declared himself really to listen to and adopt +all means which Richard's art could suggest for the better maintenance +of their common weal and interests. + +And then, with that wondrous, if somewhat too restless and over- +refining energy which belonged to him, Richard rapidly detailed the +scheme of his profound and dissimulating policy. His keen and +intuitive insight into human nature had shown him the stern necessity +which, against their very will, must unite Warwick with Margaret of +Anjou. His conversation with Montagu had left no doubt of that peril +on his penetrating mind. He foresaw that this union might be made +durable and sacred by the marriage of Anne and Prince Edward; and to +defeat this alliance was his first object, partly through Clarence, +partly through Margaret herself. A gentlewoman in the Duchess of +Clarence's train had been arrested on the point of embarking to join +her mistress. Richard had already seen and conferred with this lady, +whose ambition, duplicity, and talent for intrigue were known to him. +Having secured her by promises of the most lavish dignities and +rewards, he proposed that she should be permitted to join the duchess +with secret messages to Isabel and the duke, warning them both that +Warwick and Margaret would forget their past feud in present sympathy, +and that the rebellion against King Edward, instead of placing them on +the throne, would humble them to be subordinates and aliens to the +real profiters, the Lancastrians. [Comines, 3, c. 5; Hall; +Hollinshed] He foresaw what effect these warnings would have upon the +vain duke and the ambitious Isabel, whose character was known to him +from childhood. He startled the king by insisting upon sending, at +the same time, a trusty diplomatist to Margaret of Anjou, proffering +to give the princess Elizabeth (betrothed to Lord Montagu's son) to +the young Prince Edward. ["Original Letters from Harleian +Manuscripts. Edited by Sir H. Ellis (second series).] Thus, if the +king, who had, as yet, no son, were to die, Margaret's son, in right +of his wife, as well as in that of his own descent, would peaceably +ascend the throne. "Need I say that I mean not this in sad and +serious earnest?" observed Richard, interrupting the astonished king. +"I mean it but to amuse the Anjouite, and to deafen her ears to any +overtures from Warwick. If she listen, we gain time; that time will +inevitably renew irreconcilable quarrel between herself and the earl. +His hot temper and desire of revenge will not brook delay. He will +land, unsupported by Margaret and her partisans, and without any fixed +principle of action which can strengthen force by opinion." + +"You are right, Richard," said Edward, whose faithless cunning +comprehended the more sagacious policy it could not originate. "All +be it as you will." + +"And in the mean while," added Richard, "watch well, but anger not, +Montagu and the archbishop. It were dangerous to seem to distrust +them till proof be clear; it were dull to believe them true. I go at +once to fulfil my task." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WARWICK AND HIS FAMILY IN EXILE. + +We now summon the reader on a longer if less classic journey than from +Thebes to Athens, and waft him on a rapid wing from Shene to Amboise. +We must suppose that the two emissaries of Gloucester have already +arrived at their several destinations,--the lady has reached Isabel, +the envoy Margaret. + +In one of the apartments appropriated to the earl in the royal palace, +within the embrasure of a vast Gothic casement, sat Anne of Warwick; +the small wicket in the window was open, and gave a view of a wide and +fair garden, interspersed with thick bosquets and regular alleys, over +which the rich skies of the summer evening, a little before sunset, +cast alternate light and shadow. Towards this prospect the sweet face +of the Lady Anne was turned musingly. The riveted eye, the bended +neck, the arms reclining on the knee, the slender fingers interlaced, +--gave to her whole person the character of revery and repose. + +In the same chamber were two other ladies; the one was pacing the +floor with slow but uneven steps, with lips moving from time to time, +as if in self-commune, with the brow contracted slightly: her form and +face took also the character of revery, but not of repose. + +The third female (the gentle and lovely mother of the other two) was +seated, towards the centre of the room, before a small table, on which +rested one of those religious manuscripts, full of the moralities and +the marvels of cloister sanctity, which made so large a portion of the +literature of the monkish ages. But her eye rested not on the Gothic +letter and the rich blazon of the holy book. With all a mother's fear +and all a mother's fondness, it glanced from Isabel to Anne, from Anne +to Isabel, till at length in one of those soft voices, so rarely +heard, which makes even a stranger love the speaker, the fair countess +said,-- + +"Come hither, my child Isabel; give me thy hand, and whisper me what +hath chafed thee." + +"My mother," replied the duchess, "it would become me ill to have a +secret not known to thee, and yet, methinks, it would become me less +to say aught to provoke thine anger!" + +"Anger, Isabel! Who ever knew anger for those they love?" + +"Pardon me, my sweet mother," said Isabel, relaxing her haughty brow, +and she approached and kissed her mother's cheek. + +The countess drew her gently to a seat by her side. + +"And now tell me all,--unless, indeed, thy Clarence hath, in some +lover's hasty mood, vexed thy affection; for of the household secrets +even a mother should not question the true wife." + +Isabel paused, and glanced significantly at Anne. + +"Nay, see!" said the countess, smiling, though sadly, "she, too, hath +thoughts that she will not tell to me; but they seem not such as +should alarm my fears, as thine do. For the moment ere I spoke to +thee, thy brow frowned, and her lip smiled. She hears us not,--speak +on." + +"Is it then true, my mother, that Margaret of Anjou is hastening +hither? And can it be possible that King Louis can persuade my lord +and father to meet, save in the field of battle, the arch-enemy of our +House?" + +"Ask the earl thyself, Isabel; Lord Warwick hath no concealment from +his children. Whatever he doth is ever wisest, best, and +knightliest,--so, at least, may his children always deem!" + +Isabel's colour changed and her eye flashed. But ere she could +answer, the arras was raised, and Lord Warwick entered. But no longer +did the hero's mien and manner evince that cordial and tender +cheerfulness which, in all the storms of his changeful life, he had +hitherto displayed when coming from power and danger, from council or +from camp, to man's earthly paradise,--a virtuous home. + +Gloomy and absorbed, his very dress--which, at that day, the Anglo- +Norman deemed it a sin against self-dignity to neglect--betraying, by +its disorder, that thorough change of the whole mind, that terrible +internal revolution, which is made but in strong natures by the +tyranny of a great care or a great passion, the earl scarcely seemed +to heed his countess, who rose hastily, but stopped in the timid fear +and reverence of love at the sight of his stern aspect; he threw +himself abruptly on a seat, passed his hand over his face, and sighed +heavily. + +That sigh dispelled the fear of the wife, and made her alive only to +her privilege of the soother. She drew near, and placing herself on +the green rushes at his feet, took his hand and kissed it, but did not +speak. + +The earl's eyes fell on the lovely face looking up to him through +tears, his brow softened, he drew his hand gently from hers, placed it +on her head, and said in a low voice,--"God and Our Lady bless thee, +sweet wife!" + +Then, looking round, he saw Isabel watching him intently; and, rising +at once, he threw his arm round her waist, pressed her to his bosom, +and said, "My daughter, for thee and thine day and night have I +striven and planned in vain. I cannot reward thy husband as I would; +I cannot give thee, as I had hoped, a throne!" + +"What title so dear to Isabel," said the countess, "as that of Lord +Warwick's daughter?" + +Isabel remained cold and silent, and returned not the earl's embrace. + +Warwick was, happily, too absorbed in his own feelings to notice those +of his child. Moving away, he continued, as he paced the room (his +habit in emotion, which Isabel, who had many minute external traits in +common with her father, had unconsciously caught from him),-- + +"Till this morning I hoped still that my name and services, that +Clarence's popular bearing and his birth of Plantagenet, would suffice +to summon the English people round our standard; that the false Edward +would be driven, on our landing, to fly the realm; and that, without +change to the dynasty of York, Clarence, as next male heir, would +ascend the throne. True, I saw all the obstacles, all the +difficulties,--I was warned of them before I left England; but still I +hoped. Lord Oxford has arrived, he has just left me. We have gone +over the chart of the way before us, weighed the worth of every name, +for and against; and, alas! I cannot but allow that all attempt to +place the younger brother on the throne of the elder would but lead to +bootless slaughter and irretrievable defeat." + +"Wherefore think you so, my lord?" asked Isabel, in evident +excitement. "Your own retainers are sixty thousand,--an army larger +than Edward, and all his lords of yesterday, can bring into the +field." + +"My child," answered the earl, with that profound knowledge of his +countrymen which he had rather acquired from his English heart than +from any subtlety of intellect, "armies may gain a victory, but they +do not achieve a throne,--unless, at least, they enforce a slavery; +and it is not for me and for Clarence to be the violent conquerors of +our countrymen, but the regenerators of a free realm, corrupted by a +false man's rule." + +"And what then," exclaimed Isabel,--"what do you propose, my father? +Can it be possible that you can unite yourself with the abhorred +Lancastrians, with the savage Anjouite, who beheaded my grandsire, +Salisbury? Well do I remember your own words,--'May God and Saint +George forget me, when I forget those gray and gory hairs!'" + +Here Isabel was interrupted by a faint cry from Anne, who, unobserved +by the rest, and hitherto concealed from her father's eye by the deep +embrasure of the window, had risen some moments before, and listened, +with breathless attention, to the conversation between Warwick and the +duchess. + +"It is not true, it is not true!" exclaimed Anne, passionately. +"Margaret disowns the inhuman deed." + +"Thou art right, Anne," said Warwick; "though I guess not how thou +didst learn the error of a report so popularly believed that till of +late I never questioned its truth. King Louis assures me solemnly +that that foul act was done by the butcher Clifford, against +Margaret's knowledge, and, when known, to her grief and anger." + +"And you, who call Edward false, can believe Louis true?" + +"Cease, Isabel, cease!" said the countess. "Is it thus my child can +address my lord and husband? Forgive her, beloved Richard." + +"Such heat in Clarence's wife misbeseems her not," answered Warwick. +"And I can comprehend and pardon in my haughty Isabel a resentment +which her reason must at last subdue; for think not, Isabel, that it +is without dread struggle and fierce agony that I can contemplate +peace and league with mine ancient foe; but here two duties speak to +me in voices not to be denied: my honour and my hearth, as noble and +as man, demand redress, and the weal and glory of my country demand a +ruler who does not degrade a warrior, nor assail a virgin, nor corrupt +a people by lewd pleasures, nor exhaust a land by grinding imposts; +and that honour shall be vindicated, and that country shall be +righted, no matter at what sacrifice of private grief and pride." + +The words and the tone of the earl for a moment awed even Isabel; but +after a pause, she said suddenly, "And for this, then, Clarence hath +joined your quarrel and shared your exile?--for this,--that he may +place the eternal barrier of the Lancastrian line between himself and +the English throne?" + +"I would fain hope," answered the earl, calmly, "that Clarence will +view our hard position more charitably than thou. If he gain not all +that I could desire, should success crown our arms, he will, at least, +gain much; for often and ever did thy husband, Isabel, urge me to +stern measures against Edward, when I soothed him and restrained. +Mort Dieu! how often did he complain of slight and insult from +Elizabeth and her minions, of open affront from Edward, of parsimony +to his wants as prince,--of a life, in short, humbled and made bitter +by all the indignity and the gall which scornful power can inflict on +dependent pride. If he gain not the throne, he will gain, at least, +the succession in thy right to the baronies of Beauchamp, the mighty +duchy, and the vast heritage of York, the vice-royalty of Ireland. +Never prince of the blood had wealth and honours equal to those that +shall await thy lord. For the rest, I drew him not into my quarrel; +long before would he have drawn me into his; nor doth it become thee, +Isabel, as child and as sister, to repent, if the husband of my +daughter felt as brave men feel, without calculation of gain and +profit, the insult offered to his lady's House. But if here I +overgauge his chivalry and love to me and mine, or discontent his +ambition and his hopes, Mort Dieu! we hold him not a captive. Edward +will hail his overtures of peace; let him make terms with his brother, +and return." + +"I will report to him what you say, my lord," said Isabel, with cold +brevity and, bending her haughty head in formal reverence, she +advanced to the door. Anne sprang forward and caught her hand. + +"Oh, Isabel!" she whispered, "in our father's sad and gloomy hour can +you leave him thus?" and the sweet lady burst into tears. + +"Anne," retorted Isabel, bitterly, "thy heart is Lancastrian; and +what, peradventure, grieves my father hath but joy for thee." + +Anne drew back, pale and trembling, and her sister swept from the +room. + +The earl, though he had not overheard the whispered sentences which +passed between his daughters, had watched them closely, and his lip +quivered with emotion as Isabel closed the door. + +"Come hither, my Anne," he said tenderly; "thou who hast thy mother's +face, never hast a harsh thought for thy father." + +As Anne threw herself on Warwick's breast, he continued, "And how +camest thou to learn that Margaret disowns a deed that, if done by her +command, would render my union with her cause a sacrilegious impiety +to the dead?" + +Anne coloured, and nestled her head still closer to her father's +bosom. Her mother regarded her confusion and her silence with an +anxious eye. + +The wing of the palace in which the earl's apartments were situated +was appropriated to himself and household, flanked to the left by an +abutting pile containing state-chambers, never used by the austere and +thrifty Louis, save on great occasions of pomp or revel; and, as we +have before observed, looking on a garden, which was generally +solitary and deserted. From this garden, while Anne yet strove for +words to answer her father, and the countess yet watched her +embarrassment, suddenly came the soft strain of a Provencal lute; +while a low voice, rich, and modulated at once by a deep feeling and +an exquisite art that would have given effect to even simpler words, +breathed-- + + THE LAY OF THE HEIR OF LANCASTER + + "His birthright but a father's name, + A grandsire's hero-sword, + He dwelt within the stranger's land, + The friendless, homeless lord!" + + "Yet one dear hope, too dear to tell, + Consoled the exiled man; + The angels have their home in heaven + And gentle thoughts in Anne." + +At that name the voice of the singer trembled, and paused a moment; +the earl, who at first had scarcely listened to what he deemed but the +ill-seasoned gallantry of one of the royal minstrels, started in proud +surprise, and Anne herself, tightening her clasp round her father's +neck, burst into passionate sobs. The eye of the countess met that of +her lord; but she put her finger to her lips in sign to him to listen. +The song was resumed-- + + "Recall the single sunny time, + In childhood's April weather, + When he and thou, the boy and girl, + Roved hand in band together." + + "When round thy young companion knelt + The princes of the isle; + And priest and people prayed their God, + On England's heir to smile." + +The earl uttered a half-stifled exclamation, but the minstrel heard +not the interruption, and continued,-- + + "Methinks the sun hath never smiled + Upon the exiled man, + Like that bright morning when the boy + Told all his soul to Anne." + + "No; while his birthright but a name, + A grandsire's hero--sword, + He would not woo the lofty maid + To love the banished lord." + + "But when, with clarion, fife, and drum, + He claims and wins his own; + When o'er the deluge drifts his ark, + To rest upon a throne." + + "Then, wilt thou deign to hear the hope + That blessed the exiled man, + When pining for his father's crown + To deck the brows of Anne?" + +The song ceased, and there was silence within the chamber, broken but +by Anne's low yet passionate weeping. The earl gently strove to +disengage her arms from his neck; but she, mistaking his intention, +sank on her knees, and covering her face with her hands, exclaimed,-- + +"Pardon! pardon! pardon him, if not me!" + +"What have I to pardon? What hast thou concealed from me? Can I +think that thou hast met, in secret, one who--" + +"In secret! Never, never, Father! This is the third time only that I +have heard his voice since we have been at Amboise, save when--save +when--" + +"Go on." + +"Save when King Louis presented him to me in the revel under the name +of the Count de F----, and he asked me if I could forgive his mother +for Lord Clifford's crime." + +"It is, then, as the rhyme proclaimed; and it is Edward of Lancaster +who loves and woos the daughter of Lord Warwick!" + +Something in her father's voice made Anne remove her hands from her +face, and look up to him with a thrill of timid joy. Upon his brow, +indeed, frowned no anger, upon his lip smiled no scorn. At that +moment all his haughty grief at the curse of circumstance which drove +him to his hereditary foe had vanished. Though Montagu had obtained +from Oxford some glimpse of the desire which the more sagacious and +temperate Lancastrians already entertained for that alliance, and +though Louis had already hinted its expediency to the earl, yet, till +now, Warwick himself had naturally conceived that the prince shared +the enmity of his mother, and that such a union, however politic, was +impossible; but now indeed there burst upon him the full triumph of +revenge and pride. Edward of York dared to woo Anne to dishonour, +Edward of Lancaster dared not even woo her as his wife till his crown +was won! To place upon the throne the very daughter the ungrateful +monarch had insulted; to make her he would have humbled not only the +instrument of his fall, but the successor of his purple; to unite in +one glorious strife the wrongs of the man and the pride of the +father,--these were the thoughts that sparkled in the eye of the king- +maker, and flushed with a fierce rapture the dark cheek, already +hollowed by passion and care. He raised his daughter from the floor, +and placed her in her mother's arms, but still spoke not. + +"This, then, was thy secret, Anne," whispered the countess; "and I +half foreguessed it, when, last night, I knelt beside thy couch to +pray, and overheard thee murmur in thy dreams." + +"Sweet mother, thou forgivest me; but my father--ah, he speaks not. +One word! Father, Father, not even his love could console me if I +angered thee!" + +The earl, who had remained rooted to the spot, his eyes shining +thoughtfully under his dark brows, and his hand slightly raised, as if +piercing into the future, and mapping out its airy realm, turned +quickly,-- + +"I go to the heir of Lancaster; if this boy be bold and true, worthy +of England and of thee, we will change the sad ditty of that scrannel +lute into such a storm of trumpets as beseems the triumph of a +conqueror and the marriage of a prince!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HOW THE HEIR OF LANCASTER MEETS THE KING-MAKER. + +In truth, the young prince, in obedience to a secret message from the +artful Louis, had repaired to the court of Amboise under the name of +the Count de F----. The French king had long before made himself +acquainted with Prince Edward's romantic attachment to the earl's +daughter, through the agent employed by Edward to transmit his +portrait to Anne at Rouen; and from him, probably, came to Oxford the +suggestion which that nobleman had hazarded to Montagu; and now that +it became his policy seriously and earnestly to espouse the cause of +his kinswoman Margaret, he saw all the advantage to his cold +statecraft which could be drawn from a boyish love. Louis had a well- +founded fear of the warlike spirit and military talents of Edward IV.; +and this fear had induced him hitherto to refrain from openly +espousing the cause of the Lancastrians, though it did not prevent his +abetting such seditions and intrigues as could confine the attention +of the martial Plantagenet to the perils of his own realm. But now +that the breach between Warwick and the king had taken place; now that +the earl could no longer curb the desire of the Yorkist monarch to +advance his hereditary claims to the fairest provinces of France,-- +nay, peradventure, to France itself,--while the defection of Lord +Warwick gave to the Lancastrians the first fair hope of success in +urging their own pretensions to the English throne, he bent all the +powers of his intellect and his will towards the restoration of a +natural ally and the downfall of a dangerous foe. But he knew that +Margaret and her Lancastrian favourers could not of themselves suffice +to achieve a revolution,--that they could only succeed under cover of +the popularity and the power of Warwick, while he perceived all the +art it would require to make Margaret forego her vindictive nature and +long resentment, and to supple the pride of the great earl into +recognizing as a sovereign the woman who had branded him as a traitor. + +Long before Lord Oxford's arrival, Louis, with all that address which +belonged to him, had gradually prepared the earl to familiarize +himself to the only alternative before him, save that, indeed, of +powerless sense of wrong and obscure and lasting exile. The French +king looked with more uneasiness to the scruples of Margaret; and to +remove these, he trusted less to his own skill than to her love for +her only son. + +His youth passed principally in Anjou--that court of minstrels--young +Edward's gallant and ardent temper had become deeply imbued with the +southern poetry and romance. Perhaps the very feud between his House +and Lord Warwick's, though both claimed their common descent from John +of Gaunt, had tended, by the contradictions in the human heart, to +endear to him the recollection of the gentle Anne. He obeyed with joy +the summons of Louis, repaired to the court, was presented to Anne as +the Count de F----, found himself recognized at the first glance (for +his portrait still lay upon her heart, as his remembrance in its +core), and, twice before the song we have recited, had ventured, +agreeably to the sweet customs of Anjou, to address the lady of his +love under the shade of the starlit summer copses. But on this last +occasion, he had departed from his former discretion; hitherto he had +selected an hour of deeper night, and ventured but beneath the lattice +of the maiden's chamber when the rest of the palace was hushed in +sleep. And the fearless declaration of his rank and love now hazarded +was prompted by one who contrived to turn to grave uses the wildest +whim of the minstrel, the most romantic enthusiasm of youth. + +Louis had just learned from Oxford the result of his interview with +Warwick. And about the same time the French king had received a +letter from Margaret, announcing her departure from the castle of +Verdun for Tours, where she prayed him to meet her forthwith, and +stating that she had received from England tidings that might change +all her schemes, and more than ever forbid the possibility of a +reconciliation with the Earl of Warwick. + +The king perceived the necessity of calling into immediate effect the +aid on which he had relied, in the presence and passion of the young +prince. He sought him at once; he found him in a remote part of the +gardens, and overheard him breathing to himself the lay he had just +composed. + +"Pasque Dieu!" said the king, laying his hand on the young man's +shoulder, "if thou wilt but repeat that song where and when I bid +thee, I promise that before the month ends Lord Warwick shall pledge +thee his daughter's hand; and before the year is closed thou shalt sit +beside Lord Warwick's daughter in the halls of Westminster." + +And the royal troubadour took the counsel of the king. + +The song had ceased; the minstrel emerged from the bosquets, and stood +upon the sward, as, from the postern of the palace, walked with a slow +step, a form from which it became him not, as prince or as lover, in +peace or in war, to shrink. The first stars had now risen; the light, +though serene, was pale and dim. The two men--the one advancing, the +other motionless--gazed on each other in grave silence. As Count de +F----, amidst the young nobles in the king's train, the earl had +scarcely noticed the heir of England. He viewed him now with a +different eye: in secret complacency, for, with a soldier's weakness, +the soldier-baron valued men too much for their outward seeming, he +surveyed a figure already masculine and stalwart, though still in the +graceful symmetry of fair eighteen. + +"A youth of a goodly presence," muttered the earl, "with the dignity +that commands in peace, and the sinews that can strive against +hardship and death in war." + +He approached, and said calmly: "Sir minstrel, he who woos either fame +or beauty may love the lute, but should wield the sword. At least, so +methinks had the Fifth Henry said to him who boasts for his heritage +the sword of Agincourt." + +"O noble earl!" exclaimed the prince, touched by words far gentler +than he had dared to hope, despite his bold and steadfast mien, and +giving way to frank and graceful emotion, "O noble earl! since thou +knowest me; since my secret is told; since, in that secret, I have +proclaimed a hope as dear to me as a crown and dearer far than life, +can I hope that thy rebuke but veils thy favour, and that, under Lord +Warwick's eye, the grandson of Henry V. shall approve himself worthy +of the blood that kindles in his veins?" + +"Fair sir and prince," returned the earl, whose hardy and generous +nature the emotion and fire of Edward warmed and charmed, "there are, +alas! deep memories of blood and wrong--the sad deeds and wrathful +words of party feud and civil war--between thy royal mother and +myself; and though we may unite now against a common foe, much I fear +that the Lady Margaret would brook ill a closer friendship, a nearer +tie, than the exigency of the hour between Richard Nevile and her +son." + +"No, Sir Earl, let me hope you misthink her. Hot and impetuous, but +not mean and treacherous, the moment that she accepts the service of +thine arm she must forget that thou hast been her foe; and if I, as my +father's heir, return to England, it is in the trust that a new era +will commence. Free from the passionate enmities of either faction, +Yorkist and Lancastrian are but Englishmen to me. Justice to all who +serve us, pardon for all who have opposed." + +The prince paused, and, even in the dim light, his kingly aspect gave +effect to his kingly words. "And if this resolve be such as you +approve; if you, great earl, be that which even your foes proclaim, a +man whose power depends less on lands and vassals--broad though the +one, and numerous though the other--than on well-known love for +England, her glory and her peace, it rests with you to bury forever in +one grave the feuds of Lancaster and York! What Yorkist who hath +fought at Towton or St. Albans under Lord Warwick's standard, will +lift sword against the husband of Lord Warwick's daughter? What +Lancastrian will not forgive a Yorkist, when Lord Warwick, the kinsman +of Duke Richard, becomes father to the Lancastrian heir, and bulwark +to the Lancastrian throne? O Warwick, if not for my sake, nor for the +sake of full redress against the ingrate whom thou repentest to have +placed on my father's throne, at least for the sake of England, for +the healing of her bleeding wounds, for the union of her divided +people, hear the grandson of Henry V., who sues to thee for thy +daughter's hand!" + +The royal wooer bent his knee as he spoke. The mighty subject saw and +prevented the impulse of the prince who had forgotten himself in the +lover; the hand which he caught he lifted to his lips, and the next +moment, in manly and soldierlike embrace, the prince's young arm was +thrown over the broad shoulder of the king-maker. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE INTERVIEW OF EARL WARWICK AND QUEEN MARGARET. + +Louis hastened to meet Margaret at Tours; thither came also her father +Rene, her brother John of Calabria, Yolante her sister, and the Count +of Vaudemonte. The meeting between the queen and Rene was so touching +as to have drawn tears to the hard eyes of Louis XI.; but, that +emotion over, Margaret evinced how little affliction had humbled her +high spirit, or softened her angry passions: she interrupted Louis in +every argument for reconciliation with Warwick. "Not with honour to +myself and to my son," she exclaimed, "can I pardon that cruel earl, +the main cause of King Henry's downfall! in vain patch up a hollow +peace between us,--a peace of form and parchment! My spirit never can +be contented with him, ne pardon!" + +For several days she maintained a language which betrayed the chief +cause of her own impolitic passions, that had lost her crown. Showing +to Louis the letter despatched to her, proffering the hand of the Lady +Elizabeth to her son, she asked if that were not a more profitable +party [See, for this curious passage of secret history, Sir H. Ellis's +"Original Letters from the Harleian Manuscripts," second series, vol. +i., letter 42.], and if it were necessary that she should forgive,-- +whether it were not more queenly to treat with Edward than with a +twofold rebel? + +In fact, the queen would perhaps have fallen into Gloucester's artful +snare, despite all the arguments and even the half-menaces [Louis +would have thrown over Margaret's cause if Warwick had demanded it; he +instructed MM. de Concressault and du Plessis to assure the earl that +he would aid him to the utmost to reconquer England either for the +Queen Margaret or for any one else he chose (on pour qui il voudra): +for that he loved the earl better than Margaret or her son.--BRANTE, +t. ix. 276.] of the more penetrating Louis, but for a counteracting +influence which Richard had not reckoned upon. Prince Edward, who had +lingered behind Louis, arrived from Amboise, and his persuasions did +more than all the representations of the crafty king. The queen loved +her son with that intenseness which characterizes the one soft +affection of violent natures. Never had she yet opposed his most +childish whim, and now he spoke with the eloquence of one who put his +heart and his life's life into his words. At last, reluctantly, she +consented to an interview with Warwick. The earl, accompanied by +Oxford, arrived at Tours, and the two nobles were led into the +presence of Margaret by King Louis. + +The reader will picture to himself a room darkened by thick curtains +drawn across the casement, for the proud woman wished not the earl to +detect on her face either the ravages of years or the emotions of +offended pride. In a throne chair, placed on the dais, sat the +motionless queen, her hands clasping, convulsively, the arms of the +fauteuil, her features pale and rigid; and behind the chair leaned the +graceful figure of her son. The person of the Lancastrian prince was +little less remarkable than that of his hostile namesake, but its +character was distinctly different. ["According to some of the French +chroniclers, the Prince of Wales, who was one of the handsomest and +most accomplished princes in Europe, was very desirous of becoming the +husband of Anne Nevile," etc.--Miss STRICKLAND: Life of Margaret of +Anjou.] Spare, like Henry V., almost to the manly defect of leanness, +his proportions were slight to those which gave such portly majesty to +the vast-chested Edward, but they evinced the promise of almost equal +strength,--the muscles hardened to iron by early exercise in arms, the +sap of youth never wasted by riot and debauch. His short purple +manteline, trimmed with ermine, was embroidered with his grandfather's +favourite device, "the silver swan;" he wore on his breast the badge +of St. George; and the single ostrich plume, which made his cognizance +as Prince of Wales, waved over a fair and ample forehead, on which +were even then traced the lines of musing thought and high design; his +chestnut hair curled close to his noble head; his eye shone dark and +brilliant beneath the deep-set brow, which gives to the human +countenance such expression of energy and intellect,--all about him, +in aspect and mien, seemed to betoken a mind riper than his years, a +masculine simplicity of taste and bearing, the earnest and grave +temperament mostly allied in youth to pure and elevated desires, to an +honourable and chivalric soul. + +Below the dais stood some of the tried and gallant gentlemen who had +braved exile, and tasted penury in their devotion to the House of +Lancaster, and who had now flocked once more round their queen, in the +hope of better days. There were the Dukes of Exeter and Somerset, +their very garments soiled and threadbare,--many a day had those great +lords hungered for the beggar's crust! [Philip de Comines says he +himself had seen the Dukes of Exeter and Somerset in the Low Countries +in as wretched a plight as common beggars.] There stood Sir John +Fortescue, the patriarch authority of our laws, who had composed his +famous treatise for the benefit of the young prince, overfond of +exercise with lance and brand, and the recreation of knightly song. +There were Jasper of Pembroke, and Sir Henry Rous, and the Earl of +Devon, and the Knight of Lytton, whose House had followed, from sire +to son, the fortunes of the Lancastrian Rose; [Sir Robert de Lytton +(whose grandfather had been Comptroller to the Household of Henry IV., +and Agister of the Forests allotted to Queen Joan), was one of the +most powerful knights of the time; and afterwards, according to Perkin +Warbeck, one of the ministers most trusted by Henry VII. He was lord +of Lytton, in Derbyshire (where his ancestors had been settled since +the Conquest), of Knebworth in Herts (the ancient seat and manor of +Plantagenet de Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk and Earl Marshal), of +Myndelesden and Langley, of Standyarn, Dene, and Brekesborne, in +Northamptonshire, and became in the reign of Henry VII. Privy +Councillor, Uuder-Treasurer, and Keeper of the great Wardrobe.] and, +contrasting the sober garments of the exiles, shone the jewels and +cloth-of-gold that decked the persons of the more prosperous +foreigners, Ferri, Count of Vaudemonte, Margaret's brother, the Duke +of Calabria, and the powerful form of Sir Pierre de Breze, who had +accompanied Margaret in her last disastrous campaigns, with all the +devotion of a chevalier for the lofty lady adored in secret. [See, +for the chivalrous devotion of this knight (Seneschal of Normandy) to +Margaret, Miss Strickland's Life of that queen.] + +When the door opened, and gave to the eyes of those proud exiles the +form of their puissant enemy, they with difficulty suppressed the +murmur of their resentment, and their looks turned with sympathy and +grief to the hueless face of their queen. + +The earl himself was troubled; his step was less firm, his crest less +haughty, his eye less serenely steadfast. + +But beside him, in a dress more homely than that of the poorest exile +there, and in garb and in aspect, as he lives forever in the +portraiture of Victor Hugo and our own yet greater Scott, moved Louis, +popularly called "The Fell." + +"Madame and cousin," said the king, "we present to you the man for +whose haute courage and dread fame we have such love and respect, that +we value him as much as any king, and would do as much for him as for +man living [Ellis: Original Letters, vol. i., letter 42, second +series]; and with my lord of Warwick, see also this noble earl of +Oxford, who, though he may have sided awhile with the enemies of your +Highness, comes now to pray your pardon, and to lay at your feet his +sword." + +Lord Oxford (who had ever unwillingly acquiesced in the Yorkist +dynasty), more prompt than Warwick, here threw himself on his knees +before Margaret, and his tears fell on her hand, as he murmured +"Pardon." + +"Rise, Sir John de Vere," said the queen, glancing with a flashing eye +from Oxford to Lord Warwick. "Your pardon is right easy to purchase, +for well I know that you yielded but to the time,--you did not turn +the time against us; you and yours have suffered much for King Henry's +cause. Rise, Sir Earl." + +"And," said a voice, so deep and so solemn, that it hushed the very +breath of those who heard it,--"and has Margaret a pardon also for the +man who did more than all others to dethrone King Henry, and can do +more than all to restore his crown?" + +"Ha!" cried' Margaret, rising in her passion, and casting from her the +hand her son had placed upon her shoulder, "ha! Ownest thou thy +wrongs, proud lord? Comest thou at last to kneel at Queen Margaret's +feet? Look round and behold her court,--some half-score brave and +unhappy gentlemen, driven from their hearths and homes, their heritage +the prey of knaves and varlets, their sovereign in a prison, their +sovereign's wife, their sovereign's son, persecuted and hunted from +the soil! And comest thou now to the forlorn majesty of sorrow to +boast, 'Such deeds were mine?'" + +"Mother and lady," began the prince + +"Madden me not, my son. Forgiveness is for the prosperous, not for +adversity and woe." + +"Hear me," said the earl,--who, having once bowed his pride to the +interview, had steeled himself against the passion which, in his +heart, he somewhat despised as a mere woman's burst of inconsiderate +fury,--"for I have this right to be heard,--that not one of these +knights, your lealest and noblest friends, can say of me that I ever +stooped to gloss mine acts, or palliate bold deeds with wily words. +Dear to me as comrade in arms, sacred to me as a father's head, was +Richard of York, mine uncle by marriage with Lord Salisbury's sister. +I speak not now of his claims by descent (for those even King Henry +could not deny), but I maintain them, even in your Grace's presence, +to be such as vindicate, from disloyalty and treason, me and the many +true and gallant men who upheld them through danger, by field and +scaffold. Error, it might be,--but the error of men who believed +themselves the defenders of a just cause. Nor did I, Queen Margaret, +lend myself wholly to my kinsman's quarrel, nor share one scheme that +went to the dethronement of King Henry, until--pardon, if I speak +bluntly; it is my wont, and would be more so now, but for thy fair +face and woman's form, which awe me more than if confronting the frown +of Coeur de Lion, or the First Great Edward--pardon me, I say, if I +speak bluntly, and aver that I was not King Henry's foe until false +counsellors had planned my destruction, in body and goods, land and +life. In the midst of peace, at Coventry, my father and myself +scarcely escaped the knife of the murderer. [See Hall (236), who says +that Margaret had laid a snare for Salisbury and Warwick at Warwick, +and "if they had not suddenly departed, their life's thread had been +broken."] In the streets of London the very menials and hangmen +employed in the service of your Highness beset me unarmed [Hall, +Fabyan]; a little time after and my name was attainted by an illegal +Parliament. [Parl. Rolls, 370; W. Wyr. 478.] And not till after +these things did Richard Duke of York ride to the hall of Westminster, +and lay his hand upon the throne; nor till after these things did I +and my father Salisbury say to each other, 'The time has come when +neither peace nor honour can be found for us under King Henry's +reign.' Blame me if you will, Queen Margaret; reject me if you need +not my sword; but that which I did in the gone days was such as no +nobleman so outraged and despaired [Warwick's phrase. See Sir H. +Ellis's "Original Letters," vol. i., second series.] would have +forborne to do,--remembering that England is not the heritage of the +king alone, but that safety and honour, and freedom and justice, are +the rights of his Norman gentlemen and his Saxon people. And rights +are a mockery and a laughter if they do not justify resistance, +whensoever, and by whomsoever, they are invaded and assailed." + +It had been with a violent effort that Margaret had refrained from +interrupting this address, which had, however, produced no +inconsiderable effect upon the knightly listeners around the dais. +And now, as the earl ceased, her indignation was arrested by dismay on +seeing the young prince suddenly leave his post and advance to the +side of Warwick. + +"Right well hast thou spoken, noble earl and cousin,--right well, +though right plainly. And I," added the prince, "saving the presence +of my queen and mother,--I, the representative of my sovereign father, +in his name will pledge thee a king's oblivion and pardon for the +past, if thou on thy side acquit my princely mother of all privity to +the snares against thy life and honour of which thou hast spoken, and +give thy knightly word to be henceforth leal to Lancaster. Perish all +memories of the past that can make walls between the souls of brave +men." + +Till this moment, his arms folded in his gown, his thin, fox-like face +bent to the ground, Louis had listened, silent and undisturbed. He +now deemed it the moment to second the appeal of the prince. Passing +his hand hypocritically over his tearless eyes, the king turned to +Margaret and said,-- + +"Joyful hour! happy union! May Madame La Vierge and Monseigneur Saint +Martin sanctify and hallow the bond by which alone my beloved +kinswoman can regain her rights and roiaulme. Amen." + +Unheeding this pious ejaculation, her bosom heaving, her eyes +wandering from the earl to Edward, Margaret at last gave vent to her +passion. + +"And is it come to this, Prince Edward of Wales, that thy mother's +wrongs are not thine? Standest thou side by side with my mortal foe, +who, instead of repenting treason, dares but to complain of injury? +Am I fallen so low that my voice to pardon or disdain is counted but +as a sough of idle air! God of my fathers, hear me! Willingly from +my heart I tear the last thought and care for the pomps of earth. +Hateful to me a crown for which the wearer must cringe to enemy and +rebel! Away, Earl Warwick! Monstrous and unnatural seems it to the +wife of captive Henry to see thee by the side of Henry's son!" + +Every eye turned in fear to the aspect of the earl, every ear listened +for the answer which might be expected from his well-known heat and +pride,--an answer to destroy forever the last hope of the Lancastrian +line. But whether it was the very consciousness of his power to raise +or to crush that fiery speaker, or those feelings natural to brave +men, half of chivalry, half contempt, which kept down the natural +anger by thoughts of the sex and sorrows of the Anjouite, or that the +wonted irascibility of his temper had melted into one steady and +profound passion of revenge against Edward of York, which absorbed all +lesser and more trivial causes of resentment,--the earl's face, though +pale as the dead, was unmoved and calm, and, with a grave and +melancholy smile, he answered,-- + +"More do I respect thee, O queen, for the hot words which show a truth +rarely heard from royal lips than hadst thou deigned to dissimulate +the forgiveness and kindly charity which sharp remembrance permits +thee not to feel! No, princely Margaret, not yet can there be frank +amity between thee and me! Nor do I boast the affection yon gallant +gentlemen have displayed. Frankly, as thou hast spoken, do I say, +that the wrongs I have suffered from another alone move me to +allegiance to thyself! Let others serve thee for love of Henry; +reject not my service, given but for revenge on Edward,--as much, +henceforth, am I his foe as formerly his friend and maker! [Sir H. +Ellis: Original Letters, vol. i., second series.] And if, hereafter, +on the throne, thou shouldst remember and resent the former wars, at +least thou hast owed me no gratitude, and thou canst not grieve my +heart and seethe my brain, as the man whom I once loved better than a +son! Thus, from thy presence I depart, chafing not at thy scornful +wrath; mindful, young prince, but of thy just and gentle heart, and +sure, in the calm of my own soul (on which this much, at least, of our +destiny is reflected as on a glass), that when, high lady, thy colder +sense returns to thee, thou wilt see that the league between us must +be made!--that thine ire as woman must fade before thy duties as a +another, thy affection as a wife, and thy paramount and solemn +obligations to the people thou hast ruled as queen! In the dead of +night thou shalt hear the voice of Henry in his prison asking Margaret +to set him free; the vision of thy son shall rise before thee in his +bloom and promise, to demand why his mother deprives him of a crown; +and crowds of pale peasants, grinded beneath tyrannous exaction, and +despairing fathers mourning for dishonoured children, shall ask the +Christian queen if God will sanction the unreasoning wrath which +rejects the only instrument that can redress her people." + +This said, the earl bowed his head and turned; but, at the first sign +of his departure, there was a general movement among the noble +bystanders. Impressed by the dignity of his bearing, by the greatness +of his power, and by the unquestionable truth that in rejecting him +Margaret cast away the heritage of her son, the exiles, with a common +impulse, threw themselves at the queen's feet, and exclaimed, almost +in the same words,-- + +"Grace! noble queen!--Grace for the great Lord Warwick!" + +"My sister," whispered John of Calabria, "thou art thy son's ruin if +the earl depart!" + +"Pasque Dieu! Vex not my kinswoman,--if she prefer a convent to a +throne, cross not the holy choice!" said the wily Louis, with a +mocking irony on his pinched lips. + +The prince alone spoke not, but stood proudly on the same spot, gazing +on the earl, as he slowly moved to the door. + +"Oh, Edward! Edward, my son!" exclaimed the unhappy Margaret, "if for +thy sake--for thine--I must make the past a blank, speak thou for me!" + +"I have spoken," said the prince, gently, "and thou didst chide me, +noble mother; yet I spoke, methinks, as Henry V. had done, if of a +mighty enemy he had had the power to make a noble friend." + +A short, convulsive sob was heard from the throne chair; and as +suddenly as it burst, it ceased. Queen Margaret rose, not a trace of +that stormy emotion upon the grand and marble beauty of her face. Her +voice, unnaturally calm, arrested the steps of the departing earl. + +"Lord Warwick, defend this boy, restore his rights, release his +sainted father, and for years of anguish and of exile, Margaret of +Anjou forgives the champion of her son!" + +In an instant Prince Edward was again by the earl's side; a moment +more, and the earl's proud knee bent in homage to the queen, joyful +tears were in the eyes of her friends and kindred, a triumphant smile +on the lips of Louis, and Margaret's face, terrible in its stony and +locked repose, was raised above, as if asking the All-Merciful pardon +--for the pardon which the human sinner had bestowed! [Ellis: Original +Letters from the Harleian Manuscripts, letter 42.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +LOVE AND MARRIAGE--DOUBTS OF CONSCIENCE--DOMESTIC JEALOUSY--AND +HOUSEHOLD TREASON. + +The events that followed this tempestuous interview were such as the +position of the parties necessarily compelled. The craft of Louis, +the energy and love of Prince Edward, the representations of all her +kindred and friends, conquered, though not without repeated struggles, +Margaret's repugnance to a nearer union between Warwick and her son. +The earl did not deign to appear personally in this matter. He left +it, as became him, to Louis and the prince, and finally received from +them the proposals, which ratified the league, and consummated the +schemes of his revenge. + +Upon the Very Cross [Miss Strickland observes upon this interview: "It +does not appear that Warwick mentioned the execution of his father, +the Earl of Salisbury, which is almost a confirmation of the +statements of those historians who deny that he was beheaded by +Margaret."] in St. Mary's Church of Angers, Lord Warwick swore without +change to hold the party of King Henry. Before the same sacred +symbol, King Louis and his brother, Duke of Guienne, robed in canvas, +swore to sustain to their utmost the Earl of Warwick in behalf of King +Henry; and Margaret recorded her oath "to treat the earl as true and +faithful, and never for deeds past to make him any reproach." + +Then were signed the articles of marriage between Prince Edward and +the Lady Anne,--the latter to remain with Margaret, but the marriage +not to be consummated "till Lord Warwick had entered England and +regained the realm, or most part, for King Henry,"--a condition which +pleased the earl, who desired to award his beloved daughter no less a +dowry than a crown. + +An article far more important than all to the safety of the earl and +to the permanent success of the enterprise, was one that virtually +took from the fierce and unpopular Margaret the reins of government, +by constituting Prince Edward (whose qualities endeared him more and +more to Warwick, and were such as promised to command the respect and +love of the people) sole regent of all the realm, upon attaining his +majority. For the Duke of Clarence were reserved all the lands and +dignities of the duchy of York, the right to the succession of the +throne to him and his posterity,--failing male heirs to the Prince of +Wales,--with a private pledge of the viceroyalty of Ireland. + +Margaret had attached to her consent one condition highly obnoxious to +her high-spirited son, and to which he was only reconciled by the +arguments of Warwick: she stipulated that he should not accompany the +earl to England, nor appear there till his father was proclaimed king. +In this, no doubt, she was guided by maternal fears, and by some +undeclared suspicion, either of the good faith of Warwick, or of his +means to raise a sufficient army to fulfil his promise. The brave +prince wished to be himself foremost in the battles fought in his +right and for his cause. But the earl contended, to the surprise and +joy of Margaret, that it best behooved the prince's interests to enter +England without one enemy in the field, leaving others to clear his +path, free himself from all the personal hate of hostile factions, and +without a drop of blood upon the sword of one heralded and announced +as the peace-maker and impartial reconciles of all feuds. So then +(these high conditions settled), in the presence of the Kings Rene and +Louis, of the Earl and Countess of Warwick, and in solemn state, at +Amboise, Edward of Lancaster plighted his marriage-troth to his +beloved and loving Anne. + +It was deep night, and high revel in the Palace of Amboise crowned the +ceremonies of that memorable day. The Earl of Warwick stood alone in +the same chamber in which he had first discovered the secret of the +young Lancastrian. From the brilliant company, assembled in the halls +of state, he had stolen unperceived away, for his great heart was full +to overflowing. The part he had played for many days was over, and +with it the excitement and the fever. His schemes were crowned,--the +Lancastrians were won to his revenge; the king's heir was the +betrothed of his favourite child; and the hour was visible in the +distance, when, by the retribution most to be desired, the father's +hand should lead that child to the throne of him who would have +degraded her to the dust. If victory awaited his sanguine hopes, as +father to his future queen, the dignity and power of the earl became +greater in the court of Lancaster than, even in his palmiest day, +amidst the minions of ungrateful York; the sire of two lines,--if +Anne's posterity should fail, the crown would pass to the sons of +Isabel,--in either case from him (if successful in his invasion) would +descend the royalty of England. Ambition, pride, revenge, might well +exult in viewing the future, as mortal wisdom could discern it. The +House of Nevile never seemed brightened by a more glorious star: and +yet the earl was heavy and sad at heart. However he had concealed it +from the eyes of others, the haughty ire of Margaret must have galled +him in his deepest soul. And even as he had that day contemplated the +holy happiness in the face of Anne, a sharp pang had shot through his +breast. Were those the witnesses of fair-omened spousailles? How +different from the hearty greeting of his warrior-friends was the +measured courtesy of foes who had felt and fled before his sword! If +aught chanced to him in the hazard of the field, what thought for his +child ever could speak in pity from the hard and scornful eyes of the +imperious Anjouite? + +The mist which till then had clouded his mind, or left visible to his +gaze but one stern idea of retribution, melted into air. He beheld +the fearful crisis to which his life had passed,--he had reached the +eminence to mourn the happy gardens left behind. Gone, forever gone, +the old endearing friendships, the sweet and manly remembrances of +brave companionship and early love! Who among those who had +confronted war by his side for the House of York would hasten to clasp +his hand and hail his coming as the captain of hated Lancaster? True, +could he bow his honour to proclaim the true cause of his desertion, +the heart of every father would beat in sympathy with his; but less +than ever could the tale that vindicated his name be told. How stoop +to invoke malignant pity to the insult offered to a future queen? +Dark in his grave must rest the secret no words could syllable, save +by such vague and mysterious hint and comment as pass from baseless +gossip into dubious history. [Hall well explains the mystery which +wrapped the king's insult to a female of the House of Warwick by the +simple sentence, "The certainty was not, for both their honours, +openly known!"] True, that in his change of party he was not, like +Julian of Spain, an apostate to his native land. He did not meditate +the subversion of his country by the foreign foe; it was but the +substitution of one English monarch for another,--a virtuous prince +for a false and a sanguinary king. True, that the change from rose to +rose had been so common amongst the greatest and the bravest, that +even the most rigid could scarcely censure what the age itself had +sanctioned. But what other man of his stormy day had been so +conspicuous in the downfall of those he was now as conspicuously to +raise? What other man had Richard of York taken so dearly to his +heart, to what other man had the august father said, "Protect my +sons"? Before him seemed literally to rise the phantom of that +honoured prince, and with clay-cold lips to ask, "Art thou, of all the +world, the doomsman of my first-born?" A groan escaped the breast of +the self-tormentor; he fell on his knees and prayed: "Oh, pardon, thou +All-seeing!--plead for me, Divine Mother! if in this I have darkly +erred, taking my heart for my conscience, and mindful only of a +selfish wrong! Oh, surely, no! Had Richard of York himself lived to +know what I have suffered from his unworthy son,--causeless insult, +broken faith, public and unabashed dishonour; yea, pardoning, serving, +loving on through all, till, at the last, nothing less than the +foulest taint that can light upon 'scutcheon and name was the cold, +premeditated reward for untired devotion,--surely, surely, Richard +himself had said, 'Thy honour at last forbids all pardon!'" + +Then, in that rapidity with which the human heart, once seizing upon +self-excuse, reviews, one after one, the fair apologies, the earl +passed from the injury to himself to the mal-government of his land, +and muttered over the thousand instances of cruelty and misrule which +rose to his remembrance,--forgetting, alas, or steeling himself to the +memory, that till Edward's vices had assailed his own hearth and +honour, he had been contented with lamenting them, he had not ventured +to chastise. At length, calm and self-acquitted, he rose from his +self-confession, and leaning by the open casement, drank in the +reviving and gentle balm of the summer air. The state apartments he +had left, formed as we have before observed, an angle to the wing in +which the chamber he had now retired to was placed. They were +brilliantly illumined, their windows opened to admit the fresh, soft +breeze of night; and he saw, as if by daylight, distinct and gorgeous, +in their gay dresses, the many revellers within. But one group caught +and riveted his eye. Close by the centre window he recognized his +gentle Anne, with downcast looks; he almost fancied he saw her blush, +as her young bridegroom, young and beautiful as herself, whispered +love's flatteries in her ear. He saw farther on, but yet near, his +own sweet countess, and muttered, "After twenty years of marriage, may +Anne be as dear to him as thou art now to me!" And still he saw, or +deemed he saw, his lady's eye, after resting with tender happiness on +the young pair, rove wistfully around, as if missing and searching for +her partner in her mother's joy. But what form sweeps by with so +haughty a majesty, then pauses by the betrothed, addresses them not, +but seems to regard them with so fixed a watch? He knew by her ducal +diadem, by the baudekin colours of her robe, by her unmistakable air +of pride, his daughter Isabel. He did not distinguish the expression +of her countenance, but an ominous thrill passed through his heart; +for the attitude itself had an expression, and not that of a sister's +sympathy and love. He turned away his face with an unquiet +recollection of the altered mood of his discontented daughter. He +looked again: the duchess had passed on, lost amidst the confused +splendour of the revel. And high and rich swelled the merry music +that invited to the stately pavon. He gazed still; his lady had left +her place, the lovers too had vanished, and where they stood, stood +now in close conference his ancient enemies, Exeter and Somerset. The +sudden change from objects of love to those associated with hate had +something which touched one of those superstitions to which, in all +ages, the heart, when deeply stirred, is weakly sensitive. And again, +forgetful of the revel, the earl turned to the serener landscape of +the grove and the moonlit green sward, and mused and mused, till a +soft arm thrown round him woke his revery. For this had his lady left +the revel. Divining, by the instinct born of love, the gloom of her +husband, she had stolen from pomp and pleasure to his side. + +"Ah, wherefore wouldst thou rob me," said the countess, "of one hour +of thy presence, since so few hours remain; since, when the sun that +succeeds the morrow's shines upon these walls, the night of thine +absence will have closed upon me?" + +"And if that thought of parting, sad to me as thee, suffice not, belle +amie, to dim the revel," answered the earl, "weetest thou not how ill +the grave and solemn thoughts of one who sees before him the emprise +that would change the dynasty of a realm can suit with the careless +dance and the wanton music? But not at that moment did I think of +those mightier cares; my thoughts were nearer home. Hast thou noted, +sweet wife, the silent gloom, the clouded brow of Isabel, since she +learned that Anne was to be the bride of the heir of Lancaster?" + +The mother suppressed a sigh. "We must pardon, or glance lightly +over, the mood of one who loves her lord, and mourns for his baffled +hopes! Well-a-day! I grieve that she admits not even me to her +confidence. Ever with the favourite lady who lately joined her +train,--methinks that new friend gives less holy counsel than a +mother!" + +"Ha! and yet what counsels can Isabel listen to from a comparative +stranger? Even if Edward, or rather his cunning Elizabeth, had +suborned this waiting-woman, our daughter never could hearken, even in +an hour of anger, to the message from our dishonourer and our foe." + +"Nay, but a flatterer often fosters by praising the erring thought. +Isabel hath something, dear lord, of thy high heart and courage; and +ever from childhood, her vaulting spirit, her very character of +stately beauty, hath given her a conviction of destiny and power +loftier than those reserved for our gentle Anne. Let us trust to time +and forbearance, and hope that the affection of the generous sister +will subdue the jealousy of the disappointed princess." + +"Pray Heaven, indeed, that it so prove! Isabel's ascendancy over +Clarence is great, and might be dangerous. Would that she consented +to remain in France with thee and Anne! Her lord, at least, it seems +I have convinced and satisfied. Pleased at the vast fortunes before +him, the toys of viceregal power, his lighter nature reconciles itself +to the loss of a crown, which, I fear, it could never have upheld. +For the more I have read his qualities in our household intimacy, the +more it seems that I could scarcely have justified the imposing on +England a king not worthy of so great a people. He is young yet, but +how different the youth of Lancastrian Edward! In him what earnest +and manly spirit! What heaven-born views of the duties of a king! +Oh, if there be a sin in the passion that hath urged me on, let me, +and me alone, atone! and may I be at least the instrument to give to +England a prince whose virtues shall compensate for all!" + +While yet the last word trembled upon the earl's lips, a light flashed +along the floors, hitherto illumined but by the stars and the full +moon. And presently Isabel, in conference with the lady whom her +mother had referred to, passed into the room, on her way to her +private chamber. The countenance of this female diplomatist, whose +talent for intrigue Philip de Comines [Comines, iii. 5; Hall, Lingard, +Hume, etc.] has commemorated, but whose name, happily for her memory, +history has concealed, was soft and winning in its expression to the +ordinary glance, though the sharpness of the features, the thin +compression of the lips, and the harsh dry redness of the hair +corresponded with the attributes which modern physiognomical science +truly or erringly assigns to a wily and treacherous character. She +bore a light in her hand, and its rays shone full on the disturbed and +agitated face of the duchess. Isabel perceived at once the forms of +her parents, and stopped short in some whispered conversation, and +uttered a cry almost of dismay. + +"Thou leavest the revel betimes, fair daughter," said the earl, +examining her countenance with an eye somewhat stern. + +"My lady," said the confidant, with a lowly reverence, "was anxious +for her babe." + +"Thy lady, good waiting-wench," said Warwick, "needs not thy tongue to +address her father. Pass on." + +The gentlewoman bit her lips, but obeyed, and quitted the room. The +earl approached, and took Isabel's hand,--it was cold as stone. + +"My child," said he, tenderly, "thou dost well to retire to rest; of +late thy cheek hath lost its bloom. But just now, for many causes, I +was wishing thee not to brave our perilous return to England; and now, +I know not whether it would make me the more uneasy, to fear for thy +health if absent or thy safety if with me!" + +"My lord," replied Isabel, coldly, "my duty calls me to my husband's +side, and the more, since now it seems he dares the battle but reaps +not its rewards! Let Edward and Anne rest in safety, Clarence and +Isabel go to achieve the diadem and orb for others!" + +"Be not bitter with thy father, girl; be not envious of thy sister!" +said the earl, in grave rebuke; then, softening his tone, he added, +"The women of a noble House should have no ambition of their own,-- +their glory and their honour they should leave, unmurmuring, in the +hands of men! Mourn not if thy sister mounts the throne of him who +would have branded the very name to which thou and she were born!" + +"I have made no reproach, my lord. Forgive me, I pray you, if I now +retire; I am so weary, and would fain have strength and health not to +be a burden to you when you depart." + +The duchess bowed with proud submission, and moved on. "Beware!" said +the earl, in a low voice. + +"Beware!--and of what?" said Isabel, startled. + +"Of thine own heart, Isabel. Ay, go to thine infant's couch ere thou +seek thine own, and, before the sleep of innocence, calm thyself back +to womanhood." + +The duchess raised her head quickly, but habitual awe of her father +checked the angry answer; and kissing, with formal reverence, the hand +the countess extended to her, she left the room. She gained the +chamber in which was the cradle of her son, gorgeously canopied with +silks, inwrought with the blazoned arms of royal Clarence;--and beside +the cradle sat the confidant. + +The duchess drew aside the drapery, and contemplated the rosy face of +the infant slumberer. + +Then, turning to her confidant, she said,-- + +"Three months since, and I hoped my first-born would be a king! Away +with those vain mockeries of royal birth! How suit they the destined +vassal of the abhorred Lancastrian?" + +"Sweet lady," said the confidant, "did I not warn thee from the first +that this alliance, to the injury of my lord duke and this dear boy, +was already imminent? I had hoped thou mightst have prevailed with +the earl!" + +"He heeds me not, he cares not for me!" exclaimed Isabel; "his whole +love is for Anne,--Anne, who, without energy and pride, I scarcely +have looked on as my equal! And now to my younger sister I must bow +my knee, pleased if she deign to bid me hold the skirt of her queenly +robe! Never,--no, never!" + +"Calm thyself; the courier must part this night. My Lord of Clarence +is already in his chamber; he waits but thine assent to write to +Edward, that he rejects not his loving messages." + +The duchess walked to and fro, in great disorder. "But to be thus +secret and false to my father?" + +"Doth be merit that thou shouldst sacrifice thy child to him? +Reflect! the king has no son! The English barons acknowledge not in +girls a sovereign; [Miss Strickland ("Life of Elizabeth of York") +remarks, "How much Norman prejudice in favour of Salic law had +corrupted the common or constitutional law of England regarding the +succession!" The remark involves a controversy.] and, with Edward on +the throne, thy son is heir-presumptive. Little chance that a male +heir shall now be born to Queen Elizabeth, while from Anne and her +bridegroom a long line may spring. Besides, no matter what parchment +treaties may ordain, how can Clarence and his offspring ever be +regarded by a Lancastrian king but as enemies to feed the prison or +the block, when some false invention gives the seemly pretext for +extirpating the lawful race?" + +"Cease, cease, cease!" cried Isabel, in terrible struggles with +herself. + +"Lady, the hour presses! And, reflect, a few lines are but words, to +be confirmed or retracted as occasion suits! If Lord Warwick succeed, +and King Edward lose his crown, ye can shape as ye best may your +conduct to the time. But if the earl lose the day, if again he be +driven into exile, a few words now release you and yours from +everlasting banishment; restore your boy to his natural heritage; +deliver you from the insolence of the Anjouite, who, methinks, even +dared this very day to taunt your highness--" + +"She did--she did! Oh that my father had been by to hear! She bade +me stand aside that Anne might pass,--'not for the younger daughter of +Lord Warwick, but for the lady admitted into the royalty of +Lancaster!' Elizabeth Woodville, at least, never dared this +insolence!" + +"And this Margaret the Duke of Clarence is to place on the throne +which your child yonder might otherwise aspire to mount!" + +Isabel clasped her hands in mute passion. + +"Hark!" said the confidant, throwing open the door-- + +And along the corridor came, in measured pomp, a stately procession, +the chamberlain in front, announcing "Her Highness the Princess of +Wales;" and Louis XI., leading the virgin bride (wife but in name and +honour, till her dowry of a kingdom was made secure) to her gentle +rest. The ceremonial pomp, the regal homage that attended the younger +sister thus raised above herself, completed in Isabel's jealous heart +the triumph of the Tempter. Her face settled into hard resolve, and +she passed at once from the chamber into one near at hand, where the +Duke of Clarence sat alone, the rich wines of the livery, not +untasted, before him, and the ink yet wet upon a scroll he had just +indited. + +He turned his irresolute countenance to Isabel as she bent over him +and read the letter. It was to Edward; and after briefly warning him +of the meditated invasion, significantly added, "and if I may seem to +share this emprise, which, here and alone, I cannot resist, thou shalt +find me still, when the moment comes, thy affectionate brother and +loyal subject." + +"Well, Isabel," said the duke, "thou knowest I have delayed this till +the last hour to please thee; for verily, lady mine, thy will is my +sweetest law. But now, if thy heart misgives thee--" + +"It does, it does!" exclaimed the duchess, bursting into tears. + +"If thy heart misgives thee," continued Clarence, who with all his +weakness had much of the duplicity of his brothers, "why, let it pass. +Slavery to scornful Margaret, vassalage to thy sister's spouse, +triumph to the House which both thou and I were taught from childhood +to deem accursed,--why, welcome all! so that Isabel does not weep, and +our boy reproach us not in the days to come!" + +For all answer, Isabel, who had seized the letter, let it drop on the +table, pushed it, with averted face, towards the duke, and turned back +to the cradle of her child, whom she woke with her sobs, and who +wailed its shrill reply in infant petulance and terror, snatched from +its slumber to the arms of the remorseful mother. + +A smile of half contemptuous joy passed over the thin lips of the she- +Judas, and, without speaking, she took her way to Clarence. He had +sealed and bound his letter, first adding these words, "My lady and +duchess, whatever her kin, has seen this letter, and approves it, for +she is more a friend to York than to the earl, now he has turned +Lancastrian;" and placed it in a small iron coffer. + +He gave the coffer, curiously clasped and locked, to the gentlewoman, +with a significant glance--"Be quick, or she repents! The courier +waits, his steed saddled! The instant you give it, he departs,--he +hath his permit to pass the gates." + +"All is prepared; ere the clock strike, he is on his way." The +confidant vanished; the duke sank in his chair, and rubbed his hands. + +"Oho, father-in-law, thou deemest me too dull for a crown! I am not +dull enough for thy tool. I have had the wit, at least, to deceive +thee, and to hide resentment beneath a smiling brow! Dullard, thou to +believe aught less than the sovereignty of England could have bribed +Clarence to thy cause!" He turned to the table and complacently +drained his goblet. + +Suddenly, haggard and pale as a spectre, Isabel stood before him. + +"I was mad--mad, George! The letter! the letter--it must not go!" + +At that moment the clock struck. + +"Bel enfant," said the duke, "it is too late!" + + + + + +BOOK X. + +THE RETURN OF THE KING-MAKER. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE MAID'S HOPE, THE COURTIER'S LOVE, AND THE SAGE'S COMFORT. + +Fair are thy fields, O England; fair the rural farm and the orchards +in which the blossoms have ripened into laughing fruits; and fairer +than all, O England, the faces of thy soft-eyed daughters! + +From the field where Sibyll and her father had wandered amidst the +dead, the dismal witnesses of war had vanished; and over the green +pastures roved the gentle flocks. And the farm to which Hastings had +led the wanderers looked upon that peaceful field through its leafy +screen; and there father and daughter had found a home. + +It was a lovely summer evening; and Sibyll put aside the broidery +frame, at which, for the last hour, she had not worked, and gliding to +the lattice, looked wistfully along the winding lane. The room was in +the upper story, and was decorated with a care which the exterior of +the house little promised, and which almost approached to elegance. +The fresh green rushes that strewed the floor were intermingled with +dried wild thyme and other fragrant herbs. The bare walls were hung +with serge of a bright and cheerful blue; a rich carpet de cuir +covered the oak table, on which lay musical instruments, curiously +inlaid, with a few manuscripts, chiefly of English and Provencal +poetry. The tabourets were covered with cushions of Norwich worsted, +in gay colours. All was simple, it is true, yet all betokened a +comfort--ay, a refinement, an evidence of wealth--very rare in the +houses even of the second order of nobility. + +As Sibyll gazed, her face suddenly brightened; she uttered a joyous +cry, hurried from the room, descended the stairs, and passed her +father, who was seated without the porch, and seemingly plunged in one +of his most abstracted reveries. She kissed his brow (he heeded her +not), bounded with a light step over the sward of the orchard, and +pausing by a wicket gate, listened with throbbing heart to the +advancing sound of a horse's hoofs. Nearer came the sound, and +nearer. A cavalier appeared in sight, sprang from his saddle, and, +leaving his palfrey to find his way to the well-known stable, sprang +lightly over the little gate. + +"And thou hast watched for me, Sibyll?" + +The girl blushingly withdrew from the eager embrace, and said +touchingly, "My heart watcheth for thee alway. Oh, shall I thank or +chide thee for so much care? Thou wilt see how thy craftsmen have +changed the rugged homestead into the daintiest bower!" + +"Alas! my Sibyll! would that it were worthier of thy beauty, and our +mutual troth! Blessings on thy trust and sweet patience; may the day +soon come when I may lead thee to a nobler home, and hear knight and +baron envy the bride of Hastings!" + +"My own lord!" said Sibyll, with grateful tears in confiding eyes; +but, after a pause, she added timidly, "Does the king still bear so +stern a memory against so humble a subject?" + +"The king is more wroth than before, since tidings of Lord Warwick's +restless machinations in France have soured his temper. He cannot +hear thy name without threats against thy father as a secret adherent +of Lancaster, and accuseth thee of witching his chamberlain,--as, in +truth, thou hast. The Duchess of Bedford is more than ever under the +influence of Friar Bungey, to whose spells and charms, and not to our +good swords, she ascribes the marvellous flight of Warwick and the +dispersion of our foes; and the friar, methinks, has fostered and yet +feeds Edward's suspicions of thy harmless father. The king chides +himself for having suffered poor Warner to depart unscathed, and even +recalls the disastrous adventure of the mechanical, and swears that +from the first thy father was in treasonable conspiracy with Margaret. +Nay, sure I am, that if I dared to wed thee while his anger lasts, he +would condemn thee as a sorceress, and give me up to the secret hate +of my old foes the Woodvilles. But fie! be not so appalled, my +Sibyll; Edward's passions, though fierce, are changeful, and patience +will reward us both." + +"Meanwhile, thou lovest me, Hastings!" said Sibyll, with great +emotion. "Oh, if thou knewest how I torment myself in thine absence! +I see thee surrounded by the fairest and the loftiest, and say to +myself, 'Is it possible that he can remember me?' But thou lovest me +still--still--still, and ever! Dost thou not?" + +And Hastings said and swore. + +"And the Lady Bonville?" asked Sibyll, trying to smile archly, but +with the faltering tone of jealous fear. + +"I have not seen her for months," replied the noble, with a slight +change of countenance. "She is at one of their western manors. They +say her lord is sorely ill; and the Lady Bonville is a devout +hypocrite, and plays the tender wife. But enough of such ancient and +worn-out memories. Thy father--sorrows he still for his Eureka? I +can learn no trace of it." + +"See," said Sibyll, recalled to her filial love, and pointing to +Warner as they now drew near the house, "see, he shapes another Eureka +from his thoughts!" + +"How fares it, dear Warner?" asked the noble, taking the scholar's +hand. + +"Ah," cried the student, roused at the sight of his powerful +protector, "bringest thou tidings of IT? Thy cheerful eye tells me +that--no--no--thy face changes! They have destroyed it! Oh, that I +could be young once more!" + +"What!" said the world-wise man, astonished. "If thou hadst another +youth, wouldst thou cherish the same delusion, and go again through a +life of hardship, persecution, and wrong?" + +"My noble son," said the philosopher, "for hours when I have felt the +wrong, the persecution, and the hardship, count the days and the +nights when I felt only the hope and the glory and the joy! God is +kinder to us all than man can know; for man looks only to the sorrow +on the surface, and sees not the consolation in the deeps of the +unwitnessed soul." + +Sibyll had left Hastings by her father's side, and tripped lightly to +the farther part of the house, inhabited by the rustic owners who +supplied the homely service, to order the evening banquet,--the happy +banquet; for hunger gives not such flavour to the viand, nor thirst +such sparkle to the wine, as the presence of a beloved guest. + +And as the courtier seated himself on the rude settle under the +honeysuckles that wreathed the porch, a delicious calm stole over his +sated mind. The pure soul of the student, released a while from the +tyranny of an earthly pursuit,--the drudgery of a toil, that however +grand, still but ministered to human and material science,--had found +for its only other element the contemplation of more solemn and +eternal mysteries. Soaring naturally, as a bird freed from a golden +cage, into the realms of heaven, he began now, with earnest and +spiritual eloquence, to talk of the things and visions lately made +familiar to his thoughts. Mounting from philosophy to religion, he +indulged in his large ideas upon life and nature: of the stars that +now came forth in heaven; of the laws that gave harmony to the +universe; of the evidence of a God in the mechanism of creation; of +the spark from central divinity, that, kindling in a man's soul, we +call "genius;" of the eternal resurrection of the dead, which makes +the very principle of being, and types, in the leaf and in the atom, +the immortality of the great human race. He was sublimer, that gray +old man, hunted from the circle of his kind, in his words, than ever +is action in its deeds; for words can fathom truth, and deeds but +blunderingly and lamely seek it. + +And the sad and gifted and erring intellect of Hastings, rapt from its +little ambition of the hour, had no answer when his heart asked, "What +can courts and a king's smile give me in exchange for serene +tranquillity and devoted love?" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MAN AWAKES IN THE SAGE, AND THE SHE-WOLF AGAIN HATH TRACKED THE +LAMB. + +From the night in which Hastings had saved from the knives of the +tymbesteres Sibyll and her father, his honour and chivalry had made +him their protector. The people of the farm (a widow and her +children, with the peasants in their employ) were kindly and simple +folks. What safer home for the wanderers than that to which Hastings +had removed them? The influence of Sibyll over his variable heart or +fancy was renewed. Again vows were interchanged and faith plighted. +Anthony Woodville, Lord Rivers, who, however gallant an enemy, was +still more than ever, since Warwick's exile, a formidable one, and who +shared his sister's dislike to Hastings, was naturally at that time in +the fullest favour of King Edward, anxious to atone for the brief +disgrace his brother-in-law had suffered during the later days of +Warwick's administration. And Hastings, offended by the manners of +the rival favourite, took one of the disgusts so frequent in the life +of a courtier, and, despite his office of chamberlain, absented +himself much from his sovereign's company. Thus, in the reaction of +his mind, the influence of Sibyll was greater than it otherwise might +have been. His visits to the farm were regular and frequent. The +widow believed him nearly related to Sibyll, and suspected Warner to +be some attainted Lancastrian, compelled to hide in secret till his +pardon was obtained; and no scandal was attached to the noble's +visits, nor any surprise evinced at his attentive care for all that +could lend a grace to a temporary refuge unfitting the quality of his +supposed kindred. + +And, in her entire confidence and reverential affection, Sibyll's very +pride was rather soothed than wounded by obligations which were but +proofs of love, and to which plighted troth gave her a sweet right. +As for Warner, he had hitherto seemed to regard the great lord's +attentions only as a tribute to his own science, and a testimony of +the interest which a statesman might naturally feel in the invention +of a thing that might benefit the realm. And Hastings had been +delicate in the pretexts of his visits. One time he called to relate +the death of poor Madge, though he kindly concealed the manner of it, +which he had discovered, but which opinion, if not law, forbade him to +attempt to punish: drowning was but the orthodox ordeal of a suspected +witch, and it was not without many scruples that the poor woman was +interred in holy ground. The search for the Eureka was a pretence +that sufficed for countless visits; and then, too, Hastings had +counselled Adam to sell the ruined house, and undertaken the +negotiation; and the new comforts of their present residence, and the +expense of the maintenance, were laid to the account of the sale. +Hastings had begun to consider Adam Warner as utterly blind and +passive to the things that passed under his eyes; and his astonishment +was great when, the morning after the visit we have just recorded, +Adam, suddenly lifting his eyes, and seeing the guest whispering soft +tales in Sibyll's ear, rose abruptly, approached the nobleman, took +him gently by the arm, led him into the garden, and thus addressed +him,-- + +"Noble lord, you have been tender and generous in our misfortunes. +The poor Eureka is lost to me and the world forever. God's will be +done! Methinks Heaven designs thereby to rouse me to the sense of +nearer duties; and I have a daughter whose name I adjure you not to +sully, and whose heart I pray you not to break. Come hither no more, +my Lord Hastings." + +This speech, almost the only one which showed plain sense and judgment +in the affairs of this life that the man of genius had ever uttered, +so confounded Hastings, that he with difficulty recovered himself +enough to say,-- + +"My poor scholar, what hath so suddenly kindled suspicions which wrong +thy child and me?" + +"Last eve, when we sat together, I saw your hand steal into hers, and +suddenly I remembered the day when I was young, and wooed her mother! +And last night I slept not, and sense and memory became active for my +living child, as they were wont to be only for the iron infant of my +mind, and I said to myself, 'Lord Hastings is King Edward's friend; +and King Edward spares not maiden honour. Lord Hastings is a mighty +peer, and he will not wed the dowerless and worse than nameless girl!' +Be merciful! Depart, depart!" + +"But," exclaimed Hastings, "if I love thy sweet Sibyll in all honesty, +if I have plighted to her my troth--" + +"Alas, alas!" groaned Adam. + +"If I wait but my king's permission to demand her wedded hand, couldst +thou forbid me the presence of my affianced?" + +"She loves thee, then?" said Adam, in a tone of great anguish,--"she +loves thee,--speak!" + +"It is my pride to think it." + +"Then go,--go at once; come back no more till thou hast wound up thy +courage to brave the sacrifice; no, not till the priest is ready at +the altar, not till the bridegroom can claim the bride. And as that +time will never come--never--never--leave me to whisper to the +breaking heart, 'Courage; honour and virtue are left thee yet, and thy +mother from heaven looks down on a stainless child!'" + +The resuscitation of the dead could scarcely have startled and awed +the courtier more than this abrupt development of life and passion and +energy in a man who had hitherto seemed to sleep in the folds of his +thought, as a chrysalis in its web. But as we have always seen that +ever, when this strange being woke from his ideal abstraction, he +awoke to honour and courage and truth, so now, whether, as he had +said, the absence of the Eureka left his mind to the sense of +practical duties, or whether their common suffering had more endeared +to him his gentle companion, and affection sharpened reason, Adam +Warner became puissant and majestic in his rights and sanctity of +father,--greater in his homely household character, than when, in his +mania of inventor, and the sublime hunger of aspiring genius, he had +stolen to his daughter's couch, and waked her with the cry of "Gold!" + +Before the force and power of Adam's adjuration, his outstretched +hand, the anguish, yet authority, written on his face, all the art and +self-possession of the accomplished lover deserted him, as one spell- +bound. + +He was literally without reply; till, suddenly, the sight of Sibyll, +who, surprised by this singular conference, but unsuspecting its +nature, now came from the house, relieved and nerved him; and his +first impulse was then, as ever, worthy and noble, such as showed, +though dimly, how glorious a creature he had been, if cast in a time +and amidst a race which could have fostered the impulse into habit. + +"Brave old man!" he said, kissing the hand still raised in command, +"thou hast spoken as beseems thee; and my answer I will tell thy +child." Then hurrying to the wondering Sibyll, he resumed: "Your +father says well, that not thus, dubious and in secret, should I visit +the home blest by thy beloved presence. I obey; I leave thee, Sibyll. +I go to my king, as one who hath served him long and truly, and claims +his guerdon,--thee!" + +"Oh, my lord!" exclaimed Sibyll, in generous terror, "bethink thee +well; remember what thou saidst but last eve. This king so fierce, my +name so hated! No, no! leave me. Farewell forever, if it be right, +as what thou and my father say must be. But thy life, thy liberty, +thy welfare,--they are my happiness; thou hast no right to endanger +them!" And she fell at his knees. He raised and strained her to his +heart; then resigning her to her father's arms, he said in a voice +choked with emotion,-- + +"Not as peer and as knight, but as man, I claim my prerogative of home +and hearth. Let Edward frown, call back his gifts, banish me his +court,--thou art more worth than all! Look for me, sigh not, weep +not, smile till we meet again!" He left them with these words, +hastened to the stall where his steed stood, caparisoned it with his +own hands, and rode with the speed of one whom passion spurs and goads +towards the Tower of London. + +But as Sibyll started from her father's arms, when she heard the +departing hoofs of her lover's steed,--to listen and to listen for the +last sound that told of him,--a terrible apparition, ever ominous of +woe and horror, met her eye. On the other side of the orchard fence, +which concealed her figure, but not her well-known face, which peered +above, stood the tymbestere, Graul. A shriek of terror at this +recognition burst from Sibyll, as she threw herself again upon Adam's +breast; but when he looked round to discover the cause of her alarm, +Graul was gone. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +VIRTUOUS RESOLVES SUBMITTED TO THE TEST OF VANITY AND THE WORLD. + +On reaching his own house, Hastings learned that the court was still +at Shene. He waited but till the retinue which his rank required were +equipped and ready, and reached the court, from which of late he had +found so many excuses to absent himself, before night. Edward was +then at the banquet, and Hastings was too experienced a courtier to +disturb him at such a time. In a mood unfit for companionship, he +took his way to the apartments usually reserved for him, when a +gentleman met him by the way, and apprised him, with great respect, +that the Lord Scales and Rivers had already appropriated those +apartments to the principal waiting-lady of his countess,--but that +other chambers, if less commodious and spacious, were at his command. + +Hastings had not the superb and more than regal pride of Warwick and +Montagu; but this notice sensibly piqued and galled him. + +"My apartments as Lord Chamberlain, as one of the captain-generals in +the king's army, given to the waiting-lady of Sir Anthony Woodville's +wife! At whose orders, sir?" + +"Her highness the queen's; pardon me, my lord," and the gentleman, +looking round, and sinking his voice, continued, "pardon me, her +highness added, 'If my Lord Chamberlain returns not ere the week ends, +he may find not only the apartment, but the office, no longer free.' +My lord, we all love you--forgive my zeal, and look well if you would +guard your own." + +"Thanks, sir. Is my lord of Gloucester in the palace?" + +"He is,--and in his chamber. He sits not long at the feast." + +"Oblige me by craving his grace's permission to wait on him at +leisure; I attend his answer here." + +Leaning against the wall of the corridor, Hastings gave himself up to +other thoughts than those of love. So strong is habit, so powerful +vanity or ambition, once indulged, that this puny slight made a sudden +revulsion in the mind of the royal favourite; once more the agitated +and brilliant court life stirred and fevered him,--that life, so +wearisome when secure, became sweeter when imperilled. To counteract +his foes, to humble his rivals, to regain the king's countenance, to +baffle, with the easy art of his skilful intellect, every hostile +stratagem,--such were the ideas that crossed and hurtled themselves, +and Sibyll was forgotten. + +The gentleman reappeared. "Prince Richard besought my lord's presence +with loving welcome;" and to the duke's apartment went Lord Hastings. +Richard, clad in a loose chamber robe, which concealed the defects of +his shape, rose from before a table covered with papers, and embraced +Hastings with cordial affection. + +"Never more gladly hail to thee, dear William. I need thy wise +counsels with the king, and I have glad tidings for thine own ear." + +"Pardieu, my prince; the king, methinks, will scarce heed the counsels +of a dead man." + +"Dead?" + +"Ay. At court it seems men are dead,--their rooms filled, their +places promised or bestowed,--if they come not, morn and night, to +convince the king that they are alive." And Hastings, with +constrained gayety, repeated the information he had received. + +"What would you, Hastings?" said the duke, shrugging his shoulders, +but with some latent meaning in his tone. "Lord Rivers were nought in +himself; but his lady is a mighty heiress, [Elizabeth secured to her +brother, Sir Anthony, the greatest heiress in the kingdom, in the +daughter of Lord Scales,--a wife, by the way, who is said to have been +a mere child at the time of the marriage.] and requires state, as she +bestows pomp. Look round, and tell me what man ever maintained +himself in power without the strong connections, the convenient dower, +the acute, unseen, unsleeping woman-influence of some noble wife? How +can a poor man defend his repute, his popular name, that airy but all +puissant thing we call dignity or station, against the pricks and +stings of female intrigue and female gossip? But he marries, and, lo, +a host of fairy champions, who pinch the rival lozels unawares: his +wife hath her army of courtpie and jupon, to array against the dames +of his foes! Wherefore, my friend, while thou art unwedded, think not +to cope with Lord Rivers, who hath a wife with three sisters, two +aunts, and a score of she-cousins!" + +"And if," replied Hastings, more and more unquiet under the duke's +truthful irony,--"if I were now to come to ask the king permission to +wed--" + +"If thou wert, and the bride-elect were a lady with power and wealth +and manifold connections, and the practice of a court, thou wouldst be +the mightiest lord in the kingdom since Warwick's exile." + +"And if she had but youth, beauty, and virtue?" + +"Oh, then, my Lord Hastings, pray thy patron saint for a war,--for in +peace thou wouldst be lost amongst the crowd. But truce to these +jests; for thou art not the man to prate of youth, virtue, and such +like, in sober earnest, amidst this work-day world, where nothing is +young and nothing virtuous;--and listen to grave matters." + +The duke then communicated to Hastings the last tidings received of +the machinations of Warwick. He was in high spirits; for those last +tidings but reported Margaret's refusal to entertain the proposition +of a nuptial alliance with the earl, though, on the other hand, the +Duke of Burgundy, who was in constant correspondence with his spies, +wrote word that Warwick was collecting provisions, from his own means, +for more than sixty thousand men; and that, with Lancaster or without, +the earl was prepared to match his own family interest against the +armies of Edward. + +"And," said Hastings, "if all his family joined with him, what foreign +king could be so formidable an invader? Maltravers and the Mowbrays, +Fauconberg, Westmoreland, Fitzhugh, Stanley, Bonville, Worcester--" + +"But happily," said Gloucester, "the Mowbrays have been allied also to +the queen's sister; Worcester detests Warwick; Stanley always murmurs +against us, a sure sign that he will fight for us; and Bonville--I +have in view a trusty Yorkist to whom the retainers of that House +shall be assigned. But of that anon. What I now wish from thy wisdom +is, to aid me in rousing Edward from his lethargy; he laughs at his +danger, and neither communicates with his captains nor mans his +coasts. His courage makes him a dullard." + +After some further talk on these heads, and more detailed account of +the preparations which Gloucester deemed necessary to urge on the +king, the duke, then moving his chair nearer to Hastings, said with a +smile,-- + +"And now, Hastings, to thyself: it seems that thou hast not heard the +news which reached us four days since. The Lord Bonville is dead,-- +died three months ago at his manor house in Devon. [To those who have +read the "Paston Letters" it will not seem strange that in that day +the death of a nobleman at his country seat should be so long in +reaching the metropolis,--the ordinary purveyors of communication were +the itinerant attendants of fairs; and a father might be ignorant for +months together of the death of his son.] Thy Katherine is free, and +in London. Well, man, where is thy joy?" + +"Time is, time was!" said Hastings, gloomily. "The day has passed +when this news could rejoice me." + +"Passed! nay, thy good stars themselves have fought for thee in delay. +Seven goodly manors swell the fair widow's jointure; the noble dowry +she brought returns to her. Her very daughter will bring thee power. +Young Cecily Bonville [afterwards married to Dorset], the heiress, +Lord Dorset demands in betrothal. Thy wife will be mother-in-law to +thy queen's son; on the other hand, she is already aunt to the Duchess +of Clarence; and George, be sure, sooner or later, will desert +Warwick, and win his pardon. Powerful connections, vast possessions, +a lady of immaculate name and surpassing beauty, and thy first love!-- +(thy hand trembles!)--thy first love, thy sole love, and thy last!" + +"Prince--Prince! forbear! Even if so--In brief, Katherine loves me +not!" + +"Thou mistakest! I have seen her, and she loves thee not the less +because her virtue so long concealed the love." Hastings uttered an +exclamation of passionate joy, but again his face darkened. + +Gloucester watched him in silence; besides any motive suggested by the +affection he then sincerely bore to Hastings, policy might well +interest the duke in the securing to so loyal a Yorkist the hand and +the wealth of Lord Warwick's sister; but, prudently not pressing the +subject further, he said, in an altered and careless voice, "Pardon me +if I have presumed on matters on which each man judges for himself. +But as, despite all obstacle, one day or other Anne Nevile shall be +mine, it would have delighted me to know a near connection in Lord +Hastings. And now the hour grows late, I prithee let Edward find thee +in his chamber." + +When Hastings attended the king, he at once perceived that Edward's +manner was changed to him. At first, he attributed the cause to the +ill offices of the queen and her brother; but the king soon betrayed +the true source of his altered humour. + +"My lord," he said abruptly, "I am no saint, as thou knowest; but +there are some ties, par amour, which, in my mind, become not knights +and nobles about a king's person." + +"My liege, I arede you not." + +"Tush, William!" replied the king, more gently, "thou hast more than +once wearied me with application for the pardon of the nigromancer +Warner,--the whole court is scandalized at thy love for his daughter. +Thou hast absented thyself from thine office on poor pretexts! I know +thee too well not to be aware that love alone can make thee neglect +thy king,--thy time has been spent at the knees or in the arms of this +young sorceress! One word for all times,--he whom a witch snares +cannot be a king's true servant! I ask of thee as a right, or as a +grace, see this fair ribaude no more! What, man, are there not ladies +enough in merry England, that thou shouldst undo thyself for so +unchristian a fere?" + +"My king! how can this poor maid have angered thee thus?" + +"Knowest thou not"--began the king, sharply, and changing colour as he +eyed his favourite's mournful astonishment,--"ah, well!" he muttered +to himself, "they have been discreet hitherto, but how long will they +be so? I am in time yet. It is enough,"--he added, aloud and +gravely--"it is enough that our learned [it will be remembered that +Edward himself was a man of no learning] Bungey holds her father as a +most pestilent wizard, whose spells are muttered for Lancaster and the +rebel Warwick; that the girl hath her father's unholy gifts, and I lay +my command on thee, as liege king, and I pray thee, as loving friend, +to see no more either child or sire! Let this suffice--and now I will +hear thee on state matters." + +Whatever Hastings might feel, he saw that it was no time to venture +remonstrance with the king, and strove to collect his thoughts, and +speak indifferently on the high interests to which Edward invited him; +but he was so distracted and absent that he made but a sorry +counsellor, and the king, taking pity on him, dismissed his +chamberlain for the night. + +Sleep came not to the couch of Hastings; his acuteness perceived that +whatever Edward's superstition, and he was a devout believer in +witchcraft, some more worldly motive actuated him in his resentment to +poor Sibyll. But as we need scarcely say that neither from the +abstracted Warner nor his innocent daughter had Hastings learned the +true cause, he wearied himself with vain conjectures, and knew not +that Edward involuntarily did homage to the superior chivalry of his +gallant favourite, when he dreaded that, above all men, Hastings +should be made aware of the guilty secret which the philosopher and +his child could tell. If Hastings gave his name and rank to Sibyll, +how powerful a weight would the tale of a witness now so obscure +suddenly acquire! + +Turning from the image of Sibyll, thus beset with thoughts of danger, +embarrassment, humiliation, disgrace, ruin, Lord Hastings recalled the +words of Gloucester; and the stately image of Katherine, surrounded +with every memory of early passion, every attribute of present +ambition, rose before him; and he slept at last, to dream not of +Sibyll and the humble orchard, but of Katherine in her maiden bloom, +of the trysting-tree by the halls of Middleham, of the broken ring, of +the rapture and the woe of his youth's first high-placed love. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE STRIFE WHICH SIBYLL HAD COURTED, BETWEEN KATHERINE AND HERSELF, +COMMENCES IN SERIOUS EARNEST. + +Hastings felt relieved when, the next day, several couriers arrived +with tidings so important as to merge all considerations into those of +state. A secret messenger from the French court threw Gloucester into +one of those convulsive passions of rage, to which, with all his +intellect and dissimulation, he was sometimes subject, by the news of +Anne's betrothal to Prince Edward; nor did the letter from Clarence to +the king, attesting the success of one of his schemes, comfort Richard +for the failure of the other. A letter from Burgundy confirmed the +report of the spy, announced Duke Charles's intention of sending a +fleet to prevent Warwick's invasion, and rated King Edward sharply for +his supineness in not preparing suitably against so formidable a foe. +The gay and reckless presumption of Edward, worthier of a knight- +errant than a monarch, laughed at the word invasion. "Pest on +Burgundy's ships! I only wish that the earl would land!" [Com, iii. +c. 5] he said to his council. None echoed the wish! But later in the +day came a third messenger with information that roused all Edward's +ire; careless of each danger in the distance, he ever sprang into +energy and vengeance when a foe was already in the field. And the +Lord Fitzhugh (the young nobleman before seen among the rebels at +Olney, and who had now succeeded to the honours of his House) had +suddenly risen in the North, at the head of a formidable rebellion. +No man had so large an experience in the warfare of those districts, +the temper of the people, and the inclinations of the various towns +and lordships as Montagu; he was the natural chief to depute against +the rebels. Some animated discussion took place as to the dependence +to be placed in the marquis at such a crisis; but while the more wary +held it safer, at all hazards, not to leave him unemployed, and to +command his services in an expedition that would remove him from the +neighbourhood of his brother, should the latter land, as was expected, +on the coast of Norfolk, Edward, with a blindness of conceit that +seems almost incredible, believed firmly in the infatuated loyalty of +the man whom he had slighted and impoverished, and whom, by his offer +of his daughter to the Lancastrian prince, he had yet more recently +cozened and deluded. Montagu was hastily summoned, and received +orders to march at once to the North, levy forces, and assume their +command. The marquis obeyed with fewer words than were natural to +him, left the presence, sprang on his horse, and as he rode from the +palace, drew a letter from his bosom. "Ah, Edward," said he, setting +his teeth, "so, after the solemn betrothal of thy daughter to my son, +thou wouldst have given her to thy Lancastrian enemy. Coward, to +bribe his peace! recreant, to belie thy word! I thank thee for this +news, Warwick; for without that injury I feel I could never, when the +hour came, have drawn sword against this faithless man,--especially +for Lancaster. Ay, tremble, thou who deridest all truth and honour! +He who himself betrays, cannot call vengeance treason!" + +Meanwhile, Edward departed, for further preparations, to the Tower of +London. New evidences of the mine beneath his feet here awaited the +incredulous king. On the door of St. Paul's, of many of the +metropolitan churches, on the Standard at Chepe, and on London Bridge, +during the past night, had been affixed, none knew by whom, the +celebrated proclamation, signed by Warwick and Clarence (drawn up in +the bold style of the earl), announcing their speedy return, +containing a brief and vigorous description of the misrule of the +realm, and their determination to reform all evils and redress all +wrongs. [See, for this proclamation, Ellis's "Original Letters," vol. +i., second series, letter 42.] Though the proclamation named not the +restoration of the Lancastrian line (doubtless from regard for Henry's +safety), all men in the metropolis were already aware of the +formidable league between Margaret and Warwick. Yet, even still, +Edward smiled in contempt, for he had faith in the letter received +from Clarence, and felt assured that the moment the duke and the earl +landed, the former would betray his companion stealthily to the king; +so, despite all these exciting subjects of grave alarm, the nightly +banquet at the Tower was never merrier and more joyous. Hastings left +the feast ere it deepened into revel, and, absorbed in various and +profound contemplation, entered his apartment. He threw himself on a +seat, and leaned his face on his hands. + +"Oh, no, no!" he muttered; "now, in the hour when true greatness is +most seen, when prince and peer crowd around me for counsel, when +noble, knight, and squire crave permission to march in the troop of +which Hastings is the leader,--now I feel how impossible, how falsely +fair, the dream that I could forget all--all for a life of obscurity, +for a young girl's love! Love! as if I had not felt its delusions to +palling! love, as if I could love again: or, if love--alas, it must be +a light reflected but from memory! And Katherine is free once more!" +His eye fell as he spoke, perhaps in shame and remorse that, feeling +thus now, he had felt so differently when he bade Sibyll smile till +his return! + +"It is the air of this accursed court which taints our best resolves!" +he murmured, as an apology for himself; but scarcely was the poor +excuse made, than the murmur broke into an exclamation of surprise and +joy. A letter lay before him; he recognized the hand of Katherine. +What years had passed since her writing had met his eye, since the +lines that bade him "farewell, and forget!" Those lines had been +blotted with tears, and these, as he tore open the silk that bound +them--these, the trace of tears, too, was on them! Yet they were but +few, and in tremulous characters. They ran thus:-- + +To-morrow, before noon, the Lord Hastings is prayed to visit one whose +life he hath saddened by the thought and the accusation that she hath +clouded and embittered his. KATHERINE DE BONVILLE. + +Leaving Hastings to such meditations of fear or of hope as these lines +could call forth, we lead the reader to a room not very distant from +his own,--the room of the illustrious Friar Bungey. + +The ex-tregetour was standing before the captured Eureka, and gazing +on it with an air of serio-comic despair and rage. We say the Eureka, +as comprising all the ingenious contrivances towards one single object +invented by its maker, a harmonious compound of many separate details; +but the iron creature no longer deserved that superb appellation, for +its various members were now disjointed and dislocated, and lay pell- +mell in multiform confusion. + +By the side of the friar stood a female, enveloped in a long scarlet +mantle, with the hood partially drawn over the face, but still leaving +visible the hard, thin, villanous lips, the stern, sharp chin, and the +jaw resolute and solid as if hewed from stone. + +"I tell thee, Graul," said the friar, "that thou hast had far the best +of the bargain. I have put this diabolical contrivance to all manner +of shapes, and have muttered over it enough Latin to have charmed a +monster into civility. And the accursed thing, after nearly pinching +off three fingers, and scalding me with seething water, and +spluttering and sputtering enough to have terrified any man but Friar +Bungey out of his skin, is obstinatus ut mulum,--dogged as a mule; and +was absolutely good for nought, till I happily thought of separating +this vessel from all the rest of the gear, and it serves now for the +boiling my eggs! But by the soul of Father Merlin, whom the saints +assoil, I need not have given myself all this torment for a thing +which, at best, does the work of a farthing pipkin!" + +"Quick, master; the hour is late! I must go while yet the troopers +and couriers and riders, hurrying to and fro, keep the gates from +closing. What wantest thou with Graul?" + +"More reverence, child!" growled the friar. "What I want of thee is +briefly told, if thou hast the wit to serve me. This miserable Warner +must himself expound to me the uses and trick of his malignant +contrivance. Thou must find and bring him hither!" + +"And if he will not expound?" + +"The deputy governor of the Tower will lend me a stone dungeon, and, +if need be, the use of the brake to unlock the dotard's tongue." + +"On what plea?" + +"That Adam Warner is a wizard, in the pay of Lord Warwick, whom a more +mighty master like myself alone can duly examine and defeat." + +"And if I bring thee the sorcerer, what wilt thou teach me in return?" + +"What desirest thou most?" + +Graul mused, and said, "There is war in the wind. Graul follows the +camp, her trooper gets gold and booty. But the trooper is stronger +than Graul; and when the trooper sleeps it is with his knife by his +side, and his sleep is light and broken, for he has wicked dreams. +Give me a potion to make sleep deep, that his eyes may not open when +Graul filches his gold, and his hand may be too heavy to draw the +knife from its sheath!" + +"Immunda, detestabilis! thine own paramour!" + +"He hath beat me with his bridle rein, he hath given a silver broad +piece to Grisell; Grisell hath sat on his knee; Graul never pardons!" + +The friar, rogue as he was, shuddered. "I cannot help thee to murder, +I cannot give thee the potion; name some other reward." + +"I go--" + +"Nay, nay, think, pause." + +"I know where Warner is hid. By this hour to-morrow night, I can +place him in thy power. Say the word, and pledge me the draught." + +"Well, well, mulier abominabilis!--that is, irresistible bonnibell. I +cannot give thee the potion; but I will teach thee an art which can +make sleep heavier than the anodyne, and which wastes not like the +essence, but strengthens by usage,--an art thou shalt have at thy +fingers' ends, and which often draws from the sleeper the darkest +secrets of his heart." [We have before said that animal magnetism was +known to Bungey, and familiar to the necromancers, or rather +theurgists, of the Middle Ages.] + +"It is magic," said Graul, with joy. + +"Ay, magic." + +"I will bring thee the wizard. But listen; he never stirs abroad, +save with his daughter. I must bring both." + +"Nay, I want not the girl." + +"But I dare not throttle her, for a great lord loves her, who would +find out the deed and avenge it; and if she be left behind, she will +go to the lord, and the lord will discover what thou hast done with +the wizard, and thou wilt hang!" + +"Never say 'Hang' to me, Graul: it is ill-mannered and ominous. Who +is the lord?" + +"Hastings." + +"Pest!--and already he hath been searching for the thing yonder; and I +have brooded over it night and day, like a hen over a chalk egg,--only +that the egg does not snap off the hen's claws, as that diabolism +would fain snap off my digits. But the war will carry Hastings away +in its whirlwind; and, in danger, the duchess is my slave, and will +bear me through all. So, thou mayst bring the girl; and strangle her +not; for no good ever comes of a murder,--unless, indeed, it be +absolutely necessary!" + +"I know the men who will help me, bold ribauds, whom I will guerdon +myself; for I want not thy coins, but thy craft. When the curfew has +tolled, and the bat hunts the moth, we will bring thee the quarry--" + +Graul turned; but as she gained the door, she stopped, and said +abruptly, throwing back her hood,-- + +"What age dost thou deem me?" + +"Marry," quoth the friar, "an' I had not seen thee on thy mother's +knee when she followed my stage of tregetour, I should have guessed +thee for thirty; but thou hast led too jolly a life to look still in +the blossom. Why speer'st thou the question?" + +"Because when trooper and ribaud say to me, 'Graul, thou art too worn +and too old to drink of our cup and sit in the lap, to follow the +young fere to the battle, and weave the blithe dance in the fair,' I +would depart from my sisters, and have a hut of my own, and a black +cat without a white hair, and steal herbs by the new moon, and bones +from the charnel, and curse those whom I hate, and cleave the misty +air on a besom, like Mother Halkin of Edmonton. Ha, ha! Master, thou +shalt present me then to the Sabbat. Graul has the mettle for a bonny +witch!" + +The tymbestere vanished with a laugh. The friar muttered a +paternoster for once, perchance, devoutly, and after having again +deliberately scanned the disjecta membra of the Eureka, gravely took +forth a duck's egg from his cupboard, and applied the master-agent of +the machine which Warner hoped was to change the face of the globe to +the only practical utility it possessed to the mountebank's +comprehension. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MEETING OF HASTINGS AND KATHERINE. + +The next morning, while Edward was engaged in levying from his opulent +citizens all the loans he could extract, knowing that gold is the +sinew of war; while Worcester was manning the fortress of the Tower, +in which the queen, then near her confinement, was to reside during +the campaign; while Gloucester was writing commissions to captains and +barons to raise men; while Sir Anthony Lord Rivers was ordering +improvements in his dainty damasquine armour, and the whole Fortress +Palatine was animated and alive with the stir of the coming strife,-- +Lord Hastings escaped from the bustle, and repaired to the house of +Katherine. With what motive, with what intentions, was not known +clearly to himself,--perhaps, for there was bitterness in his very +love for Katherine, to enjoy the retaliation due to his own wounded +pride, and say to the idol of his youth, as he had said to Gloucester, +"Time is, time was;" perhaps with some remembrance of the faith due to +Sibyll, wakened up the more now that Katherine seemed actually to +escape from the ideal image into the real woman,--to be easily wooed +and won. But, certainly, Sibyll's cause was not wholly lost, though +greatly shaken and endangered, when Lord Hastings alighted at Lady +Bonville's gate; but his face gradually grew paler, his mien less +assured, as he drew nearer and nearer to the apartment and the +presence of the widowed Katherine. + +She was seated alone, and in the same room in which he had last seen +her. Her deep mourning only served, by contrasting the pale and +exquisite clearness of her complexion, to enhance her beauty. +Hastings bowed low, and seated himself by her side in silence. + +The Lady of Bonville eyed him for some moments with an unutterable +expression of melancholy and tenderness. All her pride seemed to have +gone; the very character of her face was changed: grave severity had +become soft timidity, and stately self-control was broken into the +unmistaken struggle of hope and fear. + +"Hastings--William!" she said, in a gentle and low whisper, and at the +sound of that last name from those lips, the noble felt his veins +thrill and his heart throb. "If," she continued, "the step I have +taken seems to thee unwomanly and too bold, know, at least, what was +my design and my excuse. There was a time" (and Katherine blushed) +"when, thou knowest well, that, had this hand been mine to bestow, it +would have been his who claimed the half of this ring." And Katherine +took from a small crystal casket the well-remembered token. + +"The broken ring foretold but the broken troth," said Hastings, +averting his face. + +"Thy conscience rebukes thy words," replied Katherine, sadly; "I +pledged my faith, if thou couldst win my father's word. What maid, +and that maid a Nevile, could so forget duty and honour as to pledge +thee more? We were severed. Pass--oh, pass over that time! My +father loved me dearly; but when did pride and ambition ever deign to +take heed of the wild fancies of a girl's heart? Three suitors, +wealthy lords, whose alliance gave strength to my kindred in the day +when their very lives depended on their swords, were rivals for Earl +Salisbury's daughter. Earl Salisbury bade his daughter choose. Thy +great friend and my own kinsman, Duke Richard of York, himself pleaded +for thy rivals. He proved to me that my disobedience--if, indeed, for +the first time, a child of my House could disobey its chief--would be +an external barrier to thy fortune; that while Salisbury was thy foe, +he himself could not advance thy valiancy and merit; that it was with +me to forward thy ambition, though I could not reward thy love; that +from the hour I was another's, my mighty kinsmen themselves--for they +were generous--would be the first to aid the duke in thy career. +Hastings, even then I would have prayed, at least, to be the bride, +not of man, but God. But I was trained--as what noble demoiselle is +not?--to submit wholly to a parent's welfare and his will. As a nun, +I could but pray for the success of my father's cause; as a wife, I +could bring to Salisbury and to York the retainers and strongholds of +a baron. I obeyed. Hear me on. Of the three suitors for my hand, +two were young and gallant,--women deemed them fair and comely; and +had my choice been one of these, thou mightest have deemed that a new +love had chased the old. Since choice was mine, I chose the man love +could not choose, and took this sad comfort to my heart, 'He, the +forsaken Hastings, will see in my very choice that I was but the slave +of duty, my choice itself my penance.'" + +Katherine paused, and tears dropped fast from her eyes. Hastings held +his hand over his countenance, and only by the heaving of his heart +was his emotion visible. Katherine resumed:-- + +"Once wedded, I knew what became a wife. We met again; and to thy +first disdain and anger (which it had been dishonour in me to soothe +by one word that said, 'The wife remembers the maiden's love'),--to +these, thy first emotions, succeeded the more cruel revenge, which +would have changed sorrow and struggle to remorse and shame. And +then, then--weak woman that I was!--I wrapped myself in scorn and +pride. Nay, I felt deep anger--was it unjust?--that thou couldst so +misread and so repay the heart which had nothing left save virtue to +compensate for love. And yet, yet, often when thou didst deem me most +hard, most proof against memory and feeling--But why relate the trial? +Heaven supported me, and if thou lovest me no longer, thou canst not +despise me." + +At these last words Hastings was at her feet, bending over her hand, +and stifled by his emotions. Katherine gazed at him for a moment +through her own tears, and then resumed:-- + +"But thou hadst, as man, consolations no woman would desire or covet. +And oh, what grieved me most was, not--no, not the jealous, the +wounded vanity, but it was at least this self-accusation, this +remorse--that--but for one goading remembrance, of love returned and +love forsaken,--thou hadst never so descended from thy younger nature, +never so trifled with the solemn trust of TIME. Ah, when I have heard +or seen or fancied one fault in thy maturer manhood, unworthy of thy +bright youth, anger of myself has made me bitter and stern to thee; +and if I taunted or chid or vexed thy pride, how little didst thou +know that through the too shrewish humour spoke the too soft +remembrance! For this--for this; and believing that through all, +alas! my image was not replaced, when my hand was free, I was grateful +that I might still--" (the lady's pale cheek grew brighter than the +rose, her voice faltered, and became low and indistinct)--"I might +still think it mine to atone to thee for the past. And if," she added, +with a sudden and generous energy, "if in this I have bowed my pride, +it is because by pride thou wert wounded; and now, at last, thou hast +a just revenge." + +O terrible rival for thee, lost Sibyll! Was it wonderful that, while +that head drooped upon his breast, while in that enchanted change +which Love the softener makes in lips long scornful, eyes long proud +and cold, he felt that Katherine Nevile--tender, gentle, frank without +boldness, lofty without arrogance--had replaced the austere dame of +Bonville, whom he half hated while he wooed,--oh, was it wonderful +that the soul of Hastings fled back to the old time, forgot the +intervening vows and more chill affections, and repeated only with +passionate lips, "Katherine, loved still, loved ever, mine, mine, at +last!" + +Then followed delicious silence, then vows, confessions, questions, +answers,--the thrilling interchange of hearts long divided, and now +rushing into one. And time rolled on, till Katherine, gently breaking +from her lover, said,-- + +"And now that thou hast the right to know and guide my projects, +approve, I pray thee, my present purpose. War awaits thee, and we +must part a while!" At these words her brow darkened and her lip +quivered. "Oh, that I should have lived to mourn the day when Lord +Warwick, untrue to Salisbury and to York, joined his arms with +Lancaster and Margaret,--the day when Katherine could blush for the +brother she had deemed the glory of her House! No, no" (she +continued, as Hastings interrupted her with generous excuses for the +earl, and allusion to the known slights he had received),--"no, no; +make not his cause the worse by telling me that an unworthy pride, the +grudge of some thwart to his policy or power, has made him forget what +was due to the memory of his kinsman York, to the mangled corpse of +his father Salisbury. Thinkest thou that but for this I could--" She +stopped, but Hastings divined her thought, and guessed that, if +spoken, it had run thus: "That I could, even now, have received the +homage of one who departs to meet, with banner and clarion, my brother +as his foe?" + +The lovely sweetness of the late expression had gone from Katherine's +face, and its aspect showed that her high and ancestral spirit had +yielded but to one passion. She pursued,-- + +"While this strife lasts, it becomes my widowhood and kindred position +with the earl to retire to the convent my mother founded. To-morrow I +depart." + +"Alas!" said Hastings, "thou speakest of the strife as if but a single +field. But Warwick returns not to these shores, nor bows himself to +league with Lancaster, for a chance hazardous and desperate, as Edward +too rashly deems it. It is in vain to deny that the earl is prepared +for a grave and lengthened war, and much I doubt whether Edward can +resist his power; for the idolatry of the very land will swell the +ranks of so dread a rebel. What if he succeed; what if we be driven +into exile, as Henry's friends before us; what if the king-maker be +the king-dethroner? Then, Katherine, then once more thou wilt be at +the best of thy hostile kindred, and once more, dowered as thou art, +and thy womanhood still in its richest bloom, thy hand will be lost to +Hastings." + +"Nay, if that be all thy fear, take with thee this pledge,--that +Warwick's treason to the House for which my father fell dissolves his +power over one driven to disown him as a brother,--knowing Earl +Salisbury, had he foreseen such disgrace, had disowned him as a son. +And if there be defeat and flight and exile, wherever thou wanderest, +Hastings, shall Katherine be found beside thee. Fare thee well, and +Our Lady shield thee! may thy lance be victorious against all foes,-- +save one. Thou wilt forbear my--that is, the earl!" And Katherine, +softened at that thought, sobbed aloud. + +"And come triumph or defeat, I have thy pledge?" said Hastings, +soothing her. + +"See," said Katherine, taking the broken ring from the casket; "now, +for the first time since I bore the name of Bonville, I lay this relic +on my heart; art thou answered?" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +HASTINGS LEARNS WHAT HAS BEFALLEN SIBYLL, REPAIRS TO THE KING, AND +ENCOUNTERS AN OLD RIVAL. + +"It is destiny," said Hastings to himself, when early the next morning +he was on his road to the farm--"it is destiny,--and who can resist +his fate?" + +"It is destiny!"--phrase of the weak human heart! "It is destiny!" +dark apology for every error! The strong and the virtuous admit no +destiny! On earth guides conscience, in heaven watches God. And +destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one, to dethrone +the other! + +Hastings spared not his good steed. With great difficulty had he +snatched a brief respite from imperious business, to accomplish the +last poor duty now left to him to fulfil,--to confront the maid whose +heart he had seduced in vain, and say at length, honestly and firmly, +"I cannot wed thee. Forget me, and farewell." + +Doubtless his learned and ingenious mind conjured up softer words than +these, and more purfled periods wherein to dress the iron truth. But +in these two sentences the truth lay. He arrived at the farm, he +entered the house; he felt it as a reprieve that he met not the +bounding step of the welcoming Sibyll. He sat down in the humble +chamber, and waited a while in patience,--no voice was heard. The +silence at length surprised and alarmed him. He proceeded farther. +He was met by the widowed owner of the house, who was weeping; and her +first greeting prepared him for what had chanced. "Oh, my lord, you +have come to tell me they are safe, they have not fallen into the +hands of their enemies,--the good gentleman, so meek, the poor lady, +so fair!" + +Hastings stood aghast; a few sentences more explained all that he +already guessed. A strange man had arrived the evening before at the +house, praying Adam and his daughter to accompany him to the Lord +Hastings, who had been thrown from his horse, and was now in a cottage +in the neighbouring lane,--not hurt dangerously, but unable to be +removed, and who had urgent matters to communicate. Not questioning +the truth of this story, Adam and Sibyll had hurried forth, and +returned no more. Alarmed by their long absence, the widow, who at +first received the message from the stranger, went herself to the +cottage, and found that the story was a fable. Every search had since +been made for Adam and his daughter, but in vain. The widow, +confirmed in her previous belief that her lodgers had been attainted +Lancastrians, could but suppose that they had been thus betrayed to +their enemies. Hastings heard this with a dismay and remorse +impossible to express. His only conjecture was that the king had +discovered their retreat, and taken this measure to break off the +intercourse he had so sternly denounced. Full of these ideas, he +hastily remounted, and stopped not till once more at the gates of the +Tower. Hastening to Edward's closet, the moment he saw the king, he +exclaimed, in great emotion, "My liege, my liege, do not at this hour, +when I have need of my whole energy to serve thee, do not madden my +brain, and palsy my arm. This old man--the poor maid--Sibyll-- +Warner,--speak, my liege--only tell me they are safe; promise me they +shall go free, and I swear to obey thee in all else! I will thank +thee in the battlefield!" + +"Thou art mad, Hastings!" said the king, in great astonishment. +"Hush!" and he glanced significantly at a person who stood before +several heaps of gold, ranged upon a table in the recess of the room. +"See," he whispered, "yonder is the goldsmith, who hath brought me a +loan from himself and his fellows! Pretty tales for the city thy +folly will send abroad!" + +But before Hastings could vent his impatient answer, this person, to +Edward's still greater surprise, had advanced from his place, and +forgetting all ceremony, had seized Hastings by the hem of his +surcoat, exclaiming,-- + +"My lord, my lord, what new horror is this? Sibyll!--methought she +was worthless, and had fled to thee!" + +"Ten thousand devils!" shouted the king, "am I ever to be tormented by +that damnable wizard and his witch child? And is it, Sir Peer and Sir +Goldsmith, in your king's closet that ye come, the very eve before he +marches to battle, to speer and glower at each other like two madmen +as ye are?" + +Neither peer nor goldsmith gave way, till the courtier, naturally +recovering himself the first, fell on his knee; and said, with firm +though profound respect: "Sire, if poor William Hastings has ever +merited from the king one kindly thought, one generous word, forgive +now whatever may displease thee in his passion or his suit, and tell +him what prison contains those whom it would forever dishonour his +knighthood to know punished and endangered but for his offence." + +"My lord," answered the king, softened but still surprised, "think you +seriously that I, who but reluctantly in this lovely month leave my +green lawns of Shene to save a crown, could have been vexing my brain +by stratagems to seize a lass, whom I swear by Saint George I do not +envy thee in the least? If that does not suffice, incredulous +dullard, why then take my kingly word, never before passed for so +slight an occasion, that I know nothing whatsoever of thy damsel's +whereabout nor her pestilent father's,--where they abode of late, +where they now be; and, what is more, if any man has usurped his +king's right to imprison the king's subjects, find him out, and name +his punishment. Art thou convinced?" + +"I am, my liege," said Hastings. + +"But--" began the goldsmith. + +"Holloa, you, too, sir! This is too much! We have condescended to +answer the man who arms three thousand retainers--" + +"And I, please your Highness, bring you the gold to pay them," said +the trader, bluntly. + +The king bit his lip, and then burst into his usual merry laugh. + +"Thou art in the right, Master Alwyn. Finish counting the pieces, and +then go and consult with my chamberlain,--he must off with the cock- +crow; but, since ye seem to understand each other, he shall make thee +his lieutenant of search, and I will sign any order he pleases for the +recovery of the lost wisdom and the stolen beauty. Go and calm +thyself, Hastings." + +"I will attend you presently, my lord," said Alwyn, aside, "in your +own apartment." + +"Do so," said Hastings; and, grateful for the king's consideration, he +sought his rooms. There, indeed, Alwyn soon joined him, and learned +from the nobleman what filled him at once with joy and terror. +Knowing that Warner and Sibyll had left the Tower, he had surmised +that the girl's virtue had at last succumbed; and it delighted him to +hear from Lord Hastings, whose word to men was never questionable, the +solemn assurance of her unstained chastity. But he trembled at this +mysterious disappearance, and knew not to whom to impute the snare, +till the penetration of Hastings suddenly alighted near, at least, to +the clew. "The Duchess of Bedford," said he, "ever increasing in +superstition as danger increases, may have desired to refind so great +a scholar and reputed an astrologer and magician; if so, all is safe. +On the other hand, her favourite, the friar, ever bore a jealous +grudge to poor Adam, and may have sought to abstract him from her +grace's search; here there may be molestation to Adam, but surely no +danger to Sibyll. Hark ye, Alwyn, thou lovest the maid more worthily, +and--" Hastings stopped short; for such is infirm human nature, that, +though he had mentally resigned Sibyll forever, he could not yet +calmly face the thought of resigning her to a rival. "Thou lovest +her," he renewed, more coldly, "and to thee, therefore, I may safely +trust the search which time and circumstance and a soldier's duty +forbid to me. And believe--oh, believe that I say not this from a +passion which may move thy jealousy, but rather with a brother's holy +love. If thou canst but see her safe, and lodged where no danger nor +wrong can find her, thou hast no friend in the wide world whose +service through life thou mayst command like mine." + +"My lord," said Alwyn, dryly, "I want no friends! Young as I am, I +have lived long enough to see that friends follow fortune, but never +make it! I will find this poor maid and her honoured father, if I +spend my last groat on the search. Get me but such an order from the +king as may place the law at my control, and awe even her grace of +Bedford,--and I promise the rest!" + +Hastings, much relieved, deigned to press the goldsmith's reluctant +hand; and, leaving him alone for a few minutes, returned with a +warrant from the king, which seemed to Alwyn sufficiently precise and +authoritative. The goldsmith then departed, and first he sought the +friar, but found him not at home. Bungey had taken with him, as was +his wont, the keys of his mysterious apartment. Alwyn then hastened +elsewhere, to secure those experienced in such a search, and to head +it in person. At the Tower, the evening was passed in bustle and +excitement,--the last preparations for departure. The queen, who was +then far advanced towards her confinement, was, as we before said, to +remain at the Tower, which was now strongly manned. Roused from her +wonted apathy by the imminent dangers that awaited Edward, the night +was passed by her in tears and prayers, by him in the sound sleep of +confident valour. The next morning departed for the North the several +leaders,--Gloucester, Rivers, Hastings, and the king. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE LANDING OF LORD WARWICK, AND THE EVENTS THAT ENSUE THEREON. + +And Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, "prepared such a greate navie +as lightly hath not been seene before gathered in manner of all +nations, which armie laie at the mouth of the Seyne ready to fight +with the Earl of Warwick, when he should set out of his harborowe." +[Hall, p. 282, ed. 1809.] + +But the winds fought for the Avenger. In the night came "a terrible +tempest," which scattered the duke's ships "one from another, so that +two of them were not in compagnie together in one place;" and when the +tempest had done its work, it passed away; and the gales were fair, +and the heaven was clear, when, the next day, the earl "halsed up the +sayles," and came in sight of Dartmouth. + +It was not with an army of foreign hirelings that Lord Warwick set +forth on his mighty enterprise. Scanty indeed were the troops he +brought from France,--for he had learned from England that "men so +much daily and hourely desired and wished so sore his arrival and +return, that almost all men were in harness, looking for his landyng." +[The popular feeling in favour of the earl is described by Hall, with +somewhat more eloquence and vigour than are common with that homely +chronicler: "The absence of the Earle of Warwick made the common +people daily more and more to long and bee desirous to have the sight +of him, and presently to behold his personage. For they judged that +the sunne was clerely taken from the world when hee was absent. In +such high estimation amongst the people was his name, that neither no +one manne they had in so much honour, neither no one persone they so +much praised, or to the clouds so highly extolled. What shall I say? +His only name sounded in every song, in the mouth of the common +people, and his persone [effigies] was represented with great +reverence when publique plaies or open triumphes should bee skewed or +set furthe abrode in the stretes," etc. This lively passage, if not +too highly coloured, serves to show us the rude saturnalian kind of +liberty that existed, even under a king so vindictive as Edward IV. +Though an individual might be banged for the jest that he would make +his son heir to the crown (namely, the grocer's shop, which bore that +sign), yet no tyranny could deal with the sentiment of the masses. In +our own day it would be less safe than in that to make public +exhibition "in plaies and triumphes" of sympathy with a man attainted +as a traitor, and in open rebellion to the crown.] As his ships +neared the coast, and the banner of the Ragged Staff, worked in gold, +shone in the sun, the shores swarmed with armed crowds, not to resist +but to welcome. From cliff to cliff, wide and far, blazed rejoicing +bonfires; and from cliff to cliff, wide and far, burst the shout, +when, first of all his men, bareheaded, but, save the burgonet, in +complete mail, the popular hero leaped to shore. + +"When the earl had taken land, he made a proclamation, in the name of +King Henry VI., upon high paynes commanding and charging all men apt +or able to bear armour, to prepare themselves to fight against Edward, +Duke of York, who had untruly usurped the croune and dignity of this +realm." [Hall, p. 82.] + +And where was Edward? Afar, following the forces of Fitzhugh and +Robin of Redesdale, who by artful retreat drew him farther and farther +northward, and left all the other quarters of the kingdom free to send +their thousands to the banners of Lancaster and Warwick. And even as +the news of the earl's landing reached the king, it spread also +through all the towns of the North; and all the towns of the North +were in "a great rore, and made fires, and sang songs, crying, 'King +Henry! King Henry! a Warwicke! a Warwicke!'" But his warlike and +presumptuous spirit forsook not the chief of that bloody and fatal +race,--the line of the English Pelops,--"bespattered with kindred +gore." [Aeschylus: Agamemnon] A messenger from Burgundy was in his +tent when the news reached him. "Back to the duke!" cried Edward; +"tell him to recollect his navy, guard the sea, scour the streams, +that the earl shall not escape, nor return to France; for the doings +in England, let me alone! I have ability and puissance to overcome +all enemies and rebels in mine own realm." [Hall, p. 283.] + +And therewith he raised his camp, abandoned the pursuit of Fitzhugh, +summoned Montagu to join him (it being now safer to hold the marquis +near him, and near the axe, if his loyalty became suspected), and +marched on to meet the earl. Nor did the earl tarry from the +encounter. His army, swelling as he passed, and as men read his +proclamations to reform all grievances and right all wrongs, he +pressed on to meet the king, while fast and fast upon Edward's rear +came the troops of Fitzhugh and Hilyard, no longer flying but +pursuing. The king was the more anxious to come up to Warwick, +inasmuch as he relied greatly upon the treachery of Clarence, either +secretly to betray or openly to desert the earl. And he knew that if +he did the latter on the eve of a battle, it could not fail morally to +weaken Warwick, and dishearten his army by fear that desertion should +prove, as it ever does, the most contagious disease that can afflict a +camp. It is probable, however, that the enthusiasm which had +surrounded the earl with volunteers so numerous had far exceeded the +anticipations of the inexperienced Clarence, and would have forbid him +that opportunity of betraying the earl. However this be, the rival +armies drew nearer and nearer. The king halted in his rapid march at +a small village, and took up his quarters in a fortified house, to +which there was no access but by a single bridge. [Sharon Turner, +Comines.] Edward himself retired for a short time to his couch, for +he had need of all his strength in the battle he foresaw; but scarce +had he closed his eyes, when Alexander Carlile [Hearne: Fragment], the +serjeant of the royal minstrels, followed by Hastings and Rivers +(their jealousy laid at rest for a time in the sense of their king's +danger), rushed into his room. + +"Arm, sire, arm!--Lord Montagu has thrown off the mask, and rides +through thy troops, shouting 'Long live King Henry!'" + +"Ah, traitor!" cried the king, leaping from his bed. "From Warwick +hate was my due, but not from Montagu! Rivers, help to buckle on my +mail. Hastings, post my body-guard at the bridge. We will sell our +lives dear." + +Hastings vanished. Edward had scarcely hurried on his helm, cuirass, +and greaves, when Gloucester entered, calm in the midst of peril. + +"Your enemies are marching to seize you, brother. Hark! behind you +rings the cry, 'A Fitzhugh! a Robin! death to the tyrant!' Hark! in +front, 'A Montagu! a Warwick! Long live King Henry!' I come to +redeem my word,--to share your exile or your death. Choose either +while there is yet time. Thy choice is mine!" + +And while he spoke, behind, before, came the various cries nearer and +nearer. The lion of March was in the toils. + +"Now, my two-handed sword!" said Edward. "Gloucester, in this weapon +learn my choice!" + +But now all the principal barons and captains, still true to the king +whose crown was already lost, flocked in a body to the chamber. They +fell on their knees, and with tears implored him to save himself for a +happier day. + +"There is yet time to escape," said D'Eyncourt, "to pass the bridge, +to gain the seaport! Think not that a soldier's death will be left +thee. Numbers will suffice to encumber thine arm, to seize thy +person. Live not to be Warwick's prisoner,--shown as a wild beast in +its cage to the hooting crowd!" + +"If not on thyself," exclaimed Rivers, "have pity on these loyal +gentlemen, and for the sake of their lives preserve thine own. What +is flight? Warwick fled!" + +"True,--and returned!" added Gloucester. "You are right, my lords. +Come, sire, we must fly. Our rights fly not with us, but shall fight +for us in absence!" + +The calm WILL of this strange and terrible boy had its effect upon +Edward. He suffered his brother to lead him from the chamber, +grinding his teeth in impotent rage. He mounted his horse, while +Rivers held the stirrup, and with some six or seven knights and earls +rode to the bridge, already occupied by Hastings and a small but +determined guard. + +"Come, Hastings," said the king, with a ghastly smile,--"they tell us +we must fly!" + +"True, sire, haste, haste! I stay but to deceive the enemy by +feigning to defend the pass, and to counsel, as I best may, the +faithful soldiers we leave behind." + +"Brave Hastings!" said Gloucester, pressing his hand, "you do well, +and I envy you the glory of this post. Come, sire." + +"Ay, ay," said the king, with a sudden and fierce cry, "we go,--but at +least slaughtering as we go. See! yon rascal troop! ride we through +their midst! Havock and revenge!" + +He set spurs to his steed, galloped over the bridge, and before his +companions could join him, dashed alone into the very centre of the +advanced guard sent to invest the fortress, and while they were yet +shouting, "Where is the tyrant, where is Edward?" + +"Here!" answered a voice of thunder,--"here, rebels and faytors, in +your ranks!" + +This sudden and appalling reply, even more than the sweep of the +gigantic sword, before which were riven sallet and mail as the +woodman's axe rives the fagot, created amongst the enemy that singular +panic, which in those ages often scattered numbers before the arm and +the name of one. They recoiled in confusion and dismay. Many +actually threw down their arms and fled. Through a path broad and +clear amidst the forest of pikes, Gloucester and the captains followed +the flashing track of the king, over the corpses, headless or +limbless, that he felled as he rode. + +Meanwhile, with a truer chivalry, Hastings, taking advantage of the +sortie which confused and delayed the enemy, summoned such of the +loyal as were left in the fortress, advised them, as the only chance +of life, to affect submission to Warwick; but when the time came, to +remember their old allegiance, [Sharon Turner, vol. iii. 280.] and +promising that he would not desert them, save with life, till their +safety was pledged by the foe, reclosed his visor, and rode back to +the front of the bridge. + +And now the king and his comrades had cut their way through all +barrier, but the enemy still wavered and lagged, till suddenly the cry +of "Robin of Redesdale!" was heard, and sword in hand, Hilyard, +followed by a troop of horse, dashed to the head of the besiegers, +and, learning the king's escape, rode off in pursuit. His brief +presence and sharp rebuke reanimated the falterers, and in a few +minutes they gained the bridge. + +"Halt, sirs," cried Hastings; "I would offer capitulation to your +leader! Who is he?" + +A knight on horseback advanced from the rest. Hastings lowered the +point of his sword. + +"Sir, we yield this fortress to your hands upon one condition,--our +men yonder are willing to submit, and shout with you for Henry VI. +Pledge me your word that you and your soldiers spare their lives and +do them no wrong, and we depart." + +"And if I pledge it not?" said the knight. + +"Then for every warrior who guards this bridge count ten dead men +amongst your ranks." + +"Do your worst,--our bloods are up! We want life for life! revenge +for the subjects butchered by your tyrant chief! Charge! to the +attack! charge! pike and bill!" The knight spurred on, the +Lancastrians followed, and the knight reeled from his horse into the +moat below, felled by the sword of Hastings. + +For several minutes the pass was so gallantly defended that the strife +seemed uncertain, though fearfully unequal, when Lord Montagu himself, +hearing what had befallen, galloped to the spot, threw down his +truncheon, cried "Hold!" and the slaughter ceased. To this nobleman +Hastings repeated the terms he had proposed. + +"And," said Montagu, turning with anger to the Lancastrians, who +formed a detachment of Fitzhugh's force--"can Englishmen insist upon +butchering Englishmen? Rather thank we Lord Hastings that he would +spare good King Henry so many subjects' lives! The terms are granted, +my lord; and your own life also, and those of your friends around you, +vainly brave in a wrong cause. Depart!" + +"Ah, Montagu," said Hastings, touched, and in a whisper, "what pity +that so gallant a gentleman should leave a rebel's blot upon his +scutcheon!" + +"When chiefs and suzerains are false and perjured, Lord Hastings," +answered Montagu, "to obey them is not loyalty, but serfdom; and +revolt is not disloyalty, but a freeman's duty. One day thou mayst +know that truth, but too late." [It was in the midst of his own +conspiracy against Richard of Gloucester that the head of Lord +Hastings fell.] + +Hastings made no reply, waved his hand to his fellow-defenders of the +bridge, and, followed by them, went slowly and deliberately on, till +clear of the murmuring and sullen foe; then putting spurs to their +steeds, these faithful warriors rode fast to rejoin their king; +overtook Hilyard on the way, and after a fierce skirmish, a blow from +Hastings unhorsed and unhelmed the stalwart Robin, and left him so +stunned as to check further pursuit. They at last reached the king, +and gaining, with him and his party, the town of Lynn, happily found +one English and two Dutch vessels on the point of sailing. Without +other raiment than the mail they wore, without money, the men a few +hours before hailed as sovereign or as peers fled from their native +land as outcasts and paupers. New dangers beset them on the sea: the +ships of the Easterlings, at war both with France and England, bore +down upon their vessels. At the risk of drowning they ran ashore near +Alcmaer. The large ships of the Easterlings followed as far as the +low water would permit, "intendeing at the fludde to have obtained +their prey." [Hall.] In this extremity, the lord of the province +(Louis of Grauthuse) came aboard their vessels, protected the +fugitives from the Easterlings, conducted them to the Hague, and +apprised the Duke of Burgundy how his brother-in-law had lost his +throne. Then were verified Lord Warwick's predictions of the faith of +Burgundy! The duke for whose alliance Edward had dishonoured the man +to whom he owed his crown, so feared the victorious earl, that "he had +rather have heard of King Edward's death than of his discomfiture;" +[Hall, p. 279] and his first thought was to send an embassy to the +king-maker, praying the amity and alliance of the restored dynasty. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +WHAT BEFELL ADAM WARNER AND SIBYLL WHEN MADE SUBJECT TO THE GREAT +FRIAR BUNGEY. + +We must now return to the Tower of London,--not, indeed, to its lordly +halls and gilded chambers, but to the room of Friar Bungey. We must +go back somewhat in time; and on the day following the departure of +the king and his lords, conjure up in that strangely furnished +apartment the form of the burly friar, standing before the +disorganized Eureka, with Adam Warner by his side. + +Graul, as we have seen, had kept her word, and Sibyll and her father, +having fallen into the snare, were suddenly gagged, bound, led through +by-paths to a solitary hut, where a covered wagon was in waiting, and +finally, at nightfall, conducted to the Tower. The friar, whom his +own repute, jolly affability, and favour with the Duchess of Bedford +made a considerable person with the authorities of the place, had +already obtained from the deputy-governor an order to lodge two +persons, whom his zeal for the king sought to convict of necromantic +practices in favour of the rebellion, in the cells set apart for such +unhappy captives. Thither the prisoners were conducted. The friar +did not object to their allocation in contiguous cells; and the jailer +deemed him mighty kind and charitable, when he ordered that they might +be well served and fed till their examination. + +He did not venture, however, to summon his captives till the departure +of the king, when the Tower was in fact at the disposition of his +powerful patroness, and when he thought he might stretch his authority +as far as he pleased, unquestioned and unchid. + +Now, therefore, on the day succeeding Edward's departure, Adam Warner +was brought from his cell, and led to the chamber where the triumphant +friar received him in majestic state. The moment Warner entered, he +caught sight of the chaos to which his Eureka was resolved, and +uttering a cry of mingled grief and joy, sprang forward to greet his +profaned treasure. The friar motioned away the jailer (whispering him +to wait without), and they were left alone. Bungey listened with +curious and puzzled attention to poor Adam's broken interjections of +lamentation and anger, and at last, clapping him roughly on the back, +said,-- + +"Thou knowest the secret of this magical and ugly device: but in thy +hands it leads only to ruin and perdition. Tell me that secret, and +in my hands it shall turn to honour and profit. Porkey verbey! I am a +man of few words. Do this, and thou shalt go free with thy daughter, +and I will protect thee, and give thee moneys, and my fatherly +blessing; refuse to do it, and thou shalt go from thy snug cell into a +black dungeon full of newts and rats, where thou shalt rot till thy +nails are like birds' talons, and thy skin shrivelled up into mummy, +and covered with hair like Nebuchadnezzar!" + +"Miserable varlet! Give thee my secret, give thee my fame, my life! +Never! I scorn and spit at thy malice!" + +The friar's face grew convulsed with rage. "Wretch!" he roared forth, +"darest thou unslip thy hound-like malignity upon great Bungey? +Knowest thou not that he could bid the walls open and close upon thee; +that he could set yon serpents to coil round thy limbs, and yon lizard +to gnaw out thine entrails? Despise not my mercy, and descend to +plain sense. What good didst thou ever reap from thy engine? Why +shouldst thou lose liberty--nay, life--if I will, for a thing that has +cursed thee with man's horror and hate?" + +"Art thou Christian and friar to ask me why? Were not Christians +themselves hunted by wild beasts, and burned at the stake, and boiled +in the caldron for their belief? Knave, whatever is holiest men ever +persecute. Read thy Bible!" + +"Read the Bible!" exclaimed Bungey, in pious horror at such a +proposition. "Ah, blasphemer, now I have thee! Thou art a heretic +and Lollard. Hollo, there!" + +The friar stamped his foot, the door opened; but to his astonishment +and dismay appeared, not the grim jailer, but the Duchess of Bedford +herself, preceded by Nicholas Alwyn. "I told your Grace truly--see, +lady!" cried the goldsmith. "Vile impostor, where hast thou hidden +this wise man's daughter?" + +The friar turned his dull, bead-like eyes in vacant consternation from +Nicholas to Adam, from Adam to the duchess. "Sir friar," said +Jacquetta, mildly--for she wished to conciliate the rival seers--"what +means this over-zealous violation of law? Is it true, as Master Alwyn +affirms, that thou hast stolen away and seducted this venerable sage +and his daughter,--a maid I deemed worthy of a post in my own +household?" + +"Daughter and lady," said the friar, sullenly, "this ill faytor, I +have reason to know, has been practising spells for Lord Warwick and +the enemy. I did but summon him hither that my art might undo his +charms; and as for his daughter, it seemed more merciful to let her +attend him than to leave her alone and unfriended; specially," added +the friar with a grin, "since the poor lord she hath witched is gone +to the wars." + +"It is true, then, wretch, that thou or thy caitiffs have dared to lay +hands on a maiden of birth and blood!" exclaimed Alwyn. "Tremble!-- +see, here, the warrant signed by the king, offering a reward for thy +detection, empowering me to give thee up to the laws. By Saint +Dunstan, but for thy friar's frock, thou shouldst hang!" + +"Tut, tut, Master Goldsmith," said the duchess, haughtily, "lower thy +tone. This holy man is under my protection, and his fault was but +over-zeal. What were this sage's devices and spells?" + +"Marry," said the friar, "that is what your Grace just hindereth my +knowing. But he cannot deny that he is a pestilent astrologer, and +sends word to the rebels what hours are lucky or fatal for battle and +assault." + +"Ha!" said the duchess, "he is an astrologer! true, and came nearer to +the alchemist's truth than any multiplier that ever served me! My own +astrologer is just dead,--why died he at such a time? Peace, peace! +be there peace between two so learned men. Forgive thy brother, +Master Warner!" Adam had hitherto disdained all participation in this +dialogue. In fact, he had returned to the Eureka, and was silently +examining if any loss of the vital parts had occurred in its +melancholy dismemberment. But now he turned round and said, "Lady, +leave the lore of the stars to their great Maker. I forgive this man, +and thank your Grace for your justice. I claim these poor fragments, +and crave your leave to suffer me to depart with my device and my +child." + +"No, no!" said the duchess, seizing his hand. "Hist! whatever Lord +Warwick paid thee, I will double. No time now for alchemy; but for +the horoscope, it is the veriest season. I name thee my special +astrologer." + +"Accept, accept," whispered Alwyn; "for your daughter's sake--for your +own--nay, for the Eureka's!" + +Adam bowed his head, and groaned forth, "But I go not hence--no, not a +foot--unless this goes with me. Cruel wretch, how he hath deformed +it!" + +"And now," cried Alwyn, eagerly, "this wronged and unhappy maiden?" + +"Go! be it thine to release and bring her to our presence, good +Alwyn," said the duchess; "she shall lodge with her father, and +receive all honour. Follow me, Master Warner." + +No sooner, however, did the friar perceive that Alwyn had gone in +search of the jailer, than he arrested the steps of the duchess, and +said, with the air of a much-injured man,-- + +"May it please your Grace to remember that unless the greater magician +have all power and aid in thwarting the lesser, the lesser can +prevail; and therefore, if your Grace finds, when too late, that Lord +Warwick's or Lord Fitzhugh's arms prosper, that woe and disaster +befall the king, say not it was the fault of Friar Bungey! Such +things may be. Nathless I shall still sweat and watch and toil; and +if, despite your unhappy favour and encouragement to this hostile +sorcerer, the king should beat his enemies, why, then, Friar Bungey is +not so powerless as your Grace holds him. I have said--Porkey +verbey!--Figilabo et conabo--et perspirabo--et hungerabo--pro vos et +vestros, Amen!" + +The duchess was struck by this eloquent appeal; but more and more +convinced of the dread science of Adam by the evident apprehensions of +the redoubted Bungey, and firmly persuaded that she could bribe or +induce the former to turn a science that would otherwise be hostile +into salutary account, she contented herself with a few words of +conciliation and compliment, and summoning the attendants who had +followed her, bade them take up the various members of the Eureka (for +Adam clearly demonstrated that he would not depart without them) and +conducted the philosopher to a lofty chamber, fitted up for the +defunct astrologer. + +Hither, in a short time, Alwyn had the happiness of leading Sibyll, +and witnessing the delighted reunion of the child and father. And +then, after he had learned the brief details of their abduction, he +related how, baffled in all attempt to trace their clew, he had +convinced himself that either the duchess or Bungey was the author of +the snare, returned to the Tower, shown the king's warrant, learned +that an old man and a young female had indeed been admitted into the +fortress, and hurried at once to the duchess, who, surprised at his +narration and complaint, and anxious to regain the services of Warner, +had accompanied him at once to the friar. + +"And though," added the goldsmith, "I could indeed procure you +lodgings more welcome to ye elsewhere, yet it is well to win the +friendship of the duchess, and royalty is ever an ill foe. How came +ye to quit the palace?" + +Sibyll changed countenance, and her father answered gravely, "We +incurred the king's displeasure, and the excuse was the popular hatred +of me and the Eureka." + +"Heaven made the people, and the devil makes three-fourths of what is +popular!" bluntly said the man of the middle class, ever against both +extremes. + +"And how," asked Sibyll, "how, honoured and true friend, didst thou +obtain the king's warrant, and learn the snare into which we had +fallen?" + +This time it was Alwyn who changed countenance. He mused a moment, +and then frankly answering, "Thou must thank Lord Hastings," gave the +explanation already known to the reader. + +But the grateful tears this relation called forth from Sibyll, her +clasped hands, her evident emotion of delight and love, so pained poor +Alwyn, that he rose abruptly and took his leave. + +And now the Eureka was a luxury as peremptorily forbid to the +astrologer as it had been to the alchemist! Again the true science +was despised, and the false cultivated and honoured. Condemned to +calculations which no man (however wise) in that age held altogether +delusive, and which yet Adam Warner studied with very qualified +belief, it happened by some of those coincidences, which have from +time to time appeared to confirm the credulous in judicial astrology, +that Adam's predictions became fulfilled. The duchess was prepared +for the first tidings that Edward's foes fled before him. She was +next prepared for the very day in which Warwick landed; and then her +respect for the astrologer became strangely mingled with suspicion and +terror, when she found that he proceeded to foretell but ominous and +evil events; and when at last, still in corroboration of the unhappily +too faithful horoscope, came the news of the king's flight, and the +earl's march upon London, she fled to Friar Bungey in dismay. And +Friar Bungey said,-- + +"Did I not warn you, daughter? Had you suffered me to--" + +"True, true!" interrupted the duchess. "Now take, hang, rack, drown, +or burn your horrible rival, if you will, but undo the charm, and save +us from the earl!" + +The friar's eyes twinkled, but to the first thought of spite and +vengeance succeeded another: if he who had made the famous waxen +effigies of the Earl of Warwick were now to be found guilty of some +atrocious and positive violence upon Master Adam Warner, might not the +earl be glad of so good an excuse to put an end to Himself? + +"Daughter," said the friar, at that reflection, and shaking his head +mysteriously and sadly, "daughter, it is too late." + +The duchess in great despair flew to the queen. Hitherto she had +concealed from her royal daughter the employment she had given to +Adam; for Elizabeth, who had herself suffered from the popular belief +in Jacquetta's sorceries, had of late earnestly besought her to lay +aside all practices that could be called into question. Now, however, +when she confessed to the agitated and distracted queen the retaining +of Adam Warner, and his fatal predictions, Elizabeth, who, from +discretion and pride, had carefully hidden from her mother (too +vehement to keep a secret) that offence in the king, the memory of +which had made Warner peculiarly obnoxious to him, exclaimed,-- + +"Unhappy mother, thou hast employed the very man my fated husband +would the most carefully have banished from the palace, the very man +who could blast his name." + +The duchess was aghast and thunderstricken. + +"If ever I forsake Friar Bungey again!" she muttered; "OH, THE GREAT +MAN!" + +But events which demand a detailed recital now rapidly pressing on, +gave the duchess not even the time to seek further explanation of +Elizabeth's words, much less to determine the doubt that rose in her +enlightened mind whether Adam's spells might not be yet unravelled by +the timely execution of the sorcerer! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE DELIBERATIONS OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL, WHILE LORD WARWICK MARCHES +UPON LONDON. + +It was a clear and bright day in the first week of October, 1470, when +the various scouts employed by the mayor and council of London came +back to the Guild, at which that worshipful corporation were +assembled,--their steeds blown and jaded, themselves panting and +breathless,--to announce the rapid march of the Earl of Warwick. The +lord mayor of that year, Richard Lee, grocer and citizen, sat in the +venerable hall in a huge leather chair, over which a pall of velvet +had been thrown in haste, clad in his robes of state, and surrounded +by his aldermen and the magnates of the city. To the personal love +which the greater part of the body bore to the young and courteous +king was added the terror which the corporation justly entertained of +the Lancastrian faction. They remembered the dreadful excesses which +Margaret had permitted to her army in the year 1461,--what time, to +use the expression of the old historian, "the wealth of London looked +pale;" and how grudgingly she had been restrained from condemning her +revolted metropolis to the horrors of sack and pillage. And the +bearing of this august representation of the trade and power of London +was not, at the first, unworthy of the high influence it had obtained. +The agitation and disorder of the hour had introduced into the +assembly several of the more active and accredited citizens not of +right belonging to it; but they sat, in silent discipline and order, +on long benches beyond the table crowded by the corporate officers. +Foremost among these, and remarkable by the firmness and intelligence +of his countenance, and the earnest self-possession with which he +listened to his seniors, was Nicholas Alwyn, summoned to the council +from his great influence with the apprentices and younger freemen of +the city. + +As the last scout announced his news and was gravely dismissed, the +lord mayor rose; and being, perhaps, a better educated man than many +of the haughtiest barons, and having more at stake than most of them, +his manner and language had a dignity and earnestness which might have +reflected honour on the higher court of parliament. + +"Brethren and citizens," he said, with the decided brevity of one who +felt it no time for many words, "in two hours we shall hear the +clarions of Lord Warwick at our gates; in two hours we shall be +summoned to give entrance to an army assembled in the name of King +Henry. I have done my duty,--I have manned the walls, I have +marshalled what soldiers we can command, I have sent to the deputy- +governor of the Tower--" + +"And what answer gives he, my lord mayor?" interrupted Humfrey +Heyford. + +"None to depend upon. He answers that Edward IV., in abdicating the +kingdom, has left him no power to resist; and that between force and +force, king and king, might makes right." + +A deep breath, like a groan, went through the assembly. + +Up rose Master John Stokton, the mercer. He rose, trembling from limb +to limb. + +"Worshipful my lord mayor," said he, "it seems to me that our first +duty is to look to our own selves!" + +Despite the gravity of the emergence, a laugh burst forth, and was at +once silenced at this frank avowal. + +"Yes," continued the mercer, turning round, and striking the table +with his fist, in the action of a nervous man--"yes; for King Edward +has set us the example. A stout and a dauntless champion, whose whole +youth has been war, King Edward has fled from the kingdom. King +Edward takes care of himself,--it is our duty to do the same!" + +Strange though it may seem, this homely selfishness went at once +through the assembly like a flash of conviction. There was a burst of +applause, and, as it ceased, the sullen explosion of a bombard (or +cannon) from the city wall announced that the warder had caught the +first glimpse of the approaching army. + +Master Stokton started as if the shot had gone near to himself, and +dropped at once into his seat, ejaculating, "The Lord have mercy upon +us!" There was a pause of a moment, and then several of the +corporation rose simultaneously. The mayor, preserving his dignity, +fixed on the sheriff. + +"Few words, my lord, and I have done," said Richard Gardyner--"there +is no fighting without men. The troops at the Tower are not to be +counted on. The populace are all with Lord Warwick, even though he +brought the devil at his back. If you hold out, look to rape and +plunder before sunset to-morrow. If ye yield, go forth in a body, and +the earl is not the man to suffer one Englishman to be injured in life +or health who once trusts to his good faith. My say is said." + +"Worshipful my lord," said a thin, cadaverous alderman, who rose next, +"this is a judgment of the Lord and His saints. The Lollards and +heretics have been too much suffered to run at large, and the wrath of +Heaven is upon us." + +An impatient murmuring attested the unwillingness of the larger part +of the audience to listen further; but an approving buzz from the +elder citizens announced that the fanaticism was not without its +favourers. Thus stimulated and encouraged, the orator continued; and +concluded an harangue, interrupted more stormily than all that had +preceded, by an exhortation to leave the city to its fate, and to +march in a body to the New Prison, draw forth five suspected Lollards, +and burn them at Smithfield, in order to appease the Almighty and +divert the tempest! + +This subject of controversy once started might have delayed the +audience till the ragged staves of the Warwickers drove them forth +from their hall, but for the sagacity and promptitude of the mayor. + +"Brethren," he said, "it matters not to me whether the counsel +suggested be good or bad, in the main; but this have I heard,--there +is small safety in death-bed repentance. It is too late now to do, +through fear of the devil, what we omitted to do through zeal for the +Church. The sole question is, 'Fight or make terms.' Ye say we lack +men; verily, yes, while no leaders are found! Walworth, my +predecessor, saved London from Wat Tyler. Men were wanting then till +the mayor and his fellow-citizens marched forth to Mile End. It may +be the same now. Agree to fight, and we'll try it. What say you, +Nicholas Alwyn?--you know the temper of our young men." + +Thus called upon, Alwyn rose, and such was the good name he had +already acquired, that every murmur hushed into eager silence. + +"My lord mayor," he said, "there is a proverb in my country which +says, 'Fish swim best that's bred in the sea;' which means, I take it, +that men do best what they are trained for! Lord Warwick and his men +are trained for fighting. Few of the fish about London Bridge are +bred in that sea. Cry, 'London to the rescue!'--put on hauberk and +helm, and you will have crowns enough to crack around you. What +follows?--Master Stokton hath said it: pillage and rape for the city, +gibbet and cord for mayor and aldermen. Do I say this, loving the +House of Lancaster? No; as Heaven shall judge me, I think that the +policy King Edward hath chosen, and which costs him his crown to-day, +ought to make the House of York dear to burgess and trader. He hath +sought to break up the iron rule of the great barons,--and never peace +to England till that be done. He has failed; but for a day. He has +yielded for a time; so must we. 'There's a time to squint, and a time +to look even.' I advise that we march out to the earl, that we make +honourable terms for the city, that we take advantage of one faction +to gain what we have not gained with the other; that we fight for our +profit, not with swords, where we shall be worsted, but in council and +parliament, by speech and petition. New power is ever gentle and +douce. What matters to us York or Lancaster?--all we want is good +laws. Get the best we can from Lancaster, and when King Edward +returns, as return he will, let him bid higher than Henry for our +love. Worshipful my lords and brethren, while barons and knaves go to +loggerheads, honest men get their own. Time grows under us like +grass. York and Lancaster may pull down each other,--and what is +left? Why, three things that thrive in all weather,--London, +industry; and the people! We have fallen on a rough time. Well, what +says the proverb? 'Boil stones in butter, and you may sup the broth.' +I have done." + +This characteristic harangue, which was fortunate enough to accord +with the selfishness of each one, and yet give the manly excuse of +sound sense and wise policy to all, was the more decisive in its +effect, inasmuch as the young Alwyn, from his own determined courage, +and his avowed distaste to the Lancaster faction, had been expected to +favour warlike counsels. The mayor himself, who was faithfully and +personally attached to Edward, with a deep sigh gave way to the +feeling of the assembly. And the resolution being once come to, Henry +Lee was the first to give it whatever advantage could be derived from +prompt and speedy action. + +"Go we forth at once," said he,--"go, as becomes us, in our robes of +state, and with the insignia of the city. Never be it said that the +guardians of the city of London could neither defend with spirit, nor +make terms with honour. We give entrance to Lord Warwick. Well, +then, it must be our own free act. Come! Officers of our court, +advance." + +"Stay a bit, stay a bit," whispered Stokton, digging sharp claws into +Alwyn's arm; "let them go first,--a word with you, cunning Nick,--a +word." + +Master Stokton, despite the tremor of his nerves, was a man of such +wealth and substance, that Alwyn might well take the request, thus +familiarly made, as a compliment not to be received discourteously; +moreover, he had his own reasons for hanging back from a procession +which his rank in the city did not require him to join. + +While, therefore, the mayor and the other dignitaries left the hall +with as much state and order as if not going to meet an invading army, +but to join a holiday festival, Nicholas and Stokton lingered behind. + +"Master Alwyn," said Stokton, then, with a sly wink of his eye, "you +have this day done yourself great credit; you will rise, I have my eye +on you! I have a daughter, I have a daughter! Aha! a lad like you +may come to great things!" + +"I am much bounden to you, Master Stokton," returned Alwyn, somewhat +abstractedly; "but what's your will?" + +"My will!--hum, I say, Nicholas, what's your advice? Quite right not +to go to blows. Odds costards! that mayor is a very tiger! But don't +you think it would be wiser not to join this procession? Edward IV., +an' he ever come back, has a long memory. He deals at my ware, too,-- +a good customer at a mercer's; and, Lord! how much money he owes the +city!--hum!--I would not seem ungrateful." + +"But if you go not out with the rest, there be other mercers who will +have King Henry's countenance and favour; and it is easy to see that a +new court will make vast consumption in mercery." + +Master Stokton looked puzzled. + +"That were a hugeous pity, good Nicholas; and, certes, there is Wat +Smith, in Eastgate, who would cheat that good King Henry, poor man! +which were a shame to the city; but, on the other hand, the Yorkists +mostly pay on the nail (except King Edward, God save him!), and the +Lancastrians are as poor as mice. Moreover, King Henry is a meek man, +and does not avenge; King Edward, a hot and a stern man, and may call +it treason to go with the Red Rose! I wish I knew how to decide! I +have a daughter, an only daughter,--a buxom lass, and well dowered. I +would I had a sharp son-in-law to advise me!" + +"Master Stokton, in one word, then, he never goes far wrong who can +run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. Good-day to you, I have +business elsewhere." + +So saying, Nicholas rather hastily shook off the mercer's quivering +fingers, and hastened out of the hall. + +"Verily," murmured the disconsolate Stokton, "run with the hare, +quotha!--that is, go with King Edward; but hunt with the hounds,--that +is, go with King Henry. Odds costards; it's not so easily done by a +plain man not bred in the North. I'd best go--home, and do nothing!" + +With that, musing and bewildered, the poor man sneaked out, and was +soon lost amidst the murmuring, gathering, and swaying crowds, many +amongst which were as much perplexed as himself. + +In the mean while, with his cloak muffled carefully round his face, +and with a long, stealthy, gliding stride, Alwyn made his way through +the streets, gained the river, entered a boat in waiting for him, and +arrived at last at the palace of the Tower. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY OF THE EARL--THE ROYAL CAPTIVE IN THE TOWER--THE +MEETING BETWEEN KING-MAKER AND KING. + +All in the chambers of the metropolitan fortress exhibited the +greatest confusion and dismay. The sentinels, it is true, were still +at their posts, men-at-arms at the outworks, the bombards were loaded, +the flag of Edward IV. still waved aloft from the battlements; but the +officers of the fortress and the captains of its soldiery were, some +assembled in the old hall, pale with fear, and wrangling with each +other; some had fled, none knew whither; some had gone avowedly and +openly to join the invading army. + +Through this tumultuous and feeble force, Nicholas Alwyn was conducted +by a single faithful servitor of the queen's (by whom he was +expected); and one glance of his quick eye, as he passed along, +convinced him of the justice of his counsels. He arrived at last, by +a long and winding stair, at one of the loftiest chambers, in one of +the loftiest towers, usually appropriated to the subordinate officers +of the household. + +And there, standing by the open casement, commanding some extended +view of the noisy and crowded scene beyond, both on stream and land, +he saw the queen of the fugitive monarch. By her side was the Lady +Scrope, her most familiar friend and confidant, her three infant +children, Elizabeth, Mary, and Cicely, grouped round her knees, +playing with each other, and unconscious of the terrors of the times; +and apart from the rest stood the Duchess of Bedford, conferring +eagerly with Friar Bungey, whom she had summoned in haste, to know if +his art could not yet prevail over enemies merely mortal. + +The servitor announced Alwyn, and retired; the queen turned--"What +news, Master Alwyn? Quick! What tidings from the lord mayor?" + +"Gracious my queen and lady," said Alwyn, falling on his knees, "you +have but one course to pursue. Below yon casement lies your barge, to +the right see the round gray tower of Westminster Sanctuary; you have +time yet, and but time!" + +The old Duchess of Bedford turned her sharp, bright, gray eyes from +the pale and trembling friar to the goldsmith, but was silent. The +queen stood aghast. "Mean you," she faltered, at last, "that the city +of London forsakes the king? Shame on the cravens!" + +"Not cravens, my lady and queen," said Alwyn, rising. "He must have +iron nails that scratches a bear,--and the white bear above all. The +king has fled, the barons have fled, the soldiers have fled, the +captains have fled,--the citizens of London alone fly not; but there +is nothing save life and property left to guard." + +"Is this thy boasted influence with the commons and youths of the +city?" + +"My humble influence, may it please your Grace (I say it now openly, +and I will say it a year hence, when King Edward will hold his court +in these halls once again), my influence, such as it is, has been used +to save lives which resistance would waste in vain. Alack, alack! +'No gaping against an oven,' gracious lady! Your barge is below. +Again I say there is yet time,--when the bell tolls the next hour that +time will be past!" + +"Then Jesu defend these children!" said Elizabeth, bending over her +infants, and weeping bitterly; "I will go!" + +"Hold!" said the Duchess of Bedford, "men desert us, but do the +spirits also forsake us?--Speak, friar! canst thou yet do aught for +us?--and if not, thinkest thou it is the right hour to yield and fly?" + +"Daughter," said the friar, whose terror might have moved pity, "as I +said before, thank yourself. This Warner, this--in short, the lesser +magician hath been aided and cockered to countervail the greater, as I +forewarned. Fly! run! fly! Verily and indeed it is the prosperest of +all times to save ourselves; and the stars and the book and my +familiar all call out, 'Off and away!'" + +"'Fore heaven!" exclaimed Alwyn, who had hitherto been dumb with +astonishment at this singular interlude, "sith he who hath shipped the +devil must make the best of him, thou art for once an honest man and a +wise counsellor. Hark! the second gun! The earl is at the gates of +the city!" + +The queen lingered no longer; she caught her youngest child in her +arms; the Lady Scrope followed with the two others. "Come, follow, +quick, Master Alwyn," said the duchess, who, now that she was +compelled to abandon the world of prediction and soothsaying, became +thoroughly the sagacious, plotting, ready woman of this life; "come, +your face and name will be of service to us, an' we meet with +obstruction." + +Before Alwyn could reply, the door was thrown abruptly open, and +several of the officers of the household rushed pell-mell into the +royal presence. + +"Gracious queen!" cried many voices at once, each with a different +sentence of fear and warning, "fly! We cannot depend on the soldiers; +the populace are up,--they shout for King Henry; Dr. Godard is +preaching against you at St. Paul's Cross; Sir Geoffrey Gates has come +out of the sanctuary, and with him all the miscreants and outlaws; the +mayor is now with the rebels! Fly! the sanctuary, the sanctuary!" + +"And who amongst you is of highest rank?" asked the duchess, calmly; +for Elizabeth, completely overwhelmed, seemed incapable of speech or +movement. + +"I, Giles de Malvoisin, knight banneret," said an old warrior armed +cap-a-pie, who had fought in France under the hero Talbot. + +"Then, sir," said the duchess, with majesty, "to your hands I confide +the eldest daughter of your king. Lead on!--we follow you. +Elizabeth, lean on me." + +With this, supporting Elizabeth, and leading her second grandchild, +the duchess left the chamber. + +The friar followed amidst the crowd, for well he knew that if the +soldiers of Warwick once caught hold of him, he had fared about as +happily as the fox amidst the dogs; and Alwyn, forgotten in the +general confusion, hastened to Adam's chamber. + +The old man, blessing any cause that induced his patroness to dispense +with his astrological labours and restored him to the care of his +Eureka, was calmly and quietly employed in repairing the mischief +effected by the bungling friar; and Sibyll, who at the first alarm had +flown to his retreat, joyfully hailed the entrance of the friendly +goldsmith. + +Alwyn was indeed perplexed what to advise, for the principal sanctuary +would, no doubt, be crowded by ruffians of the worst character; and +the better lodgments which that place, a little town in itself, [the +Sanctuary of Westminster was fortified] contained, be already +preoccupied by the Yorkists of rank; and the smaller sanctuaries were +still more liable to the same objection. Moreover, if Adam should be +recognized by any of the rabble that would meet them by the way, his +fate, by the summary malice of a mob, was certain. After all, the +Tower would be free from the populace; and as soon as, by a few rapid +questions, Alwyn learned from Sibyll that she had reason to hope her +father would find protection with Lord Warwick, and called to mind +that Marmaduke Nevile was necessarily in the earl's train, he advised +them to remain quiet and concealed in their apartments, and promised +to see and provide for them the moment the Tower was yielded up to the +new government. + +The counsel suited both Sibyll and Warner. Indeed, the philosopher +could not very easily have been induced to separate himself again from +the beloved Eureka; and Sibyll was more occupied at that hour with +thoughts and prayers for the beloved Hastings,--afar, a wanderer and +an exile,--than with the turbulent events amidst which her lot was +cast. + +In the storms of a revolution which convulsed a kingdom and hurled to +the dust a throne, Love saw but a single object, Science but its +tranquil toil. Beyond the realm of men lies ever with its joy and +sorrow, its vicissitude and change, the domain of the human heart. In +the revolution, the toy of the scholar was restored to him; in the +revolution, the maiden mourned her lover. In the movement of the +mass, each unit hath its separate passion. The blast that rocks the +trees shakes a different world in every leaf. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE TOWER IN COMMOTION. + +On quitting the Tower, Alwyn regained the boat, and took his way to +the city; and here, whatever credit that worthy and excellent +personage may lose in certain eyes, his historian is bound to confess +that his anxiety for Sibyll did not entirely distract his attention +from interest or ambition. To become the head of his class, to rise +to the first honours of his beloved city of London, had become to +Nicholas Alwyn a hope and aspiration which made as much a part of his +being as glory to a warrior, power to a king, a Eureka to a scholar; +and, though more mechanically than with any sordid calculation or +self-seeking, Nicholas Alwyn repaired to his ware in the Chepe. The +streets, when he landed, already presented a different appearance from +the disorder and tumult noticeable when he had before passed them. +The citizens now had decided what course to adopt; and though the +shops, or rather booths, were carefully closed, streamers of silk, +cloth of arras and gold, were hung from the upper casements; the +balconies were crowded with holiday gazers; the fickle populace (the +same herd that had hooted the meek Henry when led to the Tower) were +now shouting, "A Warwick!" "A Clarence!" and pouring throng after +throng, to gaze upon the army, which, with the mayor and aldermen, had +already entered the city. Having seen to the security of his costly +goods, and praised his apprentices duly for their care of his +interests, and their abstinence from joining the crowd, Nicholas then +repaired to the upper story of his house, and set forth from his +casements and balcony the richest stuffs he possessed. However, there +was his own shrewd, sarcastic smile on his firm lips, as he said to +his apprentices, "When these are done with, lay them carefully by +against Edward of York's re-entry." + +Meanwhile, preceded by trumpets, drums, and heralds, the Earl of +Warwick and his royal son-in-law rode into the shouting city. Behind +came the litter of the Duchess of Clarence, attended by the Earl of +Oxford, Lord Fitzhugh, the Lords Stanley and Shrewsbury, Sir Robert de +Lytton, and a princely cortege of knights, squires, and nobles; while, +file upon file, rank upon rank, followed the long march of the +unresisted armament. + +Warwick, clad in complete armour of Milan steel,--save the helmet, +which was borne behind him by his squire,--mounted on his own noble +Saladin, preserved upon a countenance so well suited to command the +admiration of a populace the same character as heretofore of manly +majesty and lofty frankness. But to a nearer and more searching gaze +than was likely to be bent upon him in such an hour, the dark, deep +traces of care, anxiety, and passion might have been detected in the +lines which now thickly intersected the forehead, once so smooth and +furrowless; and his kingly eye, not looking, as of old, right forward +as he moved, cast unquiet, searching glances about him and around, as +he bowed his bare head from side to side of the welcoming thousands. + +A far greater change, to outward appearance, was visible in the fair +young face of the Duke of Clarence. His complexion, usually sanguine +and blooming, like his elder brother's, was now little less pale than +that of Richard. A sullen, moody, discontented expression, which not +all the heartiness of the greetings he received could dispel, +contrasted forcibly with the good-humoured, laughing recklessness, +which had once drawn a "God bless him!" from all on whom rested his +light-blue joyous eye. He was unarmed, save by a corselet richly +embossed with gold. His short manteline of crimson velvet, his hosen +of white cloth laced with gold, and his low horseman's boots of +Spanish leather curiously carved and broidered, with long golden +spurs; his plumed and jewelled cap; his white charger with housings +enriched with pearls and blazing with cloth-of-gold; his broad collar +of precious stones, with the order of St. George; his general's +truncheon raised aloft, and his Plantagenet banner borne by the herald +over his royal head, caught the eyes of the crowd only the more to +rivet them on an aspect ill fitting the triumph of a bloodless +victory. At his left hand, where the breadth of the streets +permitted, rode Henry Lee, the mayor, uttering no word, unless +appealed to, and then answering but with chilling reverence and dry +monosyllables. + +A narrow winding in the streets, which left Warwick and Clarence alone +side by side, gave the former the opportunity he had desired. + +"How, prince and son," he said in a hollow whisper, "is it with this +brow of care that thou saddenest our conquest, and enterest the +capital we gain without a blow?" + +"By Saint George!" answered Clarence, sullenly, and in the same tone, +"thinkest thou it chafes not the son of Richard of York, after such +toils and bloodshed, to minister to the dethronement of his kin and +the restoration of the foe of his race?" + +"Thou shouldst have thought of that before," returned Warwick, but +with sadness and pity in the reproach. + +"Ay, before Edward of Lancaster was made my lord and brother," +retorted Clarence, bitterly. + +"Hush!" said the earl, "and calm thy brow. Not thus didst thou speak +at Amboise; either thou wert then less frank or more generous. But +regrets are vain: we have raised the whirlwind, and must rule it." + +And with that, in the action of a man who would escape his own +thoughts, Warwick made his black steed demivolte; and the crowd +shouted again the louder at the earl's gallant horsemanship, and +Clarence's dazzling collar of jewels. + +While thus the procession of the victors, the nominal object of all +this mighty and sudden revolution--of this stir and uproar, of these +shining arms and flaunting banners, of this heaven or hell in the deep +passions of men--still remained in his prison-chamber of the Tower, a +true type of the thing factions contend for; absent, insignificant, +unheeded, and, save by a few of the leaders and fanatical priests, +absolutely forgotten! + +To this solitary chamber we are now transported; yet solitary is a +word of doubtful propriety; for though the royal captive was alone, so +far as the human species make up a man's companionship and solace, +though the faithful gentlemen, Manning, Bedle, and Allerton, had, on +the news of Warwick's landing, been thrust from his chamber, and were +now in the ranks of his new and strange defenders, yet power and +jealousy had not left his captivity all forsaken. There was still the +starling in its cage, and the fat, asthmatic spaniel still wagged its +tail at the sound of its master's voice, or the rustle of his long +gown. And still from the ivory crucifix gleamed the sad and holy face +of the God, present alway, and who, by faith and patience, linketh +evermore grief to joy,--but earth to heaven. + +The august prisoner had not been so utterly cut off from all knowledge +of the outer life as to be ignorant of some unwonted and important +stir in the fortress and the city. The squire who had brought him his +morning meal had been so agitated as to excite the captive's +attention, and had then owned that the Earl of Warwick had proclaimed +Henry king, and was on his march to London. But neither the squire +nor any of the officers of the Tower dared release the illustrious +captive, or even remove him as yet to the state apartments vacated by +Elizabeth. They knew not what might be the pleasure of the stout earl +or the Duke of Clarence, and feared over-officiousness might be their +worst crime. But naturally imagining that Henry's first command, at +the new position of things, might be for liberty, and perplexed +whether to yield or refuse, they absented themselves from his summons, +and left the whole tower in which he was placed actually deserted. + +From his casement the king could see, however, the commotion, and the +crowds upon the wharf and river, with the gleam of arms and banners; +and hear the sounds of "A Warwick!" "A Clarence!" "Long live good +Henry VI.!" A strange combination of names, which disturbed and +amazed him much! But by degrees the unwonted excitement of perplexity +and surprise settled back into the calm serenity of his most gentle +mind and temper. That trust in an all-directing Providence, to which +he had schooled himself, had (if we may so say with reverence) driven +his beautiful soul into the opposite error, so fatal to the affairs of +life,--the error that deadens and benumbs the energy of free will and +the noble alertness of active duty. Why strain and strive for the +things of this world? God would order all for the best. Alas! God +hath placed us in this world, each, from king to peasant, with nerves +and hearts and blood and passions to struggle with our kind; and, no +matter how heavenly the goal, to labour with the million in the race! + +"Forsooth," murmured the king, as, his hands clasped behind him, he +paced slowly to and fro the floor, "this ill world seemeth but a +feather, blown about by the winds, and never to be at rest. Hark! +Warwick and King Henry,--the lion and the lamb! Alack, and we are +fallen on no Paradise, where such union were not a miracle! Foolish +bird!"--and with a pitying smile upon that face whose holy sweetness +might have disarmed a fiend, he paused before the cage and +contemplated his fellow-captive--"foolish bird, the uneasiness and +turmoil without have reached even to thee. Thou beatest thy wings +against the wires, thou turnest thy bright eyes to mine restlessly. +Why? Pantest thou to be free, silly one, that the hawk may swoop on +its defenceless prey? Better, perhaps, the cage for thee, and the +prison for thy master. Well, out if thou wilt! Here at least thou +art safe!" and opening the cage, the starling flew to his bosom, and +nestled there, with its small clear voice mimicking the human sound,-- + +"Poor Henry, poor Henry! Wicked men, poor Henry!" + +The king bowed his meek head over his favourite, and the fat spaniel, +jealous of the monopolized caress, came waddling towards its master, +with a fond whine, and looked up at him with eyes that expressed more +of faith and love than Edward of York, the ever wooing and ever wooed, +had read in the gaze of woman. + +With those companions, and with thoughts growing more and more +composed and rapt from all that had roused and vexed his interest in +the forenoon, Henry remained till the hour had long passed for his +evening meal. Surprised at last by a negligence which (to do his +jailers justice) had never before occurred, and finding no response to +his hand-bell, no attendant in the anteroom, the outer doors locked as +usual, but the sentinel's tread in the court below hushed and still, a +cold thrill for a moment shot through his blood.--"Was he left for +hunger to do its silent work?" Slowly he bent his way from the outer +rooms back to his chamber; and, as he passed the casement again, he +heard, though far in the distance, through the dim air of the +deepening twilight, the cry of "Long live King Henry!" + +This devotion without, this neglect within, was a wondrous contrast! +Meanwhile the spaniel, with that instinct of fidelity which divines +the wants of the master, had moved snuffling and smelling round and +round the chambers, till it stopped and scratched at a cupboard in the +anteroom, and then with a joyful bark flew back to the king, and +taking the hem of his gown between its teeth, led him towards the spot +it had discovered; and there, in truth, a few of those small cakes, +usually served up for the night's livery, had been carelessly left. +They sufficed for the day's food, and the king, the dog, and the +starling shared them peacefully together. This done, Henry carefully +replaced his bird in its cage, bade the dog creep to the hearth and +lie still; passed on to his little oratory, with the relics of cross +and saint strewed around the solemn image,--and in prayer forgot the +world! Meanwhile darkness set in: the streets had grown deserted, +save where in some nooks and by-lanes gathered groups of the soldiery; +but for the most part the discipline in which Warwick held his army +had dismissed those stern loiterers to the various quarters provided +for them, and little remained to remind the peaceful citizens that a +throne had been uprooted, and a revolution consummated, that eventful +day. + +It was at this time that a tall man, closely wrapped in his large +horseman's cloak, passed alone through the streets and gained the +Tower. At the sound of his voice by the great gate, the sentinel +started in alarm; a few moments more, and all left to guard the +fortress were gathered round him. From these he singled out one of +the squires who usually attended Henry, and bade him light his steps +to the king's chamber. As in that chamber Henry rose from his knees, +he saw the broad red light of a torch flickering under the chinks of +the threshold; he heard the slow tread of approaching footsteps; the +spaniel uttered a low growl, its eyes sparkling; the door opened, and +the torch borne behind by the squire, and raised aloft so that its +glare threw a broad light over the whole chamber, brought into full +view the dark and haughty countenance of the Earl of Warwick. + +The squire, at a gesture from the earl, lighted the sconces on the +wall, the tapers on the table, and quickly vanished. King-maker and +king were alone! At the first sight of Warwick, Henry had turned +pale, and receded a few paces, with one hand uplifted in adjuration or +command, while with the other he veiled his eyes,--whether that this +startled movement came from the weakness of bodily nerves, much +shattered by sickness and confinement, or from the sudden emotions +called forth by the aspect of one who had wrought him calamities so +dire. But the craven's terror in the presence of a living foe was, +with all his meekness, all his holy abhorrence of wrath and warfare, +as unknown to that royal heart as to the high blood of his hero-sire. +And so, after a brief pause, and a thought that took the shape of +prayer, not for safety from peril, but for grace to forgive the past, +Henry VI. advanced to Warwick, who still stood dumb by the threshold, +combating with his own mingled and turbulent emotions of pride and +shame, and said, in a voice majestic even from its very mildness,-- + +"What tale of new woe and evil hath the Earl of Salisbury and Warwick +come to announce to the poor captive who was once a king?" + +"Forgive me! Forgiveness, Henry, my lord,--forgiveness!" exclaimed +Warwick, falling on his knee. The meek reproach; the touching words; +the mien and visage altered, since last beheld, from manhood into age; +the gray hairs and bended form of the king, went at once to that proud +heart; and as the earl bent over the wan, thin hand resigned to his +lips, a tear upon its surface out-sparkled all the jewels that it +wore. + +"Yet no," continued the earl (impatient, as proud men are, to hurry +from repentance to atonement, for the one is of humiliation and the +other of pride),--"yet no, my liege, not now do I crave thy pardon. +No; but when begirt, in the halls of thine ancestors, with the peers +of England, the victorious banner of Saint George waving above the +throne which thy servant hath rebuilt,--then, when the trumpets are +sounding thy rights without the answer of a foe; then, when from shore +to shore of fair England the shout of thy people echoes to the vault +of heaven,--then will Warwick kneel again to King Henry, and sue for +the pardon he hath not ignobly won! + +"Alack, sir," said the king, with accents of mournful yet half- +reproving kindness, "it was not amidst trump and banners that the Son +of God set mankind the exemplar and pattern of charity to foes. When +thy hand struck the spurs from my heel, when thou didst parade me +through the booting crowd to this solitary cell, then, Warwick, I +forgave thee, and prayed to Heaven for pardon for thee, if thou didst +wrong me,--for myself, if a king's fault had deserved a subject's +harshness. Rise, Sir Earl; our God is a jealous God, and the attitude +of worship is for Him alone." + +Warwick rose from his knee; and the king, perceiving and +compassionating the struggle which shook the strong man's breast, laid +his hand on the earl's shoulder, and said, "Peace be with thee!--thou +hast done me no real harm. I have been as happy in these walls as in +the green parks of Windsor; happier than in the halls of state or in +the midst of wrangling armies. What tidings now?" + +"My liege, is it possible that you know not that Edward is a fugitive +and a beggar, and that Heaven hath permitted me to avenge at once your +injuries and my own? This day, without a blow, I have regained your +city of London; its streets are manned with my army. From the council +of peers and warriors and prelates assembled at my house, I have +stolen hither alone and in secret, that I might be the first to hail +your Grace's restoration to the throne of Henry V." + +The king's face so little changed at this intelligence, that its calm +sadness almost enraged the impetuous Warwick, and with difficulty he +restrained from giving utterance to the thought, "He is not worthy of +a throne who cares so little to possess it!" + +"Well-a-day!" said Henry, sighing, "Heaven then hath sore trials yet +in store for mine old age! Tray, Tray!" and stooping, he gently +patted his dog, who kept watch at his feet, still glaring suspiciously +at Warwick, "we are both too old for the chase now!--Will you be +seated, my lord?" + +"Trust me," said the earl, as he obeyed the command, having first set +chair and footstool for the king, who listened to him with downcast +eyes and his head drooping on his bosom--"trust me, your later days, +my liege, will be free from the storms of your youth. All chance of +Edward's hostility is expired. Your alliance, though I seem boastful +so to speak,--your alliance with one in whom the people can confide +for some skill in war, and some more profound experience of the habits +and tempers of your subjects than your former councillors could +possess, will leave your honoured leisure free for the holy +meditations it affects; and your glory, as your safety, shall be the +care of men who can awe this rebellious world." + +"Alliance!" said the king, who had caught but that one word; "of what +speakest thou, Sir Earl?" + +"These missives will explain all, my liege; this letter from my lady +the Queen Margaret, and this from your gracious son, the Prince of +Wales." + +"Edward! my Edward!" exclaimed the king, with a father's burst of +emotion. "Thou hast seen him, then,--bears he his health well, is he +of cheer and heart?" + +"He is strong and fair, and full of promise, and brave as his +grandsire's sword." + +"And knows he--knows he well--that we all are the potter's clay in the +hands of God?" + +"My liege," said Warwick, embarrassed, "he has as much devotion as +befits a Christian knight and a goodly prince." + +"Ah," sighed the king, "ye men of arms have strange thoughts on these +matters;" and cutting the silk of the letters, he turned from the +warrior. Shading his face with his hand, the earl darted his keen +glance on the features of the king, as, drawing near to the table, the +latter read the communications which announced his new connection with +his ancient foe. + +But Henry was at first so affected by the sight of Margaret's well- +known hand, that he thrice put down her letter and wiped the moisture +from his eyes. + +"My poor Margaret, how thou hast suffered!" he murmured; "these very +characters are less firm and bold than they were. Well, well!" and at +last he betook himself resolutely to the task. Once or twice his +countenance changed, and he uttered an exclamation of surprise. But +the proposition of a marriage between Prince Edward and the Lady Anne +did not revolt his forgiving mind, as it had the haughty and stern +temper of his consort. And when he had concluded his son's epistle, +full of the ardour of his love and the spirit of his youth, the king +passed his left hand over his brow, and then extending his right to +Warwick, said, in accents which trembled with emotion, "Serve my son, +since he is thine, too; give peace to this distracted kingdom, repair +my errors, press not hard upon those who contend against us, and Jesu +and His saints will bless this bond!" + +The earl's object, perhaps, in seeking a meeting with Henry so private +and unwitnessed, had been that none, not even his brother, might +hearken to the reproaches he anticipated to receive, or say hereafter +that he heard Warwick, returned as victor and avenger to his native +land, descend, in the hour of triumph, to extenuation and excuse. So +affronted, imperilled, or to use his own strong word, "so despaired," +had he been in the former rule of Henry, that his intellect, which, +however vigorous in his calmer moods, was liable to be obscured and +dulled by his passions, had half confounded the gentle king with his +ferocious wife and stern councillors, and he had thought he never +could have humbled himself to the man, even so far as knighthood's +submission to Margaret's sex had allowed him to the woman. But the +sweetness of Henry's manners and disposition, the saint-like dignity +which he had manifested throughout this painful interview, and the +touching grace and trustful generosity of his last words,--words which +consummated the earl's large projects of ambition and revenge,--had +that effect upon Warwick which the preaching of some holy man, +dwelling upon the patient sanctity of the Saviour, had of old on a +grim Crusader, all incapable himself of practising such meek +excellence, and yet all moved and penetrated by its loveliness in +another; and, like such Crusader, the representation of all mildest +and most forgiving singularly stirred up in the warrior's mind images +precisely the reverse,--images of armed valour and stern vindication, +as if where the Cross was planted sprang from the earth the standard +and the war-horse! + +"Perish your foes! May war and storm scatter them as the chaff! My +liege, my royal master," continued the earl, in a deep, low, faltering +voice, "why knew I not thy holy and princely heart before? Why stood +so many between Warwick's devotion and a king so worthy to command it? +How poor, beside thy great-hearted fortitude and thy Christian +heroism, seems the savage valour of false Edward! Shame upon one who +can betray the trust thou hast placed in him! Never will I!--Never! +I swear it! No! though all England desert thee, I will stand alone +with my breast of mail before thy throne! Oh, would that my triumph +had been less peaceful and less bloodless! would that a hundred +battlefields were yet left to prove how deeply--deeply in his heart of +hearts--Warwick feels the forgiveness of his king!" + +"Not so, not so, not so! not battlefields, Warwick!" said Henry. "Ask +not to serve the king by shedding one subject's blood." + +"Your pious will be obeyed!" replied Warwick. "We will see if mercy +can effect in others what thy pardon effects in me. And now, my +liege, no longer must these walls confine thee. The chambers of the +palace await their sovereign. What ho, there!" and going to the door +he threw it open, and agreeably to the orders he had given below, all +the officers left in the fortress stood crowded together in the small +anteroom, bareheaded, with tapers in their hands, to conduct the +monarch to the halls of his conquered foe. + +At the sudden sight of the earl, these men, struck involuntarily and +at once by the grandeur of his person and his animated aspect, burst +forth with the rude retainer's cry, "A Warwick! a Warwick!" + +"Silence!" thundered the earl's deep voice. "Who names the subject in +the sovereign's presence? Behold your king!" The men, abashed by the +reproof, bowed their heads and sank on their knees, as Warwick took a +taper from the table, to lead the way from the prison. + +Then Henry turned slowly, and gazed with a lingering eye upon the +walls which even sorrow and solitude had endeared. The little +oratory, the crucifix, the relics, the embers burning low on the +hearth, the rude time-piece,--all took to his thoughtful eye an almost +human aspect of melancholy and omen; and the bird, roused, whether by +the glare of the lights, or the recent shout of the men, opened its +bright eyes, and fluttering restlessly to and fro, shrilled out its +favourite sentence, "Poor Henry! poor Henry!--wicked men!--who would +be a king?" + +"Thou hearest it, Warwick?" said Henry, shaking his head. + +"Could an eagle speak, it would have another cry than the starling," +returned the earl, with a proud smile. + +"Why, look you," said the king, once more releasing the bird, which +settled on his wrist, "the eagle had broken his heart in the narrow +cage, the eagle had been no comforter for a captive; it is these +gentler ones that love and soothe us best in our adversities. Tray, +Tray, fawn not now, sirrah, or I shall think thou hast been false in +thy fondness heretofore! Cousin, I attend you." + +And with his bird on his wrist, his dog at his heels, Henry VI. +followed the earl to the illuminated hall of Edward, where the table +was spread for the royal repast, and where his old friends, Manning, +Bedle, and Allerton, stood weeping for joy; while from the gallery +raised aloft, the musicians gave forth the rough and stirring melody +which had gradually fallen out of usage, but which was once the +Norman's national air, and which the warlike Margaret of Anjou had +retaught her minstrels,--"THE BATTLE HYMN OF ROLLO." + + + + + +BOOK XI. + +THE NEW POSITION OF THE KING-MAKER + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +WHEREIN MASTER ADAM WARNER IS NOTABLY COMMENDED AND ADVANCED--AND +GREATNESS SAYS TO WISDOM, "THY DESTINY BE MINE, AMEN." + +The Chronicles inform us, that two or three days after the entrance of +Warwick and Clarence,--namely, on the 6th of October,--those two +leaders, accompanied by the Lords Shrewsbury, Stanley, and a numerous +and noble train, visited the Tower in formal state, and escorted the +king, robed in blue velvet, the crown on his head, to public +thanksgivings at St. Paul's, and thence to the Bishop's Palace, [not +to the Palace at Westminster, as some historians, preferring the +French to the English authorities, have asserted,--that palace was out +of repair] where he continued chiefly to reside. + +The proclamation that announced the change of dynasty was received +with apparent acquiescence through the length and breadth of the +kingdom, and the restoration of the Lancastrian line seemed yet the +more firm and solid by the magnanimous forbearance of Warwick and his +councils. Not one execution that could be termed the act of a private +revenge stained with blood the second reign of the peaceful Henry. +One only head fell on the scaffold,--that of the Earl of Worcester. +[Lord Warwick himself did not sit in judgment on Worcester. He was +tried and condemned by Lord Oxford. Though some old offences in his +Irish government were alleged against him, the cruelties which +rendered him so odious were of recent date. He had (as we before took +occasion to relate) impaled twenty persons after Warwick's flight into +France. The "Warkworth Chronicle" says, "He was ever afterwardes +greatly behated among the people for this disordynate dethe that he +used, contrary to the laws of the lande."] This solitary execution, +which was regarded by all classes as a due concession to justice, only +yet more illustrated the general mildness of the new rule. + +It was in the earliest days of this sudden restoration that Alwyn +found the occasion to serve his friends in the Tower. Warwick was +eager to conciliate all the citizens, who, whether frankly or +grudgingly, had supported his cause; and, amongst these, he was soon +informed of the part taken in the Guildhall by the rising goldsmith. +He sent for Alwyn to his house in Warwick-lane, and after +complimenting him on his advance in life and repute, since Nicholas +had waited on him with baubles for his embassy to France, he offered +him the special rank of goldsmith to the king. + +The wary, yet honest, trader paused a moment in some embarrassment +before he answered,-- + +"My good lord, you are noble and gracious eno' to understand and +forgive me when I say that I have had, in the upstart of my fortunes, +the countenance of the late King Edward and his queen; and though the +public weal made me advise my fellow-citizens not to resist your +entry, I would not, at least, have it said that my desertion had +benefited my private fortunes." + +Warwick coloured, and his lip curled. "Tush, man, assume not virtues +which do not exist amongst the sons of trade, nor, much I trow, +amongst the sons of Adam. I read thy mind. Thou thinkest it unsafe +openly to commit thyself to the new state. Fear not,--we are firm." + +"Nay, my lord," returned Alwyn, "it is not so. But there are many +better citizens than I, who remember that the Yorkists were ever +friends to commerce. And you will find that only by great tenderness +to our crafts you can win the heart of London, though you have passed +its gates." + +"I shall be just to all men," answered the earl, dryly; "but if the +flat-caps are false, there are eno' of bonnets of steel to watch over +the Red Rose!" + +"You are said, my lord," returned Alwyn, bluntly, "to love the barons, +the knights, the gentry, the yeomen, and the peasants, but to despise +the traders,--I fear me that report in this is true." + +"I love not the trader spirit, man,--the spirit that cheats, and +cringes, and haggles, and splits straws for pence, and roasts eggs by +other men's blazing rafters. Edward of York, forsooth, was a great +trader! It was a sorry hour for England when such as ye, Nick Alwyn, +left your green villages for loom and booth. But thus far have I +spoken to you as a brave fellow, and of the north countree. I have no +time to waste on words. Wilt thou accept mine offer, or name another +boon in my power? The man who hath served me wrongs me,--till I have +served him again!" + +"My lord, yes; I will name such a boon,--safety, and, if you will, +some grace and honour, to a learned scholar now in the Tower, one Adam +Warner, whom--" + +"Now in the Tower! Adam Warner! And wanting a friend, I no more an +exile! That is my affair, not thine. Grace, honour,--ay, to his +heart's content. And his noble daughter? Mort Dieu! she shall choose +her bridegroom among the best of England. Is she, too, in the +fortress?" + +"Yes," said Alwyn, briefly, not liking the last part of the earl's +speech. + +The earl rang the bell on his table. "Send hither Sir Marmaduke +Nevile." + +Alwyn saw his former rival enter, and heard the earl commission him to +accompany, with a fitting train, his own litter to the Tower. "And +you, Alwyn, go with your foster-brother, and pray Master Warner and +his daughter to be my guests for their own pleasure. Come hither, my +rude Northman,--come. I see I shall have many secret foes in this +city: wilt not thou at least be Warwick's open friend?" + +Alwyn found it hard to resist the charm of the earl's manner and +voice; but, convinced in his own mind that the age was against +Warwick, and that commerce and London would be little advantaged by +the earl's rule, the trading spirit prevailed in his breast. + +"Gracious my lord," he said, bending his knee in no servile homage, +"he who befriends my order, commands me." + +The proud noble bit his lip, and with a silent wave of his hand +dismissed the foster-brothers. + +"Thou art but a churl at best, Nick," said Marmaduke, as the door +closed on the young men. "Many a baron would have sold his father's +hall for such words from the earl's lip." + +"Let barons sell their free conduct for fair words. I keep myself +unshackled to join that cause which best fills the market and reforms +the law. But tell me, I pray thee, Sir Knight, what makes Warner and +his daughter so dear to your lord?" + +"What! know you not?--and has she not told you?--Ah, what was I about +to say?" + +"Can there be a secret between the earl and the scholar?" asked Alwyn, +in wonder. + +"If there be, it is our place to respect it," returned the Nevile, +adjusting his manteline; "and now we must command the litter." + +In spite of all the more urgent and harassing affairs that pressed +upon him, the earl found an early time to attend to his guests. His +welcome to Sibyll was more than courteous,--it was paternal. As she +approached him, timidly and with a downcast eye, he advanced, placed +his hand upon her head,-- + +"The Holy Mother ever have thee in her charge, child!--This is a +father's kiss, young mistress," added the earl, pressing his lips to +her forehead; "and in this kiss, remember that I pledge to thee care +for thy fortunes, honour for thy name, my heart to do thee service, my +arm to shield from wrong! Brave scholar, thy lot has become +interwoven with my own. Prosperous is now my destiny,--my destiny be +thine! Amen!" + +He turned then to Warner, and without further reference to a past +which so galled his proud spirit, he made the scholar explain to him +the nature of his labours. In the mind of every man who has passed +much of his life in successful action, there is a certain, if we may +so say, untaught mathesis,--but especially among those who have been +bred to the art of war. A great soldier is a great mechanic, a great +mathematician, though he may know it not; and Warwick, therefore, +better than many a scholar comprehended the principle upon which Adam +founded his experiments. But though he caught also a glimpse of the +vast results which such experiments in themselves were calculated to +effect, his strong common-sense perceived yet more clearly that the +time was not ripe for such startling inventions. + +"My friend," he said, "I comprehend thee passably. It is clear to me, +that if thou canst succeed in making the elements do the work of man +with equal precision, but with far greater force and rapidity, thou +must multiply eventually, and, by multiplying, cheapen, all the +products of industry; that thou must give to this country the market +of the world; and that thine would be the true alchemy that turneth +all to gold." + +"Mighty intellect, thou graspest the truth!" exclaimed Adam. + +"But," pursued the earl, with a mixture of prejudice and judgment, +"grant thee success to the full, and thou wouldst turn this bold land +of yeomanry and manhood into one community of griping traders and +sickly artisans. Mort Dieu! we are over-commerced as it is,--the bow +is already deserted for the ell-measure. The town populations are +ever the most worthless in war. England is begirt with mailed foes; +and if by one process she were to accumulate treasure and lose +soldiers, she would but tempt invasion and emasculate defenders. +Verily, I avise and implore thee to turn thy wit and scholarship to a +manlier occupation!" + +"My life knows no other object; kill my labour and thou destroyest +me," said Adam, in a voice of gloomy despair. Alas, it seemed that, +whatever the changes of power, no change could better the hopes of +science in an age of iron! Warwick was moved. "Well," he said, after +a pause, "be happy in thine own way. I will do my best at least to +protect thee. To-morrow resume thy labours; but this day, at least, +thou must feast with me." + +And at his banquet that day, among the knights and barons, and the +abbots and the warriors, Adam sat on the dais near the earl, and +Sibyll at "the mess" of the ladies of the Duchess of Clarence. And +ere the feast broke up, Warwick thus addressed his company:-- + +"My friends, though I, and most of us reared in the lap of war, have +little other clerkship than sufficed our bold fathers before us, yet +in the free towns of Italy and the Rhine,--yea, and in France, under +her politic king,--we may see that a day is dawning wherein new +knowledge will teach many marvels to our wiser sons. Wherefore it is +good that a State should foster men who devote laborious nights and +weary days to the advancement of arts and letters, for the glory of +our common land. A worthy gentleman, now at this board, hath deeply +meditated contrivances which may make our English artisans excel the +Flemish loons, who now fatten upon our industry to the impoverishment +of the realm. And, above all, he also purposes to complete an +invention which may render our ship-craft the most notable in Europe. +Of this I say no more at present; but I commend our guest, Master Adam +Warner, to your good service, and pray you especially, worshipful sirs +of the Church now present, to shield his good name from that charge +which most paineth and endangereth honest men. For ye wot well that +the commons, from ignorance, would impute all to witchcraft that +passeth their understanding. Not," added the earl, crossing himself, +"that witchcraft does not horribly infect the land, and hath been +largely practised by Jacquetta of Bedford, and her confederates, +Bungey and others. But our cause needeth no such aid; and all that +Master Warner purposes is in behalf of the people, and in conformity +with Holy Church. So this wassail to his health and House." + +This characteristic address being received with respect, though with +less applause than usually greeted the speeches of the great earl, +Warwick added, in a softer and more earnest tone, "And in the fair +demoiselle, his daughter, I pray you to acknowledge the dear friend of +my beloved lady and child, Anne, Princess of Wales; and for the sake +of her highness and in her name, I arrogate to myself a share with +Master Warner in this young donzell's guardianship and charge. Know +ye, my gallant gentles and fair squires, that he who can succeed in +achieving, either by leal love or by bold deeds, as best befit a +wooer, the grace of my young ward, shall claim from my hands a +knight's fee, with as much of my best land as a bull's hide can cover; +and when heaven shall grant safe passage to the Princess Anne and her +noble spouse, we will hold at Smithfield a tourney in honor of Saint +George and our ladies, wherein, pardie, I myself would be sorely +tempted to provoke my jealous countess, and break a lance for the fame +of the demoiselle whose fair face is married to a noble heart." + +That evening, in the galliard, many an admiring eye turned to Sibyll, +and many a young gallant, recalling the earl's words, sighed to win +her grace. There had been a time when such honour and such homage +would have, indeed, been welcome; but now ONE saw them not, and they +were valueless. All that, in her earlier girlhood, Sibyll's ambition +had coveted, when musing on the brilliant world, seemed now well-nigh +fulfilled,--her father protected by the first noble of the land, and +that not with the degrading condescension of the Duchess of Bedford, +but as Power alone should protect Genius, honoured while it honours; +her gentle birth recognized; her position elevated; fair fortunes +smiling after such rude trials; and all won without servility or +abasement. But her ambition having once exhausted itself in a diviner +passion, all excitement seemed poor and spiritless compared to the +lonely waiting at the humble farm for the voice and step of Hastings. +Nay, but for her father's sake, she could almost have loathed the +pleasure and the pomp, and the admiration and the homage, which seemed +to insult the reverses of the wandering exile. + +The earl had designed to place Sibyll among Isabel's ladies, but the +haughty air of the duchess chilled the poor girl; and pleading the +excuse that her father's health required her constant attendance, she +prayed permission to rest with Warner wherever he might be lodged. +Adam himself, now that the Duchess of Bedford and Friar Bungey were no +longer in the Tower, entreated permission to return to the place where +he had worked the most successfully upon the beloved Eureka; and, as +the Tower seemed a safer residence than any private home could be, +from popular prejudice and assault, Warwick kindly offered apartments, +far more commodious than they had yet occupied, to be appropriated to +the father and daughter. Several attendants were assigned to them, +and never was man of letters or science more honoured now than the +poor scholar who, till then, had been so persecuted and despised. + +Who shall tell Adam's serene delight? Alchemy and astrology at rest, +no imperious duchess, no hateful Bungey, his free mind left to its +congenial labours! And Sibyll, when they met, strove to wear a +cheerful brow, praying him only never to speak to her of Hastings. +The good old man, relapsing into his wonted mechanical existence, +hoped she had forgotten a girl's evanescent fancy. + +But the peculiar distinction showed by the earl to Warner confirmed +the reports circulated by Bungey,--"that he was, indeed, a fearful +nigromancer, who had much helped the earl in his emprise." The earl's +address to his guests in behalf both of Warner and Sibyll, the high +state accorded to the student, reached even the Sanctuary; for the +fugitives there easily contrived to learn all the gossip of the city. +Judge of the effect the tale produced upon the envious Bungey! judge +of the representations it enabled him to make to the credulous +duchess! It was clear now to Jacquetta as the sun in noonday that +Warwick rewarded the evil-predicting astrologer for much dark and +secret service, which Bungey, had she listened to him, might have +frustrated; and she promised the friar that, if ever again she had the +power, Warner and the Eureka should be placed at his sole mercy and +discretion. + +The friar himself, however, growing very weary of the dulness of the +Sanctuary, and covetous of the advantages enjoyed by Adam, began to +meditate acquiescence in the fashion of the day, and a transfer of his +allegiance to the party in power. Emboldened by the clemency of the +victors, learning that no rewards for his own apprehension had been +offered, hoping that the stout earl would forget or forgive the old +offence of the waxen effigies, and aware of the comparative security +his friar's gown and cowl afforded him, he resolved one day to venture +forth from his retreat. He even flattered himself that he could +cajole Adam--whom he really believed the possessor of some high and +weird secrets, but whom otherwise he despised as a very weak creature +--into forgiving his past brutalities, and soliciting the earl to take +him into favour. + +At dusk, then, and by the aid of one of the subalterns of the Tower, +whom he had formerly made his friend, the friar got admittance into +Warner's chamber. Now it so chanced that Adam, having his own +superstitions, had lately taken it into his head that all the various +disasters which had befallen the Eureka, together with all the little +blemishes and defects that yet marred its construction, were owing to +the want of the diamond bathed in the mystic moonbeams, which his +German authority had long so emphatically prescribed; and now that a +monthly stipend far exceeding his wants was at his disposal, and that +it became him to do all possible honour to the earl's patronage, he +resolved that the diamond should be no longer absent from the +operations it was to influence. He obtained one of passable size and +sparkle, exposed it the due number of nights to the new moon, and had +already prepared its place in the Eureka, and was contemplating it +with solemn joy, when Bungey entered. + +"Mighty brother," said the friar, bowing to the ground, "be merciful +as thou art strong! Verily thou hast proved thyself the magician, and +I but a poor wretch in comparison,--for lo! thou art rich and +honoured, and I poor and proscribed. Deign to forgive thine enemy, +and take him as thy slave by right of conquest. Oh, Cogsbones! oh, +Gemini! what a jewel thou hast got!" + +"Depart! thou disturbest me," said Adam, oblivious, in his absorption, +of the exact reasons for his repugnance, but feeling indistinctly that +something very loathsome and hateful was at his elbow; and, as he +spoke, he fitted the diamond into its socket. + +"What! a jewel, a diamond--in the--in the--in the--MECHANICAL!" +faltered the friar, in profound astonishment, his mouth watering at +the sight. If the Eureka were to be envied before, how much more +enviable now. "If ever I get thee again, O ugly talisman," he +muttered to himself, "I shall know where to look for something better +than a pot to boil eggs." + +"Depart, I say!" repeated Adam, turning round at last, and shuddering +as he now clearly recognized the friar, and recalled his malignity. +"Darest thou molest me still?" + +The friar abjectly fell on his knees, and, after a long exordium of +penitent excuses, entreated the scholar to intercede in his favour +with the earl. + +"I want not all thy honours and advancement, great Adam, I want only +to serve thee, trim thy furnace, and hand thee thy tools, and work out +my apprenticeship under thee, master. As for the earl, he will listen +to thee, I know, if thou tellest him that I had the trust of his foe, +the duchess; that I can give him all her closest secrets; that I--" + +"Avaunt! Thou art worse than I deemed thee, wretch! Cruel and +ignorant I knew thee,--and now mean and perfidious! I work with thee! +I commend to the earl a living disgrace to the name of scholar! +Never! If thou wantest bread and alms, those I can give, as a +Christian gives to want; but trust and honour, and learned repute and +noble toils, those are not for the impostor and the traitor. There, +there, there!" And he ran to the closet, took out a handful of small +coins, thrust them into the friar's hands, and, pushing him to the +door, called to the servants to see his visitor to the gates. The +friar turned round with a scowl. He did not dare to utter a threat, +but he vowed a vow in his soul, and went his way. + +It chanced, some days after this, that Adam, in one of his musing +rambles about the precincts of the Tower, which (since it was not then +inhabited as a palace) was all free to his rare and desultory +wanderings, came by some workmen employed in repairing a bombard; and +as whatever was of mechanical art always woke his interest, he paused, +and pointed out to them a very simple improvement which would +necessarily tend to make the balls go farther and more direct to their +object. The principal workman, struck with his remarks, ran to one of +the officers of the Tower; the officer came to listen to the learned +man, and then went to the earl of Warwick to declare that Master +Warner had the most wonderful comprehension of military mechanism. +The earl sent for Warner, seized at once upon the very simple truth he +suggested as to the proper width of the bore, and holding him in +higher esteem than he had ever done before, placed some new cannon he +was constructing under his superintendence. As this care occupied but +little of his time, Warner was glad to show gratitude to the earl, +looking upon the destructive engines as mechanical contrivances, and +wholly unconscious of the new terror he gave to his name. + +Soon did the indignant and conscience-stricken Duchess of Bedford +hear, in the Sanctuary, that the fell wizard she had saved from the +clutches of Bungey was preparing the most dreadful, infallible, and +murtherous instruments of war against the possible return of her son- +in-law! + +Leaving Adam to his dreams, and his toils, and his horrible +reputation, we return to the world upon the surface,--the Life of +Action. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE PROSPERITY OF THE OUTER SHOW--THE CARES OF THE INNER MAN. + +The position of the king-maker was, to a superficial observer, such as +might gratify to the utmost the ambition and the pride of man. He had +driven from the land one of the most gorgeous princes and one of the +boldest warriors that ever sat upon a throne. He had changed a +dynasty without a blow. In the alliances of his daughters, whatever +chanced, it seemed certain that by one or the other his posterity +would be the kings of England. + +The easiness of his victory appeared to prove of itself that the +hearts of the people were with him; and the parliament that he +hastened to summon confirmed by law the revolution achieved by a +bloodless sword. [Lingard, Hume, etc.] + +Nor was there aught abroad which menaced disturbance to the peace at +home. Letters from the Countess of Warwick and Lady Anne announced +their triumphant entry at Paris, where Margaret of Anjou was received +with honours never before rendered but to a queen of France. + +A solemn embassy, meanwhile, was preparing to proceed from Paris to +London to congratulate Henry, and establish a permanent treaty of +peace and commerce, [Rymer, xi., 682-690] while Charles of Burgundy +himself (the only ally left to Edward) supplicated for the continuance +of amicable relations with England, stating that they were formed with +the country, not with any special person who might wear the crown; +[Hume, Comines] and forbade his subjects by proclamation to join any +enterprise for the recovery of his throne which Edward might attempt. + +The conduct of Warwick, whom the parliament had declared, conjointly +with Clarence, protector of the realm during the minority of the +Prince of Wales, was worthy of the triumph he had obtained. He +exhibited now a greater genius for government than he had yet +displayed; for all his passions were nerved to the utmost, to +consummate his victory and sharpen his faculties. He united mildness +towards the defeated faction with a firmness which repelled all +attempt at insurrection. [Habington.] + +In contrast to the splendour that surrounded his daughter Anne, all +accounts spoke of the humiliation to which Charles subjected the +exiled king; and in the Sanctuary, amidst homicides and felons, the +wife of the earl's defeated foe gave birth to a male child, baptized +and christened (says the chronicler) "as the son of a common man." +For the Avenger and his children were regal authority and gorgeous +pomp, for the fugitive and his offspring were the bread of the exile, +or the refuge of the outlaw. + +But still the earl's prosperity was hollow, the statue of brass stood +on limbs of clay. The position of a man with the name of subject, but +the authority of king, was an unpopular anomaly in England. In the +principal trading-towns had been long growing up that animosity +towards the aristocracy of which Henry VII. availed himself to raise a +despotism (and which, even in our day, causes the main disputes of +faction); but the recent revolution was one in which the towns had had +no share. It was a revolution made by the representative of the +barons and his followers. It was connected with no advancement of the +middle class; it seemed to the men of commerce but the violence of a +turbulent and disappointed nobility. The very name given to Warwick's +supporters was unpopular in the towns. They were not called the +Lancastrians, or the friends of King Henry,--they were styled then, +and still are so, by the old chronicler, "The Lord's Party." Most of +whatever was still feudal--the haughtiest of the magnates, the rudest +of the yeomanry, the most warlike of the knights--gave to Warwick the +sanction of their allegiance; and this sanction was displeasing to the +intelligence of the towns. + +Classes in all times have a keen instinct of their own class- +interests. The revolution which the earl had effected was the triumph +of aristocracy; its natural results would tend to strengthen certainly +the moral, and probably the constitutional, power already possessed by +that martial order. The new parliament was their creature, Henry VI. +was a cipher, his son a boy with unknown character, and according to +vulgar scandal, of doubtful legitimacy, seemingly bound hand and foot +in the trammels of the archbaron's mighty House; the earl himself had +never scrupled to evince a distaste to the change in society which was +slowly converting an agricultural into a trading population. + +It may be observed, too, that a middle class as rarely unites itself +with the idols of the populace as with the chiefs of a seignorie. +The brute attachment of the peasants and the mobs to the gorgeous and +lavish earl seemed to the burgesses the sign of a barbaric clanship, +opposed to that advance in civilization towards which they half +unconsciously struggled. + +And here we must rapidly glance at what, as far as a statesman may +foresee, would have been the probable result of Warwick's ascendancy, +if durable and effectual. If attached, by prejudice and birth, to the +aristocracy, he was yet by reputation and habit attached also to the +popular party,--that party more popular than the middle class,--the +majority, the masses. His whole life had been one struggle against +despotism in the crown. Though far from entertaining such schemes as +in similar circumstances might have occurred to the deep sagacity of +an Italian patrician for the interest of his order, no doubt his +policy would have tended to this one aim,--the limitation of the +monarchy by the strength of an aristocracy endeared to the +agricultural population, owing to that population its own powers of +defence, with the wants and grievances of that population thoroughly +familiar, and willing to satisfy the one and redress the other: in +short, the great baron would have secured and promoted liberty +according to the notions of a seigneur and a Norman, by making the +king but the first nobleman of the realm. Had the policy lasted long +enough to succeed, the subsequent despotism, which changed a limited +into an absolute monarchy under the Tudors, would have been prevented, +with all the sanguinary reaction in which the Stuarts were the +sufferers. The earl's family, and his own "large father-like heart," +had ever been opposed to religious persecution; and timely toleration +to the Lollards might have prevented the long-delayed revenge of their +posterity, the Puritans. Gradually, perhaps, might the system he +represented (of the whole consequences of which he was unconscious) +have changed monarchic into aristocratic government, resting, however, +upon broad and popular institutions; but no doubt, also, the middle, +or rather the commercial class, with all the blessings that attend +their power, would have risen much more slowly than when made as they +were already, partially under Edward IV., and more systematically +under Henry VIL, the instrument for destroying feudal aristocracy, and +thereby establishing for a long and fearful interval the arbitrary +rule of the single tyrant. Warwick's dislike to the commercial biases +of Edward was, in fact, not a patrician prejudice alone. It required +no great sagacity to perceive that Edward had designed to raise up a +class that, though powerful when employed against the barons, would +long be impotent against the encroachments of the crown; and the earl +viewed that class not only as foes to his own order, but as tools for +the destruction of the ancient liberties. + +Without presuming to decide which policy, upon the whole, would have +been the happier for England,--the one that based a despotism on the +middle class, or the one that founded an aristocracy upon popular +affection,--it was clear to the more enlightened burgesses of the +great towns, that between Edward of York and the Earl of Warwick a +vast principle was at stake, and the commercial king seemed to them a +more natural ally than the feudal baron; and equally clear it is to +us, now, that the true spirit of the age fought for the false Edward, +and against the honest earl. + +Warwick did not, however, apprehend any serious results from the +passive distaste of the trading towns. His martial spirit led him to +despise the least martial part of the population. He knew that the +towns would not rise in arms so long as their charters were respected; +and that slow, undermining hostility which exists only in opinion, his +intellect, so vigorous in immediate dangers, was not far-sighted +enough to comprehend. More direct cause for apprehension would there +have been to a suspicious mind in the demeanour of the earl's +colleague in the Protectorate,--the Duke of Clarence. It was +obviously Warwick's policy to satisfy this weak but ambitious person. +The duke was, as before agreed, declared heir to the vast possessions +of the House of York. He was invested with the Lieutenancy of +Ireland, but delayed his departure to his government till the arrival +of the Prince of Wales. The personal honours accorded him in the mean +while were those due to a sovereign; but still the duke's brow was +moody, though, if the earl noticed it, Clarence rallied into seeming +cheerfulness, and reiterated pledges of faith and friendship. + +The manner of Isabel to her father was varying and uncertain: at one +time hard and cold; at another, as if in the reaction of secret +remorse, she would throw herself into his arms, and pray him, +weepingly, to forgive her wayward humours. But the curse of the +earl's position was that which he had foreseen before quitting +Amboise, and which, more or less, attends upon those who from whatever +cause suddenly desert the party with which all their associations, +whether of fame or friendship, have been interwoven. His vengeance +against one had comprehended many still dear to him. He was not only +separated from his old companions in arms, but he had driven their +most eminent into exile. He stood alone amongst men whom the habits +of an active life had indissolubly connected, in his mind, with +recollections of wrath and wrong. Amidst that princely company which +begirt him, he hailed no familiar face. Even many of those who most +detested Edward (or rather the Woodvilles) recoiled from so startling +a desertion to the Lancastrian foe. It was a heavy blow to a heart +already bruised and sore, when the fiery Raoul de Fulke, who had so +idolized Warwick, that, despite his own high lineage, he had worn his +badge upon his breast, sought him at the dead of night, and thus +said,-- + +"Lord of Salisbury and Warwick, I once offered to serve thee as a +vassal, if thou wouldst wrestle with lewd Edward for the crown which +only a manly brow should wear; and hadst thou now returned, as Henry +of Lancaster returned of old, to gripe the sceptre of the Norman with +a conqueror's hand, I had been the first to cry, 'Long live King +Richard, namesake and emulator of Coeur de Lion!' But to place upon +the throne yon monk-puppet, and to call on brave hearts to worship a +patterer of aves and a counter of beads; to fix the succession of +England in the adulterous offspring of Margaret, the butcher-harlot +[One of the greatest obstacles to the cause of the Red Rose was the +popular belief that the young prince was not Henry's son. Had that +belief not been widely spread and firmly maintained, the lords who +arbitrated between Henry VI. and Richard Duke of York, in October, +1460, could scarcely have come to the resolution to set aside the +Prince of Wales altogether, to accord Henry the crown for his life, +and declare the Duke of York his heir. Ten years previously (in +November, 1450), before the young prince was born or thought of, and +the proposition was really just and reasonable, it was moved in the +House of Commons to declare Richard Duke of York next heir to Henry; +which, at least, by birthright, he certainly was; but the motion met +with little favour and the mover was sent to the Tower.]; to give the +power of the realm to the men against whom thou thyself hast often led +me to strive with lance and battle-axe, is to open a path which leads +but to dishonour, and thither Raoul de Fulke follows not even the +steps of the Lord of Warwick. Interrupt me not! speak not! As thou +to Edward, so I now to thee, forswear allegiance, and I bid thee +farewell forever!" + +"I pardon thee," answered Warwick; "and if ever thou art wronged as I +have been, thy heart will avenge me. Go!" But when this haughty +visitor was gone, the earl covered his face with his hands, and +groaned aloud. A defection perhaps even more severely felt came next. +Katherine de Bonville had been the earl's favourite sister; he wrote +to her at the convent to which she had retired, praying her +affectionately to come to London, "and cheer his vexed spirit, and +learn the true cause, not to be told by letter, which had moved him to +things once farthest from his thought." The messenger came back, the +letter unopened; for Katherine had left the convent, and fled into +Burgundy, distrustful, as it seemed to Warwick, of her own brother. +The nature of this lion-hearted man was, as we have seen, singularly +kindly, frank, and affectionate; and now in the most critical, the +most anxious, the most tortured period of his life, confidence and +affection were forbidden to him. What had he not given for one hour +of the soothing company of his wife, the only being in the world to +whom his pride could have communicated the grief of his heart, or the +doubts of his conscience! Alas! never on earth should he hear that +soft voice again! Anne, too, the gentle, childlike Anne, was afar; +but she was happy,--a basker in the brief sunshine, and blind to the +darkening clouds. His elder child, with her changeful moods, added +but to his disquiet and unhappiness. Next to Edward, Warwick of all +the House of York had loved Clarence, though a closer and more +domestic intimacy had weakened the affection by lessening the esteem. +But looking further into the future, he now saw in this alliance the +seeds of many a rankling sorrow. The nearer Anne and her spouse to +power and fame, the more bitter the jealousy of Clarence and his wife. +Thus, in the very connections which seemed most to strengthen his +House, lay all which must destroy the hallowed unity and peace of +family and home. + +The Archbishop of York had prudently taken no part whatever in the +measures that had changed the dynasty. He came now to reap the +fruits; did homage to Henry VI., received the Chancellor's seals, and +recommenced intrigues for the Cardinal's hat. But between the bold +warrior and the wily priest there could be but little of the +endearment of brotherly confidence and love. With Montagu alone could +the earl confer in cordiality and unreserve; and their similar +position, and certain points of agreement in their characters, now +more clearly brought out and manifest, served to make their friendship +for each other firmer and more tender, in the estrangement of all +other ties, than ever it had been before. But the marquis was soon +compelled to depart from London, to his post as warden of the northern +marches; for Warwick had not the rash presumption of Edward, and +neglected no precaution against the return of the dethroned king. + +So there, alone, in pomp and in power, vengeance consummated, ambition +gratified, but love denied; with an aching heart and a fearless front; +amidst old foes made prosperous, and old friends alienated and ruined, +stood the king-maker! and, day by day, the untimely streaks of gray +showed more and more amidst the raven curls of the strong man. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FURTHER VIEWS INTO THE HEART OF MAN, AND THE CONDITIONS OF POWER. + +But woe to any man who is called to power with exaggerated +expectations of his ability to do good! Woe to the man whom the +populace have esteemed a popular champion, and who is suddenly made +the guardian of law! The Commons of England had not bewailed the +exile of the good earl simply for love of his groaning table and +admiration of his huge battle-axe,--it was not merely either in pity, +or from fame, that his "name had sounded in every song," and that, to +use the strong expression of the chronicler, the people "judged that +the sun was clearly taken from the world when he was absent." + +They knew him as one who had ever sought to correct the abuses of +power, to repair the wrongs of the poor; who even in war had forbidden +his knights to slay the common men. He was regarded, therefore, as a +reformer; and wonderful indeed were the things, proportioned to his +fame and his popularity, which he was expected to accomplish; and his +thorough knowledge of the English character, and experience of every +class,--especially the lowest as the highest,--conjoined with the +vigour of his robust understanding, unquestionably enabled him from +the very first to put a stop to the lawless violences which had +disgraced the rule of Edward. The infamous spoliations of the royal +purveyors ceased; the robber-like excesses of the ruder barons and +gentry were severely punished; the country felt that a strong hand +held the reins of power. But what is justice when men ask miracles? +The peasant and mechanic were astonished that wages were not doubled, +that bread was not to be had for asking, that the disparities of life +remained the same,--the rich still rich, the poor still poor. In the +first days of the revolution, Sir Geoffrey Gates, the freebooter, +little comprehending the earl's merciful policy, and anxious naturally +to turn a victory into its accustomed fruit of rapine and pillage, +placed himself at the head of an armed mob, marched from Kent to the +suburbs of London, and, joined by some of the miscreants from the +different Sanctuaries, burned and pillaged, ravished and slew. The +earl quelled this insurrection with spirit and ease; [Hall, Habington] +and great was the praise he received thereby. But all-pervading is +the sympathy the poor feel for the poor. And when even the refuse of +the populace once felt the sword of Warwick, some portion of the +popular enthusiasm must have silently deserted him. + +Robert Hilyard, who had borne so large a share in the restoration of +the Lancastrians, now fixed his home in the metropolis; and anxious as +ever to turn the current to the popular profit, he saw with rage and +disappointment that as yet no party but the nobles had really +triumphed. He had longed to achieve a revolution that might be called +the People's; and he had abetted one that was called "the Lord's +doing." The affection he had felt for Warwick arose principally from +his regarding him as an instrument to prepare society for the more +democratic changes he panted to effect; and, lo! he himself had been +the instrument to strengthen the aristocracy. Society resettled after +the storm, the noble retained his armies, the demagogue had lost his +mobs! Although through England were scattered the principles which +were ultimately to destroy feudalism, to humble the fierce barons into +silken lords, to reform the Church, to ripen into a commonwealth +through the representative system,--the principles were but in the +germ; and when Hilyard mingled with the traders or the artisans of +London, and sought to form a party which might comprehend something of +steady policy and definite object, he found himself regarded as a +visionary fanatic by some, as a dangerous dare-devil by the rest. +Strange to say, Warwick was the only man who listened to him with +attention; the man behind the age and the man before the age ever have +some inch of ground in common both desired to increase liberty; both +honestly and ardently loved the masses; but each in the spirit of his +order,--Warwick defended freedom as against the throne, Hilyard as +against the barons. Still, notwithstanding their differences, each +was so convinced of the integrity of the other,--that it wanted only +a foe in the field to unite them as before. The natural ally of the +popular baron was the leader of the populace. + +Some minor, but still serious, griefs added to the embarrassment of +the earl's position. Margaret's jealousy had bound him to defer all +rewards to lords and others, and encumbered with a provisional council +all great acts of government, all grants of offices, lands, or +benefits. [Sharon Turner] And who knows not the expectations of men +after a successful revolution? The royal exchequer was so empty that +even the ordinary household was suspended; [See Ellis: Original +Letters from Harleian Manuscripts, second series, vol. i., letter 42.] +and as ready money was then prodigiously scarce, the mighty revenues +of Warwick barely sufficed to pay the expenses of the expedition +which, at his own cost, had restored the Lancastrian line. Hard +position, both to generosity and to prudence, to put off and apologize +to just claims and valiant service! + +With intense, wearying, tortured anxiety, did the earl await the +coming of Margaret and her son. The conditions imposed on him in +their absence crippled all his resources. Several even of the +Lancastrian nobles held aloof, while they saw no authority but +Warwick's. Above all, he relied upon the effect that the young Prince +of Wales's presence, his beauty, his graciousness, his frank spirit-- +mild as his fathers, bold as his grandsire's--would create upon all +that inert and neutral mass of the public, the affection of which, +once gained, makes the solid strength of a government. The very +appearance of that prince would at once dispel the slander on his +birth. His resemblance to his heroic grandfather would suffice to win +him all the hearts by which, in absence, he was regarded as a +stranger, a dubious alien. How often did the earl groan forth, "If +the prince were but here, all were won!" Henry was worse than a +cipher,--he was an eternal embarrassment. His good intentions, his +scrupulous piety, made him ever ready to interfere. The Church had +got hold of him already, and prompted him to issue proclamations +against the disguised Lollards, which would have lost him at one +stroke half his subjects. This Warwick prevented, to the great +discontent of the honest prince. The moment required all the prestige +that an imposing presence and a splendid court could bestow. And +Henry, glad of the poverty of his exchequer, deemed it a sin to make a +parade of earthly glory. "Heaven will punish me again," said he, +meekly, "if, just delivered from a dungeon, I gild my unworthy self +with all the vanities of perishable power." + +There was not a department which the chill of this poor king's virtue +did not somewhat benumb. The gay youths, who had revelled in the +alluring court of Edward IV., heard, with disdainful mockery, the +grave lectures of Henry on the length of their lovelocks and the +beakers of their shoes. The brave warriors presented to him for +praise were entertained with homilies on the guilt of war. Even poor +Adam was molested and invaded by Henry's pious apprehensions that he +was seeking, by vain knowledge, to be superior to the will of +Providence. + +Yet, albeit perpetually irritating and chafing the impetuous spirit of +the earl, the earl, strange to say, loved the king more and more. +This perfect innocence, this absence from guile and self-seeking, in +the midst of an age never excelled for fraud, falsehood, and selfish +simulation, moved Warwick's admiration as well as pity. Whatever +contrasted Edward IV. had a charm for him. He schooled his hot +temper, and softened his deep voice, in that holy presence; and the +intimate persuasion of the hollowness of all worldly greatness, which +worldly greatness itself had forced upon the earl's mind, made +something congenial between the meek saint and the fiery warrior. For +the hundredth time groaned Warwick, as he quitted Henry's presence,-- + +"Would that my gallant son-in-law were come! His spirit will soon +learn how to govern; then Warwick may be needed no more! I am weary, +sore weary of the task of ruling men!" + +"Holy Saint Thomas!" bluntly exclaimed Marmaduke, to whom these sad +words were said,--"whenever you visit the king you come back--pardon +me, my lord--half unmanned. He would make a monk of you!" + +"Ah," said Warwick, thoughtfully, "there have been greater marvels +than that. Our boldest fathers often died the meekest shavelings. +An' I had ruled this realm as long as Henry,--nay, an' this same life +I lead now were to continue two years, with its broil and fever,--I +could well conceive the sweetness of the cloister and repose. How +sets the wind? Against them still! against them still! I cannot bear +this suspense!" + +The winds had ever seemed malignant to Margaret of Anjou, but never +more than now. So long a continuance of stormy and adverse weather +was never known in the memory of man; and we believe that it has +scarcely its parallel in history. + +The earl's promise to restore King Henry was fulfilled in October. +From November to the following April, Margaret, with the young and +royal pair, and the Countess of Warwick, lay at the seaside, waiting +for a wind. [Fabyan, 502.] Thrice, in defiance of all warnings from +the mariners of Harfleur, did she put to sea, and thrice was she +driven back on the coast of Normandy, her ships much damaged. Her +friends protested that this malice of the elements was caused by +sorcery, [Hall, Warkworth Chronicle]--a belief which gained ground in +England, exhilarated the Duchess of Bedford, and gave new fame to +Bungey, who arrogated all the merit, and whose weather wisdom, indeed, +had here borne out his predictions. Many besought Margaret not to +tempt Providence, not to trust the sea; but the queen was firm to her +purpose, and her son laughed at omens,--yet still the vessels could +only leave the harbour to be driven back upon the land. + +Day after day the first question of Warwick, when the sun rose, was, +"How sets the wind?" Night after night, ere he retired to rest, "Ill +sets the wind!" sighed the earl. The gales that forbade the coming of +the royal party sped to the unwilling lingerers courier after courier, +envoy after envoy; and at length Warwick, unable to bear the sickening +suspense at distance, went himself to Dover [Hall], and from its white +cliffs looked, hour by hour, for the sails which were to bear +"Lancaster and its fortunes." The actual watch grew more intolerable +than the distant expectation, and the earl sorrowfully departed to his +castle of Warwick, at which Isabel and Clarence then were. Alas! +where the old smile of home? + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE RETURN OF EDWARD OF YORK. + +And the winds still blew, and the storm was on the tide, and Margaret +came not when, in the gusty month of March, the fishermen of the +Humber beheld a single ship, without flag or pennon, and sorely +stripped and rivelled by adverse blasts, gallantly struggling towards +the shore. The vessel was not of English build, and resembled in its +bulk and fashion those employed by the Easterlings in their trade, +half merchantman, half war-ship. + +The villagers of Ravenspur,--the creek of which the vessel now rapidly +made to,--imagining that it was some trading craft in distress, +grouped round the banks, and some put out their boats: But the vessel +held on its way, and, as the water was swelled by the tide, and +unusually deep, silently cast anchor close ashore, a quarter of a mile +from the crowd. + +The first who leaped on land was a knight of lofty stature, and in +complete armour richly inlaid with gold arabesques. To him succeeded +another, also in mail, and, though well guilt and fair proportioned, +of less imposing presence. And then, one by one, the womb of the dark +ship gave forth a number of armed soldiers, infinitely larger than it +could have been supposed to contain, till the knight who first landed +stood the centre of a group of five hundred men. Then were lowered +from the vessel, barbed and caparisoned, some five score horses; and, +finally, the sailors and rowers, armed but with steel caps and short +swords, came on shore, till not a man was left on board. + +"Now praise," said the chief knight, "to God and Saint George that we +have escaped the water! and not with invisible winds but with bodily +foes must our war be waged." + +"Beau sire," cried one knight, who had debarked immediately after the +speaker, and who seemed, from his bearing and equipment, of higher +rank than those that followed, "beau sire, this is a slight army to +reconquer a king's realm! Pray Heaven that our bold companions have +also escaped the deep!" + +"Why, verily, we are not eno' at the best, to spare one man," said the +chief knight, gayly, "but, lo! we are not without welcomers." And he +pointed to the crowd of villagers who now slowly neared the warlike +group, but halting at a little distance, continued to gaze at them in +some anxiety and alarm. + +"Ho there! good fellows!" cried the leader, striding towards the +throng, "what name give you to this village?" + +"Ravenspur, please your worship," answered one of the peasants. + +"Ravenspur, hear you that, lords and friends? Accept the omen! On +this spot landed from exile Henry of Bolingbroke, known afterwards in +our annals as King Henry IV.! Bare is the soil of corn and of trees, +--it disdains meaner fruit; it grows kings! Hark!" The sound of a +bugle was heard at a little distance, and in a few moments a troop of +about a hundred men were seen rising above an undulation in the +ground, and as the two bands recognized each other, a shout of joy was +given and returned. + +As this new reinforcement advanced, the peasantry and fishermen, +attracted by curiosity and encouraged by the peaceable demeanour of +the debarkers, drew nearer, and mingled with the first comers. + +"What manner of men be ye, and what want ye?" asked one of the +bystanders, who seemed of better nurturing than the rest, and who, +indeed, was a small franklin. + +No answer was returned by those he more immediately addressed; but the +chief knight heard the question, and suddenly unbuckling his helmet, +and giving it to one of those beside him, he turned to the crowd a +countenance of singular beauty at once animated and majestic, and said +in a loud voice, "We are Englishmen, like you, and we come here to +claim our rights. Ye seem tall fellows and honest.--Standard bearer, +unfurl our flag!" And as the ensign suddenly displayed the device of +a sun in a field azure, the chief continued, "March under this banner, +and for every day ye serve, ye shall have a month's hire." + +"Marry!" quoth the franklin, with a suspicious, sinister look, "these +be big words. And who are you, Sir Knight, who would levy men in King +Henry's kingdom?" + +"Your knees, fellows!" cried the second knight. "Behold your true +liege and suzerain, Edward IV.! Long live King Edward!" + +The soldiers caught up the cry, and it was re-echoed lustily by the +smaller detachment that now reached the spot; but no answer came from +the crowd. They looked at each other in dismay, and retreated rapidly +from their place amongst the troops. In fact, the whole of the +neighbouring district was devoted to Warwick, and many of the +peasantry about had joined the former rising under Sir John Coniers. +The franklin alone retreated not with the rest; he was a bluff, plain, +bold fellow, with good English blood in his veins. And when the shout +ceased, he said shortly, "We hereabouts know no king but King Henry. +We fear you would impose upon us. We cannot believe that a great lord +like him you call Edward IV. would land with a handful of men to +encounter the armies of Lord Warwick. We forewarn you to get into +your ship and go back as fast as ye came, for the stomach of England +is sick of brawls and blows; and what ye devise is treason!" + +Forth from the new detachment stepped a youth of small stature, not in +armour, and with many a weather-stain on his gorgeous dress. He laid +his hand upon the franklin's shoulder. "Honest and plain-dealing +fellow," said he, "you are right: pardon the foolish outburst of these +brave men, who cannot forget as yet that their chief has worn the +crown. We come back not to disturb this realm, nor to effect aught +against King Henry, whom the saints have favoured. No, by Saint Paul, +we come but back to claim our lands unjustly forfeit. My noble +brother here is not king of England, since the people will it not, but +he is Duke of York, and he will be contented if assured of the style +and lands our father left him. For me, called Richard of Gloucester, +I ask nothing but leave to spend my manhood where I have spent my +youth, under the eyes of my renowned godfather, Richard Nevile, Earl +of Warwick. So report of us. Whither leads yon road?" + +"To York," said the franklin, softened, despite his judgment, by the +irresistible suavity of the voice that addressed him. + +"Thither will we go, my lord duke and brother, with your leave," said +Prince Richard, "peaceably and as petitioners. God save ye, friends +and countrymen, pray for us, that King Henry and the parliament may do +us justice. We are not over rich now, but better times may come. +Largess!" and filling both hands with coins from his gipsire, he +tossed the bounty among the peasants. + +"Mille tonnere! What means he with this humble talk of King Henry and +the parliament?" whispered Edward to the Lord Say, while the crowd +scrambled for the largess, and Richard smilingly mingled amongst them, +and conferred with the franklin. + +"Let him alone, I pray you, my liege; I guess his wise design. And +now for our ships. What orders for the master?" + +"For the other vessels, let them sail or anchor as they list. But for +the bark that has borne Edward king of England to the land of his +ancestors there is no return!" + +The royal adventurer then beckoned the Flemish master of the ship, +who, with every sailor aboard, had debarked, and the loose dresses of +the mariners made a strong contrast to the mail of the warriors with +whom they mingled. + +"Friend," said Edward, in French, "thou hast said that thou wilt share +my fortunes, and that thy good fellows are no less free of courage and +leal in trust." + +"It is so, sire. Not a man who has gazed on thy face, and heard thy +voice, but longs to serve one on whose brow Nature has written king." + +"And trust me," said Edward, "no prince of my blood shall be dearer to +me than you and yours, my friends in danger and in need. And sith it +be so, the ship that hath borne such hearts and such hopes should, in +sooth, know no meaner freight. Is all prepared?" + +"Yes, sire, as you ordered. The train is laid for the brennen." + +"Up, then, with the fiery signal, and let it tell, from cliff to +cliff, from town to town, that Edward the Plantagenet, once returned +to England, leaves it but for the grave!" + +The master bowed, and smiled grimly. The sailors, who had been +prepared for the burning, arranged before between the master and the +prince, and whose careless hearts Edward had thoroughly won to his +person and his cause, followed the former towards the ship, and stood +silently grouped around the shore. The soldiers, less informed, gazed +idly on, and Richard now regained Edward's side. + +"Reflect," he said, as he drew him apart, "that, when on this spot +landed Henry of Bolingbroke, he gave not out that he was marching to +the throne of Richard II. He professed but to claim his duchy,--and +men were influenced by justice, till they became agents of ambition. +This be your policy; with two thousand men you are but Duke of York; +with ten thousand men you are King of England! In passing hither, I +met with many, and sounding the temper of the district, I find it not +ripe to share your hazard. The world soon ripens when it hath to hail +success!" + +"O young boy's smooth face! O old man's deep brain!" said Edward, +admiringly, "what a king hadst thou made!" A sudden flush passed over +the prince's pale cheek, and, ere it died away, a flaming torch was +hurled aloft in the air; it fell whirling into the ship--a moment, and +a loud crash; a moment, and a mighty blaze! Up sprung from the deck, +along the sails, the sheeted fire,-- + + "A giant beard of flame." [Aeschylus: Agamemnon, 314] + +It reddened the coast, the skies, from far and near; it glowed on the +faces and the steel of the scanty army; it was seen, miles away, by +the warders of many a castle manned with the troops of Lancaster; it +brought the steed from the stall, the courier to the selle; it sped, +as of old the beacon fire that announced to Clytemnestra the return of +the Argive king. From post to post rode the fiery news, till it +reached Lord Warwick in his hall, King Henry in his palace, Elizabeth +in her sanctuary. The iron step of the dauntless Edward was once more +pressed upon the soil of England. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PROGRESS OF THE PLANTAGENET. + +A few words suffice to explain the formidable arrival we have just +announced. Though the Duke of Burgundy had by public proclamation +forbidden his subjects to aid the exiled Edward, yet, whether moved by +the entreaties of his wife, or wearied by the remonstrances of his +brother-in-law, he at length privately gave the dethroned monarch +fifty thousand florins to find troops for himself, and secretly hired +Flemish and Dutch vessels to convey him to England. [Comines, Hall, +Lingard, S. Turner] But so small was the force to which the bold +Edward trusted his fortunes, that it almost seemed as if Burgundy sent +him forth to his destruction. He sailed from the coast of Zealand; +the winds, if less unmanageable than those that blew off the seaport +where Margaret and her armament awaited a favouring breeze, were still +adverse. Scared from the coast of Norfolk by the vigilance of Warwick +and Oxford, who had filled that district with armed men, storm and +tempest drove him at last to Humber Head, where we have seen him land, +and whence we pursue his steps. + +The little band set out upon its march, and halted for the night at a +small village two miles inland. Some of the men were then sent out on +horseback for news of the other vessels, that bore the remnant of the +invading force. These had, fortunately, effected a landing in various +places; and, before daybreak, Anthony Woodville, and the rest of the +troops, had joined the leader of an enterprise that seemed but the +rashness of despair, for its utmost force, including the few sailors +allured to the adventurer's standard, was about two thousand men. +[Fifteen hundred, according to the Croyland historian.] Close and +anxious was the consultation then held. Each of the several +detachments reported alike of the sullen indifference of the +population, which each had sought to excite in favour of Edward. +Light riders [Hall] were despatched in various directions, still +further to sound the neighbourhood. All returned ere noon, some +bruised and maltreated by the stones and staves of the rustics, and +not a voice had been heard to echo the cry, "Long live King Edward!" +The profound sagacity of Gloucester's guileful counsel was then +unanimously recognized. Richard despatched a secret letter to +Clarence; and it was resolved immediately to proceed to York, and to +publish everywhere along the road that the fugitive had returned but +to claim his private heritage, and remonstrate with the parliament +which had awarded the duchy of York to Clarence, his younger brother. + +"Such a power," saith the Chronicle, "hath justice ever among men, +that all, moved by mercy or compassion, began either to favour or not +to resist him." And so, wearing the Lancastrian Prince of Wales's +cognizance of the ostrich feather, crying out as they marched, "Long +live King Henry!" the hardy liars, four days after their debarkation, +arrived at the gates of York. + +Here, not till after much delay and negotiation, Edward was admitted +only as Duke of York, and upon condition that he would swear to be a +faithful and loyal servant to King Henry; and at the gate by which he +was to enter, Edward actually took that oath, "a priest being by to +say Mass in the Mass tyme, receiving the body of our blessed Saviour!" +[Hall.] + +Edward tarried not long in York; be pushed forward. Two great nobles +guarded those districts,--Montagu and the Earl of Northumberland, to +whom Edward had restored his lands and titles, and who, on condition +of retaining them, had re-entered the service of Lancaster. This +last, a true server of the times, who had sided with all parties, now +judged it discreet to remain neutral. [This is the most favourable +interpretation of his conduct: according to some he was in +correspondence with Edward, who showed his letters.] But Edward must +pass within a few miles of Pontefract castle, where Montagu lay with a +force that could destroy him at a blow. Edward was prepared for the +assault, but trusted to deceive the marquis, as he had deceived the +citizens of York,--the more for the strong personal love Montagu had +ever shown him. If not, he was prepared equally to die in the field +rather than eat again the bitter bread of the exile. But to his +inconceivable joy and astonishment, Montagu, like Northumberland, lay +idle and supine. Edward and his little troop threaded safely the +formidable pass. Alas! Montagu had that day received a formal order +from the Duke of Clarence, as co-protector of the realm, [Our +historians have puzzled their brains in ingenious conjectures of the +cause of Montagu's fatal supineness at this juncture, and have passed +over the only probable solution of the mystery, which is to be found +simply enough stated thus in Stowe's Chronicle: "The Marquess +Montacute would have fought with King Edward, but that he had received +letters from the Duke of Clarence that he should not fight till hee +came." This explanation is borne out by the Warkworth Chronicler and +others, who, in an evident mistake of the person addressed, state that +Clarence wrote word to Warwick not to fight till he came. Clarence +could not have written so to Warwick, who, according to all +authorities, was mustering his troops near London, and not in the way +to fight Edward; nor could Clarence have had authority to issue such +commands to his colleague, nor would his colleague have attended to +them, since we have the amplest testimony that Warwick was urging all +his captains to attack Edward at once. The duke's order was, +therefore, clearly addressed to Montagu.] to suffer Edward to march +on, provided his force was small, and he had taken the oaths to Henry, +and assumed but the title of Duke of York,--"for your brother the earl +hath had compunctious visitings, and would fain forgive what hath +passed, for my father's sake, and unite all factions by Edward's +voluntary abdication of the throne; at all hazards, I am on my way +northward, and you will not fight till I come." The marquis,--who +knew the conscientious doubts which Warwick had entertained in his +darker hours, who had no right to disobey the co-protector, who knew +no reason to suspect Lord Warwick's son-in-law, and who, moreover, was +by no means anxious to be, himself, the executioner of Edward, whom he +had once so truly loved,--though a little marvelling at Warwick's +softness, yet did not discredit the letter, and the less regarded the +free passage he left to the returned exiles, from contempt for the +smallness of their numbers, and his persuasion that if the earl saw +fit to alter his counsels, Edward was still more in his power the +farther he advanced amidst a hostile population, and towards the +armies which the Lords Exeter and Oxford were already mustering. + +But that free passage was everything to Edward! It made men think +that Montagu, as well as Northumberland, favoured his enterprise; that +the hazard was less rash and hopeless than it had seemed; that Edward +counted upon finding his most powerful allies among those falsely +supposed to be his enemies. The popularity Edward had artfully +acquired amongst the captains of Warwick's own troops, on the march to +Middleham, now bestead him. Many of them were knights and gentlemen +residing in the very districts through which he passed. They did not +join him, but they did not oppose. Then rapidly flocked to "the Sun +of York," first the adventurers and condottieri who in civil war adopt +any side for pay; next came the disappointed, the ambitious, and the +needy. The hesitating began to resolve, the neutral to take a part. +From the state of petitioners supplicating a pardon, every league the +Yorkists marched advanced them to the dignity of assertors of a cause. +Doncaster first, then Nottingham, then Leicester,--true to the town +spirit we have before described,--opened their gates to the trader +prince. + +Oxford and Exeter reached Newark with their force. Edward marched on +them at once. Deceived as to his numbers, they took panic and fled. +When once the foe flies, friends ever start up from the very earth! +Hereditary partisans--gentlemen, knights, and nobles--now flocked fast +round the adventurer. Then came Lovell and Cromwell and D'Eyncourt, +ever true to York; and Stanley, never true to any cause. Then came +the brave knights Parr and Norris and De Burgh; and no less than three +thousand retainers belonging to Lord Hastings--the new man--obeyed the +summons of his couriers and joined their chief at Leicester. + +Edward of March, who had landed at Ravenspur with a handful of +brigands, now saw a king's army under his banner. [The perplexity and +confusion which involve the annals of this period may be guessed by +this,--that two historians, eminent for research (Lingard and Sharon +Turner), differ so widely as to the numbers who had now joined Edward, +that Lingard asserts that at Nottingham he was at the head of fifty or +sixty thousand men; and Turner gives him, at the most, between six and +seven thousand. The latter seems nearer to the truth. We must here +regret that Turner's partiality to the House of York induces him to +slur over Edward's detestable perjury at York, and to accumulate all +rhetorical arts to command admiration for his progress,--to the +prejudice of the salutary moral horror we ought to feel for the +atrocious perfidy and violation of oath to which he owed the first +impunity that secured the after triumph.] Then the audacious perjurer +threw away the mask; then, forth went--not the prayer of the attainted +Duke of York--but the proclamation of the indignant king. England now +beheld two sovereigns, equal in their armies. It was no longer a +rebellion to be crushed; it was a dynasty to be decided. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LORD WARWICK, WITH THE FOE IN THE FIELD AND THE TRAITOR AT THE HEARTH. + +Every precaution which human wisdom could foresee had Lord Warwick +taken to guard against invasion, or to crush it at the onset. [Hall.] +All the coasts on which it was most probable Edward would land had +been strongly guarded. And if the Humber had been left without +regular troops, it was because prudence might calculate that the very +spot where Edward did land was the very last he would have selected,-- +unless guided by fate to his destruction,--in the midst of an +unfriendly population, and in face of the armies of Northumberland and +of Montagu. The moment the earl heard of Edward's reception at York, +--far from the weakness which the false Clarence (already in +correspondence with Gloucester) imputed to him,--he despatched to +Montagu, by Marmaduke Nevile, peremptory orders to intercept Edward's +path, and give him battle before he could advance farther towards the +centre of the island. We shall explain presently why this messenger +did not reach the marquis. But Clarence was some hours before him in +his intelligence and his measures. + +When the earl next heard that Edward had passed Pontefract with +impunity, and had reached Doncaster, he flew first to London, to +arrange for its defence; consigned the care of Henry to the Archbishop +of York, mustered a force already quartered in the neighbourhood of +the metropolis, and then marched rapidly back towards Coventry, where +he had left Clarence with seven thousand men; while he despatched new +messengers to Montagu and Northumberland, severely rebuking the former +for his supineness, and ordering him to march in all haste to attack +Edward in the rear. The earl's activity, promptitude, all-provident +generalship, form a mournful contrast to the errors, the +pusillanimity, and the treachery of others, which hitherto, as we have +seen, made all his wisest schemes abortive. Despite Clarence's +sullenness, Warwick had discovered no reason, as yet, to doubt his +good faith. The oath he had taken--not only to Henry in London, but +to Warwick at Amboise--had been the strongest which can bind man to +man. If the duke had not gained all he had hoped, he had still much +to lose and much to dread by desertion to Edward. He had been the +loudest in bold assertions when he heard of the invasion; and above +all, Isabel, whose influence over Clarence at that time the earl +overrated, had, at the tidings of so imminent a danger to her father, +forgot all her displeasure and recovered all her tenderness. + +During Warwick's brief absence, Isabel had indeed exerted her utmost +power to repair her former wrongs, and induce Clarence to be faithful +to his oath. Although her inconsistency and irresolution had much +weakened her influence with the duke, for natures like his are +governed but by the ascendancy of a steady and tranquil will, yet +still she so far prevailed, that the duke had despatched to Richard a +secret courier, informing him that he had finally resolved not to +desert his father-in-law. + +This letter reached Gloucester as the invaders were on their march to +Coventry, before the strong walls of which the Duke of Clarence lay +encamped. Richard, after some intent and silent reflection, beckoned +to him his familiar Catesby. + +"Marmaduke Nevile, whom our scouts seized on his way to Pontefract, is +safe, and in the rear?" + +"Yes, my lord; prisoners but encumber us; shall I give orders to the +provost to end his captivity?" + +"Ever ready, Catesby!" said the duke, with a fell smile. "No; hark +ye, Clarence vacillates. If he hold firm to Warwick, and the two +forces fight honestly against us, we are lost; on the other hand, if +Clarence join us, his defection will bring not only the men he +commands, all of whom are the retainers of the York lands and duchy, +and therefore free from peculiar bias to the earl, and easily lured +back to their proper chief; but it will set an example that will +create such distrust and panic amongst the enemy, and give such hope +of fresh desertions to our own men, as will open to us the keys of the +metropolis. But Clarence, I say, vacillates; look you, here is his +letter from Amboise to King Edward; see, his duchess, Warwick's very +daughter, approves the promise it contains! If this letter reach +Warwick, and Clarence knows it is in his hand, George will have no +option but to join us. He will never dare to face the earl, his +pledge to Edward once revealed--" + +"Most true; a very legal subtlety, my lord," said the lawyer Catesby, +admiringly. + +"You can serve us in this. Fall back; join Sir Marmaduke; affect to +sympathize with him; affect to side with the earl; affect to make +terms for Warwick's amity and favour; affect to betray us; affect to +have stolen this letter. Give it to young Nevile, artfully effect his +escape, as if against our knowledge, and commend him to lose not an +hour--a moment--in gaining the earl, and giving him so important a +forewarning of the meditated treason of his son-in-law." + +"I will do all,--I comprehend; but how will the duke learn in time +that the letter is on its way to Warwick?" + +"I will seek the duke in his own tent." + +"And how shall I effect Sir Marmaduke's escape?" + +"Send hither the officer who guards the prisoner; I will give him +orders to obey thee in all things." + +The invaders marched on. The earl, meanwhile, had reached Warwick, +hastened thence to throw himself into the stronger fortifications of +the neighbouring Coventry, without the walls of which Clarence was +still encamped; Edward advanced on the town of Warwick thus vacated; +and Richard, at night, rode along to the camp of Clarence. [Hall, and +others.] + +The next day, the earl was employed in giving orders to his +lieutenants to march forth, join the troops of his son-in-law, who +were a mile from the walls, and advance upon Edward, who had that +morning quitted Warwick town, when suddenly Sir Marmaduke Nevile +rushed into his presence, and, faltering out, "Beware, beware!" placed +in his hands the fatal letter which Clarence had despatched from +Amboise. + +Never did blow more ruthless fall upon man's heart! Clarence's +perfidy--that might be disdained; but the closing lines, which +revealed a daughter's treachery--words cannot express the father's +anguish. + +The letter dropped from his hand, a stupor seized his senses, and, ere +yet recovered, pale men hurried into his presence to relate how, +amidst joyous trumpets and streaming banners, Richard of Gloucester +had led the Duke of Clarence to the brotherly embrace of Edward. +[Hall. The chronicler adds: "It was no marvell that the Duke of +Clarence with so small persuasion and less exhorting turned from the +Earl of Warwick's party, for, as you have heard before, this +marchandise was laboured, conducted, and concluded by a damsell, when +the duke was in the French court, to the earl's utter confusion." +Hume makes a notable mistake in deferring the date of Clarence's +desertion to the battle of Barnet.] + +Breaking from these messengers of evil news, that could not now +surprise, the earl strode on, alone, to his daughter's chamber. + +He placed the letter in her hands, and folding his arms said, "What +sayest thou of this, Isabel of Clarence?" The terror, the shame, the +remorse, that seized upon the wretched lady, the death-like lips, the +suppressed shriek, the momentary torpor, succeeded by the impulse +which made her fall at her father's feet and clasp his knees,--told +the earl, if he had before doubted, that the letter lied not; that +Isabel had known and sanctioned its contents. + +He gazed on her (as she grovelled at his feet) with a look that her +eyes did well to shun. + +"Curse me not! curse me not!" cried Isabel, awed by his very silence. +"It was but a brief frenzy. Evil counsel, evil passion! I was +maddened that my boy had lost a crown. I repented, I repented! +Clarence shall yet be true. He hath promised it, vowed it to me; hath +written to Gloucester to retract all,--to--" + +"Woman! Clarence is in Edward's camp!" + +Isabel started to her feet, and uttered a shriek so wild and +despairing, that at least it gave to her father's lacerated heart the +miserable solace of believing the last treason had not been shared. A +softer expression--one of pity, if not of pardon--stole over his dark +face. + +"I curse thee not," he said; "I rebuke thee not. Thy sin hath its own +penance. Ill omen broods on the hearth of the household traitor! +Never more shalt thou see holy love in a husband's smile. His kiss +shall have the taint of Judas. From his arms thou shalt start with +horror, as from those of thy wronged father's betrayer,--perchance his +deathsman! Ill omen broods on the cradle of the child for whom a +mother's ambition was but a daughter's perfidy. Woe to thee, wife and +mother! Even my forgiveness cannot avert thy doom!" + +"Kill me! kill me!" exclaimed Isabel, springing towards him; but +seeing his face averted, his arms folded on his breast,--that noble +breast, never again her shelter,--she fell lifeless on the floor. [As +our narrative does not embrace the future fate of the Duchess of +Clarence, the reader will pardon us if we remind him that her first- +born (who bore his illustrious grandfather's title of Earl of Warwick) +was cast into prison on the accession of Henry VII., and afterwards +beheaded by that king. By birth, he was the rightful heir to the +throne. The ill-fated Isabel died young (five years after the date at +which our tale has arrived). One of her female attendants was tried +and executed on the charge of having poisoned her. Clarence lost no +time in seeking to supply her place. He solicited the hand of Mary of +Burgundy, sole daughter and heir of Charles the Bold. Edward's +jealousy and fear forbade him to listen to an alliance that might, as +Lingard observes, enable Clarence "to employ the power of Burgundy to +win the crown of England;" and hence arose those dissensions which +ended in the secret murder of the perjured duke.] + +The earl looked round, to see that none were by to witness his +weakness, took her gently in his arms, laid her on her couch, and, +bending over her a moment, prayed to God to pardon her. + +He then hastily left the room, ordered her handmaids and her litter, +and while she was yet unconscious, the gates of the town opened, and +forth through the arch went the closed and curtained vehicle which +bore the ill-fated duchess to the new home her husband had made with +her father's foe! The earl watched it from the casement of his tower, +and said to himself,-- + +"I had been unmanned, had I known her within the same walls. Now +forever I dismiss her memory and her crime. Treachery hath done its +worst, and my soul is proof against all storms!" + +At night came messengers from Clarence and Edward, who had returned to +Warwick town, with offers of pardon to the earl, with promises of +favour, power, and grace. To Edward the earl deigned no answer; to +the messenger of Clarence he gave this: "Tell thy master I had liefer +be always like myself than like a false and a perjured duke, and that +I am determined never to leave the war till I have lost mine own life, +or utterly extinguished and put down my foes." [Hall.] + +After this terrible defection, neither his remaining forces, nor the +panic amongst them which the duke's desertion had occasioned, nor the +mighty interests involved in the success of his arms, nor the +irretrievable advantage which even an engagement of equivocal result +with the earl in person would give to Edward, justified Warwick in +gratifying the anticipations of the enemy,--that his valour and wrath +would urge him into immediate and imprudent battle. + +Edward, after the vain bravado of marching up to the walls of +Coventry, moved on towards London. Thither the earl sent Marmaduke, +enjoining the Archbishop of York and the lord mayor but to hold out +the city for three days, and he would come to their aid with such a +force as would insure lasting triumph. For, indeed, already were +hurrying to his banner Montagu, burning to retrieve his error, Oxford +and Exeter, recovered from, and chafing at, their past alarm. Thither +his nephew, Fitzhugh, led the earl's own clansmen of Middleham; +thither were spurring Somerset from the west, [Most historians state +that Somerset was then in London; but Sharon Turner quotes "Harleian +Manuscripts," 38, to show that he had left the metropolis "to raise an +army from the western counties," and ranks him amongst the generals at +the battle of Barnet.] and Sir Thomas Dymoke from Lincolnshire, and +the Knight of Lytton, with his hardy retainers, from the Peak. Bold +Hilyard waited not far from London, with a host of mingled yeomen and +bravos, reduced, as before, to discipline under his own sturdy +energies and the military craft of Sir John Coniers. If London would +but hold out till these forces could unite, Edward's destruction was +still inevitable. + + + + + +BOOK XII. + +THE BATTLE OF BARNET. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A KING IN HIS CITY HOPES TO RECOVER HIS REALM--A WOMAN IN HER CHAMBER +FEARS TO FORFEIT HER OWN. + +Edward and his army reached St. Alban's. Great commotion, great joy, +were in the Sanctuary of Westminster! The Jerusalem Chamber, therein, +was made the high council-hall of the friends of York. Great +commotion, great terror, were in the city of London. Timid Master +Stokton had been elected mayor; horribly frightened either to side +with an Edward or a Henry, timid Master Stokton feigned or fell ill. +Sir Thomas Cook, a wealthy and influential citizen, and a member of +the House of Commons, had been appointed deputy in his stead. Sir +Thomas Cook took fright also, and ran away. [Fabyan.] The power of +the city thus fell into the hands of Ureswick, the Recorder, a zealous +Yorkist. Great commotion, great scorn, were in the breasts of the +populace, as the Archbishop of York, hoping thereby to rekindle their +loyalty, placed King Henry on horseback, and paraded him through the +streets from Chepeside to Walbrook, from Walbrook to St. Paul's; for +the news of Edward's arrival, and the sudden agitation and excitement +it produced on his enfeebled frame, had brought upon the poor king one +of the epileptic attacks to which he had been subject from childhood, +and which made the cause of his frequent imbecility; and, just +recovered from such a fit,--his eyes vacant, his face haggard, his +head drooping,--the spectacle of such an antagonist to the vigorous +Edward moved only pity in the few and ridicule in the many. Two +thousand Yorkist gentlemen were in the various Sanctuaries; aided and +headed by the Earl of Essex, they came forth armed and clamorous, +scouring the streets, and shouting, "King Edward!" with impunity. +Edward's popularity in London was heightened amongst the merchants by +prudent reminiscences of the vast debts he had incurred, which his +victory only could ever enable him to repay to his good citizens. +[Comines.] The women, always, in such a movement, active partisans, +and useful, deserted their hearths to canvass all strong arms and +stout hearts for the handsome woman-lover. [Comines.] The Yorkist +Archbishop of Canterbury did his best with the ecclesiastics, the +Yorkist Recorder his best with the flat-caps. Alwyn, true to his +anti-feudal principles, animated all the young freemen to support the +merchant-king, the favourer of commerce, the man of his age! The city +authorities began to yield to their own and the general metropolitan +predilections. But still the Archbishop of York had six thousand +soldiers at his disposal, and London could be yet saved to Warwick, if +the prelate acted with energy and zeal and good faith. That such was +his first intention is clear, from his appeal to the public loyalty in +King Henry's procession; but when he perceived how little effect that +pageant had produced; when, on re-entering the Bishop of London's +palace, he saw before him the guileless, helpless puppet of contending +factions, gasping for breath, scarcely able to articulate, the +heartless prelate turned away, with a muttered ejaculation of +contempt. + +"Clarence had not deserted," said he to himself, "unless he saw +greater profit with King Edward!" And then he began to commune with +himself, and to commune with his brother-prelate of Canterbury; and in +the midst of all this commune arrived Catesby, charged with messages +to the archbishop from Edward,--messages full of promise and affection +on the one hand, of menace and revenge upon the other. Brief: +Warwick's cup of bitterness had not yet been filled; that night the +archbishop and the mayor of London met, and the Tower was surrendered +to Edward's friends. The next day Edward and his army entered, amidst +the shouts of the populace; rode to St. Paul's, where the archbishop +[Sharon Turner. It is a comfort to think that this archbishop was, +two years afterwards, first robbed, and then imprisoned, by Edward +IV.; nor did he recover his liberty till a few weeks before his death, +in 1476 (five years subsequently to the battle of Barnet).] met him, +leading Henry by the hand, again a captive; thence Edward proceeded to +Westminster Abbey, and, fresh from his atrocious perjury at York, +offered thanksgiving for its success. The Sanctuary yielded up its +royal fugitives, and, in joy and in pomp, Edward led his wife and her +new-born babe, with Jacquetta and his elder children, to Baynard's +Castle. + +The next morning (the third day), true to his promise, Warwick marched +towards London with the mighty armament he had now collected. Treason +had done its worst,--the metropolis was surrendered, and King Henry in +the Tower. + +"These things considered," says the Chronicler, "the earl saw that all +calculations of necessity were brought to this end,--that they must +now be committed to the hazard and chance of one battle." [Hall.] He +halted, therefore, at St. Alban's, to rest his troops; and marching +thence towards Barnet, pitched his tents on the upland ground, then +called the Heath or Chase of Gladsmoor, and waited the coming foe. + +Nor did Edward linger long from that stern meeting. Entering London +on the 11th of April, he prepared to quit it on the 13th. Besides the +force he had brought with him, he had now recruits in his partisans +from the Sanctuaries and other hiding-places in the metropolis, while +London furnished him, from her high-spirited youths, a gallant troop +of bow and bill men, whom Alwyn had enlisted, and to whom Edward +willingly appointed, as captain, Alwyn himself,--who had atoned for +his submission to Henry's restoration by such signal activity on +behalf of the young king, whom he associated with the interests of his +class, and the weal of the great commercial city, which some years +afterwards rewarded his affection by electing him to her chief +magistracy. [Nicholas Alwyn, the representative of that generation +which aided the commercial and anti-feudal policy of Edward IV. and +Richard III., and welcomed its consummation under their Tudor +successor, rose to be Lord Mayor of London in the fifteenth year of +the reign of Henry VII.--FABYAN.] + +It was on that very day, the 13th of April, some hours before the +departure of the York army, that Lord Hastings entered the Tower, to +give orders relative to the removal of the unhappy Henry, whom Edward +had resolved to take with him on his march. + +And as he had so ordered and was about to return, Alwyn, emerging from +one of the interior courts, approached him in much agitation, and said +thus: "Pardon me, my lord, if in so grave an hour I recall your +attention to one you may haply have forgotten." + +"Ah, the poor maiden; but you told me, in the hurried words that we +have already interchanged, that she was safe and well." + +"Safe, my lord,--not well. Oh, hear me. I depart to battle for your +cause and your king's. A gentleman in your train has advised me that +you are married to a noble dame in the foreign land. If so, this girl +whom I have loved so long and truly may yet forget you, may yet be +mine. Oh, give me that hope to make me a braver soldier." + +"But," said Hastings, embarrassed, and with a changing countenance, +"but time presses, and I know not where the demoiselle--" + +"She is here," interrupted Alwyn; "here, within these walls, in yonder +courtyard. I have just left her. You, whom she loves, forgot her! +I, whom she disdains, remembered. I went to see to her safety, to +counsel her to rest here for the present, whatever betides; and at +every word I said, she broke in upon me with but one name,--that name +was thine! And when stung, and in the impulse of the moment, I +exclaimed, 'He deserves not this devotion. They tell me, Sibyll, that +Lord Hastings has found a wife in exile.' Oh, that look! that cry! +they haunt me still. 'Prove it, prove it, Alwyn,' she cried. 'And--' +I interrupted, 'and thou couldst yet, for thy father's sake, be true +wife to me?'" + +"Her answer, Alwyn?" + +"It was this, 'For my father's sake only, then, could I live on; and--' +her sobs stopped her speech, till she cried again, 'I believe it not! +thou hast deceived me. Only from his lips will I hear the sentence.' +Go to her, manfully and frankly, as becomes you, high lord,--go! It +Is but a single sentence thou hast to say, and thy heart will be the +lighter, and thine arm the stronger for those honest words." + +Hastings pulled his cap over his brow, and stood a moment as if in +reflection; he then said, "Show me the way; thou art right. It is due +to her and to thee; and as by this hour to-morrow my soul may stand +before the Judgment-seat, that poor child's pardon may take one sin +from the large account." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +SHARP IS THE KISS OF THE FALCON'S BEAR. + +Hastings stood in the presence of the girl to whom he had pledged his +truth. They were alone; but in the next chamber might be heard the +peculiar sound made by the mechanism of the Eureka. Happy and +lifeless mechanism, which moves, and toils, and strives on, to change +the destiny of millions, but hath neither ear nor eye, nor sense nor +heart,--the avenues of pain to man! She had--yes, literally--she had +recognized her lover's step upon the stair, she had awakened at once +from that dull and icy lethargy with which the words of Alwyn had +chained life and soul. She sprang forward as Hastings entered; she +threw herself in delirious joy upon his bosom. "Thou art come, thou +art! It is not true, not true. Heaven bless thee! thou art come!" +But sudden as the movement was the recoil. Drawing herself back, she +gazed steadily on his face, and said, "Lord Hastings, they tell me thy +hand is another's. Is it true?" + +"Hear me!" answered the nobleman. "When first I--" + +"O God! O God! he answers not, he falters! Speak! Is it true?" + +"It is true. I am wedded to another." + +Sibyll did not fall to the ground, nor faint, nor give vent to noisy +passion. But the rich colour, which before had been varying and +fitful, deserted her cheek, and left it of an ashen whiteness; the +lips, too, grew tightly compressed, and her small fingers, interlaced, +were clasped with strained and convulsive energy, so that the +quivering of the very arms was perceptible. In all else she seemed +composed, as she said, "I thank you, my lord, for the simple truth; no +more is needed. Heaven bless you and yours! Farewell!" + +"Stay! you shall--you must hear me on. Thou knowest how dearly in +youth I loved Katherine Nevile. In manhood the memory of that love +haunted me, but beneath thy sweet smile I deemed it at last effaced; I +left thee to seek the king, and demand his assent to our union. I +speak not of obstacles that then arose; in the midst of them I learned +Katherine was lone and widowed,--was free. At her own summons I +sought her presence, and learned that she had loved me ever,--loved me +still. The intoxication of my early dream returned; reverse and exile +followed close; Katherine left her state, her fortunes, her native +land, and followed the banished man; and so memory and gratitude and +destiny concurred, and the mistress of my youth became my wife. None +other could have replaced thy image; none other have made me forget +the faith I pledged thee. The thought of thee has still pursued me,-- +will pursue me to the last. I dare not say now that I love thee still, +but yet--" He paused, but rapidly resumed, "Enough, enough! dear art +thou to me, and honoured,--dearer, more honoured than a sister. Thank +Heaven, at least, and thine own virtue, my falsehood leaves thee pure +and stainless. Thy hand may yet bless a worthier man. If our cause +triumphs, thy fortunes, thy father's fate, shall be my fondest care. +Never, never will my sleep be sweet, and my conscience laid to rest, +till I hear thee say, as honoured wife--perchance, as blessed and +blessing mother--'False one, I am happy!'" + +A cold smile, at these last words, flitted over the girl's face,--the +smile of a broken heart; but it vanished, and with that strange +mixture of sweetness and pride,--mild and forgiving, yet still +spirited and firm,--which belonged to her character, she nerved +herself to the last and saddest effort to preserve dignity and conceal +despair. "Farther words, my lord, are idle; I am rightly punished for +a proud folly. Let not woman love above her state. Think no more of +my destiny." + +"No, no," interrupted the remorseful lord, "thy destiny must haunt me +till thou hast chosen one with a better right to protect thee." + +At the repetition of that implied desire to transfer her also to +another, a noble indignation came to mar the calm for which she had +hitherto not vainly struggled. "Oh, man!" she exclaimed, with +passion, "does thy deceit give me the right to deceive another? I--I +wed!--I--I--vow at the altar--a love dead, dead forever--dead as my +own heart! Why dost thou mock me with the hollow phrase, 'Thou art +pure and stainless?' Is the virginity of the soul still left? Do the +tears I have shed for thee; doth the thrill of my heart when I heard +thy voice; doth the plighted kiss that burns, burns now into my brow, +and on my lips,--do these, these leave me free to carry to a new +affection the cinders and ashes of a soul thou hast ravaged and +deflowered? Oh, coarse and rude belief of men, that naught is lost if +the mere form be pure! The freshness of the first feelings, the bloom +of the sinless thought, the sigh, the blush of the devotion--never, +never felt but once! these, these make the true dower a maiden should +bring to the hearth to which she comes as wife. Oh, taunt! Oh, +insult! to speak to me of happiness, of the altar! Thou never +knewest, lord, how I really loved thee!" And for the first time, a +violent gush of tears came to relieve her heart. + +Hastings was almost equally overcome. Well experienced as he was in +those partings when maids reproach and gallants pray for pardon, but +still sigh, "Farewell,"--he had now no words to answer that burst of +uncontrollable agony; and he felt at once humbled and relieved, when +Sibyll again, with one of those struggles which exhaust years of life, +and almost leave us callous to all after-trial, pressed back the +scalding tears, and said, with unnatural sweetness: "Pardon me, my +lord, I meant not to reproach; the words escaped me,--think of them no +more. I would fain, at least, part from you now as I had once hoped +to part from you at the last hour of life,--without one memory of +bitterness and anger, so that my conscience, whatever its other +griefs, might say, 'My lips never belied my heart, my words never +pained him!' And now then, Lord Hastings, in all charity, we part. +Farewell forever, and forever! Thou hast wedded one who loves thee, +doubtless, as tenderly as I had done. Ah, cherish that affection! +There are times even in thy career when a little love is sweeter than +much fame. If thou thinkest I have aught to pardon thee, now with my +whole heart I pray, as while life is mine that prayer shall be +murmured, 'Heaven forgive this man, as I do! Heaven make his home the +home of peace, and breathe into those now near and dear to him, the +love and the faith that I once--'" She stopped, for the words choked +her, and, hiding her face, held out her hand, in sign of charity and +of farewell. + +"Ah, if I dared pray like thee," murmured Hastings, pressing his lips +upon that burning hand, "how should I weary Heaven to repair, by +countless blessings, the wrong which I have done thee! And Heaven +will--oh, it surely will!" He pressed the hand to his heart, dropped +it, and was gone. + +In the courtyard he was accosted by Alwyn-- + +"Thou hast been frank, my lord?" + +"I have." + +"And she bears it, and--" + +"See how she forgives, and how I suffer!" said Hastings, turning his +face towards his rival; and Alwyn saw that the tears were rolling down +his cheeks--"Question me no more." There was a long silence. They +quitted the precincts of the Tower, and were at the river-side. +Hastings, waving his hand to Alwyn, was about to enter the boat which +was to bear him to the war council assembled at Baynard's Castle, when +the trader stopped him, and said anxiously,-- + +"Think you not, for the present, the Tower is the safest asylum for +Sibyll and her father? If we fail and Warwick returns, they are +protected by the earl; if we triumph, thou wilt insure their safety +from all foes?" + +"Surely; in either case, their present home is the most secure." + +The two men then parted. And not long afterwards, Hastings, who led +the on-guard, was on his way towards Barnet; with him also went the +foot volunteers under Alwyn. The army of York was on its march. +Gloucester, to whose vigilance and energy were left the final +preparations, was necessarily the last of the generals to quit the +city. And suddenly, while his steed was at the gate of Baynard's +Castle, he entered, armed cap-a-pie, into the chamber where the +Duchess of Bedford sat with her grandchildren. + +"Madame," said he, "I have a grace to demand from you, which will, +methinks, not be displeasing. My lieutenants report to me that an +alarm has spread amongst my men,--a religious horror of some fearful +bombards and guns which have been devised by a sorcerer in Lord +Warwick's pay. Your famous Friar Bungey has been piously amongst +them, promising, however, that the mists which now creep over the +earth shall last through the night and the early morrow; and if he +deceive us not, we may post our men so as to elude the hostile +artillery. But, sith the friar is so noted and influential, and sith +there is a strong fancy that the winds which have driven back Margaret +obeyed his charm, the soldiers clamour out for him to attend us, and, +on the very field itself, counteract the spells of the Lancastrian +nigromancer. The good friar, more accustomed to fight with fiends +than men, is daunted, and resists. As much may depend on his showing +us good will, and making our fellows suppose we have the best of the +witchcraft, I pray you to command his attendance, and cheer up his +courage. He waits without." + +"A most notable, a most wise advice, beloved Richard!" cried the +duchess. "Friar Bungey is, indeed, a potent man. I will win him at +once to your will;" and the duchess hurried from the room. + +The friar's bodily fears, quieted at last by assurances that he should +be posted in a place of perfect safety during the battle, and his +avarice excited by promises of the amplest rewards, he consented to +accompany the troops, upon one stipulation,--namely, that the +atrocious wizard, who had so often baffled his best spells,--the very +wizard who had superintended the accursed bombards, and predicted +Edward's previous defeat and flight (together with the diabolical +invention, in which all the malice and strength of his sorcery were +centred),--might, according to Jacquetta's former promise, be +delivered forthwith to his mercy, and accompany him to the very spot +where he was to dispel and counteract the Lancastrian nigromancer's +enchantments. The duchess, too glad to purchase the friar's +acquiescence on such cheap terms, and to whose superstitious horror +for Adam's lore in the black art was now added a purely political +motive for desiring him to be made away with,--inasmuch as in the +Sanctuary she had at last extorted from Elizabeth the dark secret +which might make him a very dangerous witness against the interests +and honour of Edward,--readily and joyfully consented to this +proposition. + +A strong guard was at once despatched to the Tower with the friar +himself, followed by a covered wagon, which was to serve for +conveyance to Bungey and his victim. + +In the mean while, Sibyll, after remaining for some time in the +chamber which Hastings had abandoned to her solitary woe, had passed +to the room in which her father held mute commune with his Eureka. + +The machine was now thoroughly completed,--improved and perfected, to +the utmost art the inventor ever could attain. Thinking that the +prejudice against it might have arisen from its uncouth appearance, +the poor philosopher had sought now to give it a gracious and imposing +appearance. He had painted and gilt it with his own hands; it looked +bright and gaudy in its gay hues; its outward form was worthy of the +precious and propitious jewel which lay hidden in its centre. + +"See, child, see!" said Adam; "is it not beautiful and comely?" + +"My dear father, yes!" answered the poor girl, as still she sought to +smile; then, after a short silence, she continued, "Father, of late, +methinks, I have too much forgotten thee; pardon me, if so. +Henceforth, I have no care in life but thee; henceforth let me ever, +when thou toilest, come and sit by thy side. I would not be alone,--I +dare not! Father, Father! God shield thy harmless life! I have +nothing to love under heaven but thee!" + +The good man turned wistfully, and raised, with tremulous hands, the +sad face that had pressed itself on his bosom. Gazing thereon +mournfully, he said, "Some new grief hath chanced to thee, my child. +Methought I heard another voice besides thine in yonder room. Ah, has +Lord Hastings--" + +"Father, spare me! Thou wert too right; thou didst judge too wisely. +Lord Hastings is wedded to another! But see, I can smile still, I am +calm. My heart will not break so long as it hath thee to love and +pray for!" + +She wound her arms round him as she spoke, and he roused himself from +his world out of earth again. Though he could bring no comfort, there +was something, at least, to the forlorn one, in his words of love, in +his tears of pity. + +They sat down together, side by side, as the evening darkened,--the +Eureka forgotten in the hour of its perfection! They noted not the +torches which flashed below, reddened at intervals the walls of their +chamber, and gave a glow to the gay gilding and bright hues of the +gaudy model. Yet those torches flickered round the litter that was to +convey Henry the Peaceful to the battlefield, which was to decide the +dynasty of his realm! The torches vanished, and forth from the dark +fortress went the captive king. + +Night succeeded to eve, when again the red glare shot upward on the +Eureka, playing with fantastic smile on its quaint aspect. Steps and +voices, and the clatter of arms, sounded in the yard, on the stairs, +in the adjoining chamber; and suddenly the door was flung open, and, +followed by some half score soldiers, strode in the terrible friar. + +"Aha, Master Adam! who is the greater nigromancer now? Seize him! +Away! And help you, Master Sergeant, to bear this piece of the foul +fiend's cunning devising. Ho, ho! see you how it is tricked out and +furbished up,--all for the battle, I warrant ye!" + +The soldiers had already seized upon Adam, who, stupefied by +astonishment rather than fear, uttered no sound, and attempted no +struggle. But it was in vain they sought to tear from him Sibyll's +clinging and protecting arms. A supernatural strength, inspired by a +kind of superstition that no harm could chance to him while she was +by, animated her slight form; and fierce though the soldiers were, +they shrunk from actual and brutal violence to one thus young and +fair. Those small hands clung so firmly, that it seemed that nothing +but the edge of the sword could sever the child's clasp from the +father's neck. + +"Harm him not, harm him at your peril, friar!" she cried, with +flashing eyes. "Tear him from me, and if King Edward win the day, +Lord Hastings shall have thy life; if Lord Warwick, thy days are +numbered, too. Beware, and avaunt!" + +The friar was startled. He had forgotten Lord Hastings in the zest of +his revenge. He feared that, if Sibyll were left behind, the tale she +might tell would indeed bring on him a powerful foe in the daughter's +lover; on the other hand, should Lord Warwick get the better, what +vengeance would await her appeal to the great protector of her father! +He resolved, therefore, on the instant, to take Sibyll as well as her +father; and if the fortune of the day allowed him to rid himself of +Warner, a good occasion might equally occur to dispose forever of the +testimony of Sibyll. He had already formed a cunning calculation in +desiring Warner's company; for while, should Edward triumph, the +sacrifice of the hated Warner was resolved upon, yet, should the earl +get the better, he could make a merit to Warner that he (the friar) +had not only spared, but saved, his life, in making him his companion. +It was in harmony with this double policy that the friar mildly +answered to Sibyll,-- + +"Tusk, my daughter! Perhaps if your father be true to King Edward, +and aid my skill instead of obstructing it, he may be none the worse +for the journey he must take; and if thou likest to go with him, +there's room in the vehicle, and the more the merrier. Harm them not, +soldiers; no doubt they will follow quietly." + +As he said this, the men, after first crossing themselves, had already +hoisted up the Eureka; and when Adam saw it borne from the room, he +instinctively followed the bearers. Sibyll, relieved by the thought +that, for weal or for woe, she should, at least, share her father's +fate, and scarce foreboding much positive danger from the party which +contained Hastings and Alwyn, attempted no further remonstrance. + +The Eureka was placed in the enormous vehicle,--it served as a barrier +between the friar and his prisoners. + +The friar himself, as soon as the wagon was in motion, addressed +himself civilly enough to his fellow-travellers, and assured them +there was nothing to fear, unless Adam thought fit to disturb his +incantations. The captives answered not his address, but nestled +close to each other, interchanging, at intervals, words of comfort, +and recoiling as far as possible from the ex-tregetour, who, having +taken with him a more congenial companion in the shape of a great +leathern bottle, finally sunk into the silent and complacent doze +which usually rewards the libations to the Bromian god. + +The vehicle, with many other baggage-wagons in the rear of the army in +that memorable night-march, moved mournfully on; the night continued +wrapped in fog and mist, agreeably to the weatherwise predictions of +the friar. The rumbling groan of the vehicle, the tramp of the +soldiers, the dull rattle of their arms, with now and then the neigh +of some knight's steed in the distance, were the only sounds that +broke the silence, till once, as they neared their destination, Sibyll +started from her father's bosom, and shudderingly thought she +recognized the hoarse chant and the tinkling bells of the ominous +tymbesteres. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +A PAUSE. + +In the profound darkness of the night and the thick fog, Edward had +stationed his men at a venture upon the heath at Gladsmoor, [Edward +"had the greater number of men."--HALL, p. 296.] and hastily environed +the camp with palisades and trenches. He had intended to have rested +immediately in front of the foe, but, in the darkness, mistook the +extent of the hostile line; and his men were ranged only opposite to +the left side of the earl's force (towards Hadley), leaving the right +unopposed. Most fortunate for Edward was this mistake; for Warwick's +artillery, and the new and deadly bombards he had constructed, were +placed on the right of the earl's army; and the provident earl, +naturally supposing Edward's left was there opposed to him, ordered +his gunners to cannonade all night. Edward, "as the flashes of the +guns illumined by fits the gloom of midnight, saw the advantage of his +unintentional error; and to prevent Warwick from discovering it, +reiterated his orders for the most profound silence." [Sharon +Turner.] Thus even his very blunders favoured Edward more than the +wisest precautions had served his fated foe. + +Raw, cold, and dismal dawned the morning of the fourteenth of April, +the Easter Sabbath. In the fortunes of that day were involved those +of all the persons who hitherto, in the course of this narrative, may +have seemed to move in separate orbits from the fiery star of Warwick. +Now, in this crowning hour, the vast and gigantic destiny of the great +earl comprehended all upon which its darkness or its light had fallen: +not only the luxurious Edward, the perjured Clarence, the haughty +Margaret, her gallant son, the gentle Anne, the remorseful Isabel, the +dark guile of Gloucester, the rising fortunes of the gifted Hastings, +--but on the hazard of that die rested the hopes of Hilyard, and the +interests of the trader Alwyn, and the permanence of that frank, +chivalric, hardy, still half Norman race, of which Nicholas Alwyn and +his Saxon class were the rival antagonistic principle, and Marmaduke +Nevile the ordinary type. Dragged inexorably into the whirlpool of +that mighty fate were even the very lives of the simple Scholar, of +his obscure and devoted child. Here, into this gory ocean, all +scattered rivulets and streams had hastened to merge at last. + +But grander and more awful than all individual interests were those +assigned to the fortunes of this battle, so memorable in the English +annals,--the ruin or triumph of a dynasty; the fall of that warlike +baronage, of which Richard Nevile was the personation, the crowning +flower, the greatest representative and the last,--associated with +memories of turbulence and excess, it is true, but with the proudest +and grandest achievements in our early history; with all such liberty +as had been yet achieved since the Norman Conquest; with all such +glory as had made the island famous,--here with Runnymede, and there +with Cressy; the rise of a crafty, plotting, imperious Despotism, +based upon the growing sympathy of craftsmen and traders, and ripening +on the one hand to the Tudor tyranny, the Republican reaction under +the Stuarts, the slavery, and the civil war, but on the other hand to +the concentration of all the vigour and life of genius into a single +and strong government, the graces, the arts, the letters of a polished +court, the freedom, the energy, the resources of a commercial +population destined to rise above the tyranny at which it had first +connived, and give to the emancipated Saxon the markets of the world. +Upon the victory of that day all these contending interests, this vast +alternative in the future, swayed and trembled. Out, then, upon that +vulgar craving of those who comprehend neither the vast truths of life +nor the grandeur of ideal art, and who ask from poet or narrator the +poor and petty morality of "Poetical Justice,"--a justice existing not +in our work-day world; a justice existing not in the sombre page of +history; a justice existing not in the loftier conceptions of men +whose genius has grappled with the enigmas which art and poetry only +can foreshadow and divine,--unknown to us in the street and the +market, unknown to us on the scaffold of the patriot or amidst the +flames of the martyr, unknown to us in the Lear and the Hamlet, in the +Agamemnon and the Prometheus. Millions upon millions, ages upon ages, +are entered but as items in the vast account in which the recording +angel sums up the unerring justice of God to man. + +Raw, cold, and dismal dawned the morning of the fourteenth of April. +And on that very day Margaret and her son, and the wife and daughter +of Lord Warwick, landed, at last, on the shores of England. [Margaret +landed at Weymouth; Lady Warwick, at Portsmouth.] Come they for joy +or for woe, for victory or despair? The issue of this day's fight on +the heath of Gladsmoor will decide. Prank thy halls, O Westminster, +for the triumph of the Lancastrian king,--or open thou, O Grave, to +receive the saint-like Henry and his noble son. The king-maker goes +before ye, saint-like father and noble son, to prepare your thrones +amongst the living or your mansions amongst the dead! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE BATTLE. + +Raw, cold, and dismal dawned the morning of the fourteenth of April. +The heavy mist still covered both armies, but their hum and stir was +already heard through the gloaming,--the neighing of steeds, and the +clangour of mail. Occasionally a movement of either force made dim +forms, seeming gigantic through the vapour, indistinctly visible to +the antagonistic army; and there was something ghastly and unearthlike +in these ominous shapes, suddenly seen, and suddenly vanishing, amidst +the sullen atmosphere. By this time, Warwick had discovered the +mistake of his gunners; for, to the right of the earl, the silence of +the Yorkists was still unbroken, while abruptly, from the thick gloom +to the left, broke the hoarse mutter and low growl of the awakening +war. Not a moment was lost by the earl in repairing the error of the +night: his artillery wheeled rapidly from the right wing, and, sudden +as a storm of lightning, the fire from the cannon flashed through the +dun and heavy vapour, and, not far from the very spot where Hastings +was marshalling the wing intrusted to his command, made a deep chasm +in the serried ranks. Death had begun his feast! + +At that moment, however, from the centre of the Yorkist army, arose, +scarcely drowned by the explosion, that deep-toned shout of +enthusiasm, which he who has once heard it, coming, as it were, from +the one heart of an armed multitude, will ever recall as the most +kindling and glorious sound which ever quickened the pulse and +thrilled the blood,--for along that part of the army now rode King +Edward. His mail was polished as a mirror, but otherwise unadorned, +resembling that which now invests his effigies at the Tower, [The suit +of armour, however, which the visitor to the Royal Armoury is expected +to believe King Edward could have worn, is infinitely too small for +such credulity. Edward's height was six feet two inches.] and the +housings of his steed were spangled with silver suns, for the silver +sun was the cognizance on all his banners. His head was bare, and +through the hazy atmosphere the gold of his rich locks seemed +literally to shine. Followed by his body squire, with his helm and +lance, and the lords in his immediate staff, his truncheon in his +hand, he passed slowly along the steady line, till, halting where he +deemed his voice could be farthest heard, he reined in, and lifting +his hand, the shout of the soldiery was hushed; though still, while he +spoke, from Warwick's archers came the arrowy shower, and still the +gloom was pierced and the hush interrupted by the flash and the roar +of the bombards. + +"Englishmen and friends," said the martial chief, "to bold deeds go +but few words. Before you is the foe! From Ravenspur to London I +have marched, treason flying from my sword, loyalty gathering to my +standard. With but two thousand men, on the fourteenth of March, I +entered England; on the fourteenth of April, fifty thousand is my +muster roll. Who shall say, then, that I am not king, when one month +mans a monarch's army from his subjects' love? And well know ye, now, +that my cause is yours and England's! Those against us are men who +would rule in despite of law,--barons whom I gorged with favours, and +who would reduce this fair realm of King, Lords, and Commons to be the +appanage and property of one man's measureless ambition,--the park, +forsooth, the homestead to Lord Warwick's private house! Ye gentlemen +and knights of England, let them and their rabble prosper, and your +properties will be despoiled, your lives insecure, all law struck +dead. What differs Richard of Warwick from Jack Cade, save that if +his name is nobler, so is his treason greater? Commoners and soldiers +of England, freemen, however humble, what do these rebel lords (who +would rule in the name of Lancaster) desire? To reduce you to +villeins and to bondsmen, as your forefathers were to them. Ye owe +freedom from the barons to the just laws of my sires, your kings. +Gentlemen and knights, commoners and soldiers, Edward IV. upon his +throne will not profit by a victory more than you. This is no war of +dainty chivalry,--it is a war of true men against false. No quarter! +Spare not either knight or hilding. Warwick, forsooth, will not smite +the Commons. Truly not,--the rabble are his friends! I say to you--" +and Edward, pausing in the excitement and sanguinary fury of his tiger +nature,--the soldiers, heated like himself to the thirst of blood, saw +his eyes sparkle, and his teeth gnash, as he added in a deeper and +lower, but not less audible voice, "I say to you, SLAY ALL! [Hall.] +What heel spares the viper's brood?" + +"We will! we will!" was the horrid answer, which came hissing and +muttered forth from morion and cap of steel. + +"Hark! to their bombards!" resumed Edward. "The enemy would fight +from afar, for they excel us in their archers and gunners. Upon them, +then, hand to hand, and man to man! Advance banners, sound trumpets! +Sir Oliver, my bassinet! Soldiers, if my standard falls, look for the +plume upon your king's helmet! Charge!" + +Then, with a shout wilder and louder than before, on through the hail +of the arrows, on through the glare of the bombards, rather with a +rush than in a march, advanced Edward's centre against the array of +Somerset; but from a part of the encampment where the circumvallation +seemed strongest, a small body of men moved not with the general body. + +To the left of the churchyard of Hadley, at this day, the visitor may +notice a low wall; on the other side of that wall is a garden, then +but a rude eminence on Gladsmoor Heath. On that spot a troop in +complete armour, upon destriers pawing impatiently, surrounded a man +upon a sorry palfrey, and in a gown of blue,--the colour of royalty +and of servitude; that man was Henry the Sixth. In the same space +stood Friar Bungey, his foot on the Eureka, muttering incantations, +that the mists he had foretold, [Lest the reader should suppose that +the importance of Friar Bungey upon this bloody day has been +exaggerated by the narrator, we must cite the testimony of sober +Allerman Fabyan: "Of the mists and other impediments which fell upon +the lords' party, by reason of the incantations wrought by Friar +Bungey, as the fame went, me list not to write."] and which had +protected the Yorkists from the midnight guns, might yet last, to the +confusion of the foe. And near him, under a gaunt, leafless tree, a +rope round his neck, was Adam Warner, Sibyl still faithful to his +side, nor shuddering at the arrows and the guns, her whole fear +concentrated upon the sole life for which her own was prized. Upon +this eminence, then, these lookers-on stood aloof. And the meek ears +of Henry heard through the fog the inexplicable, sullen, jarring +clash,--steel had met steel. + +"Holy Father!" exclaimed the kingly saint, "and this is the Easter +Sabbath, Thy most solemn day of peace!" + +"Be silent," thundered the friar; "thou disturbest my spells. +Barabbarara, Santhinoa, Foggibus increscebo, confusio inimicis, +Garabbora, vapor et mistes!" + +We must now rapidly survey the dispositions of the army under Warwick. +In the right wing, the command was entrusted to the Earl of Oxford and +the Marquis of Montagu. The former, who led the cavalry of that +division, was stationed in the van; the latter, according to his usual +habit--surrounded by a strong body-guard of knights and a prodigious +number of squires as aides-de-camp--remained at the rear, and directed +thence by his orders the general movement. In this wing the greater +number were Lancastrian, jealous of Warwick, and only consenting to +the generalship of Montagu because shared by their favourite hero, +Oxford. In the mid-space lay the chief strength of the bowmen, with a +goodly number of pikes and bills, under the Duke of Somerset; and this +division also was principally Lancastrian, and shared the jealousy of +Oxford's soldiery. The left wing, composed for the most part of +Warwick's yeomanry and retainers, was commanded by the Duke of Exeter, +conjointly with the earl himself. Both armies kept a considerable +body in reserve, and Warwick, besides this resource, had selected from +his own retainers a band of picked archers, whom he had skilfully +placed in the outskirts of a wood that then stretched from Wrotham +Park to the column that now commemorates the battle of Barnet, on the +high northern road. He had guarded these last-mentioned archers +(where exposed in front to Edward's horsemen) by strong tall +barricades, leaving only such an opening as would allow one horseman +at a time to pass, and defending by a formidable line of pikes this +narrow opening left for communication, and to admit to a place of +refuge in case of need. These dispositions made, and ere yet Edward +had advanced on Somerset, the earl rode to the front of the wing under +his special command, and, agreeably to the custom of the time, +observed by his royal foe, harangued the troops. Here were placed +those who loved him as a father, and venerated him as something +superior to mortal man; here the retainers who had grown up with him +from his childhood, who had followed him to his first fields of war, +who had lived under the shelter of his many castles, and fed, in that +rude equality of a more primeval age which he loved still to maintain, +at his lavish board. And now Lord Warwick's coal-black steed halted, +motionless in the van. His squire behind bore his helmet, +overshadowed by the eagle of Monthermer, the outstretched wings of +which spread wide into sable plumes; and as the earl's noble face +turned full and calm upon the bristling lines, there arose not the +vulgar uproar that greeted the aspect of the young Edward. By one of +those strange sympathies which pass through multitudes, and seize them +with a common feeling, the whole body of those adoring vassals became +suddenly aware of the change which a year had made in the face of +their chief and father. They saw the gray flakes in his Jove-like +curls, the furrows in that lofty brow, the hollows in that bronzed and +manly visage, which had seemed to their rude admiration to wear the +stamp of the twofold Divinity,--Beneficence and Valour. A thrill of +tenderness and awe shot through the veins of every one, tears of +devotion rushed into many a hardy eye. No! there was not the ruthless +captain addressing his hireling butchers; it was the chief and father +rallying gratitude and love and reverence to the crisis of his stormy +fate. + +"My friends, my followers, and my children," said the earl, "the field +we have entered is one from which there is no retreat; here must your +leader conquer or here die. It is not a parchment pedigree, it is not +a name derived from the ashes of dead men, that make the only charter +of a king. We Englishmen were but slaves, if, in giving crown and +sceptre to a mortal like ourselves, we asked not in return the kingly +virtues. Beset of old by evil counsellors, the reign of Henry VI. was +obscured, and the weal of the realm endangered. Mine own wrongs +seemed to me great, but the disasters of my country not less. I +deemed that in the race of York, England would know a wiser and +happier rule. What was, in this, mine error, ye partly know. A +prince dissolved in luxurious vices, a nobility degraded by minions +and blood-suckers, a people plundered by purveyors, and a land +disturbed by brawl and riot. But ye know not all: God makes man's +hearth man's altar: our hearths were polluted, our wives and daughters +were viewed as harlots, and lechery ruled the realm. A king's word +should be fast as the pillars of the world. What man ever trusted +Edward and was not deceived? Even now the unknightly liar stands in +arms with the weight of perjury on his soul. In his father's town of +York, ye know that he took, three short weeks since, solemn oath of +fealty to King Henry. And now King Henry is his captive, and King +Henry's holy crown upon his traitor's head. 'Traitors' calls he Us? +What name, then, rank enough for him? Edward gave the promise of a +brave man, and I served him. He proved a base, a false, a licentious, +and a cruel king, and I forsook him; may all free hearts in all free +lands so serve kings when they become tyrants! Ye fight against a +cruel and atrocious usurper, whose bold hand cannot sanctify a black +heart; ye fight not only for King Henry, the meek and the godly,--ye +fight not for him alone, but for his young and princely son, the +grandchild of Henry of Agincourt, who, old men tell me, has that +hero's face, and who, I know, has that hero's frank and royal and +noble soul; ye fight for the freedom of your land, for the honour of +your women, for what is better than any king's cause,--for justice and +mercy, for truth and manhood's virtues against corruption in the laws, +slaughter by the scaffold, falsehood in a ruler's lips, and shameless +harlotry in the councils of ruthless power. The order I have ever +given in war I give now; we war against the leaders of evil, not +against the hapless tools; we war against our oppressors, not against +our misguided brethren. Strike down every plumed crest, but when the +strife is over, spare every common man! Hark! while I speak, I hear +the march of your foe! Up standards!--blow trumpets! And now, as I +brace my bassinet, may God grant us all a glorious victory, or a +glorious grave! On, my merry men! show these London loons the stout +hearts of Warwickshire and Yorkshire. On, my merry men! A Warwick! A +Warwick!" + +As he ended, he swung lightly over his head the terrible battle-axe +which had smitten down, as the grass before the reaper, the chivalry +of many a field; and ere the last blast of the trumpets died, the +troops of Warwick and of Gloucester met, and mingled hand to hand. + +Although the earl had, on discovering the position of the enemy, moved +some of his artillery from his right wing, yet there still lay the +great number and strength of his force. And there, therefore, +Montagu, rolling troop on troop to the aid of Oxford, pressed so +overpoweringly upon the soldiers under Hastings, that the battle very +soon wore a most unfavourable aspect for the Yorkists. It seemed, +indeed, that the success which had always hitherto attended the +military movements of Montagu was destined for a crowning triumph. +Stationed, as we have said, in the rear, with his light-armed squires, +upon fleet steeds, around him, he moved the springs of the battle with +the calm sagacity which at that moment no chief in either army +possessed. Hastings was thoroughly outflanked, and though his men +fought with great valour, they could not resist the weight of superior +numbers. + +In the midst of the carnage in the centre, Edward reined in his steed +as he heard the cry of victory in the gale. + +"By Heaven!" he exclaimed, "our men at the left are cravens! they fly! +they fly!--Ride to Lord Hastings, Sir Humphrey Bourchier, bid him +defile hither what men are left him; and now, ere our fellows are well +aware what hath chanced yonder, charge we, knights and gentlemen, on, +on!--break Somerset's line; on, on, to the heart of the rebel earl!" + +Then, visor closed, lance in rest, Edward and his cavalry dashed +through the archers and billmen of Somerset; clad in complete mail, +impervious to the weapons of the infantry, they slaughtered as they +rode, and their way was marked by corpses and streams of blood. +Fiercest and fellest of all was Edward himself; when his lance +shivered, and he drew his knotty mace from its sling by his saddlebow, +woe to all who attempted to stop his path. Vain alike steel helmet or +leathern cap, jerkin or coat of mail. In vain Somerset threw himself +into the melee. The instant Edward and his cavalry had made a path +through the lines for his foot-soldiery, the fortunes of the day were +half retrieved. It was no rapid passage, pierced and reclosed, that +he desired to effect,--it was the wedge in the oak of war. There, +rooted in the very midst of Somerset's troops, doubling on each side, +passing on but to return again, where helm could be crashed and man +overthrown, the mighty strength of Edward widened the breach more and +more, till faster and faster poured in his bands, and the centre of +Warwick's army seemed to reel and whirl round the broadening gap +through its ranks, as the waves round some chasm in a maelstrom. + +But in the interval, the hard-pressed troops commanded by Hastings +were scattered and dispersed; driven from the field, they fled in +numbers through the town of Barnet; many halted not till they reached +London, where they spread the news of the earl's victory and Edward's +ruin. [Sharon Turner.] + +Through the mist, Friar Bungey discerned the fugitive Yorkists under +Hastings, and heard their cries of despair; through the mist, Sibyll +saw, close beneath the intrenchments which protected the space on +which they stood, an armed horseman with the well-known crest of +Hastings on his helmet, and, with lifted visor, calling his men to the +return, in the loud voice of rage and scorn. And then she herself +sprang forwards, and forgetting his past cruelty in his present +danger, cried his name,--weak cry, lost in the roar of war! But the +friar, now fearing he had taken the wrong side, began to turn from his +spells, to address the most abject apologies to Adam, to assure him +that he would have been slaughtered at the Tower but for the friar's +interruption; and that the rope round his neck was but an +insignificant ceremony due to the prejudices of the soldiers. "Alas, +Great Man," he concluded, "I see still that thou art mightier than I +am; thy charms, though silent, are more potent than mine, though my +lungs crack beneath them! Confusio Inimicis Taralorolu, I mean no +harm to the earl. Garrabora, mistes et nubes!--Lord, what will become +of me!" + +Meanwhile, Hastings--with a small body of horse, who being composed of +knights and squires, specially singled out for the sword, fought with +the pride of disdainful gentlemen, and the fury of desperate soldiers +--finding it impossible to lure back the fugitives, hewed their own way +through Oxford's ranks to the centre, where they brought fresh aid to +the terrible arm of Edward. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE BATTLE. + +The mist still continued so thick that Montagu was unable to discern +the general prospects of the field; but, calm and resolute in his +post, amidst the arrows which whirled round him, and often struck, +blunted, against his Milan mail, the marquis received the reports of +his aides-de-camp (may that modern word be pardoned?) as one after one +they emerged through the fog to his side. + +"Well," he said, as one of these messengers now spurred to the spot, +"we have beaten off Hastings and his hirelings; but I see not 'the +Silver Star' of Lord Oxford's banner." [The Silver Star of the De +Veres had its origin in a tradition that one of their ancestors, when +fighting in the Holy Land, saw a falling star descend upon his shield. +Fatal to men nobler even than the De Veres was that silver falling +star.] + +"Lord Oxford, my lord, has followed the enemy he routed to the +farthest verge of the heath." + +"Saints help us! Is Oxford thus headstrong? He will ruin all if he +be decoyed from the field! Ride back, sir! Yet hold!"--as another of +the aides-de-camp appeared. "What news from Lord Warwick's wing?" + +"Sore beset, bold marquis. Gloucester's line seems countless; it +already outflanks the earl. The duke himself seems inspired by hell! +Twice has his slight arm braved even the earl's battle-axe, which +spared the boy but smote to the dust his comrades!" + +"Well, and what of the centre, sir?" as a third form now arrived. + +"There rages Edward in person. He hath pierced into the midst. But +Somerset still holds on gallantly!" Montagu turned to the first aide- +de-camp. + +"Ride, sir! Quick! This to Oxford--No pursuit! Bid him haste, with +all his men, to the left wing, and smite Gloucester in the rear. +Ride, ride, for life and victory! If he come but in time the day is +ours!" [Fabyan.] + +The aide-de-camp darted off, and the mist swallowed up horse and +horseman. + +"Sound trumpets to the return!" said the marquis. Then, after a +moment's musing, "Though Oxford hath drawn off our main force of +cavalry, we have still some stout lances left; and Warwick must be +strengthened. On to the earl! Laissez aller! A Montagu! a Montagu!" +And lance in rest, the marquis and the knights immediately around him, +and hitherto not personally engaged, descended the hillock at a +hand-gallop, and were met by a troop outnumbering their own, and +commanded by the Lords D'Eyncourt and Say. + +At this time Warwick was indeed in the same danger that had routed the +troops of Hastings; for, by a similar position, the strength of the +hostile numbers being arrayed with Gloucester, the duke's troops had +almost entirely surrounded him [Sharon Turner]; and Gloucester himself +wondrously approved the trust that had consigned to his stripling arm +the flower of the Yorkist army. Through the mists the blood-red +manteline he wore over his mail, the grinning teeth of the boar's head +which crested his helmet, flashed and gleamed wherever his presence +was most needed to encourage the flagging or spur on the fierce. And +there seemed to both armies something ghastly and preternatural in the +savage strength of this small slight figure thus startlingly +caparisoned, and which was heard evermore uttering its sharp war-cry, +"Gloucester to the onslaught! Down with the rebels, down!" + +Nor did this daring personage disdain, in the midst of his fury, to +increase the effect of valour by the art of a brain that never ceased +to scheme on the follies of mankind. "See, see!" he cried, as he shot +meteor-like from rank to rank, "see, these are no natural vapours! +Yonder the mighty friar, who delayed the sails of Margaret, chants his +spells to the Powers that ride the gale. Fear not the bombards,-- +their enchanted balls swerve from the brave! The dark legions of Air +fight for us! For the hour is come when the fiend shall rend his +prey!" And fiendlike seemed the form thus screeching forth its +predictions from under the grim head-gear; and then darting and +disappearing amidst the sea of pikes, cleaving its path of blood! + +But still the untiring might of Warwick defied the press of numbers +that swept round him tide upon tide. Through the mist, his black +armour, black plume, black steed, gloomed forth like one thundercloud +in the midst of a dismal heaven. The noble charger bore along that +mighty rider, animating, guiding all, with as much ease and lightness +as the racer bears its puny weight; the steed itself was scarce less +terrible to encounter than the sweep of the rider's axe. Protected +from arrow and lance by a coat of steel, the long chaffron, or pike, +which projected from its barbed frontal dropped with gore as it +scoured along. No line of men, however serried, could resist the +charge of that horse and horseman. And vain even Gloucester's +dauntless presence and thrilling battle-cry, when the stout earl was +seen looming through the vapour, and his cheerful shout was heard, "My +merry men, fight on!" + +For a third time, Gloucester, spurring forth from his recoiling and +shrinking followers, bending low over his saddle-bow, covered by his +shield, and with the tenth lance (his favourite weapon, because the +one in which skill best supplied strength) he had borne that day, +launched himself upon the vast bulk of his tremendous foe. With that +dogged energy, that rapid calculation, which made the basis of his +character, and which ever clove through all obstacles at the one that, +if destroyed, destroyed the rest,--in that, his first great battle, as +in his last at Bosworth, he singled out the leader, and rushed upon +the giant as the mastiff on the horns and dewlap of the bull. +Warwick, in the broad space which his arm had made around him in the +carnage, reined in as he saw the foe and recognized the grisly +cognizance and scarlet mantle of his godson. And even in that moment, +with all his heated blood and his remembered wrong and his imminent +peril, his generous and lion heart felt a glow of admiration at the +valour of the boy he had trained to arms,--of the son of the beloved +York. "His father little thought," muttered the earl, "that that arm +should win glory against his old friend's life!" And as the half- +uttered word died on his lips, the well-poised lance of Gloucester +struck full upon his bassinet, and, despite the earl's horsemanship +and his strength, made him reel in his saddle, while the prince shot +by, and suddenly wheeling round, cast away the shivered lance, and +assailed him sword in hand. + +"Back, Richard! boy, back!" said the earl, in a voice that sounded +hollow through his helmet; "it is not against thee that my wrongs call +for blood,--pass on!" + +"Not so, Lord Warwick," answered Richard, in a sobered and almost +solemn voice, dropping for the moment the point of his sword, and +raising his visor, that he might be the better heard,--"on the field +of battle all memories sweet in peace must die! Saint Paul be my +judge, that even in this hour I love you well; but I love renown and +glory more. On the edge of my sword sit power and royalty, and what +high souls prize most,--ambition; these would nerve me against my own +brother's breast, were that breast my barrier to an illustrious +future. Thou hast given thy daughter to another! I smite the father +to regain my bride. Lay on, and spare not!--for he who hates thee +most would prove not so fell a foe as the man who sees his fortunes +made or marred, his love crushed or yet crowned, as this day's battle +closes in triumph or defeat. REBEL, DEFEND THYSELF!" + +No time was left for further speech; for as Richard's sword descended, +two of Gloucester's followers, Parr and Milwater by name, dashed from +the halting lines at the distance, and bore down to their young +prince's aid. At the same moment, Sir Marmaduke Nevile and the Lord +Fitzhugh spurred from the opposite line; and thus encouraged, the band +on either side came boldly forward, and the melee grew fierce and +general. But still Richard's sword singled out the earl, and still +the earl, parrying his blows, dealt his own upon meaner heads. +Crushed by one sweep of the axe fell Milwater to the earth; down, as +again it swung on high, fell Sir Humphrey Bourchier, who had just +arrived to Gloucester with messages from Edward, never uttered in the +world below. Before Marmaduke's lance fell Sir Thomas Parr; and these +three corpses making a barrier between Gloucester and the earl, the +duke turned fiercely upon Marmaduke, while the earl, wheeling round, +charged into the midst of the hostile line, which scattered to the +right and left. + +"On! my merry men, on!" rang once more through the heavy air. "They +give way, the London tailors,--on!" and on dashed, with their joyous +cry, the merry men of Yorkshire and Warwick, the warrior yeomen! +Separated thus from his great foe, Gloucester, after unhorsing +Marmaduke, galloped off to sustain that part of his following which +began to waver and retreat before the rush of Warwick and his +chivalry. + +This, in truth, was the regiment recruited from the loyalty of London; +and little accustomed, we trow, were the worthy heroes of Cockaigne to +the discipline of arms, nor trained to that stubborn resistance which +makes, under skilful leaders, the English peasants the most enduring +soldiery that the world has known since the day when the Roman +sentinel perished amidst the falling columns and lava floods [at +Pompeii], rather than, though society itself dissolved, forsake his +post unbidden. "Saint Thomas defend us!" muttered a worthy tailor, +who in the flush of his valour, when safe in the Chepe, had consented +to bear the rank of lieutenant; "it is not reasonable to expect men of +pith and substance to be crushed into jellies and carved into +subtleties by horse-hoofs and pole-axes. Right about face! Fly!"-- +and throwing down his sword and shield, the lieutenant fairly took to +his heels as he saw the charging column, headed by the raven steed of +Warwick, come giant-like through the fog. The terror of one man is +contagious, and the Londoners actually turned their backs, when +Nicholas Alwyn cried, in his shrill voice and northern accent, "Out on +you! What will the girls say of us in East-gate and the Chepe? +Hurrah for the bold hearts of London! Round me, stout 'prentices! let +the boys shame the men! This shaft for Cockaigne!" And as the troop +turned irresolute, and Alwyn's arrow left his bow, they saw a horseman +by the side of Warwick reel in his saddle and fall at once to the +earth; and so great evidently was the rank of the fallen man that even +Warwick reined in, and the charge halted midway in its career. It was +no less a person than the Duke of Exeter whom Alwyn's shaft had +disabled for the field. This incident, coupled with the hearty +address of the stout goldsmith, served to reanimate the flaggers, and +Gloucester, by a circuitous route, reaching their line a moment after, +they dressed their ranks, and a flight of arrows followed their loud +"Hurrah for London Town!" + +But the charge of Warwick had only halted, and (while the wounded +Exeter was borne back by his squires to the rear) it dashed into the +midst of the Londoners, threw their whole line into confusion, and +drove them, despite all the efforts of Gloucester, far back along the +plain. This well-timed exploit served to extricate the earl from the +main danger of his position; and, hastening to improve his advantage, +he sent forthwith to command the reserved forces under Lord St. John, +the Knight of Lytton, Sir John Coniers, Dymoke, and Robert Hilyard, to +bear down to his aid. + +At this time Edward had succeeded, after a most stubborn fight, in +effecting a terrible breach through Somerset's wing; and the fog +continued still so dense and mirk, that his foe itself--for Somerset +had prudently drawn back to re-form his disordered squadron--seemed +vanished from the field. Halting now, as through the dim atmosphere +came from different quarters the many battle-cries of that feudal-day, +by which alone he could well estimate the strength or weakness of +those in the distance, his calmer genius as a general cooled, for a +time, his individual ferocity of knight and soldier. He took his +helmet from his brow to listen with greater certainty; and the lords +and riders round him were well content to take breath and pause from +the weary slaughter. + +The cry of "Gloucester to the onslaught!" was heard no more. Feebler +and feebler, scatteringly as it were, and here and there, the note had +changed into "Gloucester to the rescue!" + +Farther off rose, mingled and blent together, the opposing shouts, "A +Montagu! a Montagu! Strike for D'Eyncourt and King Edward!"--"A Say! +A Say!" + +"Ha!" said Edward, thoughtfully, "bold Gloucester fails, Montagu is +bearing on to Warwick's aid, Say and D'Eyncourt stop his path. Our +doom looks dark! Ride, Hastings,--ride; retrieve thy laurels, and +bring up the reserve under Clarence. But hark ye, leave not his +side,--he may desert again! Ho! ho! Again, 'Gloucester to the +rescue!' Ah, how lustily sounds the cry of 'Warwick!' By the flaming +sword of Saint Michael, we will slacken that haughty shout, or be +evermore dumb ourself, ere the day be an hour nearer to the eternal +judgment!" + +Deliberately Edward rebraced his helm, and settled himself in his +saddle, and with his knights riding close each to each, that they +might not lose themselves in the darkness, regained his infantry, and +led them on to the quarter where the war now raged fiercest, round the +black steed of Warwick and the blood-red manteline of the fiery +Richard. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BATTLE. + +It was now scarcely eight in the morning, though the battle had +endured three hours; and, as yet, victory so inclined to the earl that +nought but some dire mischance could turn the scale. Montagu had cut +his way to Warwick; Somerset had re-established his array. The fresh +vigour brought by the earl's reserve had well-nigh completed his +advantage over Gloucester's wing. The new infantry under Hilyard, the +unexhausted riders under Sir John Coniers and his knightly compeers, +were dealing fearful havoc, as they cleared the plain; and Gloucester, +fighting inch by inch, no longer outnumbering but outnumbered, was +driven nearer and nearer towards the town, when suddenly a pale, +sickly, and ghostlike ray of sunshine, rather resembling the watery +gleam of a waning moon than the radiance of the Lord of Light, broke +through the mists, and showed to the earl's eager troops the banner +and badges of a new array hurrying to the spot. "Behold," cried the +young Lord Fitzhugh, "the standard and the badge of the Usurper,--a +silver sun! Edward himself is delivered into our hands! Upon them, +bill and pike, lance and brand, shaft and bolt! Upon them, and crown +the day!" + +The same fatal error was shared by Hilyard, as he caught sight of the +advancing troop, with their silvery cognizance. He gave the word, and +every arrow left its string. At the same moment, as both horse and +foot assailed the fancied foe, the momentary beam vanished from the +heaven, the two forces mingled in the sullen mists, when, after a +brief conflict, a sudden and horrible cry of "Treason! Treason!" +resounded from either band. The shining star of Oxford, returning +from the pursuit, had been mistaken for Edward's cognizance of the +sun. [Cont. Croyl., 555; Fabyan, Habington, Hume, S. Turner.] Friend +was slaughtering friend, and when the error was detected, each +believed the other had deserted to the foe. In vain, here Montagu and +Warwick, and there Oxford and his captains, sought to dispel the +confusion, and unite those whose blood had been fired against each +other. While yet in doubt, confusion, and dismay, rushed full into +the centre Edward of York himself, with his knights and riders; and +his tossing banners, scarcely even yet distinguished from Oxford's +starry ensigns, added to the general incertitude and panic. Loud in +the midst rose Edward's trumpet voice, while through the midst, like +one crest of foam upon a roaring sea, danced his plume of snow. Hark! +again, again--near and nearer--the tramp of steeds, the clash of +steel, the whiz and hiss of arrows, the shout of "Hastings to the +onslaught!" Fresh, and panting for glory and for blood, came on King +Edward's large reserve; from all the scattered parts of the field +spurred the Yorkist knights, where the uproar, so much mightier than +before, told them that the crisis of the war was come. Thither, as +vultures to the carcass, they flocked and wheeled; thither D'Eyncourt +and Lovell, and Cromwell's bloody sword, and Say's knotted mace; and +thither, again rallying his late half-beaten myrmidons, the grim +Gloucester, his helmet bruised and dinted, but the boar's teeth still +gnashing wrath and horror from the grisly crest. But direst and most +hateful of all in the eyes of the yet undaunted earl, thither, plainly +visible, riding scarcely a yard before him, with the cognizance of +Clare wrought on his gay mantle, and in all the pomp and bravery of a +holiday suit, came the perjured Clarence. Conflict now it could +scarce be called: as well might the Dane have rolled back the sea from +his footstool, as Warwick and his disordered troop (often and aye, +dazzled here by Oxford's star, there by Edward's sun, dealing random +blows against each other) have resisted the general whirl and torrent +of the surrounding foe. To add to the rout, Somerset and the on-guard +of his wing had been marching towards the earl at the very time that +the cry of "treason" had struck their ears, and Edward's charge was +made; these men, nearly all Lancastrians, and ever doubting Montagu, +if not Warwick, with the example of Clarence and the Archbishop of +York fresh before them, lost heart at once,--Somerset himself headed +the flight of his force. + +"All is lost!" said Montagu, as side by side with Warwick the brothers +fronted the foe, and for one moment stayed the rush. + +"Not yet," returned the earl; "a band of my northern archers still +guard yon wood; I know them,--they will fight to the last gasp! +Thither, then, with what men we may. You so marshal our soldiers, and +I will make good the retreat. Where is Sir Marmaduke Nevile?" + +"Here!" + +"Horsed again, young cousin! I give thee a perilous commission. Take +the path down the hill; the mists thicken in the hollows, and may hide +thee. Overtake Somerset; he hath fled westward, and tell him, from +me, if he can yet rally but one troop of horse--but one--and charge +Edward suddenly in the rear, he will yet redeem all. If he refuse, +the ruin of his king and the slaughter of the brave men he deserts be +on his head! Swift, a tout bride, Marmaduke. Yet one word," added +the earl, in a whisper,--"if you fail with Somerset, come not back, +make to the Sanctuary. You are too young to die, cousin! Away! keep +to the hollows of the chase." + +As the knight vanished, Warwick turned to his comrades "Bold nephew +Fitzhugh, and ye brave riders round me,--so we are fifty knights! +Haste thou, Montagu, to the wood! the wood!" + +So noble in that hero age was the Individual MAN, even amidst the +multitudes massed by war, that history vies with romance in showing +how far a single sword could redress the scale of war. While Montagu, +with rapid dexterity, and a voice yet promising victory, drew back the +remnant of the lines, and in serried order retreated to the outskirts +of the wood, Warwick and his band of knights protected the movement +from the countless horsemen who darted forth from Edward's swarming +and momently thickening ranks. Now dividing and charging singly, now +rejoining, and breast to breast, they served to divert and perplex and +harass the eager enemy. And never in all his wars, in all the former +might of his indomitable arm, had Warwick so excelled the martial +chivalry of his age, as in that eventful and crowning hour. Thrice +almost alone he penetrated into the very centre of Edward's body- +guard, literally felling to the earth all before him. Then perished +by his battle-axe Lord Cromwell and the redoubted Lord of Say; then, +no longer sparing even the old affection, Gloucester was hurled to the +ground. The last time he penetrated even to Edward himself, smiting +down the king's standard-bearer, unhorsing Hastings, who threw himself +on his path; and Edward, setting his teeth in stern joy as he saw him, +rose in his stirrups, and for a moment the mace of the king, the axe +of the earl, met as thunder encounters thunder; but then a hundred +knights rushed into the rescue, and robbed the baffled avenger of his +prey. Thus charging and retreating, driving back with each charge +farther and farther the mighty multitude hounding on to the lion's +death, this great chief and his devoted knights, though terribly +reduced in number, succeeded at last in covering Montagu's skilful +retreat; and when they gained the outskirts of the wood, and dashed +through the narrow opening between the barricades, the Yorkshire +archers approved their lord's trust, and, shouting, as to a marriage +feast, hailed his coming. + +But few, alas! of his fellow-horsemen had survived that marvellous +enterprise of valour and despair. Of the fifty knights who had shared +its perils, eleven only gained the wood; and, though in this number +the most eminent (save Sir John Coniers, either slain or fled) might +be found, their horses, more exposed than themselves, were for the +most part wounded and unfit for further service. At this time the sun +again, and suddenly as before, broke forth,--not now with a feeble +glimmer, but a broad and almost a cheerful beam, which sufficed to +give a fuller view than the day had yet afforded of the state and +prospects of the field. + +To the right and to the left, what remained of the cavalry of Warwick +were seen flying fast,--gone the lances of Oxford, the bills of +Somerset. Exeter, pierced by the shaft of Alwyn, was lying cold and +insensible, remote from the contest, and deserted even by his squires. + +In front of the archers and such men as Montagu had saved from the +sword, halted the immense and murmuring multitude of Edward, their +thousand banners glittering in the sudden sun; for, as Edward beheld +the last wrecks of his foe, stationed near the covert, his desire of +consummating victory and revenge made him cautious, and, fearing an +ambush, he had abruptly halted. + +When the scanty followers of the earl thus beheld the immense force +arrayed for their destruction, and saw the extent of their danger, and +their loss,--here the handful, there the multitude,--a simultaneous +exclamation of terror and dismay broke from their ranks. + +"Children!" cried Warwick, "droop not! Henry at Agincourt had worse +odds than we!" + +But the murmur among the archers, the lealest part of the earl's +retainers, continued, till there stepped forth their captain, a gray +old man, but still sinewy and unbent, the iron relic of a hundred +battles. + +"Back to your men, Mark Forester!" said the earl, sternly. + +The old man obeyed not. He came on to Warwick, and fell on his knees +beside his stirrup. + +"Fly, my lord! escape is possible for you and your riders. Fly +through the wood, we will screen your path with our bodies. Your +children, father of your followers, your children of Middleham, ask no +better fate than to die for you! Is it not so?" and the old man, +rising, turned to those in hearing. They answered by a general +acclamation. + +"Mark Forester speaks well," said Montagu. "On yon depends the last +hope of Lancaster. We may yet join Oxford and Somerset! This way +through the wood,--come!" and he laid his hand on the earl's rein. + +"Knights and sirs," said the earl, dismounting, and partially raising +his visor as he turned to the horsemen, "let those who will, fly with +Lord Montagu! Let those who, in a just cause, never despair of +victory, nor, even at the worst, fear to face their Maker, fresh from +the glorious death of heroes, dismount with me!" Every knight sprang +from his steed, Montagu the first. "Comrades!" continued the earl, +then addressing the retainers, "when the children fight for a father's +honour, the father flies not from the peril into which he has drawn +the children. What to me were life, stained by the blood of mine own +beloved retainers, basely deserted by their chief? Edward has +proclaimed that he will spare none. Fool! he gives us, then, the +superhuman mightiness of despair! To your bows!--one shaft--if it +pierce the joints of the tyrant's mail--one shaft may scatter yon army +to the winds! Sir Marmaduke has gone to rally noble Somerset and his +riders; if we make good our defence one little hour, the foe may be +yet smitten in the rear, and the day retrieved! Courage and heart +then!" Here the earl lifted his visor to the farthest bar, and showed +his cheerful face--"Is this the face of a man who thinks all hope is +gone?" + +In this interval, the sudden sunshine revealed to King Henry, where he +stood, the dispersion of his friends. To the rear of the palisades, +which protected the spot where he was placed, already grouped "the +lookers-on and no fighters," as the chronicler [Fabyan] words it, who, +as the guns slackened, ventured forth to learn the news, and who now, +filling the churchyard of Hadley, strove hard to catch a peep of Henry +the saint, or of Bungey the sorcerer. Mingled with these gleamed the +robes of the tymbesteres, pressing nearer and nearer to the barriers, +as wolves, in the instinct of blood, come nearer and nearer round the +circling watch-fire of some northern travellers. At this time the +friar, turning to one of the guards who stood near him, said, "The +mists are needed no more now; King Edward hath got the day, eh?" + +"Certes, great master," quoth the guard, "nothing now lacks to the +king's triumph except the death of the earl." + +"Infamous nigromancer, hear that!" cried Bungey to Adam. "What now +avail thy bombards and thy talisman! Hark yet--tell me the secret of +the last,--of the damnable engine under my feet, and I may spare thy +life." + +Adam shrugged his shoulders in impatient disdain. "Unless I gave thee +my science, my secret were profitless to thee. Villain and numskull, +do thy worst." + +The friar made a sign to a soldier who stood behind Adam, and the +soldier silently drew the end of the rope which girded the scholar's +neck round a bough of the leafless tree. "Hold!" whispered the friar, +"not till I give the word. The earl may recover himself yet," he +added to himself; and therewith he began once more to vociferate his +incantations. Meanwhile the eyes of Sibyll had turned for a moment +from her father; for the burst of sunshine, lighting up the valley +below, had suddenly given to her eyes, in the distance, the gable-ends +of the old farmhouse, with the wintry orchard,--no longer, alas! +smiling with starry blossoms. Far remote from the battlefield was +that abode of peace,--that once happy home, where she had watched the +coming of the false one! + +Loftier and holier were the thoughts of the fated king. He had turned +his face from the field, and his eyes were fixed upon the tower of the +church behind. And while he so gazed, the knoll from the belfry began +solemnly to chime. It was now near the hour of the Sabbath prayers, +and amidst horror and carnage, still the holy custom was not +suspended. + +"Hark!" said the king, mournfully, "that chime summons many a soul to +God!" + +While thus the scene on the eminence of Hadley, Edward, surrounded by +Hastings, Gloucester, and his principal captains, took advantage of +the unexpected sunshine to scan the foe and its position, with the eye +of his intuitive genius for all that can slaughter man. "This day," +he said, "brings no victory, assures no crown, if Warwick escape +alive. To you, Lovell and Ratcliffe, I intrust two hundred knights,-- +your sole care the head of the rebel earl!" + +"And Montagu?" said Ratcliffe. + +"Montagu? Nay, poor Montagu, I loved him as well once as my own +mother's son; and Montagu," he muttered to himself, "I never wronged, +and therefore him I can forgive. Spare the marquis.--I mislike that +wood; they must have more force within than that handful on the skirts +betrays. Come hither, D'Eyncourt." + +And a few minutes afterwards, Warwick and his men saw two parties of +horse leave the main body, one for the right hand, one the left, +followed by long detachments of pikes, which they protected; and then +the central array marched slowly and steadily on towards the scanty +foe. The design was obvious,--to surround on all sides the enemy, +driven to its last desperate bay. But Montagu and his brother had not +been idle in the breathing-pause; they had planted the greater portion +of the archers skilfully among the trees. They had placed their +pikemen on the verge of the barricades made by sharp stakes and fallen +timber, and where their rampart was unguarded by the pass which had +been left free for the horsemen, Hilyard and his stoutest fellows took +their post, filling the gap with breasts of iron. + +And now, as with horns and clarions, with a sea of plumes and spears +and pennons, the multitudinous deathsmen came on, Warwick, towering in +the front, not one feather on his eagle crest despoiled or shorn, +stood, dismounted, his visor still raised, by his renowned steed. +Some of the men had by Warwick's order removed the mail from the +destrier's breast; and the noble animal, relieved from the weight, +seemed as unexhausted as its rider; save where the champed foam had +bespecked its glossy hide, not a hair was turned; and the on-guard of +the Yorkists heard its fiery snort as they moved slowly on. This +figure of horse and horseman stood prominently forth amidst the little +band. And Lovell, riding by Ratcliffe's side, whispered, "Beshrew me, +I would rather King Edward had asked for mine own head than that +gallant earl's!" + +"Tush, youth," said the inexorable Ratcliffe, "I care not of what +steps the ladder of mine ambition may be made!" + +While they were thus speaking, Warwick, turning to Montagu and his +knights, said,-- + +"Our sole hope is in the courage of our men. And, as at Towton, when +I gave the throne to yon false man, I slew, with my own hand, my noble +Malech, to show that on that spot I would win or die, and by that +sacrifice so fired the soldiers, that we turned the day, so now--oh, +gentlemen, in another hour ye would jeer me, for my hand fails: this +hand that the poor beast hath so often fed from! Saladin, last of thy +race, serve me now in death as in life. Not for my sake, oh noblest +steed that ever bore a knight,--not for mine this offering!" + +He kissed the destrier on his frontal, and Saladin, as if conscious of +the coming blow, bent his proud crest humbly, and licked his lord's +steel-clad hand. So associated together had been horse and horseman, +that had it been a human sacrifice, the bystanders could not have been +more moved. And when, covering the charger's eyes with one hand, the +earl's dagger descended, bright and rapid, a groan went through the +ranks. But the effect was unspeakable! The men knew at once that to +them, and them alone, their lord intrusted his fortunes and his life; +they were nerved to more than mortal daring. No escape for Warwick-- +why, then, in Warwick's person they lived and died! Upon foe as upon +friend, the sacrifice produced all that could tend to strengthen the +last refuge of despair. Even Edward, where he rode in the van, beheld +and knew the meaning of the deed. Victorious Towton rushed back upon +his memory with a thrill of strange terror and remorse. + +"He will die as he has lived," said Gloucester, with admiration. "If +I live for such a field, God grant me such a death!" + +As the words left the duke's lips, and Warwick, one foot on his dumb +friend's corpse, gave the mandate, a murderous discharge from the +archers in the covert rattled against the line of the Yorkists, and +the foe, still advancing, stepped over a hundred corpses to the +conflict. Despite the vast preponderance of numbers, the skill of +Warwick's archers, the strength of his position, the obstacle to the +cavalry made by the barricades, rendered the attack perilous in the +extreme. + +But the orders of Edward were prompt and vigorous. He cared not for +the waste of life, and as one rank fell, another rushed on. High +before the barricades stood Montagu, Warwick, and the rest of that +indomitable chivalry, the flower of the ancient Norman heroism. As +idly beat the waves upon a rock as the ranks of Edward upon that +serried front of steel. The sun still shone in heaven, and still +Edward's conquest was unassured. Nay, if Marmaduke could yet bring +back the troops of Somerset upon the rear of the foe, Montagu and the +earl felt that the victory might be for them. And often the earl +paused, to hearken for the cry of "Somerset" on the gale, and often +Montagu raised his visor to look for the banners and the spears of the +Lancastrian duke. And ever, as the earl listened and Montagu scanned +the field, larger and larger seemed to spread the armament of Edward. +The regiment which boasted the stubborn energy of Alwyn was now in +movement, and, encouraged by the young Saxon's hardihood, the +Londoners marched on, unawed by the massacre of their predecessors. +But Alwyn, avoiding the quarter defended by the knights, defiled a +little towards the left, where his quick eye, inured to the northern +fogs, had detected the weakness of the barricade in the spot where +Hilyard was stationed; and this pass Alwyn (discarding the bow) +resolved to attempt at the point of the pike, the weapon answering to +our modern bayonet. The first rush which he headed was so impetuous +as to effect an entry. The weight of the numbers behind urged on the +foremost, and Hilyard had not sufficient space for the sweep of the +two-handed sword which had done good work that day. While here the +conflict became fierce and doubtful, the right wing led by D'Eyncourt +had pierced the wood, and, surprised to discover no ambush, fell upon +the archers in the rear. The scene was now inexpressibly terrific; +cries and groans, and the ineffable roar and yell of human passion, +resounded demonlike through the shade of the leafless trees. And at +this moment, the provident and rapid generalship of Edward had moved +up one of his heavy bombards. Warwick and Montagu and most of the +knights were called from the barricades to aid the archers thus +assailed behind; but an instant before that defence was shattered into +air by the explosion of the bombard. In another minute horse and foot +rushed through the opening. And amidst all the din was heard the +voice of Edward, "Strike, and spare not; we win the day!" "We win the +day! victory! victory!" repeated the troops behind. Rank caught the +sound from rank, and file from file; it reached the captive Henry, and +he paused in prayer; it reached the ruthless friar, and he gave the +sign to the hireling at his shoulder; it reached the priest as he +entered, unmoved, the church of Hadley. And the bell, changing its +note into a quicker and sweeter chime, invited the living to prepare +for death, and the soul to rise above the cruelty and the falsehood, +and the pleasure and the pomp, and the wisdom and the glory of the +world! And suddenly, as the chime ceased, there was heard, from the +eminence hard by, a shriek of agony,--a female shriek,--drowned by the +roar of a bombard in the field below. + +On pressed the Yorkists through the pass forced by Alwyn. "Yield +thee, stout fellow," said the bold trader to Hilyard, whose dogged +energy, resembling his own, moved his admiration, and in whom, by the +accent in which Robin called his men, he recognized a north- +countryman; "yield, and I will see that thou goest safe in life and +limb. Look round, ye are beaten." + +"Fool!" answered Hilyard, setting his teeth, "the People are never +beaten!" And as the words left his lips, the shot from the recharged +bombard shattered him piecemeal. + +"On for London and the crown!" cried Alwyn,--"the citizens are the +People!" + +At this time, through the general crowd of the Yorkists, Ratcliffe and +Lovell, at the head of their appointed knights, galloped forward to +accomplish their crowning mission. + +Behind the column which still commemorates "the great battle" of that +day, stretches now a trilateral patch of pasture-land, which faces a +small house. At that time this space was rough forest-ground, and +where now, in the hedge, rise two small trees, types of the diminutive +offspring of our niggard and ignoble civilization, rose then two huge +oaks, coeval with the warriors of the Norman Conquest. They grew close +together; yet, though their roots interlaced, though their branches +mingled, one had not taken nourishment from the other. They stood, +equal in height and grandeur, the twin giants of the wood. Before +these trees, whose ample trunks protected them from the falchions in +the rear, Warwick and Montagu took their last post. In front rose, +literally, mounds of the slain, whether of foe or friend; for round +the two brothers to the last had gathered the brunt of war, and they +towered now, almost solitary in valour's sublime despair, amidst the +wrecks of battle and against the irresistible march of fate. As side +by side they had gained this spot, and the vulgar assailants drew +back, leaving the bodies of the dead their last defence from death, +they turned their visors to each other, as for one latest farewell on +earth. + +"Forgive me, Richard," said Montagu,--"forgive me thy death; had I not +so blindly believed in Clarence's fatal order, the savage Edward had +never passed alive through the pass of Pontefract." + +"Blame not thyself," replied Warwick. "We are but the instruments of +a wiser Will. God assoil thee, brother mine. We leave this world to +tyranny and vice. Christ receive our souls!" + +For a moment their hands clasped, and then all was grim silence. + +Wide and far, behind and before, in the gleam of the sun, stretched +the victorious armament, and that breathing-pause sufficed to show the +grandeur of their resistance,--the grandest of all spectacles, even in +its hopeless extremity,--the defiance of brave hearts to the brute +force of the many. Where they stood they were visible to thousands, +but not a man stirred against them. The memory of Warwick's past +achievements, the consciousness of his feats that day, all the +splendour of his fortunes and his name, made the mean fear to strike, +and the brave ashamed to murder! The gallant D'Eyncourt sprang from +his steed, and advanced to the spot. His followers did the same. + +"Yield, my lords, yield! Ye have done all that men could do!" + +"Yield, Montagu," whispered Warwick. "Edward can harm not thee. Life +has sweets; so they say, at least." + +"Not with power and glory gone.--We yield not, Sir Knight," answered +the marquis, in a calm tone. + +"Then die, and make room for the new men whom ye so have scorned!" +exclaimed a fierce voice; and Ratcliffe, who had neared the spot, +dismounted and hallooed on his bloodhounds. + +Seven points might the shadow have traversed on the dial, and, before +Warwick's axe and Montagu's sword, seven souls had gone to judgment. +In that brief crisis, amidst the general torpor and stupefaction and +awe of the bystanders, round one little spot centred still a war. + +But numbers rushed on numbers, as the fury of conflict urged on the +lukewarm. Montagu was beaten to his knee, Warwick covered him with +his body; a hundred axes resounded on the earl's stooping casque, a +hundred blades gleamed round the joints of his harness. A +simultaneous cry was heard; over the mounds of the slain, through the +press into the shadow of the oaks, dashed Gloucester's charger. The +conflict had ceased, the executioners stood mute in a half-circle. +Side by side, axe and sword still griped in their iron hands, lay +Montagu and Warwick. + +The young duke, his visor raised, contemplated the fallen foes in +silence. Then dismounting, he unbraced with his own hand the earl's +helmet. Revived for a moment by the air, the hero's eyes unclosed, +his lips moved, he raised, with a feeble effort, the gory battle-axe, +and the armed crowd recoiled in terror. But the earl's soul, dimly +conscious, and about to part, had escaped from that scene of strife, +its later thoughts of wrath and vengeance, to more gentle memories, to +such memories as fade the last from true and manly hearts! + +"Wife! child!" murmured the earl, indistinctly. "Anne! Anne! Dear +ones, God comfort ye!" And with these words the breath went, the head +fell heavily on its mother earth, the face set, calm and undistorted, +as the face of a soldier should be, when a brave death has been worthy +of a brave life. + +"So," muttered the dark and musing Gloucester, unconscious of the +throng, "so perishes the Race of Iron. Low lies the last baron who +could control the throne and command the people. The Age of Force +expires with knighthood and deeds of arms. And over this dead great +man I see the New Cycle dawn. Happy, henceforth, he who can plot and +scheme, and fawn and smile!" Waking with a start from his revery, the +splendid dissimulator said, as in sad reproof, "Ye have been over +hasty, knights and gentlemen. The House of York is mighty enough to +have spared such noble foes. Sound trumpets! Fall in file! Way, +there,--way! King Edward comes. Long live the king!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE LAST PILGRIMS IN THE LONG PROCESSION TO THE COMMON BOURNE. + +The king and his royal brothers, immediately after the victory, rode +back to London to announce their triumph. The foot-soldiers still +stayed behind to recruit themselves after the sore fatigue. And +towards the eminence by Hadley church, the peasants and villagers of +the district had pressed in awe and in wonder; for on that spot had +Henry (now sadly led back to a prison, never again to unclose to his +living form) stood to watch the destruction of the host gathered in +his name; and to that spot the corpses of Warwick and Montagu were +removed, while a bier was prepared to convey their remains to London; +[The bodies of Montagu and the earl were exhibited bareheaded at St. +Paul's church for three days, "that no pretence of their being alive +might stir up any rebellion afterwards; . . . they were then carried +down to the Priory of Bisham, in Berkshire, where among their +ancestors by the mother's side (the Earls of Salisbury), the two +unquiet brothers rest in one tomb. . . . The large river of their +blood, divided now into many streams, runs so small, they are hardly +observed as they flow by." (Habington's "Life of Edward IV.," one of +the most eloquent compositions in the language, though incorrect as a +history).--"Sic transit gloria mundi."] and on that spot had the +renowned friar conjured the mists, exorcised the enchanted guns, and +defeated the horrible machinations of the Lancastrian wizard. + +And towards the spot, and through the crowd, a young Yorkist captain +passed with a prisoner he had captured, and whom he was leading to the +tent of the Lord Hastings, the only one of the commanders from whom +mercy might be hoped, and who had tarried behind the king and his +royal brothers to make preparations for the removal of the mighty +dead. + +"Keep close to me, Sir Marmaduke," said the Yorkist; we must look to +Hastings to appease the king: and, if he hope not to win your pardon, +he may, at least, after such a victory, aid one foe to fly." + +"Care not for me, Alwyn," said the knight; "when Somerset was deaf +save to his own fears, I came back to die by my chieftain's side, +alas, too late! too late! Better now death than life! What kin, +kith, ambition, love, were to other men was Lord Warwick's smile to +me!" + +Alwyn kindly respected his prisoner's honest emotion, and took +advantage of it to lead him away from the spot where he saw knights +and warriors thickest grouped, in soldier-like awe and sadness, round +the Hero-Brothers. He pushed through a humbler crowd of peasants and +citizens, and women with babes at their breast; and suddenly saw a +troop of timbrel-women dancing round a leafless tree, and chanting +some wild but mirthful and joyous doggerel. + +"What obscene and ill-seasoned revelry is this?" said the trader to a +gaping yeoman. + +"They are but dancing, poor girls, round the wicked wizard whom Friar +Bungey caused to be strangled, and his witch daughter." + +A chill foreboding seized upon Alwyn: he darted forward, scattering +peasant and tymbestere with his yet bloody sword. His feet stumbled +against some broken fragments; it was the poor Eureka, shattered, at +last, for the sake of the diamond! Valueless to the great friar, +since the science of the owner could not pass to his executioner,-- +valueless the mechanism and the invention, the labour and the genius; +but the superstition and the folly and the delusion had their value, +and the impostor who destroyed the engine clutched the jewel! + +From the leafless tree was suspended the dead body of a man; beneath, +lay a female, dead too; but whether by the hand of man or the mercy of +Heaven, there was no sign to tell. Scholar and Child, Knowledge and +Innocence, alike were cold; the grim Age had devoured them, as it +devours ever those before, as behind, its march, and confounds, in one +common doom, the too guileless and the too wise! + +"Why crowd ye thus, knaves?" said a commanding voice. + +"Ha, Lord Hastings! approach! behold!" exclaimed Alwyn. + +"Ha, ha!" shouted Graul, as she led her sisters from the spot, +wheeling, and screaming, and tossing up their timbrels, "ha! the witch +and her lover! Ha, ha! Foul is fair! Ha, ha! Witchcraft and death +go together, as thou mayest learn at the last, sleek wooer." + +And, peradventure, when, long years afterwards, accusations of +witchcraft, wantonness, and treason resounded in the ears of Hastings, +and, at the signal of Gloucester, rushed in the armed doomsman, those +ominous words echoed back upon his soul! + +At that very hour the gates of the Tower were thrown open to the +multitude. Fresh from his victory, Edward and his brothers had gone +to render thanksgivings at St. Paul's (they were devout, those three +Plantagenets!), thence to Baynard's Castle, to escort the queen and +her children once more to the Tower. And, now, the sound of trumpets +stilled the joyous uproar of the multitude, for in the balcony of the +casement that looked towards the chapel the herald had just announced +that King Edward would show himself to the people. On every inch of +the courtyard, climbing up wall and palisade, soldier, citizen, thief, +harlot, age, childhood, all the various conditions and epochs of +multiform life, swayed, clung, murmured, moved, jostled, trampled,-- +the beings of the little hour! + +High from the battlements against the weltering beam floated Edward's +conquering flag,--a sun shining to the sun. Again, and a third time, +rang the trumpets, and on the balcony, his crown upon his head, but +his form still sheathed in armour, stood the king. What mattered to +the crowd his falseness and his perfidy, his licentiousness and +cruelty? All vices ever vanish in success! Hurrah for King Edward! +THE MAN OF THE AGE suited the age, had valour for its war and cunning +for its peace, and the sympathy of the age was with him! So there +stood the king; at his right hand, Elizabeth, with her infant boy (the +heir of England) in her arms, the proud face of the duchess seen over +the queen's shoulder. By Elizabeth's side was the Duke of Gloucester, +leaning on his sword, and at the left of Edward, the perjured Clarence +bowed his fair head to the joyous throng! At the sight of the +victorious king, of the lovely queen, and, above all, of the young +male heir, who promised length of days to the line of York, the crowd +burst forth with a hearty cry, "Long live the king and the king's +son!" Mechanically Elizabeth turned her moistened eyes from Edward to +Edward's brother, and suddenly, as with a mother's prophetic instinct, +clasped her infant closer to her bosom, when she caught the glittering +and fatal eye of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (York's young hero of the +day, Warwick's grim avenger in the future), fixed upon that harmless +life, destined to interpose a feeble obstacle between the ambition of +a ruthless intellect and the heritage of the English throne! + + + + +NOTES. + +I. + +The badge of the Bear and Ragged Staff was so celebrated in the +fifteenth century, that the following extract from a letter addressed +by Mr. Courthope, Rouge Croix, to the author, will no doubt interest +the reader, and the author is happy in the opportunity afforded of +expressing his acknowledgments for the courteous attention with which +Mr. Courthope has honoured his inquiries:-- + +"COLLEGE OF ARMS. +"As regards the badge of Richard Nevile, Earl of Warwick,--namely, the +Bear and Staff,--I agree with you, certainly, as to the probability of +his having sometimes used the whole badge, and sometimes the Staff +only, which accords precisely with the way in which the Bear and Staff +are set forth in the Rous Roll to the early earls (Warwick) before the +Conquest. We there find them figured with the Staff upon their +shields and the Bear at their feet, and the Staff alone is introduced +as a quartering upon their shields. + +"The story of the origin of these badges is as follows: + +"Arth, or Arthgal, is reputed to have been the first Earl of Warwick, +and being one of the knights of King Arthur's Round Table, it behooved +him to have a cognizance; and Arth or Narth signifying in British the +same as Ursus in Latin, he took the Bear for such cognizance. His +successor, Morvidus, Earl of Warwick, in single combat, overcame a +mighty giant (who had encountered him with a tree pulled up from the +root, the boughs of which had been torn from it), and in token of his +success assumed the Ragged Staff. You will thus see that the origins +of the two were different, which would render the bearing of them +separately not unlikely, and you will likewise infer that both came +through the Beauchamps. I do not find the Ragged Staff ever +attributed to the Neviles before the match with Beauchamp. + +"As regards the crest or cognizance of Nevile, the Pied Bull has been +the cognizance of that family from a very early time, and the Bull's +head, its crest, and both the one and the other may have been used by +the king-maker, and by his brother, the Marquis Montagu; the said Bull +appears at the feet of Richard Nevile in the Rous Roll, accompanied by +the Eagle of Monthermer; the crests on either side of him are those of +Montagu and Nevile. Besides these two crests, both of which the +Marquis Montagu may have used, he certainly did use the Gryphon, +issuant out of a ducal coronet, as this appears alone for his crest, +on his garter plate, as a crest for Montagu, he having given the arms +of that family precedence over his paternal coat of Nevile; the king- +maker, likewise, upon his seal, gives the precedence to Montagu and +Monthermer, and they alone appear upon his shield." + +II. + +Hume, Rapin, and Carte, all dismiss the story of Edward's actual +imprisonment at Middleham, while Lingard, Sharon Turner, and others, +adopt it implicitly. And yet, though Lingard has successfully +grappled with some of Hume's objections, he has left others wholly +unanswered. Hume states that no such fact is mentioned in Edward's +subsequent proclamation against Clarence and Warwick. Lingard +answers, after correcting an immaterial error in Hume's dates, "that +the proclamation ought not to have mentioned it, because it was +confined to the enumeration of offences only committed after the +general amnesty in 1469;" and then, surely with some inconsistency, +quotes the attainder of Clarence many years afterwards, in which the +king enumerates it among his offences, "as jeopardyng the king's royal +estate, person, and life, in strait warde, putting him thereby from +all his libertye after procuring great commotions." But it is clear +that if the amnesty hindered Edward from charging Warwick with this +imprisonment only one year after it was granted, it would, a fortiori, +hinder him from charging Clarence with it nine years after. Most +probable is it that this article of accusation does not refer to any +imprisonment, real or supposed, at Middleham, in 1469, but to +Clarence's invasion of England in 1470, when Edward's state, person, +and life were jeopardized by his narrow escape from the fortified +house, where he might fairly be called "in straite warde;" especially +as the words, "after procuring great commotions," could not apply to +the date of the supposed detention in Middleham, when, instead of +procuring commotions, Clarence had helped Warwick to allay them, but +do properly apply to his subsequent rebellion in 1470. Finally, +Edward's charges against his brother, as Lingard himself has observed +elsewhere, are not proofs, and that king never scrupled at any +falsehood to serve his turn. Nothing, in short, can be more improbable +than this tale of Edward's captivity,--there was no object in it. At +the very time it is said to have taken place, Warwick is absolutely +engaged in warfare against the king's foes. The moment Edward leaves +Middleham, instead of escaping to London, he goes carelessly and +openly to York, to judge and execute the very captain of the rebels +whom Warwick has subdued, and in the very midst of Warwick's armies! +Far from appearing to harbour the natural resentment so vindictive a +king must have felt (had so great an indignity been offered to him), +almost immediately after he leaves York, he takes the Nevile family +into greater power than ever, confers new dignities upon Warwick, and +betroths his eldest daughter to Warwick's nephew. On the whole, then, +perhaps some such view of the king's visit to Middleham which has been +taken in this narrative, may be considered not the least probable +compromise of the disputed and contradictory evidence on the subject. + + +THE END. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAST OF THE BARONS, COMPLETE *** + +******** This file should be named b154w10.txt or b154w10.zip ********* + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, b154w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, b154w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger, widger@cecomet.net + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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